Nomad

by JL Bryan

  "Hi." Macey spoke softly and gave Raven a slight wave, acting very distant. She wore a faded Habitat for Humanity sweatshirt, and her long blond hair was drawn back into a ponytail. Her friend Sophie wore a cashmere hoodie and designer jeans, as though she had no intention of getting dirty today. Raven wondered whether the two girls recognized her from their unpleasant encounter at the coffee shop. Raven had seriously changed her image since then.

  "That's Chandler and Ethan up there, my climbing buddies, I think you met them at Inferno," Logan pointed to the boys as he named them. Chandler was their driver. "Everybody meet Riley. She's a crazed photography student."

  "Brilliant major choice." Sophie rolled her eyes.

  "It's not my major," Raven told her.

  "What is?" Macey asked.

  "I'm thinking about switching to history," Raven said.

  "Oh, yeah? You like museums and stuff?" Logan asked.

  "I like understanding how things happened. You can't change history if you don't understand it," Raven said.

  "You sound just like my Uncle Henry," Logan snickered. "He's got a million of those sayings. He'd probably love you."

  Raven smiled.

  "How do you want to change history?" Macey asked. "You mean change the world?"

  "Why not?" Raven asked. "The world could use some changing, right?"

  "Totally agree." Macey looked at her more carefully. "Which college are you in? I haven't seen you around before." Raven knew Macey was assuming she went to Yale like everyone else, and she was asking Raven's residential college.

  "I actually go to Albertus Magnus," Raven said. Sophie let out a barely audible snort. Macey seemed to relax, as if this information made Raven less of a threat.

  "Why don't you tell us about your family, Riley?" Sophie asked, in an overly sweet tone of voice. "What do they do? Where did you grow up?"

  "Seattle. I didn't actually know my parents. I grew up in some foster homes." Raven had invented this story because it seemed the most difficult for anyone to research and disprove. Any other story would involve pinning herself somewhere more specific, to specific people that she would also have to make up.

  "You don't have any family at all?" Macey asked. Her baby blue eyes gleamed just a little, as if this idea had made her instantly sad. "I'm sorry."

  "It's nothing, that's just how I grew up," Raven said.

  "You know, there's this program where you can tutor underprivileged children in New Haven," Macey said. "I volunteer with them. You should do it, too. I bet you could teach those kids a lot, you know?"

  "Oh...okay," Raven said. She wasn't sure how to respond to this shift in Macey's attitude. Macey was treating her like a poor orphan in need of friends--a little condescending, maybe, but not intentionally hurtful. Raven felt a little better about saving her life.

  "It's just a thought, but call me if you want to do it," Macey said. "I mean it."

  "Thanks." Raven decided to change the subject away from herself. "So, you guys go rock climbing a lot, right? You definitely know what you're doing?"

  "Three times so far, and once a week at the climbing gym," Logan said. "Ethan and Chandler just started this year--"

  "Right after we met Logan," Chandler added from the driver's seat.

  "We're all in the Climbing Club, but we're going to bring back the spirit of the old-school Yale Mountaineering Club," Logan told her.

  "Yeah, we are!" Ethan said, acting as Logan's hype man.

  "They had expeditions to Alaska, the Yukon...they used to explore uncharted territories and do the charting. That's what we should be doing, not just playing around on these little cliffs and crags," Logan said. "That's much more Yale, I think, breaking new ground, going new places. We're going to restore the lost glory."

  Ethan gave a loud whoop as though he found this to be an inspiring, rousing speech.

  "It seems like a good way to break your neck," Sophie said.

  "That's what makes it worth doing!" Logan said. "You see what I mean?"

  "I hope you boys are careful," Macey said.

  They drove north out of New Haven, along an interstate winding through pleasant-looking suburbs that had not yet been touched by war. Autumn trees filled the pastoral streets with color, an effect that became even more pronounced as they reached the countryside. Ahead, the sheer basalt cliffs of Ragged Mountain rose hundreds of feet into the air.

  "That is what we're climbing?" Macey's face turned pale as she stared at the steep mass of rock.

  "Scared yet?" Logan asked.

  "No," Macey said in a small, soft voice.

