Ending ELE (ELE Series) (7 page)

We lean against a few trees and catch our breath.
I scan the area, hoping to have some kind of epiphany as to how to cross the waterfall. I look down at the pool of water beneath the falls. There are several fallen trees here and there strung out along the bank of the river. “We could move those and create a bridge to cross the river, if we could just get to the bottom.”

Marya notices the fallen trees that I
’m looking at. “Yeah, I could totally move those. I just don’t see a way down from up here though.”

“
We could try just walking along this route for a while and hope that the terrain slowly travels downhill,” Alec thinks aloud.

Carrie steps in between us to get a better look of the area.
“If this is Chikawan Falls, which it looks like it is, we would be travelling quite a ways before we find an easy way down to the river. Even then, we would have eventually had to get wet to get back to this point. I had no idea we were this far north. This waterfall and the cliffs that surround it are famous for being a rock climber’s paradise. With such exclusive access to only those who took on the thrill of the climb, people would come from all over the country to rappel down the side of these cliffs and swim in the pools of water at the bottom below.”

“
Nice...” Connor says. “But how do
we
get down?”

“
Man,” I say. “If only we could all just jump down into that pool of water.”

Connor looks like he is actually thinking that could be a
possibility… until Claire sets him straight with a stern look.

Alec pulls a long rope from his pack and holds it up for us to see.
“Rappelling anyone?”

At this
point, I’m not sure which way is up and which way is down. The color drains from my face and I have to hold onto the tree to remain upright.

I feel Tony
’s arm wrap securely around my middle. “You okay?” he asks in my ear.

I shake my head from side to side.
“No way. There’s
no
way I’m rappelling down the side of that cliff,” I say, because really, it is
not
an option.

“
Well, what do we have here?” Connor says playfully. “We finally find the chink in Willow’s armor.”

I glare at Connor.
“What, are you seriously willing to put your life in the hands of a single rope?”

He gives me a smirk but doesn
’t reply.

My dad looks around
us. “Willow, honey, if we have any chance of getting down there,” he points down to the bottom of the waterfall, “then it seems as if it’s our only option. I’m not a fan of heights either, but it just doesn’t seem like we have a lot of options here.”

“
Don’t get me wrong,” I interject. “I’m not scared of heights, you guys. What I’m scared of is dangling from a rope down the side of a cliff! Does that seriously not freak anyone else out?” I ask in bewilderment.

Tony takes me by the arms and forces me to look straight into his face.
“Look at me, Willow… really look at me.” I calm myself as much as I can and give Tony my full attention. “If I didn’t feel it was safe, I would
never
allow you to do this. Not ever.” Then his voice turns to a whisper so that only I can hear. “I plan on spending the rest of my life with you. Nothing will stop that.” He looks at me with such certainty and love that I melt, completely forgetting my argument. If Tony is as sure about this as he is, then who am I to question him?

I give it a moment more before I speak.
“Okay... I’ll do it, but only if you’re on the other end of that rope.”

Tony places his hand on my cheek.
“Where else would I be?”

With
that, I kiss him softly on the lips.

“
Ewww, Wello! That icky!” Sebastian interjects.

I laugh
beneath the kiss and break away. Then I make a kissy face and run after Sabby, making smooching noises with my mouth. He giggles and his little head bobs above the powdery snow as he runs away from me. I catch up to him and cover him with kisses. He squeals with delight and I catch sight of my dad smiling back at us in my peripheral vision.

***

Against my better judgment, I find myself dangling from a rope off the side of the cliff. “Don’t look down, don’t look down,” I mutter over and over again under my breath. The men rigged some kind of rope/pulley contraption and Tony is slowly lowering me down.

The others are already at the bottom of the cliff and they
’re cheering me on. “You’re doing great,” I hear Claire and Marya yell from below.

“
Wait-a-go, Wello!” Sabby yells at me. Lillie cheers for me too.

I feel the rope give a little at a time.
Tony promised me that he would go as slow as possible. Suddenly, there’s a gasp from below; I can tell it’s from my father. I make the mistake of looking down and all the blood rushes from my face.

“
Tony!” My father yells past me; his voice is on the edge of terror.

I
panic, unsure of the problem, but there’s nothing I can do. I’m stuck, dangling in midair at least fifty feet above the ground.

“
Willow, look up at me.” I see Tony peering down at me from the top of the cliff. “I’m going to swing you towards the cliff. There’s a ledge you need to grab onto.”

Wait, what?
I think to myself.
No, this wasn’t the plan. Everyone else got down this way—why can’t I?
Then I feel a strange sensation in my fingers and look back up. I can see parts of the rope fraying apart along the edge of the cliff. I fight the nausea that is overpowering my thoughts. A fall from this distance could be a death sentence. I don’t have time to think. I just act.

The next few seconds go by in a blur as
Tony uses all of his strength to swing the rope towards the cliff. I reach my hand out towards the rocky surface above the ledge but I miss it by three or four feet and go swinging back the opposite way again. I watch as more strands of the rope break away. He swings the rope again and the tips of my toes touch the icy snow on the ledge, sending small rocks and pebbles down to my grave. My heart is beating double time when the rope breaks a little more and I drop an inch.

