Page 23 of Sunshine for the Grumpy Grizzly

Everyone follows after him, and suddenly I’m the only one left.

I look back in the direction we’ve just come. Every nerve in my body is telling me to go back, to find Preston. But what’s going to happen to my team if I leave them out here? I’ve got to persuade them to come with me.

Sighing, I take off after them again.

They’re going faster now, buoyed by their excitement, and it’s a couple of minutes before I catch up to them. Right as I fall in step with Natasha, a drop of water plops onto my forehead. Crap. The sky has turned slate gray and mean-looking. “Guys, it’s raining now!” I shout. “We’ve got to get back.”

“Quit nagging, Lucy!” someone yells.

“Yeah, if you haven’t got anything constructive to say, then pipe down!”

All of a sudden there’s a boom in the distance.

I stop dead. Thunder. This is bad news. We are at high altitude, exposed to the elements.

“Come on, the storm is here,” I scream one last time, my voice hoarse with panic. But no one pays me any attention.

I grab Natasha’s arm. “It’s not safe out here.”

Natasha stops, gives me a long look. “We got caught in a storm when I was a kid,” she says. “My sister got hypothermia. It was real scary.”

I make a decision fast. “I’m leaving now. Are you coming with me?”

She hesitates a beat longer, then nods. “Kellie—” She calls to the girl in front of us. “We’re going back.”

“Thank goodness,” Kelly gasps out. Her big brown eyes are bugged out in fear.

I take a moment to yank my raincoat out of my backpack, pull it on, and tug the hood out to protect the map. It’s kinda laminated so it has some resistance to the rain. Which is just as well, as there’s another crack of thunder and a triple fork of lightning spears across the darkening sky. The whole sky booms and shudders like an angry god.

“Holy shit!” Kellie cowers under a bush.

I catch her up and pull her along with me. “Come on, we’ve gotta keep going.”

Holding the map in front of me and trying my best to keep it dry, I take the lead. I follow the markings I made in sharpie, but it’s slow going—mostly downhill, and meandering through a lot of unnecessary turns and deviations.

Halfway there, we squeeze through a tight spot between two rocks, and suddenly there’s Preston, rushing toward us at full pelt.

Oh, my god, he’s here. My heart beats so fast.

“Lucy!” he yells above the storm. He catches me up in his arms and hugs me tight. I’m dimly aware of Natasha and Kellie’s mouths hanging open, but I don’t care. All I care about is that he’s here, protecting me.

“Come on, let’s get you out of this.”

“Preston, the others—” I shout. “They’re still out there!”

He grimaces at the trail behind us. The rain is pouring down in sheets now. “Why the hell didn’t they come back with you?”

“They were hellbent on getting to the flag.”

He clenches his teeth. “Idiots. It’s just a freaking flag. Come on, let’s go.”

For a few wonderful seconds, I let him draw me toward the trailhead. Then I stop. “Wait, we have to go back and get them. Their phones aren’t working, and they probably don’t know how to read a map.”

He snorts. “Their problem.”

“I know, I know. They’re a bunch of morons. But we can’t let them die out there. Maybe, if you go as your bear… I could ride on your back, or something?” I have no idea if this is even possible, but it’s gotta be worth a try.

“Lucy.” He clasps my shoulders, eyes burning into mine through the fast-falling rain. “My priority is looking after you. I don’t care about anything else.”

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