A Boat Made of Bone (The Chthonic Saga)

by Grotepas, Nicole

  Audra sat on a boulder, sunning herself while the rest of them prepared for the climbing. The drive down had been mostly fine, except that Kate had been a captive audience for Malcolm’s tales about climbing in exotic locales like Thailand, Japan, France, the coast of Scotland, and elsewhere, and the beautiful women he met in all those places. Kate wondered to herself if it was some strange strategy, bragging about previous conquests in order to impress Audra. Kate had seen the way he looked at her friend. It wasn’t exactly a secret that he was into her in some odd way. Audra remained quiet during his stories. Kate glanced at her friend occasionally in the sun-visor mirror to see how she was taking it, but Kate couldn’t read the other girl’s expression. Audra kept her face turned toward the window.

  At the moment Audra was eating a piece of red licorice and using her gear bag as a pillow. Kate couldn’t see Audra’s eyes through her dark tinted sunglasses, but Kate got the impression she was not into being left to climb with Malcolm while Ty and Kate did a route. But then why did she come? Kate wondered with a sigh and turned to Ty.

  “What’s wrong?” He squinted and a line appeared between his eyes. He went on in a low voice, “Kate, are you all right? You haven’t seemed like yourself for the past two days.”

  Kate laughed but it sounded hollow, even to her. “Yeah, I’m great. For sure.”

  “Look, you don’t have to lead this. You don’t ever have to lead, you know? I know plenty of climbers who aren’t in it for the conquest of leading. They just want to enjoy the sport of it. If that’s you, I’m totally cool with it.”

  Malcolm walked away in a huff as though his coaching wasn’t appreciated, moving along the edge of the wall to locate other routes. His left hand trailed along the slick, red sandstone as he moved. Audra continued to seem tuned out.

  Kate flashed Ty a reassuring smile. “I’ve led tons of climbs. I just . . . I get nervous. That’s all. It’s nothing.”

  “I’m sorry about Mal,” Ty said. He attached the rope to his harness, obviously under the impression that he’d be leading. Kate hadn’t decided yet, exactly, but she felt pretty sure she didn’t want to do this one. The thought of falling . . . she shivered. That last fall had done something to her confidence. Her shoulder still ached dully from time to time from where she slammed into the wall.

  “I can handle Malcolm. He’s fine. Just thinks everyone’s on the same page as him, I guess,” she said. She was certain she wasn’t going to lead it, she decided. No. Nope. No way. She’d probably fall. And besides, since the last dream with Will, the one where he vanished, she hadn’t had any more dreams with him and she felt totally lost. Hadn’t felt like herself in two days. Not the best circumstances to try scurrying up a dangerous cliff face.

  On the other hand, she did feel slightly suicidal. Seeing Will every night had become habitual. The dreams with him, the exploration, the connection she felt to him and yes, the sex, were all feeding her emotional health. Kate needed him. Had grown to rely on him. He disappeared and she hadn’t seen him since.

  “Kate, you know you can lead this. Sorry, I’m not trying to push you, I know how much you hate that. But I know your climbing skills, your style, your moves. You can do it,” Audra said from her lizard-like perch on the rock. Kate glanced at her. She was sitting up with her knees pulled into her chest. She’d taken off her Chacos and her sunglasses were on top of her head. Her green eyes flickered in acknowledgment.

  Kate tilted her head back and looked up the rock face. She couldn’t see the chains at the top of the route but she knew they were about fifty feet up. There were several cracks along the route, but most of the holds looked like small pinchers and tiny ledges. Old chalk dusted where other hands had been.

  Kate lowered her eyes to watch Ty getting ready to climb. She liked him. She did. But Will was gone. He’d abandoned her. Kate felt off-center. Maybe overcoming this fear would center her. Maybe Kate could do something hard and impossible like this and get back her locus of control.

  “OK,” Kate said, exchanging a glance with Audra. She nodded and grinned, obviously feeling like she swayed Kate, something that she loved to do. The girl loved to play God when she could.

  “OK?” Ty repeated, sounding excited. “You’re going to lead it?”

  “Yes, I’ll try it,” Kate said.

  “Great! Let’s tie you up,” he said. Red spots flared across his cheeks, “I mean, in a purely non-S&M way, that is. Uh, connect you to the rope.”