Screams and cries sound out below me. True fear bubbles up within me. I look up and can see in Tony
’s eyes that there isn’t going to be another chance. With a grunt, he swings the rope one final time. I use my legs to push myself along the cliff wall in hopes that our momentum together will bring me to the ledge. As I come upon it, I reach my hand upwards, brace my feet to land, and this time I make contact. I grip my fingernails into the ice and rocks above me as the rope gives a final crack and breaks. I let it fall out of my hands and I force my body to become one with the cliff wall. Small rocks and bits of snow fall down on my face and into my eyes as my fingers continue to search for a firmer grip. I finally clue into the screams of my friends and family below and their new cries of relief. The relief is short-lived as a new problem is presented. Bile forms in my throat as I realize the predicament I’m in.
Now what?
I think to myself in panic. I certainly can’t climb my way down. I can’t stay on this ledge for long either. It’s taking every muscle in my body to stay upright on this small foothold. Why oh why, did Dr. Hasting’s not think to invent the gift of flight? That would have been extremely useful right about now.

Tony shouts down from above.
“Don’t move and hold on tight. I’m on my way.”
Thank you, Captain Obvious,
I think to myself as sweat accumulates on my brow.

At
first, I’m relieved… my hero is coming to get me once again. But when I see Tony flipping his legs over the side with no rope in sight, I begin to panic. “Tony,” I yell. “You cannot free climb down the side of this cliff!”

He pays no heed to my desperate plea and it
’s all I can do to keep from falling myself. I watch helplessly as he climbs down towards me, losing his footing every third step or so. My stomach is in knots and I feel like I’m going to hurl. I grip onto this ledge for dear life, realizing that if the rocky ledge gives way, then I would be a goner too. I hide my face in the side of the cliff and take deep breaths. I can’t watch Tony; he’s making me extremely ill at ease.

The silence that once drifted from below is replaced with encouraging words as Tony, I
’m guessing, makes his way towards me. I keep my head buried in the rock, not able to look away.

After
what seems like millennia, but is probably only five minutes or so, I hear Tony a few feet from me. He reaches his foot out and steps on this tiny ledge with me. “Willow,” he says to me.

“
Yes,” I squeak, still not able to look up.

“
I want you to climb on my back,” he says.

This gets my blood pumping even more than before.
“Climb on your back—are you nuts? That’s a death sentence for both of us!”

“
Willow,” he says, still as calm as ever. “I’m very strong, as are you. I just need for you to climb on my back, hold on tight, and don’t move. If you can do that, I can get us both down safely.”

I scoff, but really, what other options is there.
Call 9-1-1? For the first time since I began dangling from this ledge I look out and into Tony’s eyes. They are as calm as ever, steadfast even with their neon-green color.

He whispers in my ear,
“Trust me, you and me, we are not done yet. I will get you down.”

His breath on my neck sends a tingling sensation through me.
Now is not the time to get all hot and bothered, Willow
, I tell myself.

Tony chuckles, apparently having heard my thoughts.

“
Shouldn’t you be focusing on your other powers, mister?” I playfully scold him before I take a deep breath and begin climbing onto his back. I wrap my legs around his middle and squeeze like my life depends on it… which sadly, it does. Then we begin to make the journey down to solid ground.

Every
time his footing slips, I take a sharp intake of breath and squeeze a little tighter. A rock that Tony grabs ahold of comes loose above our heads. His hand slips and I feel us start to fall but miraculously we stay on course. Through my grip around his neck, I can feel Tony’s pulse pounding and adrenaline pumping. “I love you, Tony,” I whisper to him. “No matter what.”

When we finally land on solid
ground, I have a hard time letting him go. He’s like my safe haven… and even though I know the danger is over, I just can’t make myself let go. My muscles are trembling and so are Tony’s. Both of us are visibly shaking in our boots.

My dad comes running over to us and wraps his arms around
us both. He stays like that for what seems like hours, when in reality, it’s only minutes. I can’t even fathom what he felt watching us dangle from the side of that cliff. He emanates feelings of helplessness and relief as we embrace.

He finally pulls away and I
’m able to slide down Tony’s back, grateful when my feet touch the ground.

My dad looks into Tony
’s eyes and says, “Tony, my son. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I owe you—everything,” he says as if at loss for the right words.

I look over at Tony and can see him blushing as he looks down at the ground.
“I would do it again in a heartbeat, sir.” Then he turns to look at someone behind me. “But I owe a huge thank you to Marya.”

My dad and I both turn around to look at Marya. Her eyes are glowing like a heated pot of melted gold. Sweat has formed above her brows and she looks a little out of breath.
Alec has an arm around her, working to help her get her strength back.

“
I could feel her powers keeping me on the ledge,” Tony tells us. He turns to Marya again. “Your gift is very powerful.”

She blushes.
“It was nothing.”

Suddenly,
the climb down makes more sense. I had no idea how Tony managed to keep us from falling that whole way down.

My dad
wastes no time enveloping Marya in a rib-crushing hug. “It was everything. Thank you, Marya.”

She looks up at my dad. I can see in her eyes that the pride coming from a father figure means the world to her. I realize I know very little about Marya
—like how long she’s been without parents.

I walk over to her and give her a hug.
“Thank you, Marya.”

“
You’re welcome,” she tells me and we smile at each other.

My dad turns back to Tony and
pats him hard on the shoulder. It’s like my dad is saying,
Welcome to the man club.

Carrie
brings Sabby over to us. His eyes are red and swollen from crying. He holds his hands out for me to take him in my arms. “I so scared, Wello. So scared!” He sniffles.

I pull him tighter to me.
“I know, buddy. I was too. I’m okay though,” I tell him.