“Charlie?”
Elias ran toward the voice. “It's coming from down there. It’s Duke! Duke! Can you hear me?”
Ben’s heart fell. Why that bastard and not his Charlie?
“Waylon, take two others and get Duke,” Bear ordered. “The rest of us keep searching for Viv, Charlie, and Maddie.”
They spread out again. Ben, Bear, Gabe, Elias. Rowan tried to help but Bear made him sit down before he collapsed.
Flo was still running in frantic circles, barking, digging, moving. She knew Charlie was here. Somewhere.
Probe. Step. Probe. Step.
Hold on, Princess. I'm coming. Just hold on.
Ben's probe hit something. He froze. “Here! I've got something!”
They converged. Started digging carefully.
It was Maddie.
Her face was peaceful. Eyes closed. Like she was sleeping.
But she wasn't breathing.
“She's gone,” Bear said quietly.
Ben felt nothing. No pity, no anger. Just urgency. “Keep searching.”
They moved to the next section of the grid.
Flo barked again, pawing at a spot.
Ben's chest was tight. His hands numb. The cold seeping through his gloves.
Please. Please let it be my princess.
Please let her be alive.
TWENTY-THREE
Maddie pulledthe trigger as Charlie lunged.
The gunshot cracked across the mountain.
The impact hit Charlie’s left side like a sledgehammer. Her beacon—the hard rectangular device strapped to her chest under her vest—exploded. Shards of plastic and metal drove into her shoulder through the vest's gap.
Charlie went down, gasping. Pain spread like fire through her shoulder and chest. She heard Viv scream, Duke and Rowan shouting until a roaring filled her ears and drowned them out. She thought it was her own blood at first.
Until she could feel the vibrations throughout her entire body.
She looked up the mountain at the massive white plume filling the night sky.
Oh dear merciful God. No.
An avalanche.
A massive wall of white—twenty feet high, maybe thirty—rushed down one of the Seven Sisters straight toward them.
