CHAPTER FOUR
Sadie couldn’t stop staring at the bears. At their sleek winter coats and the powerful slide of the muscles underneath their skin. Even the adolescent bears looked as though they could easily rip any one of them apart.
She thought of what Marie’s final moments must have been like and shuddered. It was no way to go.
But then, was wasting away ravaged by cancer, as her father had been doing, really any kinder? Marie’s death must have been quick at least. The bears looked as though they wouldn’t have wasted any time. Even though they were way above the animals, looking down over the headwaters, Sadie felt a shiver of fear as she watched the largest of them raise its head and sniff the air.
“Can it smell us?” she said to no one in particular. Carson shook his head.
“Wouldn’t
