Up ahead, a crowd had gathered in front of a house. They were standing almost in a circle, bundled up against the cold, with scarves hastily tied around their necks and heavy overcoats that nobody had stopped to button.

Comet came to a stop. Tess looked over at the people. “What’s happened?” she asked. “What’s happened?”

But nobody seemed to hear her.

She could see Colin’s mother who held the note in her hand. Someone had something like a flashlight and was beaming it on to the note. Someone else was holding what looked like a map as if they were trying to ascertain a possible route. The snow was falling.

Comet hit the pavement with her right foot, forcefully, as if to make a point, causing what looked like a search party to look at her. As everyone looked worried and frantic and about to go out on a hunt in all different directions.

But the expressions on the faces of the people visibly changed from concern to one of joy and amazement as they saw the amazing horse Comet come to a stop at the curb.

And then she heard him whisper in her ear, softly but clear as a bell, the English accent so distinct, “Thank you.”

Tess saw the expression on Colin’s mother’s face as Tess heard someone’s feet land on the sidewalk and watched as Colin jumped down from the horse and ran into his mother’s arms.

It was a strange sight indeed. The white horse pulling up at the curb with the boy clinging on to the blanket. No one in the search party could see Tess or Max—just a boy named Colin who’d been brought home from his adventure in the snow.

He ran into his mother’s arms and there were tears streaming down her cheeks, tears of joy. They were joined in a moment by what looked like Colin’s father. The three of them held each other in an embrace. Colin was shivering. His father slid his coat off and placed it around Colin and picked him up in his arms. And Tess watched as the three of them, followed by some of the search party, climbed the steps back to the house, and opened the door to go in. Tess could just get a glimpse of a very large Christmas tree, lovingly and perfectly decorated with silver and glass ornaments and garlands made out of holly, before the front door shut again.

Tess had a moment where she couldn’t help but wonder as the door shut behind Colin, if that was what England was always going to be for her, a place where she would meet someone who she might never see again.

And then she felt Max’s arms around her waist.