Jack sighed.

They traveled another four miles, and Megan had just shot through a narrow cutting in a peninsula when the…thing appeared in the beam of her headlights. Jack didn’t know who was more surprised—him, Megan, or it.

About the size of a small horse, the startled animal dropped whatever it had been eating, reared up on its hind legs, and let out a bloodcurdling roar just as—holy hell, those were wings on its back!

Realizing it was impossible for her to stop in time, Jack watched in horror as Megan veered to the right to avoid hitting it. The beast lashed at her sled with its tail as if trying to slap her away, and flapped its massive wings in an attempt to get airborne.

Jack gave his sled full throttle, shot over the peninsula, and aimed directly for it.

The—honest to God, it looked like a damn dragon!—swung around at his approach, gave another deafening roar, and charged toward him. Jack waited until the very last second before turning to the right, barely dodging its lashing tail. He wasn’t able to avoid the wildly flapping wings though, and was nearly unseated when one of them slammed into his helmet.

He immediately swung his sled in a circle back toward the beast. Thick, rolling smoke started to billow around him as his snowmobile slowed down, plowing into heavy, sucking slush. The sled ground to a halt, and Jack barely ducked in time when the beast suddenly appeared through the cloud of smoke, flying directly over his head with another bloodcurdling roar.

He turned the key and tore off his helmet, jumped off the sled, and immediately sank up to his knees in slush. The sudden, stark silence was broken only by the soft, rhythmic woosh of the dragon’s wings as it flew into the darkness.

Several of the threads suddenly knit together. The slime at the break-ins. The bloodcurdling scream. That…that prehistoric throwback was what had flown off over the lake that night!

Jack finally tore his gaze away from the disappearing beast and looked around to see if Megan was just as awestruck as he was.

Only he couldn’t see her anywhere. Not even her headlights.

Nor could he hear her sled’s engine.

Dammit, she’d literally vanished into thin air!

“Help! Jack, help!”

Cold dread tightened his stomach. She’d broken through the ice!

“I’m coming, Megan!” he shouted, unzipping his saddlebag and grabbing a rope before running toward the sound of her splashing. He was forced to slow down as he approached the black pool of water, the slush sucking at his boots like quicksand. “I’m here, Megan!” he called to her. “Float on your back! Try to get your helmet off!”

He could barely see where she was struggling in the water. He heard her sputtering and coughing as she slapped to stay afloat. The ice beneath him suddenly started to sag, and Jack stopped dead in his tracks.

“You’re okay. Don’t panic. Try to bring your feet up and float on your back,” he called out, uncoiling the rope. “I’m going to toss you a line. Don’t try to catch it, just float there and I’ll throw it across your chest.”

“My suit is dragging me down!”

“No, it’s not! It’s got enough trapped air to float you. Now, get ready for me to throw the rope. Megan! Are you listening to me!”

“I’m sinking!”

“No, you’re not!” Jack dropped to his hands and knees and crawled closer. The moment he felt the ice start to buckle he stopped again, though there was still a good twenty feet between him and the pool of dark, frigid water. He inched back several feet, knowing that his getting wet wasn’t going to help Megan. “Kick your feet to bring yourself closer to the edge of the ice,” he commanded. “I’m throwing the rope. Wait until I tell you to grab it.”

He tossed the rope at the blob in the middle of the pool. “Grab it, Megan. Pull off your gloves if you have to.”

He could make her out struggling in the water, and then she finally said, “I’ve got it! Pull me out!”

“Not yet. Wrap it around your waist a couple of times. You won’t be able to hold it tight enough.”

He watched her struggle some more while he slowly inched closer on his belly to distribute his weight.

“Okay. Pull me out!”

Jack took up the slack in the rope and gave a tentative pull to see if she would come with it. “Stay on your back,” he commanded. “Keep kicking, but gently.”

Inch by inch, second by interminably long second, Jack reeled her in. He watched her slowly rise up onto the ice, only to have it break beneath her. “Don’t struggle! You’ll eventually reach solid ice. Keep kicking softly.”

She broke through two more times before the ice held.

“That’s it, you’re doing great, sweetheart. I’ve almost got you. Stop kicking now,” he told her when she finally came fully out of the water. “I’m going to pull you away from the hole, but I have to keep us apart so we don’t stress the ice. Just lie still and let me do the work.”

“I-I’m s-so cold,” she cried in a whisper, her voice still muffled by her helmet. “I-I can’t feel my hands anymore.”

“I’ll have you warm in just a few minutes, I promise,” he said, scooting backward and dragging her with him.

The moment he felt the ice was solid beneath him, Jack stood up and dragged her another fifty feet out onto the lake. Only then did he run to her, drop to his knees, and lift her shoulders up to his chest. She was crying uncontrollably and panting heavily, violent shivers interspersed with heaving coughing. He fumbled with the chin strap on her helmet, pulled it off, and pressed his face against hers.

It felt like he was holding a block of ice, which was fast becoming a reality now that she was out of the water. “I’ve got you,” he whispered, holding her tightly. “You’re okay, sweetheart. You’re going to be okay. I’ve got you.”

She tried to say something, but her gasping sobs and wracking shivers made her unintelligible.

“Shhh, don’t talk,” he told her, standing and scooping her up in his arms. He only made it a few yards before he had to stop and strip off her wet boots and snowsuit because they were weighing him down. He continued plodding through the deep snow to the main shoreline, since the peninsula had outcroppings of ledge dotting its length. He needed to get her someplace he could build a fire. He glanced at his snowmobile on the way and saw it was stuck in the slush up to its hood. It was no use to them now; he’d be lucky to get it out of there before spring.

It took him ten minutes to reach shore, and he set Megan down under a spruce tree where the snow wasn’t deep. “Can you stand?” he asked, holding her under her arms to keep her steady. “We have to get you out of these wet clothes.”

She tried helping, which only made it more difficult for him. He brushed her hands away, pulled her sweater, turtleneck, and long johns off over her head, then took off his leather jacket and wrapped it around her. Keeping one hand on her arm for support, he wrestled out of his own ski pants and set them on the snow.

“Okay, so far so good. I’m going to pull down your pants and set you on my suit. Then I’ll pull yours all the way off and slip your legs into my ski pants, okay?”

He wasn’t expecting an answer and didn’t wait for one. Jack pulled her pants down to her knees, set her on his suit, and then stuffed her legs inside, zipping the bib closed up to her chin. He then stripped off his outer shirt and wrapped it around her wet head several times before hunching down in front of her.

“You’re okay now, Megan. The worst is over, sweetheart, and you won’t get any colder. I’m going to leave you long enough to get wood to start a fire, okay? Nod if you understand.”

Hugging herself and shivering violently, her face ghostly white in the moonlight, she nodded. Jack kissed her cold cheek, then stood up and pulled his knife from the sheath on his belt. He headed into the woods to gather material for a fire, thanking God and his ancestors that he’d gotten her out in time.