Ash stood in silence, and did nothing but look at the falling snow. Tinged with red from where Calamity peeked through the clouds, it looked almost like falling blood, and the bed of snow it fell upon was a dull red that reminded Ash of the surface of Mars. The flakes were the light powder that only fell when it was well below freezing. If Anna doesn't succeed in her repairs, it's going to get very cold in here, Ash thought.

She busied herself looking in the closets around the room for coats. As she pulled several out, Ash couldn't help but marvel at their neatness. As much as she and Dr. Carpenter didn't get along, Ash had to appreciate the woman's dedication to her practice.

I need to find her, she thought. She had been working in another room when the power had cut out, and while Dr. Carpenter probably knew what to do in situations like this, Ash couldn't help but worry.

As she went to touch the handle of the door, the lights flickered again, then went out. Ash froze. It's fine. Probably just Anna testing some tihngs. No need to get jumpy. They flickered again, then held steady. That was fast, Ash thought. She did the math in her head about how long it would've taken for Anna to get to the windmill, or whatever area near it had the problem, then scrunched her face. Numbers were never my strong suit, Ash thought, but that doesn't seem like nearly enough time to fix anything. Something I'll have to ask her about when she gets back, I suppose.

She opened the book again in an effort to pass the time before Anna returned. It shouldn't be long, Ash thought. But with a scare like this, I need something to distract me.

It wasn't until Ash had gotten halfway through the incredibly dense chapter that she realized that it was taking way too long for Anna to return. She put her pencil down, and stared nervously at the door, then at her watch. It had been nearly an hour. I should look for her. If something happened—

The door burst open. Ash smiled in relief. "What took you so long?" she asked.

"How the sparks does a shitty dimwit magician know how long my tech works?" Anna snapped. A faint scent of ozone lingered in the air.

Ash bit back a remark about of course she was shitty, she started doing it less than a week ago, and she'd really appreciate not being called a dimwit. Really not the time for this, she thought. There are more important things here. The air felt thick, like before a thunderstorm, and hairs pricked up on her arms. "How, precisely, does that tech work?" Ash said, dread mounting in her stomach.

Anna scoffed. "You wouldn't get it," she said. She glared at Ash with an intensity Ash didn't think was even possible coming from her.

"Really," Ash said. "Because I'm starting to think I do. More than anyone else you know could."

Anna took a step back. "Aunt Clara is the only doctor here. I'm doing what I have to do for the sake of every single person living in this town."

Suddenly, it all became clearer to Ash. "The bracelet," she said, an edge of sarcasm in her voice. "You weren't talking about me at all. That hero who was already here. You really think it's you."

"What, exactly, are you accusing me of?"

"It's you, isn't it? You're powering the house," Ash said, staring directly into Anna's eyes. "All those weird looks you and Dan exchange when I talk about using my powers, how you were so convinced it was the powers that caused Epics to be so horrible, even though you had no evidence either way. You knew firsthand, didn't you?"

"How dare you?" Anna spat.

"And the windmill is a dummy too, I'm guessing? Clever. But this won't work long term. And you know that."

"It only needs to work until Permafrost is dead."

"Maybe. But what happens when the real winter comes? It's July right now, you only have five months max. And you know that you're never going to persuade your aunt to leave here," Ash said. "You're playing with fire, Anna. And you don't get to choose who burns."

"Just because you can't handle this burden doesn't mean I can't. I've been doing this since Permafrost got here."

Which is why I'm so worried, Ash thought. Though in a way, Anna was right. Even the initial rush of her powers was enough to send her careening face-first into Calamity's darkness. She shuddered, remembering a blur of violence, then the sight of looking down to bloody hands. Hands that were not her own.

How you managed to avoid that, I have no idea, Ash thought. She took a look deep into Anna's eyes. They seemed harder, and the static that she had felt earlier seemed to penetrate even them. Though I don't think even you have much time left.

"How often do you need to do this?" Maybe less confrontational would be better, Ash thought.

Anna looked down at the floor. "Every couple weeks," she said, trailing off.

