He pulled out the Sitta harness. “This is your superhero gear.” Liam fitted the harness around her waist and legs, adjusting the leg loops to her tiny frame, cinched it tight, and clipped the tie-in points to a locking carabiner. “Keeps you safe while we fly up.”
He unclipped his personal anchor, then connected Kristen directly to his belay loop with a second locking carabiner, locking both gates with a twist.
“It’s you and me together now,” he said, and winked at her.
She gave him a watery grin.
And right then—nothis imagination, thanks—the ledge groaned. New cracks zigzagged across the surface.
“Arms around my neck, tight as you can squeeze.” He pulled her arms over his shoulders. “I’ve got you.”
Her grip surprised him—iron strong for such small hands. Liam reversed his rappel, walking up the wall, hauling hand over hand on the rope’s free end, the GRIGRI managing the tension.
Don’t look down.
He kept his voice easy, despite the strain on his shoulders. “So you saw a rock squirrel? Those little guys are everywhere. Probably a dozen watching us right now thinking we are nuts.”
“Hope they don’t think we’re the eating kind of nuts.” She attempted a giggle, but it failed on a whimper.
A sharp crack echoed below them just before a distant crash.
The ledge?—
Kristen screamed, her arms clamped around his neck, tightening.
“Kristen,” he said, gauging the distance to the top, “I’m going to need to breathe if we want to reach the top. Could you?—”
She buried her head in his back, between his shoulder blades.
Okay, so maybe not.
“What is your favorite subject in school?”
“Art.” Thread-thin voice.
“Outstanding. I drew my dog once—Mom thought it was a bowl of spaghetti with legs.”
Another weak laugh. Liam clung to that sound. The rim was just above, a few feet.
“We’re nearly there.”
“Liam!” Noah’s voice boomed from over the edge a second before he appeared, his broad frame silhouetted against the sun. “What do you need? Meg is here too.”
“Almost home.” Liam kept climbing. “Help me over the lip. Guard that right leg.”
Liam’s boots gripped the rock, the rope taut against the anchor. “You will like Meg.” He lowered his voice. “She’s a doctor and will know exactly how to fix you up. She’s really nice. And between you and me, I think Noah’s got a crush on her, but they’re both too chicken to admit it.”
Kristen giggled again. Some of her terror melted away.
Noah had anchored himself and reached down, grabbing Kristen’s harness and pulling her over the edge. Liam followed,collapsing onto solid ground. His chest heaved as he unclipped her from his harness, leaving her secured to the rope as a precaution.
“You did awesome, Kristen.” He brushed dirt from her hair. Her brothers rushed toward them, and Meg knelt over her leg.
Liam sat back, his hands shaking, the adrenaline crashing out of him. He closed his eyes. Pine sap and limestone dust filled his nostrils. Canyon wind cooled the sweat on his neck while gravel bit into his spine through his jacket. His heartbeat thundered in his ears, drowning out Meg’s gentle questions and the boys’ chatter—all proof that everyone was breathing, talking, alive.
He glanced sideways, catching a glimpse of a bus in the distance—it looked almost like a converted city bus. Mint green with faded brown trim, the vintage beast sported safari-style windows and the unmistakable boxy profile of a 1970s city transport gone rogue. There was some dispersed camping just outside the park boundaries, but everything below the rim in this area as well as a hundred feet from the edge was national park, and that bus was too close. Something about it nagged at him, but he couldn’t focus on it. Not yet.
Noah’s hand landed heavy on his shoulder. “Quite a save. You solid?”