Echo Soul Seekers

may never recover.
    I smile faintly. Reminding myself he means well—not everyone in this place is a Richter. Then I make for the space in back where the coffee is served. Hoping to grab one of those round tables with the bright pink tablecloths, use it as a temporary hideaway until it’s time to make good on my plan.
    Though the second I see Chay hunched over a coffee and sweet roll while reading the paper, I start to head back the same way I came. Not getting very far before he’s rising from the table and calling after me, leaving me with no choice but to own up and greet him.
    “Hey,” I say, hooking my bag on the seat opposite his.
    He pushes his plate toward me, offering to share his danish. But tempting as it looks with the melted sweet cheese, the sugared fruit, and the overall promise of yum, I swore to Paloma I’d lay off the junk, and it’s a vow I intend to keep.
    “No thanks. I’m still on the wagon.” I slide it back toward him. “Permanently on the wagon if Paloma has her way. But don’t worry, I won’t tell her how you spend your mornings.”
    He laughs when I say it, eyes crinkling and fanning in a riot of wrinkles. His good humor so infectious I can’t help but laugh too, amazed by the way it instantly brightens my mood.
    “How ’bout we make a deal,” he says. “You don’t tell Paloma I’m still indulging my sweet tooth despite all her warnings about the evils of sugar, and I won’t tell her you’re ditching school.” When his gaze levels on mine, there’s not one trace of mirth left in his eyes. “That is what’s going on here, right?”
    I lift my brow and shrug. No longer in a sharing mood. I push away from the table and help myself to the dregs of scorched coffee from a pot that’s nearly empty. A good example of false advertising if I’ve ever seen one. So much for freshly brewed .
    Taking a first, tentative sip, when Chay says, “And if that’s the case, why’d you come here?”
    “Not a whole lot of options this time of day. Or any other time, for that matter. After all, this is Enchantment we’re talking about. Not exactly the excitement capital of the world.” I add two creamers to my cup, hoping it’ll take the edge off. It’s dry creamer instead of liquid, the kind that would definitely not meet with Paloma’s approval. But it’s all I have to work with, and sometimes allowances must be made.
    “I don’t know,” Chay says, “I can think of a hundred other things you could be doing.”
    “Name one.” I dip one of those slim plastic sticks into my coffee and go to town with the stirring.
    “Kachina loves an early morning ride.” Chay studies me as I return to my seat.
    “As do I.” I take another sip that’s better than the first, but only slightly so. “Guess I felt the need to be surrounded by people instead of nature. And what better place than right here?”
    Chay pauses, a forkful of danish hovering between his plate and his mouth. “How about school? Lots of people there. People your own age, even.” His eyes meet mine. He is not a man one can easily fool. “Daire, what’s really going on here?” His voice turns sober and serious, having reached the end of the joke.
    I stare into the clouds of clumpy coffee and sigh, saying, “Where to begin?”
    “Wherever you’d like.” He folds his paper in half and pushes it to the side, as I splay my hands on either side of my cup, weighing my options.
    Chay is Paloma’s trusted friend, and as I recently discovered, he’s also her boyfriend. He’s seen me at my absolute, sulkiest worst. Drove me all the way from Phoenix to Enchantment without a single complaint. Accompanied me to the place of my vision quest and gave me the confidence I needed to venture into that cave. He left Kachina in my care for however long I choose to look after her.
    He’s a good man.
    Someone I can trust.
    Maybe not with everything, but then I have no intention of telling him everything.
    I lift my gaze to meet his, take a deep breath, and plunge in. Watching as he twists nervously at the eagle ring he always wears with the two golden stones standing in for the eyes, when I tell him all about the Lowerworld going to hell. Going on to explain about the Echo, how I finally discovered what it truly means, for Dace, for Cade, for all of us.
    “And then, of course, there’s the small matter of the prophecy,” I say, voice filled with sarcasm, when the truth is, the prophecy looms larger than life—it’s all