Silas Hawthorne's tense jawline twitched. He cocked his head to listen, and in the dead silence of the ice house, it seemed an extremely faint human voice was indeed penetrating the thick layers of ice, reaching them in fits and starts.
"What did you hear?" he asked, his voice low, with a barely perceptible trace of hope.
Without a second thought, Sue Lawrence took off her heavy thermal helmet.
A bone-chilling wind instantly blasted her face, stinging her cheeks. But compared to the -96 degrees outside—cold enough to crack bones—the temperature inside the ice house, boosted by the fire, was still within the limits of human endurance.
She held her breath and focused. Her ears twitched slightly as the enhanced hearing from her feline Superpower amplified every sound. A familiar, hoarse voice cut through the icy fog, reaching her ears with perfect clarity.
"It's Theodore Frost!" Sue Lawrence's eyes narrowed, her tone certain.
