Chapter 20

The Pearly Gates were a pair of tall, slender pillars of stone. They seemed to frame the sky above them. As they crossed between the two rocks, Kendal looked up and saw that the blue sky had started to cloud over. She wondered if she could touch one of the clouds when she reached the top.

Jeremy suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky too. He took out his radio and tried to call down to the ranger station to check on the weather, but the radio sputtered out static and then went silent. He turned it off and on again, but it didn’t work.

“I put new batteries in it yesterday,” he said, shaking the radio. “I tested it out before we started to climb. I don’t understand.”

Her father took out his phone, but it didn’t have a signal, so he took a picture of Kendal instead.

“I can’t tell what these clouds will bring,” Jeremy said, looking off in the distance. “I checked the weather this morning and no storms were expected until late tomorrow night.”

“We’re so close,” Kendal said, eyes focused on the top of the mountain. She wanted to finish the climb. The summit was just up ahead.

Jeremy studied the clouds and then looked at his watch.

“We’re almost there,” Kendal’s father agreed.

“Let’s go,” Kendal said.

Jeremy paused, looked back at the clouds, but led the way. There was a clear path to the top, but it was narrow, and on both sides of the path were steep slopes covered in ice and snow. Kendal gripped the top of her ice ax, prepared in case she slipped.