by Danika Stone
Grant turned, grabbing her arm. “That’s it!”
“What’s it?”
He pointed up ahead to where the harder rock met a thin layer of crumbling softer rock. “There are caves there. Let’s check those.”
Janelle turned and followed his finger to the distant ridge of rock. She lifted her field glasses to her eyes, then dropped them to her chest. “I see smoke!”
“You what?”
“Look! There,” she said. “There’s a grayish smudge, and…” She lifted the glasses again. “Yes! I think I see a fire!”
Grant lifted his binoculars to his eyes and scanned the slope. He laughed. There wasn’t just smoke, but a campfire—a big one—burning near the open entrance of a cave. “Well, I’ll be damned!” Grinning, he scrambled to take off his pack. “Hold on a second, I’m going to grab the satellite phone and call the main camp. Let Amanda know where we are.”
“You go for it. I’m heading down!”
“I’ll send a signal flare for the others! Just wait for me!”
“I can’t!” she shouted, already sprinting down the slope.
“Why?”
Janelle’s worried voice echoed back toward him. “I see a bear!”
* * *
There was no time for thought, no time for fear. Ash knew the worst possible thing he could do was confront a grizzly. Vale had told him this at least ten times in the last few days. But he had no time to come up with another plan! Before he’d even gotten to his knees, the bear lunged toward Vale, slamming into her chest with the force of a Mack truck.
Time slowed.
Vale tumbled away, grizzly charging after her. Terrified, Ash forced his legs under him and stood up as the bear bit Vale midthigh. It shook Vale the way a dog would shake a rag doll. She swung limply back and forth, head smacking against the ground.
“No!” Ash screamed.
The grizzly roared and picked Vale up a second time—farther up her thigh—and shook her again. Vale’s limbs swung slack, blood darkening her jeans.
“STOP!” Ash screamed.
The bear dropped Vale and turned. It opened its mouth, showing yellow-stained carnivorous teeth as it roared. The sound was so loud it made Ash’s ears crackle. Adrenaline surged through his body, pushing him into action despite the pain. There was no time for thought, just flashes of life-and-death decisions, split-second reactions. A single thought pushed Ash forward.
I have to save Vale!
Ash reached down with his good hand and grabbed the unburned end of a branch from the campfire. Orange embers scattered as he lifted it up over his head. The movement caught the bear’s attention.
With an ear-splitting roar, it charged.
Time slowed as Ash and the bear made eye contact. Details jumped into focus. The bear galloping toward him. Snowflakes in the air. Vale on the ground. Ash lifted the stick up, the way you’d hold a baseball bat. It was left-handed and unstable, but he forced every bit of his remaining strength into the swing. The burning bat whistled through the air and smashed into the side of the bear’s muzzle as it reached him.
He might as well have hit a rock wall.
The grizzly roared and gnashed its teeth. It stood on its back legs, looming over him … at least eight feet tall. Ash swung the burning stick a second time. The grizzly swatted it from his hand like a toy.
“No!” Ash stumbled backward. “Get away! GO—”
His words were cut off as the bear slammed straight into his chest. Pain ricocheted across his ribs, threatening to send him into oblivion. Ash curled instinctively. Momentum tossed him back toward the fire, and he spun end over end. Dazed, he rolled to a sitting position. He looked over at Vale. She hadn’t moved. Is she dead? His throat tightened, heartbreak tearing his chest open.
“Thanks, Vale. I owe you one.”
“After crawling into camp last night in the shape you did? You owe me more than one, my friend. I’m going to have to start charging you for all the rescues.”
“Maybe you should start a tally…”
“I’m sorry, Vale!” Tears rolled down his face. “I tried—I—I—”
There was a deafening gunshot boom, and an orange arc of light and smoke crossed the sky. Dumbstruck, Ash lifted his gaze. “Lightning…?” It made no sense. Nothing did. The lightning disappeared into the snowy sky. Another orange explosion—like a meteor—followed it. This one detonated at the feet of the bear. It roared and stumbled backward, then turned and ran.
