“Just five more m-m-minutes,” Robert Arthur said.

“In five minutes we’ll be dead,” Glenn Torkells said. “We have to go now.”

The outdoor temperature was barely twenty degrees. The boys were dressed in jeans and chorus robes but little else: no jackets, no hats, no gloves, no sneakers, no socks.

And they were trapped on a narrow ledge outside Lovecraft Middle School, four stories above the ground.

A freezing wind pinned them against the stone wall. Robert’s right hand had found a crack in the mortar, the smallest of handholds, and he wedged his fingers inside.

“We can’t just stand here,” Glenn said.

“Someone will s-s-see us,” Robert insisted. “We have to be pa-pa-patient.”

Glenn looked down—all the way down—but didn’t see a single person. The boys were perched on the back wall of the school, high above the empty athletic fields. All of their classmates were indoors, attending a special Valentine’s Day concert in the auditorium.

“This is our last chance,” Glenn said. “If we wait any longer, we’ll be too numb to move.”

Robert worried the moment had already passed. His fingers and toes were tingling, as if all of his hands and feet had fallen asleep. Was it frostbite? Or hypothermia? Which was worse?

“Let’s try yelling again,” he suggested.

“It’s no use,” Glenn insisted.

The boys had already screamed themselves hoarse, but Robert hadn’t given up. “J-j-just a few more tries,” he said. “It’ll warm us up.”

So together they shouted Help! and Please! and Somebody! and Can anyone down there hear us?!? but it was hopeless. No one could hear them. Their cries were lost beneath the blustery winds.

“We have to get to the balcony,” Glenn said. “It’s our only way out of this.”

He was referring to the small railed patio on the side of the building. To reach it, the boys would need to follow the ledge around the corner of the school.

“What about the roof?” Robert suggested. The top of the building was maddeningly close, just inches beyond their fingertips. “What if you gave me a boost?”

Glenn shook his head. “I’ve seen you climb the ropes in gym class,” he said. “You’re not strong enough. Reaching the balcony is our only option.”

“I won’t make it,” Robert said. “I’ll fall.”

“You might fall. But if you stay here—if you do nothing—you’ll definitely fall. So what’s it gonna be?”

Robert looked around for alternatives. At four stories high, the world seemed like it had turned to black and white; there wasn’t a trace of color anywhere in the sky. Just layers and layers of murky gray. The sun had vanished.

“All right,” he decided. “Here goes nothing.”

He eased his fingers from the crevasse and pressed both palms flat against the stones. Almost instantly, a fresh blast of wind whipped beneath his robe, blowing it up and over his head. Unable to see, Robert panicked. He reached out for Glenn, grabbing his shoulder, clinging to him until the wind settled down.

“Take it easy,” Glenn said.

“I can’t handle this,” Robert told him.

“Yes, you can.”

“No, I can’t. I was okay when Professor Goyle turned into a winged demon. When Sarah and Sylvia Price turned into snake-women. When Howard Mergler turned into a giant fly-faced bug monster. All that crazy stuff, I could handle. Heck, I even fought back. But this ledge? At this height? With this wind? This is too much.” Robert shook his head. “This is the worst.”

For a few moments, neither boy said anything.

And then a fluffy white speck twirled out of the sky and landed on the tip of Glenn’s nose.

A snowflake.

All around them, all at once, it was snowing.

“Things could always be worse,” Glenn said.