CHAPTER 10
I had walked along the road north of Frór’s cabin before, just exploring and looking for other views of the lake to draw. That was how I knew about the other path down to the lake shore. But most of the walk was through more meadows that ended at a cliff face that loomed far over the lake below.
Or ocean. The farther north we went, the stronger the salty, briny smell to the air grew. And the birds overhead were foreign to the North Shore.
Beyond the point where I had turned back from my earlier walks, the meadows ended in another forest of evergreens mixed with birch. But these trees felt older to me. Even just the air under their branches felt older.
"Do you know where we are?" I asked Loke.
He looked over at me with a half-smile that had a tinge of sadness to it. "Less an
