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would, too. They just didn’t know it yet.
    Lillian looked back in the direction of the green cloak. It would never be hers. She knew that.
    Still, she smiled.

Chapter 2

In the Middle of Nowhere
    T he snow didn’t fall. It flew. It flung itself sideways as if it never intended to land.
    Kaye sat in the middle of the backseat so she could look out the windshield. All she could see, though, was the flying snow. In the headlights it became a white wall. The white wall divided at the last instant to let them through.
    She checked the side windows of the car.There she saw only darkness. She turned back to the wall of snow.
    Kaye’s father gripped the steering wheel hard. Next to him, her mother leaned forward. She leaned and leaned as if she could get them to Gran’s faster that way.
    Christmas was waiting for them at Gran’s. Christmas and cookies and gifts and a ham so huge the four of them could barely make a dent in it.
    A Christmas tree would be waiting, too. The tree would touch the living room ceiling, only just leaving room for the angel. It would fill one whole side of the room.
    The tree would have about a thousand ornaments on it, too.
    Kaye’s favorite was the one shaped like a pickle. Gran always hid the glass pickle deep inside the tree for Kaye to find. WhenKaye found it, she got a special pickle gift.
    At least she hoped a tree like that would be waiting.
    Last year Gran had surprised everyone by saying the tree was too big, too messy, too much work. “I’m going to get one of those artificial trees next Christmas,” she’d said.
    All year Kaye had wondered if Gran would really do that.
    It would hardly be Christmas with an artificial tree. Gran wouldn’t even be able to hide a pickle ornament in one of those scrawny things.
    But whether the tree was artificial or not, tomorrow was Christmas. And they still had a long way to drive. “A long, long way,” Dad had barked the last time Kaye asked.
    She wanted to ask again now, but shedidn’t. This time Dad might say, “A long, long,
long
way.”

    The more the snow flew, the farther away Christmas seemed to be.
    Kaye asked another question instead. “Where are we?”
    But Dad didn’t like that question, either. “We’re in the middle of blasted nowhere,” he snapped.
    Mom reached back to touch Kaye’s knee.The touch was a kind of apology for Daddy’s being cross. He wasn’t usually cross.
    “We’re out in the country,” Mom said. She spoke with careful cheer. Not that it helped much. Kaye could tell that her mother was working really hard to be cheerful.
    Anyway, out in the country
was
the middle of nowhere. Wasn’t it?
    Kaye peered out the side window. There was nothing out there but darkness. Darkness and bits of flying white. There was no town. No lights. No sign that anybody else in the world was near.
    They hadn’t met another car for a long time. Probably everyone had gotten wherever they were going. Everyone except them.
    The radio had talked all day about the big storm coming. Her dad had said theywould make it to Gran’s before it got too bad. But here they were.
    The wind bumped against the side of the car, rocking it.
    “Charles!” Mom cried in a small, breathless voice. As if Dad had made the wind. She leaned forward harder.
    Kaye’s father didn’t answer. He just hung on to the steering wheel.
    The wind bumped them again. Bump! Bump! Two sharp blows made the car shudder.
    Mom didn’t say anything this time. But she held on to the door.
    BUMP!
    The wind hit the car again. This time it slid them across the icy road. Dad turned the steering wheel. They just kept sliding.
    Then there was another kind of bump.This was the bump of the tire hitting something on the edge of the road.
    And they were sliding back across the road again. The car slid, and it turned, too … like some kind of carnival ride.
    It would have been fun if it hadn’t been so scary.

    Mom said, “Oh!” It was just the smallest sound. She let go of the