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Beside her, Jake growled again, but Maggie only heard it distantly No one else even lookedtoward the this, Maggiethought So with otten hold of the idea quiteclearly, but there was no reaction in her body, no terrible feeling in her stomach An instant later itswept over her, exactly what she’d been afraid of A wash of adrenaline that lepainfully and a horrible sensation of falling in her stomach A numbness that started in her cheeksand spread to her lips and jaw

Oh, please, she thought stupidly Please let it notbe true Maybe he’s just hurtThat would be allright He had an accident and he’s hurt-but notdead

But if he were hurt herShe would be on her way to the hospital, and nobody could stop her So thatdidn’t work, and Maggie’s htened little anio back

to Please don’t let this be true

Strangely, at that ht be some way to make it not true If sheturned around and sneaked back to her bedrooot into bed and pulled the blankets over her head and shut hereyes

But she couldn’t leave herlike this

Just then the screa in a voice that didn’t sound at all like his voice It was a sort of choked whisper"But why didn’t you tell us you were going cli? If you left on Halloween then it’s been sixdays We didn’t even know our son was "

"I’, too "Wedidn’t expect to be gone long Miles’s roo, but nobody else It was justa spur-of-thewe didn’t have classeson Halloween and the weather was so nice andMiles said, hey, let’s go out to ChioHe used to say that kind of thing to eBut not since he ie’s father"You weren’t surprised that you hadn’t heard frootten so independent since he e One of his roommates calledthis afternoon to ask if Miles was here-but hedidn’t say that Miles had been gone for al" Maggie’s father’s voice trailed off

The sheriff nodded "Apparently his rooht he’d taken a little unauthorized vacation,"he said

"They got worried enough to call us tonight-but by then a ranger had already pickedup Sylvia"

Sylvia was crying She was tall but y, fragile looking Delicate She had shi hair sopale it was almost silvery and clear eyes the exactcolor of wood violets Maggie, as short andround faced, with fox-colored hair and brown eyes,had always envied her

But not now Nobody could look at Sylvia noithout feeling pity

"It happened that first evening We started up,but then the weather started turning bad and weturned around We were ainst her mouth

"It’s kind of a risky tiently, but Sylvia shookher head

And she was right, Maggie thought It wasn’t thatbad Sure, it rained here most of the fall, but soh pressure cell settled in and the skies stayed blue for amonth All hikers knew that

Besides, Miles washt scared of weather He wasonly eighteen but he’d done lots of hard clies He’dkeep cli alpine experience in snow and stor more jerkybreathless "Miles washe’d had the flu aweek before and he wasn’t co It happened ere rappelling down He was laughing and joking andeverything I never thought he h to ed sob and the ranger puthis arie froze Amistake?Miles?

She was prepared to hear aboutasudden avalanche or a piece of equip Miles off But Miles ie stared at Sylvia, and suddenly soure bothered her

There was so odd about that delicatelyflushed face and those tear-drenched violet eyes Itwas all too perfect, too tragic, as if Sylvia werean Acade it

"I don’t knoit happened," Sylvia hispering "The anchor was good We should have hada back-up anchor, but ere in a hurry And hewith his harness Maybe thebuckle wasn’t fastened right, or the carabiners ht have been upside down:’

No

Suddenly Maggie’s feelings crystalized It was asif everything came into focus at once

That’s iood S technical cliie only hoped she’d be that good so, or clip his ’biners upside down No o without a back-upanchor I’s like that,and then he yells atto have an adventure

Miles doesn’t

So it ie on a little wave ofshock Itbackwards, or as if the roo from her very fast

But why?Why would Sylvia make up such a terrible story? It didn’ther eyes now"I looked for him, but there was icefalla crevasse"

No body She’s saying there’s no body