And you’ve maybe even figured out how Dawn and Brielle are going to extricate themselves from this sticky, shitty situation.

That’s right.

Our old buddy, Lucas.)

Chapter 107

THIS IS THE MOMENT Lucas has been waiting for his whole life, if we’re being perfectly honest.

He’s managed to track Dawn and Brielle down the ridge to this very moment, the last possible seconds before their terrible deaths, limping, bleeding, exhausted, and as he hides behind a boulder a few feet away, Lucas knows his time is now.

(It had damn well better be.)

He listens to Dawn try to reason with Kyla. He recognizes pretty quick that it’s not going anywhere. He leans down and fumbles in the snow and comes up with the only weapon he can find.

(A large rock.)

He hefts it. Tests its weight.

And then, before Warden can tilt his head and give Brandon and Evan permission to do the thing…

Lucas steps out to save the day.

Chapter 108

DAWN HEARS A CRAZY kamikaze scream from somewhere behind her, and then she hears Warden swear, and then it’s like a million different things are happening at the same time and her mind can’t even process.

Brandon loosens his grip on Dawn enough that she can turn and see Lucas appearing out of nowhere, holding a rock over his head and staggering toward Warden, his face contorted in, like, a heroic expression.

Everyone stops to look at Lucas—

(except Brielle).

Brielle wrenches free of Evan’s grasp—

(there is a brief, desperate struggle)

—and then Evan goes tumbling off the edge of the cliff.

And from the sound he makes when he lands,

Dawn can tell that it hurts.

Chapter 109

ALL GOOD, RIGHT?

Except…

At exactly the same time as Evan’s taking his final flying leap, Warden is sidestepping Lucas’s attack and slashing Lucas with the knife again, making Lucas cry out and knocking him to the ground.

Brielle, now free of Evan forever, rushes toward Warden to help Lucas.

This leaves Dawn and Brandon at the edge of the cliff. It leaves Brandon still gripping Dawn’s shoulders, both of them teetering on the precipice, above the rocks and the trees and Evan’s broken body far below.

The way Brandon’s shoving Dawn forward, Dawn can tell he means to send her down after his bestie.

And she’s struggling to get free, but Brandon’s grip is just too tight.

Chapter 110

IT’S LUCAS WHO SEES that Dawn is in trouble.

Lucas, who’s doubled over in the snow, grasping his bloody stomach and trying to find a way to force himself to stand up again. Lucas, who looks up and sees how Brandon is trying to maneuver Dawn over the edge of the cliff without falling himself.