by Brinda Berry
“So you really go to class here?” Tiny looked around the room. “I don’t see any books.”
Arizona leaned over and opened a metal cabinet mounted above the desk. It held stacks of books.
Tiny nodded. “Don’t know how much of you is for real.”
Arizona lifted one eyebrow. “I’m for real—whatever that means. Why the twenty questions?”
“Your buddy’s already done a number on Mia and now you and Em—”
“They’re going fast up the mountain. You need to quit worrying about Em and focus on this.” Arizona pointed at the screen.
Tiny and Pete turned their attention to the screen and the fast-moving green dot.
“Dang.” Tiny muttered the word to himself. He looked at Arizona. “They’re flying. That road snakes up the mountain.”
Pete stood and moved behind Tiny, watching the screen. “How close is Regulus?”
“Several miles. They’ve got a head start on him. He’ll catch up. He’s on his motorcycle,” Arizona said.
Pete looked out the dorm window at the snow falling in heavy, wet clumps. Ice pinged against the window.
“Well, call Regulus. See what’s up.” Tiny pulled his knit cap off and rubbed his hand over his flattened red hair.
“He’s hooked to that chip. He’ll catch up to her in a minute,” Arizona said.
Arizona’s cell went off in a tiny pulsing beep. “Yes.”
Pete looked away from the screen. He watched Arizona move to the window with the phone. Pete tried to listen to the one-sided conversation but Tiny’s clicking on the keyboard distracted him.
“We see her, but we don’t know why she’s going so fast. She’s with Austin,” Arizona said.
The sound of clicking keys stopped. Pete glanced at the screen.
“Something’s wrong,” Tiny muttered.
“What’d you say?” Arizona asked.
“They’re not on the road now.” Tiny’s voice went gruff. “They went off the highway.”
10
Flying
The car slammed into us like a freight train, jerking me to the floor. I scrambled into the seat, grabbed the seat belt and attached it.
“I know he’s crazy—” I fell forward and the shoulder harness caught me as the Jeep spun on the slick road. Bracing myself against the dash, I thought to tell Austin that he shouldn’t slam on his brakes. I heard Dad’s voice in my head, cautioning me the last time I’d driven in icy weather.
The vehicle spun and I saw a blur of trees and icicles. Austin wore a panicked expression and he kept turning the steering wheel, not able to stop us.
They say a person sees her life flash before her eyes during an accident.
I’d agree.
In those few seconds while I fought the need to scream, I wished that I’d told Austin that he and Em were my best friends and I loved them.
I prayed that my dad wouldn’t be alone forever. He needed me.
I wanted Dr. Bleeker to pay for being the abominable man he was.
And I saw Regulus’s face. A face I’d never see again. Regulus, who had no idea that my heart belonged to him.
We were off the road, over the side, down the embankment. My head yanked up and down from the force, an object slammed my chest, my right elbow popped against the passenger window.
A booming clap in my left ear took my breath away and I opened my eyes, not realizing that I’d closed them. I tried to move my arm, now wedged between Austin and his air bag.
Austin lifted his head from the driver’s side window. “That asshole,” he croaked. Strands of his dark hair stuck to a trickle of blood from his temple. A powdery substance stuck to his face.
I sucked in a lungful of air; it made me choke and cough.
“You’re hurt.” The pressure of my airbag decreased and it deflated away from my body. I tried to get up, but gravity and my seat belt trapped my body in the seat which slanted at an odd angle. A thousand cracks in the windshield obstructed my view.
“Hey.” Austin rolled the word out in two syllables. “Don’t move.”
I rested my head against the seat.
Austin’s calm voice continued. “Don’t freak out when I say this.” He waited a few seconds. “I think we’re in a tree.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. “You’re not making sense. Austin…” I opened my eyes and slowly turned my head to look at him. His head now rested at a tilt like he couldn’t hold it up.
“We. Went over. The. Guardrail.” A loud pop and the sound of creaking metal punctuated each of his last three words.
