The Stone Child

Mistapew is a bigfoot, a giant sasquatch-like creature, and Morgan knows the story of his taking the soul of the eagle Kihiw. She must find Eli’s soul and restore it to him before his body wastes away and he dies. Stuck in the frontier between the Northern Woods and the Barren Ground, Morgan heads for Misewa where, “if somebody even knew what a soul looked like or where it might be kept, it would be an animal being.” (p. 3) In the meantime, someone must stay with Eli, and the only person she can ask is her best friend, Emily Houldsworth. It’s five in the morning, but, when Morgan phones Emily, asking her to come over to her house immediately, good friend that she is, Houldsy complies. Emily is an athletic no-nonsense type and has difficulty making sense of the portal concept. When she peers through it and sees Aski, she is both confused and mildly alarmed. The more Morgan explains, the weirder it seems, but Emily finally agrees to stay with Eli by the Great Tree where it’s still Earth Time.

Running towards Misewa, Morgan estimates the amount of time available to save Eli: three days. One week in Aski is the equivalent of about one hour on Earth, and keeping the time zones straight is a challenge. Once at Misewa, Morgan’s first stop is at the longhouse of her squirrel friend Arikwachas and, after telling Arik how she and Eli came to be at the Great Tree, begs for her help. Arik wisely suggests sharing the story with the other animal beings at the Council Hut. After hearing Morgan’s tale and remembering the story of Kihiw, the animal beings admit that they did little to save Kihiw, having been warned not to return to the Northern Woods. Regardless of the danger, Morgan is undeterred. She knows that her mother is dead: “I just lost somebody and I’m not going to lose somebody else.” (p. 21) With that, she hurries off to pack what she, Arik, and Emily will need for the journey. It won’t be an easy trip: she and Arik have borrowed a sled, and, packed with provisions for the journey, it’s already a heavy load and will be heavier once they load Eli onto it.

Back at the Great Tree, Arik is overwhelmed by the sight of Eli, and she’s not her usual cheery, wise-cracking self. It’s distressing, but the journey to find Eli’s soul must begin. What does a soul look like, and where is it likely to be found? Talk fills the time as they walk deeper into the northern woods, and Morgan tells Emily the stories which constitute the first two books of “The Misewa Saga”, The Barren Grounds and The Great Bear. Before long, it’s becoming dark, their energy is gone, and it’s time to rest. Arik offers to take the first watch of the night, and, if Mistapew approached, she would wake the girls: “the giant was only interested in stealing souls, and to have your soul taken you had to be dreaming. If you were awake, your soul was safe.” (p. 39)

Suddenly, Emily notices that something is moving under the ground, and a horrifying creature with “blood red eyes . . . thick black pupils, and a snout shaped like a cone, . . . baring razor-sharp teeth . . . a tongue that looked like a miniature plunger” bursts out of the earth. (p. 43) With equal speed, something jumps out of the shadows, attacks the creature, and kills it. Along the path through the woods, Morgan thought she had seen glints of yellow appearing. Those yellow eyes belong to their old adversary-turned-protector, Mahikan the wolf. He warns them that the creatures - the groundlings - are attracted to warmth and movement, and they’ll return. They do, an epic battle ensues, and defeated, the groundlings retreat. Thoroughly exhausted, Morgan collapses into sleep and has a strange, compelling dream in which a smooth stone appears, glowing with white light. Arik has told Morgan that dreams are a kind of portal “in which things can be revealed . . . that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to understand.” (p. 40) What does the dream mean?

After undergoing yet another groundling attack, the group continues, arriving at the end of the path where they see the mouth of a cave. Slowly, the meaning of the dream becomes clear to Morgan:

She closed her eyes and saw the moon stone being lowered into her hands. She opened her eyes, and they trailed away from the cave, towards an object near where she was standing, covered with dirt from the path. An inch of it, and no more, was exposed. Though easy to miss . . . it was pure white. So white that in the relative darkness of the northern woods it appeared to be emitting light. (p. 82)

It’s Eli’s soul. Having found it, Morgan realizes that Mistapew must be near. With a thunderous roar, he emerges from the depth of the cave and begins pursuit of his quarry. Holding the stone close to her, Morgan runs for her life, Emily hurls her hatchet at the 10-foot high giant, and the wound slows him down just enough for them to escape danger once more.

