On a Dark Wing

by Jordan Dane

  After not seeing him in years, all the guy had to say was, “Hey.”

  “Hey.” Tanner sighed. “Thanks…for doing this.”

  “No problem. Come on in. Let me take your stuff.”

  With Jason grabbing his overnight bag off the front step, Tanner turned to wave a hand to his mom as she pulled from the driveway. He hated lying, but he’d do it again, if he had to.

  For Abbey.

  Alaska Range—Denali

  Until now, Nate had plenty to keep his mind occupied. Up since 4:00 a.m., he’d spent time hauling gear and supplies for his father’s six-man team. They had all met in Talkeetna at the air-taxi service where his dad had chartered a plane to drop them at the Kahiltna Glacier of Denali. Between the morning drive and the flight time, the whole day had been packed with work.

  Once they landed on the southeast fork of the glacier, his dad had the team review crevasse rescue procedures, organize their equipment, dig a cache for supplies they’d have to leave at base camp and pack their sleds for the long push to the first stop up the trail. All the logistics and prep had been a good distraction. But now that they’d made camp for the night and were waiting for the climb to start, Nate had too much time to think—and remember the nasty dream that had shaken him last night.

  Sitting outside the tent he would share with Josh, he watched other teams take off, making their departure before his dad advised would be the best time to traverse the dangerous ice bridges. Watching them go made him antsy to fall in line. Apparently, Josh felt anxious, too.

  Three times his friend went off to the latrines since they landed.

  Nate wore four pairs of pants and layers of clothing underneath to stay warm, from his underwear layer to his insulated one on the outside. If Josh was dressed anything like him, that meant his buddy really had to go. A guy didn’t peel that many layers just for something to do, not in this cold. Nate kept an eye on his friend, a guy he’d known since elementary school. After Josh came back to sit next to him, he had to ask.

  “What’s up with you? You look a little green.”

  “Nothing. Guess I’m nervous. I didn’t sleep too good last night.” Josh wiped his mouth with his bandana. “All this waiting around is getting to me. I’ll be glad when we go.”

  “Yeah, me, too.” Nate shifted his gaze toward his dad who stood talking to one of his clients. “Let me check to see how the weather is holding up for tomorrow. Dad should have an updated report by now.”

  Nate stood, but before he took a step, Josh tugged at his pant leg.

  “Listen, Nate. Promise me. You and me, we’ll stick close once we get going, okay? Guess I’m more tense than I thought.”

  Taking a knee next to Josh, Nate fixed his gaze steady on his friend.

  “Yeah, sure. Until you get sick of me.” He grinned. “You’re not the only one with the jitters, but if you tell anyone, I’ll deny it.”

  Josh punched his arm and chuckled for the first time that day. “No worries. What happens on Denali, stays on Denali.”

  “You got that right.”

  If the weather held clear, Nate’s father would soon give the thumbs-up for their start up the mountain. Everything would be a go for tomorrow. Before Nate went to talk to his father, he gazed at the horizon. The sky had grown darker and the temperature had definitely dropped since they’d landed, but the weather looked good.

  Covered in ice and snow, Denali stood before him, a dark ominous shadow set against a sapphire-blue sky. With a sudden blast of cold air that made the breath catch in his throat, the mountain sent him a message, a whisper of how dangerous she would be. Nate had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time she’d remind him, but the twist in his gut wasn’t all bad. This climb was something he’d wanted to do his whole life. At that moment, with a fresh dose of adrenaline surging through him, he felt as wired as he’d ever been.

  Abbey

  Near Healy, Alaska

  “You goin’ to bed already, Abbs?” My father sat by the stone fireplace, backlit by the crackling fire. “We could play cards if you want.”

  Dad had taught me how to play poker. I’d gotten pretty good at bluffing. My dad had no idea how much I used him to practice lying with a straight face, even without cards in my hand. But I wasn’t in the mood to pretend to have fun, not with everything on my mind. Not having a working cell made it feel like I’d dropped off the planet. I had tried texting Tanner, to see how the last day of school went for him and to find out when Nate would leave for his climb. With Tanner not responding, I had no idea if he even got my messages. Maybe they got sucked into a huge black wormhole. It could happen.

