by J L Raven
I swore at the ashes, then at the cabin, then at Agonarch, then at myself for coming here in the first place. A part of me wanted to curl up under the sleeping bag and refuse to move for the rest of the day, but my bladder reminded me the toilet facilities were in the lodge. And I really had to pee.
I pulled on my clothes from yesterday, grabbed my shower kit, makeup bag, towel, and fresh clothes as quickly as possible. It might have made more sense to take the time to relight the fire, but the glow of satisfaction I’d felt yesterday had faded. Now I was just cold and annoyed.
The sun had barely cleared the trees as I hurried back up the gravel path to the lodge. Yasmine let herself out of her cabin, similarly burdened with shower supplies as I passed by.
“I see I’m not the only one up,” she said, falling into a brisk walk beside me.
I eyed her warily. She hadn’t exactly been welcoming to me yesterday. I couldn’t entirely blame her—if she’d thought Adam had something planned more along the lines of a luxury vacation, reality must have been a bitter disappointment. And as the outsider, I was the obvious one to target.
It still hadn’t been nice of her, but maybe this chitchat was meant as an olive branch. “The fire in my cabin went out sometime last night.” I rubbed at my nose. “It was like a meat locker when I woke up in there.”
“Mine went out, too. And did you hear all those noises in the woods?”
“Like what?”
“Creaks and groans, and something walking around on the leaves.” She shuddered. “It was probably a bear. I had to take a sleeping pill just to calm down enough to close my eyes. We could have gone skiing in Aspen, but oh no. We had to have an authentic experience.”
“I guess Adam thought we’d connect better as a team in isolation.”
“Well, he certainly got that.” Bitterness edged her voice. She seemed able to keep her emotions in check or hidden, except where Adam was concerned. “He might have asked the rest of us where we wanted to go, but no. He had to prove something.”
Wow. She really wasn’t holding back. Maybe she’d decided my outsider status made me easier to unburden herself to. “I’m a little surprised by his decision,” I said. “Melissa told me you’ve known each other since college. It seems to me he would have realized no one else wanted this sort of retreat.” I gestured vaguely at the wall of trees, as if to indicate the lack of amenities.
“That would require Adam to actually care what any of us think.” Fire flashed in her dark eyes. “For all his talk about wanting things to go back to the way they used to be, what he really means is for the rest of us to change, and for him to keep doing what he wants.”
Her candor shocked me. She had no way of knowing I wouldn’t repeat the entire conversation to Adam. Either she didn’t think he’d believe my word over hers—which was probably true—or something had happened to make her no longer care.
If so, that meant she’d come on this retreat with some hope of…what? Actually reconnecting? And whether he’d intended it to or not, Adam’s choice of retreat, or his choice of facts to lay out at the icebreaker, had dashed that hope.
“Maybe this weekend will change that,” I suggested. “I know Tiffany is a bit…cheesy…”
Yasmine snorted.
“But if there is something to all this team-building stuff, it might result in a breakthrough. Adam might start to see things differently.”
“Hmm.” We reached the lodge door, and Yasmine paused to look down on me. “You might have a good point there, Lauren. I should look at this weekend as an opportunity.”
“Exactly.”
“And what sort of opportunity are you looking for here?”
I froze, hand outstretched toward the door knob. Then cursed myself for being so obvious. “I have goals,” I said at last, and opened the door. “Just like everyone else in the corporate world.”
Yasmine strolled through the door I held, and I followed. “What sort of goals? Advancement? Do you want Tom’s job?”
“I’m good with numbers.” Maybe honesty would pay off here. “And I’m really good with computers. That proprietary software we use is a joke.”
Yasmine frowned slightly, delicate brows sweeping in like wings. “What do you mean?”
“Full of security holes.” I shook my head. “Agonarch is lucky it hasn’t had a major breach. Well, as far as anyone knows.”
“I see.” She was still frowning. “I admit, I don’t know much about software.”
“Most people don’t. You have to rely on your IT department and hope they’re being straight with you.”
