Page 9 of Snow Balled

Shit, it was cold.

When the others joined us, Zeus trotted happily up the hill. The look on his face was almost comically surprised when he slid back down.

“Yeah, this is going to be fun,” Tristan observed.

“Remember, lean forward. Catch yourself if you fall. Try to go straight, you’re more likely to fall if you try to change directions,” Carter instructed.

Tristan pulled me aside. “Halfway up, I’ll give you my coat. You must be frozen.”

I clapped him on the arm. “Thanks. Let’s see how it goes. Maybe it won’t be as bad as we think.”

Yeah, right.

It.

Was.

Hell.

For every two steps I took, it felt like I slid back three. The only progress any of us seemed to make was when there was a tree trunk to hold onto.

Except for Carter. The metal spikes on his boots dug into the ice, and while he wasn’t making fast progress, at least he wasn’t backsliding every other step.

He took Sierra’s arm and all but pulled her along. Her slipper boot things didn’t give her any traction at all.

Zeus was the hero of the trip. He led the way, picking his way around the steepest spots.

Still, it took us nearly an hour to reach our cabin. By this point, Carter was carrying Sierra piggyback style. She was draped over him like a backpack, and she looked exhausted. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard it was to put one foot in front of the other in slippery fabric that didn’t have a chance of gripping the ice.

Carter had given me his heavy winter coat. It was too bulky for Sierra to wrap her arms and legs around, but it felt like heaven to me.

We trudged on and reached the top of the hill just as dusk was falling.

Sierra seemed barely conscious by the time we entered our cabin. Tristan and I lifted her off of Carter’s back as Zeus ran straight to the fireplace and plopped down. It was his favorite spot in the cabin, even when it wasn’t lit.

Our guest peeled off her gloves with fingers that were quite obviously numbed by cold.

The winter weather had taken its toll on my circulation, too, but I tried to think about what the exhausted young woman needed. “What can I get you? Water? Coffee?”

“Dry clothes,” Tristan said. “Everything we have will be huge on you, but at least it won’t be freezing.

Sierra nodded, but her expression was uncertain—and exhausted. Before Carter picked her up, she’d struggled along for nearly half an hour with those ridiculous slipper boots. Her feet must be icicles.

“The bathroom’s down the hallway,” Tristan was saying when Carter cut him off.

“She needs a bed.”

Normally, when Carter mentioned a woman and a bed in the same sentence, it had a much different meaning, but now, I saw that he was right. Sierra looked ready to pass out.

My room was closest, and by virtue of my not having been involved with this project as long as the others, the smallest. I opened the door and turned on the light.

Sierra moved toward it like a zombie.

The bed wasn’t made—who had time for that?—but I shoved the rumpled covers to one side, clearing a spot. She sat on the edge of the bed, looking like she was seconds from passing out.

Quickly, I knelt down and pulled the tattered remains of the ridiculous slipper boots off her freezing feet. “I’ll get you some socks.” It took me less than ten seconds to locate a clean pair in the small dresser, but when I turned back, Sierra had all but disappeared under the covers. Only her reddened face peeked out.

Tristan appeared with a thick blanket, which he placed over the quilt Sierra had burrowed under. Zeus followed him and was about to jump onto the bed when Carter called him back. “Let’s let her sleep,” he said gruffly.

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