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She made her way to me through the snow, her boots sinking in. Clumps of it clung to her hem and her cheeks were red from the cold. “Would you really do that?” she asked when she was standing in front of me.

“Sure.”

Taking a step closer, she wrapped her arms around me. I put my palms on her back. Out here, her scent was more flowery, as if the smell of pine had gone back into the trees around us. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Just when I thought she would let go, she held me even tighter.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

The wind had grown stronger, and it had pulled locks of her hair from her pins. They brushed my hands when she nodded against my shoulder. She pulled away a few inches and tipped her face up toward mine. In the brightness of the sun on the snow, her eyes were different, the deep green of a forest lake rather than the near black they appeared inside.

Her gloved hand wandered up my back, settling against my neck. “Selma, I…” In the quiet of the woods, I heard how her throat clicked as she swallowed. “Your kindness means a lot to me.”

Her eyes fell to my lips. My heart was beating so hard I was sure she could hear its pound in the silence. Did she want me to kiss her? My hand trembled when I laid it against her cheek. She closed her eyes, and my mouth grew dry.

Something dark moved at the edge of my vision, and I turned my head just in time to see the wolf pounce. In one swift movement, I pushed Lilja behind me and pulled the axe out of my belt, but I didn’t raise my arm fast enough. It was on me before I could swing. Its paws hit my shoulders, and I staggered, almost falling backward into the snow.

“Run,” I yelled to Lilja. “Run back to town.”

“Not without you,” she said somewhere behind me.

The wolf lunged at me again, but this time I had the axe up, and I swiped the blade at it, narrowly missing its left front leg. It retreated a few steps, and I fastened my grip on the handle, ready for its next attack.

“Go,” I said to Lilja. “Now. Run.”

“Not without you.” Her voice held an unexpected firmness.

The wolf growled at me, showing its teeth. It was a beast, with thick, dark gray fur and yellow eyes that almost seemed to glow. It was strong too. Certainly not emaciated from hunger. My heart was pounding so hard in my throat it hurt.

The wolf went to the side, and I spun with it, keeping myself between it and Lilja. She yelled something I didn’t understand. Maybe it was only my shocked mind, but… but it sounded like a foreign language.

“Please go,” I told her.

“No. Not without you.” She let out another string of unintelligible words, and I realized then that she was speaking to the wolf. It tilted its head and narrowed its eyes. Almost as if… as if it understood.

It turned its gaze on me, and we danced again, circling each other. I could hear the crunch of Lilja’s footsteps behind me. Why wasn’t she fleeing? I glanced over my shoulder, but in that moment, the wolf jumped on me again, its paws knocking me off balance. It closed its jaw around my lower arm, and the axe flew out of my hand and landed in the snow. I was on my back in a moment, the wolf on top of me. With its paws on my chest, it snarled, its breath reeking of rot and death.

It came closer, so close that I could see the little flecks of gold in its eyes. They were almost luminous. It parted its jaws, and just as its teeth scraped against my throat, the axe swung through the air, the blade sinking into the wolf’s shoulder. It howled and tumbled off me.

Lilja, with the axe still in her hand, kicked its flank and yelled something I couldn’t understand. With a last growl, it limped away into the forest, leaving a deep-red trail in the snow.

I sat up. Lilja stood panting, blood dripping from the blade at her side. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“Yes, but let’s leave. It might be back with its pack.”

She held her hand out to me. I took it, and she helped me to stand. “Go,” I said, taking the axe from her. “Run.”

This time she did, and I followed right behind. The path back to the road seemed endless. Branches grabbed at her hem and her shawl, but she didn’t stop. Neither did I, and I clutched the axe tightly in my hand.

Finally, we reached the road, and I fell in beside her. She was panting hard and so was I, but neither of us slowed. I looked back over my shoulder, but if the wolves were after us, they were hiding among the trees. Above us, stone-gray clouds had gathered. Snow started to fall, whirling closely around us. When we reached town, it was a full-blown snowstorm.

On Kyrkogatan, I took her arm to signal for her to slow her gait to a walk. We were safe here. She grabbed my hand. Both out of breath, we turned down the back alley in silence. The snowfall was so close that I could hardly see where we were going. Luckily, I knew the way because I had played here with Alma every day as a child. Soon, the faint outline of the hazel tree appeared, and I led Lilja to the door. In the kitchen, we stood staring at each other, out of breath still.

Before I could speak, before I could ask her what she had said to the wolf, her eyes rolled back in her head, and I caught her in my arms as she fainted.

Chapter Eighteen

Iwas alone in the house, I discovered as I went scouring the rooms after placing Lilja on my bed. Helena was next door with Alma then.