Thanks for the Avalanche, Babe

Climbing this mountain was supposed to be the trip where Keegan Poock proposed. The night before our climb, we were at base camp when our guide, Edward, counted an extra set of cold-weather gear. "Keegan, who's this for?" Every head turned toward me. The whole team knew this climb was supposed to be our big day. But Keegan looked over at Ada Beech, curled up in the corner, shivering. "Give it to her," he said. "It's Ada's first time at this altitude. Let her ease into it." Ada blushed and took the gear with both hands. "Thanks, Keegan." Edward hesitated, then stayed silent. My best friend, Sadie, called on the satellite phone. I could practically hear her crushing it in her hand. "Wasn't he supposed to propose at the summit? Why'd he bring Ada again?" I smiled and swallowed the bitterness in my throat. "Relax. The plan's still on." I'd make it to the top. I'd wait for the ring. And if he didn't ask? Fine. Chapter 1 The second Ada took the gear, her eyes welled up. She looked at Keegan, her voice soft. "You're really giving this to me? But... what about Nina?" She shot me a shy glance. Keegan waved it off. "She's climbed over thirteen thousand feet three times. She's way stronger than you. This is your first time this high. You need it more." Ada hugged the gear to her chest and murmured, "Thank you." She couldn't quite hide the excitement in her voice. Edward looked at me like he wanted to say something, but kept quiet. I dug through my pack, pulled out a spare heat patch, and pressed it to my stomach. Barely warm. Still, it was something. Keegan stayed outside Ada's tent forever, crouching down to help with her gear and showing her how to tighten every strap. Ada beamed up at him, nodding along. Sweet. Helpless. From a distance, they looked picture-perfect. Just not with me in it. The satellite phone rang again. Sadie was practically screaming. "Nina! You made me order that gear from Switzerland for you! You wouldn't even use it, and he just gave it to someone else?" "Sadie, chill." "Chill? I'm pissed!" Her voice dropped, heavy with frustration. "He was supposed to propose at the summit. "You'd say yes, come home, and throw an engagement party. Now some girl is hanging all over him, and he's giving her your gear." She paused. "So who's he proposing to up there? You or Ada?" I leaned against the tent pole and stared at the endless snow-covered peaks. The night was pitch-black. The wind cut straight through me. Moonlight washed the mountains silver, cold and brutal. "Sadie," I said. "Yeah?" "He knows what he's doing. He's just too nice. You know that." She went quiet for two seconds. Still mad. "Quit making excuses for him. Whose idea was it to bring Ada?" I said nothing. Keegan's. Obviously. Two months ago, when we planned this climb, everything felt perfect. We picked the route. Bought the gear. He even wrote out what he planned to say when he proposed at the summit. Three drafts. Every one crossed out and rewritten. That night, I held those pages and cried forever. He rushed in, totally freaked out. "What happened?" I hid the pages behind my back. "A bug scared me." And he bought it. Then, a month ago, everything changed. Ada transferred from Baymont City to Keegan's research institute. His old grad advisor assigned him to guide her project. Ada was twenty-three. Tiny. Soft-spoken. Whenever she needed anything, she called Keegan like it was the most natural thing in the world. And he always showed up. He stayed late fixing her papers, helped analyze her data, and even grabbed her lunch from the cafeteria. Once, I asked, "Don't you think you're being a little too nice to Ada?" He smiled and flicked my nose. "She's just a kid. You're seriously jealous?" Later, Keegan told me Ada had always wanted to see a snowy mountain and asked if she could come. "It'll be nice having someone else along. She just had a fight with her family and needs a change of scenery." I said yes. I thought I was being nice. I thought the trip would still be ours. The tent zipper opened. Keegan poked his head in, cheeks and nose red from the cold. His breath clouded the dark. "Why are you still awake?" He crawled in and sat beside me. I shoved the satellite phone into my sleeping bag. "Too excited to sleep." He smiled, wrapped an arm around me, and pulled me close. "We'll push to Camp Three tomorrow. If the weather holds, we go for the summit the day after." His voice stayed soft. "When we reach the top, I have something to tell you." My heart jumped. "What?" "You'll find out up there." He kissed my forehead. Outside, the wind howled like the whole mountain was screaming. Curled against him, I felt warm everywhere. Chapter 2 The next morning, we packed up and kept climbing. Altitude: nineteen thousand feet. The air was razor-thin. Every step felt like dragging a mountain behind me. We split into three groups. I was in the second. Keegan was supposed to be with me. Then, right before we left, he switched. "Ada's not doing great. I'll hang back with the third group and keep an eye on her." He looked at me. "Stay close to Edward. Don't fall behind." I nodded. All morning, I kept spotting him behind us. He stayed glued to Ada, reaching out whenever she wobbled. On a patch of loose rock, she slipped sideways. Keegan caught her by the waist and pulled her upright. Still rattled, Ada pressed a hand to her chest and smiled up at him. "Keegan, if you weren't here, I would've rolled straight down the mountain." He smiled back. "Take smaller steps. Plant your feet before