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Hannah peered into the darkness, but the light did not return, so she sat back down A ht her eye outside the circle of light from the fire, and she turned her head back to other side of the lake The light was back, and this tiht at them
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The light was accoain but the noise ree of an e shape of a snowht, and then the light winked off and the engine cut o
ut The dogs began to bark, but Hannah could identify their voices almost individually now and was not worried Each of the the hello/pay attention/we are here bark, not the wordless growl of being confronted by a true predator, the way they had with the wolf
“Hello!” called a voice over the barking
“Hello?” Hannah called back, standing up with her bowl still in her hand
“I saw the fire I live on the other side of the lake Are you okay?”
For a lanced at Peter, as still sitting and had his spoon halfway to his mouth
“We’re okay,” she finally called
A bulky shape rose off the machine and walked toward thes lay back down and went to sleep, even Sencha, as still wedged between Rudy and Bogey
“I would have been here sooner, but I couldn’t come across the lake — ice is rotten from this crazy weather”
“We know,” said Hannah
Beside her she heard Peter laugh, then cough, spitting out phleght there,” he said It seemed like the understatement of her life
Hannah watched thea long dark-green parka with fur around the hood It had many deep pockets on the outside — a woodsman’s jacket His mitts were the snowmobile kind, ide ends that fit over his jacket to keep the wind out Beneath his hood and above the snow goggles he wore, Hannah could see the edge of a brown knit toque
The ined how the two of the the too close to the fire, still bedraggled fro His eyes flicked over the packed sled and the four dogs before co back to the fire and the snow-filled pot beside it, then the water bottles that sat open- to be refilled He took a step toward thehtly lifted, and Nook raised a lip in silent warning Thehis foot into its previous footprint He left his hands hanging and lifted his chin in the greeting that locals used, pointing it at them