Ashfeather: Ember and Frost

A winter that never thaws creeps over Hollowpine, and Bram must save his phoenix and the last of its kind from a frost that wants to swallow every fire in the world.

It had been one full year since Bram watched his phoenix burn to ash and rise again, and not a day passed that he did not think of it. Every spring, summer, and autumn, Ashfeather returned to Hollowpine to circle the old barn three times and press its warm head against Bram's cheek, and every time the boy laughed like he was small again.

But this winter was wrong. It had come too early and too hard, and it would not leave. The creek by Maren's cottage froze solid in a single night. The pine trees cracked in the cold. And worst of all, when Ashfeather came that morning, it landed heavily on the snow, its feathers gone the dull color of cooling coals.

'You don't look right,' Bram whispered, kneeling beside the great bird. 'You're cold. You're never cold.' Ashfeather gave a low, worried cry, and where its breath touched the air, the frost crept closer instead of melting back. Something was hunting the fire out of the world, and it had found his friend.