I sucked in a breath. A huge tree branch tunneled through the back and snaked to the left of Austin’s head. It filled the rear seat of the vehicle.
The reality of our situation sent an electrifying jolt through me. The guardrail protected cars from a ravine at least six stories deep. I’d always sucked at calculating distance. I hoped I was overestimating.
“We have to get out.”
“Right,” Austin said with a hint of skepticism. “Listen, Mia. I think I’ll stay here and rest. You’re going to have to pull yourself out the passenger window. You can do this. When we were kids, you could climb a tree better than any guy I know.”
I shifted in alarm to look at him. “We’re both climbing out. You—”
The sound of the Jeep popping in the tree interrupted my train of thought.
“You’re OK, aren’t you?” I steadied the slight tremble in my words.
“I’m alive. I can’t move. Pinned in.” Austin gave the report matter-of-factly. He spoke evenly, like he might be talking about the new CD he’d bought.
Austin didn’t move for several seconds. His breaths sounded shallow and thin.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard my name. The urgent repetition of it stopped me from staring at Austin’s unmoving form. “Here,” I yelled. “We’re here.”
Another popping noise sounded from the side of the Jeep and the entire vehicle shuddered as if it were a beast waking from slumber. We tilted sideways.
“Mia. You need to go.” Austin coughed. “Window.” He brought one finger up to point at the passenger door.
“I’m not going without you.”
“Don’t be such a girl.”
“I’m punching you for that. When we’re both out—” A grinding noise stopped me from finishing. I unfastened my seat belt, reclined the seat away from the airbag, climbed upward and wedged one foot in the console with the other on the seat. I pushed upward to open the door, gravity fighting me all the way.
I attempted to stick my head out the open door and my sneakers slipped on the leather seat. The door slammed shut. My chin hit the edge of the seat. I tasted blood and heard Austin ordering me to get up.
I felt the sway of the seat and took a deep breath before pushing the door open again. This time, I noticed the open glove compartment and stuck my left foot into it. Bracing myself, I examined our location. When I looked down, I could see that I had been wrong when I’d estimated six stories. It had to be more. I gulped in air to steady my stomach.
A tree growing up the side of the mountain had stopped our descent.
“Mia. Don’t move.” The loud and demanding order didn’t come from Austin. I looked up toward the voice.
Regulus stood at the top with something in his hands. I tried to figure out what he held when another pop of a tree branch slammed me back into the seat.
Something hit the windshield, forcing the glass inward. Shards of glass didn’t fall onto my body as I’d expected. Instead, cracks formed small, uneven geometrical shapes in the window. Scooting off Austin, I pressed my hands into the glove compartment and pulled myself up again. Austin moaned.
At the new angle with my back against the dash, I saw the reason for Austin’s inability to move. I broke into a sweat, shaking and unable to breathe. A branch had thrust through the back of the Jeep and impaled him, the tip of the broken wood peeked through his bloodied shoulder.
“Mia.” The faint sound of Regulus’s voice broke my trance.
“Yes,” I called. A voice in my head yelled to move, but my body froze. I willed myself to stretch a couple of centimeters to the hand hold above the passenger door. My fingers shot out unsteadily to grab it. I could hear noises moving closer to the vehicle.
I used one foot to leverage myself against the console and pushed. With one hand pulling the door handle and my shoulder against the door, I pushed hard. The door rested on me as I used both hands to shove it upward like a submarine hatch. I peered up and out.
Regulus crouched at the edge of the road above. He made a stop motion with his hand. “No sudden movements. Are you hurt?”
“No,” I yelled in a harsher voice than I’d intended.
He didn’t answer for minute. Then he asked, “Do you see the cable I’ve sent down?”
I shook my head to clear the light-headed feeling that enveloped my foggy brain. The frigid air whipped my hair away from my face and pricked my ears.
“Look to your right.” He signaled the direction and waited for me to obey before he continued. “Take the harness on the end. Put it around your waist and clip it. Check the clip.”
