It was only the beginning of the storm inside Lila, but the storm outside the cabin was over.
Long shadows were cast on the weathered floorboards by the morning light that came in through the frost-rimmed windows. Sometime before dawn, the snow stopped falling, and the outside world was changed—it was quiet, pristine, and surprisingly serene. Standing at the window with one hand against the chilly pane, Lila observed her breath creating rhythmic clouds that froze the pane. The emptiness of the scene in front of her, a blank canvas of white that stretched toward far-off pines, was stunning. She envied its simplicity.
Behind her, Regan moved silently around the cabin, making coffee on the little camp stove they had discovered in the supply closet and checking the perimeter sensors he had
