Cold Spell

stretch of shore Kai is exploring, his shoulders hunched forward and his breathing slow and methodical. He stares out over the lake, as if he thinks he sees something. Larson, on his right, a few dozen yards back now, is walking a few feet out onto the ice.

I grab a handful of snow and lob it as hard as I can in Kai’s direction. He pauses and turns; I see his eyes flicker to an area ahead of me. Kai takes a step forward. Yes, yes… though if he signals to the others, it’s over. I should have waited till they were more spread out, till he couldn’t reach them—

Kai starts up the bank toward me. Larson is preoccupied with something on the lake and doesn’t see him going. I exhale in relief, tuck myself against a thick tree trunk, and rub my fingers gently, readying them to hold the knife, reminding myself that he might not be Kai anymore. That it might be too late, and this is what Kai— my Kai—would want. I stare at the knife blade as Kai’s footsteps quicken. He runs forward, runs past me—

“Kai.” I say his name, refusing to let my voice shake.

He whirls around and finds me. He smiles; the slow, heinous expression doesn’t fit his face.

“You keep calling me that,” he says in a playful voice. He doesn’t blink; his eyes are wide and crazed- looking, void of any warmth.

“It’s your name,” I say. “Do you remember?”

He shakes his head, as if this delights him. It feels as if my heart is crumbling, becoming ash in my chest.

“Are you sure?” I ask, and my voice finally breaks. I won’t let tears fall—I can’t, I can’t risk not being able to see—but the sob in my throat won’t be stopped.

Kai takes a step closer to me, extends his fingers, and then balls his hands into tight fists. “You got away from us,” he says smoothly. “That was clever. You’re clever. What are you doing here?”

I exhale, forcing my shoulders back. Grip the knife. Say it, just say it, even if your voice cracks. The words jumble in my head before finding their way past my lips.

“I’m here to kill you.”

Kai smiles wider. And then he lunges for me.

I leap backward and spin around the tree trunk. He doubles back the other way, but I expected it; I lash out with the knife, catch his shirt, and slice at it, barely nicking the skin. Just as Flannery promised, he glances down at the wound; I fling myself at him, catching him off balance, and we tumble down together. He punches me in the stomach, hard, and I can’t find my breath, but don’t stop, don’t stop. This might be your only chance. I bring the knife down, dig my knee into his chest, and position the blade over his heart. He goes to swipe it away, and I press down, drawing the tiniest bit of blood.

Kai’s arms fall back; his eyes find mine, cold and hard and hateful. He twists underneath me; I press the knife down again, grimace as I feel it pop through a layer of skin. Kai tries to swallow a groan, but I hear it anyway. His chest trembles in pain.

“They’ll kill you,” he whispers at me. “They’ll tear you apart. As soon as she realizes you’re here, she’ll come; my brothers will come. They’ll eat you, one bite at a time, from the inside out.”

The boy I loved is gone.

I want to close my eyes, but I can’t—he’d use the moment to get away. I brace myself and slam one hand down over his eyes so I don’t have to look at them. Do it. Make it fast; make it quick. I shift my weight forward so I’ll be able to use my whole body to drive the knife in. The skin on his forehead and cheeks feels so cold underneath my hand.

One. Two. My eyes wander across his face, trying to memorize the details—I won’t see him again. Ever again. I’m shaking. I have to do this now before he moves, before he sees that he has the upper hand.

I bring my lips down to Kai’s; they’re so cold they burn mine. Yet behind the fire, they’re familiar. Lips I’ve kissed before. Lips I thought I would spend a lifetime kissing. I want him to wrap him arms around me, holding me tight as if it’s the first time all over again, but of course he doesn’t. So I pretend. Pretend it’s like before, pretend Kai loves me and I love Kai and no matter what either of us becomes or does, where either of us goes, the fact that we love each other will never change. I focus on the fantasy, on Kai’s lips against mine as I inhale, preparing to drive the knife in on the exhale—

Kai shoves me, hard, sending me flying backward. The knife flies from my hands, and I crash to the ground. Find your footing, get up, quick, find the knife. Kai fumbles away from me, and I frantically search the snow. His back hits a tree; he stops, pulls his hands out of the snow, and stares at them, red and aching from the cold. Finally, his eyes find mine, and when he speaks, his voice is a shaky whisper. “Ginny?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

I stare. Is it a trick?

“What does three flashes mean? With the flashlight?” I ask hurriedly.

“I…” Kai shakes his head, squinting. “It means come over.”

“What did Grandma Dalia call me?”

“The neighbor child.”

I inhale, nod. Tears are rising in my eyes, but I blink them back furiously. “What were you playing with, the day we first met?”

“A Frisbee. Ginny,” he says again as he begins to shiver. I walk over to him, staring—his lips are pink again, but they’re dimming, slowly turning blue once more. His eyes are hardening, his skin paling—

I grab his hand.

He jolts upward, the warmth returns. His eyes are shaky and his breath is uneven when he speaks. “What happened to me?”

“Kai,” I say, exhaling, and wrap my arms around him. He feels bony and wrong and broken, but he buries his head against my neck the way he’s always done. His hands find my waist pull me closer, quivering like a sick person.

“What happened to me?” he asks against my skin.

“It’s… complicated,” I say. “What do you remember?”

“I remember Mora,” he says. “I remember… I remember everything, but it feels like a dream. I think it was a dream.”

“I wish,” I say. I pull off my coat and shove the flashlight into my hoodie pocket, but in the few seconds it takes me to put the coat on him—during which I have to release his palm—I see him start to darken again. I can’t let go, or he’ll go back to…

Her.

“Kai,” I say. I rise. “We have to find Mora.”

“Mora,” he says, blinking hard. “She’s real. It was all real.”

“Yes. We have to find her because she still has power over you. When I let go—”

“I know,” Kai says, his voice clearing a little. “When you let go I become hers. It’s like she’s running my body, and I’m falling farther and farther away from it.” He squeezes my hand tightly, steps closer to me, and kisses me on the forehead. He’s still so cold that it makes me shiver. He inhales, finds my eyes. “Are you going to kill her?”

I look down. “Not unless I have to.”

“Like you were going to kill me. If you had to.” It’s half a question—would you really have done it, Ginny? Kai looks as if he doesn’t understand how what he’s asking can line up with the girl he knows.

“If I had to,” I answer in a whisper. “I’d have done it if I had to.” Kai nods and seems to accept this as truth. “Come on. The house I saw earlier—is she in it right now?”

“Maybe. She probably went to see what we were chasing—” Kai winces and puts his hand to his temple. He