A rescue flare, some objective part of Ash’s mind announced. He could hardly see it for the tears in his eyes. He tried to get his feet under him, but stumbled and fell. Desperate, Ash pushed through the pain, rolled sideways and sat up.
Vale was down, unmoving. The grizzly was retreating back into the forest. The burning flare filled the clearing with light, so brilliant it hurt his eyes.
Confused, Ash turned to look back the other direction as two figures appeared at the edge of the fire. One of them was Ms. Holland, flare gun in hand. The other was a man wearing a warden’s uniform.
“Ashton!” Ms. Holland shouted. “Vale! Are you okay?”
Gravity shifted and Ash wobbled, then fell onto his back. Pain and unexpected relief filled him as his eyelids fluttered closed.
Their rescue had arrived.
* * *
Ash woke an indeterminate time later.
“Wha…?”
“You’re okay, Ash,” a woman’s calm voice said. “Just relax.”
He blinked, struggling to focus on her words.
“I’ve got you now. I’m going to give you some oxygen. Okay?” She wove a narrow plastic tube over his face and pressed it under his nose. The dry scent reached his nostrils. “This will help you breathe.”
He took a breath and coughed, wincing at his broken ribs.
“There you go,” the woman said. “Take slow breaths.”
Ash struggled to put his thoughts in order, but too many snippets jumbled his mind. Vale had been at his side one moment, gone the next. Where is she? Fear left him fighting the urge to scream. A stretcher appeared in his peripheral vision, and he let his head roll to the side to look at it. His breath caught. Vale lay on it, unmoving. As he watched, two uniformed EMTs took hold of the ends and carried the stretcher past him toward a waiting helicopter. Ash struggled to sit up, but the pain in his side left him hissing. Where are they taking Vale? How can I—
“Ash,” one of the emergency medical technicians said. “Are you still with me?”
He swung his head dazedly back to the woman leaning over him. She too was in uniform.
“Can you hear what I’m saying?” the tech said.
He blinked and refocused. “Yeah.”
“Good. Follow the light, please,” she said as she waved it in front of his eyes. “Now this side.” She switched to the other eye. “That’s right. Good job.” She put the pen light away. “All right. I’m going to need you to stay still for a minute while we move the stretcher.”
“Stretcher,” Ash repeated. “Right.” He was having a hard time following what was going on. His thoughts seemed to be coming from a long distance away, the post-adrenaline spiral trapping him under a layer of confusion.
“The air ambulance will take you and Vale to the hospital. Your parents will meet you there.”
Ash turned and blinked, resurfacing from his inner torment. “Wh-what?”
“The helicopter’s here, Ash. It’s going to take you and Vale to the hospital,” she repeated. “Your family is already on their way. Now, lie still, please. I’m going to strap you in.” The technician tightened the straps across his chest, and he winced at the flare of pain in his ribs.
“I need … to see … my friend.”
The woman smiled down at him. “You will. Just relax. Okay? You’re both going to the same place.” She glanced up. “Dan, are you ready to lift?”
The ground wobbled, and suddenly Ash was floating toward the air ambulance. He groaned as the stretcher bumped hard a
gainst the edge of the door, then settled into place. Someone Ash couldn’t see bolted it to the floor. The technicians climbed in and took their places between the stretchers seconds before Ms. Holland appeared in the doorway. Her face shone with tears as she shouted, “Take care of them!” to the EMTs before being led away by a gray-haired man in a warden’s uniform.
Everything felt like a dream.
As the engines started, Ash began to wheeze. The male tech adjusted something under his nose, and he relaxed back against the stretcher. His body hurt in so many places he couldn’t keep track of them. His mind felt like it was filled with cotton batting. So fricking tired. I’m going to sleep for a week.
“Ash…?”
Ash jerked as Vale’s voice—so normal after everything else they’d experienced—caught him off guard. He tried to sit up, but he was strapped in, so he twisted his head to the side.
“Vale. You’re awake.”