  "I'm not climbing it," Sophie said. "I think it's a stupid idea."

  "You have to come!" Macey insisted.

  "I did come. I'm here. I didn't say I would climb anything," Sophie replied.

  "What about you, Riley?" Logan asked as they parked. "Still ready to go?"

  "Just show me where to start." Raven climbed out of the car and looked up the sheer cliff. They were at a detached slab, which ran straight up eighty feet to a natural, squarish rock tower formation at the top.

  "Is there like a...bunny cliff for beginners?" Macey asked.

  "This is the beginners' cliff," Logan replied, while Chandler opened the back of his SUV. They began unloading ropes. Macey let out a small sigh as she looked at the steep climb ahead.

  "Let's harness the girls for a practice climb," Logan said. "Ethan, you can harness up Sophie--"

  "I'm not going," Sophie sat on a boulder. "I can cheerlead. That's my specialty."

  "Oh, come on!" Macey said.

  "--Chandler can rig up Macey, and I'll take care of Riley." Logan grinned at Raven and approached with a harness of nylon webbing, with loops for her waist and legs. He knelt in front of her, his face at her hips. "Step in."

  "You're going to tie me up?" Raven teased as she stepped into the loops. She rested a hand on Logan's shoulder as he drew the harness up her legs and tightened the straps around her thighs.

  From the corner of her eye, she noted a quick, unhappy look from Macey as the other boy strapped her into her harness. She clearly would have preferred to get harnessed by Logan instead of Chandler.

  While Logan stood up and adjusted her waist strap, Raven gazed at the tanned muscles of his neck and arms. He was close enough that she could smell his leathery, spicy cologne.

  "That looks great," Logan said, stepping back with his eyes on her hips. His eyes took their time moving up to meet hers. "We don't usually stoop to top roping, but we'll keep it safe for you new girls. I'll belay Riley. Chandler, you can belay Macey, right?"

  "What does that mean?" Macey asked.

  "It means I stay down here with the other end of your rope and keep you from splattering on the ground when you fall," Chandler told her, pointing at the hard, rocky earth at the foot of the cliff.. "Splat! Ever seen Faces of Death?"

  " When I fall?" Macey's eyes grew wide. "Not if?"

  "And that's why I'm staying on the ground." Sophie flipped her hair and searched for a signal with her phone.

  "I'll set the anchor up top. Back in a second." Logan began climbing the vertical slab, using the smallest cracks and fissures as finger holds, towing ropes behind him on his harness.

  After he'd climbed several feet, he paused to inject a temporary mount for his climbing rope into a crevice.

  "This will stop me if I fall...probably," Logan said. "You don't have to worry about setting up protection, though. We're making it easy on you today. Just watch how I place my hands and feet. I'm sure you can both do it."

  Macey's face was ash-white, watching Logan swiftly ascend the rock face nimbly as a spider. Raven thought she was scared of climbing it herself, until Logan leaped from a narrow ledge and barely caught a handhold with the tips of his fingers, with the rest of his limbs swinging free. Macey gasped and covered her mouth, and Raven realized she was actually afraid for Logan, afraid he might fall.

  Logan hung where he was, by his fingertips, and waved down at them.


  "Don't try things like that," Logan advised them, hanging as casually as a monkey on a limb, though he was thirty feet above rocky ground. He finally grabbed onto another hold with his other hand, and Macey let out a small sigh of relief.

  Logan ascended eighty feet to the top of the slab, where he wove webs of rope and carabiners around rocks at the peak. He built two separate climbing anchors, so that two people could climb side by side.

  Raven watched Logan's friends. She had trouble distinguishing between Ethan and Chandler--not that they looked like twins, exactly, but they had similar haircuts and mannerisms that made them seem nearly identical.

  Though the three boys seemed to come from similar backgrounds, Logan was like a wild weed among them, his eyes intense and focused where theirs had a dull, shallow look. The other boys moved in a leisurely fashion, as though sleepwalking through life, while Logan crackled with energy.

  While they waited, Macey crept sideways toward Raven with her arms folded tightly against her, making Raven think of a timid mouse.

  "I think I know why we're both doing this," Macey whispered. "It looks crazy to me. Can we both agree to call it off?"