  Audra laughed and Malcolm returned and asked her what was so funny. Kate shook her head. Before she had too long to think about the implications of Ty’s accidental innuendo, he had attached a bunch of quickdraws to Kate’s harness with sharp clicking noises as the gates of the carabiners flipped open and snapped shut, double-checked the knots by running his fingers over them and tugging on the ropes, and then he was slapping Kate on the butt.

  “Stick a fork in you, you’re done, Princess. Time to climb!”

  “You’re going to lead it?” Malcolm asked, astounded.

  “Yes,” Kate said, as she found starting footholds on the rock. She positioned her hands on the two obvious beginning holds and took a deep breath. She glanced down at her harness belt and checked again to make sure she had enough quick-draws. Kate’s heart rate thundered along and she could feel the juice in her veins making her slightly jittery.

  “Nice, Kate! You’re going to do great,” Malcolm said encouragingly. He even clapped a couple times. She felt an appreciative glow appear in her chest. However much pressure he put on her, she couldn’t fault him for not being a good cheerleader. Kate checked over her shoulder to make sure Ty had a grip on the belay end of the rope.

  “Ty, on belay?” Kate asked.

  “On belay!” he yelled, his eyes glittering in amusement.

  “Climbing,” she said, feeling stupid, even though normally people shouted those words to get pumped up.

  “Climb on!” Ty yelled.

  Kate stood there for a minute, hesitating.

  “Your move next, Kate,” Ty said quietly after she didn’t do anything for a minute or so.

  Everyone became silent. Kate heard a bird screech in the distance and the rattling sound of a gentle breeze through the desert yuccas growing on the side of the hill below them. She took a deep breath, catching the smell of dust and earth on the air, and transferred her weight to the rock wall. She reached for the next hold but her foot slipped and she’d fallen already.

  “It’s OK,” Ty cooed. “Happens all the time. Just start again. You’ll do fine.”

  Kate shook her head to fight away the self-doubt building up in her. She shook out her hands and forearms, and then her legs as she placed her right foot on the hold, twisting her leg so her ankle was touching the wall and her weight was on her big toe. She pinched her fingertips to their holds and then began again with a loud exhalation.

  Her mind was clear as she focused only on climbing. She chased all thoughts away before they even had a chance to root themselves in her brain. Her fingers found the proper cracks and ledges as she did a balancing dance up the face of the rock. Before she could worry too much, she was at the first bolt. From below, she heard Ty shout out its precise location—to her right at two o’clock—and Malcolm reassured Kate that he was spotting her. She knew that if she looked back, Malcolm’s arms would be outstretched to catch her if she fell before the first draw was placed and the rope was looped through. Audra also told Kate that she had her spotted.

  Kate secured her left hand, turned her right knee in a tad, and grabbed a draw off her harness quickly and transferred it to the bolt with her right hand. Her left leg was starting to shake as so much of her weight was balanced on it. Kate panicked and put her right hand back to the hold, which was a dangerous move.

  “It’s OK, just let go and grab the rope and slip it into the carabiner when you’re ready. I’ll give you the slack to do it,” Ty told her.

  “You got this Kate, no problem, you got it, babe!” she heard Malc
olm yell.

  Audra echoed his affirmation.

  Kate locked her left arm out straight and lay back just a bit to let go with her right hand, grabbing the rope between her legs and jerking it up to the draw where she slipped it through the gate of the carabiner. It almost didn’t take—she heard the gate click, and felt the rope nearly slip away, but she pushed it back in with her fingers before moving her hand back to the hold.

  “Nice!” Malcolm yelled. “Told you! You’re doing great, you totally have this!”

  “Great job princess. You look so good up there. Sexy beast!” Ty shouted and then whistled.

  “You do look incredibly sexy and hot up there, Kate,” Audra said.

  “She totally does,” Ty said. “I’m so glad you agree.”

  “Yeah, she does,” Malcolm said as though he were thinking about it right then.

  Kate let her breath out in a hiss, cleared her head—as though she climbed to look good . . . idiots, she thought—and continued on, listening to her friends, but not hearing what they were saying. It was just Kate, the rock, and rope.