She lay across from him, her face bandaged, a breathing tube under her nose. Her pant leg on one side had been cut away, a mass of bloody bandages in its place. An IV line ran from a pole to her wrist. Covered in mud, blood, and bandages, she looked absolutely terrible. A sob caught in Ash’s throat.
He’d never been so happy to see anyone in his life.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey yourself. That was quite a super combo back there.” Ash cleared his throat. “Fire and rain and a bear to top it off.”
Vale smiled weakly. “Boss fight. Right?”
“Right. How’re you feeling?”
She winced. “Like I tried to fight a bear and I lost.”
He laughed, then groaned as his broken ribs grated together. “Yeah. Me too.”
“That was pretty badass what you did,” Vale said. She grinned at him, and the sight of it made Ash want to weep. “Seriously, though. It was awesome.”
“Yeah,” he said. “We make a good team.” His throat ached, and he could feel tears ready to fall. He hated the feeling. But Ash couldn’t stop staring. Vale Shumway. She wasn’t just a friend, she was the best friend he’d ever had. Ash would fight for her. He’d die for her. Not even a question.
“Thanks for—” Vale’s voice cracked. “Thanks for everything.”
“That’s what friends do, right?”
“Yeah.”
Ash knew he should say something else—something memorable to mark the occasion—but big speeches were Vale’s thing, not his. Besides, right now, he was too tired to talk.
The doors to the helicopter slammed shut, and the rotors began turning. One of the medical techs placed large sets of headphones over Ash’s and Vale’s ears, and all sound faded. Suddenly they were moving, up, up, and away, the valley falling down below them. Ash watched Vale the whole time. As exhaustion hit critical levels and his lids began to droop, he reached his hand out toward her.
Vale caught hold of his fingers, squeezed once, then let go. “We’re going to be okay,” she said, though Ash read the words on her lips rather than heard them. “We won.”
Ash nodded. A moment later, sleep overtook him and he began to dream. He stood in the gamescape of Immortal Defenders, Vale in armor at his side.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Once more into the fray. Into the last good fight I’ll ever know.”
JOHN OTTWAY, THE GREY
VALE STARED AT the clock, waiting for the alarm to ring.
6:29 a.m.
She blinked once … twice … and when she opened her eyes the third time, the digits changed.
6:30 a.m.
An upbeat song popped to life on the clock radio. On the bed, Mr. Bananas stood, stretched, then launched himself down to the floor. Vale heard the unlatched door jiggle, then open, as he padded down the hall.
With a yawn, Vale reached for the snooze button and clicked it off. She flopped back and stared at the ceiling, heart thudding in her chest. The day had arrived. With her leg healed and stitches out, it was time to return to regular classes.
Nothing to it but to do it.
She crawled from her bed and headed to the dresser to pull out jeans, a T-shirt, and then—with a sigh of annoyance—her gym clothes. She had just finished dressing and was pulling on her socks when Mr. Bananas reappeared in the doorway, Vale’s mother close behind his flicking tail.
Debra stepped through the doorway and put her hands on her hips. “Get up, sleepyhead,” she said. “It’s time for…” Her words faded away as she caught sight of Vale dressed and sitting on her bed, gym clothes folded beside her. “Oh! You’re already up.”
“Uh-huh.”
Her mother smiled, confusion mingling with joy. “Well, that’s … that’s great, Vale. Breakfast is on as soon as you’re ready.” She took a step toward the door, then turned back around. “Is everything okay, honey?”
“Everything’s fine.”
“You’re up early today.”
Vale shrugged. “It’s my first day back. Didn’t want to be late.” The purring cat wound himself around Vale’s legs, and she reached down to pet him. “Do you need something, Mom?”
“No, I just thought…” Her mother’s narrow brows pulled together. “You sure you didn’t have trouble sleeping? You’re never up before your alarm.”
“No trouble sleeping. No.”
“You look a little pale.”
“Do I?”
“Mm-hmm. You sure you’re okay?” Debra laid a hand on Vale’s forehead. “Do you feel warm? Is your fever back?”
