Chapter 17

Ethan picked up the fridge magnet—it was still warm from Natalie’s touch. He ran outside, but all he saw were the tail lights of a tour bus speeding away into the night. That evening, he stayed alone in the same hotel room where Natalie Bennett had slept. Outside the window, the barren ice fields and silent night sky stretched endlessly. He opened her alternate account again. She’d updated. It was a photo of the aurora, vivid green light swirling across the night sky—like a goddess casting a veil of light. The caption was only one word: “Rebirth.” Ethan stood by the window, gazing out at what might have been the same sky that had just held the aurora, but now was nothing but an impenetrable darkness and a cold that cut to the bone. She was like the aurora—brilliant, free, unattainable. And he was just a traveler, stranded alone on the ice. The third lead was more concrete. A tiny Southeast Asian island, famous for calm waters and diving. In the photo, Natalie Bennett wore a si