• Well… it’s like this: his wife packed her bags, took the guys, and ran off with some Big Icicle - a guy with a big business overseas and loads of Since then, Murky never got over it and hates snow and ice with a passion. -


  
• Oh, come on! - Roman muttered grumpily, picking up the pace while Grofo laughed like he was gonna die from it.


  

  When he finally caught his breath, Grofo said:

  

  
• I don’t actually know anything about his Just know he doesn’t have one. As for how he’s not freezing to death - even he doesn’t know. He’s always been like that. Could’ve been famous, like that dude from abroad who’s got a similar superpower.


  
• He’s in survival shows, gets tested in crazy conditions, and they even wanna put him in the Guinness World But our Drury’s way too weird for that kind of thing - and he doesn’t want fame anyway.


  
• I honestly think he feels like he’s made of - The boy added suddenly, then shut up, surprised by his own insight.


  

  Maybe he was right - maybe Murky did think he was made of snow. Who knew…?

  As they kept chatting about their local legend, they finally reached the lake shore and began scanning the area, trying to spot the big rock Suzanne had mentioned.

  

  
• There it is! - Roman shouted, but quickly deflated when he saw that the rock was tiny - definitely not the kind of boulder a girl could sit on.


  

  While his little brother played detective, Grofo stepped closer to the water’s edge and peered into the depths, hoping to spot the skyscrapers of the underwater city. Just as he’d expected - nothing. All he could see was a mass of cold water and patches of ice.

  

  
• Didn’t think so, - he grumbled, disappointed, and chucked a small stone into the Still sucks, though. Realizing there’s no such thing as magic. Just… kinda stings.


  

  His little brother, though, firmly believed that he was the only one allowed to be sad. He believed in miracles way more than Grofo - mainly because he’d never expected anything good from them.

  And for the first time, the pessimist’s glass wasn’t just half - empty - it had been poured out straight into the lake.

  

  
• Hey! Come here! I found the And there’s something lying near it!


  

  Seeing Roman waving his arms like crazy, Grofo ran up to him and, once there, noticed that from this angle, you really could see something half - submerged in the water.

  

  
• Why didn’t you check it yourself? - He asked. Roman shook his head violently and stepped


  
• You're not dragging me into this. Check it yourself.


  

  Fine. What do you do when all the responsibility always falls on you? You take it.

  Of course, Grofo wanted to approach the thing with cautious little steps, but he absolutely didn't want to look like a coward in front of his younger brother. So, straightening his back and trying to look like an eagle swooping in for prey, he strutted over to… a human hand.

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  Now it was his turn to step back, clamping down on the rising scream in his throat.

  - How? Where from? Why?!

  Panic never usually touched Grofo’s brain. But today must’ve been some kind of special. Shutting his eyes for a few seconds, he tried to switch his freak - out into something more positive.

  - At least it’s not my hand. That’s already a win.

  This self - brainwashing might’ve worked- if it weren’t for the blood - curdling shriek right next to him. Grofo didn’t even flinch. On the contrary, he squeezed his eyes tighter and gritted through his teeth:

  

  
• Chill out, It’s just a dead hand. It’s not gonna do anything to you. Maybe slap you on the back of the head for screaming all the time, but that’s it.


  

  Roman's voice was choked with sobs and barely recognizable. Grofo had never heard that much terror in it.

  

  
• G - Gro… Grofo… what the hell is that? Get it away from me! Please!


  
• On Always happy to do your dirty work, - Grofo snapped, clearly crowned - Most Fearless Investigator - by Roman’s internal award show. - Let’s deal with it.


  

  He started poking the severed hand with the toe of his boot. Once, twice, just to be sure it wouldn’t leap at him. No, he knew it couldn’t do that. But Roman’s screeching was really messing with his head.

  Add to that Suzie’s creepy story and old man Drury - the Cloudy - not too far from here, and it really was starting to feel like Grofo had been dumped into some messed - up RPG against his will.

  Summoning some courage, Grofo bent down to touch the thing- but froze halfway, still not brave enough to follow through.

  

  
• Throw it away, Grofo! Come on!


  

  

  
• Hey, that belonged to a person, alright? Don’t talk trash about human body parts, - Grofo said solemnly, secretly grateful for the pause that allowed him to give his brother a little moral - Besides, this poor guy must’ve been through hell- no way he just casually lost a hand.


  

  

  
• What if he chopped it off himself? - Roman offered in his - junior detective -


  

  

  
• Oh, c’mon. - Grofo scoffed. - He’d have passed out from the pain and be lying around here


  
• So that means… - Roman’s eyes darted He whispered, breathless, - There’s a maniac out here… cutting off people’s limbs. We have to get out of here. This is a nightmare!


  

  Grofo waved him off.

  

  
• We need to take the hand.


  

  Not that he wanted to. But some perverse curiosity had smashed through all barriers of fear and disgust.

  What would it feel like, anyway? Different from a regular hand? Time to find out. Good thing he had gloves on.

  Bending all the way down, the self - declared forensic investigator carefully touched the hand with just the tip of his index finger- then suddenly grabbed the whole thing. Holding the creepy trophy over his head, he declared:

  

  
• See? Nothing to A hand's a hand. Just frozen and blue.


  

  

  
• Whoa… - Roman breathed, half in awe, half in some twisted kind of - You really did it! Okay now throw it in the lake and let’s go home. -


  

  Grofo let out a long sigh, the kind that told Roman he was tired of being told what to do every damn second.

  

  
• First we talk to Suzie. She’s the one who brought us here, so she gets to decide what to do with this mini - Frankenstein. -


  

  He yanked his phone out of his pocket and called her. To his surprise, she picked up almost immediately. Normally, she was off floating in her own little dreamworld and you had to wait ages for a response. But this time, he heard her eternally annoyed voice almost right away:

  

  
• She's listening to you and remembering every word you


  

  

  
• Wow, you turned into a recorder - Grofo joked and immediately explained what kind of object her tip had led them to.


  

  Another surprisingly quick response came from the other end of the line:

  

  
• Bring that item It's needed to understand the nature of the grim changes taking place.


  
• Why do you always have to talk in riddles? - said Grofo, frozen and quite - You could just say you felt like playing detective.


  

  …