Fourteen-year-old Lena lived by the frozen bay, in a town that smelled of salt. The December fair lit up the market and the wind scattered snow stars over the stalls. Grandma sold gingerbread in the shape of lanterns, listening to the sound of waves under the brittle ice. Lena helped, but listened for something other than the turmoil of sledges and carols. There was a quiet tone from the dawn, as if someone was stirring a bell hidden beneath the bay. Legend said that the Winter Bell only sounds once, just before Christmas Eve. As dusk fell, a blue streak shimmered over the ice, like the breath of a lantern. Olek, the neighbour opposite, jumped down from the wall and crouched by the quay. - Can you see it, Lena? - he whispered, pointing to a crack in the ice by the green buoy. Lena nodded as the streak pulsed where the old boat had been moored in the summer. From her rucksack she pulled out her grandfather's small compass, found today in a box of baubles. The needle twitched and pointed to the ice instead of north, as if something was attracting it. Grandma spotted them at the buoy and shouted for them to get back to the booth. - 'The bridge is icy and the ice is treacherous,' she said, handing them hot tea. Lena glanced at the compass and flipped open the lid, which she hadn't seen before. Inside was a thin paper with numbers and three letters: WIG. Underneath, an arrow and the time had been added, for tomorrow: 22:40, just before Shepherd's Day. The grandmother pretended to be calm, but kept her fingers too tightly on the reindeer cup. By evening, the snow had thickened and the wind had quietened, as if it had waited along with the town. Lena and Olek slipped out of the market, carrying a compass, a torch and two skipping ropes. The skipping ropes were to be used as ropes in case the bridge at the marina froze to a halt. At the quay they heard a sound, low and clear, like a drop breaking through the ice. The compass trembled, the needle lit up blue, and a dark streak moved from under the ice. The shed door opened of its own accord, creaked open, and someone whispered their names from the darkness. - If it's the Winter Bell, we need to find out why it's ringing today. Lena lifted the bolt, and warmth and the smell of spices gushed from inside. At the same moment, the ice under their boots pulsed like a heart and something knocked from underneath.