Page 81 of 15 Summers Later

“Oh good.”

“Are you okay?” Ava called.

“I will be as soon as Luke gets me out.”

He remembered suddenly reading in Ava’s book about how they hadn’t been allowed candles or flashlights at night in the primitive log structure where they had been kept and how the overwhelming darkness had been oppressive and terrifying.

He clipped leashes to both dogs. “Hold on,” he told Ava. “After we’ve gone to all this trouble to rescue them, the last thing we want is for them to slip away into the backcountry again.”

Ava looked daunted at the responsibility, but she quickly grabbed the leashes from him and followed her sister’s lead, speaking softly to the animals.

He unhooked the crate from the ropes and lowered it back down to Madi. “Will you be able to tie it around yourself again?”

“Yes. I should be able to.”

He and Ava both aimed their flashlights down into the hole and she sent up a grateful look. “That helps. Thanks.”

She quickly rigged up her own harness again, perching on top of the crate. “I’ve got it.”

“Are you sure you’re secure? I’d hate for you to fall.”

She tugged at the rope. “Yes. I’m good.”

“Okay, steady. I’m going to get you out of there. All you have to do is stay away from the side.”

“No problem,” she called up.

He used the winch to pull her and the crate out with excruciating slowness, cursing himself for giving in to her stubbornness. He should have gone down instead, no matter how determined she had been to handle the rescue.

He wasn’t sure which of them was happier when she finally emerged from the hole and he could pull her to safety.

“There you go. Back on solid ground.”

The relief on her features clearly told him how difficult the rescue had been for her, despite her protestations.

“You did it!” Ava exclaimed, her voice filled with wonder. “That was amazing!”

Madi flushed in the last rays of the sun. “Thanks. We’re not done. We still have to get them to the UTVs and then back down the mountain.”

The border collie did indeed have a tender leg. He made a few limping steps before Luke swept him into his arms. “I’ll carry him, if you can bring the crate and the corgi.”

“Her name is Gracie, according to her name tag,” Ava offered. “I couldn’t find a phone number or anything.”

“You’re a good, brave girl to stay with your friend,” Madi said to Gracie.

The border collie didn’t have a collar. Had he lost it somewhere during their adventures? Or was he a bad-boy stray who had convinced the other dog to leave the safety of the familiar?

They stopped long enough to let both dogs lap eagerly from a small creek they passed on the way back to the vehicles. When they reached the trail, Madi gave the dogs the sandwich she had packed and Ava handed hers over as well. They were eaten with such alacrity, Luke was certain they must be starving.

“I don’t think I could eat anything right now, if you want the truth,” Ava said with a grimace.

“Sorry,” Madi said, giving her sister’s arm a squeeze.

They seemed to have come to some kind of peace, though Luke wasn’t sure if it was permanent or only a temporary cease-fire.

After the dogs gulped down the sandwiches, he helped them both settle in the crates he had tied down in the cargo area of his side-by-side.

“Will you be okay driving in the dark?” he asked as Madi slid behind the driver seat in the other vehicle.

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