My feet hurt and we weren't talking. Giselle walked on and I followed her. She didn't look back and I didn't fall behind. A seam of ominous green lit the way. A part of me idly tried to guess which way we were heading - I didn't think we were going through the mountains, more off to the left - but a bigger part of me didn't care. What difference would it make? We would end up where we would end up. 

 There was no food. All I had to drink was from a dank, cold trickle that crossed our path. My already-injured throat was dry and sticky, and I was starting to feel lightheaded. We had rested twice so far. Whether that meant it had been two days since... everything, I couldn't tell. The ground began to slope up. 

 Giselle turned abruptly into a small crack in the cave wall. Squeezing after her, I was almost immediately dunked into darkness. There were four walls around me. Then I felt Giselle's foot above me. 

 "Up," she said. 

 So I climbed up, dragging myself almost vertically over jutting rocks, groping through the blackness to find the next foothold, the next handhold. I had to flatten myself against the wall to avoid bumping into the other ones. My arms ached, then burned. The only clue we were getting anywhere was the air, which felt sharper against my cheeks. It was getting colder. 

 Then daylight hit me like a knife, as Giselle scrambled free above me. After a moment, she appeared again and extended her arm. I took it, and slithered belly-first onto the snow. 

  "Your arm..." I murmured. 

 I hadn't noticed before, her sleeve was crusted with enough blood anyway, but it was ripped, exposing a long cut. 

 Giselle looked down. "Oh... I didn't notice."

  "Can I see?" I asked sharply, and she rolled up her sleeve. 

  I bared my own arm, the one mirrored to hers. The one she had slashed earlier. The cuts were identical. 

 "The same -" she looked up. "What does that mean?"

 "I need to you to confirm something for me. Try to hurt me. Physically, to be specific."

 I thought she'd jump at the chance, but she just rubbed her forearm, frowning. 

 "Hurt me! Go on, try it!" 

 She shrugged, and slapped my face. Hard. 

 "Ow!" She panted. 

 "Do it again," I urged. She cocked her head. Then she did it. Both our hands flew to our cheeks. 

I laughed. "That's fucked!" 

 "It's useful." 

 "Did you see what happened with Ewen?"

 "It's new," said Giselle. "I never saw this in Amacia before, when she wasn't you." She didn't say what power Amacia did have, but - one thing at a time.

 "Could it have something to do with Derek's blessing?"

 "I don't know. I understood his power even less than hers... Can I hit you again?" 

 "Sure." Why not? It would hurt her exactly as much as it hurt me. 

 It was harder going now, with uneven ground covered in snow that swallowed my footsteps. We crossed over ridges and through passes, as the sun sailed overhead. The day was disappearing quickly and I was moving slowly. That was okay, though. Who could catch us now? Even though we were exposed, there was nothing human around. 

 A half-hearted breeze had kicked up around midday. As the shadows got longer, it blew with more intensity. It grew harder and harder to forget just how unprepared I was to be hiking across a mountain range. The wind was picking up the soft snow from the mountain slopes and throwing it in my face like thousands of tiny knives. Still, what was I going to do but push on? 

 I was sure my feet were bleeding in my boots. That was all right. I couldn't really feel them, anyway. I wrapped my cloak around my head, to block out the worst of the wind.

 There was a pressure my back. I jumped. It was Giselle. When had she gone from in front of me? 

 "We can't stop," she was explaining against the wind. 

 "No-one here to catch us," I explained back. 

 "No - no. That's not what I mean. In these conditions, we won't survive the night. We have to keep moving." 

 I couldn't argue with that... I didn't. I just followed on. Giselle's back was in front of me again. The world shrank to just that, as it darkened and froze around me. It was snowing now. 

 Time... time wasn't real. We were walking backwards as much as forwards, and half of the time I disappeared altogether. And then I would appear again, with Giselle's arm heavy and real around my shoulder, urging me forward again. Even though I kept disappearing, she never did. 

 Under my feet was a narrow path. There was nothing on either side. That was okay, though. I only had to keep going forward. Why was I finding it so hard, all of a sudden? 

"Don't do this to me." Giselle was next to me again, voice ripped apart by the wind. I think she was the only reason I was still standing. 

 I shuffled on, again. Uneven, unfeeling. The night had only just begun. It was never going to end.

"Please, we're almost there. Just a little further." She hadn't left my side. What did that count for, in the end? I didn't want to die. This body, that was not mine, was giving up. 

 I collapsed onto the snow. I tried to stand, and nothing happened. I felt terribly hot and cold at the same time. 

 "No. What-" Giselle murmured above me. I felt her palm on my forehead. So cold it was like she was a corpse. 

 "She's burning up. What do I do?" 

 "Who are you expecting to give you the answers?" I wanted to ask, but I only groaned. 

 The pressure of her hands on me. A different kind of warmth, half-electric. 

 "Please!" Giselle was begging from somewhere far away. A golden light sparked on the horizon. 

 I woke up. 

 I was in a room. Simple, dark, warm. 

 Furs had been draped over me. My bones ached. But I was not dead. 

 Which was good. 

 A door opened with a creak. A girl I did not know peered inside and saw me with surprise. 

 "Mom! She's awake!" she called, and shut the door again. I pulled the furs over my head, thinking it would be nice to sleep some more. 

 Someone gently folded the furs back, uncovering me. A woman, probably the previously mentioned Mom. She pressed a hand to my forehead, and smiled. 

 "It's been such a long time, Ami."