Chapter 3
The weather turned before we had gone far.
Snow came down in thick, relentless sheets.
At that altitude, the wind cut straight through me, stinging my face until it went numb.
Edward had not dressed for it. He looked miserable, shoulders hunched against the cold. I remembered the heavy coat he had left in the car.
"I'll grab your coat. Be right back," I said.
He gave a distracted "Okay."
We had driven separately and parked some distance away.
I took a few steps, then glanced back.
He was still standing there, not even looking in my direction.
I had barely gone any farther when his phone rang.
Sophia.
She sounded panicked.
"Edward! Max has a fever and he won't stop throwing up!" she cried.
Something in Edward shifted at once.
The indifference fell away, replaced by urgency.
"Hey, Sophia." His voice tightened. "It's okay. Where are you? I'll come right now."
He spoke softly, trying to steady her.
At the same time, he turned to Emily.
"Something came up. I need to head down the mountain. Bring Grace with you when you go back."
He didn't give any more explanations. Without a second thought, he turned and took off.
He rushed away, not once checking where I was.
No warning. No message.
Just like that, he was gone.
The snowfall thickened without warning, turning into a blinding whiteout.
By the time I made it back to the summit with Edward's coat in my arms, the place was empty. Everyone was gone.
I felt a wave of unease wash over me, a bad feeling gnawing at my gut.
I started calling their names.
"Edward?"
"Emily? Michael?"
No one answered.
I shouted, but the storm swallowed every sound.
My chest tightened.
I tried calling them, one after another.
However, the sudden blizzard had wiped out the signal.
And with the freezing cold draining my battery, the screen flickered, then went dark.
My mind raced in panic. They had to be playing a joke on me.
Braving the snowstorm, I fought my way back to the parking lot.
Both our cars had disappeared from where they were parked.
Fresh tracks cut through the snow, clear and unmistakable. They had left me behind.
All of them.
I stood there, rooted to the spot, trying to force a smile.
I could not.
The weight of it hit all at once. Abandonment. Loneliness.
Later, I would piece it together.
Because of the storm, Emily and Michael totally missed Edward's instructions.
Not long after Edward left, Emily couldn't bear the coldness.
"Edward probably already took Grace down. Let's get out of here. It's freezing," she said, shivering hard.
While I was still making my way up, they were already heading down.
We took different paths and never crossed.
They didn't wait for me, didn't even try to look for me.
It never even occurred to them to check whether Edward had actually taken me.
Maybe they didn't mean to leave me in danger.
But their casual coldness and indifference ended up leaving me stranded, with nowhere to turn.
Alone on the summit, the blizzard whipped around me, leaving me shivering from head to toe.
The cold did not just touch my skin. It sank deeper, seeping into me, dragging a quiet fear up from somewhere I could not reach.
My clothes did nothing against it. My hands and feet went numb almost at once.
Ice gathered on my lashes until blinking felt impossible. Every breath burned.
I kept going, step by step, down the mountain trail.
The snow deepened. The wind only grew louder.
I lost track of time. Lost count of how many times I slipped, how many times I fell.
Two hours. Three. It blurred together.
My knees and elbows throbbed, battered and numb.
My strength bled away, and the edges of my vision began to darken.
Only a thin thread of breath kept me moving.
I encouraged myself. "Just a little longer.
"I can't die.
"I'm still young. There is so much I have not done.
"Not here. Not like this."
When I could not take another step, I sank down beneath a tree.
With stiff fingers, I pulled out my last match, along with the cupcake that was meant to be my birthday cake.
I lit the candle for my twenty-sixth birthday.
I stuck the candle into the frozen cupcake, carefully shielding the tiny flame with my hands.
A faint warmth touched my skin.
I closed my eyes and slumped against the trunk, praying with everything I had.
"If there's anything that can save me," I whispered.
"I want to live.
"If I could survive this, I'd pay any price."
Somewhere between consciousness and nothing, a voice answered. Low. Unfamiliar.
"Make a deal?" it said.
"You can live.
"But you'll lose every emotion you have."