By the time Bitterroot was up close, the shape — now easily recognized as the bear — had stopped moving. Trace didn’t drop the shield, though. Trace, Gale, and Artemis all looked intact and were sitting in the snow as they stared at the inferno. Bitterroot squinted through the bright fire and the heat at the bear’s charred remains. “Is it dead?” she asked. “And if you say what I know you’re going to say-”