  “No, thanks. I’m a little tired.” I forced a smile. “Good night, Daddy.”

  “Good night, sweetheart.”

  Once I got behind closed doors, my smile totally vanished. I stripped out of my fish-smelly clothes, down to my boxers and T-shirt, and brushed my teeth before I crawled into bed. With the lights out, my room seemed darker. The moon cast only a pale glow through my thin drapes, fighting a cloudy night sky. With the winds stirring outside, noises in the cabin made me jumpy. Every scratch, creak and thump put me on edge.

  It helped to have Dad up late. The lamp from the living room shined its light under my door until he went to bed. That’s when my bedroom got nearly pitch-black. Whether I had my eyes open or closed, it didn’t matter. It was so dark that I couldn’t see a damned thing. It felt like I was trapped inside a coffin, unable to breathe.

  “Get a grip, Abbs,” I whispered.

  Scared as I was, I knew only one thing could help me now. Time for some serious tunes. After I pulled the iPod from my nightstand drawer, I put my earbuds in and shut my eyes to focus on the music. Every song I’d downloaded had been recorded because it reminded me of Nate. In no time, I was in Nateworld and he was with me, at least in my imagination. Nate had been the one I went fishing with that day. Unlike Dad, he’d cleaned all the fish and cooked them, too. I even shared my Kit Kat bars with him for dessert. When it came time to play cards, Nate let me win. Now I imagined him with me in my room, kissing my neck and whispering to me in the dark.

  “Everything’ll be all right, Abbey. You’ll see.” He nuzzled my ear with his incredible lips and I felt his whisper on my skin. “I’m here now.”

  When I felt the weight of his body on mine, my face flushed with heat. I closed my eyes and imagined my fingers in his hair. The feel of his hands on me sent tingles across my arms and down my legs.

  I fell asleep, dreaming of Nate and wanting to believe he’d make things better. Maybe he would.

  Nate stared at the line strung out in front of him. He leaned into the blistering winds with ice crunching under his boots. Every step he took, more ice clung to him, making him move slower. It had gotten so dark that Josh was the only one he could see. The men in front of them were only vague silhouettes and his father was nowhere in sight.

  “Dad?” When he yelled, no one turned. Not even Josh.

  Every step had been a struggle to keep up with the rest of them. If he slowed down now, he’d be lost. Last in line, no one would see him. He had to keep going but the strong winds made every step feel like he waded through quicksand.

  “Josh, I gotta stop. Please.”

  His friend trudged ahead. He didn’t even look over his shoulder.

  They were traveling over ice bridges. If the ice wasn’t there, they’d fall into deep dark fissures, careening down into the belly of the earth. With every step he took, Nate heard cracks under his boots. The treacherous sound echoed through his head and followed him wherever he went. No place felt safe.

  Dead ahead, a dark cloud welled up from the base of the mountain. It rolled across the frozen snow, heading straight for them. As it swallowed his father and the rest of the team, Nate felt the line tug him forward,
pulling him into the darkness. He clutched at the rope and tried to hold it steady, but it cut into his hand through his gloves. The taut line burned down to his skin and drops of his blood fell onto the white snow at his feet.

  “No…no. Can’t…let go.” Nate’s eyes grew wide as he looked ahead.

  Hidden in the storm clouds arose a swarm of black birds. They flew on the edge of the mounting gloom. Like an ominous dark blizzard, ravens spiraled from the sky and attacked him and Josh. Talons clawed his face and vicious beaks ripped his skin open, but he couldn’t let go of the rope—until the mountain finally made him.

  An ice bridge gave way and cracked open like a gaping wound in the earth. It swallowed him and Josh, pulling them into a dark hole. The bloody rope in his hands had been severed. They were free-falling deeper and deeper.