you move. No need to rush." Ahead of me, Edward glanced back with a frown. "Your boyfriend's pretty 'attentive.'" I said nothing. We stopped for lunch beneath a rock wall that blocked the wind. I sat on a boulder, forcing down a dry energy bar. Keegan came over and handed me a cup of hot water. I wrapped both hands around it. "Ada got altitude sickness earlier. She threw up twice." He sat beside me, frowning. "If she's still this bad tomorrow, going for the summit could be dangerous." "Then she stays at camp." He hesitated. "She came all this way to reach the top. And leaving her alone isn't safe." "Have a guide stay with her." "We don't have enough guides." He paused, then gave me a careful look. "How about this? You wait for me at Camp Three. I'll take Ada back to Camp Two, then come back and summit with you." I stopped chewing. "You want me to wait there alone?" "Just half a day." He patted my hand. "There are tents and supplies. You'll be fine." I went quiet. "No." I folded the wrapper and shoved it into my pocket. "I don't want your proposal at camp." I looked at him. "I want it at the summit." Keegan froze, then smiled. "Okay. Whatever you want." We kept climbing that afternoon. The sky darkened. Thick gray clouds rolled in from the west, like a giant mouth slowly closing. Edward studied them, his face tense. "Keegan, those clouds look bad. A blizzard could be right behind them." He glanced at the group. "We should camp here and reassess tomorrow." Keegan nodded and turned to tell everyone to stop. "Keegan!" Ada hurried up behind us, breathing hard. Her face was pale, her lips blue, but her eyes were bright. "I just checked the forecast. The next two days are overcast. Tomorrow morning is our only six-hour window." She caught her breath. "If we stop now, we'll miss it." Edward frowned. Keegan hesitated. "Keegan." I tugged his sleeve. "Edward said the weather's unstable." "It'll be fine, Nina." Ada turned to me, urgency all over her face. "I checked a ton of climbing forums. Clouds like this don't always mean snow. "Besides, we're already at nineteen thousand feet. We can reach Camp Three in two hours, tops. "If we miss this window, the whole trip was for nothing." Her voice stayed soft. Every word chipped away at Keegan's doubt. He looked at Ada. Then at the clouds. "We keep moving. We reach Camp Three today." Edward held his stare for a long second, then stayed quiet. I followed the group without a word. The wind at my back picked up. Little by little, the gray clouds swallowed the last bit of sunlight. Chapter 3 We never made it to Camp Three. The blizzard hit way earlier than anyone expected. A low rumble rolled through the mountain, like some huge beast waking up. Edward went ghost-white. "Avalanche! Get down!" The world flipped. A wall of snow tore off the ridge with a roar loud enough to shake everything apart. The blast slammed me to the ground. My ears screamed. Chunks of snow pounded into me. Ice shot down my collar, so cold my whole body locked up. I had no idea how long the first wave lasted. I lay facedown in the snow, dazed, until it hit me. I was alive. "Keegan." My voice came out raw. Through the blowing snow, someone staggered to his feet. Keegan. Snow covered him. A thin line of blood streaked his face. He didn't come to me. He ran to Ada. She lay on a slope fifty feet away, shaking hard and sobbing between ragged breaths. "Keegan... Keegan, I'm scared... Please..." He rushed over and pulled her into his arms. "It's okay. You're okay." He quickly checked her over. "Are you hurt?" "I'm cold..." Ada's teeth chattered. "Keegan... I'm so cold..." He scanned the area. Then looked at me. Not me. The emergency blanket around my shoulders. The last one we had. The others were buried under the snow. He marched over. For one stupid second, I thought he was coming to help me up. Then he grabbed the blanket off my shoulders. My fingers locked around it. "Nina, let go." His voice was sharp. Urgent. "Ada's hypothermic. She won't make it." "What about me?" My voice came out rough. Almost like it belonged to someone else. He hesitated. "You're stronger. You can take the cold." Then he ripped the blanket away. Cold slammed into me from every side. Brutal. Bone-deep. Like being buried alive in ice. Keegan wrapped my blanket around Ada. Then he crouched and started unbuckling the safety rope from my waist. "What are you doing?" Panic hit hard. "I can only take one person." He wouldn't look at me. His fingers flew over the buckle. "This is the last rope. Edward said there's a crevasse below. We have to stay tied in to cross it. "Ada's too weak. She won't make it without the rope." "What about me?" I grabbed his arm, my nails digging into his jacket. Finally, he looked at me. Hesitation flickered in his eyes. Guilt too. But mostly? Certainty. 'You're tough. You'll be fine.' "Nina, stay here and wait for rescue." He stood and secured the rope around Ada's waist. "Edward already sent a distress signal. They'll be here in two hours, tops. "You can handle it. "You always do." He grabbed Ada's hand and headed down. The blizzard swallowed him whole. I opened my mouth to call his name. The wind shredded it. He never looked back. Then the second avalanche hit. The snow vanished beneath my feet. I dropped into darkness. My body slammed into the ice wall. Once. Twice. Three times. Then— Nothing. Darkness. Thirty below. Closing in from every side. He said two hours. He said I'd make it. Maybe he forgot. I was still just a person. I got cold. I got scared. I could die.