Page 70 of Winter’s Teeth

After stealing our phones out of our pockets, they pushed us into the one-room cabin and slammed the door shut behind us, locking it up tight with what sounded like bolts and a padlock.

I dropped to my knees, both physically and mentally spent.

Not a single piece of furniture decorated the small space. No carpet on the bare wood floors, no seating against the plain wooden walls. Not even a curtain to cover the windows with little holes from where the elements snuck in. Leaves littered the place, swept up in piles in the corners of the room by drafts.

Fox laid down on the hard floor, heaving a huge sigh with his eyes shut. Frost coated the ends of his hair where the dampness collected. He didn’t shiver though. He didn’t seem cold at all despite his second brush with death in the creek.

I laid down parallel to his body, our heads beside each other and feet facing opposite directions.

“Now what?” I whispered into the void. Into the night. Not expecting any sort of helpful answer.

Fox inhaled a ragged, hoarse breath. When he spoke, his voice was threadbare, completely strung out as if he’d been screaming under the water the whole time his cousin drowned him. “I wish I knew...”

I looked up to the window as hazy clouds drifted across the silver moon. My rage simmered and cooled, but before it could die out, I tucked it into a corner. Right now, I couldn’t use it, but when the right time came...

I didn’t care if I had a gun or my bare hands.

Arthur, Gavin, Brett, and whoever else crossed my path would die in the most painful way conceivable.

Chapter 31

We laid on the dirty cabin floor for at least half an hour. I said nothing, and neither did Fox. He’d nearly died, so I didn’t fault him for not feeling chatty.

As my initial shock faded to numbness, new fears had space to crawl into the forefront of my mind.

Are my friends okay? Are they worried? Are they tracking my phone and walking into a trap?

Is Everly okay? Is Arthur hurting her now? Have they moved her? Was that even her at the cabin?

Are Fox and I going to survive this?

My latest predicament was a far cry from the luxury cabin and catered meals I had received twice a day. “He better give me a refund,” I grumbled, mostly to myself. “I paid for two weeks in the cabin. Not to be locked up here.”

Fox didn’t so much as breathe a response.

I turned my head to the side, peering over at him.

His eyes were still shut, but his chest rose and fell with steady breathing.

“Fox?”

A small grunt.

“Are you ready to talk?”

He said nothing.

Holding my hands over my stomach, I picked at a hangnail and tried not to get upset with him. My thoughts were racing a hundred miles an hour, and I needed to discuss them soon. I needed to work on a plan and figure out a way to get us out of this mess.

Surely it was possible. We just had to be willing to fight.

“Whenever people ask me what my favorite season is, I say winter,” I began. A little rambling never hurt anyone. “People think I’m crazy for it, but I like it more than spring or summer. Definitely more than summer... ‘Cause you can put more layers on in the winter to stay warm, but you can’t always take more layers off in the summer. Not without getting fined for public indecency.”

I wobbled my head, considering if I should keep going, then said, “I hate being hot, but I don’t mind the cold. Snow is beautiful, and it’s my favorite time of year because I get to go back to school and see friends.”

When I took a breath, Fox filled the silence with a rasping reply. “I like the winter, too.”

“Yeah?” I glanced over. “Good choice. What about flowers? Do you have a favorite type?”