“What?”
“I heard something—”
I break off as a dim light flashes through the rain. It’s a distant torch beam. And I can hear the sound of movement down the mountain.
Oh my God. It’s people. At last.
“It’s the mountain rescue! They’ve come!” I yell. “Here! We need help!”
“Here!” Jess calls, and flashes her torch in the air. “We’re here!”
The other torchlight disappears briefly, then reappears.
“Help!” shouts Jess. “We’re here!”
There’s no reply. Where have they gone? Have they missed us?
“Heeelp!” I scream desperately. “Please help! Over here! Can you hear us?”
“Bex?”
A familiar high-pitched voice comes thinly over the sound of the storm. I freeze.
What?
Am I… hallucinating? That sounded just like—
“Bex?” comes the voice again. “Bex, where are you?”
“Suze?”
As I stare upward, a figure appears at the edge of the ridge, wearing an ancient Barbour. Her hair is plastered down on her head with the rain, and she’s flashing a torch about, shielding her eyes and looking around, her brow creased in anxiety.
“Bex?” she screams. “Bex! Where are you?”
I have to be hallucinating. It’s like a mirage. I’m looking at a tree waving in the wind, and thinking it’s Suze.
“Bex?” Her eyes have lighted on us. “Oh my God! Bex!” She shouts over her shoulder, “I’ve found her! Over here!” She starts scrambling down the ridge toward us, sending rocks flying. “Bex!”
“Do you know her?” says Jess, looking bewildered.
“It’s Suze.” I swallow. “It’s… my best friend.”
Something hard is blocking my throat. Suze came to find me. She came all this way to find me.
“Bex! Thank God!” Suze arrives in a final flurry of stones and earth, her face all mud-stained, her blue eyes huge with concern. “Oh my God. You’re hurt. I knew it. I knew it—”
“I’m OK,” I manage. “Except my ankle.”
“She’s here, but she’s injured!” she says into her mobile, and listens for a moment. “Tarkie’s coming down with a stretcher.”
The mountain seems to wobble. Suze quickly sticks out an arm for me to lean on.
Luke?
“How come…” My lips are suddenly trembling so much I can hardly form the words. “How come Luke…”
“He’s stuck in Cyprus because of bad weather,” says Suze, “but he’s been on the other end of the line the whole time. God, he’s been in a state.”
“Here you are, Becky,” Tarquin says, holding out the phone to me.