by Lena North
“You’re blackmailing me,” I whispered.
“Totally,” Hawker confirmed.
“I don’t want to do this,” I said.
I wasn’t pleading with him, at least not exactly.
“I know,” he said, and I waited for him to continue, but he didn’t.
I turned everything around in my head, but it didn’t take me long to decide that I’d have to do what he asked. The more I thought about it, I found that I wanted it too. I wouldn’t have to work with the others in the group and could put some restrictions on what I agreed to. Even more importantly – it would give me a chance to prove them wrong. Jamie wasn’t involved in any criminal activity, and I suddenly wanted to shove that fact down Hawker Johns’ throat, preferably while laughing loudly in a way that wouldn’t be even remotely fake.
“I have school,” I said slowly.
“Exactly,” Hawker said. “Marine biology. You could get an assignment that takes you to the Islands for a while.”
He was the leader of the group, and the Sherrif in Norton as well, but I hadn’t known he had that kind of power?
“How would you organize that?” I asked curiously.
“Bet the genius will call you in about five minutes and tell you that she has set something up, and ask you to please clear Jamieson’s name.”
“What?”
“I told Dante that government agents are investigating Jamieson and that they are close to proving his involvement with the Ophidians. Also told him that we’d go there in a month, to help with investigations.”
I almost laughed then. The Ophidians was a big drug cartel, and working with them was a guarantee to spend many years in prison. Jinx wouldn’t want that for Jamie unless she were convinced of his guilt, so that had been nefariously clever of Hawk.
“You’re playing them,” I stated.
“Thought about the facts. Anticipated a possible outcome, and told them,” Hawker said, and I could see humor in his eyes.
“You’re playing them,” I repeated.
“You could call it that,” he conceded and the corners of his eyes crinkled with a barely held back grin. “This is what Oz would want you to do,” he added.
I straightened immediately and snapped, “I will join your group for this investigation on the condition that no one ever mentions my parents. I do not want to discuss them, and if you do, then count me out.”
It looked like Hawker wanted to say something but Miller raised his hand again and put it heavily on Hawk’s shoulder.
“Fair enough,” Hawker sighed. “You’re wrong, but I can make that deal.”
“Okay,” I said.
Then my phone rang.
“Wilder will expect you at Double H on Friday, in time for breakfast,” Hawker declared and moved toward the door.
They left without saying another word, and I answered my phone. Then I spent the next fifteen minutes listening to Jinx cursing profusely and completely uncharacteristically. After that, she shared that one of her academic acquaintances needed data collected from the islands, something that would give me credits toward my degree.
“You’ll have to do this,” she said decisively.
I blinked and felt how my brows went way up on my forehead.
“No, I don’t,” I said before I could stop myself.
She’d used the same words Hawker had growled before, and it irritated me.
“Oh, Snow, I’m sorry,” she said contritely. “Of course you don’t have to go. I didn’t think. I know Jamie isn’t involved and Dante and I… we just wanted to prove his innocence.”
That was very thoughtful of her, but a small, ugly thought crept into my mind. I couldn’t help thinking that she blackmailed me too, in a way. She’d know that I’d do anything for Dante so to bring his name into the conversation was clever.
“Don’t worry about it, Jiminella, I’d be happy to go,” I said calmly. Then I laughed happily, making it my most bubbly, joyful giggle, and added, “A trip to a paradise island, who wouldn’t be happy?”
We talked some more, and I heard what she said, and replied whenever it seemed appropriate, but I wasn’t listening.
A familiar restlessness had started to build in my belly, churning and roiling. I had a bitter taste in my mouth, and my muscles seemed to vibrate with pent up energy. The room suddenly felt smaller and the night outside the windows darker. To calm myself down I picked a bowl-shaped steel piece from its place on one of the shelves and started shifting it around, letting my fingertips slide over the clear, deep blue stones set around the rim. Wilder had given it to me and said that it was a part of an ancient sword that was part of the history from Norton, although I wasn’t sure she was right about that. It looked completely unharmed, almost as if it had been created recently. I liked the look of it, though, and the idea that it was a part of an old legend. For some reason, my insides usually seemed to settle when I caressed it, but this time it didn’t help. I tried feebly to come up with an excuse for hanging up but nothing that would fool her came to my mind, and I was about to say something that probably wouldn’t have been nice when there was a loud knock at the door.
I could have laughed out loud with relief.
“Someone’s at my door,” I interrupted her, and went on, “Have to go, talk to you later.”
“Is it Jamie?” she asked, and the hopeful tone of her voice conveyed clearly how much she wanted me to say yes.
“Don’t know,” I said, although I did know because we’d initially planned to go to the movies, but Jamie had canceled, and was working the night shift.
We said goodbye as I walked toward the door and then I opened it slowly, hoping that it wouldn’t be Hawker Johns coming back with more demands.
“Hey, babe,” a deep voice murmured. “Feel like rock climbing in the dark?”
Nick.
