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Kitsune had woken hi the close air of the cabin’s shuttered interior Her jade eyes had glowed in the dih theThere had been no real conversation Oliver had breakfasted on deviled ham and taken the last of the cupboard’s old supplies-- two cans of SpaghettiOs-- and the can opener, and slipped theone out the back door of the cabin to piss in the woods, wondering where Frost had spent the night, and then they had set off

Hours had passed Oliver figured it was still , but based upon the position of the sun in the sky, it was sliding on toward noon They had trudged for ed while the other two h the snoithout any difficulty whatsoever A while back, as the day had groaran toover one shoulder His feet were still cold and nuh and his body was heated by the exertion

Every hour or so they paused to let Oliver catch his breath and lean against a tree for a few minutes, but he could see the restlessness of his coht to press them on the source of that anxiety, but he was consumed by his own concerns and left them to speak in their own time

Memories of his home haunted hie Lane accoh the woods of northern Maine Melting snow dripped off skeletal branches and the needles of pine trees, glistening in the sun, and he remembered a lifetime of Decee In particular, his ain to his mother’s parlor, before the blizzard and the winter auzy, sepia-toned memories of his mother

How could it be that his memories had more heft and substance and immediacy to him than the events of the past two days? Yet it was true The world beyond the Veil had crystallized in his mind and he accepted the reality of it It was fantastic, without question, but there was nothing dreahness of the terrain, the texture of things there: tree bark, the grit of the Sandh the forest

Noas in his oorld The real world He was still a target, still hunted, just as if he hier involved in attee ahead The regret, the longing to stay here in the world he knew and understood, was sharp and profound Though he relished the recent collision of his life with the extraordinary and the impossible, this exposure to the familiar made him hesitate

Despite all of that, the world see rink and the train station, with the ht froh they had happened to soh the Veil and witness the wonders there, but entirely another to be wandering the north woods on a Dece with an exotic shape-shifter and Jack Frost

So he held on to those rown up As distant as they felt from him now, they were all that seeer they walked, the less real it all seemed to him The forest was pristine with the recent snowfall, the sky a perfect blue The colors were so rich and the air so pure that Oliver felt as though this was the world of ic and myth, that there was really little difference bethat he knew and what existed beyond the Veil As if he could pass through to the other side just by looking out the corner of his eye, by stepping at a certain angle past an ancient tree

As tired as he was, it was not the ache in his legs that brought hih ahead that he could only make out the shape of her, crouched upon the snow, and the sunlight on her bright orange-red fur He could not have said, in that moment, whether she wore the form of woman or fox, and understood that it did not matter

The winterNow he see beyond exhaustion in Oliver, for he tilted his head, icicles of hair cascading to one side with a strange December music, and studied his friend

Friend What a strange word Oliver wondered if he and Frost truly were friends, or if only the debt between them kept the winteran answer to the question

"Are you all right?" Frost asked

Oliver leaned against the nearest tree and put his head back against rough bark, dropping his parka on the snow The question was vast, the possible answers infinite But he knew Frost was not asking about his general well-being

"I’ his pal hi

"It should be safe tonow," the winter man replied "It will be warmer there And by now the Hunters have ht and will be pursuing us here If the Falconer is a us If we are to stop for any length of time, it would be best to be on the other side of the Veil"

When the sun hit hile, Frost was partially translucent Oliver found it difficult not to stare at the beauty of it

"Sounds logical," he replied, but his thoughts were elsewhere With a frown he ran his fingers through his hair and held his ar back to the skating rink fro it off from the rest of the park

"What troubles you, Oliver?"

He glanced up at Frost "At the moment?"

The winter man nodded

"The Sandman" Oliver studied hiht The police up here aren’t going to kno to contend with that How can they, when they have no idea what they’re up against?"

Frost took a deep breath and let it out in a plue ation to stay To help"

"So like that"

"But you know the police would never believe you And if you found yourself in the path of the Sandman, he would have your eyes You know that even now the Hunters are searching for you"

Oliver knocked his head against the tree again "Yeah But it just feels wrong We’re talking about children here There are going to be others"

"Perhaps," Frost allowed, those blue-white eyes clear and unforgiving "Yet you have no reason to believe the Sandman will stay in this world He has been a prisoner for a very long ti his actions noould be impossible Even if he does stay on this side of the Veil, he isn’t likely to linger in this particular area If ere free to pursue him, I would join you in that quest Perhaps it will come to pass But at thethe sword of Dales above our heads"

The reference was unfamiliar but Oliver understood the intent Reluctantly, he nodded "I get it I never had any illusions that we had a choice in this That doesn’t make me feel any better"