Bk. 1, Ch. 4.2: The Tremor Beneath the Pines

  Walking the Ice Dove trail, Lacey carefully scanned their surroundings. Here, in the forest, the snow was slightly less deep as some of it had been warded off by the majestic pines and evergreens rising around them. To their right, occasional snatches of the village appeared through the trees.

  ‘We’re close to the trail we used yesterday, aren’t we? The one we took to Widow BonBon’s place.’

  ‘Yes,’ Peter replied. ‘That’s the High Trail, which also partially circles the village. Most of it is pretty much parallel to this trail, except that it’s higher up in the hills so you get more of a view of the village and our surroundings.’

  ‘And this trail, in contrast, lets you see more of nature up close.’ Lacey guessed.

  Peter nodded.

  ‘Jinxy would’ve loved this,’ Lacey mused. ‘A walk out in nature where she could see animals and collect leaves and flowers for collages.’

  ‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘But it is, unfortunately, also a more hidden trail even though it is closer to the village. Although, enough people use this trail that if she had suffered an accident here, someone would’ve found her by now.’

  ‘And if she had left the trail? I don’t know, to follow a bunny or investigate something?’

  ‘She’d still be close enough to be heard by someone if she called out. My bigger worry is that she’d been walking the Forest March trail. That’s our longest and most challenging trail, looping out into the forest, skirting the rising cliffs of Polar Dawn which borders The Wasteland on the east, before swinging back into the forest to follow the Frozen River back to the village.’

  ‘But she wouldn’t have done that without Melo though. Remember, they were going to meet to take a hike. She wouldn’t have gone on such a long hike if they were heading out anyway.’

  ‘True enough.’ Peter paused to bend down and dust a bit of frost off a pine trunk, studying the bark for a moment. Chunks of it had been stripped off, exposing the smoother trunk underneath.

  ‘What did that?’ Lacey asked, looking around nervously. She had assumed the surroundings were safe. But just because it was Santa’s Village, didn’t necessarily mean there was no danger. Jinxy was proof that, even here, people could vanish. ‘You don’t have bears around here, do you?’

  ‘No, no bears. At least not around Santa’s Village.’ He got up and critically looked at the bases of the other trees surrounding them. Returning to the tree before them, he motioned her closer and said, ‘Come, I’ll show you.’

  Her shoulder bumped against his as she leaned in, a nudge softened by the thick layers of clothing they wore. And yet, their skin may as well have been naked for warmth that flared in Lacey’s body at the touch. Was he as affected as she was?

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  There were no clues in his expression, as he pointed at where strands of fibres stuck out from the edges of torn-off bark. ‘See this? The fibres separate cleanly, leaving the sapwood relatively unmarked. That means the bark was pulled off, rather than clawed. And here, at knee-height, is exactly where deer would pull at it if they were looking for something to nibble on.’

  Lacey frowned. ‘Is that something deer do? I thought they ate grass and leaves and stuff.’ The tree bark certainly didn’t look very appetising.

  ‘Not normally, no. I want to keep an eye on this – if we see more chewed-on trees, it might mean the reindeer are running low on their winter feed.’

  ‘Oh, I see.’ It was a small revelation, but it gave her a key to the world of the wild. This was how she solved the most stubborn of mysteries. You found one little edge, and from there you could unravel the rest piece by piece.

  Now, the scratches in the bark she hadn’t even noticed before weren’t just a mystery – they meant something. She leaned closer, studying the stripped sapwood, the uneven brown discolouration, and the beads of resin that had leaked out and congealed into amber drops.

  Feeling Peter’s warm breath on her cheek, she looked up. Their faces were unexpectedly close together, and, looking into his eyes, something passed between them in quiet harmony, like two notes resonating in tune.

  He reached past her, peeling off a piece of the hardened resin. ‘Want to try?’

  Suddenly, she felt uncertain. Imagined closeness was easy; this was real, risking more than was comfortable.

  Steadying herself, she licked her lips, the air cold against them. ‘Sure.’ Her voice came out softer than she meant, but he only smiled and held out the small piece. The resin tasted faintly of honey and woodsmoke. It was an odd mix of sweetness and wild air.

  He leaned closer, studying her reaction, his breath a warm contrast to the chill. For a moment, the world felt narrowed to the quiet space between them. Her heart lifted, light and unsteady, as though the forest itself had paused. She turned toward him – and the ground trembled beneath her boots.

  Confused, she blinked her eyes open, finding Peter still close but staring away from her, every fibre of him alert. The ground shuddered again, fully yanking her back to reality.

  ‘What is that?’ she gasped, as patches of snow vibrating loose from the forest canopy plopped down to the ground around them.

  ‘The Abominable Snowman,’ Peter said, still staring in the direction from where the slight tremors were originating.

  Lacey hurriedly got to her feet. ‘Is it dangerous?’

  He pulled her against his side, saying, ‘We’re okay.’ But she could feel the tenseness of his muscles as they crouched together.

  Somehow the tightness of his hold reminded her of the feeling of being restrained she had felt this morning in her nightmare. But this time she felt no need to fight it. It felt safe. Similarly, his voice now invoked an echo of déjà vu, also hearkening back to her dream. It brought the same feeling of safety she felt from one of the voices she could almost hear.

  Even though she quietly relished these feelings, she couldn’t ignore the stress of the moment, holding her breath in anxiety as she waited.

  An eternity passed before the tremors finally began lessening and then disappeared altogether. Her breath whooshed out of her chest as they both relaxed, straightening to stand once again.

  ‘How large is that thing?’ she asked, her voice shaking a bit.

  ‘Gigantic,’ he answered. ‘But don’t worry. It never leaves the Wasteland, so we were actually quite safe.’

  That didn’t add up. If there was nothing to worry about, how come he hadn’t relaxed for one moment the whole time they felt the snowman’s movements. How come he interrupted their almost-kiss for it?

  Seeing her sceptical expression, he pursed his lips together. ‘Still, the ground shouldn’t shake this far out. It must’ve come closer to this edge of its territory than normal.’ He raised his gaze to the treetops, shaking his head. ‘I’m sorry.’

  He didn’t need to explain what he was sorry about.

  Lacey sighed. ‘Well, I guess we’d better continue this trail. I want to see the snowdrops and, besides, we’re still looking for Jinxy too.’

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