Angel sent thoughts into Akila’s mind. She felt Akila’s fear and confusion, but also a tough determination. Akila wasn’t prepared to die here. She would do anything to get out.
Us too, Angel told her. Everything will be okay. We’ll get out. Max will come for us. Max always comes for us. To herself, she thought: I’ve got to stop getting into things where Max has to come for me.
Akila quieted and quit struggling against the ice.
They were probably about a mile from Lucir station. Angel could picture the exact terrain they had crossed, and she could also picture what it would look like from the air. Everything had been fine: They had plenty of time before sunset, she had Total and Akila with her, and there had been a clear trail of penguin tracks for her to follow. All she had wanted to do was get close to a baby penguin — maybe even touch it. If she sent the parents no-harm thoughts, they would probably let her. A baby penguin would feel so soft and downy.
The penguin tracks had led over the snow and ice, and Angel had followed them. Right up until she’d fallen into this crevasse. It had been hidden by hard-packed snow, and the penguins had somehow managed to cross it, though some of them weighed more than Angel. But for some reason, as soon as Angel stepped on it, it had given way. Her wings had flared automatically, pulling up painfully as she slid down deep into the hard, icy crevasse. Yelping and scrabbling frantically, Total and Akila had been sucked down with her.
Now, three minutes later, Angel, Total, and Akila were wedged tightly in a vee made of ice and rock-hard packed snow. Her wings were stuck open, back and behind her, and it really hurt. She tried pulling them in and down but couldn’t budge them without feeling like they were going to be ripped out of their sockets.
Worse, Angel feared that below them, the crevasse opened out again, that they were caught in a bottleneck of ice, and if it broke, they would fall down who knew how far. One of her feet was dangling through a crack underneath them, and all she felt around it was cold air. She might be able to catch herself, if she had enough room, but she wouldn’t be able to save Total or Akila.
“How far down did we fall?” Total asked.
Angel looked up. “Um, maybe like . . . eighteen feet? Twenty feet?”
“Maybe if I brace my paws on each side, I can climb up, like a chimney,” Total murmured. “No — it’s too wide at the top. Dang it.” His bright black eyes looked at Angel. “We goofed.”
“Yeah.” Angel felt guilty — this was all her fault. If she sent a thought, could Max hear it? She didn’t think so. It only seemed to work when she was really close to the person.
Akila whimpered and scrabbled again, trying to grab a paw-hold. But she only slipped farther down, and now some of her weight was resting on Angel, pushing her down an inch and making her wings feel an inch more ripped, and her foot an inch more precarious.
Akila, please stop, Angel thought at her. Calm down and stay very still. We have to think.
Akila let out a breath. Angel felt her trembling.
Angel’s stomach got butterflies when she realized that they wouldn’t be visible from the air. Because she wasn’t moving, she was starting to feel the horrible grip of coldness seeping under her jacket, her pants. She looked over and saw that both Total’s and Akila’s whiskers were covered with frost.
Oh, no, she thought with rising panic. I can’t feel my fingers inside my mittens. This was bad. Surely Max would find them. But until then, Angel had to do what she could to save them herself. What could she do? She was really, really strong. But they were wedged incredibly tightly. She’d already trying pushing with all her might, to unstick her wings, which had now gone numb.
She was really fast, but that didn’t help here. She could read people’s minds, which helped a little because she calmed Akila down. What else could she do? Well, she could change her looks. Maybe if she changed into her bird of paradise she might be smaller or skinnier and could pull herself out.
Angel closed her eyes and concentrated. She felt herself grow warm, and feeling flowed back into her feet and hands and wings with a thousand burning tingles. She felt the whisper of feathers forming on her face and hands, inside her mittens. She loved the way she looked as a blue bird of paradise. It’d be neat to keep it up all the time. But it took a lot of energy, a lot of concentration.
“Whoa,” Total said groggily, watching her. Angel felt Akila’s surprise and sent her calming thoughts. It’s still me. The transformation was complete, and Angel tried once again to pull herself upward. She pushed down hard with her hands, and though her feathery self was a little smaller, it didn’t do anything to help. She was scared to push down with her feet because of the ice maybe breaking away beneath her. Plus she had the weight of Akila on her.
It was no use. Her new skill was worth zilch in this situation. They were going to die here. After everything she had been through, all the times Max had saved her, Max couldn’t help her now. Angel had done this to herself. She had killed herself, in the end. Tears welled up in her eyes but froze around the rims before they fell.
This was it.
This was the end.
52
IN THE END, I made Gazzy and Iggy stay at the station. They started to give me a hard time about it, but one look at my “Gonna kill you if you argue” face, and they shut up. They would stay with the scientists and search around the station. Michael and Brigid were taking Nudge with them to search the Wendy K., in case Angel and the dogs had gone back there.
“I don’t want you two flying in this storm,” said Paul Carey, looking concerned. “It’s not too bad now, but it’s going to get worse. We don’t want to have to look for you too.”
I pulled on another pair of socks and jammed my feet into my boots. Fang was looping a coil of climber’s rope over his shoulder.
“Max?” Brian said. “You need to stay here. Let us handle it.” There was an intent tone in his voice that made me glance up at him. He looked worried.
“Guys,” I said, zipping up my parka, pulling the fur-trimmed hood onto my head, “I take care of my own.”
Paul crossed his arms and took on his ship’s-captain persona. “Max, I forbid you and Fang to go out into that storm!”
I couldn’t help chuckling, and Fang cracked a smile.