“I’m not leaving him,” I yelled. I pushed hair out of my eyes and glanced back at Austin. A drizzle of liquid ran onto my upper lip and I realized my nose was bleeding.
“No choice. Do what I tell you.” He’d narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “You’ll die if you don’t put that around you.” He paced along the top. “Do it,” he yelled in an urgent voice.
I gritted my teeth. I heard the popping sound of wood breaking and the vehicle shuddered. Through Austin’s window, I watched a branch fall.
I retreated with cat burglar grace inside my door. Gravity made the door feel like a lead weight. Austin’s upper lip shone with a fine layer of perspiration. I blinked away traitorous tears. Crying was out of the question.
Inside the Jeep, Regulus’s voice sounded very far away. I climbed into the backseat like a rock climber. No sudden fall to the back. Smooth and even.
Looking at the branch stuck through Austin’s seat, I felt my skin tingle with fear. I closed my eyes and listened to Regulus’s directions that I should fasten the harness on my body.
Regulus muttered something unintelligible from above. I stuck my head back through a hole in the Jeep’s soft shell. “What?”
“Fasten yourself and Austin. It should hold two.”
“He’s pinned to the seat,” I said. “Tree branch.” There was a panic in my voice that I struggled to control.
“Cut it.” He waited for me to act. “Get your cell phone. The one I gave you. Use it to cut the wood.”
It took me a minute to comprehend. I’d lived with the stunner for less than a day. I’d forgotten I could do that.
I scanned the topsy-turvy interior of the vehicle and my heart fell. Finding anything in the mess would be a miracle.
“Coat pocket,” Austin breathed through almost blue-tinted lips.
I reached inside my pocket and grasped the cool object.
Austin lifted one corner of his upper lip. “Better move fast. I’m losing my ability…”
“Huh?” I held the phone in my right hand the way Regulus had shown me last fall.
“My ability to be charming.” He finished and made steady eye contact with me. “Listen…”
“Shut up,” I said and closed my eyes where I couldn’t look at him. “I’m trying to remember how this works.”
“That is exactly why you and I are only friends. Your bossiness is a total turn-off.”
I opened my eyes to his smile. I shook my head to silence him.
Austin looked up toward the cliff we’d tumbled over to see Regulus. “He’s loving this whole rescue thing. And he thinks you’re a warrior or something.”
“This is no time to talk.” I maneuvered myself to the space where his shoulder was pinned.
“You and Em are my best friends. I need to tell you—” My words came out in a jumbled rush.
“And you talk too much, girl. I thought Em was bad, but—” Austin went another shade of pale when I pointed the cell phone with one hand and held his shoulder steady with my other hand.
I inhaled and focused my thoughts on operating the futuristic weapon. “Cut,” I commanded.
Nothing.
The vehicle shuddered again and icy sleet began an onslaught on the metal. Pinging sounds coincided with Austin’s two tiny whimpers.
“Ah, man. I hate rain,” he said. “Unless I can go muddin’.”
Once more I imagined seeing the invisible beam of whatever-made-this-thing work make a clean slice. This time, I didn’t say a word. I saw it happen.
In amazing real-time accuracy with my imagery, the weapon sliced the branch.
Regulus’s yelling echoed in my head. “Get the harness on you, Mia.”
I tried lifting Austin to me. It took all my strength to pull him away from the seat. There was no way to get him out. I wasn’t strong enough to even get the harness around him.
I looked up the cliff at Regulus. The sleet pelted into my eyes, and I shielded them with my hand. “I can’t get him. He’s too heavy.”
Even though Regulus was too far away for me to actually see his expression, I could sense the grimace.
“You first. I’ll get him.” Regulus screamed the words. I’d never heard him this frantic.
I sucked in my breath at another popping sound. A large branch fell past the front windshield. When I stuck my head out the passenger window, he yelled again.
“I promise.” Regulus made a weird gesture that I’d never seen before. It meant something. Maybe an oath.
