“Wanda, if you lose, I’ll toss your apprentice to the snow!” Mirkra called as Zane sped by.

Kilen shrieked when Mirkra tried to scuff his light hair. But my gaze lingered on the burn marks at Kilen’s hairline where his fair curls didn’t quite cover; a handful of memories reflecting along with the sun’s crisp glow.

I tucked my bag into my lap, clutching it there.

The sleigh bounced and tilted, and I shrieked, finding nothing to hold on to. Kilen was no bigger than I was, but he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pinned me against him when I was nearly tossed overboard. “Easy, Wanda! You’re going to break Fred’s sleigh!” he called.

“No, faster!” Mirkra howled as he reached to scoop a snowball over the rail. He threw it at Zane’s back where it exploded, and Zane nudged his staff to send a wave of snow showering over us.

Their energy was beautiful; their laughter, intoxicating.

But my dizziness returned with all the motion, turning the white around me into a pale tornado. I closed my eyes to keep myself from tipping to the sleigh floor as I breathed in the Winter air I had missed so terribly for eleven long months.

WELCOME, A TIME AGAIN

THE FIRST INTERRUPTION

Kaley Bell flashed Cornelius Britley a caramel-candy smile as she boarded the train on the cusp of downtown Waterloo, nudging along a once-Patrolman on her shotgun’s nose. The train conductor offered a pleasant smile in return.

“I have a ticket!” Kaley’s high, sweet voice rang o’er the boxcar as she tugged down the collar of her shirt. A shiny, snowflake-shaped trinket glowed beneath the train’s candlelight; one she was sure Cornelius Britley would recognize as he spied on them from where he sorted blankets. The doorwoman leaned in to see through her spectacles, but Cornelius chuckled and waved them through.

“Bring them tea,” he told the doorwoman. “They’ll need it to ease that spirited chill between them.” He cast Kaley a long-lashed wink as she pushed Eliot Gray past, and Kaley thanked the train conductor with another smile.

Once the cabin doors were sealed, Kaley let out the breath she had been holding and tossed her grandmother’s coat aside to reveal the weapon underneath. The once-Patrolman looked ‘round the cabin and slumped into the seat across, settling his icy blue gaze upon his captor. “You’re naive,” he said to the Trite.

“You’re wicked,” Kaley said, with spice of her own.

“You’re small.”

“You’re going to regret the day you sent the Greed to drag my brother and I from our home.”

Eliot’s jaw shifted left, then right.

They did not speak for the rest of the ride.

THE THIRD

I tried to shake the chill on my spine as we rode further in, but the air in Winter felt sharper than I remembered. I studied the sky, wondering if it had always had a grayish haze to it. We passed a forest where glassy branches looked like they’d begun to crisp to charcoal at the points. My fingertips buzzed like the trees’ ash was beneath my nails, and I drummed them against my knees.