"It's been getting shorter and shorter, hasn't it?" Ash said. "Every time, you convince yourself you can handle just a little bit more?"

Anna's glare slid off her face. "How did you know?"

"It happened to me as well, when I was infiltrating the Reckoners. It seemed the longer I was doing it, the more I almost wanted to get away with using my powers behind their backs. Part of me even thought I was helping them. It ended badly." Like it will with you, Ash thought. She closed her eyes. "Promise me one thing. When we kill Permafrost, we do it the old-fashioned way. Using your powers like this? You can at least get away afterwards, and it's unfortunately clearly necessary."

"Towers are bottlenecks, there's no easy way to get out if you feel like you're losing control. And we know the Reckoners are in town, and you can bet your ass that they're going to also be interested in Permafrost. I've been with them. They're not very picky about what Epics they kill."

"I'm not an Epic," Anna said. "Or at least, I don't consider myself one. I'm just someone with a problem."

"Something tells me they won't see it that way. Anyway, to you, it's a problem that just so happens to be a a convenient solution to the bigger, more immediate problem you have." Ash chuckled mirthlessly. "Trust me, I know that one. Fallen for it, too. Does Dan—"

The door opened.

"Aunt Clara," Anna said, putting on a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm so sorry about the power cut. It's kind of jerry-rigged, that kind of thing requires a tune-up every now and then to work properly."

Ash stared at Anna, then looked briefly back at Dr. Carpenter. She doesn't know, Ash thought. And Dan and Anna were going after me for keeping dangerous secrets. But there was no way Ash was going to be the one to tell Dr. Carpenter her niece's secret. She knew by now that she wasn't good at breaking things to people gently, and anyway, it wasn't her secret to tell. I'll keep it for now. Even though this will blow up in everyone's faces.

"Yeah," Ash said, glancing back at Anna. "Your niece was just telling me how tricky a repair it was. It's really impressive what she can do."

Dr. Carpenter smiled. "She's been tinkering like this since she was a child. Not the first time she's made the power go out, either."

"It was a tripped fuse, Ash, nothing so dramatic. And I had nothing to do with it this time, either. I'm surprised the thing didn't need maintenance earlier."

And it better be a long, long time until it needs "maintenance" again, Ash thought. For everyone's sake. Though something in Ash told her it would come sooner than either of them would like.

"Anyway," Anna said, breaking Ash out of her thoughts. "I was explaining to Ash some things about her readings. Mind if we have some privacy? She gets a bit nervous around you."

Dr. Carpenter frowned in confusion, and Anna smiled sweetly in response. "I know you're the expert, Aunt Clara, but I've got this."

"Yep, her explanations are actually pretty good," Ash said, trying to ignore the death glare Anna was giving her.

Dr. Carpenter arched her eyebrows. "Well, if you're sure, I'll leave you two to it," she said, turning to leave.

As soon as the door shut, Anna breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"You haven't told her," Ash said. "Isn't this exactly the kind of dangerous secret you and Dan got on my case for keeping? He does know, right?"

Anna sighed. "It's not like that," she said. "I swear Aunt Clara was the only one I was close to who didn't know. And you, until now. And I have my reasons for both."

Ash did a mental count. "So just Dan," she said.

"He was the first person I went to when I got these." Ash flinched as a spark jumped between Anna's fingers. "If he wasn't there, I might've become as bad as Permafrost by now."

You're not out of that woods yet, Anna, Ash thought. "So, I was new in town, also an Epic, and you didn't know if you could trust me. What's your excuse for your aunt?"

"You've seen her," Anna said. "She worries about me. A lot. And I think something like this would break her. She's not as young as she used to be, and she has more than enough on her plate without this."

She closed her eyes. "And part of me thinks she'd try to stop me. I'm doing this for her, but I don't think she'd quite realize there really is no other way. Wood is getting more and more scarce, Ash. And this way, I can least make us hold out a little longer." At the cost of everything you are, Ash thought. Is this really the price you want to pay?

Anna smiled. "Anyway," she said. "We've got a big day tomorrow. Let's focus on more cheerful things."