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Aidan looked off in the distance, frowning thoughtfully. He didn’t know what brought him greater relief, the fact that Sean never questioned him or the fact that Ricardo had faith. Either way, he could feel the team growing in confidence. Unity and strength were the only things that would get them through this, especially since they hadn’t been given anything to communicate with the outside world if they got into trouble.

His eyes rested in the direction he was sure was north-northeast, and grimaced. “We’re going to do a bit of climbing.”

Sean turned in the direction he was facing. “Those peaks?”

“Not the peaks, but we’re going to have to make it along the side of the mountains to make good time,” Aidan said.

“We don’t have the gear to go mountain climbing, Sean,” Ricardo warned them.

“And we can’t call for backup,” Matt reminded them uneasily.

Aidan chuckled, clapping his hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Feeling naked without your gadgets?”

“Maybe,” Matt said sullenly.

Aidan pulled him along. “Well, when this is all over, we’ll get you a nice new phone to go with the other dozen you’ve broken.”

“I haven’t broken the last one!”

“But I have faith in you. And then you can break the next one and the one after that.”

“You sound like Nick.”

“This might surprise you, but he does have a good idea every now and then.”

Nick turned to them. “Hey!”

Aidan shrugged. “I’m glad you’re awake back there, but it’s the truth, man.”

“Who the fuck could sleep in this cold?” Nick grumbled.

“Freaks of nature,” Matt said.

It was Ricardo’s turn to frown. “Seriously? I just said I grew up with this.”

“I said what I said,” Matt shot back.

Sean sighed. “Alright, that’s enough. We’ve got a long walk ahead, so if you ladies are done arguing, we’re heading out.”

“If Princess can get through it without his phone, sure,” Ricardo grumbled as he turned away.

“Hey, fuck you!” Matt shouted after him, stomping through the snow.

Aidan chuckled, eyeing Sean. “And just like that, they’re acting like idiots.”

“Because of you,” Sean said.

“Yeah.”

Aidan walked off, smirking, even though no one would be able to see the expression under the thick cowl he wore. What he found most interesting wasn’t that the rest of them were managing to ignore the cold as they bickered back and forth butthe fact that Sean hadn’t seemed quite as irritated as normal. Even his ‘accusation’ hadn’t carried much weight, and after Aidan walked off, their team leader hurried forward to keep up with the rest of the group.

Aidan flopped backagainst the wall of stone behind him, letting out a deep sigh. He was exhausted after a full day hiking through snow that was often up to two feet deep. Between that and the bitter cold, it felt as though he’d had the life drained out of him.

“Doing alright over there?” Ricardo asked, looking over at him.

Aidan groaned. “I’ll live. But I’m telling you, I’ll take the desert sun over this shit any day.”

Ricardo chuckled. “Why do you think I moved?”