Chapter 3
Three
SNOW FLEW in Cassie’s wake as she blazed a fresh trail, joy alight in her.
This was freedom. If only she could find it in her own life.
But she pushed that aside and soaked up the peace being in nature always brought.
Spending it with the man she still loved brimmed her happiness over.
But she was simply fooling herself. Iz claimed he still loved her, too, but how could he after what she’d done?
Even if she’d done it for the right reasons.
Regardless, after a year of not seeing him, just having him near warmed her immeasurably more than the physical exertion heating her limbs.
Until the realization smacked her hard that even if he somehow managed to forgive her and, against all odds, still loved her, she couldn’t be with him. He would see to that. And she loved Joel too much to endanger his life.
Anger pulsed heat through her limbs. A stark contrast to the frigid air engulfing her. She had to find a way to end this. End his control over her.
A deep and guttural roar rent the air, shaking the ground with violent energy.
Turning, she froze in fear. A volcano of white exploded, and a giant wall of white rushed at her.
“Cassie,” Joel said, his mouth wide in a holler, but the sound dropped to a whisper before it reached her under the mountain’s furious snarl. “Avalanche. Brace for impact.”
His words hit a flash of a second before a wave of white and debris lashed over her, tumbling her in its ferocity.
Breathe. Take a deep breath and hold it.
She tried, but snow surrounded her, pummeling her along its jagged path.
Managing to get her arm crossed over her mouth, she fought everything trying to rip it away. “Like you’re going to sneeze. Keep it there.” Joel’s words during their avalanche training before they started heli-skiing a few years ago raced through her dizzied mind.
Beacon. She prayed her beacon was on because she was under the fury—an inconceivable force rolling over her, ripping at her limbs, and tossing her like a rag doll.
White enveloped her. Flashes of light followed by deep, entrenched darkness.
Please, Lord. Let me survive. Please don’t leave me.
Not in the vacuum of white.
Roaring beat against her eardrums.
Thud.
Pain ricocheted through her body as she collided into something hard and unrelenting. A tremendous weight rushed over her, consuming her. She fought to suck in a gulp of air, but it was too late. She was encased in its icy grip.
Pressure squeezed all the air from her lungs, suffocating her in darkness as the avalanche roared overhead—the sound almost deafening.
I’m going to die.
Hot tears mixed with the cold surrounding her.
I never got to tell him. I don’t want to die without telling him. Please.
Trust me, Cassie, the Lord’s voice whispered over the turmoil.
Snow pressed at her lips, trying to force its way in. She clamped her jaw, hoping the pressure would stop.
Be still.
That was the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to fight, but as she embraced it, her flustered mind began to clear from the encroaching panic.
Backpack.
She pulled the string to inflate it, praying it would pop her to the surface, or at the very least, create a bigger air pocket around her. But nada. No balloon. No popping pocket of air. Nothing.
She tugged harder.
Nothing again.
Panic swelled, her body shaking from the deepest fear she’d ever experienced as cold seeped through her, the pressure unrelenting to the point of snapping her like a twig.
I’m going to die.
Buried in white.
Never found.