  "I don't know what you mean," Raven whispered back. "It looks fun."

  "I'm scared." Macey gasped again as Logan leaped over the edge of the cliff. He rappelled from the top, skipping his way back down the cliff in a few wide, fast arcs.

  "You can back out if you want," Raven whispered. "Nobody will think less of you."

  "Oh, bullshit. Let's climb this stupid rock." Macey gave her a quick scowl before stalking away.

  "Ready?" Logan beamed, fresh from his rapid climb and insanely fast descent. He was only a little sweaty after all of that.

  "That took long enough," Raven said.

  "Just bombproofing." Logan leaned in close to her and threaded a rope through her harness, his hands passing around her legs and hips.

  "What does that mean?"

  "Making sure you don't die." He gave the rope a tug. It ran all the way up the cliff, through one of the anchors he'd built at the top, all the way back down, and through a belay device on his harness. "You'll climb, and I'll be down here with your rope. If you slip and fall, don't panic. I've got you."

  "That's so reassuring," Raven told him, but she smiled, wanting to charm him. She hid her fear and doubt, but couldn't help noticing how odd it was that she'd come back to kill him, and now she was trusting him with her life.

  No, she told herself. I'm only trusting him if I fall.

  She decided not to fall.

  The boy named Chandler would be belaying Macey, controlling the opposite end of her rope while she climbed. The blond girl looked frightened as he escorted her to the wall.

  "The top ropes will take you up two of the most fun routes on this face," Logan told them. "The handholds and footholds are there. If you need help, just scream." The other boys laughed.

  Raven looked up along the rope that would be supporting her. After her practice time at the climbing gym, she felt ready. She identified some cracks that looked large enough for her fingers and toes, and she began to climb.

  Several feet away, Macey began to work her way up the rock, too. She looked scared, but clearly seemed resolved to prove herself.

  Raven moved up the rock at a fast clip, determined to leave Macey far behind her. She scaled her way up the first twenty feet of the route.

  "Careful, Riley," Logan called up to her. "You're not racing each other."

  "Who says we're not?" Raven called back. While Logan and the other guys laughed, Raven looked down at Macey, well below her, sweating and trembling in fear, but still forcing herself to reach ahead and climb. She had to respect the girl for that.

  Raven continued on, pausing fifty feet up to take in the vista of low mountains and autumn forest spread out below her. She looked down at Logan. The sight of the sheer drop to the ground startled her, and her palms began to sweat.

  "You're doing great, Riley!" Logan shouted up to her. "Just take it easy!"

  A high-pitched scream bounced off the cliff. Raven looked at Macey, expecting to see that she'd slipped loose and now dangled helplessly on her rope. Instead, she saw that the girl had pressed herself against the rock, her eyes squeezed shut.

  "I can't do it!" Macey cried. "I can't!"

  "You're doing fine, Macey!" Chandler called. "Keep it up!"

  "I don't want to go up any more! I want to go down!"

  "You can't quit now!" Logan shouted. "You're almost there."

  With a visible effort, Macey forced herself to look upward along the cliff. She quickly closed her eyes and pressed her face against the rock again. Raven balanced herself on a ledge and snapped a picture of her.

  "I want to go down," Macey said. She looked ready to cry.

  "What's that?" Chandler called up again. "I couldn't hear you!"

  "I said I want to go down!" Macey screamed. "Help me!"

  On the ground, Logan spoke quickly to Chandler, who then shouted up: "Okay! I can lower you. You just have to let go of the wall."

  Macey cringed more tightly against the rock face. "No, no, no...."

  "Macey, you have to let go!" Logan called. "The rope will hold you, I promise. You're safe."

  Macey just shook her head and buried her face against the rock. She stood with her toes planted on a narrow ledge, trapped in place by her own fear.

  "Lower me!" Raven shouted down to the boys. "I'll help her."

  "Are you sure?" Logan called up to her.

  "Hurry up!"

  "Lowering you now!" Logan shouted. "Let go of the rocks."

  Raven reluctantly released her handholds. The rope creaked and swayed as Logan paid out more of its length, and Raven dropped slowly along the cliff, trying not to look down or think about what might happen if Logan made a mistake.

