Ro escorted Ihaan through the forest that held the shrine and took him to a small point at the end of it. It was overgrown with ferns but overlooked a beach and Lady Evelyn Lake. There were no houses in the area, just trees, but something waited for Ihaan on the beach—a canoe. It was white and had a brown paddle in it.
Like the voice he heard earlier, Ihaan could not help but feel like something was familiar about the canoe. He watched Ro, who landed on the front thwart and folded her wings, but the voice returned before he joined her.
“This canoe is a gift from the Spirits. You will not make it far on your injured ankle. You need to paddle.”
Now that she mentioned it, she had a point. Ihaan’s ankle hurt him, but he asked himself if he knew how to canoe. If so, where did he learn? He noticed Ro no longer rested on the thwart.
Instead, she dug around for something in the canoe’s bowels.
Curious, Ihaan approached it and looked over its side at her.
Ro lifted her head and held something in her bill. It was a green, oval-shaped leaf that served as the pendant of a leather necklace.
The sight of it intrigued Ihaan. He felt like the leaf was the most important thing on the lake.
The voice confirmed it for him. “Ihaan, this leaf is your past, present, and future. It needs to be in your possession if you’re going to succeed. Hidden within it is ‘Lucilla,’ or the ‘Song of the Ghost.’”
A thousand more questions found their way into Ihaan’s brain, but he went ahead and took the leaf out of Ro’s bill.
She did not hesitate or pull away.
Ihaan held the necklace in his hands for a few moments, examining it carefully before slipping it over his neck.
Ro hopped onto the canoe’s outer edge and climbed into the stern. The paddle rested beside his seat.
Ihaan picked it up and stuck it into the beach’s sand. Holding a paddle felt so natural to him, which told him that, yes, he knew how to canoe.
A crisp autumn breeze wisped through his hair.
Ihaan pushed himself out to the body of the lake. His eyes caught a few minnows, who gracefully flitted around in the clear water. They looked so peaceful—Ro didn’t even threaten to scoop them up in her bill.
As ordered by the Guardian, her mission was to guide Ihaan to his destiny. She flapped her wings and lifted off the canoe, and the tips of her feathers skimmed the surface of Lady Evelyn Lake.
Ihaan followed her. Nodding to himself, he rested his hand over the leaf. He could do it. Somewhere out there was his past and his future. After what felt like forever, it was time for him to return to Red Squirrel Lake.
ns 15.158.61.54da2
