Gideon Vale smiled as though he had arrived for Sunday supper.

“Sarah, my dear. You’ve grown into your father’s eyes.”

I moved behind the table.

Emiline stood beside him, trembling.

“Emiline,” I whispered. “What have you done?”

She wouldn’t look at me.

Gideon stepped farther into the room.

“I’ve come for a few papers. Once I have them, everyone can go home.”

Hollis didn’t move.

“You won’t leave this mountain with them.”

Gideon laughed.

“Still playing the hero, Croft? That leg should have taught you something.”

The words struck Hollis like a physical blow.

I looked between them.

“You did that to him?”

Gideon’s smile widened.

“Your mountain man was remarkably stubborn. A tree falling at the wrong moment can be very unfortunate.”

Hollis gripped the edge of the table.

The accident hadn’t been an accident.

Gideon had arranged it.

He had tried to silence Hollis three winters earlier.

And now he had returned to finish what he started.

“Give me the deed,” Gideon ordered.

Hollis remained still.

Gideon turned the revolver toward me.

“Or Sarah discovers how quickly family fortunes disappear.”

I reached for the document.

“Don’t,” Hollis said.

But I had already made my decision.

I handed Gideon the folded deed.

He opened it eagerly.

Then his face changed.

“This is a copy.”

Hollis gave a humorless smile.

“You’re getting better at reading.”

Gideon struck him across the face with the revolver.

I cried out.

Hollis staggered but stayed standing.

Then Emiline spoke.

“Uncle Gideon, you promised nobody would be hurt.”

He turned toward her.

“Be quiet.”

“You said you only wanted the papers.”

“Emiline.”

“You said Sarah would be safe.”

Gideon grabbed her arm.

“Enough!”

And suddenly I understood.

My stepsister hadn’t come to warn me because she loved me.

She had come because she had helped Gideon find the cabin.

“You led him here,” I whispered.

Tears filled her eyes.

“Mother said he’d give us money.”

“Money?”

“Enough to save the farm.”

I laughed bitterly.

“Ruth sold me for flour. Now she’s selling me again?”

Emiline began crying.

But Gideon wasn’t listening.

He had spotted something beneath the desk.

A narrow iron box.

He dragged it into the center of the room.

“At last.”

Hollis lunged forward.

Gideon fired.

The bullet struck the wall beside his shoulder.

“Stay where you are!”

Gideon demanded the key.

Hollis refused.

So Gideon pulled Emiline against him.

“Then perhaps your precious Sarah would like to watch her sister suffer.”

I saw the truth in his eyes.

He would sacrifice either of us.

Without hesitation.

“Give him the key,” I told Hollis.

He looked at me.

For a moment, I thought he would refuse.

Then he reached into his coat.

A brass key landed on the table.

Gideon unlocked the box.

Inside lay a single black notebook.

He opened it.

His expression transformed from triumph to confusion.

Every page was blank.

“What is this?”

Hollis looked at me.

Then, very slowly, he smiled.

“A lesson your brother-in-law taught me.”

Gideon raised his gun.

But before he could fire, a terrible cracking sound came from outside.

The ground shook.

Dust fell from the rafters.

Hollis’s smile vanished.

“The north slope,” he whispered.

Another deep rumble rolled through the mountains.

Gideon turned toward the window.

Beyond the trees, the hillside was moving.

Not snow.

Not water.

Earth.

A landslide.

The heavy rain had loosened the old mining tunnels beneath the ridge.

And the entire mountain was beginning to collapse.

“Everybody out!” Hollis shouted.

Gideon seized the notebook and ran.

Emiline followed.

I reached for Hollis.

But his damaged leg had locked beneath him.

He tried to stand.

Failed.

Then looked toward the ceiling as the first roof beam cracked.

“Sarah,” he said, “you have to go.”

I remembered the wagon.

The blanket.

The bedroom he had given me.

The way he had never once treated me as something he owned.

I grabbed his arm.

“No.”

“Sarah—”

“You brought me here to save my life.”

I pulled with all my strength.

“Now let me save yours.”

Behind us, the mountain roared.

And the cabin began to fall apart.