Sometimes the girl tired and Hope carried her, slung across both arms or resting over a shoulder. Other times the girl seemed to be the strong one, forging barefoot through the thickening snow, climbing ever higher. The path guided them, and Alishia seemed happy to allow that. Whatever she had seen—wherever she had been—Hope had no choice but to let the girl’s trust carry them forward.Many things in Kang Kang were strange, but the path wended its way between them. It was almost as though the path was outside Kang Kang, a tributary of normality carrying them through this place that should not be. They heard, saw and smelled things that defied explanation—the cries of children where there were none, great trees rooted in nothing, fruit stinking of blood hanging on those same trees’ branches—but the path was always there, true and straight. Even covered with snow it was still the obvious route.Hope had to tear and tie up Alishia’s dress when it started to tangle in her feet.
