Once Leo got her sandpaper lids unstuck, her eyeballs were the only part of her she could move. The rest was a dead weight. TheYeah?she tried to say came out all wrong.
“Got to go.”
“Time is it?”
“Time to move.”
Her eyes focused, took in the big, human shape above her, darkness all around. Within a split second, adrenaline flushed into her veins. “Ready,” she lied.
Elias and the dog both stared at the cave entrance, sending her instincts into overdrive.
She stood too fast and leaned against the wall, waiting for the wave of sickness to pass. “What is it?”
“Something’s wrong.”
“Beyond the obvious?”
He ignored her attempt at humor and eyed the passage back up into the tunnels. “Someone’s close. Gotta go.”
The little hairs on her body pricked up.
“Right now.” He went to work rolling up the sleeping bags.
“Where?” She reached for her boots.
“Where do you need to go?”
“To Campbell Turner. To the virus.” She slid him a look. “Unless you have it.”
His “Let’s go” wasn’t exactly a response, but she didn’t push. There wasn’t time to chat.
“Or Canada. Amka made me promise I’d take you to Canada.”
“Made you promise, huh?” He shook his head, before his eyes narrowed in on her. “What you got on under those?”
She stopped struggling with her boot. “You mean besides underwear?”
“Base layers. You got any base layers?”
“One.”
He muttered an obscenity and threw another look at the doorway. “Put these on. Fast.”
She caught the tights he flung her way—two pairs—and a thin, synthetic pair of socks. As fast as she could manage, she stripped off her trousers and pulled the oversized layers on top of her base layer—loose wasn’t ideal in the cold, but better than nothing. While she struggled to get dressed, Elias remained occupied, his back to her.
“Happen to find a fire kit when you searched my bag?” he asked, still not looking her way.
“Oops.” She pulled it from her coat pocket. “Sorry.”
He looked down at her hand and back up. “Keep it.”
“But you—”
“We’re in this together. Keep it.”
She nodded and continued getting ready. The next couple of minutes were a jumbled sequence, performed in almost absolute silence. Dressing, finally shoving her feet into boots and her head into a ski mask that Elias handed her, spinning to take a last look at the space, before following him into the glacier cave.
No time to stop and marvel at the brighter blues, the shocking swirls. No time to get down on her ass and slide across like a toddler. She put her arms out for balance and slipped along, grateful when he snaked an arm around her back.
