“Ha!” she crowed, booted feet crunching happily on the day-old snow, “we caught him!”

She was standing triumphant over the shivering figure when I reached the clearing. Her hands slid to her pockets and the carefully folded packet hidden there.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” chattered the caught man. I glanced down at him; he was handsome, with hair so red it was actually orange. He had eyes like the sky. “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“Really?” She grinned down at him through her scarf and unfolded her spell. It glimmered in the cold air like the icicles dripping down the caught man’s face.

“It won’t work,” he said, but the spell was already wafting toward him. He screwed his eyes shut as the tendrils caressed his eyelids.

It was quick work to shove myself against him, tip him over and feel the icy webs break against his skin. She howled, angry. The spell must have fizzled. I glanced down.

His sky eyes shone as the spell took hold. He blinked at me.

“Well, fuck.”