Page 168 of Veil of Blood and Bone

I turn, scanning, trying to find the creature that sent us flying off the road.

The snow disorients everything, but I swear there're shapes in the white, looming and waiting. Shifting underneath the natural propulsion of wind. But the thing I saw earlier isn’t there.

“Helene, what are we going to do?” Audra’s terror matches mine. “There’s something out there."

Quiet, I glance in the rear-view mirror again. My heart leaps into my throat and I force myself to breathe past it. “I know, kid.”

“Should we try to get out and push?”

More than likely the tires have already dug deep trenches in the snow, polishing it to an icy sheen. We won’t find any purchase. Not unless I somehow acquire Hulk-like strength before we freeze to death.

It’s only the blizzard and us trapped in the car.

“I don’t think pushing will help. What about the cell?”

We can’t afford to panic.

Audra fumbles for my smartphone, sinking lower into the seat with the belt pulled tighter over her chest. She slides the cell free, but when she opens the screen, she holds it up for me. “No bars.”

Her voice goes rough. The kind of rough I associate with fear.

“It’s all going to be fine. I’m sure the snowplows will be out shortly, and they’ll give us a ride back.” I tamp down a shiver. “Someone will find us.”

Our car battery fails after an hour.

The heat sputters out first. The world outside is clamoring to get in. Frost covers the hood, seeping closer, covering the car’s elements and breaking them with its purity of cold.

Intricate patterns of ice decorate the windshield and the windows, creeping through the cracks in the metal.

Audra shivers and I wrap my arm around her shoulder.

That’s when the lights go out.

“It’s gonna be okay,” I whisper.

Snow piles higher, casting odd shadows across her skin that are nothing like Wren’s. Nothing like the ones I’m desperate to see because it means there is someone more powerful than me to wrench open the door.

Drifts encase the tree trunk and the bumpers. Neither front door will unseal and the two in the back are frozen shut, ice wedged against them.

Our breath is a gust of white in the gloom.

“Don’t worry, kid. It—” I start.

“Stop lying. I don’t want to hear it anymore.” Audra’s teeth chatter, biting down on the words, control stripped from both of us with the drop in temperature.

“How many times do I have to apologize?”

“It would be nice to hear it once.”

“I’m sorry.” I glance at her, my lashes stuck in place, pinned by ice. Tipped in ivory and glinting silver. “I was trying to protect you.”

She shakes her head. “You shouldn’t have tried to run.”

“Running might have been the best thing I’ve ever done. If this fucking storm⁠—”

“You can’t outrun the gods.”

My features harden, and my response, when it comes, is clipped. “The gods aren’t real.”