Daniel stood up in alarm.

“What’s—?”

“We need towels!” called Chris again. Lady Burness popped out of the larder, asking what had happened. Chris repeated his request again and turned towards Daniel:

“Lend me a hand!”

Chris started pushing one of the benches by the table closer to the empty fireplace. Daniel helped him, until Ian and the shaking boy could sit down. Winter carried a heater from the corner of the room and placed it in front of their feet, while Lady Burness arrived with a set of towels.

When someone tried to dry Ian off, he hissed, “Fools, I’m fine, take care of him!”

His grandmother urged the other shaking boy to stand.

“Snowflake, you need a change of clothes. They’ll warm this place up in the meantime, come on, come, come.” The unknown boy, still seemingly out of it, nodded, his eyes wide open. He sneezed and stumbled away, assisted by Lady Burness. She called, “Logs and matches by the fireplace, and there are batteries in the kitchen!”

Chris ran back out to “Get the groceries from the doorstep” as Winter rushed to get the batteries for the heater. Daniel attempted to arrange kindling for the fire.

After Chris came back, hauling two bags in, Daniel managed to ask, “What in the world happened?”

Chris sat heavily and took a few deep breaths before he answered:

“Well, we’re just on our way back, right, when we hear a splash nearby, then Ian disappears somewhere and the next thing we know he’s swimming up from this hole in the ice, dragging a this guy after him… I’m not really sure what happened, but—“

“He fell in and he wasn’t coming back up, that’s what!” Interrupted Ian and sneezed.

“…So, that, apparently.” Daniel had finished arranging everything and Chris handed him a box of matches. He added, “I was surprised to see Ian able to swim.”

“It is indeed unusual for a Witch,” Winter said. She had already turned on the heater and was currently adjusting the temperature.

“I’ve seen diagrams,” Ian answered, offended.

Lady Burness came back a moment later and took it upon herself to strengthen the fire. Daniel figured he’d done the best he could, and stepped out of her way.

The lady asked, “He told me that he had slipped, is that true?”

“It appears so,” Winter answered.

“I know the little goby,” the lady said with some pity in her voice. “He’s lived here his whole life, sad really, such a smart boy… it sounds so unlikely that he would slip, and let alone so far from his own home! He lives on the other side of the lake, you know…”

“Yes, well, it did not look unlikely when I had to dive in there and drag him back up!” Ian exclaimed with a hoarse voice. He stood up and wrapped his shoulders with the towel. “I’m going to switch clothes. To change.”

Now that his attention was free, Daniel took his time to examine Chris carefully. His friend didn’t seem to be shaking or having any trouble talking, but even so…

“I’m fine,” mumbled Chris before Daniel could ask anything, and gave him a reassuring smile. “I didn’t see any of it. And it wasn’t magic.”