‘Well, we’ll definitely have to warn my dad for the next—’ Addis stopped cold when she realized what she’d been about to say. She released Em’s hand as the devastating reminder robbed her of air. Never again would she be able to share hers and Em’s adventures with her dad. Never again would he wipe her tears and force her to laugh over some stupid boy who she’d convinced herself was her soulmate for life. He wouldn’t be there to insist she was the most stunning girl on the Homecoming court, he would never grill her prom date, watch her graduate, or one day, far down the road, walk her down the aisle, or bounce his grandchildren on his knees while sneaking them chocolate candies before bedtime like he’d always done with her.

Addis wasn’t aware she’d begun hyperventilating until Tony was suddenly beside her, shoving her head between her knees, ordering her to listen, to breathe with him.

By the time she finally pulled herself together again, it had grown even darker and colder. But it wasn’t the cold draft washing over the back of her neck that stole her attention from her meltdown, it was the way Em’s serrated fingernails gouged into the top of her hand. Afraid of what she would find, Addis slowly traced the path Em’s eyes followed.

What she spotted might not have been quite as chilling as their kidnapper, but it ran a close second. ‘Bear,’ she managed to rasp out.

Tony whirled around, and Addis fought the urge to yell at him. Her nerves were already a tangled yarn of anxiety. Was he trying to draw attention to them? They’d watched the movie Grizzly. No way had she and Em survived this long only to go out as that thing’s tasty dinner.

‘Stay still,’ Tony warned as the bear reared up on its hind legs. ‘It’s just as curious about us as we are of him.’

‘Um, I think terrified is the word you’re looking for, not curious,’ Addis hissed with an embarrassingly high squeak.

Finally, after one of the longest minutes in an infinite line of long minutes this week, the bear grew bored and ambled off, peering back at them only once before disappearing over a small bluff. Addis loudly expelled the breath she’d been holding.

‘Was that a grizzly?’ Still gaping in the direction where she spotted the bear, Emerson wheezed out the question, the hand she’d reclaimed from Addis pressed tightly against her chest.

Tiny lines crinkled in the corners of Tony’s eyes.

Addis was insulted that he was amused by her friend. ‘Hey, that’s a legitimate question.’

The effort to fight back his laughter transformed his face, making him appear far less threatening than he had when he’d found them.

‘No,’ he answered now, chortling as he did. ‘It was only a black bear.’