Oh, please, she thought stupidly. Please let it notbe true. Maybe he's just hurt.That would be allright. He had an accident and he's hurt-but notdead.
But if he were hurt her mother wouldn't bestanding there screaming. She would be on her way to the hospital, and nobody could stop her. So thatdidn't work, and Maggie's mind, darting and wheel ing like a frightened little animal, had to go back
to Please don't let this be true.
Strangely, at that moment, it seemed as if theremight be some way to make it not true. If sheturned around and sneaked back to her bedroombefore anyone saw her; if she got into bed and pulled the blankets over her head and shut hereyes…
But she couldn't leave her mother screaming like this.
Just then the screams died down a little. Her father was speaking in a voice that didn't sound at all like his voice. It was a sort of choked whisper."But why didn't you tell us you were going climbing? If you left on Halloween then it's been sixdays. We didn't even know our son was missing…."
"I'm sorry." Sylvia was whispering, too. "Wedidn't expect to be gone long. Miles's roommatesknew we were going, but nobody else. It was justa spur-of-themoment thingwe didn't have classeson Halloween and the weather was so nice andMiles said, hey, let's go out to Chimney Rock. And we justwent…."
Hey, let's go.He used to say that kind of thing to me, Maggie thought with a strange, dazed twinge.But not since he met Sylvia.
The male sheriff was looking at Maggie's father."You weren't surprised that you hadn't heard from your son since last Friday?"
"No. He's gotten so independent since he movedout to go to college. One of his roommates calledthis afternoon to ask if Miles was here-but hedidn't say that Miles had been gone for almost aweek. I just thought he'd missed a class orsomething…." Maggie's father's voice trailed off.
The sheriff nodded. "Apparently his roommatesthought he'd taken a little unauthorized vacation,"he said.
"They got worried enough to call us tonight-but by then a ranger had already pickedup Sylvia."
Sylvia was crying. She was tall but willowy, fragile looking. Delicate. She had shimmering hair sopale it was almost silvery and clear eyes the exactcolor of wood violets. Maggie, who was short andround faced, with fox-colored hair and brown eyes,had always envied her.
But not now. Nobody could look at Sylvia nowwithout feeling pity.
"It happened that first evening. We started up,but then the weather started turning bad and weturned around. We were moving pretty fast." Sylviastopped and pressed a fist against her mouth.