Chapter 11: Thin Ice

The inlet was where the spring ran under the ice, and every child in the pack knew to stay off it.

At two in the afternoon, Bess dragged me there by the sleeve.

"Hunter kids have been skating on the soft patch again," she said.

"The Beta wants the warning flags redone. You know where the old edge was."

"I'm a nurse, not a surveyor."

"You grew up here. Come on. Fresh air."

She was right that I needed it.

Behind us the hall yard had cleared, and Halvard had gone back to the cabin to feed the dog.

I'd told him I'd be an hour.

We walked the shoreline path, Bess waddling ahead with a bundle of orange flags under one arm.

The snow was bright and hard, and the lake lay white and empty to the far trees.

The inlet appeared around a bend, a gray tongue of ice between two rocks.

Bess stopped on the bank.

"Wait here," she said. "My boots are better. I'll tell you where."

"You are five months pregnant. You are not walking out on ice."

"I'm walking on the bank."

"Then I'll go look."

I stepped down onto the edge of the inlet to see how far the dark patch ran.

The ice was solid there.

I tested it with my heel.

Behind me, very faintly, a twig snapped.

Bess was twenty feet away, bent over her flags.

It wasn't Bess.

I turned my head and felt it before I saw it.

A gloved hand hit me square between the shoulder blades.

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