“Things are happening, I guess,” said Brian. “Forces are at work. The curse may not be good and lifted until Qianfu’s bones are laid to rest in the cemetery, but in the meantime …” He grinned, then he frowned. “I just wish we could have saved my mom and dad.”
“Me too.” I gave his arm a squeeze.
We drove on in silence for a quarter of an hour before a green mileage sign swam into view. Swift Current, Medicine Hat, Calgary.
“So I’m going to be the geomancer in the family!” Brian savored the idea, patting the cherrywood box in his vest pocket. “Me … not you. Me.”
“Give it a rest,” I told him. “You’ll wear it out.”
“Not likely,” he replied. “I’m going to be pretty powerful, you know. You might want to be nice to me.”
“I am nice to you,” I retorted.
“Nicer,” he said. “Remember, I was going to save you from a shark.”
“You were going to try and save me from a shark … and fail!”
“It’s the thought that counts. A geomancer, eh? A geomancer!”
“It’s going to be a long trip,” I muttered. I settled back into my seat, folded my arms over my chest, and was about to close my eyes when Brian punched me in the arm.
“Ouch!”
“You know what, Randi?”
“What?”
He beamed at me. “This is going to be the best road trip ever! Can we stop for chips? Please! Please! I’m starving.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the Ontario Arts Council for its ongoing support, my brother Peter Hardy, and my sister Pamela Rooks for their insightful critiques of early versions of this manuscript, and my agents Bill and Frances Hanna for all their hard work on my behalf. There are many reasons I wish Frances might have lived longer; one of them would have been so that she could see the fruits of her labors over many years. And, as always, thanks to my husband, Ken, who makes all things possible, including dogs.
Melissa Hardy, a native of North Carolina, is the author of two collections of short stories, Constant Fire and The Uncharted Heart, and two novels, A Cry of Bees and Broken Road. The winner of the Journey Prize and the CAA’s Silver Jubilee Award, Hardy’s short fiction has been published in The Atlantic Monthly, among other magazines, and has been widely anthologized – twice in Best American Short Stories and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and once in Best Canadian Short Stories. The Geomancer’s Compass is her first young adult novel. Hardy makes her home in Port Stanley, Ontario, with her husband, Ken Trevenna, and Nellie, a golden retriever.
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