  And Abbey fell in after him—screaming.

  “NO!” I heard the sound of my own voice, crying in the dark. When I bolted upright in bed—covered in sweat—it took me a long time to realize that I’d been having another nightmare. I was in my dad’s cabin, but something else was very wrong.

  “Nate’s in trouble.” The words came from my mouth, like they were true, but how could they be? “Oh, man. That felt so…real.”

  I had no idea why I had that nightmare. The only thing I knew about climbing Denali, I’d picked up from YouTube videos after I’d heard about Nate’s trek. Except for those birds, all of it seemed real as if I’d actually been there with him. Did I have a connection to Nate or was my nightmare part of my insane imagination, a jumbled mess of my own making? I had to know if something bad was about to happen to Nate, but maybe I was worried sick for him out of guilt for leaving town. I felt like a major screwup. If anything bad happened, I prayed that the dark cloud would be on me, not him.

  I fell back onto my pillow and stared at the ceiling, listening to my panting in the dark as scary images of Nate assaulted my brain. No matter what caused the nightmare, I couldn’t help it. I still had a strong feeling Nate was in trouble—because of me. Dreaming about those damned birds again had not been a coincidence.

  Something bad was coming. Whatever it was, I’d be part of it.

  Chapter 4

  On Denali—9,700 feet Two days later—morning

  For Nate and the rest of his climbing team, the first two days were spent establishing the next camp at a higher elevation and hauling gear and supplies between sites. With the intense sun, the snow had softened, making it hard to trudge through, but with the bright sunlight came the euphoric high that climbers get.

  Nate had become addicted to it.

  “Josh, check it out.” He pointed toward the peak. “There she is. Isn’t she beautiful, man?”

  His buddy packed his sled for another carry. When he looked up, he smiled. “Yeah. I still can’t believe we’re here.”

  Nate already had his sled loaded. As he stood near Josh, he looked out over the trail they had put behind them. They were about to turn the corner, heading for the steeper ground of the 11,000-foot camp. At this altitude, the bright sunlight would have hurt his eyes except for the sunglasses he wore. He gazed down at the camps below. Gear of all colors was strewn over the pristine white snow. Vivid blues, yellows and reds made it look like a party. Sweaty clothes were hung on lines like flags waving in the breeze. Many of the climbers were cooking on their stoves. The smell of early morning coffee and pastas boiling were common, but Nate had a craving for something few climbers brought with them. He imagined the aroma of bacon frying and his stomach growled.

  “Ah, man. No fair.” Nate filled his lungs with mountain air. “Someone’s frying bacon down there.”

  “Really?” Josh grimaced. “You can smell that from here?”

  “Didn’t I tell you? I’ve got one superpower. I can detect bacon from anywhere. Guess I’m still hungry.”

  “You’re killin’ me, Holden. Only you would pick bacon as a superpower.”

  Josh shook his head and got back to work. He had slowed down at the higher elevation. Nate noticed, but he didn’t say anything. He felt too good to give Josh a hard time. The surrounding snow-covered peaks cut across a clear blue sky with low wisps of clouds hanging over their heads. On the summit, not even the clouds could reach the top of the world. That made him grin.

  Temperature swings on Denali ranged from 100 degrees inside the tent on a sunny day to bone-chilling cold that came with harsh winds. The swings could happen within hours. Higher up the trail, his father had already warned the team. The weather would get worse. Count on it. But for now, Nate was as happy as he’d ever been. Days like this would stick in his memory, but confronting the treacherous challenges ahead and beating them was the real reason he climbed.

  Anchorage

  “Dude, seriously. Are you gay?” Jason Cheevers turned from his computer screen, his face scrunched in shock as he faced Tanner. His question hung in the air like the foul smell of feet in Jason’s bedroom.

  Tanner didn’t blink. He said the first thing that sprang into his skull.

  “I’ll admit I’m gay if you can definitively refute that you’re not a direct descendant of Sasquatch. You’ve got three minutes.” Tanner looked at his watch. “Starting…now.”

