EXCERPT

“WE HEARD A WEIRD ROARING NOISE OVERHEAD. You said it might be a plane. What if it was the plane? What if they were lost? Maybe it flew right over the school.”

A log shifted in the fireplace and an ember popped.

“They can’t close the school,” Danny said, her voice sleepy. In a minute, she was asleep.

I tried to sleep myself, but every time I felt myself drifting, I saw Dad alone in the woods, huddling at the base of a tree, trying to stay out of the freezing rain. And then I couldn’t help thinking about the plane again. I had a gut feeling, so strong I couldn’t shake it. They were out there, and someone needed to help them.

✳✳✳

I waited a few more minutes to be sure everyone was asleep, then I got up. I would need a few things.

The fire threw enough light that I could find my way out of the great room and into the hall. I found my way blindly along it to our room, then I clicked on my flashlight. My knapsack was in the closet. I pulled it out and threw it on the bed.

Matches, a couple of pinecones dipped in wax that we’d made for fire starters, my compass, my knife – what else? Might as well take the little one-burner stove, canister of fuel, the pot and plastic cups that fit inside it. Nothing like a warm cup of tea when you’re all alone in the woods. An extra sweater, the old wool one that used to be Mom’s. I bent and dragged the box out from under the bed. I took out Dad’s Canada Post toque and snugged it around my ears.

I would have to sneak through the kitchen to get out the back door. I padded in my socks back down the hall in the dark, this time with the knapsack on my shoulder. I paused and looked at thesleeping girls in the firelight. Jasie whimpered and stirred, but then settled again. I took a deep breath and hurried through. In the kitchen, a nightlight with a backup battery cast enough light for me to find the teabags in the jar on the counter. Another jar held squares of dark chocolate. I took out two and put them in a bag with the teabags. A couple of handfuls of trail mix went in another bag. That was it. I was ready.”

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