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I looked for Jason’s name in Papa’s contacts, and since there were only two numbers saved on it, it was easy for me to find.

Only seconds after holding the phone up to my ear, Jason picked up.

“You okay?” he asked, thinking it was Papa calling him.

“Jason, this is Vespyr. Papa is injured and we need to get him to the hospital.”

“What happened?” I heard him move and Sitka barked in the background, thinking they were going out to play.

“He fell down a cliff into the river. I think his leg is broken,” I told him, sighing. “Can you come pick him up?”

“That might take a while, kid. Can’t take anything other than my quad up there,” he told me.

“That’s fine. We just need to get him to a hospital.”

“He doing okay with the pain?”

I looked at Papa, seeing more rage than hurt on his face. “How badly does it hurt, Papa?”

“I can handle it. Next hospital is in Fairbanks,” he pointed out.

“Can you drive Papa to Fairbanks?” I asked Jason, and although he didn’t sound too happy about it, he said yes.

“Can you get him to camp? Are you far away?” I heard as he told Sitka to stay inside, then I could hear his footsteps in the snow before his garage door opened.

“I think we can make it to camp. Fennec’s here with me. He will help me steady Papa.”

“Good. I’ll be there in a few.”

“Thank you!” I managed to say before he hung up, and after pushing the phone back into his backpack, I got up and wrapped my hands around Papa’s arm.

“Can you try and stand up? We’ll help you walk. Come on, Fennec. Help me!” I hissed.

As much as I didn’t want to, I was starting to lose my patience with him.

He didn’t seem to care about Papa’s fall, nor did he look compassionate enough to help him get back to camp.

No. There was nothing but emptiness in his eyes.

34

Jason’s quad echoed through the forest as he got closer to camp, and while we waited for his arrival, I made sure Papa was keeping warm enough as the sun slowly disappeared.

“We need to call Mama and let her know we’re driving back to Fairbanks.”

“You can call her once we’re in Jason’s car. God, she’s gonna be upset,” Papa muttered under his breath as he watched me wrap one of his sweaters around his leg.

His pants had ripped when he fell, and to avoid an infection, I covered his wound to at least avoid another reason for Papa’s visit to the hospital later today.

“She’ll understand. You fell. It’s dangerous out there with all that snow,” I sighed.

Papa watched me for a little while, his eyes unsure. “I should’ve known there was a cliff. I know this forest.”

“It was slippery, Papa. But I’m glad you didn’t hit your head or fallen right onto your back. That would’ve turned out far worse.”

He nodded, then looked up as Jason finally appeared between the trees.

“Shit, man. How the hell did that happen?” he asked as he got off the quad.

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