Hexed

the forest?”
    “This path will lead us out by early afternoon. We’re on the narrow end of the woodland and will come to the Skirts of Hel by nightfall.” Howl pushed ahead, walking faster. “We have to make haste, however. The snow threatens a thick fall and the going will be rough.”
    “Is there an inn on the other side? Or lodging of any sort? We’ll be coming out near nightfall, and the weather is bound to be rough this evening.” Roz pulled his fur cape tighter around his shoulders.
    Howl smiled so softly I could barely see it in the flurry of flakes. “You’ll be spending the night in one of my caves, with my Pack family.” Falling silent, he once again took up the march.

FOUR
     

     
    BY EARLY AFTERNOON, I WAS RIDING ON Smoky’s shoulders—the snow had begun falling so thick that it piled up a good two feet in four hours. Camille was struggling, Roz helping her slog her way along, and Howl looked nervous. We had another ninety minutes, by my reckoning, before emerging from the forest, but the snow was growing heavier and my weather sense was telling me it would get worse before it got better.
    “We haven’t seen the worst of it yet,” I said from atop Smoky’s shoulder.
    “I fear you are right,” he answered. “The winter storms have started in earnest. The Northlands are a dangerous place once autumn begins to depart. If need be, I can transform and fly you out, but it would be difficult with the trees so thick here.”
    The White Forest had gotten denser, conifers packing together to create a picture-perfect snowscape, except for the fact that we were in the middle of it and likely to be snowed in by the time we found our way to the exit.
    “Vikkommin used to come here a lot,” I said softly. “He spent a lot of time in the forest, working with the snow elementals that make their home here.”
    “He did, did he?” Camille’s breath was ragged and even with her unicorn cloak and the elfin cape, her teeth were chattering. “And did the temple approve?”
    I shook my head. “Not so much. They didn’t like us spending much time away unless we were on a vision quest or an official mission.” Closing my eyes against the pervasive snowflakes, I remembered back to the first vision quest I’d been on. And how it had led me to Vikkommin.
     
    I WAS SO young. If I’d been human, I’d have barely passed sixteen. Many years before, the temple mothers had come to my family’s house in Finland, shortly after I shed my first monthly blood.
    “Your daughter is destined for the Order of Undutar. We’ve come to prepare you—she will come to the Northlands next year and live with us.”
    My mother had burst into tears. There was no refusal. When the gods called, you answered. If the gods wanted your children, you handed them over.
    “Will we ever see her again?” Mother wrapped her arms around me, and, speechless, I leaned my head against her chest. I’d never expected anything like this to happen, although I’d been having dreams of snow and mist and storms for months on end now.
    “You may come visit her in the temple once a year until she takes her oath of initiation. Then it’s up to her whether you’re welcome or not. Some of our Priestesses prefer to leave their old life behind for good. Others keep contact with family.”
    The Priestess, who was so old that I didn’t even dare gauge her age, smiled softly at me. She was wrapped in a blue and white cloak, and her eyes were covered with the clouds of age. She traveled with assistants, as well as a younger priest, and they all sat in our cozy little house in the forest.
    My father had gone hunting as soon as he let them in. He’d stared them down, silent, then left without saying a word. Everybody knew that if the Priests came to claim your children, all you could do was accede.
    The thought of life in a temple, high in the Northlands, both terrified and intrigued me. I’d never had high aspirations, hoping only to marry and bear children and live as my mother had lived, and my grandmother.
    Mother did the expected. Through her tears, she inclined her head to the Priestess. “It is an honor that one from our family be chosen. We have one year?”
    “One year.” The Priestess, who had once been human, rested her hand on a silver walking stick. “Spend it well and enjoy the time. Pirkitta will be well taken care of and she shall enjoy every luxury that comes with being one of Undutar’s handmaids. You need never fear for