They hike for a while in silence. This ridge seems to lead straight to the bottom of the Raven’s Claw, though you have to drop down into a deep, deep gulch and climb out the other side before you get there. The sun has come out and there’s blue sky above them, and a beautiful lake down the ridge to their left. To their right, the ridge drops away into a wide, forested valley. There’s still no sign of other people, just the trail and the occasional cairn, but today, with the sun shining, Dawn can actually appreciate the beauty—assuming she doesn’t focus too intently on the mountain in front of them, tall and sharp and riddled with steep gullies were rockslides have ripped away at the face. There is still no obvious way to the top. Dawn’s beginning to believe that Christian and Amber just intend to fake it.

“Where would you go, if you could be anywhere right now?” Warden breaks the silence. “I mean, judging by the look on your face, I’m guessing it’s not up on Fart Mountain, right?”

“No, it is not.” Dawn meets his eyes, grateful for the distraction. “I still can’t believe we’re going up there.”

“It’s not as bad as it looks.” Warden shrugs. “I mean, I’m not saying it’s easy, but we’ll take it slow.”

The way he says we, Dawn isn’t sure he means the Bear Pack, or just the two of them. She kind of hopes it’s the latter.

“I guess we’ll see,” she says.

“I promise, you’ll be fine,” he says. “I’ll make sure.”

He kind of smiles at her with those green eyes, and it’s nearly enough to make Dawn believe him.

“So anyway, where?” he asks again, after the moment stretches a little too long. “Where would you go, if you didn’t have to be here?”

Dawn hesitates. There’s an easy answer for this; she’s just not sure she wants to share it.

“Anywhere you want,” Warden repeats. “Maui? Mount Everest?”

“Are those my two options?”

Warden rolls his eyes. “Come on.”

Ugh, dude, Dawn thinks. Quit making me share embarrassing shit. But she plays the game anyway. Let him laugh if he wants to.

“Chicago,” she says.

“Chicago.”

Dawn meets his eyes. “My nana is there. My grandmother. I just wish I could see her again.”

Warden doesn’t laugh. He studies her. “When’s the last time you saw her?”

“A couple years ago,” Dawn says. “Usually we go visit her every summer, but this year, I…”

She trails off. Doesn’t finish. Warden just watches her, and Dawn feels tears in her eyes. She bites her lip and turns away. “I can’t stop thinking about, like, what if she dies while I’m out here,” she tells the ridge and the lake and the valley—

(everything but Warden).