‘Peter!’ Lacey screamed into the snow-packed space between the cliffs, where she last saw the abominable snowman’s crystal claws swiping towards him. She paused to listen, praying with everything she had for a reply.

  But, there was only silence.

  She desperately looked around. The previously uniform snow had now been replaced by the lumpy avalanche debris, flung through the space between the cliffs, leaving uneven piles lying around. The edges of its passage were marked by banks of swept-out snow.

  Not knowing what else to do, she began hobbling along its path, again applying the kicking technique she had learned from Peter just that morning with one foot. A good-sized stick poked out of the snow, and she pulled it free to lean on as she walked.

  She felt like her lungs couldn’t properly breathe, but she couldn’t tell whether it was the cold or loss of Peter that had sucked the air out of the atmosphere.

  Whether it was just something to do to dispel the grave silence around her, or whether she still hoped, she couldn’t say.

  ‘Peter?’ she called tentatively, hearing the resignation in her voice as it flowed a little way out over the snowfield.

  A little stir of snow in one of the side snowbanks caught her eye. She didn’t pay it any mind. Just another little piece still settling, she thought to herself. She kept moving forward, leaning heavily on her stick, while she scanned the piles of debris.

  ‘Lacey?’ Peter’s voice spoke from behind her. Sure it was an hallucination, she almost didn’t turn around, listlessly swivelling just for the sake of it.

  Peter was sitting upright, his torso sticking out of the snowbank.

  ‘Peter, oh Peter,’ she gasped, hobbling toward where he was digging out as fast as she could with one leg and a stick. Reaching him, she tossed it aside and fell to her knees to grab his face between her hands. She showered his cold skin with equally cold kisses from her freezing lips.

  He laughed softly and pulled her toward him to rest his forehead against her chest.

  ‘I guess this time I’m the rescued one,’ he said.

  They stayed like that, holding on to each other for an infinite moment. Then Peter loosened his grip and pulled away slightly, gently stroking her face with his mittened hand.

  ‘As much as I like this,’ he said, ‘we need to move. We’re both wet, you are hurt, and the sun is going to set soon. We need to find a good shelter for tonight.’

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  ‘Another shelter like the hollow we had last night?’ Lacey asked.

  ‘I’d like something a little more protected tonight, but that will also do.’

  She smiled into his eyes. ‘I think I have us covered.’

  Leaning on him with one arm, and pressing on her stick with the other, she led him back to her little avalanche cave.

  ‘Yes,’ he breathed. ‘Perfect. All right, you wait here while I go get our backpacks quick.’

  ‘Our backpacks?’ she said with a frown, not liking the idea of being left by herself again. She had come too close to losing him today. She could spend the rest of her life just watching him, never letting him out of her sight again.

  Sensing her worry, he briefly pulled her towards him. ‘It’ll be okay, I won’t be long. We actually didn’t go very far, remember? Just round two corners and then the avalanche fell on us.’

  Tears began pricking at the back of her eyes. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said hoarsely, wiping them.

  ‘Don’t worry about it. But we really need those backpacks. Our blankets and supplies are in there. I’ll be back before you know it, I promise.’

  Leaving her, he turned away and walked out. For a while she just sat there and watched the entrance, waiting for him. When he didn’t return, she began counting her breaths. He’ll be back before a hundred, she told herself. And when that didn’t happen, she amended it to two hundred. He still hadn’t returned.

  The panic began rising in her chest again. If something had happened to him… How would she find him?

  Still he remained gone. Breathing became difficult again, something was pressing on her chest. She had to go after him. It wasn’t far, he’d said so himself.

  But before she even reached the opening, a shadow fell across it and he walked back in. She began crying with relief.

  ‘Lace, oh Lacey,’ he said. Holding her tight he gently rocked them from side to side until the fear left her.

  ‘I’m back, we’re okay,’ he affirmed one last time, lifting her chin with a finger to look her in the eyes. She wiped her tears and nodded.

  ‘Okay, let’s get a fire going.’ He opened his backpack and pulled out a small firestarter and a tin. Soon he had a tiny, cosy fire going, which he placed by the entrance of their hollow.

  ‘Next up, leg,’ he said, shuffling over and softly picking up her injured leg. Resting it on his thigh, he gently loosened the laces on her boot a bit.

  ‘How does it feel?’ he asked.

  ‘It’s hard to tell,’ she said honestly. ‘It’s so cold, it’s basically numb. I think it’s a sprain though. It’s hard to put weight on it, and it feels unstable.’

  ‘Sprain sounds right then,’ he said, giving her a light pat on the foot. ‘You’ll let me know if anything changes? If it starts to hurt more, or you lose feeling?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘All right. Time to get some of the moisture out of these trousers.’ He pulled his backpack closer and lifted Lacey’s injured leg onto it. Then he pulled the legs of Lacey’s trousers up, wringing the moisture out as much as he could around her legs. When he was done with hers, he repeated the process with his own.

  Trousers as dry as he could get them, he pulled out the empty water bottles from both their packs.

  ‘I’m going to go fill these bottles with snow for us quick.’

  Moving into a squat, he looked her in the eye. ‘I’m not leaving – I’ll be right outside the entrance. If you call out, I will hear you, all right?’ He carefully searched her face, watching for her reaction.

  ‘Yes, I’m all right,’ Lacey said. And she felt it. He would be right there if she needed him.

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