She’s scared because she’s trusting Warden to get them out of here. And she’s scared because he might not be who she thinks he is.

She’s scared nobody will believe her if she tells them.

She’s scared that even if Warden isn’t a killer he’ll still get them lost, that another storm will kick up and Warden’s memory will fail him, or the map he remembers will be wrong, and they’ll all of them die out here in the wilderness.

She’s scared that Amber’s still alive and they’re leaving her to die.

But what scares Dawn most of all is knowing how easily she could forget about all of it. Knowing she could just walk away.

She doesn’t want to. She knows it’s not right that Alex is dead. That Amber is probably dying, if she isn’t dead already.

That Christian is alone on the top of the Raven’s Claw.

(If he isn’t dead already, too.)

Dawn knows a strong, good-hearted person would find a way to fight for the truth and for justice and whatever other words sound like solid unmovable mountains when you’re snug in your bed but seem like bullshit when you’re camping in a blizzard with murderers.

Dawn knows she should fight harder, for Alex and Amber and even for Christian.

But she knows in the morning there’s a fair chance she’ll pack up with the rest of the group and set off down the trail after Warden and not say anything and maybe never say anything.

She’s tired and she’s hungry and scared, and she knows there’s an easy way out.

If she keeps her mouth shut, she doesn’t have to be so scared.

Chapter 72

IT’S HER DAD WHO CONVINCES HER.

Now, Dawn doesn’t believe in ghosts. And the ghost of her dad doesn’t visit her in Kyla’s tent. Not, like, in a spiritual form. But as Dawn lies awake listening to the rain fall, she’s thinking about her dad anyway.

Dawn’s dad was a good man. He was kind and funny and generous. He was an accountant and he worked a lot, but he always made time to hang out with his children.

Help Dawn with her homework.

Take Dawn and Bryce out for ice cream on hot summer nights.

Watch movies.

Take walks.

He was a good dad, and he loved his kids. And he was always trying to teach them about Doing the Right Thing. Doing the Right Thing was important to Dawn’s dad. It was a big sticking point.

Find someone’s wallet on the ground? Give it back to them.

Make a mistake? Own up to it.

“Even if it’s not the easiest path,” he’d tell Dawn and Bryce, “do it anyway. In the long run, you’ll be rewarded.”