“You go or we’re both going to die. Don’t be stupid. I have a date Friday night.” Austin grimaced again. “Hurry. Get your superhero down here to get me.”
I shook my head and looked from Austin to the drop I could see past his window. “He’s coming for you. I swear.”
Austin winked. “Babe, I know.” He winced, causing wrinkles around his eyes. “Go now. He’s strong enough and you’re not.”
I stared at him for a second, pressing my trembling lips together.
“OK,” I yelled to Regulus. I grabbed the harness and placed one leg through an opening. I wound the harness around my waist and secured the belt clip. Looking up, I couldn’t see Regulus and was alarmed for a moment. He reappeared and stared at me.
“Ready?” He looked behind him again and turned back to me. “You’ll be pulled up soon. Walk it.”
I didn’t know what he meant until the harness pulled me and I fell against the side of the rock. The Jeep had tumbled down a steep hill, but the fall was at an angle. I grabbed the harness and moved my feet in front of me. The harness supported my weight and pulled me at the angle upward.
It was easier than I’d thought. At the top, Regulus grabbed my coat and hauled me to him.
He placed his face against the top of my wet hair and then pushed me away.
We heard a loud noise and saw that another segment of the massive tree holding the Jeep had cracked. The vehicle seemed to tip.
“I’m going down. You have to operate the winch.” He led the way to his motorcycle farther up the highway. He’d secured it to a remaining segment of the metal highway guardrail. He pointed at a small control. “This button on the right starts and stops it. This knob on the opposite side has three positions: forward feeds the cable, center stops it, and back retracts it. It’s running.”
I didn’t know how a winch had appeared on his motorcycle and I didn’t question it.
“How will you get him?” My voice trembled.
“I think the winch will pull us both.” Regulus already had the harness on and stood at the edge of the highway. Torn metal swayed where the Jeep had breached it.
“Don’t you dare die.” I knew my voice sounded angry. I’d been angry at him so much lately. But I couldn’t lose him. Or Austin.
He raised one eyebrow, backed awa
y and disappeared down the side of the mountain before I could continue. My fingers were numb and I walked stiffly to the edge. Regulus descended quickly, he was halfway down the embankment in seconds.
I could see a problem. The tree and the side of the mountain were not as close as I’d thought. Regulus might be a guy from another dimension, but he wasn’t Superman. He couldn’t fly over to the tree.
I blew hot air onto my hands to warm them. Sleet had stopped raining down on us for the moment. I rubbed my fingers to fight the numbness and noticed dried blood smeared across my knuckles. Something caught my attention in the periphery of vision. A vulture circling the treetops made a shudder dance along my shoulders.
Regulus perched with both feet on a ledge and leveled with the vehicle. His body wasn’t close enough for a jump. He reached inside his coat pocket and swung his arm out from his body.
I couldn’t see what he’d done, but I heard the clink of something hitting the metal of the Jeep. Although fear fingered along my spine, I leaned over the edge to have a better view. Regulus had secured a line to the vehicle and was pulling his body across the gap.
Maybe not Superman, but he gave Spiderman some competition.
Regulus reached the Jeep and disappeared inside. I craned my neck to be able to see the progress.
I jumped at the sound of another ear-splitting pop. Standing outside the vehicle gave me an entirely different perspective. One I didn’t want.
I couldn’t prevent the squeal that escaped me.
A dark head of hair appeared for only seconds then disappeared. In the blinding snow, I imagined it was Austin’s. I wiped snow from my lashes. That couldn’t be right.
The motor pulling the rope and harness hummed softly. When I looked down at the Jeep wedged into the tree at the precarious angle, I blinked hard.
Austin’s body swung out across the divide on the pulley system that Regulus had devised. With the harness secured, Austin wore a makeshift sling wound from his shoulder to the opposite side of his waist. The arrow-like tree branch that had spiked through his shoulder no longer appeared at his front. A dark red flower of blood decorated the sling.