Abby shrugged and took another mouthful of her chocolate bar. ‘I passed a few on the way,’ she said.

Max became aware of movement behind him. Lukas was stalking off, apparently furious that he hadn’t been first. Beyond him, heading up the ridge, were two figures side by side. One of them was obviously injured. The other was helping the casualty up the slope. They were momentarily obscured by the mist. When they came back into view, Max saw that it was Sami helping the injured person towards the flag. Max sprinted towards them.

Sami was sweating hard despite the cold. The injured person was the blond boy from their sleeping quarters. He had one arm over Sami’s shoulder and only seemed to be able to use his right leg. His left was bent backwards at the knee. He looked like he’d broken a bone. His face was white with cold and pain.

‘What happened?’ Max shouted as he took the blond boy’s other arm around his shoulder.

‘I found him. He had tripped on a hidden rock. He fell on his beacon and it broke. I offered to use mine but he wouldn’t let me. I thought it would be better to get him to the top where we can help him together.’

The blond boy was too cold and in too much pain to talk. Max wondered what state he would have been in if Sami had just left him.

They reached the flag with difficulty. Abby and Lukas were waiting for them. Abby looked mildly bemused. Lukas was frowning. The blond boy collapsed. ‘He needs to get down,’ Max shouted. ‘He needs medical care.’

Sami nodded. Abby inclined her head as though listening. Lukas scowled.

‘We should all activate our beacons,’ Max told them. ‘That way they’ll know there’s a real emergency.’

Sami immediately held up his own beacon. Abby and Lukas hesitated. Max pointed at the casualty. ‘He could die,’ he shouted. ‘Is all this so important to you that you’re willing to let that happen?’

Abby and Lukas looked at each other. Then they held up their beacons.

‘If we get sent home because of this …’ Lukas snarled.

‘Just do it!’ Max shouted. ‘Three, two, one …’

The four teenagers activated their beacons together.

When the helicopter arrived, piloted by Angel, it was the most dangerous thing Max had ever seen. The snow was still falling, the mist still swirling. Visibility was poor – barely twenty metres. To fly in those conditions, almost blind, took a skill and strength of nerve few people had. As the chopper touched down on the mountaintop, the downdraught from the rotors blew up a huge cloud of snow that almost completely obscured the helicopter itself. Seconds later, Hector and Woody emerged from the snow cloud and sprinted towards them.