I could still remember exactly how I ran headlong into the forest in the freezing cold across the snowy clearing with them hot on my heels. I rushed past green firs and bare deciduous trees. I got caught on sharp branches and scraped my cheek.

My escape ended when a strand of my hair got tangled, causing me to trip and fall down a slope. I rolled over the snow and rolled over several times until I came to rest on the ice of a frozen stream. My whole body ached, but I tried to pull myself up anyway because the Stirling brothers had already reached the top of the...