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“Lorenzo called us. He found signal, and we located him before we found you.”
I shook my head and regretted it. I was dizzy and my mouth was like cotton. My phone lay on the floor. When I picked it up, I saw a message typed in my notes.
Gone to get help.
How had he done it?
How long had he been gone?
“Where is he?” I asked.
“We already airlifted him to get checked out.”
“Is he okay?” I asked, panic setting in. I struggled to think straight. I was still in survival mode, and the more they told me Lorenzo was gone, the more it scared me.
“He’s just fine. A little hypothermic—he traveled through the night—and dehydrated, but he’s okay.”
“Why isn’t he here?”
“We didn’t want you to wait, he said it was serious, so another team took him.”
It didn’t make sense. Why hadn’t he come back with them? Why had he just left me? He’d promised he wouldn’t leave me.
Kate checked me out. They didn’t answer my questions in a way that made me feel better. Finally, after she was sure she knew what was wrong, they strapped me into a gurney. It was almost worse. I couldn’t move. My head, my neck, my body were all strapped down tightly.
A helicopter appeared, the sound deafening. The trees around us tugged at their roots, and the branches danced and waved in the wind. A rope came down, and they carried me to it, fastening it so that I was lifted into the air. I yelped, panicking.
“We’ve got you,” someone said from the helicopter, and I was pulled into it. “You’re going to be okay,” a woman said. “I’m Lucy, and I’m going to take good care of you.”
“Where’s Lorenzo?” I asked, tears springing to my eyes.
“He’s okay,” Lucy said. I was getting sick of everyone saying that to me.
“What about the others?” I asked. “Anna? She has a son.”
“They’re all okay. They made it down the mountain safe and sound after the first storm. We’ve been looking for you since.”
I closed my eyes, tears squeezing out of them. Brian and Kate were pulled up into the helicopter, and then we flew away from the forest, away from the ledge, away from the nightmare I’d been terrified I wouldn’t escape.
They kept telling me Lorenzo was okay. I had to believe them, but I couldn’t help but feel like we were leaving him behind.
Where was he? Why had he left when he’d told me he wouldn’t?
24
LORENZO
“Fuck,brother,youhadme worried,” Gino said when he grabbed me into a hug and held on so long I couldn’t bite back tears anymore. “I thought we lost you, man.” Gino’s voice hitched, and when he let go, he pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing his eyes shut.
“I can’t believe it’s over.” I didn’t know what else to say. I felt like I was in a daze.
After I’d made the call, it had taken hours for them to find me. It had been the middle of the night. By the time the first rays of morning light had lit up the forest enough that I could see my own scrapes against the tree trunks again, I’d heard the helicopter in the distance.
I’d never thought I would love the sight of another face so much.
They’d been total strangers to me, but in that moment, I’d loved every single one of those men and women who’d broken through the trees.
They’d asked me to show them where Celine was, and I’d led them back to her. She’d still been asleep, and I was glad about that. When I was sure she would be taken care of, I’d asked them to take me home.
