Epilogue

"What?" - Nea was surprised – "Why didn't grandfather Vadim and grandma Pavva pass?"

"Because they are no longer grandfather Vadim and grandma Pavva!" - Costa shouted. – "They can't come back here young! This is all your fault! You and your selfishness!"

"Costa..." - Nea tried to soothe him, but it was impossible.

"I told you people would get hurt if you went back to Avernas. I told you your grandfather didn't want to come back! I told you you can't save anyone! But you only do what you want! You don't think about the consequences! And here is the result! I don't have a grandfather anymore! And all because of you!" - Costa shouted, his voice breaking.

"But I do... I saved him..."

"It wouldn't have to be saved if you didn't want to play superhero! I ran to save someone who didn't ask for it and now my family will have to bury an empty coffin!" - Costa shouted, and his cheeks burned with tears that froze in the cold of the first day of January.

They moved directly to the ice of the river, not far from that place. Where Costa and his grandfather liked to fish. They were hiding their fishing gear in a hut on the beach, and Cabris had already followed them, not wanting to listen to the children's argument. Costa shouted and began to clear the snow from the ice in the place where they would drill the hole.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing! Go home! And don't you ever come into my life again!" - the boy said with hatred.

"Costa, well, I'm sorry..."

"No! Leave... We are not friends..."

"Costa... I'm sorry! Really..." - Nea began to cry. She felt so guilty that she wanted to fall through the ice.

Cabris came back with a tackle, a drill, two stools, and a thermal slingshot.

"Nea," - said Cabris. – "You'll freeze, and someone might see you. It is still January 1, but it is already 10 am. While the fog is still in the village, you must return to grandma Pava's house. No one should see you like this. Go. And Costa and I have to cover up grandfather Vadim disappearance."

Nea walked home with her head down, and the boys stayed on the river. According to the plan, Costa drilled a hole, dived into it himself, threw his grandfather's clothes into it, and Cabris flooded the ice with an artifact to make it thinner, one chair fell through a crack. It was as if the ice had cracked and one of the fishermen had been caught in the ice and carried away by the current.

So it was perceived in the village, when in the morning Costa began to shout from the river. The villagers heard him, and the fog had already passed. They ran to the river to save Vadim. But they saw his jacket flash under the ice. Fishermen tried to save him, but the ice on the river was too thin. While they were deciding what to do, Vadim was carried away by the current and will not be returned. They brought Costa's grandson home, crying and cold, and told Bazhena about the trouble. The Petukhov-Lambert family went into mourning, and the New year ceased to be a favorite holiday forever.