  The following bolts came and went automatically. At each one she fended off visions and fears of falling and swinging against the rock like a bag of bones being crushed in a wrecking ball motion. Somehow she managed to place the draw and loop the rope through every time without falling, though on more than one occasion, the rope almost got stuck in the gate.

  When she finally reached the chains at the top of the route where she would anchor herself, she was so elated that her fingers were shaking. Her blood pulsed through her like a thousand horses had supercharged it. She anchored her harness to the bolts holding the chains with two quickdraws stacked in opposite directions and clipped to the center of her harness. She shouted down off-belay to Ty and her friends let out a series of whoops at her achievement. She felt herself smiling widely.

  She undid the rope and looped it through the ends of the chains and then attached it to her harness again, retracing the figure eight knot and tightening it as securely as possibly. Before she undid the draws that anchored her to the wall, she shouted down at Ty. “Belay?”

  “On belay!”

  Kate felt the tension in the rope tighten and she knew that he had her. She sighed, nervous, and then undid the quickdraws and sat back into her harness as he lowered her. As she went down, she cleaned the climb by stopping at each bolt, removing quickdraws, and reattaching them to her harness.

  At one point, she looked over her shoulder at the cliffs surrounding them and spotted a bighorn sheep staring at them from a ledge across the wide canyon. Its pose was majestic, almost stereotypically National Geographic-style and it felt like something in her chest moved toward the wildness she saw there.

  Maybe she’d see Will tonight. And if not tonight, then tomorrow night. She couldn’t give up hope. The climb made it clear to her.

  She reached the ground and Ty gave her a quick peck on the forehead that sent sparks through her. “Nice job princess!” he said, slapping her on the rear.

  “I knew you could do it, right, Kate? Piece of pie.” Malcolm laughed, crossing his arms and smiling. “Your turn, Audra.” He rounded on her.

  “What, me? No way. I’ll top-rope it,” she said. “Kate is a better climber than me. She made that look easy, but I know it wasn’t. Right, girl?”

  “I think you could do it,” Kate said, smiling.

  “Brat, I knew I couldn’t trust you to have my back,” Audra pouted.

  “No problem, I’ll do it next, Audra. You can think about it more. Who wants to belay me?” Malcolm asked, holding up one end of the rope.

  23: The Merge

  The night was warm, but they still got a fire going. They ate foil dinners that Ty and Malcolm prepared before leaving home, with either hot chocolate or coffee. Decaf for Kate. She sat in a camp chair sipping from a tin mug while the foil-wrapped stew cooked in a bed of embers Ty pulled from beneath the burning logs.

  Their tents were in a campground a short drive from the climbing area, in a wide canyon where various campfires flickered comfortingly through the twilight and the faint smell of smoke reached Kate’s nose. Red sandstone cliffs rose in the east, looking majestic and ominous at the same time. Dogs barked in the distance, generators ran, and strangers walked by in the dusk looking for the toilets.

  Ty crouched beside the fire pit. Kate watched as he glanced up at the lemon and orange soaked twilight sky. Venus had appeared in the western horizon over the ridge of dark blue mountains.

  “It’s a full moon tonight, Kate. I thought we could go on our midnight jaunt when it comes up—it should be beautiful,” Ty said as he pushed more embers around the foil dinners using a long stick.

  “When will that be?” she asked, crossing her legs. Her feet were covered in loose sand. It fell from the soles of her Chacos. She could feel the grit caked between her toes.

  “I didn’t check. Hey Mal, you know when the moon’s supposed to rise?”

  Malcolm lingered at the camp table they’d brought with, brewing his coffee in the French Press. Audra stood next to him, criticizing the way he was handling the machine. “You don’t strain it yet—it’s not even had a chance to brew!”

  “This is the way I like it, woman, you want yours stronger, make your own,” Malcolm said. Kate glanced at him and immediately saw that he hadn’t heard Ty’s question.

  “What kind of man doesn’t like strong coffee?” Audra speculated aloud.

  “A man with a sensitive stomach. I have sensitivities, OK? It’s why I’m so good in bed—because I know what it’s like to be sensitive.” He sounded defensive, but a half smile tugged at the corner of his lip as he poured the coffee into a handmade ceramic mug.

