She remembered Adele’s words about Colin, “You’re the only who can put him back on solid ground.” And while Tess didn’t exactly know what that meant, she was certain that moment was starting now. She was starting to understand why Colin might have done this. And the anger she felt at him was starting to melt even though the snow was still falling all around her.

“Don’t worry Tess. Don’t worry about Comet,” said Mr. Cortland. “She knows the way. And, from what I’ve heard about you, you do, too.

“Take care of her,” he added. It wasn’t clear whether it was Tess or Comet he was speaking to.

“Ready?” he asked Tess.

She nodded and remembering her manners, she said quietly, almost mouthing the words, “Thank you. I promise,” she said as if she was making a sacred vow, “I’ll see you again.”

There was no time to waste. There was no sight of “the person who used to be Max.” And Mr. Cortland made that funny noise he made with his tongue, as if he was clicking it against his cheek, and Comet took off, with full credit to her name, like a rocket through the snowy plough, along the path that Tess could only hope had been made by “the person who used to be Max.”

It wasn’t a question of holding on—there was no saddle, no stirrups, simply the reins—it was more as if she was truly one with the horse, her body completely in tune with Comet, her legs tightly latched to the horse’s sides, leaning in, completely in step and in tune with Comet’s rhythmic canter and their steady quest for “the person who used to be Max.”

The snow was all around them, high like a wall or a patch in-between two sides of a mountain, as they raced along the slim visible trail like it was a championship Olympic event and they were on a competitive sled ride. Except the only thing they were racing was time, as the snow continued to build up around them, filling in the path, and the only way forward was by instinct.

“Don’t worry about Comet,” Mr. Cortland had said. “She knows the way.”

The way where? Tess wondered. And she couldn’t help wondering if she also knew the way back.

The snow seemed to stop at a moment, strangely. As if they’d hit the end of the road.

Comet stopped abruptly, and Tess had to hold herself from tumbling forward as the horse came to a dead stop.