Having evaded Mistapew, Morgan is exhausted once more, falls asleep, and, in her dream, Eli appears. offering a cryptic message as to how he will be saved. Only one day is left before Eli is gone forever, and Mistapew is on the hunt for that moonstone. The giant must be killed, and Morgan’s plan to take him down succeeds. With Mistapew dead, the next goal is to construct a sweat lodge and build a fire to heat the moon stone. A willow tree is necessary for the ribs of the lodge, and, after much searching and very sincere prayers to Creator, Emily and Morgan find the tree. The lodge is built, Mahikan carries Eli into the centre of the structure, and then Morgan enters. The scene of Eli’s restoration is powerful, and, when he wakes up, Morgan is restored, too.

You’d expect the story to end right there, but it continues, taking a new direction. Eli needs to know what happened to him, and, when Morgan tells the story, “No detail was spared.” Most surprising is his reaction to Mistapew’s death; he’s saddened at this creature which “lived in these woods for hundreds of years and now he’s . . . gone” (p. 134). Mahihkan addresses Eli by a new name: Assini Awasis, Stone Child. Having come back from a near-death experience, Eli demonstrates that he is changed and yet, the same, a 12-year-old who is wise beyond his years. As the four of them return to the Great Tree, Eli asks Morgan why she was so upset on the night that she went through the portal without him. Morgan explains that she had called her kokom, her grandmother, and learned of Jenny’s death. With Eli back, the loss of her mother is now even more intense. However, Eli understands the power of memories and stories, and Eli knows that from the stories that her kokom can tell, Morgan will come to know her mother. As this quest ends, a new one will begin.

When she left Earth, Morgan had forgotten to close the portal in the attic. Leaving Aski, Morgan goes through the portal opening, and then stops. Eli is totally focused on the Great Tree, “running his hands across the bark with his eyes closed, as though trying to communicate with it, . . . Then he pressed his ear against the trunk and listened.” (p. 147) Alive with the colours of autumn, the Great Tree is different from the drab, muted trees in the rest of the woods. It has a soul, the soul of the eagle Kihiw. To release it, the tree must be burnt. Burning the tree will destroy the portal, and it’s a terrible prospect, but necessary. There must be other portals, and Morgan vows that they will find them. As the portal disappears in flames, the three return to Earth just in time to hear Morgan’s foster parents, Katie and James, up and about, getting ready for the day.

The attic has been a secret hideaway, but, with the portal gone, it has lost its appeal. Eli is successful at sneaking back into his room, and “with the agility of teenager who’d snuck around the house more than once”, (p. 159), Morgan and Emily make a break for it. Not so lucky as Eli, they might be forced to give an explanation for Emily’s presence. Unwilling to be grounded for a lie, Morgan tells the truth about the phone call to her kokom and of learning of Jenny’s death. With that explanation, all the emotion she has withheld for so long overwhelms her, and she cries for all the losses she has experienced. But, Morgan is strong and resilient, and, with the help of her foster parents, they encourage her to re-connect with her kokom.

Back at school, both Morgan and Emily are completely focused on trying to find the location of a portal, and they spend plenty of time on texting, Google searches, and watching videos of bigfoot sightings. Eli sketches likenesses of Mistapew, based on the descriptions the girls had provided and from the bigfoot sightings reported on his grandfather’s trapline between Norway House and Cross Lake. While Katie and James aren’t likely to take the kids on a trip north to search for a bigfoot, Eli is certain that they’ll take them to Norway House so that Morgan can visit with her kokom. Morgan phones her grandmother, and, in that conversation, each hears of the other’s sadness, of their mutual hopes that, through sharing memories of Jenny, they “both won’t miss her as much.” (p. 187)

The trip north takes them through the prairies, but, as they drive further north, the landscape changes, wildlife comes and goes, and it is beautifully remote. And as they see the sign for Cross Lake, Eli’s home community, Katie comments, “If I could take you there, I would, but it’s just not allowed right now” (p. 197) At the ferry that takes them to Norway House, Morgan asks Eli why he was apprehended, and, finally, he is tells the hard and difficult story. Before long, they have crossed the river, arrived in Norway House, and before going to their hotel, Katie drives the kids past Morgan’s kokom’s house, When Morgan sees it, “it looked familiar straight away.” (p. 201) Later, having checked into their hotel and scarfed down burgers and fries for dinner, Katie asks the kids if they want to see more of the community. They all say “No”, but, within an hour, they are ready for adventure. They’ll go to the spot where the bigfoot had been spotted in the area, “find the portal it used to travel from one reality to another, and get back to Aski.” (p. 205) To get to the trapline, they need a boat, and after “borrowing” one from the lakeside dock, Eli shows that he is completely at home at the helm of the craft, navigating with skill and speed. Once at the trapline, they make a fire for warmth and safety before heading out to sight the bigfoot.

