“Duncan Norquay from the Police Auxiliary came by in his catering truck.” Michael sipped from his cup. “It’s a little watery, but at least it’s hot.” He sat down on the rock with his back to Maria so they were looking in opposite directions, Michael up the mountain, and Maria down toward town.

Maria said nothing for a while. Then she ran a gloved hand under her nose, sniffed once, and said, “A lot of people from town are being very helpful.”

Michael shrugged. “I guess so. But I can’t imagine people not coming out to help.”

Maria blew on her hot chocolate, sending a cloud of steam into the air. “Still, there are so many people looking for my sister and they still haven’t found her.”

“Who knows?” Michael said. “Maybe they have found her already.”

“Then why haven’t we heard about it yet? The search teams all have radios.”

Maria had a good point, but it was Michael’s job to keep Maria positive and upbeat, at least until they knew for sure what had happened to her sister. So he had to tell Maria something, even if it wasn’t exactly the truth. “My dad is always saying that his police radio doesn’t always work the way it should in the mountains. And the radios the searchers have aren’t as good as the ones the RCMP uses.”

Maria said nothing, but Michael could tell she was thinking about what he’d said. He shifted his position on the rock and remained silent to give her some privacy and a chance to think.

“The Brocks are out searching, right?” she said at last.

“Yeah,” said Michael. “Argus, Tora, and Harlan went out before everyone else…” It still irked Michael that Tora had left him behind, but now wasn’t the time to talk about it. “…On their own.”

Maria sat up on the rock, spilling some of her hot chocolate. “They went by themselves?”

“Yeah,” Michael said, no longer trying to hide his disappointment. “I wanted to go with them, but…well, Tora wanted me to stay here and look after you.”

“They didn’t want you along?”

“No, they didn’t.” Michael shook his head. “How do you like that, eh?”

“They know their way through the forest, those three,” Maria said, stating a fact rather than asking a question.

“Those four,” Michael corrected her. “But Noble’s still home sick in bed.”

“If anyone can find my sister, they’ll be the ones.”

“Well, they sure spend enough time out in the woods. I remember one time I was racing them back into town. See, I’d found this shortcut that I was sure they didn’t know about…so I raced them back for sodas.” He shook his head. “They took the long way back and they were all waiting for me, half finished their drinks and handing me one that was already getting warm.”