One minute he hugged her close, promising to be there when she came out of her trance and wishing her luck, the next he was gone. Between one breath and the next, she found herself alone in a landscape she hadn’t seen before. Her feet burned, and when she looked down, she cried out. She was standing in an inch of hard-frozen snow, its edges cutting into her bare feet. Within seconds, the pain receded into a dull ache, and then it stopped completely. Not good. She wrapped her arms around herself and discovered that she wore only a sleeveless shirt. Even worse.
As if on cue, the wind picked up, and her long hair whipped around her face. She needed to move and find shelter or she’d freeze to death. She looked up, squinting her eyes half-shut against the icy needles the wind drove at her. A b
