We leave the island and walk back across the frozen sea. Rose carries the Box in front of her as carefully as if it were a baby. We speed up when we get to the forest, desperate to reach the safety of the ship, following our footprints from earlier. Our breath mists the air. Like dragons, I think, wishing one of the dragons was with us now, protecting us and filling this frozen world with fire.

Rose comes to a sudden stop.

“What is it?” I say. We’re almost back at the shore. I can see the boat bobbing around. Mitch must be there, waiting for us.

Rose looks from left to right. “I thought I heard something.”

“Me too,” says Win. “It was just snow falling, wasn’t it?”

Rose shakes her head. “No, it sounded more like . . . feathers.”

“Stop it, Rose,” I say. “This place is creepy enough as it is. You’re imagining things.”

She nods, letting me pull her forward, her hands still wrapped around the Box.

But then something catches my eye. Sitting hunched in the branches of a tree is a figure. My heart seems to stop beating as a pale face grins down at me. “RUN!” I shout, but already Crowky is leaping from the tree. He glides to the ground, wings spread wide, and lands, blocking our path.

We spin around, ready to race back the way we’ve come, but we’ve only taken a few steps when we realize that something is happening to the trees. They’re trembling and moving.

“What’s going on?” I say as clumps of snow tumble to the ground. Then outstretched arms and stick fingers appear and heavy sack heads swing from side to side, scattering snow in all directions.

“It’s the scarecrow army!” yells Rose.

They’ve been waiting for us, hidden among the trees and disguised by the snow.

Crowky makes a clicking noise and the scarecrows start to step closer until they’ve formed a circle around us. Then they stand there, staring, their tattered clothes floating in the wind.

Crowky’s eyes are fixed on the Box.

“You’ve been here the whole time, haven’t you?” I say.

He nods and laughs. “Thank you for the snowstorm. It hid us beautifully.”

I shiver to think that we walked right through the pack of scarecrows, and the whole time Crowky was up in that tree watching us. But something doesn’t make sense. The bay is huge and so is the forest. How did Crowky know where to hide his army? Then I remember what happened on the deck of the Alisha: Crowky holding the map and then grabbing my face and turning it. He was showing me where to look!

“You knew where the Box was hidden,” I say.