“Yes, quite.” She shook her hair back again. “That’s most concerning, Lauren. You should mention it to Adam this weekend.”
“I will.”
We reached the showers, and she paused. “And thank you for talking to me. I know I was a bit hard on you yesterday. But you’ve given me some things to think about.”
“I’m just glad I could help.” I smiled. “And don’t worry—everything you said is just between us.”
Tiffany clapped her hands to get our attention. “All right, is everyone ready for a day of fun challenges?”
I clutched my coffee and looked around the room. Melissa squinted at the relatively dim light falling through the windows—nursing a hangover, no doubt. Rick’s gripped his coffee cup like he could absorb the caffeine through the mug. Thanks to her sleeping pill, Yasmine appeared perfectly put together as always. She stood near Adam, who had spent most of breakfast looking queasy. Given the amount he’d drank last night, I wasn’t surprised.
The scent of bacon and eggs still hung in the air. As with last night, no one other than me had offered to lend Tiffany a hand prepping the food. This time, I’d joined her in the kitchen without asking, and we’d chatted while enough food for a small army reheated. Most of it still remained in the aluminum tins, slowly congealing.
Undaunted by our lack of enthusiasm, Tiffany said, “This morning’s activity is one of my favorites: a tree climbing competition.”
I suppressed a groan. While other kids climbed trees like little squirrels, I’d never been able to haul myself up past the first branch. I doubted my skills had miraculously improved with age.
Yasmine’s bronze skin paled. “Tree climbing?”
“With proper safety equipment, of course,” Tiffany said. “It’s more like a climbing wall than anything else. Hand- and footholds are already nailed into the trees, and some of the branches have been trimmed off, to make the experience more fun for all levels of fitness.”
Yasmine didn’t look any happier. Neither did Melissa. Rick, however, perked up. “Climbing walls are great. I used to go to the one downtown, back when I had time.”
Not to be out-competed, Adam immediately said, “Walls are fine, but if you want to get in some real climbing, you’ve got to head out west. I went to Yosemite last year and it was amazing.”
“I’m not sure about this,” Yasmine said, her voice quieter than usual.
“We’ll pair you with a more experienced climber, like Rick or Adam,” Tiffany said. “And remember, if it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you!”
Tiffany loaded us up with gear from the cabinet: ropes, safety harnesses, and helmets. We trekked outside after her, onto a path leading away from both lodge and cabins. Mist rose from the forest all around us, merging with gray clouds that hung so low they seemed to skim the treetops. The temperature couldn’t be much above freezing, and the damp air made it feel colder.
Melissa dropped back to walk with me. “I’ll be lucky if I can make it five feet off the ground.”
Neither of us were exactly fit, which was probably why she’d picked me to talk to. “Same. But both my half sisters were athletic, so I’m used to coming in last.”
“Want to team up, then?”
“Works for me.”
Tiffany stopped in a large clearing. The shorter trees had been thinned out all around, and I glimpsed ropes strung between some of the r
emaining tall ones, leading off into the mist and the deeper forest. Platforms encircled the trees connected to the ropes—some kind of treetop challenge course. “I hope we don’t have to do that,” I said to Melissa, pointing.
She let out a heavy sigh. “Lord, I’m never leaving the city again.”
At the edge of the clearing was the tree I assumed was our destination. On the side facing the clearing, most of the limbs had been removed up to a height of perhaps thirty feet. In their place, molded plastic hand- and footholds were nailed into the trunk. A rope already dangled from a pulley high overhead, one end tied onto a carabiner and the other secured to a bucket filled with cement.
“All right, this is how the challenge works.” Tiffany gestured to the tree. “We’ll break into teams of two each. Yasmine, since you’re inexperienced, maybe you should pair up with Adam.”
Rick looked disappointed not to be the one teamed with Adam, but Yasmine nodded. “That sounds good.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll show you the ropes.” Adam laughed at his own joke. Tiffany joined in.
“Lauren and I will team up,” Melissa said. “If that’s okay.”
