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that it was almost always him doing the stable chores. Then he’d looked sideways at her. “You can’t just disappear, then, if my pa turns up?”
    Amelia had shaken her head. “I’m not a … a fairy, or something. I don’t even know how I got here. I definitely don’t knowhow to go back again.”
    She had slept last night curled up on the straw, wrapped in layers of blankets. Noah had explained that the stable was one of the warmest places to be – probably warmer than his loft bedroom. Ruby, Russet and Lucy warmed the air, and Amelia would be cosy. She hadn’t quite believed him, she was sure she’d be frozen, but it was true. She hadn’t been cold at all. She hadn’t even woken until he’d come to feed the animals in the morning.
    Frost was lying across her feet now, with his nose settled on his paws, and Amelia eyed him regretfully. He looked so comfy, and he really was helping her feet. She could almost feel her toes again, for the first time in an hour or so.
    “I have to go,” she whispered, but Frost only grunted and didn’t move, even when something rustled among the trees across the clearing. Amelia was sure she saw a rabbit peep out at them, but Frost didn’t look bothered. He was sleepy after his meal, and his game.
    “Oh, well… Maybe just a few more minutes. It’s getting darker, though. I suppose it does get dark early here, in the winter.” Amelia squinted up at the scrap of sky she could see through the trees. It was yellowish, now the sun had disappeared, and there were heavy clouds gathering.
    Frost looked up, and sniffed curiously at a fat white snowflake circling down towards his nose. His jaws snapped together sharply, and he looked up atAmelia in surprise as he felt the cold on his tongue.
    “Snowing again…” Amelia stood up, looking around worriedly. It seemed even darker than it had done seconds before, and there was another snowflake, and another and another. And now they weren’t just floating down out of those yellowish clouds, they were whirling and gusting all around her.
    She would never be able to find her way back to the cabin in this blizzard. Amelia glanced down at Frost, who had laid his ears back, and looked just as worried as she did by the sudden storm. She didn’t want to leave him out here on his own, either.
    The pup let out a tiny whimper, and pressed himself against Amelia’s legs. Even though she was frightened by thestorm, Amelia felt herself smiling. He trusted her. He was scared and he trusted her to help! She stared determinedly around at the clearing, squinting through the snowflakes as she tried to work out what to do. “I’m not going back to the stable,” she murmured, rubbing Frost’s ears gently. “I’m not leaving you behind. So it’s the hollow tree or nothing. Come on. It’ll be a bit of a squash, but at least we’ll keep each other warm…”

    She hurried him over to the tree and crouched down, trying not to think about what else might be sharing the hollow with them. It was too cold for spiders, she told herself firmly, as Frost wriggled in after her. Then he turned to peer out of the opening and whimpered.
    “I know,” Amelia whispered to him. “It’s horrible, isn’t it?” She loved snow, but she had never seen it like this. The snowflakes were falling so thickly that she could hardly see across the little clearing.
    Frost stepped away from the jagged opening in the tree and whimpered again, curling himself against the back of the trunk. The wind had shifted, and now the snow was starting to blow into the hole, stinging his eyes.
    Amelia sucked in an anxious breath. The hollow tree was a wonderful shelter, even though it was cramped with the two of them in there. But it would be no good at all if it filled up with snow. She looked doubtfully at the thick woollen blanket that Noah had given Frost to sleep on. She wasn’t sure if it was much use against snow, but it was all they had. Wriggling it half out from under