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stepped into the hall. There were sounds coming from the kitchen—the hearth-keepers fixing breakfast and preparing goods for the farmer’s market in Madison, Wisconsin, in three days. It was a weekly event during the summer for us. Technically everything sold at the farmer’s market was supposed to be a Wisconsin product, but we weren’t big on technicalities, and a small piece of land the tribe owned in northern Wisconsin provided a convenient address for the paperwork. Marketgoers knew us as Amazon Farms, and they loved us. Who wouldn’t?
    I personally didn’t frequent the market; Lao handled it and handled it well. I seldom went to Madison at all.
    But Thea had said the bird last night was heading north. Madison was north, as were the only two sons I knew how to find. I’d met both of them in the fall, or seen them at least. We hadn’t exactly sat around the fire and exchanged war stories.
    One worked for my friend Mel in her tattoo shop as an artist. The other, his mentor, was an older man confined to a wheelchair. His handicap was the result of the old Amazon ways, when we still killed or maimed our sons to keep them from becoming threats.
    If the council didn’t call this morning with a new direction, searching out whatever sons I could seemed a sensible step. So a trip to Madison would clearly be in order.
    First, though, I needed to track down my new high priestess. I walked through the living room. Except for the two threadbare couches and a few dirty coffee mugs and plates, the room was empty. The front door, however, stood open.
    Thea stood in the yard with her hands raised above her head. Her hair was wet and her dark curls glistened in the early-morning sun, but it was the expression on her upturned face that stopped me. Her eyes were closed, as you would expect with the sun streaming down on her, but she still looked rapt, like she was soaking in the rays, recharging, growing stronger before my eyes.
    For some reason, I found the idea disturbing. I stepped onto the porch.
    Most of the other occupants of the house had formed a half circle around the new priestess. When I walked out the door, they turned faces filled with curiosity and a bit of wariness toward me.
    I suddenly felt out of place—as if I’d stumbled into something uninvited, but that was impossible. This was
my
camp. I was queen here and had been for over a decade. Despite the fact that many of the Amazons present were newcomers to this house, I was the one steady factor. Their expressions were unfathomable.
    Unless someone had told them something to make them doubt me, to question my reliability. I scanned their faces, looking for any sign of censure.
    Thea dropped her arms and turned. “The queen joins us.”
    The words were innocent enough, but there was something about Thea’s tone that caused my body to stiffen.
    I opened my mouth to utter a rebuke, then saw her expression. While not friendly, it wasn’t mocking either. I snapped my jaws shut. She was new; we were still getting to know each other. I could easily have been reading her wrong. Most important, though—now was not the time to be taking our aggression out on each other. It would only get in the way of doing our jobs.
    Still, I couldn’t bring myself to smile. Not that I smiled much anyway. Life was too serious.
    I walked down the two steps that separated the wide front porch from the yard, then moved toward our new high priestess with my shoulders back and my footsteps tapping on the concrete walk.
    The Amazons who had surrounded the priestess took a step back. I stopped a staff’s length away.
    She tilted her head. “We are enjoying the sun. It helps me feel centered, ready to take on any challenge.” The fingers of her right hand brushed over her left arm, over Medusa.
    I registered the gesture, realizing it was a habit of hers. What I didn’t know was why she did it, what emotion she was feeling at the time.
    “I’ll be going to Madison today.” I paused,