Klaus screeched as the rope pulled taut, the fibers splitting one by one under Daniel’s knife. “You bastard! You promised me—”

“And your friends in charge of Łódź promised we’d be safe,” Daniel said.

Darkness lurked in his gaze, gleaming like volcano glass in the night. Liam’s breath caught at the sight—at the fury radiating off of him, the barely controlled rage that guided his every movement. He was a thunderstorm shaped like a man, and Liam wanted the storm to break over him. Drown everything else.

“I have nothing to do with the camps—I simply do my part—I promise I—”

“Perhaps you should ask my parents, my brother, how much your promises are worth.”

Daniel gripped the rope in one hand and sawed the remaining threads through.

The cut rope slipped easily from his hold. Their chair rocked forward, then pitched back, bobbing furiously on the stopped cable. Klaus’s scream twisted around them as he fell, torquing at Liam’s nerves, and then stopped abruptly in a wet slurp several dozen meters below.

Liam looked toward Daniel, but he was staring straight ahead, into the looming trees, the moonless night.

“Should we check . . . ?” Liam asked, after a long minute that stretched out like eternity. It felt like the moment between the frequency waves, when the universe itself began to fray, worlds and worlds caught in a held breath as they waited to see what new realities would spin forth.

“No.” Daniel’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. It was pale, exposed. Liam felt the urge to press his fingers to it, feel Daniel’s frantic pulse. “If he’s not dead yet, he will be soon enough.”

They were both silent a moment longer, then without a word, Daniel reached for the override switch and the chairlift lurched back to life.

After they got back to the top of the lift, they drove to a ski chalet around the backside of the hill, the small cluster of wooden huts like gravestones in the silent night. None of the cabins were lit; the heavy stillness of an early fall night tucked around them like wet wool. They worked together quietly, side by side, to scavenge food and bedding, then decided to risk lighting a small fire in the fireplace as the night turned sharp and cool.

“You want something to eat?” Liam asked, holding out the can he’d turned up. He frowned at the illustration of jellied eels on the label. “Well, maybe not this specifically, but—”

Daniel smiled softly at him. “I’ve got some potatoes from Helene’s we can boil. I’m ready to break my fast, anyhow.”

“Never thought I’d go wild for boiled potatoes, but you’ve got me there,” Liam said.