Chapter Two
Anchors
Going up the mountainside behind Nick on his bike felt like flying. The night was dark, and he was going a little too fast, but I didn’t mind. I leaned forward and put my arms tighter around his waist, letting my thoughts fly with the winds sweeping over the part of my face not covered by the helmet. The evenings were still chilly, but I loved that he’d taken the bike instead of his rusty old car
Maybe I should get a job after all, I thought, so I could afford to buy a vehicle of my own. I hadn’t needed one so far. I used Jiminella’s bike most of the time or else there was always someone I could catch a ride with. I’d toyed with the idea of getting my license extended to cover also motorcycles, but decided against it. I loved riding behind Nick, not having to worry about the roads twisting and turning so I could let my thoughts roam free.
When I moved to Prosper, I had started looking for part time employment, but then Jiminella had shared that she wouldn’t charge me any rent and that there would be a transfer of cash into my bank account each month to cover my living expenses. I’d tried to protest, and she’d listened calmly to why she shouldn’t give me money. Then she’d told me the balance on her bank account, how I was less than a rounding error in the second decimal place, and how I needed to shut up and accept the money. So, I did. I didn’t use any of it for the activities she and Dante didn’t know about, though. It wouldn’t have been right, and I had found another way of making money for my climbing gear and the other stuff I wanted to have.
I wrote. Not books or anything, but there were others on the net who needed content to fill their pages with, so I wrote blog posts, articles and other short pieces that someone else could put their name on and pass off as their own. It paid well, and I liked doing it. When I allowed myself to think about it, I enjoyed it more than the academic stuff I did in school and had started considering ways to eventually combine the two, perhaps as a reporter in one of the scientific magazines.
Nick turned off the main road and continued up the mountain on smaller and smaller roads until we were at an open area that looked like it c
ould have been a parking lot once.
“Found this a while back, let’s check it out,” he said and pulled me along through the forest.
We didn’t have to walk more than perhaps fifty yards, and then there was a stone wall in front of us. Through the darkness, the rock seemed almost vertical, and it looked smooth.
Perfect.
“There are anchors, I think,” Nick murmured as he handed me my bag. “Don’t know if they’re good, though. The ones I could see looked rusty, so they’re old and might not be properly secured.”
Even more perfect.
“Okay,” I said. “You want to go first?”
“Nah, you go. I’ll be right behind,” he said and stretched his arms up to secure the dreads at the back of his head.
I moved swiftly up the bottom part of the rock, and since I couldn’t hear Nick, I assumed he’d wait a little while before he started. My feet were kicking off some gravel, and it made a series of clicking sounds as it fell downward, so it made sense for him not to be too close.
My bird screeched behind me, and I twisted my head a little to grin at her. When she murmured, “Crazy girl!” in my head, I laughed softly. I was crazy, in a way, but I’d been climbing for years and knew what I was doing. The anchors felt rusty although when I yanked them, they seemed to be secure. I wondered who had put them there. The parking lot had appeared to be overgrown, so it had probably been many years ago.
“Don’t move too fast, Snow,” Nick said from somewhere below. “I can’t keep up.”
I laughed even more than, from unexpected happiness that I wasn’t alone, although mostly from glee. Nick was huge and freakishly strong so a lot of the time it was me not keeping up with him. Climbing wasn’t his forte, though, and I loved that I was able to outclimb him.
Out of nowhere, a rock came flying and it hit me on the shoulder. I gave up a loud cry as I lost my footing, the arm that had been hit felt numb, and I was hanging on using just one hand.
“Watch out,” I shouted, “Rocks!”
It was just the one, though.
With an effort, I raised my injured arm and pulled the rope until it was tight. Then I tested it carefully, ready to start rappelling downward.
The anchor where I’d just secured the carabiner made a scraping sound along the mountain side as it fell out of the crevasse it had been jammed into.
“Shit,” I muttered, still not worried because I’d free climbed tons of times.
I looked around but couldn’t see anything and tried to find somewhere to put my toes, to relieve some of the strain on the one arm that was holding me up. If I fell, the anchors below would hopefully hold me up, although I didn’t know and I could just as well continue downward.
“There’s a small ledge to the left of your feet, see if you can find it,” Nick said out of the darkness.
He was right beneath me suddenly, still climbing upward.
“Get out of the way, Nick,” I rasped out.
He didn’t answer and kept climbing. I found the ledge, and it was barely wide enough for my toes so I couldn’t stand on it for long. The arm holding me up started to burn, and I looked around frantically for somewhere to go.
“Snow,” my bird said. “Big rock. Have to jump, one arm’s length to the right, one head up.”
I looked and thought I saw the outline of the overhang she was talking about. The rock had hit my shoulder, but the numbness had subsided, and I clenched the hand a few times. It seemed to be working. Then my left foot slipped, and for a few seconds, I thought I’d fall, but I managed to hold on and find the ledge with both my feet again.
“Almost there,” Nick said.
Was he crazy? He was coming up right underneath me, something that was against all common sense.
“Get out of the way, Nick,” I repeated. “If I fall I’ll crash right into you.”
