“Akila’sreally heavy,” Angel finally called. “I tied it on the best I could.”
Fang and I both pulled together, and we hauled up the eighty-pound dog without too much difficulty. As it had with Total, the frigid wind seemed to wakeAkila up a bit when she got to the surface. I started rubbing her fur roughly all over, trying to get her blood going, while Fang dropped the rope into the crevasse again.
Total’s voice came sleepily out of Fang’s jacket. “Angel?Akila?”
“They’re okay,” Fang told him.
“Angel?” I called. “They’re both out. You did so good, sweetie! I’m so proud of you. Now you just hang on tight to the rope, okay? We’ll have you up in a sec.”
“I got the rope,” Angel said, close to tears. “But my foot’s still stuck. I don’t think I can get out.”
I looked at Fang in anguish. All of us were risking hypothermia. I already felt sleepy and weirdly warm, and Angel’s voice was weaker and weaker. Plus, even if we got Angel out, would she be able to fly? How would we carryAkila? She weighed almost as much as I did.
Crap.
57
FIRST THINGS FIRST,I thought.
“Angel, instead of holding on to the rope, tie it around your chest, under your arms. We’ll pull you out.”
“But my-”
“I know,punkin,” I said determinedly. “We’ll just have to try.”
Fang and I together were strong enough to pull so hard that we’d break Angel’s ankle. She wouldn’t be able to hold on through that. Hence the tying. But at least she would be free. I still had no idea how to getAkila home.
“Okay, I’m ready,” came Angel’s small voice.
Fang and I nodded to each other, then slowly, firmly pulled on the rope. There was hardly any give. I heard Angel make a little wail of pain, but we kept pulling as it became harder and harder. Suddenly Angel cried out, and the rope was much easier to pull.
“Angel?”
“My foot’s out,” she said miserably.
We had her up top in a few seconds, and then we were both hugging her.
Angel looked up at me, her face shockingly white. “We won’t make it back,” she said. “Not in this storm.”
“She’s right,” Fang said. “We need to dig a hole and hunker down, wait it out.”
It took me only a second to agree. Carefully we stepped away from the crevasse and began looking for shelter. There was a rocky outcropping about ten yards away, and slowly, painfully, we dragged ourselves there, holding tightly to Angel andAkila.
Angel and the dogs crouched down while Fang and I dug out a cave as fast as we could. Since our hands were frozen and we couldn’t feel them, this took longer than we hoped. Finally it was big enough to hold all of us- barely. We grabbed Angel, Total, andAkila, and pulled them into our makeshift shelter. Fang and I kept our backs to the wind, and within a minute, the storm had blown enough snow to seal us in. It was amazing how the wall deadened the sound outside. The lack of wind howling in my ears was deafening.
I took off my sunglasses and checked us all out. Angel was still pale and shaking with cold. Fang was trying hard not to shiver, but he was obviously grimly miserable. Total was struggling to his feet.Akila was standing uncertainly, pressed against the back wall of the shelter. Her thick fur was full of ice, and I quickly rubbed my gloved hands over her, brushing the ice to the ground.
“How’s your ankle, Angel?” I asked.
“It hurts. It might not be actually broken, though. Don’t know. It hurts.” She was wiped, hardly able to speak.
“Okay, everyone, rub your arms and slap your hands against your chest,” I ordered, fighting the urge to just lie down and go to sleep. It was quiet in here, cozy almost, and maybe I was imagining it, but I felt warmer. “Get that blood going!” I reached over and rubbed Total’s fur. “How youdoin ’?”
“I’d give a lot for one of those thermal pools about now,” he said, his voice thin and crackly.
“You and me both,” I said with feeling. I glanced at Fang. “Too badBrigid isn’t here. I bet she’d know what to do.” I probably only sounded about 70 percent bitter.
Fang met my gaze evenly. “I’m sure she’ll come find our frozen bodies.”
“We’re notgonna freeze!” Angel said anxiously. “Are we?”
Instantly I regretted baiting Fang, but what do you know, even a little bit of anger warms you right up. “No, sweetie, we have this shelter. We’ll be okay,” I said. “We’ll just wait out the storm, and as soon as it’s over, we’ll all get back to the station.”
I wondered if the others had got caught in the storm. I sure hoped not. I was totally not up for rescuing anyone else.
58
HERE’S A TIP: If you’re ever stuck in an ice cave in the middle of a storm with two bird kids, a talking dog, and another dog, do yourself a favor: Bring a book. ’Cause once it seems as though you might not die any second, it suddenly becomes intensely boring. And if Total hummed another song fromMy Fair Lady, I wasgonna throw him back out into the blizzard.
“I’m cold,” said Angel, then caught herself, sitting up straight. “Not that cold.”
That was my brave little soldier. Tough as nails.
“And my ankle’s so cold it doesn’t hurt much,” she said with a little smile.
We had to get her back to the station, have someone look at her ankle. We all heal supernaturally fast, but if her ankle was broken and it healed wrong, they’d have torebreak it.
The storm was still howling outside, as far as we could tell. I was starting to feel sleepy again- one of the early warning signs of hypothermia. This space was too small for us to move around to keep warm, and despite the fact that we were packed in like sardines, we didn’t seem to be warming one another up. It was slowly growing darker and darker as the storm made our snow wall thicker.
I tried thinking angry thoughts to get my blood warm, but after just a few minutes it seemed like too much trouble.
“This is the end,” Total said.
“What?” I said. “No, it’s not. This is not the end.” I wanted to say a bunch more, but it seemed so hard to speak. “It’s not the end till I say it’s the end.” My tongue felt thick, my mouth dry.Brigid had told us not to eat snow for water, but I was dying to.
“This is one thing you can’t control, Max,” said Fang. Angel was leaning sleepily against him, and he was stroking her hair.
Well, I just didn’t accept that.
“It’s been an honor serving with you,” Total intoned mournfully. I started to break in, but he held up a paw. “No, no, don’t stop me. Certain things must be said. I always swore I’d face death with dignity and honor.”
“No, you didn’t!” I exclaimed. “You always said you’d fight it tooth and nail! You said you’d go out kicking and screaming!”
Total frowned at me, then went on as if I hadn’t spoken.
“Life, like that first burst of color at dawn, is fleeting,” he said. “Ah, sweet life! What a short, strange trip it’s been! I’ve done,been, so much more than a typical dog.” He looked fondly atAkila. “Just like you, my beauty, my queen. You’ve served a nobler purpose.”
I found I had enough energy to roll my eyes.
“And now it’s come to this.” Total gestured to our tiny, ever-darker cave. “I had such dreams, such hopes! There’s a whole world out there…” He shook his head. “I always wanted to be an astronaut. Now I’ll never even get to try my wings.” In the dim light, I saw his tiny baby wings flutter slightly, and for some reason, I got a lump in my throat.
I blamed it on the hypothermia and near death.
“How many fine wines I haven’t tried.” Total sighed. “How many sights I haven’t seen. The Pyramids in Egypt. The Great Wall of China. The bonny, bonny White Cliffs of Dover. Gone, all gone, lost to me forever!”