Made of Stars Read Online Free Page B

a clearing. Not just a patch, but a wide stretch of land, maybe forty feet from one side to the other.
    What’s more, the snow has fallen perfectly here with no one to disrupt it. Just a white blanket over the earth. I have to resist the urge to throw myself into it and roll around. We stop on the outskirts of the clearing, each with our shovels in hand. Chance puffs out a breath, exhales on his bare hands, and rubs them together. His face is flushed, but he’s smiling.
    “So, Hunter takes that edge. Ash, you’re here. I’ll be right over there.”
    That’s all the explanation he gives us before circling around the perimeter. Hunter hesitates but eventually makes his way to his assigned spot while I stay put. We watch Chance, curious as to what we’re supposed to be doing. He thrusts the shovel into the snow, starting a pile beside him. It takes a few minutes before we realize he’s constructing some kind of wall. Occasionally taking a handful of snow, packing it neatly, and setting it aside. Snowballs.
    Hunt leans on his shovel, arching an eyebrow. “Really? Aren’t we a little old for this?”
    Chance lifts his head, lips drawn thin. “Says who?”
    “Says…us. And most of the population?” Yet I’m getting started on shoveling some snow into a pile to make my own wall. There’s no point in arguing. We can participate in his game, or we might as well go home and leave him here. He’ll do it with or without us.
    “That’s stupid.” Chance crunches another snowball together, turns, and pitches it at Hunter. It smacks Hunt’s arm, shattering into a mess of white slush and making him yelp in surprise. Chance dusts off his hands. “Get a move on, ’cause there’s more where that came from.”
    Hunter opens his mouth, closes it again, scowls, and starts shoveling.
    Even through the gloves, my fingers are starting to go numb. When we’re done, I’ve built the tallest wall out of the three of us. It circles halfway around me, keeping me safe from the front and both sides if I crouch down a bit. Hunter is fighting with his—I’ve seen it topple over more than once. Chance finishes before we do, and I see him building his collection of snowballs while we struggle to raise our defenses.
    He isn’t nice enough to wait, either. The first snowball zings past my head, startling me into stillness. Chance throws his head back and laughs. Hunter makes a valiant attempt to toss one at Chance, but he doesn’t pack it right and the snow crumbles to pieces halfway through the air. My attempt is a little better; the snowball stays together, but it flies too low and hits Chance’s wall instead.
    Eventually, we get the hang of it. Our aim improves, and we start hitting our marks. Which means Hunter and I turn our sights on each other, too. I have the upper hand. Every time he hits me, all it takes is a whimper and a look and Hunter stops, eyes wide, worried he really hurt me. Just enough time for me to chuck a snowball right at his face.
    My and Hunter’s walls are soon nothing more than mounds of snow around our legs. Only Chance’s remains. He’s an expert wall-builder…which means Hunt and I bring the war right to him so he can’t hide.
    Chance crows in delight, darting from behind his cover and managing to dump an armful of snow over my head. I shriek only because I can feel the cold sliding down the back of my jacket. While I’m dancing around, trying to shake it out, Hunt catches Chance around the waist and hauls him away from me. He loses his footing and they both go down, Chance’s barking laughter filling the clearing.
    My opportunity! I crouch to gather up an armful of snow. They’re too busy wrestling around to notice me. By the time I stand up again, Hunt has Chance pinned to the ground, snow in their hair, in their eyelashes, faces flushed.
    Chance grins in that way of his, breathless. “Is it really okay for you to be panting on top of someone who isn’t your girlfriend?”
    Hunter goes