Peter nodded. He tried to make eye contact with Cooper so he didn’t get lost inside his own pain. But Cooper wouldn’t let him in. Instead, he ducked beneath the rock, carefully removing his Stetson so the overhang didn’t knock it off, or maybe just out of respect for Snowball, and stood there gazing into the river’s dashing waters. And as they stood, with fingertips touching but each of them locked inside their own private goodbye to that trustiest of friends, the Dead came.

The first thing to fall was a tiny rock. It skipped across the overhang, toppling past them into the valley below. Further along the plateau, a cornice of snow snapped, breaking across the rocky outcrops to form a waterfall of cascading plumes. Then Peter heard them.

The herd rumbled towards the edge of the plateau like a thunder of wild horses. Cooper braced his hand across the flat of Peter’s stomach to steady him and another rock bounced off the overhang. A deer, drinking from the shallow waters below, looked up. It started, bolting this way and that, heading back into the darkness of the forest beyond, and was gone.

Another cornice cracked. A shelf of snow as long as a canoe plummeted right past them. It remained intact all the way to the bottom then exploded across the rocks below.

The first of the Dead followed, all jangling limbs like a rag doll from a child’s hands before hitting the shallows below. Another body fell. Then another. It somersaulted past them, freewheeling in mid-air before dashing across the rocks in bloody ribbons. Then came a baying scream from above. It was so disturbing it was all Peter could do to stop himself from covering his ears. Over the years, he’d heard animals being taken by the Restless Ones out on the mainland, from his safety at the foot of the island. But this sound, this wretched sound echoing across the valley was so unnatural, it was hard to imagine that any creature could make it.

Peter took Cooper’s hand. “Close your eyes, now. Cooper, close them.”

Cooper lowered his head so the spills of his hair shielded his face and a bulky white mass dropped right past him. Peter looked away. But it was too late. He’d already seen the writhing mass of gnashing teeth and clawing fingers clambering across Snowball’s body to dominate him even as he fell. They struck the valley floor with force and there was silence. Peter squeezed Cooper’s hand. Then the rest of them followed.