Father, of course, was already asleep. Ellisandra went to her room, found the emergency light, went downstairs, got her cloak and crept into Father’s room. It was pitch dark with the curtains drawn, and she bumped into a chair. Father was a deep sleeper and his hearing was not what it used to be, and he didn’t wake up. She pushed aside the curtains and put the emergency light on the windowsill where it spread an eerie white glow. As quietly as she could, she lifted the latch on the window. A flurry of snowflakes drifted in. Great. More snow. And damn, it was cold. Using her bare hands, she scooped freshly-fallen snow off the windowsill and found that in the far corner, some impressive icicles hung from the sill. In this spot, her icy fingers met a spot of warmth, where the snow had melted.