  When she reached Macey's level, Raven walked herself across the rock face, though the crevices were narrow and she could barely fit her fingertips inside. Macey was still pressed against the cliff, sobbing.

  "You'll be fine, Macey," Raven told her in a soft voice. She touched the girl on the shoulder, and Macey's eyes popped open in surprise.

  "What are you doing?" Macey whispered.

  "I'm trying to help you."

  "I shouldn't have looked down," Macey said. "I looked down and...now I can't move."

  "You're just scared, but you're safe." Raven hoped that was true. She brushed her hand down Macey's arm. "Give me your hand."

  "I can't."

  "You can. I've got you." Raven placed her hand over Macey's. The girl's hand was clammy and trembling. "Just one hand for now, okay? Let go. I've got you."

  Macey nodded, squeezed her eyes, and slowly raised her fingertips from the rock. Raven clasped her hand.

  "See? The rope has you." Raven spoke softly, as though to a frightened child. "You can let go."

  Macey took a breath and pulled her other hand free of the wall. Raven supported her while she leaned back and away from the rock face.

  "Are you ready?" Raven asked her, and Macey nodded. Raven yelled down to the boys: "Lower!"

  Macey dropped slowly along the rocks, keeping her eyes shut and clutching the rope with both hands. As she approached the ground, Ethan ran to catch her and set her on her feet. Macey clung to him in a tight hug, burying her face in his chest.

  "Can I finish my climb now?" Raven called down to Logan.

  "Go ahead. I've got you." Logan gave her a thumbs-up.

  Raven scrambled back across the cliff face to her route, then continued onward and upward until she reached a smooth face of rock near the top, where she couldn't find even the smallest crevice for her fingers.

  "That last part's tricky!" Logan yelled up at her. "You should just come back down. You're great, though, you're a natural..."

  Raven looked up the smooth face of rock to the top of the slab. Logan had made it up there to set the anchors, though he'd used a different route than the one she was ascending. She grabbed o
nto her rope and climbed it hand over hand up to the ledge.

  "Wait, don't do that!" Logan shouted from the ground, but she ignored him. The rope passed through a carabiner at the edge of the cliff, which was anchored by more ropes tied to rock formations at the peak of the slab. Raven grabbed one and hauled herself up and over the ledge.

  She stood on top of the slab, next to the squarish formation that looked like a tower, and brushed herself off. From here, she could see across rolling, autumn-hued hills to a very distant horizon, and she snapped photographs of the landscape. She was hot and sweaty, but the breeze was cool and felt delicious on her skin.

  Down below, Macey and Sophie sat on a boulder together, and Ethan and Chandler huddled close around it, eager to comfort the pretty girl. Logan ignored all of them, watching Raven instead.

  "You just had to reach the top, didn't you?" he shouted.

  She took pictures of the group on the ground.

  "Logan, I'm afraid I'm trapped up here. Come up and rescue me!" Raven called back in a voice that didn't sound frightened at all. She stepped back from the edge, out of sight of everyone below, and laid back on a boulder to rest.

  After a minute, she heard all their voices shouting up from below. Macey repeatedly screamed the word "Stop!"

  Raven walked to the edge again. Logan climbed the rock face toward her, smiling as he ignored his shouting friends below. He was scaling a steep route with no rope, no protection at all, to join her at the top.

  She felt a little frightened for him, too, but she smiled back. At this point, she certainly didn't want him to die. He would be the lever with which she could move the entire future, reshaping the history of the twenty-first century. For that to happen, though, he would need to be alive, in the right place, at the right time, decades from now. The keystone event, Audra had called it.

  Decades, she thought, watching him climb recklessly up the sheer cliff. Macey was on her feet now, shaking her head frantically, but she'd stopped yelling, possibly scared of distracting Logan from his dangerous ascent.

  I have to take her place, Raven realized. She'd focused on getting close to him, connecting with him so she could influence him. It was obvious now that she would have to burrow into his life as a deep-cover mole, waiting for the moment when she could change his course. She could prevent the overthrow of the President altogether, if she had Logan Carraway under her control.