“Halfway from Brooklyn,” said Ariel. “We started in East Meadow, so we really haven’t come that far.”

“Thanks for the pep talk,” said Isolde, too exhausted to manage much of a glare.

“We only made it two miles today,” said Xochi. The baby was slowing them down. “The farther east we go, the worse the snow is going to be; the rain was always worse farther out on the island, at least, and I imagine the snow’s going to be the same.”

“We won’t give up,” said Hobb firmly. “This is my son we’re talking about.”

Ariel and Xochi gave each other a look, but said nothing.

“We’re almost to Riverhead,” said Kessler. “Another fifteen miles or so; a week at the most.”

“We’ve made worse time every day,” said Xochi. “Who knows how long fifteen miles could take us?”

“Riverhead is the largest community outside of East Meadow,” said Kessler. “The Partials relocated everyone during the occupation, but their supplies might still be available—clean water, stored grain, smokehouses full of fish. At the very least we’ll find houses with good windows, working chimneys, and clean clothes.”

“We’re not planning to stay there,” said Xochi.

“I’m just saying we’d have the option,” said Kessler. “A few days to recuperate and get our feet back under us, or a few weeks to sit out this storm.”

“We don’t have a few weeks,” said Hobb. “There is a nuclear bomb—”

“This storm will hinder Delarosa’s progress just as much as ours,” said Ariel. “There’s no way she’s going to make it to White Plains and set that thing off.”

“That only makes it more likely that she’ll set it off early,” said Hobb. “That she’ll set it off closer.”

“But if the storm ever breaks—” said Kessler, but Nandita cut her off, speaking up for the first time that evening.

“This storm isn’t going to break,” she said. “You heard the giant as clearly as I did—this isn’t a freak storm, it’s the return of winter; the first great backswing of Earth’s pendulum, struggling to rebalance itself. And as far as that pendulum swung in one direction, it’s going to have to swing just as far in the other. This winter could last a year or more, and this storm? I shudder to think of it.”

“All the more reason to push through to Riverhead,” said Xochi. “Kessler’s right about their supplies, and we’ll need all the help we can get if we’re going to make it to Plum Island.”

“You could at least call me ‘Erin,’” said Kessler, “since apparently ‘Mother’ is too much to ask for.”