  “Sensitive to your own needs. I highly doubt you get what a woman wants,” Audra said, picking up the French Press to begin making her own coffee.

  Ty exchanged a glance with Kate. He lifted an eyebrow, and smirked like he knew something Kate didn’t. She rolled her eyes. Watching Audra and Malcolm and their constant bickering reminded Kate of her grandparents before her grandpa died. The two of them had been so familiar with each other that they didn’t withhold any emotions or criticism. Kate suspected that Ty didn’t know anything Kate couldn’t see with her own two eyes. That didn’t mean she liked what she saw. In fact, she didn’t. Audra was fond of a million guys—why would Kate be surprised that she had some strange attraction to Malcolm?

  “I guess you’ll never know, sweetheart,” Malcolm said. He cocked an eyebrow at Audra, his stance taking on a challenging, arrogant angle.

  “Mal?” Ty said.

  “What?” He looked up and stirred his coffee. A container of milk and a bottle of raw sugar rested on the table beside him.

  “You know when the moon’s supposed to rise?”

  Malcolm sipped his coffee. “Uh, no, seems like it came up around eleven last night, so probably midnight. Maybe later. Why? You guys going to go on a midnight hike?” He left Audra at the table without even a glance. She ignored his departure, busy making her own coffee. Malcolm came to the fire where he sat down on a three-legged stool.

  “We’re thinking about it, right Kate?” Ty gave the fire two or three good jabs, knocking the logs around. It was controlled, not the haphazard fire-tending of some pyromaniacal eight-year-old, failed Boy Scout. She liked the way the firelight made charcoal shadows across his arms, accentuating the veins, muscle, and bone.

  “Yep,” Kate said, flicking her gaze to Malcolm for his reaction. He’d grown on her, but she still wasn’t sure that she wanted to venture through the dark with him at her side—moon or no moon.

  “That sounds great. I did a hike to Delicate Arch in the moonlight once. It was ghostly. Surreal. Beautiful. I’ve also done some hikes in Zion’s like that. I’ve never seen anything more majestic. What a place. I mean, it has to be in my top ten locations, especially in the moonlight,” he took a sip from his mug, looking thoughtful.

  Using the stick he’d been
tending the fire with, Ty hooked one of the foil dinners and pulled it out of the hot part of the fire. Kate sighed, thinking she could get used to this—to a guy making dinner for her. Even if it was cooked in a fire. In foil. Actually, now that she thought about it, there was something satisfyingly primitive about that.

  Audra drifted out of the darkening shadows and sat down next to Malcolm. Her head was tilted to an aggressive angle like she was thinking about starting another fight with the boastful guy. Kate eyed the sturdy ceramic mug cradled between Audra’s delicate hands. It was one of Audra’s favorite possessions—she’d brought it back from her summer abroad in Lucerne. Audra swilled the liquid around in an exaggerated fashion, obviously meant to get someone’s attention, and took a sip, moaning with pleasure. “Hmmm, oh man. So rich. Dark. Strong. Just the way I like it.”

  “Is that supposed to be a hint? You talking about your coffee or your men, because I got news for you, sweetheart, I’m neither rich nor dark. Strong, yeah. Too strong for you, that’s for sure,” Malcolm said, shaking his head.

  Kate found herself rolling her eyes again and averted her gaze to watch Ty rather than the quarreling couple. With short quick motions Ty unraveled one end of the aluminum foil dinner he’d pulled out of the fire and checked the temperature inside.

  “Well, I guess you’ll never know,” Audra retorted. “And for your information, I might have been talking about men. But certainly not you.”

  “OK, kids, enough’s enough,” Ty said, laughing. “You’re going to have to put it on hold because these foil dinners are ready.”

  “Great, let’s eat, and please, give Audra the fullest one. She’s got a ravenous appetite from nagging me like some kind of harpy all day,” Malcolm said, jumping up and going to the table to get utensils and plates. He returned and handed them around so they could put the hot foil on something.

  “You wish I’d been nagging you—it would mean I had a slight interest in you. But, since I’ve been ignoring you most of the day, I know you’ve been suffering emotionally and trying to compensate by doing the most irresponsible climbs,” Audra answered as she unrolled her foil and speared a chunk of potato.