‘Lacey!’

  Curled up in her snow nest, Lacey thought she heard Peter call her name, but that couldn’t be right. She was lost in the Wasteland and he was… he was… She was struggling to keep her thoughts together. It was so cold.

  ‘Lacey!’ She heard Peter’s voice again, coming from right beside her, low and urgent. She was lying stretched out on a cold, hard bed. There was a machine screaming in the background.

  ‘Lacey, don’t leave,’ Peter said, almost desperately. Female voices bled in, pushing him to the background, while urgent hands adjusted things around her body.

  Why would I leave? she wanted to ask. I’m stuck in the Wasteland, aren’t I?

  But he called her name again, as if he hadn’t heard what she’d meant to say.

  ‘Lacey!’ This time it sounded so far away. The scream of the machine melded into the cry of the wind, whistling over the landscape. She was cold and damp, the snow kept melting.

  ‘Lacey!’ His voice was torn by the wind, but it sounded stronger, like he was getting closer. Her eyelids fluttered.

  ‘Lacey!’ he called, the sound carrying more faintly this time. She gasped, inhaling snowflakes. It’s real! And he was going to pass her by.

  ‘Peter!’ she attempted to call, but only the slightest sound came out, barely above a whisper. She cleared her throat, but it was so scratchy.

  ‘Peter, I’m here!’ she tried again, the storm swallowing his name. She had to get it louder still.

  ‘Lacey!’ His call seemed fainter, further away. She had to get his attention!

  She scrabbled on the ground, trying to get up only to collapse again. Her limbs felt so clumsy, so cold.

  ‘Peter!’ she screamed with all her might. This time it worked.

  There was a slight pause, and then he answered, calling, ‘Lacey, is that you?’

  ‘Here, Peter! I’m here!’ she fumbled into a crouch, facing what she hoped was his direction.

  ‘I hear you!’ The storm whipped the words around so badly, but the half syllables she heard was enough. A dim light approached through the showering snowflakes.

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  ‘Peter,’ she called, almost sobbing. And then he was there, rushing forward to catch her in his arms, dropping his pack beside them.

  ‘Lacey, oh Lacey,’ he said, touching her face as if to make sure she was real. ‘I’m so glad I found you,’ he said, pressing a kiss on her lips. She breathed the moment in with surprise, her eyes instinctively searching for his.

  He caught himself, realising what he’d done, but he didn’t pull away. Instead he gathered her in his arms, pulling her close against his body. Relief flowed off him in shaky waves. Tears shot into her eyes as she clung even tighter onto him.

  For a while they just held on to each other. Lacey’s head rested against his chest, one of his hands warm against her cheek and the other steady around her waist as he cradled her.

  And then the wind smacked into them, abruptly whipping around as the storm heightened. Peter’s let go reluctantly, and gently loosened Lacey’s hold on him.

  ‘We have to find shelter,’ he said, his mouth close to her ear, warm breath spilling into her scarf. ‘Can you walk?’

  She nodded uncertainly, her throat too scratchy to say much. He got up first, pulling his backpack back on, and then he reached down to help her up. Her legs shook beneath her, and he caught her around the waist, pulling her other arm over his shoulder. Lifting the lamp he began walking, Lacey staggering along beside him.

  ‘Wrong way,’ she croaked, noticing the dark shadow of the cliffs through a small break in the storm.

  ‘The village is too far away,’ he responded, holding her up as one of her legs slid out from under her. ‘The mountains are better.’

  Too overwhelmed to think about it, she numbly kept walking. He led them to the cliff face, and then turned to follow it, studying it in the light of the lantern through the sheets of falling snow. As much as she wanted to help, she didn’t know how.

  Finally, she thought she spotted a darker shape ahead.

  ‘There?’ she asked, nudging him.

  ‘Yes.’ His pace picked up, fighting through the wind to carry them towards it.

  The light of the lamp revealed no more than a hollow in the cliff side, that rose at a slight angle into the rock face. It was a small space, large enough for them to crawl into where they both could fit, but not enough to stand or lie down.

  Peter lowered her onto the ground, then removed his backpack and hers. He pulled a blanket out of his, before opening hers to rummage through it too. Finding the blanket she packed for Jinxy, he tossed both into the space. Pushing both backpacks in against the side of the hollow, he followed, crawling in himself. Turning to sit with his back against the wall, he motioned for Lacey to follow.

  Awkwardly, she crawled in after him. She only had to go in a couple of paces before she was close enough so he could grab hold of her and guide her in, his hands warm on her body. Then he had her turn, pulling her into his arms to sit between his legs with her back against his chest.

  ‘Can you grab the blankets?’ he asked, his voice hushed.

  Rather than answer, she leaned forward grasping the two and dragging them closer. He spread them over their bodies, Lacey’s lighter blanket first, and then his thicker one on top. Tenderly, he pulled her hat down lower over her ears, before tucking the blanket tight over their shoulders. That done, he wrapped his arms back around her.

  ‘It’s okay now,’ he whispered in her ear. ‘You can go to sleep. I’ve got you.’

  And in that hollow, totally surrounded by his body, she felt safe for the first time that day.

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