11:15 a.m.
A fine white fog hung across the road. A spiral of snow spun into view then merged back into the frozen mist.
It was too cold to talk or think about anything but finding shelter, without losing sight of each other. No one except us was stupid enough to be out in this storm.
“Lottie, stay with us.” Alex tugged my arm. “You look like you’re having another migraine.”
I shook my head. “I’m fine.” Not fine. Freaking out about that car. I hugged myself and stumbled along. That could have been me the night my dad left me in our car. That’s how I could have ended up if Mum hadn’t got worried in time. No pools of blood, but a small, iced body under a quilt, unseen in the back of a car. Left for good.
At a bend in the road Otis barked and ran ahead. We followed him and saw the tail end of a car peeking out of a snow mound. The mound was a scarlet Mini Cooper, under a thick layer of snow.
“Who’d drive that up here?” Alex asked. “No wonder it got stuck. It’s shelter, at least, and we can put the heater on.”
“Oh yeah, that’s way better.” Jade ran up to it, “I love Mini Coopers!”
We started brushing off the snow. A soggy, yellow abandoned-car notice clung to the windshield. I peered inside, fearing the worst.
“Probably from before this storm started,” said Alex, brushing off more of the snow from the windows.
Jade reached for the door handle.
“Let me look first.” I pushed past her and cracked open the door. “Empty. Thank God.”
Jade frowned. “Don’t feel like you have to watch out for me or anything.” Jade clambered into the back seat. “I’m not the one who starts fires.” She muttered it under her breath.
I pretended not to hear.
“Hurry up and get in!” I yelled at Alex. So I don’t murder my stepsister.
Sitting inside the car was five-star luxury compared to the frozen bleakness outside. Alex used a little tool on his key ring to unscrew the panel under the steering wheel. He pulled out a plastic plug with colored wires running through it.
“Let’s get some heat. Hotwiring 101. You can learn anything on YouTube.”
Jade and I watched as Alex twisted the ends of the brown and red wires together, flinching as they sparked. The dashboard lit up and static came from the radio. We had power!
“Wahoo! That was awesome.” Jade gave Alex a fist bump.
“Pretty cool, if a little shady,” I agreed.
The heater pumped out burnt dust at first and then blissful warmth, enough for us to take off our ski jackets and warm our hands from solid blocks to movable fingers. The relentless splat of snow gave way to sideways blasts. Every time the wind picked up again, I figured this was it, full-on blizzard, but then it died back again and left me braced for the next bout. How much worse would peak blizzard be? I was frozen to the bone, sitting in a car that smelled of old socks and fake pine, but the relief of not having snow slapping your face, not bending your head against the wind, not having streaming eyes, was overwhelming. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer to a god I didn’t believe in.
I rubbed the tender tips of my fingers together. “We could try driving this out of here. Go to Reno and meet up with Mum and Oliver.”
“Can you drive?” Jade asked.
“Well…not really.” I looked down at my lap and thought about the last driver’s test, where I ran a red light.
“Didn’t think so.” Jade stared out the iced windows. “Me neither. I just got my permit.”
We glanced at Alex, but he shook his head. “No point with the roads like this. We’ll only skid around and get stuck somewhere else.” Alex hooked up the ignition anyway. But the wheels spun on the ice. “See, no chains either.”
At least we were safe, and almost cozy, with the constant spatter of snow and the swaying of the car, as the wind gusted around us. Inside, we’d thawed out enough to not be shivering. And despite Jade insisting we keep the driver’s-side window open a crack so we wouldn’t die from carbon monoxide poisoning, we could still wriggle our fingers and toes. My clothes stuck to me as the cold, dry snow thawed to a layer of damp.
“So,” I said, “how did you learn to draw so well?”
Alex narrowed his eyes. “You looked in my sketchbook?”
“You looked in our whole cabin.”
“Only to get Otis,” said Jade, conveniently forgetting the reality of what had actually happened. Or perhaps that’s how she really saw him. Fun Alex and his friendly dog. That would explain a lot.
Alex glanced back at me, waiting for me to say more.
“Your drawings were quite good,” I said, “if a little bizarre.” They were stunning, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“I have some I can show you,” said Alex, and he pulled out a fistful of paper from his pockets. He passed delicate sketches of shiny black insects to Jade in the back seat.
“They’re awesome,” said Jade, holding each one up. “A dung beetle, elephant, scarab, oriental cockroach, fancy. Did you draw these from life?” Jade smiled. “Not from our place, I hope.” So, she did get that he’d been staying there.
“Ha.” Alex laughed. “No, you keep a clean place. I’m sorry about all that stuff before.”
“The staying-in-our-cabin-and-breaking-in-when-you-thought-we-were-asleep stuff?” I asked.
“Yeah, that.” Alex scratched Otis behind his ears, causing the dog’s tail to thump against the car seat.
“Okay,” said Jade.
“That’s it?” I stared at her. “You forgive him just like that?”
“Well, the shit has kind of hit the fan since then.” Her face cracked into a huge grin.
I didn’t know if it was the relief of finally being warm, the knowing we were okay and it would all be over soon, or just craziness, but within seconds we were all laughing so hard tears rolled down our cheeks.
“Oh shit,” said Jade, “we needed that.” She wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
I smiled at her.
“I’m still mad at you,” she said, but she gave a small smile back. “Here.” She passed the drawings back to Alex. “You should keep them safe.”
“Yeah, they just come crawling onto my sketch pad.” He looked down at his hands. “Beetles are my current obsession.” He smiled to himself, then tried to mask the joy, bringing himself back to reality.
“They’re beautiful,” I said. “If I was that good, I’d have given up on school long ago.” My eyes rested on his just a little too long. I blushed and turned away.
“It’s just a hobby.” He flicked back his hair like it was nothing. “It takes more than talent to be an artist.”
“But you can try,” said Jade. “I want to be a doctor, like my mom.”
“You do?” I had no clue. But then I didn’t know anything about her.
“Yep, that’s why I’m in all the AP classes. It takes more than luck and talent to get into the right med school.” She bit her lip like she might have said too much.
“I can see you doing that. I bet your mum would be proud.” I wish I knew what I wanted to do. Survive. Stay somewhere for more than one year. Belong.
I looked at Alex. His head was against the window like he was sleeping, but he was watching me. He raised his brows.
I subtly shook my head. You are not forgiven. And with that the car spluttered and died. The heater had finally drained the gas.