“Sounds good.” Tiffany gave us a thumbs up. “Rick, that leaves you and me. Now, the rules of the challenge are simple. Do you see that horn?”
She pointed to the tree. An old-fashioned bicycle horn with a squeeze bulb was mounted at the very top of the climb. “Each team will take turns climbing. One person will climb while the other holds the belaying—or safety—rope. When the climber gets to the top, they honk the horn, before rappelling down. Then they switch off.” She held up a stopwatch. “I’ll be timing everyone, as well as helping out on the belaying. The fastest team to complete the challenge will win. And, so as not to give Rick an unfair advantage, instead of counting my time we’ll simply double his. Does that sound good to everyone?”
Yasmine’s eyes went wide, her skin almost gray with dread as she stared up at the horn. Clearly it didn’t sound good to her. But when the rest of us nodded, Tiffany grinned. “All right. I’ll climb first to demonstrate how to use the gear.”
She gave us a tutorial on attaching the safety harness, and on how to hold the belaying rope, with the assurance that even if we failed to hold the rope, the cement bucket attached to the end would prevent the climber from plunging to their death. Then she climbed like a squirrel to the top, honked the horn, and was back on the ground in mere seconds.
Show off.
Rick took her place, and she held the belaying rope. As he started up the tree, Tiffany began cheering loudly. “Go Rick! You can do it! Come on, everyone, let Rick know what a great job he’s doing.”
“Woohoo, Rick!” I yelled.
Rick didn’t exactly shoot to the top, but he moved a lot faster than I expected to. The “honk” of the bicycle horn echoed through the trees, and he rappelled down with ease.
Tiffany clapped enthusiastically, and the rest of us joined in. “Way to go, Rick! Melissa, Lauren, do you want to go next?”
Melissa tugged at the strap on her helmet. “I’ll go first.” Though she didn’t say and get it over with out loud, she made it clear enough in her resigned expression.
To my surprise, I found myself genuinely invested in Melissa’s climb. Maybe the race aspect of the exercise had awakened my competitive streak. I shouted encouragement at the top of my lungs as she picked her way up the tree at a crawl, then whooped and cheered when the horn echoed again through the trees.
She rappelled down, letting out a squeak of fear or excitement as she did. When she hit the ground, she turned to me with a triumphant grin. “I can’t believe I actually made it!”
“Way to go,” I said, giving her a one-armed hug. “Now I guess it’s my turn.”
Six
I gritted my teeth and stared up, waiting for Tiffany to signal me to start my climb. The tree seemed a whole lot taller than it had just a few minutes ago, the handholds more widely spaced. My heart thumped in my chest already, and I wished I hadn’t let my gym membership lapse. Maybe gone in and pumped a few weights.
Tiffany stared at her stopwatch. “And…go!”
I put my foot on the first hold, reaching as high as I could even as I boosted myself up. The front of my puffy jacket brushed against the bark, and the scent of the tree invaded my nose. Evergreen, like a Christmas tree from my childhood, before all the smell was bred out of them.
Refusing to look either down or up, I fixed my concentration on the holds in front of me. Sap oozed from beneath them, the blood of the tree leaking from around the bolts. A stupid part of my brain wondered if the tree resented us.
It didn’t take long for my arms to get tired. I tried to use the strength in my legs as much as possible, but that only helped a little. The wind kicked up, and the tree swayed sickeningly beneath me.
I gasped cold air through my mouth and chanced a glance up. How much taller was this damn tree?
Unfortunately, I’m crap at estimating distances. But I guessed I was two-thirds of the way up. I had to be by now, right?
The cheers of the others came from below me, Melissa’s chief among them. “Go, Lauren, go!”
“You can do it!” shouted Adam.
I took a deep breath and reminded myself why I was doing this in the first place. This was my chance—possibly the only one I’d ever get—alone with these people. I couldn’t take out Charlie and Kim’s photo, but I envisioned their faces in my mind.
I could do this. I would do this.
Narrowing my focus to the section of tree just in front of me, I hauled myself up, one agonizing hold at a time. After what seemed forever, the edge of the horn appeared in my vision.
