The heat started to claw at her throat.She pressed her palm flat against the desk.Four in.Hold.Four out.The technique Dr.Sandra had taught her years ago.
It passed.
Meg took a shaky breath and forced herself to update Emma’s chart.The machine hummed as if it was considering giving up entirely.But it limped along.Much like everything else at the North Rim.
Much like her.
Her medical bag sat on the desk where she’d left it after the morning’s hike.She needed to restock it—bandages, antiseptic, emergency supplies.As she unzipped the main compartment, something fluttered out—a note card from the gift shop.
Meg frowned.She didn’t remember putting any notes in her bag.
She picked it up with careful fingers and unfolded it.She stared at the bold green block letters.
TIME DOESN’T ALWAYS HEAL.
She looked around the empty office, then out the window to the parking lot beyond.A handful of cars scattered across the asphalt.A couple walking toward the lodge.Everything normal.Peaceful.
But someone had been in her medical bag.Someone had left this note.
And suddenly, the warmth from treating Emma felt very far away, replaced by a cold that settled deep in her bones.
Six
“I’m out.”Nimue laid her final card with a flourish, the paper slapping against the table.
Meg stared at the ridiculous number of points still in her hand, the cards fanning out uselessly.What could she say?Her mind just wasn’t on the game—kept drifting to the window in the community room of the Ranger Roost—the park service trying to put a positive spin on staff housing.Her mind was on everything except strategy.
They had been playing cards for a couple hours, basically since Teague and Liam hit the trail again.The rain had thickened into a relentless downpour that battered the lounge windows, water streaming down the glass in rivulets.
At least Noah was still asleep over in his cabin.She didn’t have to worry about him.Didn’t have to face him.
Nimue shuffled the deck, the cards making that satisfying riffle sound, as Eden picked up her phone from the table.The screen glowed in the dim lounge.“According to the satellite, the storm’s going to get worse.Trails will be a mess.”
“I wish they’d get back already.”Nimue’s voice was tight as she lifted her own phone, thumb scrolling through updates, weather reports, emergency notifications.
“They’ll be fine.”Eden’s hand landed on Nimue’s arm, fingers squeezing gently.But Meg didn’t miss the way her body tensed, seemed to betray her words.
Nimue leaned back in her chair, the wood creaking.A half-empty water bottle dangled from her fingers, plastic crinkling.But her casual pose didn’t hide her tension, the way her knee bounced under the table.“I’ve been on the trail with Liam in a storm.I know he can handle it.It’s just…” Her eyes fixed on the rain-streaked window.
She didn’t have to finish.Meg and Eden knew.
Mudslides.Washouts.Zero visibility.Even the best-trained couldn’t prepare for everything nature threw at them.
They had to talk about something else before they all went mad with worry.
Meg picked up her cards that Nimue just dealt.“I aced both interviews for the research job.They want me to start August first.”
Eden’s eyebrows shot up, disappearing under her blonde wispy bangs.“August first?I thought you were going to finish the season.”
“That was the plan, but the grant has unmovable dates, and if I’m going to do this?—”
“If?I thought it was a done deal.”Eden eyed her over her cards, pale-blue eyes sharp.“Are you having doubts?”
Yes.
“No.It’s…it will be great.No caves.No emergencies.Just a lab.Data.Control.”The words felt hollow even as she spoke them, like reading from a script she didn’t believe.
But leaving meant escaping the panic.The trauma.The cave’s ghosts haunting her dreams.That was what she wanted.Needed.
