The Last Vikings

#YouGoGirl

I sat back in my pillows, blinking with shock. Paulo and Sam didn't know each other. They couldn't. They'd acted like complete strangers when they met in the portacabins.

The night Sam died.

I tried to think if there were any moments when Paulo and Sam had been alone, if they could have exchanged numbers.

There weren't.

So what was going on?

Something else about that night was needling at me uncomfortably now, and I couldn't put my finger on it.

Something about Paulo.

I scrunched up my eyes and saw the Snow-White influencer scrolling Instagram in the ice hotel lobby, under the open jaws of the glassy ice bear.

The second time I saw Paulo.

Something...

Then I realised.

Paulo said he'd never been in the lobby, that time I met him at the hotel. He'd looked at the bear like it was the first time he ever saw it.

Which meant the first time he came, when I had hypothermia, he hadn't gone into the hotel to look for me.

He'd gone straight to the pitch-black portacabins, hidden in shadow, high on the hill.

How on Earth did he know I was there?

And when I crashed the snow-mobile... how had he found me?

I'd gone completely off course in the storm. I could have been anywhere. And the visibility was so poor...

The chances on him just happening on me were minuscule.

Something here was very, very wrong.

I pushed off the duvet and swung my legs to the side of the bed, testing my left foot gingerly on the floor. I winced as hot pain shot up my thigh.

Carefully, resting all my weight on my right, I managed to stand up, the movement making me light-headed.

Slowly, I hobbled towards the door, then down the echoing, institutional corridors, until I found the lounge.

"Jennie." Stephen was in there, typing on a laptop at the table. "Are you alright?"

I nodded, trying not to show how much my leg hurt. "Where's Paulo?" I said. "I need to see him. It's important."

My voice echoed round my foggy head.

"He's in the radiometer room with Phil," Stephen said, standing up. "I'll fob you into the research area."

He offered me his arm so I could lean on him as we traversed the station.

At the entrance to the research zone, Stephen keyed me in, then left. The thick door closed with a heavy click behind me.

Placing a hand on the wall, I limped towards the radiometer room.

The lights were on, and the door was closed. I could hear low voices inside.

Pausing, with a tremble in my hand, I pressed my ear against the wood.

"It's not, Paulo." It was Phil's voice, and it sounded angry. "It was a stupid, stupid thing to do, and you've put us both in danger. I can't—"

"We can trust her." I'd recognise that South America-via-Scotland lilt anywhere. "I think–"

"You're a fool," Phil snapped. "And we're ruined. There's no way out of this."