Page 104 of Echo North
“If you’re looking for a book, I know them all,” says the girl. “Well,almost.”
Tears prick behind my eyes. “Are you his daughter?”
She smiles, and sticks out her hand. “I’m Inna.”
The customer steps past us with his package of books, walking through the door and out into the street.
“He can see you now,” says Inna, evidently not minding that I’m too shocked to shake her hand. She trots toward the counter. “Papa! There’re visitors to see you!”
Hal squeezes my hand once more, and we follow Inna, my heart beating so hard I can barely breathe.
My father has ducked down behind the counter, securing the customer’s payment in our battered cash box. “With you in a moment!” he calls cheerily.
“They’re not after books, Papa,” Inna explains. “Just you.”
He pops up again, smiling at his second daughter, my … sister … and then his eyes pass to me and he sees me, reallyseesme. His face blanches white. “Echo?” he says, hesitant, as though he hardly dares to speak the word.
I nod, tears rushing to overwhelm me. “It’s me, Papa.”
“Echo!” he cries. I’m vaguely aware of Inna’s round-eyed shock as my father comes around the counter. In another moment I’m wrapped in his embrace and we’re crying on one another’s shoulders and I can taste my joy—sunlight and honey and sharp winter wind.
“Echo,” he says, over and over again. “Echo.” He weeps into my hair.
It’s only then, when my father lifts his tear-stained face, that he registers I’ve brought someone with me, though he’s forestalled from inquiring by Inna’s overflowing amazement. “Inna. This is …”
Before he can finish, Inna has flung her arms around my neck, laughing. “I knew you would come back! I knew you would, one day!”
And now I’m laughing, too. I feel a fierce connection to her already. She lets me go and my hand finds Hal’s. I can’t stop smiling—I feel the happiness will make me burst. Once more, he squeezes my fingers.
“Hal, this is my father. And—and my sister. Inna, Papa …” I swallow, glancing from Hal to my father and Inna, then back again. “This is my white wolf.”
ITELL THEM MY STORYin the room above the bookshop, where a fire licks quietly at the grate and steam curls from chipped tea mugs. Rodya is there, with his wife and two half-grown boys, who seem to very much like pulling Inna’s hair. Donia isn’t there. Donia hasn’t been there for several years now. Rodya tells me she tried to sue Papa for his money (he has grown more than solvent again), but the solicitors would have none of it. So she packed her bags and left in the night without a word. The divorce papers arrived by courier several months later. But let’s not focus on that right now, Rodya says—today is about me and my homecoming.
So I tell them everything, with Hal beside me, holding my hand and filling in the gaps if I leave anything out. Inna keeps the tea coming, and partway through the story Rodya’s wife, Ara, serves us stew and bread with honey.
When I finish, the night is half spent. Rodya’s boys have fallen asleep by the fire, and he and Ara watch them, smiling. Inna is snuggled up close to my father, and I lean my head on Hal’s shoulder, listening to his heartbeat, the rise and fall of his breath. My heart is full to overflowing. I never thought I would have so much family as I do.
“What now?” asks my father, breaking the silence. He lifts his eyes to mine, and I am thankful beyond words that a century didn’t pass us by on the mountain. Ten years is too much, yet it’s a blessing. I ache for Hal—he will never have such a happy reunion.
He squeezes my hand as if reading my mind. “We are going to the university. It’s been a while since Echo was accepted, but they might still have her application filed away.”
My father smiles and I laugh and kiss Hal’s cheek. “I’m going to be a doctor,” I say.
“And I’ve got four centuries of history to catch up on,” Hal adds. “I’ll find some sort of occupation in the meantime.”
“But we’ll visit as often as we can, and when—and when Iama doctor, we want to live here, in the village. Not waste any more time.” My throat cracks.
“Oh, my dear girl,” says my father quietly, “I think your time has been very well spent.”
Tears slip once more down my cheeks, and Hal nudges me toward my father. I go, sinking to a seat beside him. He hugs me close, careful not to disturb Inna, who has fallen asleep on his other shoulder.
I glance across at Hal. He smiles at me, and gives a little nod.
“There’s one other thing, Papa.”
I think he knows—there’s laughter sparking in his eyes. “What is it, greatheart?”
I draw my right hand out of my skirt pocket and show him the ring on my fourth finger, three interlocking bands of yellow, rose, and white gold.
