Chapter 3

We never made it to Camp Three.

The blizzard hit way earlier than anyone expected.

A low rumble rolled through the mountain, like some huge beast waking up.

Edward went ghost-white.

"Avalanche! Get down!"

The world flipped.

A wall of snow tore off the ridge with a roar loud enough to shake everything apart.

The blast slammed me to the ground.

My ears screamed.

Chunks of snow pounded into me.

Ice shot down my collar, so cold my whole body locked up.

I had no idea how long the first wave lasted.

I lay facedown in the snow, dazed, until it hit me.

I was alive.

"Keegan."

My voice came out raw.

Through the blowing snow, someone staggered to his feet.

Keegan.

Snow covered him. A thin line of blood streaked his face.

He didn't come to me.

He ran to Ada.

She lay on a slope fifty feet away, shaking hard and sobbing between ragged breaths.

"Keegan... Keegan, I'm scared... Please..."

He rushed over and pulled her into his arms.

"It's okay. You're okay."

He quickly checked her over.

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm cold..." Ada's teeth chattered. "Keegan... I'm so cold..."

He scanned the area.

Then looked at me.

Not me.

The emergency blanket around my shoulders.

The last one we had.

The others were buried under the snow.

He marched over.

For one stupid second, I thought he was coming to help me up.

Then he grabbed the blanket off my shoulders.

My fingers locked around it.

"Nina, let go."

His voice was sharp.

Urgent.

"Ada's hypothermic. She won't make it."

"What about me?"

My voice came out rough.

Almost like it belonged to someone else.

He hesitated.

"You're stronger. You can take the cold."

Then he ripped the blanket away.

Cold slammed into me from every side.

Brutal.

Bone-deep.

Like being buried alive in ice.

Keegan wrapped my blanket around Ada.

Then he crouched and started unbuckling the safety rope from my waist.

"What are you doing?"

Panic hit hard.

"I can only take one person."

He wouldn't look at me. His fingers flew over the buckle.

"This is the last rope. Edward said there's a crevasse below. We have to stay tied in to cross it.

"Ada's too weak. She won't make it without the rope."

"What about me?"

I grabbed his arm, my nails digging into his jacket.

Finally, he looked at me.

Hesitation flickered in his eyes.

Guilt too.

But mostly?

Certainty.

'You're tough. You'll be fine.'

"Nina, stay here and wait for rescue."

He stood and secured the rope around Ada's waist.

"Edward already sent a distress signal. They'll be here in two hours, tops.

"You can handle it.

"You always do."

He grabbed Ada's hand and headed down.

The blizzard swallowed him whole.

I opened my mouth to call his name.

The wind shredded it.

He never looked back.

Then the second avalanche hit.

The snow vanished beneath my feet.

I dropped into darkness.

My body slammed into the ice wall.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then—

Nothing.

Darkness.

Thirty below.

Closing in from every side.

He said two hours.

He said I'd make it.

Maybe he forgot.

I was still just a person.

I got cold.

I got scared.

I could die.