Page 60 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

60

Tricky

1 213

It’s going to be tricky. There would be no problem if I were alone, but with her weight pulling me backward, I’m going to have to compensate. It’s going to be a steep learning curve, and a mistake means certain death. We’re high in the canopy.

We can’t wait much longer. We have less than two hours to arrive inside the hotel. I don’t see any alternatives. If we climb down, we’re going to be instant prey, and it’s a long run to safety.

“Hold tight,” I say.

As soon as I feel her tighten her grip, I leap. My trajectory is perfect, but I over-corrected in the length of my jump. We almost overshoot our target. I have to grab an upper limb and hang on in order not to go flying past our mark.

Her terror-smell is powerful. It makes sense her fear would be stronger than mine. At least I feel I’m in control of this endeavor. Her? She’s powerless other than hanging on as tightly as possible.

I drop to the branch beneath us and wait for her to yell at me. As far back as I can remember, imperfections were punished. Severely. Often I was taught something once, then expected to replicate it without a misstep. Other times, I wasn’t even shown how to do something. I was just told to do it.

I assume, since I calculated the distance wrong, Sadie will be furious.

“Great job, Twelve. One down, fifty to go.” She put a little laugh into her voice, but the tension in her body tells me she’s still terrified.

I’ve spent my whole life either on the genefarm being treated like less than an animal by my handlers and the guards, or in combat risking my life for my owners. I’ve never received kindness from a living soul. Until Sadie.

“Do you need to stop at every tree?” I ask. “To take a breath? Calm your nerves?”

“I’m along for the ride. You’re doing the heavy lifting.” She nuzzles the side of my face affectionately. “Do whatever works for you to get us to the hotel before they close the doors in our face and leave us outside as dino food.”

“It will be easier for me to keep my momentum if I just keep going without stopping. Hold tight.”

She tightens her grip on her forearms where they’re draped around my neck and hugs my flanks even tighter with her thighs. I couldn’t quite picture what she meant when she said she danced in the rafters on silken sheets, but whatever she did gave her thighs of steel.

I take a deep breath, force myself to put Sadie out of my mind, and leap.

At first, I’m thinking too hard, trying to calculate trajectories and places to land. It’s because I’m still too worried about Sadie. When I shift that to the back of my head and allow my body to move on its own, it’s like I’m flying.

I focus on the wind on my face and hair, and the warm shards of sun dappling through the trees. Smelling the humid vegetation for the first time, I enjoy the fertile scent. I’m functioning purely on instinct and loving every moment.

“1213! Stop!”

By the tone and volume of her voice, I think she’s been saying it for a while.

“We’re here!”

Actually, we’re not here. I’ve overshot the mark. It’s okay. I didn’t go too far past it.

It’s not the distance that’s the problem, or that the first sun is beginning to set and our time is getting short. The problem is that roaming between the tree line and our destination there are three of the big animals with the tiny arms and twenty fast little lizards that are bigger than Sadie.