Page 18 of Mountain Void

“Alive is good. We’re okay, Beau. You?”

“Enjoying the view. Lowering. Now.”

The rope went taught.

Lorenz pressed his boots against the wall, once again controlling their swing. Joe groaned as gravity pulled at his shoulder, but Lorenz didn’t stop. Slowing down would mean longer exposure.

Finally, the ground team came into view—he could see Alex and Ry, kneeling over the stretcher, and bright orange jackets that he recognized as belonging to the Megève firefighters.

As Lorenz’s boots hit the snow, hands were already on Joe.

“Fine day for an ice climb,” Sébastien Marchand said, easily taking the weight of the climber so Lorenz could unclip.

Bastien was an avid climber and would have made a fine member of the PGHM if he hadn’t decided to become a firefighter instead. He considered Bastien a friend. Together, they had climbed some crazy stuff, but Lorenz liked to think they wouldn’t have been caught on this wall in early spring.

“Glad to see you, Bastien.” Then, on the radio, “We’re off rope.”

“On my way,” Beau replied.

Bastien and his partner, Océane, took over smoothly, guiding Joe into a supported sit.

The climber gripped Lorenz’s sleeve with surprising strength. “Are you coming with me?”

Lorenz pried his fingers loose gently. He wasn’t going anywhere until Beau was safe. “No. But you’re in the best hands with Ry, Bastien and Océane. They’ll take care of you. And that twig.”

Ry was already jogging over. Lorenz briefed him quickly. “He’s been conscious the whole time, and the bleeding has slowed down.”

“Good job. Now let’s get him to a surgeon.”

As the firefighters moved Joe towards the helicopter, Beau landed beside Lorenz, eyes flicking to his helmet. Lorenz guessed there was a dent in it.

“Maybe I need to send you back to training,” Beau said dryly. “You do know if you’d gone unconscious, there’s no way I could’ve lowered both of you, right?”

Lorenz gave a thin smile. “Lucky it was just an ice cube that hit me, then.”

Beau turned serious again. “Alex? Anybody else?”

“All clear. No additional climbers on the route.”

“Good,” Beau said. “We’re done here. Let’s see if we can get this route closed until May, at the earliest.”

They turned from the wall as the helicopter lifted, ice face looming above them—quiet for now, but no less dangerous. For the first time since he’d put on his uniform, Lorenz allowed himself to think of Charlie. If she hadn’t changed her mind, he was going to get the chance to speak with her. To say everything he should have said a long time ago.

7

Charlie

Charlie almost missed the turn signal to her house.

She corrected automatically, hands steady on the wheel, even as her thoughts lagged a few seconds behind. The street slid past her windshield, familiar houses blurring into one another until she saw her house, one of the smallest on the cul-de-sac, tucked at the end like an afterthought. She’d always liked that about her house.

She slowed as she pulled into her parking space.

Something was nagging at her. Théo’s face kept intruding.

It wasn’t anything the boy had said. Not even anything obvious. Just the way he hadn’t looked at her that morning when he’d come into the classroom. The way he’d been so quiet. When had that started? A few days? A week?

She cut the engine and sat there, replaying the last few weeks in her mind.