Chapter 2
Change of Plan
Cora was rather occupied with trying to repack everything as Jason parked the car, so she missed much of what was going on outside of the vehicle. The other climbers were already there and headed toward the vehicle as soon as it pulled into the area. It was the sound of a familiar voice that caused Cora to look up from her frantic repacking. Silas was running toward the car, his arms waving as if he hadn’t seen her in forever.
Jason laughed as he opened his door, “Yeah, yeah, she agreed to come.”
Silas’s beaming face was right next to Cora’s window. He put his mouth on the glass and blew out, making his mouth look huge. Cora couldn’t help but laugh and banged on the window with the side of her fist to get him to back off.
Before she could do anything else, Silas threw the door open. “Come on! I can’t believe you aren’t ready yet!”
“It’s not like I was given nearly enough time to prepare.”
Her friend ignored her response and yanked the bag out of her hand before trying to pull her out. “No excuses. You have been hiding yourself away and it’s time for you to start living again. Young lady, you don’t have enough years on you to act like the world is falling apart.”
Cora gave Silas a look of sheer annoyance. “Silas, let go of me.”
“No whining. Get a move – oh, dear God, what the hell do you think you are doing dressed like that?” He let go of her as he realized that he had pulled her sweater down, exposing far too much of her bra. Once he let go, Cora’s sweater immediately moved back into place. “I will thank you not to try to strip me. I don't think of you that way, Silas.”
His cheeks flushed, then the young man looked at her brother. “Why isn’t she wearing a coat?”
A voice from behind him spoke up, “Because Jason thought it best to make her act spur of the moment. Still, I would have thought she would be a bit more prepared by now. It wasn’t exactly a short drive.” Cora froze as soon as she heard the voice, almost as if she were a statue.
Jason laughed, “It wasn’t my idea, Ryland. That was all you.”
Silas moved out of the way and another face appeared next to the car door. “How are you doing, Cora?”
Unable to look Ryland in the eye, Cora leaned over and started trying to put her boots on. “Fine.”
“Hmm, I’m not so certain.”
“I didn’t realize that you guys would be here. I thought…”
“Oh, did you think it was just going to be you and your brother?” Ryland looked a little hurt as he tried to get her to look up at him.
Cora turned so that her hair fell across her face, obscuring Ryland from her view as her cheeks turned a dull shade of red. “No, I knew Silas would be here.”
“Come on, Cora,” Jason said from the back as he pulled his bag out, “you need to get over it, and that isn’t going to happen if you keep hiding from everyone.”
She threw her brother a dirty look before slipping her other shoe off. “It’s not that.” She continued to glare at him so that she wouldn’t have to face Ryland. “I just need to ease back into things.”
“We both know that doesn’t work. Remember–”
“Shut up, Jason.” There was warning in her voice.
Ryland cleared his throat, “I hope you don’t mind us joining the expedition. Given how late in the year it is, the climb will be easier with a few extra backs to help.”
Cora bit her lip and brushed her hair out of her face before putting her other boot on. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ryland watching her intently. “It’s fine. I don’t mind other people coming. Just haven’t gotten much time with Jason over the last couple of years and I guess I just wanted to have him to myself a bit.”
Ryland gave her a gentle smile, “But you already admitted that you knew Silas would be here.”
“He doesn’t count.” She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, still trying to keep from looking at Ryland as Silas’s protest went up behind Ryland.
“Hey!”
Cora continued, “I mean, Silas is practically my twin. My very tall, annoying fraternal twin.”
“Whatever,” Silas muttered and walked around the car to talk to Jason.
Ryland looked up at Cora’s brother, then back at the young woman as if he was considering saying something while her brother couldn’t hear. Too self-conscious to get out of the car, Cora continued to fidget with things in the car. Ryland’s voice was low and gentle beside her, “No one blames you, you know.”
It was like a spell was broken, and Cora was back on the defensive. It was pretty much all anyone said since the horrible whitewater rafting tip, and she was sick of hearing it. For every time someone tried to tell her that, it reinforced the idea that there was a reason to think that it had been her fault. Her mind quickly ran through all of her options. She could say she felt sick, that she had a project due, or just be honest and say that she wasn’t interested in doing the hike anymore. The problem was that no matter what she said at this point, no one was going to take her back, so she was stuck with the trip now that she was there.
