"Oh my god," she whispered.
"What? What does it say?"
She handed it to me without a word.
Ivy—
I have to leave for a while. I can't explain why, and I can't tell you when I'll be back. I'm sorry for the way this looks. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you in person.
You've been a better friend than I deserved. Please don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing.
If anyone asks, you don't know anything. That's not a lie—I never told you. Keep it that way.
Thank you. For everything.
— Lumi
The paper shook in my hands.
"She's gone," Ivy said. Her voice was hollow. "She actually— James, where would she go? What is she—"
But I was already moving.
I'd known. Some part of me had known for weeks. I’d seen the books she read in the library. Mountain climbing. Denali. Arctic Survival. The way she'd trained, relentless and focused. The questions she'd asked in Wilderness First Aid—solo survival, hypothermia protocols, what to do when no one was coming. The way she'd looked north sometimes, like she was listening for something only she could hear.
She was climbing Denali. Alone. In late season, with weather closing in and routes becoming deadly.
And she'd left without telling anyone.
"James." Ivy grabbed my arm. "James, what are you doing?"
"I have to go after her."
"What? No. We should tell someone—campus security, or Coach Reeves, or—"
"Tell them what?" I pulled free of her grip. "That a student left campus? Thatwe thinkshe’s going to climb a mountain?”
"And you chasing her into the wilderness is better?"
I didn't have an answer for that. Didn't have time to find one.
"I know you think I'm crazy," I said. "I know this doesn't make sense. But there's something—" I pressed my hand against my chest, where the silence lived. "I can't explain it. I just know I have to find her."
Ivy stared at me. For a long moment, I thought she was going to argue. Going to tell me I was an idiot, that Lumi wouldn't want me following her, that this was the worst idea I'd ever had.
She wasn't wrong about any of it.
"The gear storage," she said finally. "Behind the athletic complex. The overnight stuff—tents, sleeping bags, emergency supplies."
"Ivy—"
"If you're going to do something stupid, at least don't die." Her eyes were bright, fierce. "And when you find her, tell her I'm going to kill her myself."
I was out the door before she finished speaking.
The gear storage was exactly where Ivy said it would be.
The lock was shit.