He didn’t stop, and my body was screaming at me to do something, so I made up my mind. Then I made sure my safety rope was loose enough, bent my knees as much as I could, tightened all my muscles, and jumped straight into the darkness.
My hands gripped the overhang firmly, and I held on.
“Twist legs right. Another rock,” the osprey said calmly.
I did, and felt my knee hit a rock, bent the leg upward and over it, and heaved myself up over the edge.
“I’m secure,” I called out to Nick and was met with a resounding silence. “Nicky?” I shouted.
He couldn’t have fallen because I would have heard, so why wasn’t he answering?
“Good,” he suddenly rumbled out of nowhere. “Is there an anchor there somewhere?”
My hands slid along the cold, hard rock and found another rusty piece of metal. I yanked it a few times, and it seemed to be safe, so I secured my rope to it.
“Yeah,” I said. “Do you want my rope?
“Yeah,” he echoed.
The overhang was big enough for both of us to sit on. I leaned my back against the mountainside and tilted my head a little to nudge his broad shoulder.
“That was fun,” I murmured.
He snorted out something unintelligible, and I giggled. It wasn’t my fake giggle, it was a real one, from happiness and adrenaline.
When we’d reached the top, a cooler waited for us, and I watched with surprise as Nick pulled out water bottles and threw one to me. I caught it with my good hand while he proceeded to dig out sandwiches.
“You planned this?” I asked.
“Duh,” he said, sat down and patted the ground beside him, indicating that I was to do that too. So I did, a little stunned by his foresight.
Then he moved my hair away and squinted as he prodded my shoulder.
“How bad does it hurt?” he asked.
“I’m just bruised, I think,” I said and tried to lean away from him.
His warmth felt good. One of his dreads had slipped out of the bundle at the back of his head, and it slid across my shoulder in a way that made me shiver a little. He put an arm around my back, holding me in place and continued to twist my arm around until he was satisfied that my assessment had been right.
“Okay. We’ll put some stuff on it when we’re back at your place,” he said, and added before I could protest, “What happened?”
I described the rock that had come loose and hit me, and how I’d slipped. His face darkened when I explained how the anchor had fallen out.
“Didn’t you yank it?” he asked.
“I was about to when the rock came flying,” I replied.
“It just fell out? It wasn’t stuck at all?” he asked.
“Nick, they’re old and have been there forever. It isn’t so strange.”
“Right,” he muttered. “The others seemed secure enough.”
“That one wasn’t,” I said and drank some water.
The adrenaline rush was waning off, and I took a big bite from the sandwich. Soft cheese and sun-dried tomatoes on sourdough. Yum.
“That was one crazy jump you did,” he muttered, and I grunted my affirmation through another bite. “You’re insanely fit. You know that, right?” he added.
I was about to protest but thought about it instead as I chewed, slowly, stalling for time. I’d lived the first part of my life in the mountains and had spent every free second with my father, roaming the mountains. We’d been climbing, kayaking the rivers and hiking in the summer, and in the winter, we’d been snowshoeing or skiing. Then I’d moved to Marshes, and had been diving and making my way around the swamp around the inlet. I’d never been to a gym in my life and hadn’t ever been huge on jogging just for the sake of running, but I guessed one could call me fit.
“You’re no slouch yourself,” I said, mostly to have something to say.
His eyes were intense in a way that I’d seen often but never knew how to handle. It was weird, and in some lights, it even seemed as if the color changed, from his usual pale blue to a greener shade. It made me uncomfortable, b
ut also tingly in a way I didn’t understand.
“Not the same,” he said immediately. “I have loads of muscles, but that’s genetics, and I don’t have to work that much for it. Got that from my mama’s side of the family. I’m not agile like you, though, and that…” he started, and leaned forward, bending his fingers around his toes, which seemed to be a bit of an effort. Then he grinned that lopsided grin that always made me smile back at him, and wiggled his brows. “That, I have to work on.”
“It’s the same with my cousin, Dante,” I said. “He’s a huge guy, strong as a bear and faster than you’d think, but not flexible at all. He certainly can’t do this,” I said and stretched forward too, easily bending my hands over my toes and putting the palms flat on the soles of my feet.
He chuckled and reached over me to grab another sandwich. His big frame covered me, and for a second, it felt as if I was completely enveloped in him. Then he sat up again and calmly unwrapped his food. I sat up too, feeling silly. We’d touched before, many times, because of our various activities but also casually. Why did it suddenly feel different?
“I have to go away for a while,” I murmured.
“Okay,” he said, sounding as if it meant nothing to him.
And why would it? It wasn’t like we’d made any commitment to each other, and he knew that I’d been on a couple of casual dates, and that I spent time with Jamie. In the past year, I’d spent time with Nick almost every week, though, and I’d miss him.
“They’re sending me to the Islands for some research. Part of my classes at University.” When he didn’t say anything, I clarified even further, even though I had no idea what the so-called research project I’d been hastily assigned to was about. “I’ll gather data for one of the professors, log it and, um, analyze it. That kind of thing.”