  When Cheevers looked even more confused, Tanner rolled his eyes and slouched deeper into his wheelchair.

  “Dude, you’re giving me a headache.” He heaved a sigh. “No, I’m not gay. That’s the whole point.”

  “Wow, that’s seriously messed up. No wonder you’re pissed. Bet that makes it hard to get laid, huh?”

  Stunned, Tanner stared at him. After spending two days with Jason Cheevers, he knew the guy’s whole universe revolved around his dick. He assumed every other guy was just like him, even guys in wheelchairs.

  “Tell me about it. Being on wheels, it’s hard enough to get…a date.” Like try never, Tanner thought.

  He’d never been on a real date, but admitting that to this jerk would have been nothing short of pathetic. Tanner had enough regrets. Telling Cheevers about the FarkYourself website was one more. But after grilling him for information, working off hypothetical scenarios and developing code, he finally had to concede he couldn’t go any further without telling Jason the real reason he needed his computer expertise.

  Tanner had run out of time.

  Staying in Anchorage longer than two days would be a push for his mom to believe he was only retrieving stuff off a crashed hard drive, something he could do in his sleep. Two days with his old fair-weather friend, Jason, was about all he could stomach. All the guy talked about was his future in the NHL after his full-ride scholarship for hockey at the college of his choice. And he went on forever about how his family planned to vacation in Hawaii where he’d learn to surf. Not once did he ask about Tanner’s life, like a guy in a wheelchair was an open book that everyone had read and knew the ending.

  Spending time with Jason reinforced why Tanner had severed ties with him after he was paralyzed, besides the fact that the guy was a self-absorbed, egotistical tool. There had been an incident that had happened one winter night that really forced Tanner to think about who his real friends were. When Jason’s father went out of town, Cheevers went joyriding in his old man’s car and picked up some buddies. At that time, Tanner had been on his short list, but with no place for a wheelchair in the SUV, his wheels got tossed in the back.

  After hitting a convenience store for munchies, Jason ran into a guy who told him about a wild party they could crash. Within minutes, they were parked outside an apartment building. The party was on the third floor with no elevator or wheelchair ramps. Jason could have changed his mind and found another place to go, but he barely looked over his shoulder in the rearview mirror at Tanner and said, “Sorry, man. We’ll only be a little while.” He turned off the engine, tossed him the keys, and left Tanner sitti
ng in the backseat in a freezing car for what turned out to be hours. That hurt. Message received. It had been a harsh slap in the face.

  But Tanner had gotten even.

  He dragged his body out of the SUV through deep snow, started the engine with the key Cheevers had left him, and used a long ice scraper to operate the gas pedal. Tanner moved Jason’s vehicle down a few blocks and waited for the jerk to come out looking for his ride. The guy freaked and sobered up real quick in the cold. Tanner wanted to find humor in what had happened, but at the time, the hurt felt too fresh. Jason thought that moving the SUV had been a lame joke. He never got the point and Tanner didn’t bother explaining it to him.

  Cheevers wasn’t worth it then, and not much had changed. The only thing that had gotten him through two whole days of writing malware script and SQL injection code with the guy had been Abbey. He wanted to make things better, for her sake, even if that meant two whole days with an ass-hat like Cheevers. But now that it was time to tweak and upload the code, he’d need Jason to do it.

  “Okay, cards on the table.” Taking a deep breath, Tanner ignored his growing frustration and stroked Jason’s ego. “You’re the best cyber-bandito I know. I need you to help me, but you can’t tell anyone what we’re about to do.”

  “Cyber-banditos.” Jason nodded with a lazy grin. “Cool, dude. I’m in.”

  A day later On Denali—11,200 feet -45 degrees

  Only yesterday, the sun beat down on the mountain, teasing Nate with a false sense of security, but that’s how things went on Denali. Euphoric bliss one minute, followed hard by a sudden fierce storm that could humble even the best mountaineering crew.