Page 45 of The Unlikely Pair

As I near the waterfall’s edge, the roar of the water is intense, the spray coming up, splattering my face.

It’s hard to think straight when my world seems to have boiled down to cold and noise.

The rock is more broken here, and I can scramble halfway out of the water and edge along to get a view of the waterfall. It’s a fall of about twenty feet, where the water plunges into a deep pool, boiling up into a mess of water at the bottom.

Bollocks. A strong swimmer might have a shot at making it, but I doubt Toby will manage it. Which means climbing out is our only option. And we need to do it soon and quickly before Kade and his friends make it round the corner and are on the bank opposite us to shoot at us.

Just as I’m about to immerse myself back in the water and struggle against the current back to Toby to explain my plan, something catches the corner of my eye.

It’s a glint of green where there shouldn’t be any.

I blink to clear the water from my vision, craning my neck to see what it is. Only a few feet below me, just through the screen of the water falling, I can make out the outlines of a fern.

A fern behind the waterfall?

My heart is in my throat as I make sense of what I’m seeing.

Behind the waterfall, there’s a ledge where a few ferns are growing, a splash of vibrant green against the gray rock.

If it’s big enough to grow a fern, it might be big enough for us.

Hope flares in my chest, and the thought propels me to climb back into the river.

Toby’s still clinging to the ledge. He’s rearranged the survival kit so it’s looped around his chest, but he’s barely hanging on. The water is buffeting his body, and I can see the strain in his shoulders as he grips the rock shelf.

Shit. I hope he has the strength for what comes next.

I motion him towards me, and he starts moving down the rock face, gripping the ledge with white-knuckled hands.

When he reaches me, I have to raise my voice over the noise of the falling water so he can hear me.

“There’s a small ledge behind the waterfall. If we can get ourselves there, we’ll be safe.”

Safe.

It’s a word I’ve never really thought too much about before, but now it’s my ultimate goal.

I want to be safe. I want us both to be safe.

Toby nods his agreement to my plan, and then, together, we make our way to the waterfall. As we get closer, the noise grows until it’s all I can hear, filling my ears and brain.

I come to the broken rock face and scramble out of the water. Toby follows me.

“We’ll have to jump,” I shout, my voice nearly lost in the thunder of the water. “Aim for the ledge.”

Toby’s expression is one of exhaustion and fear, but he still gives a sharp nod, his eyes fixed on the ledge.

I reach out, gripping Toby’s hand tightly in mine. His skin is cold, his fingers trembling, but he squeezes back.

And then we’re jumping, our bodies launching into the void. The world blurs around us. We hit the rock hard, the impact sending shockwaves up my legs, but we’re through the falls and into the small cavity behind.

I scrape against the rock and halt our momentum, dragging Toby beside me. We collapse onto the narrow rock shelf, the ground cool and damp beneath my hands. Clumps of ferns dot the uneven surface, their soft, feathery leaves brushing against my skin as I shift to a sitting position.

We’re out of the water, but it’s deathly cold here, away from the sun.

I immediately start to pull off my wet jacket and shirt.

“I don’t think now is the time for a strip tease,” Toby says in my ear. His voice is so shaky it takes me a moment to understand him. When I swivel to look at him, I can see his lips are so blue they are almost black, which scares me.