This time when they moved on, those at the front stuck closer to Noah than before. They were frightened, which was fine, as far as he was concerned. Without fear there would be no sense of achievement, which was what he wanted most for them.

The rain started slowly, in random drops that came and went and caused more apprehension than damage. Though wearing rain suits now, they were i .

exposed and vulnerable, a ragged cord of climbers moving six by six through the lowering mist toward a point they couldn't see.

Noah felt the anticipation building, both in himself and in those around him. "Tired?" he asked, and was gratified to receive head shakes instead of complaints. Yes, there was fear, but they had come too far to turn back.

Stubbornness had set in, and determination.

The troop huffed and puffed but climbed on.

When the skies opened and the rain came in earnest, there were some complaints and open epithets from the faculty members, but the voices were quickly drowned out. Leaning into the deluge and the shifting fog, the group closed in and climbed more slowly, moving higher and higher until finally, on what looked like little more than another of the plateaus they had reached so many times before, Noah stopped.

"Here we are," he said. "Knife Edge."

There was utter silence behind him. He dared a glance back to find those who had been closest to him staring in horror at the path ahead.

As lower climbers joined them, all, save the young couple who had done the climb many times before, looked similarly horrified.

Knife Edge was a span of rock barely ten feet wide that undulated along the top of the mountain. They would be following it single file for a mile until they reached their trail of descent.

Noah could feel their terror, even shared some of it, and in that instance wondered if he had made a mistake. Even with two experienced climbers along, as the Head of Mount Court Academy, he was the one ultimately responsible for the group. Knife Edge had thrown better climbers than he into a tailspin.

"We can't go on that," came one cry.

Then another, "There's nothing on either side but clouds."

And another, "There's nothing to keep us from falling off."

"No one's falling off," Noah said. "I've been here in the snow, and no one fell off then.

Jane, Steven he called to his backup, "are you planning on losing anyone here?"

"Nope!"

"No way!"

"The path is perfectly safe," Noah told the group. "We'll just take it slow."

"I'm not crossing that."

"Me neither."

"Let's go back the way we came."

Noah had wanted a challenge, and a challenge he had. He shook the rain from his glasses.

"We can't go back the way we came. The vans will be waiting for us here." He put the glasses back on. "Look," he said calmly, but loud enough to be heard above the rain, "the path is safe. We'll go single file and stay close. Anyone who is uncomfortable walking alone can hold on. Okay?"

Knowing that the longer they stayed there, the more frightened they would be, he called Abby Cooke to the front. His voice brooked no dissent. "You lead the way with your group.

Steve and his group will be right behind you."

Abby stared doubtfully at the path, which at that moment looked like the thinnest ribbon of rock in a swirling cauldron of fog. Noah was acutely aware that more than one climber had died falling off its edge in a panic. He put a hand on her shoulder. "The rock looks wider when you're actually on it. It just rolls across the top of the mountain.

Go slowly, but keep it steady. The day is wearing on."

He hated to pressure her, but the fact was that if they didn't traverse Knife Edge and start down, they would be engulfed in darkness lone before they reached the bottom. That would be a challenge in and of itself.

Pale and quiet, Abby started off. Noah sent each member of her group off after her with the squeeze of an arm and quiet words of encouragement. "Just keep to the center of the path and relax. One after the other.... That's right. Good.... That's it. Hold on to the jacket of the person in front of you if you're frightened."

This was Sara's group. He figured it would be more able to handle Knife Edge than some of the others and would set a good example. If someone freaked out, he preferred that it happen in Jane's group or Steve's, better still at the back of the pack, where few would see and catch on.

Steve set off with his five, then, cautiously, Gordon and his.

"In the center, Sherri," Noah coaxed. "That's it. Good, Morgan. Hold on. That's fine."

By the time the third group was making its faltering way along the rocks, Abby's group was lost in the clouds ahead. The rain came steadily. The fog rose on either side of the path.

The fourth group set off, a reluctant caterpillar making its slow and uneven way behind Jane. The fifth group gathered around Noah. Annie Miller was in tears.

Noah put an arm around her and spoke by her temple. "You can do this, Annie. You're as physically coordinated as they come."

"But I can't see the path."

"Sure you can. It's wider than you think, much wider than you.

Remember that, and take it one step at a time." He reached out for Ryan and brought him close. "Annie's following you, Ryan. She'll hold on to the back of your jacket. Just take it slow and steady. Got that?"

Ryan nodded, though he looked none too steady himself.

Noah gave Annie a squeeze. "We'll be right behind you. You'll do fine."

She started off gingerly, gripping Ryan's jacket, hunching into herself, but moving.

"Stay together," Noah urged the others as one by one he sent them off, leaving only Tony Phillips and the final five students. He turned to find one of the latter sitting on the ground and knelt beside her.

"Julie?"

She shook her head. She wasn't budging.

"Can't stay here forever," he coaxed, acutely aware of the passage of time, the rain, the chill.

She nodded vigorously.

The others in the group knelt around her, dripping wet and shivering.

"We have to go, Julie."