Lucy paused on a granite outcrop, as if to catch her breath. Aidan had stopped some way back to retie his boot laces. Without looking at Del, she said in a low voice, “Don’t stare down at your feet. Look just ahead so your brain can note the slopes and the changes in the ground. Use your hands to grip and for balance. And bend your knees a little.”
There was silence.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Del bite her lip. She braced herself for the volley of swear words that was sure to come.
“Thanks,” Del said finally. She leaned against the cliff wall and pushed her ponytail into the collar of her sweatshirt. She wiped the sweat from her forehead. “I like being up in the air. But all these sheer walls and deep crevices make me feel like I’m being crushed alive.”
“Really?” said Lucy. “I feel safer. There are things to grab hold of, to dig my heels into.”
Del scanned her face. “We’re so different.”
“Yeah, we are.”
Del paused. “Where is Aidan?” she said in one of her lightning-quick changes of mood.
Lucy looked around. Aidan was still behind a short distance, crouched down and hunched over something. It was too far to see what he was doing. She shrugged. “We’re not going anywhere for a minute or two. Catch your breath.”
“So, which way next?”
Lucy pointed with her spear. “See the big patches of gray up ahead? It’s the beginning of the next plateau. Granite, grass, and earth, and no more of this crumbling cement and blacktop. It’ll be easier.”
She spun on her heel, considering the best path down. She’d come straight up the hill through the grove, which lay a few hundred yards to their right. It was a narrow, twisting, ankle-jarring deer track filled with ruts and rocks, and at the end of its sinuous length it would leave them a couple miles out of their way. Lucy dropped to her belly and hunched over to the steepest edge of the escarpment. It dropped about fifty feet at a sharp, almost 45 degree angle. The granite face was wind-roughened and scraped her fingers like sandpaper. She sat up and crossed her legs, considering their options. Her boots were chafing her ankle bones. She untied them and pulled her slouchy socks back up, retied the long laces, and double-knotted them.
“What are you thinking?” Del asked. She was unable to keep the nervousness out of her voice. She picked at the raw skin around her thumbnail, and Lucy wanted to slap her hand away as if she were a little kid with her fingers in her mouth. “A little payback for teasing you on the bridge?” Her chin came up and she looked mulish.
Lucy couldn’t get the image of a little kid out of her head. It fit Del perfectly. Her mood swings, her temper, her wanting the whole cake for herself. Lucy disregarded the last statement, noting the frown that appeared when Del didn’t get her fight. That was the trick: Ignore the most outlandish remarks. Refuse to play the game. Lucy felt pleased with herself. It would probably drive Del crazy!
“I’m trying to figure out the fastest way. We want to get to the tower while it’s still dark, right? Here there are lots of tree roots to grab on to and the slope is gentler after about twenty yards, although if you fall it’ll take some skin off. It’s the quickest. So follow me. But not too closely, okay?”
Del nodded.
Aidan jogged up. “Thirsty?” he asked, uncapping the bottle of water. He took a sip and passed it to Del, who drank as if she was parched.
When she’d finished drinking, she held the bottle up to Lucy, who shook her head. “No thanks,” she said politely.
“Where to next?” Aidan asked.
“Down,” Lucy replied. He immediately sat. She giggled, ignoring Del’s over-the-top eye-rolling.
“No, I mean we’re going that way.” She pointed down the hill.
He peered over the edge. “Looks doable.” He shot a glance at Del and then a questioning look at Lucy, who quickly nodded her head.
Del wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “What were you up to?” she asked.
He took his hand out of his sweatshirt pouch. His fist was full of small-and medium-size gray and white pebbles. “Making trail markers. So when we come back it’ll be easier to find our way.”
“I thought you were just lagging, couldn’t keep up.” Del had pulled her boots off. Her socks were even worse than Lucy’s. The heels were riddled with holes. Del peeled them away from her feet. She had two good blisters going. The skin was rubbed raw, and bubbles were forming. “Eww,” she muttered, digging in her pack for a spare pair of socks.
Lucy felt a sympathetic twinge and turned her attention back to Aidan.
“So, a trail of bread crumbs?” she said.
“A little more permanent.” He kneeled down by the edge of the slope and carefully piled two stones, one on top of the other. Lucy sat beside him.
“This identifies a trail.” He placed another stone to the right of the pile. “This means turn to the right.” He placed a third stone on top of the heap. “And this would be a warning.”
“Pretty cool.” She bent forward over the stones. “Where’d you learn it?”
“When I was a kid, Sammy and I used to leave each other messages on the road between the foster home and school. But we used tin cans and empty cigarette packs and stuff like that instead of rocks and sticks.” Lucy danced her fingers over to where his hand lay. She held her breath.
He brushed her hair away from her cheek and lingered there, and she looked up at him.
Del groaned. Her head was down, her fingers tightening the ties of her backpack with what seemed to be unnecessary force. It might have been the blisters, or it might have been her way of expressing her opinion. In any case, Lucy and Aidan broke apart.
Aidan’s eyes twinkled at her as he shouldered his bow.
Casting a quick glance to make sure Del looked ready, Lucy set off down the hill. For a while she was able to step down on a diagonal, zigzagging back and forth. When she reached the sharpest point of the incline, she carefully tossed her spear ahead, flipping it lengthwise and aiming for a patch of grass so as not to blunt the point. She turned to face the pitted rock wall. There were plenty of crannies to fit her fingers into, and the stone was rough enough for her boot soles to grip. The rock face was still warm from the day’s sun, and she leaned into it, feeling the heat seep through her clothes. She hadn’t realized how chilled she was. The night was not cold, but it was damp and it sank into her bones.
“I don’t like this,” Del said, just above her. Her boots scrabbled for a hold. A fine spray of dirt was knocked loose and floated into Lucy’s eyes. She scrubbed the grit away. Del’s limbs were extended like a starfish. She was frozen in place, holding on by determination alone. Aidan was about ten feet above her, but Lucy signaled to him to stay where he was.
The last thing Lucy needed was Del landing on her head. She forced her voice to be calm. “Tree root just past your right foot. If you feel dizzy, press against the wall for two or three breaths, but don’t stop moving.”
Del inched her foot sideways.
“Okay. Move your hands over, feel that bulge in the rock. You can hold on to that. Now reach down with your left foot. There’s a ledge about two feet below you. Good. Grab the tree root. Now below the ledge is a thick patch of ivy. It’s like climbing a rope ladder. You’re doing great.”
Lucy watched to make sure Del followed her instructions, and then climbed down the last twenty feet. From below she directed the other girl until she stood beside her on the grass. Del collapsed onto her back, her chest heaving, her fingers clutching the ground as if she would never let go.
“I feel like I just got my butt royally kicked,” she groaned.