Eli knows that animals have patterns, and so must the bigfoot. Out on the trapline, Eli feels that the bigfoot is near the water, but he also feels the presence of a portal and walks into the forest with a definite sense of purpose. He’s followed by Morgan and Emily, and, after 20 minutes, they reach a tall black boulder. “Half of the boulder was rough . . . but the other half was smooth and flat like a wall, and on the ground at this side of the boulder was a pile of pointed white rocks. (p. 219) As Eli looks at it, he sees “life everywhere”. (p. 220) The Stone Child has a special gift, and, as he quickly draws on the stone, the portal opens, and the three of them walk through, following the river to the place in Aski that is World’s End.

Morgan realizes that portals are tied to a certain place but not to a certain time. Now, she needs to go back in time so that she can visit with her mother, and Eli paints a scene where he believes that Morgan can find her mother. A vortex opens, Morgan finds Jenny, and they have a brief meeting, sharing their mutual enjoyment of black coffee. Jenny recounts her grief at losing her daughter, of her desire to get her back, and of her “Hope that she’s okay, wherever she is.” (p. 237) In losing Morgan, Jenny has lost herself, but she hopes that, by remembering the stories and traditions of her ancestors, she will find herself again, and perhaps she “can help her remember the person she is.” (p. 238) They give each other a gift – trading their moccasins – and then it is time to say good-bye, and, as Jenny paddles away, Morgan calls out her name, and says “Kiskisitotaso”. “Don’t forget about who you are.” It’s an expression that Morgan has heard many times in her dreams, and, now, it has new meaning.

In The Stone Child, the narratives of the two previous books of “The Misewa Saga” weave together in a new way, and the characters of Morgan, Emily and Eli are realized more fully. Morgan is still prone to emotional outbursts, but she recognizes why she’s responding as she does. With Emily, Morgan has a real friend, and there are hints that the girls’ relationship is heading in a new direction: there are a lot of hugs, and some kisses that leave both girls wondering about what exactly is happening between the two of them. As for Eli, it’s hard to believe that he’s a year younger than Morgan – he has a depth and insight that gives him strength beyond his years, and, when he is in Norway House, we see that he is truly at home on the land. Perhaps the story of Eli’s apprehension and removal from his family will be developed in the next work of “The Misewa Saga” series. Morgan feels more warmly towards Katie and James, and, while Katie is “getting the hang of this whole mom thing” (p. 162), Morgan feels a bit conflicted because, accepting Katie as a mom, makes Jenny “less her mother.” (p. 163) It’s clear that her foster parents are very well-intentioned, and Katie’s commitment to driving the three kids all the way up to Norway House is proof that she understands Morgan’s need to come to terms with Jenny’s death.

Although The Stone Child opens with Eli unresponsive, in a coma-like state, the story has plenty of lighter moments. Arik is still a spunky squirrel, and she’s definitely young at heart, the perfect companion for Morgan and Emily on a truly arduous journey. Teen dialogue and behaviour are presented with unflinching authenticity – Robertson’s description of Morgan and Emily’s texting each other in class, using their phones under their desks, is spot on, and their meetings in the school’s bathroom is a classic vignette of junior high school life. References to the Star Wars movies remind the reader that pop culture also tells stories of alternate realities co-existing with our own. When Emily asks about finding another portal, Morgan’s reply is a reference to a literary classic, the “Narnia” stories: “Do you know of any, like, magical wardrobes lying around?” (p. 158)

Though The Stone Child could be read as a stand-alone work, readers who haven’t read the first two books of “The Misewa Saga” will probably be wondering about references to characters and events from those works. The book packs a great deal into 242 pages, and the story moves quickly. Much of the story focuses on three strong female characters – Morgan, Emily, and Arik – but “girly” they are not. There’s plenty of fight action in this book – two battles with the groundlings and the showdown with Mistapew – and it will keep male readers engaged with the story. A Glossary of Swampy Cree provides both pronunciation guides and the meanings of the Cree words used in the book, and Robertson is skillful in providing cultural context for the building of the sweat lodge and the ceremony in which Eli’s soul is restored.

Although the characters in this book are middle school students, I think that students in Grades 9 and 10 would enjoy it, too. The Stone Child is a definite acquisition for middle and high school libraries and classroom collections, and Indigenous studies collections.