Maeve can see Sim bristle, but it’s Dan who cuts her off, yelling from behind them: “Anna! Cool it.”

Maeve looks to her, surprised. Anna slowly turns around, but Karo calls out before either of them have a chance to respond.

“We just need a bit more time! The cold is making it difficult to charge.”

Dan says nothing more now. He’s crouched low in the snow, focused on cranking the radio.

“It’s a goddamn emergency radio,” Sim says under his breath. “What do you mean it doesn’t work in the cold?” Then, louder: “I’ll take Maeve back to the center myself.”

Dan jerks to his feet.

“No. We stay together.”

“I’m really fine,” Maeve says. “I’ll be fine. I’d rather give them some time—”

“Can you give them five fucking minutes?” Justin has had his back to everyone, looking out to where the road should have been, but now he whips around. His face is buried inside his hood, the red scarf cutting a line at his chin. He’s lost his customary flippancy: the change is stark. “Give them five minutes to figure out if anyone even remembers we’re out here?”

Karolina marks the edge in his voice and steps in.

“Of course they know we’re up here. That’s not even an issue. It’s just a matter of getting a timeline on the road being dug out.” But she’s cold too; Maeve can see that her hands are trembling.

“Let me see now,” Anna says, hooking a finger into the edge of the hat where it comes in at Maeve’s cheek. She pulls it aside and gives her face a quick scan. “You look fine,” she says. Then, turning to Sim: “But this was a nice touch, Dr. Nielssen, very chivalrous.”

If Maeve wasn’t so numb, she’d say something. Crack a joke, even, on Justin’s behalf. Break the tension. But she just tugs the hat on more securely and turns away.

“Fine,” Sim says. “We’ll just let the next person freeze.”

Dan has his gloves off, trying to hold the heat of his skin to the radio crank.

“It’s no good,” he says finally. “Nielssen’s right, we should get back before anyone loses a toe.”

Maeve thinks Sim must be pleased, at least, that he’s been vindicated, but he doesn’t say a word to her or anyone.

The way back is marked by silence. They move faster, in part to stay warm, in part just to put the disappointment behind them. The sunshine that buoyed her spirits on waking is long gone, replaced by a new and dense bank of low cloud. Maeve can’t shake the feeling that there is something there, behind them—a shifting darkness, unstoppable. But when she finally turns to look, there’s nothing. Only the mountain itself.