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Very few vehicles were on the road other than the plow trucks still working on clearing away the snow. As they passed the first houses, everyone seemed to be either shoveling or snow-blowing or making snowmen…even one snow mermaid. It was Sunday, so kids weren’t in school anyway, but a snow day vibe filled the town nonetheless. Kids in snowsuits dragged sleds to the top of drifts. At one point they drove through a snowball fight that pitted one side of the street across the other. Which meant they got splattered with snowballs from both sides.
Jenna loved a snow day, but she wouldn’t be able to enjoy this one until she knew where everyone had gone. The kids must be alive and kicking; surely she would know if they weren’t. Maybe they’d all gone off on a snow adventure and Annika had lost her phone in a drift.
In the middle of the night, though? How had they left the house in a snowstorm in the middle of the night? None of it made any sense. Unless an alien invasion had occurred and her entire family had been whisked away in a spaceship. Then it would make sense. Or maybe Thanos was real and her family had evaporated. That made sense.
She bit down hard on her lip.
“I know what you’re doing,” Billy said in a low voice. “You’re catastrophizing. I don’t blame you, because it’s a weird situation. But there’s a reasonable explanation for all this and when we find out what it is, we’re going to…I’m not going to say laugh. But something.”
“I know. You’re right. My stupid anxious brain goes down a rabbit hole and it’s hard to make it stop.”
He reached over to squeeze her hand. “I know.”
“How do you even know that word, ‘catastrophize’?”
“I read books, too.”
He grinned at her as they rattled down her street. Her house was at the end, in a cul-de-sac. The plow trucks always piled the snow at the far end, which made for great snow-fort building and climbing and sledding.
But no one was playing on the snow pile.
She jumped out of the truck and raced down the path that Galen must have dug through the snow. The front door was unlocked. She pushed it open, and knew right away that no one was there. “Hello? Hello? Anyone?”
“Out here!”
She ran back outside to find Galen trudging from around the side of the house in his snowshoes and a plaid hunter’s jacket. Above his thick beard, his cheeks were bright red from the cold. He exchanged a long bear hug with Billy. “How many laws did you break getting here?”
“I figure it was one law, broken many times. So what’s the story here?”
“Nothing new. But something strange.” He pointed to the street in front of the house. “You can’t see it anymore because they plowed, but there were some weird drifts in the street this morning. It was hard to tell what caused them because the wind messed them up. I took a photo.”
He showed them his phone, but Jenna couldn’t tell anything about the shadows in the snow.
Billy zoomed in on the photo, then out again. “Chopper,” he said suddenly. “I think those marks are from the skids of a helicopter.”
“A helicopter?” Jenna suddenly couldn’t breathe. “Like…medivac?”
They all stared at each other. The world went gray at the edges. She felt her feet give way under her just as Billy scooped her into his arms.
Nineteen
“It’s been a rough day,” Billy explained to Galen as he carried Jenna into the house. “We had to take a private plane, and…” When Galen squinted at him, he hurried on. “She’ll be okay.”
Galen followed after him. “Let me check her pulse. I can triage her. I splinted a guy’s arm on one of my canoe trips last year. Didn’t even use my first aid kit, just some willows I found—”
“Galen.” Billy cut him off. “Do something useful like figure out why the fuck a helicopter landed here. And where it is now.”
Galen gave a mock salute. “Yes sir, little brother sir. I’ll call the clinic and the fire department and the hospital and the…”
The door closed behind Billy, cutting Galen off in mid-list. Billy loved and respected his brother, but right now his kids were missing, his ex was unconscious in his arms, and the house was buried in snow.
He lay Jenna down on the couch. He unzipped her parka so she could breathe more freely. Gently, he shifted her legs into a more comfortable position, then brushed her hair back from her pale face.
The house was chilling down. He should make a fire in the stove, but he didn’t know if they’d be here long enough to tend it. He had to find the boys. He needed to be out there looking…but where?
“Annika, where are you?” he muttered out loud. “No note? No nothing? That’s not like you.”
“Not like who? What?” Jenna sat bolt upright. “What happened?”
