“Colin!!” She knew it was Colin, now. She could tell even from the back. She could see him standing in front of her. He stood straighter than Max did, slightly taller, although oddly more fragile, his arms longer, his presence quieter even as he stood. The snow was still falling. She wondered if he could see that the road had ended. In front of them was a lake, frosted over as if it had iced.

And she watched as he stepped onto the icy surface and, in less than a step forward, fell into the freezing water below.

“Max!!” she screamed and immediately screamed again, “Colin!!” hoping one of them could hear her.

She could only imagine how cold it must be and see that he might never be able to find a way out of the lake, as the surface was completely frosted over.

There wasn’t a moment to think about what she could do. Tess jumped from her mount and dove, directly down into the freezing cold water that startled her through to inside of her bones, as if cold mercury was running through her veins, and her lungs were in danger of collapsing. She held her breath and dove, deep down until she found him.

She and Max used to have psychic communication. “Max!!!” she screamed in her mind. And embraced him with both of her arms. And then she did the same thing to Colin, hoping he might be able to hear her, too. Holding her breath underwater, “Colin!!” she screamed in her mind, as she held onto him tighter.

He didn’t fight her. He didn’t have much fight in him at that point. It was as if he was frozen through. She didn’t let herself think about whether he was breathing. She kicked as hard as she could, kicked them up to the surface. And swam to the edge and managed to push all of them onto the snow.

“Max!!”

But nobody answered.

“Colin!”

Nobody answered again.

“Max!!” She started to pound softly on his chest. And took a deep breath and breathed into him. She pounded again on his chest and took another deep breath and breathed it into him.

And he sputtered. She’d never been so happy to hear such a sound. He sputtered and coughed. She lifted him slightly and hit him harder on the back until she was sure, quite certain he was breathing on his own.

She took the blanket from the back of Comet and wrapped herself and him in it. She was as cold as he was. Her fingers were almost blue.