But Maeve doesn’t register this as a question for her and pours some hot coffee into her mug. As she takes a sip, she realizes they are all looking at her.

“Sim?” Maeve says. “How should I know?”

Justin and Sadie exchange a glance. Karo brightens a little.

“We just assumed,” she says. “Silly of us.”

As though on cue, the back door off the lobby swings open and Sim walks in, stamping the snow off his boots. He’s carrying wood from the big pile outside the door.

“You were outside?” Dan is unhappy. This is not emergency protocol.

“I was up early. Walking,” Sim says. He sets the firewood down in a snowy heap. “Solvitur ambulando. What’s wrong?”

“For one thing, I said I want everyone to stay together. And it’s foolish. You could have been locked out.” Dan goes over to the door. “You should have been locked out, in fact—these doors are all set to lock on contact. For security.”

Sim cracks the door open a few inches.

“Yeah, I rigged this one a little. Anna wanted a smoke last night; I thought it would be handy. See?” He fiddles with the latch for Dan’s benefit. “I know what I’m doing.”

Maeve watches him demonstrate and slides a hand against her hip pocket. The bear claw is still there.

“Look,” Dan says, glancing at Anna in an irritated way before turning back to Sim. “As long as we have no power, I’m responsible here. Do me a favor, don’t fuck with the doors.”

Sim lets the door fall closed, hands raised.

“I was awake, what else is there to do?” He goes to the fire, and grabs a mug where they sit warming on the hearth. “Temperature’s dropping out there,” he says. “This thing is going to get worse before it gets better.”

Karolina and Dan look at each other.

“Right,” Dan says. “I feel like we’ll be back in business by the end of the day.”

“Do we get to take a vote?” Sadie says. She hasn’t moved from her chair, one leg crossed primly over the other. “Because I know who I’m inclined to believe.”

Dan glares at her, his mouth set, but Karo catches his eye and he turns abruptly away.

“Keep her away from me,” he says as though only Karo can hear.

He’s proposed a group hike out to the eastern edge of the property, sort of a long way around to where the grounds meet a secondary road to town. The main gates are buried under snow, but farther out, they may find a whole different situation.