The only way out of this is to act like everything is fine. The thought went through her head, and mentally Cora groaned because the last thing she wanted was to be stuck with a bunch of people trying to make her feel better.
Forcing a smile onto her face, Cora looked up and into Ryland’s piercing eyes, matching the intensity of his look with her own. It was always so much easier when she was pretending to be alright, so much so that she was able to smile and have it look sincere. “I know. Thanks for saying that. I haven’t been avoiding you, you know. Excuse me.” She gave him a slight push with her hand so that she could get out of the car. Not that long ago she wouldn’t have had the nerve to touch the man, but now she had no such problem.
Bouncing out of the car, Cora slung the bag over her shoulder and closed the car door. “Let’s go do this!” Without waiting for anyone else, she headed away from the group to the path. Leading the way would keep her from having anyone else bring up the past. Regretting that it wasn’t just her, Jason, and Silas, Cora made sure to have a spring in her step as she hurried to the path. Skipping a bit, she hummed loud enough for them to hear her from a ways away as she thought about how much better it would have been without other people. She hadn’t seen who else was there, but if Ryland was there, Serenity probably wasn’t too far behind. Watching the two of them was about the last thing she wanted to deal with on top of everything else.
The sound of running footsteps was impossible to miss as she made her way up the path. Cora knew that it was Silas, but with Ryland there, she knew that both Jason and Silas were going to try to force her to talk. It was just what they did.
As Silas caught up to her, Cora turned to him with a smile. “So, how is your place?”
He gave her a shocked look. “Why are you interested?”
“I did notice that you took off, and it makes me wonder if maybe you got a girlfriend and didn’t tell me.” Silas was about to say something, but she cut him off with a laugh. “I’m sorry I haven’t been much fun. I’ve been somewhat busy, and I haven’t really checked in on you to make sure that you have gotten back into the swing of things.”
Silas shrugged, “Nothing special up with me. I wanted to–”
“Someday you are going to have to tell me what it is you do when you disappear for a couple of months at a time.”
“That’s not–”
Cora stopped walking, her hands on her hips. “It isn’t fair how you are going to try to pressure me into talking, yet you keep so many things to yourself. If you aren’t going to talk, don’t expect me to.”
“What?” A concerned look crossed his face.
Letting out a forced laugh, Cora looked up at her childhood friend. “We are here to have fun. So… beat you to the base!” With that she took off running.
“Hey! Not fair!” Though he was protesting, Cora knew that Silas would start chasing her as soon as he registered her challenge. Sure enough, she could hear him start running behind her. Of course he would win; Silas had long legs and was a lot faster than her. At just barely over five feet tall, she never had a shot. But that wasn’t the point. Once his competitive nature kicked in, Silas would forget whatever it was he had wanted to talk about. He loved winning, and he would spend several minutes rubbing it in – just long enough for the rest of the group to catch up. She was surprised at just how long it took him to catch up, but once he did, he flew past her and turned around in front of her. He was cracking jokes about how slow and short she was as he backpedaled toward the path.
“Look out! Silas, watch it!” Cora’s eyes were wide and she was pointing at something up the path.
Silas slowed down and turned to see what it was that she was trying to warn him about. As soon as he slowed down enough, Cora shot by him, her musical laugh taunting him.
“Sucker!” she shouted, her legs working furiously to try to finally beat her friend in a race.
“Oi! Cheater, that’s not fair!” Silas started running faster, but his foot caught on something and he was barely able to keep himself from falling. Cursing his luck, he regrouped and took off after Cora.
The race was close, but he managed to beat her by a couple of steps. They were both leaning over, panting and laughing as the rest of the group caught up to them.
Jason patted Cora on the back as she stood up. “Interesting strategy for rock climbing.”
Cora shrugged and smiled at him, “That wasn’t about rock climbing. This was personal. Someday I will beat you.”
Silas stood up, his hand on the back of his hips. “Sure, and someday the sun will rise from the west.”
Sticking her tongue out at him, Cora blew a raspberry and imitated him, “Someday the sun will rise from the west. Like you even know which way is west.”
