Peter closed first Teddy’s eyes and then, after a while, the front door quietly behind him and made his way downhill back on to the lake. And he ran, turning only once to see the flames. He’d held the candle to the curtains in every room. The fire quickly took hold, and as it breached the walls, erupting into broiling flames above the island, the cabin became a pyre for all that were lost there. And soon those glittering embers were one with the stars and Peter said his goodbyes to Rider and then to those friends he’d lost to the caves, and quietly stepped up into the boathouse.

The white deer skull broke from the darkness before the rest of the Ghost Ranger became visible against the back door. The antlers tilted forward, acknowledging Peter’s presence, but the blank stare made it impossible to know if he was also searching for the sheriff behind him. But he didn’t advance. He stood guard, just as he’d been instructed to, beneath the hanging weaponry which came clinking in the wind all about them.

Peter pulled the dossier from inside his jacket and held it flat in his palms, first looking at the senate insignia with the bald eagle crowning the flag, then into the Ghost Ranger’s hollow gaze.

“Did you even know what you were fighting for?” he said. “Did you?”

The Ghost Ranger drew himself up to his full height so the points of his antlers were sharp above him, and said nothing.

“Because I don’t think you did. I don’t suppose you even knew why they sent you out there. And now people are dead who didn’t even know anything about this. A baby who didn’t know anything about this. But I don’t suppose it’s your job to even ask.”

The boathouse creaked beneath the hurrying snow and the Ghost Ranger stepped forward.

“But you see,” said Peter. “I need to get past you. I need to get back to the town because I think we’re in trouble down there. Only I don’t know why because I’ve been too stupid to ask my Cooper the reason why he’s been going into a trance and what’s troubling him about the Dead in the woods.”

The Ghost Ranger took another step closer.

“So one of us has to get out of the way.”

“Peter,” came that reedy voice beneath the mask.

“One of us has to step aside.”

“Peter!”

Peter recoiled, aghast to hear his own name break from behind the mask. It sounded as raggedy as razors but somehow so warm, reassuring even, like a loved one calling him back from a terrible nightmare.