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“You forgot about me,” Skyla said. “I’ve been in this class for as long as Kaiden and Declan. How could you forget about me?”

Her eyes actually began to fill with tears, and Tom backtracked quickly to avoid the impending waterworks.

“Of course I didn’t forget about you, Skyla,” he said hurriedly. “In fact, I trust your ability so much that I think you should bring up the rear. They say that the most experienced person should always be at the back to make sure no one falls behind.”

Skyla scrunched up her face, thinking hard about his explanation, and then smiled brightly. “You’re right. Iamthe most experienced person—and the most important. I should definitely be at the back. Don’t worry, everyone, I’ll keep you safe.”

“What a nutcase,” Jordan mumbled, loud enough for only Alex to hear.

Fortunately, her muffled laughter was covered by the sound of the rest of them rising to their feet.

Tom crosschecked his compass to the map then started leading the group on their journey. After three hours of making their way down the mountain, they rested at the base for a drink and some morning tea. Barely any time passed before they were on their feet again and trekking up the next, much steeper incline. They paused for lunch when Kaiden spotted an arrow sticking out of a tree with a note that read:

Stop here for lunch.

Thanks, Hunter. Very helpful, thought Alex.

It was the middle of the afternoon by the time they reached the top of the mountain. Unlike the lush green scenery on the way up, the peak was bare of trees. It was solid, grey, craggyrock. Glancing over at the other mountains surrounding them, Alex was comforted by the fact that the one they stood on wasn’t snow-covered like most of the rest. They evidently weren’t as high as most of the Ranges around them, and she was grateful they’d only had to climb the smaller peak.

So far, anyway.

While their journey had been steep, they hadn’t had to use Jordan’s rope, much to Alex’s relief. But that relief was short lived when she saw what lay ahead of them.

Cutting directly through their path across the mountain was a crevasse gouged deep into the rock at least fifty feet wide. It was as if the mountain had been cleaved in two, since the vertical drop fell straight down to the ground way,waybelow them, where a rapidly churning river flowed at the very bottom.

“Looks like we’ll have to backtrack,” Pipsqueak said, squinting down at the violent water far beneath them. “Let’s just hope we can find a way to cut across the river.”

“I think we have different instructions,” Declan said, pointing to an arrow that was rooted in a boulder nearby. He retrieved the paper scrawled with Hunter’s words and looked grimly at the rest of them.

“What does it say?” Jordan asked.

Declan turned the note around so everyone could read Hunter’s instructions.

Cross with caution. It’s a long fall.

“No. Way.”

Alex wasn’t sure if the words were hers or someone else’s, but it was likely what they were all thinking.

“Ghost is like,the man,” Blink said with reverence.

“Shut up, Blink,” Pipsqueak said.

“How are we going to do this?” Tom asked the group.

Pipsqueak gaped at him. “You can’t seriously be considering crossing here?”

“That’s what we’ve been told to do,” Declan pointed out. “So, there must be a way.”

“There is,” Kaiden spoke up. “But I don’t think any of you will like it.”

ing else.

Fourteen

They all looked at Kaiden questioningly ashe unstrapped his bow and the single arrow that came with it. Alex hadn’t paid close attention to it before, but now she could see that it wasn’t like a normal arrow, and the bow was unique as well. Both of them appeared to be made of some kind of heavy, metallic substance. The arrowhead was different too, with little grooves spiking in the opposite direction to prevent it from being pulled out of a target. At the bottom end of the arrow was another surprise: instead of it finishing with the normal feathery decoration, the metal curled into a loop with a hollow centre.

Understanding dawned on Alex and she looked at Kaiden, aghast. “Please tell me you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking?”