Dear Logan,
The next time you see me, you should call me Dr. Maddie. I basically have a medical degree in first aid. I mean, I know there is no such thing, but there totally should be. I can dig out a splinter using a safety pin or a pair of tweezers (which, really, what self-respecting girl DOESN’T have a pair of tweezers?). I can treat burns and scrapes and lots of stuff way too gross to put on paper.
So, yeah. Call me Dr. Maddie.
But who am I kidding?
You’re never going to call me anything ever again.
Maddie
Logan could hear the shots still coming, long after he and Maddie were lost among the cover of the trees. The red glow of the fire was fading, but they took advantage of what light there was. Soon, there would be nothing but darkness and more snow. And probably bears.
Man, he really hoped there wouldn’t be bears.
But then an even scarier thought occurred to him.
“Mad, is there really a Black Bear Bridge?”
She looked up at him. “Yes.”
He wanted to curse but didn’t. “I saw it on the map, I think. But it didn’t look like a half day’s walk.”
“No. It’s closer. But he doesn’t know that. And I needed him to come this way. I needed …” She trailed off. She was breathing hard, Logan noticed. She’d been so strong for so long. He wanted to hug her, but the hand-holding was new enough. He didn’t want to risk it.
“It worked, Mad. It was genius. It was evil. You’re an evil genius, and I’m … I’m glad you’re on my side.”
“Don’t act so surprised,” she told him.
They walked on for a few minutes. The light of the fire was almost gone now. They couldn’t even hear the Russian curse words piercing the too-cold, too-clear air.
With every step the snow and sleet fell harder, collecting on their hoods and their shoulders, and Logan didn’t want to think about what would happen if they stopped moving, even for a minute.
“What’s over here?” he asked.
“On this side of the river?”
“Yeah. There wasn’t much detail on Stefan’s map.”
As Maddie shrugged, she lost her footing for a moment. She held tighter to Logan’s hand to keep her feet.
“More of the same, I think,” she said. “A few mining roads that have been out of commission for ages. An old ranger’s station, but no one uses it, and I doubt it’s stocked. Plus, it’d take all day to walk there.”
Logan looked around the dark forest. “We’re running out of day.”
“Yes,” Maddie said, and Logan could actually hear her teeth chattering.
“You’re freezing,” he said, trying to pull her closer.
Maddie winced and pulled away.
At first, he felt silly. He felt hurt. Maybe the hand-holding and the kissing and the superdramatic hugging were all for Stefan’s benefit. Maddie was never going to have to slip a key from her mouth into his again, he realized. He was almost disappointed.
But then Maddie stumbled on the almost smooth ground. She was no longer the girl who had leaped across a decaying, ice-covered bridge. Instead, she was bending at the waist, and even in the darkness, Logan could tell that her face was too pale. Her hand had been too cold—even given the air and the snow and the terrible day they’d had.
“I’m fine. It’s just a scratch,” she said, but the words slurred and she swayed again.
“Maddie!” he snapped. He was almost mad at her. He was furious at himself as he went for the zipper of her outer jacket. She tried to push his hands away, but she was too weak.
His heart pounded in his chest and his hands started to shake for reasons that had nothing to do with the cold as he unzipped her jacket. Then he pulled aside a layer and felt it—something warm and sticky beneath the logo on her jacket.
Something that smelled like blood.
Maddie swayed a little. She tried to laugh as she looked up into his eyes and said, “Tag. I’m it.”
And then she passed out cold.
Maddie was dreaming. She had to be. Why else would it feel like she was flying, floating through the air? Why else would she be hearing Logan’s voice, talking to her through the dark?
“Stay with me, Mad Dog. I’ve got you. You’re gonna be okay. Wake up, Maddie. Wake up. Wake up!” Logan shouted.
But it wasn’t Logan. It couldn’t be. Logan was back in DC and he wasn’t her friend anymore. He’d never be her friend again.
Logan had died in that White House corridor. Her friend had died, gone away forever. But now he’d come back to her.
In her dream.
Maddie tried to roll over. She wanted to pull the covers up higher, wrap herself in them tighter. She wanted to stop shaking.
“No. Don’t. Stop fighting, Mad Dog,” Dream Logan told her, but Maddie wanted to laugh at him. Shows what he knew.
Maddie never could stop fighting.
But first she had to get warm.
She really should get up and put some more wood on the fire, but her eyelids were too heavy. And Dream Logan, as annoying as he might be, was better than No Logan. So Maddie let her eyes stay closed.
“Here,” Dream Logan told her, and Maddie was suddenly warmer.
Maddie was so warm. She felt so safe. And so she slept.
And she had dreams of Real Logan, even though he was a lifetime away.