Chapters (62)
- Cover
- Half Title Page
- Books by Katie Powner
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Ads
- Back Cover
She hurries toward her car, looking back every five seconds to shout, “Don’t move.” Like I’m a child or an injured puppy. I wonder what my son is doing now. Is he cold on the mountain? Oh, God, I hope he’s not alone. You’re with him, aren’t you? Of course. You would never make him suffer for my sins.
The silver car pulls up beside me with the passenger window down.
“Please get in,” the woman says. “We’ll get you all warmed up.”
We? I check the back seat. There’s no one else in there. This lady must be crazy. But she has a car, and I don’t. I open the door.
“Come on, let’s get you home.”
I shut the door and step back. “No. I can’t go home.”
She puts the car in park, jumps out, and hurries over to me. “Grandma, please. Let me take you home.”
Now I know she’s crazy. I’m not anybody’s grandma. Not yet. This woman shouldn’t be out here by herself.
She opens the passenger door again, but I stand my ground. “I have to go up the mountain. I have to find him.”
She shivers against the cold. Poor thing should put a coat on. I can see one right there on the front seat, yet she doesn’t have enough sense to put it on.
“Find who?” she asks. “Grandpa?”
I don’t want to tell her the truth, so I just nod.
She narrows her eyes. “Where is he?”
“There’s a light up there.” I point about halfway between the foothills and Hardscrabble Peak. “You can’t see it right now, but that’s where he is.”
I’m sure of it. There, tucked away safely in the folds of the mountain, lies the greatest treasure in the world.
Her face contorts as she looks at me, then her shoulders slump. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I’ll take you wherever you want to go, as long as you’ll get in the car.”
I study her for a moment. Even though she’s crazy, something tells me I can trust her. As if I knew her before, in a different life. She steps aside, and I sink low to slide into the passenger seat. I’ve never been in such a short car before. The woman scoots around the front and gets in behind the wheel, shutting the door with a thud and a gust of air. Her hands are red from the cold as she shifts the car into drive. I give the coat that now sits between us a meaningful look but don’t say anything. If she wants to freeze to death, that’s her business.
“To the mountain?” She looks at me for reassurance, fear in her eyes. Poor dear.
I nod. “To the mountain.”
TWENTY-FIVE
