My Savior's Secret

Chapter 11

I followed him around the forest as he appraised which tree I should climb. Unlike his usual erratic movements, he strolled around as if he was shopping for my demise, as if he had all the time in the world to indulge himself.

He slowed to a particularly large banyan tree, one with especially twisted and crooked branches, a level 1000 kind of tree, so high up it disappeared beyond the canopy and looked like death. He made a tentative round around the base, shooting me teasing looks. He couldn’t—

“This one,” he said. “It has enough branches to accommodate your height.”

“How will you be liable if I fall?”

“You won’t.” We locked eyes for a long moment, and at that moment, it was a test of trust. “Because you need the answer to your question.” Damn him.

I unzipped my sweater and dropped it near the tree with my phone. “Fine. Go hard or go home.” I confidently walked up to the tree but couldn’t even touch the first branch. Way to make me feel short. I looked over at him, who was watching with that half-smirk I wished I could set on fire. “A little help?”

“What happened to go hard go home, whatever it is you Americans say?”

I hopped to grab the branch and it barely grazed my fingers. “I’m Canadian. And isn’t Etheria a part of the U.S?” I made another unsuccessful leap. It was this one branch, and the rest were easy. “Don’t act like no one here uses popular slang. Even if it’s in the middle of nowhere—”

Hands gripped my hips, startling me, and raised me off my feet with remarkable ease. I was increasingly aware of my shirt riding up, but his hands didn’t leave until I got ahold of the branch, leather gloves rubbing against an inch of my skin. If I noticed carefully, his fingers were long with padded tips. 

I pulled myself over the branch—putting years of going to the gym when bored to test—and straightened my shirt. “Uh, like I was saying, this whole country is like Area 51 2.0.” I diverted my focus to the next branch. “If Bermuda Triangle had a twin, this is where it would be.” Urgh, would my references be any worse?

“Are you speaking geography to me?” Ausmane said from below.

 “Is that a language you don’t understand?”

There was shifting beneath me as he climbed after me. “Were you a nerd in college?” If I was, I wouldn't be a smart one. A living oxymoron. My attention was back up as I grabbed the closest branches, hoisting myself wherever they took me. “It’s not hard to guess. No friends. No parties. No sex.”

“Shut up,” I said, breath getting lighter as I went higher.

“That's not nice." Should I list his own actions? "Why aren’t you looking down? You need to know where your feet are." Was he really not shutting up? "I’m telling you how not to fall.”

“How do you climb so well?” I asked, out of breath already and no energy to fight.

His voice bounced from different places below me. “I self-learned while training.”

I sidled around the tree. “Training for what?”

He leapt to my level and folded his arms on my branch. “Not bad. You’re halfway there.”

My face paled. “Halfway?” Already? I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths, and continued pushing forward. My legs burned, but it distracted me from my surroundings. “What—” A draft shook the branches, and I gasped, holding the trunk.

Ausmane chuckled behind me, and I glared at the brown bark of the tree. I couldn’t let him win, whatever he considered this.

“What did you train for?” I finished after the branches stilled. He didn’t answer, and I resisted the urge to look at him. The next branch was higher. Drat. I put my foot on a groove on the trunk and made a risky jump.

“Wait—”

Too late. I threw my arms out and my armpits slammed over the branch. I yelped, legs dangling in the midair, hanging for dear life. My stomach hovered. Sweat formed along my hairline and neck, chilling in the high breeze.

“Stupid woman,” Ausmane remarked. “How will you get down now?”

How high up was I? I peeked down.

My stomach lobbed in my throat. Holy mother of God. I was at least fifty feet in the air. The forest floor was a mere blip. My head lightened like air. No, no, no, not now.

Ausmane stood on a lower branch and squinted up at me. I clutched the branch as close to my chest as possible, knuckles white as the bones beneath. I shut my eyes and counted random numbers. It was only fifty feet. Up in the air. With nothing beneath me.

Fingers wrapped my ankle. I jerked my foot back.

“Don’t you want my help?” Ausmane said.

I clenched my eyes tighter. “What do you train for?”

He made another attempt to grab my foot. A strong wind swayed me, and my insides went wild.

“Get down,” he said, voice stronger with a spark of actual worry. 

“What do you train for?” I repeated. “What do you do? Who are you?”

“You’re leaving Etheria. Why do you care?” he hissed. I didn’t let him help, moving my feet away adamantly. “I trained to be a Guardian at the VDA. I catch volyrs. Come the f**k down.” Guardian? I recalled that from the video, but I was still too lightheaded to think clearly.