Silas wrinkled his nose at her. “It’s that way,” he said, pointing north.
Cora sighed and grabbed his arm. Turning it 90 degrees to his left she smirked, “That’s west, genius.”
“At least I can run.”
“Yes, because having longer legs was definitely something that you had control over.”
“Way to belittle my victory,” he pulled his arm away from her. “You are just being a sore loser.”
There was a laugh behind them, as well as a heavy sigh. Cora turned, knowing that it was Ryland who sighed – he never had much patience for their back and forth. Expecting the person laughing to be her brother, Cora was surprised to find someone standing beside Ryland that she didn’t know.
Ryland noticed her look and said, “You were so excited about the climb that I didn’t have time to introduce my cousin.”
Cora paused for a moment before walking forward with her hand outstretched. “Hello, Ryland’s cousin. I’m Cora the Explorer.”
The man gave another chuckle and took her hand. “Doesn’t quite suit you, but from what I’ve heard you aren’t one to shy away from adventure.”
“Of course not. Deep River is a small town. The only way to stay out of trouble with the law and not be bored is to go out and do stuff.”
“Lots of people spend time online and play sports.”
“Boring,” she said, letting go of his hand. It was difficult, but Cora was making sure not to stare at the man. Even if Ryland had said the guy was related, it was very obvious by looking at him. He was not quite as tall as Ryland, but his shoulders were a little broader, his hair a beautiful chestnut brown, and his eyes were almost black instead of the startling blue of his cousin’s. Other than that, the two looked incredibly similar.
“I would argue with you, but based on my own experiences I can’t honestly say that I disagree. I'm Emery, by the way.”
“Emery.” Cora scratched the back of her head. “Certainly a different kind of name. I like it.” She smiled at him, making sure that she didn’t let her eyes linger. Clapping her hands, she moved toward the rock face. “I think it’s time to get a move on. We don't have too long before it’s going to get too late to start. Given the time, we are just barely going to make it up before midafternoon.”
“Hey, speed climber, it’s okay if we don’t reach the top today.” Jason came up beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Where’s the fun in that? I didn’t come here to fail. I came here to climb rocks and kick ass. Now let’s get it in gear.”
Emery laughed as Jason gave her a playful slap on the back of her head. The look on his face let her know that he knew what she was doing, but she just ignored it. All that mattered to her was getting done and getting home. She gave his shin a light kick. “None of that, Mr. Hot Stuff. It isn’t my fault that you haven’t stayed in shape. If you came to visit more often you wouldn’t need to be embarrassed about your declining skills.”
“Hey, who said I haven’t been staying in shape?”
Jason’s reaction was exactly what she knew it would be. Giving his stomach a little pat, she leaned over like she was talking to it, “Don’t worry, little one, you will be safe. You can keep him down here if–”
Jason pushed her back a little, “Stop that, you brat. I am going to kick your ass and you’ll have to make dinner for the next week. ”
“Oh, you are on, brother. I hope you learned to cook while you were out on your own because when I cream you, that’s exactly what I’m going to demand.”
“Not happening.” Jason had begun removing his stuff. The others watched in amusement as everyone began to prepare for the climb. The siblings smack-talked each other, keeping the group entertained. Cora noted that it was just the five of them. Though she would have preferred if it had just been her, Jason, and Silas, she didn’t mind having someone she didn’t know along. Ryland’s cousin seemed like a good guy, and there was no threat of him trying to talk about their last adventure.
It may not be so bad after all, she thought as she began her climb.
“So how rough is this climb?” Emery was beside her getting started as well.
Cora looked at him for a second, “Oh, it isn’t too bad. Most of the hard part is down here. Once we get up a ways, it’s mostly just walking on ledges – more hiking than climbing.”
“That should be interesting.”
“Yeah, we can’t do anything too challenging given how late it is. The sun will be gone by 6 pm, so we have to make sure to be back here before that happens.”
“Will that be enough light?”
“It shouldn’t be too bad, as long as we are basically on the ground by then.”
“You doing alright over there, Cora?” Silas was already moving up the face on the other side of Jason.
“Just fine, Silas. Focus on your work and I’ll take care of mine.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Oh, don’t give me that.”
