Finally we brushed away enough snow to see the deep, deep crack in the ice, maybe a yard across at the surface, then plunging steeply down in an ever-narrowing vee. It was way too narrow for her to fly out, or for us to fly in. I remembered my flip reply to Brigid, that I would just fly out of a crevasse, and saw immediately that none of us could have flown out of there. No room.

“Get the rope,” I told Fang, but he was already uncoiling it. “Angel? We’re going to drop a rope down to you. Just hold on tight and we’ll pull you up, okay?”

“Uh . . . ,” Angel said, her voice weak and tired.

“What?” Fang asked.

“My foot’s stuck,” she said, sounding scared. “And I have Total and Akila with me. They can’t hold on to a rope.”

Chapter 56

56

NORMALLY I WOULD have been swearing bitterly to myself at this point, but what with the Angel-reading-minds thing, I tried to hold off.

I looked over at Fang, lying next to me on the hard-packed snow. The strong wind was filling our mouths, noses, ears, and eyes with icy grit. “Great,” I muttered, and he nodded.

“I’m sorry,” Angel called up, close to tears.

“It’s okay,” I said. Years of successful lying stood me in good stead, and I sounded convincing even to me. “Just hold tight for a second. . . .” Plan, plan, need a plan.

“It’s awfully cold,” said Angel, teeth chattering. “Akila and Total went to sleep, and they won’t wake up.”

Oh, crap, I thought.

“Angel?” I called. “The only way we can get the dogs out is if you tie the rope around them and we haul them out first. Then we’ll get you.”

“Them first?” said Angel.

“They can’t hold on to the rope, like you said. But you would have to be last. Or” — I had to give her all options — “or we can get you out first, if you really can’t wait.”

Which meant leaving the dogs to die, if they weren’t already dead. Silence, while Angel considered.

“I’ll tie the rope around Total first,” Angel called up, and my heart flooded with pride.

Total was pretty light, so he was easy to pull up. When we got him out into the biting wind, he blinked and stirred a bit. Fang quickly zipped him inside his jacket. Fang himself was shaking with cold, and I knew having a big icicle next to him wouldn’t help. We threw the rope down again and waited for eons while Angel tried to tie it around the much bigger dog.

“Akila’s really heavy,” Angel finally called. “I tied it on the best I could.”