But Becky didn’t answer. She ducked back off the bluff. A moment later she reappeared with the others, heading out across the ridge in single file, then in and out among the pines beneath him. The gang called out Peter’s name, whistling and hollering for him to follow. And soon the snow came, sprinkling its silence first over the forest as they went, and then the little grey town beneath the little grey lights where silence had already paid a visit and decided to stay.

29

The fairy lights above Mainstreet clinked dully in the drifting snow. But it was the only movement. Every shop window was dark. Every one of those little light bulbs that once ran around the Wranglestone Roxy sign had long given up their chase. Most were as broken as eggshells. And every one of the little red-brick houses stood frozen in snow. Put to sleep by winter. Put to sleep by time. Put to sleep by the absence of anyone living here. The neon Coca-Cola sign spluttered and fizzed above them, casting a pool of red light in the snow at their feet, and Peter gazed up, listening first to the giant O creak wearily from its cable, then the wet crunch of Cooper’s boots as he broke away from the others. He took a few steps forward, pulling his Stetson down over his eyes to shield them, and raised a hand for the group to observe silence.

“We don’t got much time if we want to make it back before sundown,” he said. “Tokala, if you stand watch I’ll take the town hall. Emmett and Earle, you go check the diner and Becky, see if you can find one of ’em in the drug store.”

Becky shoved her hair back inside her bandana and nodded.

“But take Pete with you.”

“OK,” she said.

“And make sure he don’t leave your sight.”

“I get it.”

“I mean it. There could be any amount of ’em down here.”

Becky rolled her eyes. “Yes, already. But only if Pete promises to stop apologizing.”

“I think I should be the one to go with Peter,” said Earle, clearing her throat. “He can go on about how sorry he is to me if he likes. Emmett can vouch for the fact that I won’t be listening.”

Emmett nodded. “I told her my entire tragic backstory once and when I’d finished, she looked at me and, with no hint of irony whatsoever, asked, When did sheep happen?”

Earle shrugged. “It’s a good question. I mean, do any of us know if they were knocking around with the dinosaurs? Or did they just pop up with the Bible?”

“Conquistadors introduced them to my people in the fifteen hundreds,” said Tokala. “That and syphilis. But before that, I really couldn’t say.”

Earle nodded. “See?”