Page 52 of Something Handsome This Way Comes

“And leave me?”

Grievance shrugged. “Survival of the fittest, my love.”

Milo playfully swatted at his chest.

“Come on. Help me close up.”

They locked the front door and extinguished the lanterns one by one. Milo counted the register while Grievance carried the displays from the pavement inside, and within half an hour, the Hollow Antler apothecary was dark and quiet for the night.

Milo stretched, already thinking longingly of their bed.

“Oh fuck. I still need to feed Mari.”

“I’ll do it; you get into bed,” Grievance said.

“You’re my hero.”

“I know.”

Milo rolled his eyes and started gathering the mugs they’d abandoned earlier. He had just turned toward the sink when he heard the back door open.

Then—

“Uh.”

Milo stopped.

Grievance rarely said uh.

“My love? Everything okay?”

A pause, then Grievance’s stilted voice. “You are going to want to see this.”

Milo hurried toward the back door.

“What? Is Marigold out ag—” He stopped beside Grievance. “Oh my Lantern.”

Their barn was frozen.

Crystal ice clung to every inch of it, coating the roof, walls, windows, and doors in a shimmering shell. Long icicles hung from the eaves. Thick drifts of snow leaned against the walls, and a perfect circle of white surrounded the outer edges of the barn.

Their cozy barn looked as though someone had plucked it from a winter holiday postcard and dropped it right in the middle of their spooky autumn world.

Milo’s stomach dropped. He ran.

“Mari!”

He was already halfway across the yard. His boots crunched through snow that absolutely had not been there that morning.

“Mari!” Milo grabbed the barn door. It didn’t move. “Fuck.”

Ice sealed the edges. Grievance reached him a second later.

“Move.”

Milo jumped aside. Grievance grabbed the handle and pulled.

CRACK.