Elena swept her gaze across the courtyard, searching every shadow, every gap between the hedges. There was no one there. Just snow, and silence, and the two small figures she held in her palm.
Julian reached her a moment later, slightly out of breath. "Elena, what's wrong?"
She turned the little snowman over carefully, studying the careful details , the twig candle, the tiny cake pressed into its hands. Her chest squeezed. "I thought Anna came back."
"Your sister? The one who went missing?"
She nodded without looking up.
"It looks just like the ones she used to make," she said softly. The memory hit her before she could brace for it , Anna's small hands patting snow into shapes, her tongue between her teeth, completely serious about it. Always so serious about the little things.