Shaking with relief, I honked it. Then everything happened very fast.
One instant, I was clinging to the tree. The next, I was falling.
A scream tore free of my throat. I swung away from the tree, then back toward it, dimly aware the safety equipment had done its job. My body impacted the tree, and I flung out a hand instinctively. Bark scraped across the side of my wrist, where my coat sleeve had ridden up.
“Lauren,” Tiffany called. “You’re all right. Listen to my voice. You aren’t falling. We’re going to start lowering you to the ground.”
I nodded mutely, gripping the line with both hands as if it was life or death. Which I supposed it had been just seconds ago.
As soon as I was on the ground, Melissa put a hand to her chest. “Oh dear Lord! That scared the life out of me. What happened?”
“The mist must have made the hold slippery.” I flexed my fingers, then winced when the cold air stung the scrape on my skin.
For once, Tiffany’s bubbly mask cracked. “Are you all right? We should get your wrist looked at.”
I held it up. “Just a scrape.” It stung, and blood spotted my jacket cuff, but a startling exhilaration rushed through me.
“Way to shake it off,” Adam said. Beside him, Yasmine looked as though she’d witnessed a deadly accident.
“Do you need me to walk you back to the lodge and get that taken care of?” she asked. The tremor in her voice revealed the offer wasn’t made from kindness. She wanted an excuse to get out of here.
“No, I’m fine,” I said. “Besides, you and Adam haven’t had your turn yet.”
“Rick, you’re in the lead.” Tiffany had regained her composure.
“Not for long.” Adam strode toward the tree. Yasmine followed, looking as though she might vomit at any second.
Adam went first. He was off the ground the instant Tiffany said “go,” climbing strong and fast. A few seconds later, the bicycle horn honked, and barely an eye blink after that he was back on the ground.
“Damn,” Rick said, sounding impressed.
Tiffany started clapping. “I think that was one of our fastest times ever on this course. But remember—you’re competing as a team.” She turned to Yasmine. “Ready?”
Yasmine swallowed as she stared up at the tree. “I…”
&nbs
p; “Come on, Yasmine,” Adam wheedled. “You’ve got to do it.”
Not you can do it, I noticed. But you’ve got to do it.
She firmed her stance and nodded shortly. Tiffany grinned and gave her a thumb’s up.
The whistle broke the air. Yasmine put one foot on the lowest hold and heaved herself up. She was a foot off the ground. Three feet. Five feet. Seven.
For a moment, I thought she’d make it to the top. That she’d conquered her terror after all.
But each movement grew slower and slower, until at last she froze in place, halfway up the tree.
“You can do it, Yasmine,” Tiffany called. Melissa, Rick, and I echoed her.
“Keep going,” Adam yelled up. “Hurry! You’re throwing away our lead.”
Yasmine’s muscles appeared to have locked in place. She began to shakily climb back down.
“No!” Adam started forward, as if he meant to shove her to the top himself. “You have to reach the horn.” Apparently realizing bullying her wasn’t working, he switched tactics. “You saw what happened when Lauren fell. She was perfectly fine. You literally can’t get hurt.”
Yasmine stopped descending but didn’t seem able to force herself to continue higher, either. The seconds ticked away while Adam alternately prodded and cajoled. His frustration mounted as it became clear they weren’t going to beat Rick’s time. Hell, they weren’t even going to beat ours.
“Come on down,” Tiffany said eventually.
Yasmine did so, as if she’d just been waiting for someone to give her permission. The moment she reached the ground, she yanked off her helmet. Tears streaked her makeup.
Tiffany patted her shoulder. “You gave it a good try.” Raising her voice, she added, “Good work to the rest of you, too. Rick, you’ve won a second round, so you get another prize.” She took a baseball cap with the Agonarch logo on it out of her pack and passed it to him. “Well done.”
Adam seethed silently. He might have been content losing a guessing game last night, but an athletic challenge was obviously a different matter. “Yeah, well done, Yasmine,” he said in a mocking voice. “Good going, making sure we’d lose.”
