I awoke to the sound of strange scraping noises. I couldn't tell what it was, but it kind of had a rhythm to it. Scrape, scrape, scrape. What was it?

I opened my heavy eyelids and tried to blink away the drowsiness. My brain felt like mud. I pressed my palms to my eyes and rubbed them, trying to get rid of the bleariness. I felt like I'd been sleeping for a hundred years.

"You're awake," a male voice said.

The mud in my head cleared at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. I switched to high alert and sat up suddenly, fists ready for danger. A young man sat nearby. He was only slightly older than I was, and had the same straw-colored hair that Siena had, and similar blue eyes. An Iceling. We'd reached the Iceling village!

A surge of victory eased the heavy feeling in my body. We had made it.

The previous night's events came flooding back. I was no longer curled up by the hearth, though. I was in a bed now.

I scanned the room. There were shelves with dishes, a table with chairs, a broom, buckets . . . but no Goben. Then I saw the small knife in the guy's hand, and I began drawing heat into my fists.

"Where's my brother?" I asked warily, not taking my eyes off the knife.

"We burned up all the firewood, so he went to fetch more." He watched me with curiosity. He saw me eyeing his knife and held it up. My eyes followed it. Then he raised his other hand. It held a small piece of wood, half carved.

So that was the sound I'd heard when I had woken up.

He moved slowly, as if to avoid startling me, and placed them both on the table.

I relaxed a little.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

I spent the night in some stranger's bed, and Goben was missing. How was I supposed to feel? "Better than ever," I lied.

"Your brother is in awe of you." He pulled his chair closer and seemed to examine my face. "After what he's told me, I think I might be too."

"Goben talks too much," I said. "What's your name?"

"Forgive me, I'm Jastin."

"Jastin," I repeated, then my eyes drifted to the hearth. "I remember falling asleep over there. Who carried me here?" I hoped it hadn't been this stranger.

"Your brother fell asleep on the floor not long after you did. Once you felt warmer, I carried you to the bed. I thought it would be more comfortable than the stone hearth."

My heart sank. I was tall and athletic, meaning I was not light. It was another one of those items in my bucket of Things That Don't Attract Boys.

"Thank you," I said, avoiding his eyes. "I hope you didn't hurt yourself. I'm not exactly petite."

He chuckled. "It was no trouble at all."

I noticed the sunlight streaming through the window. Sure, now it was sunny. "How long have I slept?"

"You arrived two nights ago, slept all day yesterday, and now it's the following morning."

"I slept all day?" My mouth hung open. Siena, who was known for her epic recovery sleep-ins, would have been proud.

"And all night. I was worried for you. I guess you needed it. Goben said you kept him warm in blizzard conditions for days. You should not have been out in that weather."

It was true. We'd been woefully underprepared.

Wait, did he just say he was worried about me? I almost smiled at the sentiment, but shook off the feeling. We didn't know anything about this guy. Could we even trust him?

Goben apparently did. Enough to leave me alone with him. I'd never known Goben to be a poor judge of character, so maybe I could ease up on the suspicion, just a little.

"How much has Goben been telling you about me?" I asked.

He smiled, revealing a dimple in one cheek. "He explained how, until yesterday, you were . . . I think the phrase he used was 'a boundless fountain of energy.' You've gone on long runs every morning, without fail, since you were young. I find it intriguing."

"Then he didn't tell you the scary parts, did he?"

"Scary parts?" He tilted his head. "I don't think you're scary."

I looked away. He still knew nothing. Which was good. It meant he wouldn't tiptoe around me like most of the residents of Foresthome. I opened my mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a noisy gurgle from my empty stomach. I gave him a sheepish glance, hoping he hadn't heard.

He was grinning at me. He'd heard. "Where are my manners?" he said. "You must be famished."

Before I could reply, he was up and shuffling around the house. I took this opportunity to throw the blanket aside and swing my legs out of bed. I began to stand, then sucked in a sharp hiss of breath as pain shot through my feet. I sat back heavily onto the bed.

Jastin rushed to my side. "What's wrong?"

"Umm . . . " I looked down at my feet—which were filthy—and looked away, cringing in embarrassment.

"Don't tell me you made the entire journey barefoot!"

"No," I said as my face flushed bright red. "Only half of it."

"What happened to your shoes?"

I sighed. "It's a long story." Then I thought about where I'd been sleeping. I grasped the blanket at the end of the bed and peeled it back. Bits of mud and grass clung to the surface where my feet had been. I closed my eyes in mortification. "I'm so sorry. You should have left me on the hearth. I'll clean that up."

He gave me a kind smile. "Don't worry about it. Here." He handed me a plate with dried fish and an apple.

"Thank you," I murmured as I eyed the shiny red apple. I watched him cross the room and dig around one of his shelves before I grabbed the apple and took a huge bite. It was heavenly. I slurped the juice as it ran out of my mouth, then froze. I was pretty sure slurping was one of those Things That Don't Attract Boys. I glanced in his direction, then wiped the rest of the juice with my sleeve. I wolfed down the rest of the apple without slurping, then began gnawing on the dried fish. It was salty and good. Of course, as voracious as my appetite was, I probably could have eaten an old shoe and thought it was delicious.

Great, now I'm hungry. How about a snack and a vote?