“You don’t have reindeer, Freddy.”
His blue eyes sparkled with mirth, and she found herself unable to look away. “Then how do you explain the other day when a storm came through and my mother told me, ‘Look at the rain, dear.’”
“...and then, of course, she demanded that I give her pin back, but what could I do? I had already swallowed it, and nobody wants to have a swallowed-up pin from either end…”
Lizzie pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and squeezed them shut, trying to banish the memory of that clear blue gaze.
It doesn’t matter how much Kai’s eyes sparkle when he laughs.
Her eyes flew open.
No. Not Kai. That was Freddy. My brain keeps trying to mix them together. Why can’t they just let me be?
“...but once I got it cleaned up, it was just as shiny and sparkly as before, and Ma was able to sell it for a whole silver, which shelet me keep on account of having to do all the hard work.” Pixie paused to take a breath. “Do you hear something?”
She sat up and listened. Sure enough, a low scratching sound came from the door at the back of the barn, as if someone were fiddling around with the latch.
Pixie drew her knife. “Stay here.” In one fluid motion, she hopped from her back to her feet and started creeping towards the window.
Lizzie was absolutely unprepared to fight, especially with her hands and legs bound, but it felt wrong somehow to let the little girl go off on her own. She followed, picking up a long-handed brush and holding it in front of her like a club
Pixie was crouched in the shadows beside the door, waiting with her knife drawn. The rattling continued for a few more moments, then stopped. Slowly, the door swung upon with a low creak. A shadowed silhouette appeared in the doorway. She lifted the brush higher.
“Lizzie?”
Chapter Fifteen
Lizzie
Her brain stuttered for a moment, associating the name with Freddy but the voice with Kai, and she was frozen where she stood.
The second of hesitation was all it took for Pixie to spring, and she jumped with a wild yell. Kai let out an exclamation of surprise and fell heavily to the floor.
“Wait!” Lizzie’s body came back to life. “Pixie, don’t hurt him.”
The little girl had managed to roll Kai onto his back, and she was sitting atop his shoulders with the knife to his throat. She looked over her shoulders. “Do you know this trespasser?”
“It’s Kai.”
She could hardly believe the words as she said them out loud.
Kai had come for her.
Again.
The ice cracked a little bit more.
Pixie narrowed her eyes and grabbed a fistful of Kai’s hair through his hat, pulling the back of his head down. “Ah, the beard. Itisridiculous. Would you like me to shave it for you? I already have a knife right here.”
“No,” Lizzie answered quickly, dropping the brush to the floor with a clatter and stepping forward. “No, I don’t think you need to do that.”
“As much as I appreciate the offer, I think I would prefer to do it myself,” Kai answered, his voice as happy and unaffected as if he had met a friend on the road, and not as if he were currently being sat on by a tiny fiend with a blade. “It’s a whole process.”
“I just thought I would offer.” Pixie jumped up and stood to the side, twirling her knife as Kai rolled over and pushed to his feet. “So you’re Kai the guy. Why haven’t you kissed Eliza yet?”
His eyebrows disappeared underneath the edge of his hat, and Lizzie wished she could sink through the floor as he looked at her.
No, no, no. This is not good. Being embarrassed means I care what he thinks.
