“Damn it.”

She left her headlamp behind, too, like a rookie. Like a Bear Cub. And pretty soon it will be too dark to even make out the ground.

Dawn stands there, dumb, her brain starting to panic. Her heart starting to pound and her thoughts yelling at her.

You can’t just stand here.

There’s no time.

You’ll die in the dark if you don’t find the trail.

MAKE A DECISION.

It’s too much. It’s overwhelming. Dawn is tired and she’s hungry and she’s emotionally spent. She climbed the Raven’s Claw today, to the top, the hard way. She watched Amber plummet to the bottom. She climbed back down again. She needs food and warm clothes and a sleeping bag.

She’s exhausted, and it’s all catching up to her now.

Shit.

“Hey.”

A voice startles her out of the impending panic attack. It’s a girl’s voice, and since it’s not Kyla, it has to be Brielle.

“Brielle?” Dawn says, ashamed of how small and childish her voice sounds. “Where are you?”

A headlamp blinks through the patchy trees, and Dawn can see Brielle approaching, little more than a silhouette in the dying light. Brielle closes the distance quickly; she’s small and graceful and agile, and she doesn’t appear at all overwhelmed or exhausted.

“Lost?” she asks Dawn.

Dawn nods. “I was just about to freak out.”

“Don’t do that,” Brielle says. She gestures at Dawn’s arms. “We need your wood.” Then she cocks her head. “That’s what she said.”

Dawn laughs, despite herself. Holds up the branches she’s been collecting. “I’ve got enough wood for everyone.”

Brielle smiles at her. It’s a weary smile, but it’s a friendly one. “Then I guess you’re my new BFF,” she says. “Let’s get back to camp.”

Chapter 53

“THIS IS FUCKED UP, RIGHT?” Dawn asks Brielle, as she follows the smaller girl up toward the boulder field, the tarn, and the camp. “I mean, this whole thing is psycho, isn’t it?”

Brielle turns, the light from her headlamp cutting a swath through the dark night. They’re up in the alpine again, and the beam finds nothing but open air before it peters out into shadow. Dawn knows they’re in wide-open space, but she still feels claustrophobic, suffocated by the darkness. It’s an eerie, unsettling feeling, being out here like this.

“Which part?” Brielle asks. “The part where our counselor just fell off a cliff? Or, like, in general terms how we’re enduring forced marches that are definitely not safe because our parents and/or parole officers think we could all use a little fresh air?”

“I don’t even know how this is legal,” Dawn agrees. “Like, Christian is completely unqualified to be out here.”

“And he’s a freaking child molester.”