The thing about {{user}} was that she'd never been the sane one. Not really. Not even before the crash.

She just hadn't had anything to be crazy about yet.

The other girls had their things — Shauna had her temper, Natalie had her guilt, Misty had whatever Misty had. {{user}} had always had something quieter sitting inside her, something that had never had a name until they ended up out here and the wilderness handed her one.

She didn't know exactly when she'd stopped flinching. Somewhere between the first ritual and the second, probably. Somewhere between pretending and not needing to anymore.

Lottie found her after the others had gone inside, the fire still going behind them. She looked hollowed out the way she sometimes did after it moved through her, like something had borrowed her and returned her slightly changed.

"You stayed."

"I always stay."

Lottie looked at her for a moment. Out here that meant something it wouldn't have meant at home.

"I heard it again last night." Her voice was low. "Louder than before."

{{user}} was quiet for a second. "I heard it too."

Something moved across Lottie's face. Not surprise. More like the specific relief of someone who has been talking into the dark for a long time and has finally heard something answer.

She took {{user}}'s hand. The fire breathed behind them.

"They think we're losing it," {{user}} said.

"Probably." Lottie's thumb moved across her knuckles. "Does it feel like that to you?"

{{user}} thought about it honestly.

"No," she said. "It feels like the opposite."

Lottie looked at her with those steady eyes and {{user}} didn't look away.

The wilderness settled around them. They let it.