Page 1 of Carved in Ice (Made of Steel 3)

Chapter 1

7 Years Old

Flashback

Silence. My eyes flew open. It was only ever this quiet when it snowed. That could only mean one thing. Snow day! I jumped out of bed and ran to the window. Small flakes of snow swirled in the wind. A smile spread across my face. It was more than I had even wished for. There was no way there was school today, but I still had to check.

I ran out into the hall. My socks slid along the wooden floor when I stopped in front of my parents’ door. I was about to knock when I heard laughter outside. And not just any laughter. I’d recognize Miles’ laughter anywhere. It was my favorite noise in the whole wide world.

I didn’t want to miss one second of the snow or of playing in it with Miles. Maybe today he wouldn’t ignore me. I ran past my parents’ bedroom to the hall closet and pulled on my snow pants over my pajama bottoms. Miles had been pretending I was invisible for weeks. He wouldn’t even acknowledge me when I spoke. But today would be the day I convinced Miles I wasn’t invisible. I could feel it in my bones.

I heard my parents start to stir in their bedroom. If they came out to the hall before I was outside, they’d make me wash up and eat breakfast. But I didn’t have time to do such frivolous things. I was losing precious time. I shoved my feet into my snow boots, grabbed my jacket and hat, and pulled them on as I ran to the back door. Thinking better of it, I went back to the closet and grabbed my pink mittens that matched my hat. They weren’t waterproof, but they looked really cute. And if I was going to get Miles to see me, I needed to look my best. I adjusted my pink hat with the big poof on the top and opened up the back door.

I slipped outside before my parents could stop me and ran through the freshly fallen snow. “Hi, Miles!” I yelled from my side of the fence.

He didn’t respond. He just continued to build his snowman.

I pushed on the fence door but it was too hard to open with all the snow on the other side. “Miles, the gate is stuck!”

He ignored me.

A fence was not going to keep me away from the man of my dreams. I grabbed the top of the fence and tried to pull myself up. I lifted my leg up once, twice, until I finally got my boot on top of the fence. All the extra padding made it even harder. “Miles!”

He ignored me.

That was fine. I didn’t need his help. Come on. I finally hoisted myself to the top of the fence and unceremoniously fell into his yard on my butt.

Ooof. I slowly stood up and ran over to Miles. “Can I help build the snowman too?”

He didn’t respond.

“Please?”

Nothing.

Why did he keep doing this? It wasn’t very nice. “Miles, I’m not invisible!”

He ignored me.

“I’m not! I’m standing right here.” I ran around the snowman so he couldn't possibly miss me. “Don’t you see me?”

Nothing.

Maybe he was just tired of building the snowman. That was okay, I had loads of ideas for what we could do today. “Do you want to go sledding down the street instead?”

Nothing.

He was being especially mean today. “Do you want to have a snowball fight?”

Nothing.

I pressed my lips together. “Miles Young, you are not a very nice boy.”

Nothing.

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