Time seemed to pause for a moment.
It took Noah a long time to find his voice. When it came out, it was hoarse beyond recognition. "What... what did you say?"
The voice on the phone kept talking, repeating what he had just said. They had found my body halfway up the mountain—frozen to death. They were in the process of digging it out of the snow. They needed Noah, as next of kin, to come and identify me.
Beside him, Chloe gasped and covered her mouth. "That's impossible! I was just up there not long ago—I didn't even get halfway! Sister Elena can't be serious, can she? This has to be some kind of sick joke." Her voice turned coaxing. "Noah, you should go find her. Go coax her back."
The concern in Noah's eyes instantly curdled into rage at being played. "Did Elena put you up to this? S
