“No.” My voice sounds thin.
“Is anyone there hurt?"
“No,” I say again. Technically true. “But I can’t—I’m stuck. I can’t drive out, visibility is zero and—”
“I understand,” she says. “I’m sorry you’re going through this. I wish I could tell you we can have rescue on the way, but right now we can’t send any vehicles out—"
“You don’t get it.” My fingers dig into the phone. The walls feel like they’ve moved in a few inches. “I can’t stay here.”
“I hear you,” she says quietly. “But being inside that house is the safest place you can be in this storm. You have four walls and a roof. You’re out of the wind. That puts you in a much better position than anyone who’s—”
Static cracks over her words.
“Hello?” My voice jumps. “Hello, I can’t hear—”
“Ma’am? Are you still—”
The line dissolves into a rush of white noise and the call drops.
I stare at my phone like that alone might reconnect it. The little “no service” icon stares back.
Okay. Fine. Mia.
I tap her contact. The call tries, spins, somehow connects.
“—omi? Naomi, are you—” Her voice is shredded by interference. “The weather just went side—oh my god, please tell me you’re not on the road—”
“I’m at the chalet,” I blurt. My own voice sounds like it’s coming from another room. “I can’t get out, I need you to find something, anything. A helicopter, a snowcat, I don’t care, just—”
“Naomi, slow down, you’re break—up—I can’t—” Mia sounds like she’s underwater. “Stay put, donottry to drive, I’ll call the—”
“Mia? I can’t hear you. Mia?”
Static eats the rest. The line dies.
I hit call again. Nothing. Not even a ring this time.
The room squeezes around me. Not literally, but it might as well. The ceiling feels lower than it did five minutes ago. My skin is hot, my fingers cold, my heart beating too fast and too hard, like it’s trying to punch through my ribs.
I don’t realize my breaths have turned into fast little gasps until someone speaks.
“Hey.”
I look up.
Felix is a few steps away, down on my eye level. Silas and Liam are behind him, farther back, near the fireplace. All three are watching me.
“I’m… fine,” I say automatically, though there’s way too much air in the sentence and not enough control.
“You don’t sound fine,” Felix says, voice soft. He doesn’t move any closer yet, like he’s wary of crowding me. “Sounds like you’re kind of freaking out. Which is completely understandable.”
“I’m not—” My chest tightens mid-denial, cutting the words off. Spots blur at the edges of my vision. The room tilts again, this time paired with a roar in my ears.
“Okay,” he says quickly, palms lifting a little, like he wants to reach for me and thinks better of it. “Hey. Look at me for a second.”
His tone slices through the static. I drag my gaze up.
Hazel eyes. Focused, calm. A faint line between his brows.