“No, Mom. I just woke up before my alarm.”
“Should I call Dr. Robbins? Check in with him?”
Vale squirmed away from her mother’s hand. “Mom, stop. I don’t think—”
“If you’re in pain, Vale, then—”
“I’m fine,” Vale said, though her mother’s words carried on overtop of her.
“—we need to deal with it. I could try to get you an appointment today,” Debra said. “I could call the Children’s Hospital and see if—”
“Stop, Mom. Just … stop. I’m a little anxious about school. Nothing else. But it’s fine.”
“Anxious about what?”
Vale gave a tired laugh. “I don’t know. About everything, I suppose. I just … I want to get today over with. Get back to normal.” It surprised Vale to realize it was entirely true. While she’d once dreaded the thought of going to her first-period phys ed class, these days she hardly gave it a second thought. During her weeks at home, she’d finally made decisions on what she planned to do after high school too. A pile of college pamphlets sat on her bedside table along with her many books. Surviving in the Rocky Mountains with nothing but her wits to save her had given Vale a new perspective, a sense that she could survive, no matter what life threw at her.
She liked the feeling.
Vale’s mother watched her for several seconds. “Ashton’s already back at school, you know.”
Vale turned her phone around to show her mother a long chain of texts. “I know that, Mom.” She laughed. “He’s texted me, like, five hundred times in the past two days.” Vale and Ash had been best friends before they’d gotten lost in the woods. Surviving a bear attack had made them inseparable. “But even if Ash wasn’t at school today, I’d be fine.”
“Well, I’m glad you two have stayed in touch. You know what I heard?” Debra leaned toward her daughter and dropped her voice. “I heard he was pretty worried about you when you were in surgery.”
Vale groaned. “Mom, don’t start—”
“His mother told me he asked her every five minutes if there was news about you. Drove the nurses in the ward nuts.”
“Mom, please stop—”
“I think he likes you, Vale.” She tapped the phone’s screen with her nail. “If he’s texting you all the time, maybe there’s more to it? I know you like him and—”
“It’s not like that.”
Debra had her mouth opened to say something else, but Vale lifted her hand and her mother closed it again. Vale was relie
ved. She’d had this discussion with her mother more than once in the past few years. She hoped at some point it would stick.
“Look, Mom, I’m friends with Ash, but nothing else. He’s a nice guy. An amazing guy! And yes, we talk and text all the time. But I don’t feel that way about him and I never will. I don’t feel like that about … well, anyone.” She shrugged. “So don’t try to push the romance. Okay?”
“I … Okay.”
Vale smiled. “Ash and I are friends. Really good friends and we have been forever. That’s awesome on its own.”
For a long time, her mother said nothing, and then she pulled Vale into a tight hug. “Yes, it is.” She smiled as she let go. “I love you, Vale. You know that, right?”
“I do.”
“You’re tough. You’re going to be fine today.”
“I want to be better than fine, Mom. I want to be happy when I’m at school.”
Her mother gave Vale a gentle smile. “Then go make that happen.”
Vale nodded. “That’s my plan.”
* * *
Mike Reynolds was, of course, the first person Vale saw when she arrived at school. She rolled her eyes. The universe has a really sick sense of humor. Frustrated, she lifted her chin and headed through the doors.
“Yo! Valley Girl,” Mike shouted as she neared. “Thought you were dead.”
Screw you, Mike, Vale thought, and kept walking.
Mike followed.
“What?” He laughed. “You forget how to talk or something?” He stepped in front of her, and Vale skidded to a stop. Her hands were sweaty where they held on to her bag, but she wasn’t scared. Not anymore. She wanted to get past.
“Get out of my way, Mike.”
He laughed. “Ooooooh! Someone’s in a bitchy mood this morning.”
“I need to get to class. So do you.” Vale took a step, and Mike moved to block her. She stepped the other way, and he did the same. Anger prickled under her calm. “Get out of my way, Mike.”
“But I want to talk.”
“I have literally zero interest in talking to you now or ever.”