She could hear Mr. Cortland saying again, Don’t worry, she knows the way. And Tess certainly hoped that was true, as the path they’d travelled had now been covered again by snow and all that was around them was a blanket of white accompanied by the fierce wind and an occasional strange icicle which seemed to be wanting to trap them and pull them back towards the lake.

Tess touched her hair and wasn’t surprised that it felt stiff, almost as if it was frozen. Of course, it did, she’d been in the water. She’d rescued “the person who used to be Max” who was now holding on to her. She wanted to turn back and see him, but Comet was racing so quickly that she didn’t have the chance. She had to lean in and race with the horse as if they were one and hold onto the belief that what she felt was Max’s arms around her.

Still holding on to the reins with one hand, Tess reached back and put her arm around “Max’s” waist. He was so cold that she felt a shiver run through her, the moment she touched him. But he was there. There, behind her.

“Hold onto me, Max. Hold onto me.”

But all that answered her was the wind.

~ CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE ~

flashback/flash forward

Tess could see in front of her that the slopes of snow ended in a moment and they would be out on the street. Out of the park. Almost on solid ground.

Comet raced on and Tess could hear the almost metallic sound as her hoofbeat hit the pavement and Hyde Park was behind them.

The snow wasn’t piled up on the street the way it had been in the park. There was just a fine layer of snow on the sidewalk and snowflakes gently falling. Tess felt almost as if she’d stepped out of the wake of an avalanche onto solid ground, or come down a mountain to dryer land, or somehow passed through another doorway.

The carriage wasn’t parked at the curb. Mr. Cortland was nowhere to be seen. Nor was anyone else. It was the dead of night and only the street lamps were there as their witness.

“The person who used to be Max” was shivering behind her. She turned and saw that his eyes were closed. He was so pale. He was astonishingly pale. And his eyes were closed. There was something about the way his eyes were closed that frightened her.

“Max!! Max!! Wake up!!” And then she had to do something she’d had to do to him once before.

“I’m sorry, Max. I’m sorry,” she said—and then she slapped him full-on on the cheek, leaving a red mark where her hand had been. “Wake up, Max!! Wake up!!”