Chapter 19 Strip!

• The cave was cold, damp, and miserable, but it was the relentless shivering that really got to me. My teeth chattered uncontrollably, and my soaked clothes clung to my skin like icy leeches. Each tremor felt like it was rattling my bones. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to generate even a tiny bit of warmth, but it was hopeless.
• Mr. Thorne sat a few feet away, rummaging through his bag with a look of grim determination. He didn’t seem cold at all—just damp and irritated. No shivering, no chattering teeth. He looked like he had just walked out of a brisk drizzle instead of enduring a torrential downpour.
• I squinted at him through the haze of my misery. Was he even human? How could anyone be this unbothered by freezing rain and a cave floor that felt like it had been carved out of ice?