He laughed again, bless him. “We’re in this challenge together, so if one person starts their timer, the other will start too. Most likely. Ready?”

Nicole shivered violently again, exhaling in a frigid huff. All things considered, this wasn’t that bad. And her partner was focused and tolerable.

Fine.

More than tolerable.

And slightly mysterious. With a nice face.

“I think I want to go to the bathroom first. And get a jacket,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

“Oh. In that case I’ll wait in the hall, try to warm up a little.”

“Good plan.”

But when they tried to open the door, it wouldn’t budge. Francis pulled and rattled the handle. He even placed one foot on the wall to yank it open before giving up with more colorful curses. “She locked us in. I can’t believe her.”

Nicole rubbed her arms. “For how long?”

“My guess is until we find the key or time runs out. Whichever comes first.”

“Jewel didn’t say anything about locked doors.” Nicole took a deep breath to calm herself. She was in this now. No going back. No point in allowing herself to get upset and lose focus. There were 500,000 reasons why she wouldn’t let a cold room, a locked door, and a full bladder break her.

Why did she drink so much orange juice?

“Really makes you wonder what else she didn’t mention, huh? Let’s get this over with.” Francis pressed the button, which activated both timers. “So says one, so say we all. You can take this side,” he said, voluntarily heading to the far side of the room.

Following Francis’s system seemed like the best idea. Nicole started in the corner, nose against the wall. She brushed the fake snow to the side with her feet until she could see the dark floor underneath, steadily moving to her left. Behind her, Francis used his hands, also facing the wall.

They searched in silence until a scratching noise sounded overhead. The netting began to move, shaking gently back and forth until the fake snow drifted down toward the floor in a wave so thick Nicole had to keep her head down to keep it out of her eyes. Within ten seconds, the entire row Nicole had cleared filled back up. “Well, that sucks,” she said once it stopped.

“Just don’t lose your place, and keep moving toward the center of the room,” Francis called. “The key is already under the snow.”

Nicole didn’t think it was possible to feel colder than she already was, but then her hands started shaking. She cupped them around her mouth, blowing into them. If she thought about how it felt like shards of ice were burrowing into her bones, it would only get worse. Her brain would overreact, and she wouldn’t be able to do anything. She had to think about anything else except the cold.