The crowd thought the boy in the wheelchair was helpless-until the wild mustang lowered his head to his boots

and somehow teaching more that way.

He thought, too, of the dry wash. He did not turn away from it as quickly as he used to. The memory still hurt. It probably always would. But it had become one part of the country inside him, not the whole map.

The barn lights glowed in the distance.

Jonah gave Cinder’s neck one solid pat and let his hand fall back continue reading …