Gifted Connections 3

“I need to try that,” I said excitedly as I went to grab another cup from his pack.

I climbed up to the exit and scooped up a cup of the fresh powder of snow.

“Get back in here,” Troy called from below. “It’s freezing out there.”

“I’m coming,” I giggled as I clutched my cup to my chest.

I waited until we were back by our fire to melt the snow in my cup. I focused on the snow and imagined it melting. It soon became water.

“Be careful,” Troy warned right before it started to boil over. “The water can still scald you. Dial it back just a notch.”

I sat it down and smiled up at him. “I did it!”

He laughed, pride shining in his eyes. “You did. After we eat, we can collect more snow, melt, and boil some more.”

“Sounds good to me,” I nodded with a satisfied smile.

“What’s up?” Drake asked as he sat down next to me with a MRE.

“I learned how to melt snow and boil water with my hands!” I declared smugly.

“Should we be worried about the food situation?” Jaxson asked worriedly as he sat down across from us.

“I was thinking the same thing. We each had six. We ate two. Some of us didn’t eat everything in them, but if we’re stuck here for another day we’ll be out by the tomorrow of the main courses.” Jace commented.

“I saw fish in the stream down the way. It shouldn’t be frozen yet. We can fill our canteens, too, and melt snow as a last resort. Can we figure out how to catch some?” Remy asked with his brows furrowed.

“It won’t hurt to try.” Troy nodded.

“I also have eight packs of my oatmeal left,” I commented. I knew it wasn’t much, but it was something.

“I got beef jerky in my pack,” Jace added.

“I have some trail mix,” Remy declared.

“I saw some watercress, and I can identify other edible plants nearby. We also have stuff for smores, and I have those energy bars,” Drake mentioned after a few moments of thought.

Noah laughed. “I’m not going to even ask how or why you noticed that, Mr. Brainiac. I have a bag pistachios.”

“If you bothered to read our survival training guides they gave us,” Drake explained dryly. “You would have seen where they had pages of edible plants found in the wild.”

I leaned over and kissed Drake’s cheek. “Your thoroughness in everything you do is refreshing.”

“Everything?” Jaxson said suggestively.

I rolled my eyes at him with a smile. “Yes everything.”

The guys laughed as Drake colored under my praise.

“It looks like we’re going out after breakfast then,” Troy nodded with a look of determination. “I have fishing line, weights, and hooks in my bag.”

“No one’s going to ask Troy why he has fishing line, hooks, and weights in his bag?” I asked drolly.

Noah guffawed. “That was something that we did learn in our survival training class.”

Noah had to take a hiatus from school. He still wanted to be a surgeon someday, but his classes weren’t easy to complete at a distance. Three days a week, Remy, Jace, Noah, and Drake had classes or additional duties depending on where they were in their training.

“So, while I’m in school learning the quadratic formula, something I don’t need to know for my future, you guys are actually learning useful stuff. Like survival,” Jaxson said ironically.