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I look up to find Sebastian standing over me with an impatient scowl on his face. “I need to rest,” I manage.
“We don’t have time to rest.” Sebastian snaps. “It’ll be dark soon. And a blizzard is coming.”
I shake my head weakly, still holding back tears. “I can’t.”
His jaw tightens. “Avery…”
“Ican’t.” My voice breaks, and to my horror, the tears spill over, hot on my cheeks.
Sebastian’s icy stare doesn’t soften. He just stands there, watching me cry. It’s humiliating, to fall apart in front of him, but I can’t hold back anymore. My body shakes, and my sobs echo in the stillness of the snow, howling with grief and fear, and everything I’ve lost on this futile quest for justice, until finally, I’m too drained even to cry.
Sebastian waits, until my sobs become a faint sniffle. “Are you done now?” he says curtly.
I nod, shame red on my face.
“Then start walking.”
Bastard.
I struggle to my feet again. Sebastian doesn’t offer to help, but when I’m finally upright, brushing off the snow, I find him holding out a mini bottle of water from his pack.
I gape. “You had this all along?”
“It’s the only one.”
I snatch it from him, and gulp it down greedily, forcing myself to stop before I drain the bottle. Reluctantly, I hand it back to him, with a couple of inches of water still left. “You finish it.”
Sebastian arches an eyebrow. “How generous,” he says dryly. “I’m touched you care.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I shoot back. “If you die of thirst, then who’s going to lead me to this cabin?”
Sebastian scowls, gulps the water down, and then starts walking again. I hoist my bag and follow.
Everything is a blur after that.Every step along the deserted mountain road takes a massive effort, and as the afternoon stretches into the evening, the snow begins to fall. It doesn’t take long before Sebastian is proven right, and it turns into a blizzard, the flakes whirling around, making it hard to even see twenty feet ahead of us. The sun sets, and the temperature drops even more, chilling me to my core, despite the clammy exertion. Just when I’m wondering if we might actually freeze to death in the dark out here, Sebastian picks up his pace.
“There!” he exclaims, pointing ahead. “Up there!”
I squint through the snow, and just about make out the dark silhouette of a structure, up on the ridge. “The cabin?” I say, my heart leaping with hope.
“We made it.” Sebastian confirms, and it’s not until I see the relief shining clear in his eyes that I realize, he hasn’t been as confident as he’s made out.
We’ve been in real danger.
“Thank God,” I exhale. The snow whips around us, dizzyingly white, but my energy is renewed, and I manage to struggle up the driveway after him.
As we draw closer, I can make out that it’s a rustic lodge, set back near the trees. The door is locked, but that proves no obstacle for Sebastian. He simply hurls himself at it, shoulder-first, and the wood splinters around the lock.
Open.
I stumble inside after him, slamming the door shut behind us against the snow and wind. It’s freezing and dark in here, but there’s an immediate relief to be out of the blizzard. I catch my breath, stamping the snow off my boots as Sebastian finds a light switch and flips it, but nothing happens.
“Damn it,” he curses. “The storm must have knocked out the electricity.” He looks out the windows, but we can’t see a thing through the dark and whirling snow. “The backup generator is out by the shed; I’ll see if I can fix it in the morning.”
“What about a phone line?” I ask.
He shakes his head, already lifting the handset on the old-fashioned receiver. “Dead. There’s no cell service out here either. The mountains block the signal.”
Damn it.
