Page 77 of The Edge of Never

One man helped me take down the tent and pack up our backpacks before we were winched up into the helicopter. It all happened so fast that I barely had time to process the fact we were no longer stuck in a snowy valley.

Thane and I sat together in the helicopter. He had a pensive look on his face. Without thinking about it too hard, I reached out and took his hand, lacing our fingers together and squeezed. He didn’t turn to me, but his features relaxed a fraction.

I stared out of the window for the rest of the way until we touched down at the hospital in Inverness. I had vaguely heard one man explaining that they couldn’t fly over the mountains for the past couple of days because of the low clouds and the storm, but they were called out once the weather had cleared up to look for us.

While Thane was taken inside to be seen by the doctors, they helped me with our bags. I sat in the waiting room of accident and emergency, surrounded by our things, staring at my hands after they handed us over to the hospital staff. I’d been assured that someone was on their way to pick us up but hadn’t thought to ask who.

Everything seemed so surreal. I hadn’t paid all that much attention to what was going on. My mind had been trying to process the fact we were back in civilisation. That we hadn’t been left out there to die.

“Kit?” came a voice I recognised.

I looked up, finding Callan moving towards me with a concerned expression on his face. Jumping up immediately, I gave him a smile.

“Oh, hey, are you our ride?”

He bit his lip before grinning at me.

“Aye. Where’s Thane? Is he okay?”

“He’s all right. He twisted his ankle, so he’s being seen by the doctor, I think. They didn’t tell me much since I’m not family.”

“And are ye okay?”

I nodded.

“I think so. Kind of overwhelming this whole being rescued business. I wasn’t sure if we would make it out.”

“Well, ye and Thane can tell me everything on the way back tae the lodge, aye? All yer stuff is still there. I packed it up for ye as we had other guests. I hope that’s okay.”

“Oh yeah, of course. Thank you, I appreciate it.”

“Did ye wannae speak tae yer dad? He’s been in contact with me every day since we realised ye and Thane were missing.”

Callan drew his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it, and swiped it a few times before handing it to me.

I nodded at him in thanks, seeing that he had already brought up my dad’s number from his contacts. I clicked call and stuck it to my ear.

“Hello?” came my dad’s voice when he answered.

My throat got tight at the sound of it. I’d tried not to think about him while I was stuck in the tent, but I missed him. Having my routine of speaking to him via text every day disrupted made things a lot harder. In fact, having all of my routines thrown out the window was an issue. It surprised me that I’ve only had one meltdown. All that change was hard. I managed, though. I had no other choice but to make it through. Thane had been relying on me, so that had given me an incentive to keep it together when I thought I might fall apart.

“Dad, it’s Kit.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so thankful they found you. Are you okay?”

The relief in his voice made me smile. Dad quite often spoke in monotone, but when emotions stirred him, you could hear it in his voice.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just at the hospital, but I didn’t get hurt. The guy I was with did. We kept each other safe.”

“That’s good. I’m sure you’ll tell me all about it when you get back.”

Dad didn’t like speaking on the phone. Neither did I, but this was one of those times when it was a necessity.

“Definitely.”

“Well, I’ll let Olly know you’re okay, and Sienna, of course.”

My heart seized at the mention of her name. Dad didn’t know about my argument with her. I hadn’t wanted to worry him while I was still working out what the fuck to do about my fractured friendship with Sienna. While I didn’t want to speak to her, I knew I would eventually have to deal with it.

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