I finally let him help me down. When I saw the view below me and the forest floor dangling far below, I gulped and faced the trunk of the tree again. My arms hugged it tightly, chest rising and falling rapidly against the wood. I couldn’t look down. I couldn’t.

“What’s…what’s a Guardian?”

He scowled. “I told you.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “I have to go down.” Now. I released the tree and slowly backed up. When I bumped into him, I scampered right back to the safety of the trunk, keeping my eyes closed.

A beat passed.

Ausmane stated in muse, “You’re afraid of heights.” Why did I think I could last on a tree this tall? I could feel him come closer, behind me, a slyness in his voice as it brushed my ear. “What if I abandon you here?”

I couldn’t let this jerk play with me.

“Move…move out of the way,” I said, breathing heavily. “I’ll go down myself.”

“Are you sure?” His tone was playful. Taunting.

I took a few puffs and looked down. Look at your shoes. Just your shoes. Ausmane swung down so he was a few branches below.

Heart pumping wildly, I lowered my foot on the branch. Vertigo overtook me, but I went on. I couldn’t even feel myself, just the tension strapping my joints, the jitters racing to my limbs.

One branch. Then the next. One by one. Until the forest floor came closer. Clear enough to see the scattered leaves and twigs. My focus was on my old white shoes, tattered at the edges. Dull soles with scratches. The laces making limp bows.

Ausmane was on the ground by now. I was on the last branch, the same obstacle as I’d initially had in my way. He’d been quiet the whole way, always a step ahead of me. I felt like throwing up.

“Giving up?” he said. There was a hint of fascination.

I probably heard wrong. His words were muffled, obscured by my panting, my beating pulse. The ground challenged me, a challenge I’d faced my whole life yet always avoided.

“If you need help—”

“I don’t need help.”

I briefly closed my eyes, opened them, and jumped. The second my feet hit the ground, my knees buckled, and I fell forward on my palms. Pain from my blistered hands zinged up my palms along with striking nostalgia.

Elementary school. The bell. Parents coming to pick up their children. They’d cross the park behind the school, and the kids would climb the pine trees. Laughter. Shouts. The parents either scolded them, laughed with them, or rubbed their knees when they got hurt.

Ausmane knelt beside me. “You still managed to fall.”

I made it. Why wasn’t I satisfied? I’d always fallen. Never landed. I’d never landed in Etheria either. I’d fallen here. Tumbled across it. Wasting everything away. What had I been doing up there, hanging by my arms and instigating Ausmane? What if I’d lost my grip?

I snapped out of it and got my sweater and phone.

“You should’ve told me you were afraid of heights,” Ausmane said.

“It was a good distraction.” I swallowed the dryness in my voice. “Thanks for not letting me fall to death.”

“It wasn’t me,” he said. “You did everything yourself.” He didn’t sound impressed, almost critical. Or was it wonder? If I was still hearing correctly, there was also slight unrest. He walked up to me and lifted my hand. “You’re bleeding.”

I wrapped my hand in the sweater sleeve. “I fell off a tree when I was little. No one came. I always treated my own injuries, so I’m used to it.”

I’d never climbed another tree again. It might’ve been the reason for my fear of heights, but it didn’t matter anymore.

Ausmane took my wrist.

“What are you doing?”

“You should’ve learned to treat yourself better.”

He dragged me to the stream. We knelt on the side, and he removed my sweater and dipped my hands in the water. I winced at the stinging.

He glanced at me. I thought he’d say something, but he didn’t.

My fingers curled and uncurled as the coolness of the water subsided the pain. His gloves were still on—I swore they were all-purpose magic—and upon closer look, there really were pads extending from the fingers. He pulled my hands out and dabbed them with my sweater. Whether it was surprise, awe, or plain suspicion at how gentle he was, it made me want to see more from him.

“Don’t climb any trees in Canada,” he said. I wasn’t even thinking about Canada now, nor leaving Etheria, nor leaving this forest to begin with. “Do you have any more questions?” I put my chin on my knees, staring at the water. “No?” Wasn’t he angry? I basically threatened him with my life.

“Thanks,” I mumbled. I wanted more of this. The kind of want I’d wanted for a long time, the kind that’d fill the void that I’d always denied, always refused and should keep refusing. “Also, thanks for the coat last time.”

“Surprise, surprise.” Geez. Of all the things he could’ve been surprised about.

“Don’t get me wrong,” I said. “I’m not thankful at all for the other s**t you pulled, but for the coat, thanks for that.” I averted my gaze. “It’s gonna eat me up if I don’t say it.”

His eyes were imperceptible. Puzzles of static green. “Am I your distraction, Scarlet?”

I was stunned. No answer came out until a while, not true nor false.

“I don’t know.”