by Roland Smith
“We have to move!”
Yash and I ran toward the trees, but it was too late. The helicopter reached us halfway there and hovered over the clearing. At the same moment, Shek stepped out of the trees in front of us.
“Stay where you are!” he shouted above the rotors.
He pointed a rifle at us, which he must have taken from one of his men. A soldier stepped out of the trees a hundred feet to his left, then another a hundred feet to his right. Our only escape was back where we came from, but the helicopter landed behind us, blocking our way.
“Your hands up!” Shek yelled. “We will kill you!”
They must have grabbed Sun-jo, and the third soldier was guarding him somewhere in the trees ahead of us. I heard the helicopter door slide open behind us, and I turned my head expecting to see an armed PLA pilot, but it wasn’t. And the helicopter was not military. It was Zhang Wei, known as Chin now, the man Zopa had saved from an avalanche on Hkakabo Razi many years before.
“Down!” he shouted.
Yash and I hit the ground. Chin sprayed the edge of the forest with bullets from the automatic rifle he was holding. Shek and his men dived for cover.
“Run!” Chin shouted.
We sprinted toward his helicopter and launched ourselves through the open door. The helicopter was in the air almost before I hit the floor. Two bullets hit the windscreen as we rose above the trees.
“It is good to see you, Peak,” Sun-jo shouted above the noise, smiling down at me. He was strapped into a back seat with headphones over his ears. My face was jammed up against his boots.
Yash and I pulled ourselves up and strapped into the two seats next to him. I put on my headphones. Chin had taken the copilot seat and was talking to his pilot in Nepalese.
“Chin just asked the pilot if there is any damage from the bullets,” Sun-jo translated. “The pilot says none that will bring the helicopter down.”
I couldn’t believe that Chin had flown in from Myanmar to rescue us. I couldn’t believe I was sitting next to Sun-jo and that I hadn’t been shot in the back.
“By the way,” I said, clapping Sun-jo on the shoulder. “It’s good to see you, too. And those boots don’t look very comfortable.”
“A new prototype. And they are not comfortable. It will be back to the drawing board for my sponsor.”
Chin broke into the conversation. “I cannot believe you two are talking about climbing gear.”
“It is what climbers do,” Sun-jo said with a laugh. “We cannot help ourselves.”
“Thank you for picking us up, Chin,” I said.
“I would do anything for you and Zopa. You are important to him; therefore, you are important to me. I will admit that the soldiers had us a little worried.”
“Shek and his men arrived about an hour before you arrived,” Sun-jo said. “I tried to call you, but I could not get a signal. I headed for higher ground and found a weak signal, but before I could call you, Chin called me. He picked me up and we flew back here, hoping to catch you before you reached the soldiers. Where are the two monks?”
“They . . .” I hesitated. “They went back home.” I wasn’t sure what I should say about the monastery, a place that almost felt like a dream.
“You too will soon be home,” Chin said. “We just crossed the border into Arunachal Pradesh. We will refuel in Itanagar, then continue on to Yangon.”
Home
We landed on the French embassy helipad at two in the morning. I had slept almost all the way, or maybe I had gone into a coma. I still can’t figure out which. Chin must have called ahead while I was asleep because there was a big crowd waiting for us.
I stepped out of the helicopter on wobbly legs and into Alessia’s waiting arms. Mom wedged her way in and grabbed a hug of her own. They were both crying. Even Ethan had tears in his eyes.
“Hey, sport,” he said. “I can’t believe you climbed Hkakabo Razi without me.”
“Sorry. The last time I saw you, your head was messed up.”
“It’s okay now. I’m as goofy as ever. Did you bring my spoon?”
I pulled it out of my pack and handed it to him.
“It’s a little bent.”
“Yeah. I think that happened when I was digging my way out of an avalanche with it.”
“Right.” He stuck the spoon in his pocket.
I turned back to Alessia. “I hear you ran away.”
“Yes, I ran away to find Chin and ask him to help you, but he was not home. His servant said that he was upcountry. I did not have his phone number and his servant would not give it to me. I decided to travel north and find him, but Ethan found me first. He took me back to the embassy with the promise that he would take me up north himself if we could not reach Chin on his phone. Chuck the nurse is very mad at Ethan and me.”
I laughed. “I bet he is.”
Mom and I spent five more days in Yangon, then flew back to New York City, which was a culture shock for me as always, with its crowded streets, noise, and choking exhaust fumes. I was happy to be back, though.
Three months after I returned, I was walking down the street with the twins, the two Peas, Patrice and Paula. They had their climbing gear slung over their tiny shoulders in small matching pink packs.
“You don’t have your gear,” Patrice said.
“I’m not climbing,” I said. “I need to rest.”
“You’ve been resting for months,” Paula pointed out.
“And your hair still isn’t right,” Patrice added.
“It’ll grow out. By Christmas I’ll look like myself again.”
“Is Alessia coming for Christmas?” Paula asked.
“Yep, and another friend of mine named Ethan Todd. You’ll like him.”
“Are you going to climb a skyscraper with them?”
“No. I’m out of the skyscraper business forever.”
The truth was that I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to climb anything again. The climbing itch was gone. I had left it somewhere on the slopes of the Land of Dawn-Lit Mountains.
Mom was waiting for us at the climbing gym. She had been teaching the twins how to climb, horrifying the twins’ piano teacher, because it was ruining their fingers and hands. They were both piano prodigies. Mom’s response to the teacher was “What good is playing piano if you can’t climb a mountain?”
She had a package for me. “This came to the bookstore for you this afternoon.”
I looked at the postmark and stamps. Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was from Josh. I didn’t open it right away. Instead, I watched the twins climb, with Mom belaying Paula and another guy belaying Patrice. They were as agile as spiders and as fearless as snow leopard cubs.
Mom shouted instructions up to both of them as they climbed, telling them where the next hand- and toeholds were, just like she had taught me when I was their age. The other climbers watched the twins climb and listened to everything Mom was saying. She was a celebrity at the gym, having broken a couple of world climbing records with Josh when she was young.
I opened the package. It was my journal, with a handwritten note from Josh. The first I had ever gotten from him.
Peak,
Don’t laf. I read better then I write. I’m still a little cripled, but the legs get better everyday. I herd you made it back to Myanamr and are home. I red your journal. You are a very good writer. Shek is back in Bayi. I here he is now a coperal. Karma. Zopa told me to say helo and hops you are well. Weerd dud that Zopa. But I lov him and you . . . Josh
I wondered if I would ever see Zopa again.
Pemako is a dream unless you are here.
You will take a little of Pemako with you wherever you go.
Go out and do good things.
Visit hmhbooks.com to find all of the books in the Peak Marcello Adventure series.
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About the Author
Photo credit © Marie Smith
ROLAND SMITH is the best-selling author of Peak,
The Edge, and other critically acclaimed adventure novels for young readers. His works include the I, Q series, Elephant Run, Tentacles, the Storm Runners series, and Shatterproof, part of the 39 Clues series. When he isn’t writing, he’s traveling the country, speaking at schools and events. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
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