Book Two: Chapter 60

It was cold to the touch, much colder than the rest of the house. There was an energy within that demanded he come and find it.

Clenching his jaw in anticipation, he grabbed the handle and pulled.

***

She stood on the roof of the tower, surveying the land below. The sun was starting to set over the valley, its reflection rippling in the large river that cut a swathe through the land. From where she stood, she could see the edge of the world, the place where the land wrapped suddenly back to the east. She often wondered if she could build her tower even higher, maybe high enough that she could even see it far off in the distance.

She glared down at the woods below, the clouds above dropping a fresh blanket of snow around the tower. It would melt and feed the river, providing life-giving water to the creatures below. Sometimes she pretended that it was her anger that melted the ice of the mountain, tempering her hot rage. Other times, she debated burning the fo