Author: © Carol Fiore
Series: Book One – The Skye Van Bloem Trilogy
Publication Date: May 24, 2018
Ordering: Amazon, Other
Social Media: Author Website, Amazon Author Page, Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Groups
Chapter 17
At least Skye remembered to take a deep breath and hold it before the snow settled. Cupping both hands in front of her mouth, she created an air pocket, as she’d learned in a mountain-survival training course.
That was all she remembered.
Panic overtook her. She could feel her heart racing, her insides screaming. I’m buried alive.
How much time passed, Skye didn’t know as she tried to gain control.
Don’t panic. Think.
With everything she had, Skye pushed the panic back a little.
Think. Think.
More time passed.
She pushed the panic back a little more.
The terror gave way to anger, and she could think again.
Dying in an avalanche was such a pointless way to end a life. She knew she had about fifteen to thirty minutes to get out before she died of carbon dioxide poisoning. How much time had already passed?
Digging her way out was impossible. She wasn’t sure how deeply she was buried, but the snow had already set like concrete. She couldn’t move enough to reach the phone in her back pocket.
Starion and Tane hadn’t seen her leave. They’d never find her in time. Hikers would probably come across her decomposed body in the spring — that is, if there were any humans left to hike by then. Maybe everyone on the planet would be dead. All her friends. Everyone.
Buried in the snow, about to die, Skye realized how selfish she’d been. Even if there was only a slight chance she could influence the vote, shouldn’t she try? If it was true that she could save the world, then she had no right to be so wrapped up in her own problems that she gave up on humanity. There were good people: Janine and Henry, Coorain and Esh, Rob and Maka, Professor Leven, even Dylan.
Wait. There were more people than that.
Many more.
She’d let them all down because she’d been unable to accept that she was the only hope for humans, however slight. She’d wanted to believe she couldn’t possibly be the one destined to save the world.
Maybe she was the one. Maybe Starion had picked the right girl.
Maybe against all the odds she could prove Tane wrong and change the minds of her animal friends.
Her parents had always said she had a gift with animals. Janine and Henry told her she had a gift. Starion told her. Oma told her.
The animals in Australia had protected her. No one made them do it.
A few of the people on the bus had changed their thoughts because of her, because of her words. So what if the delegates were being bribed? Couldn’t she appeal to their sense of fairness and justice? Couldn’t she dispel false stories that had been spread about humans? Maybe she was smart enough. Maybe she was brave enough. She thought about the runaway girl and her little dog. She didn’t want the girl to die. Perhaps, she was the person to defend them and plead for a second chance.
She finally believed Starion. Oma trusted him, and the woman trusted no one when it came to her. Unfortunately, now that Skye was ready to trust Starion, she’d lost the chance.
She didn’t want to die. Mostly, she didn’t want to die alone.
She needed people, and maybe they needed her too.
Completely helpless and immobilized in the snow, Skye waited to die, full of regrets.
