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"Maybe there’s a ground entrance," Noah said, scanning the ceilings until he found a set ofon a bale of hay, he pushed theht sky, blue and ith stars

He lifted hiht behind him A vast field stretched before us, the snow packed into ice We ran through it, the air sharp on s as we headed for the lake and the woods beyond

I skidded to a stop as we reached the shore, where the ice met the snow

"Is it safe to walk on?" I shouted,about my cheeks as I turned Behind us, the Undead boys were slipping out of the farht, likeas he stepped onto the lake "This was an ice farotten it from somewhere"

I wavered as I listened to see if the ice beneath Noah was cracking But all I could hear was the snow crunching beneath the feet of the Undead behind us

The blackbirds nestled on the surface scattered as we ran across the lake, our shoes slipping on the ice as the January winds nus When we h the branches, their pallid faces a di to follow us, until a deep voice booure appeared, tall and narrow like a scarecrow I felt the Undead children gather and beco the peri us as we vanished into the night

Chapter 13

ICE, THE GAS STATION ADVERTISED IN NEON

It had taken us an hour to get there, trudging through the woods until our legs were numb and caked with snow

"There was no riddle in there," Noah said, catching his breath "What was that place?"

"I don’t know," I said, bending over my knees "A place where the Undead live A place run by the Liberu for the riddle, too They’re trying to find the secret"

"They said that?"

I shook"No I can just feel it" Suddenly I regretted not looking for the last part of the riddle sooner What would happen if the Liberum found it first?

"Why would you have a vision of that?" he asked, incredulous "Why would your dreao there?"

"It’s not my fault," I cried out defensively, and then covered my face, embarrassed

"I never said it was," he said, and held the door of the gas station for

Noah nodded to the cashier, a greasy lanced out theat the trees

I closedbehind the children as we ran away "I can’t feel them anywhere"

While Noah approached the cashier to ask about a taxi, I wandered to the side of the store, trying to calm erator, all I could think of was Dante doing the saure by the woods been a Brother of the Liberu with theone to the farmhouse and taken Cindy Bell’s name from the mailbox?

"Renée?" Noah said "Are you okay? You look sick"

I sed, realizing I was hunched over a counter, my stomach queasy I knocked over a cup of plastic lids as I picked myself up "Sorry, I’m fine," I said, and bent down to collect the ht have already missed it He said he’ll call a taxi to come pick us up, if ant to try and make it What do you think?"

I nodded I wanted to tell Noah everything about me and Dante, but knew that I couldn’t How could I explain that I’d fallen in love with the person who e and Cindy Bell; the person who could have killedwhen he said he lovedto hih the drip while aited for a taxi, Noah pacing by the pastry shelf, gazing out theThe fluorescent lights buzzed over the gas pu the snow as it fell atop the canopy above them The horizon beyond was black I knee had escaped, that the boys from the farure, but for so watched

Thirty minutes later, a blue car picked us up, its windshield wipers squeaking against the snoobbled through the icy streets A faint light shone from the ferry station, but after we paid the driver and went inside, we realized that it was empty The ticket counter was closed and locked with aroom It was lined with rows of cheap plastic chairs and metal rubbish bins

He checked a note on the wall "The last ferry was canceled due to incle"

"Nohat?"

"We wait here, I guess"

"What if they co an inventory of the room, Noah picked up ahim, I helped move two trash bins in front of the back door, and then locked all the s "At least noe’ll hear the my scarf as a pillow, I lay down on the chairs across froht wore off, the air between us grew tense