The five friends talked as they moved up the rock face. There were a couple of missteps on the way up, but the climbers quickly recovered. When they reached the first standing place, it became obvious that the rest of the climb was going to be a little more difficult than they had remembered. Some rocks higher up had been knocked out of place and were now blocking the larger parts of the walking section.
Cora volunteered to go up first, and despite a few arguments, she knew that she would get her way in the end. As the smallest and lightest of the group, it would be much safer to have her go first.
Jason muttered something about hoping she wasn’t too disappointed with toast and eggs for a week, but she waved him away. “Don’t worry about it. This changes everything. Should make the whole thing that much more interesting.”
Emery looked around, “I think that it would be a good idea for two of us to go. What if there is something up there?”
Ryland held a hand up to shade his eyes. From where he sat, he looked up at his cousin. “Like what?”
“That’s the point of having two people going. There’s no telling.”
Ryland shrugged, “I’m alright with that. Who should go?”
Before the other two could say anything, Emery spoke up, “I suggested it, only makes sense for me to go. If no one objects.”
Silas and Jason looked at each other, then at Emery. Jason shrugged, “I don’t object. Just be warned that she’s a handful.”
Emery grinned, “I'm not worried about it. She has proven herself to be rather competent so far. A little smack-talking isn’t going to hurt me either.”
Silas smiled, “That’s what they all say. Good luck, buddy.”
Cora rolled her eyes, “You guys are terrible. I’m heading up.”
“Here, I’ll help.”
Together, the pair worked to establish a new route up around the boulders in the way.
An hour later, they had made a good bit of progress, and were nearing the next standing place. Suddenly the sound of a gunshot rang out around them. Everyone began looking around trying to figure out where the shots were fired from. Ryland stood up and leaned over the edge. “I’m pretty sure that came from close by.”
Cora watched the guys below her and Emery. Jason spoke up, “I don’t think that they are likely to pose a problem for us.”
Ryland and Silas shared a look before Ryland turned to face Jason. “I’m afraid that one of us is going to need to check it out.”
Silas stepped forward, “Oh no, you don’t. This is not a one-person job.”
Ryland looked up at Cora and Emery. She waved down at him, “We are almost there. If you need to go, take Silas with you. If you don’t, all he’s going to do is whine until you get back.”
Ryland smiled, “Yeah, I think you are right. Emery, will you be alright?”
“I’ll be perfectly fine.” Emery’s dark eyes were scanning the horizon. “I think I see movement out that way,” he pointed away from them. “Be careful.”
“This really isn’t a good idea.” Jason seemed upset with the sudden turn of events.
Silas clapped him on the back, “Sorry, but we have to. Keep an eye on them.”
“No, no. Someone has to make sure you two are fine. You okay with that, Cora?”
A part of her was upset that her brother was leaving her to run off with the rest of the group, but she wasn’t surprised. “Go ahead.” She didn’t trust herself to say anything else. Moving her hands up, Cora pulled herself higher.
Jason’s voice reached her, “You sure?”
Her eyes cast back down, Cora gave him a shrug and nodded, “Course. I’m going to keep going, but I don’t think that you guys are going to make it at this point anyway, so you may as well head back once you are done investigating.”
“Alright. Be careful, Cora. See you at the bottom.”
For a moment she looked down and saw the guys preparing to head back down. Keeping her emotions to herself, she worked her way up a bit more.
Emery was watching her, but he didn’t say anything as she set her jaw and didn’t try to hide her annoyance. Thinking that he couldn’t see the look on her face, Cora said cheerfully, “I guess it’s just you and me. I think we can make it, as long as you can keep up. Of course, if you want to head back, I won’t stop you.”
“Ryland has it under control, so no need for me to head back. As far as keeping up with you, that won’t be a problem. But what about your brother?”
“What about him?” She hid the bitterness as best she could.
“You going to make him cook for a week now?”
“Better believe it. In fact, he’ll be cooking for me as long as he stays here.”
Emery chuckled at the way she said it. Cora smiled and looked over at him. “Come on,” he told her. “We had better get moving if we want to reach the top so we can rub it in their faces.”
“I’m all for that,” Cora said with a nod.