I stare at Cyrus as we pick our way up the stone steps, the familiar edges of his profile, and I think about how time is such a funny thing, running through the years like water, washing away some memories, buoying others up to the surface. But time shouldn’t have the power to change someone completely, from the kind of person who would get me expelled on a false accusation to the kind of person who would protect me with their own body, bow their head the way he did, like the hurt lived inside him.

* * *

I might actually be turning into a cloud enthusiast.

The rain has settled at last by the time we reach the peak of the mountain, the sun streaming over the crags and boulders in dazzling beams of gold. A sea of clouds rolls out beneath our feet, whiter than smoke, thicker than mist, lapping against the mountain ranges. My cloud doodles couldn’t possibly do it justice; it looks like the world’s most gorgeous ink painting come to life, all those soft washes of blue and pale brushes of light.

There are always mountains beyond mountains, people above people, my mom would lament whenever she was in one of her philosophical moods, and I have to wonder if whoever invented the saying had been thinking of this specific place. When I squint out at the horizon, all I can see are the dark, grayish-green shapes of mountains, one outlined against the other, stretching on and on until I can’t tell where the sky ends. The view is beautiful enough to distract me from the fact that we came in second. But the distraction doesn’t last long.

“Damn, it feels like we’re in heaven. In a non-biblical sense,” Oliver remarks, standing much closer to the edge of the viewing platform than is advisable, the wind snatching at his shirt. Daisy, meanwhile, is shivering on the other side of the platform, her face white and eyes squeezed shut. “You should open your eyes, Daisy. You’re missing some great views—it’s not even that high up.”

“No, thanks,” Daisy squeaks out. “I think I prefer looking at the inside of my eyelids.”

“Okay, how did you manage to get here before us?” I demand. “We never even saw you on the way up.”

Oliver grins over his shoulder at me. “We took the cable car.”

“You—” My mouth drops open as I exchange an incredulous look with Cyrus. “You did what?”