Page 103 of Sawyer

“That thing looks like a death trap.” Sin whirls around, all the color gone from his face. “I dislike this.”

“Finally, something that unnerves him,” Rumor snarks.

“We rope together.” Bryn pulls the rope off his pack and ties it to Rumor’s waist. “Only one on the bridge at a time. Take your time. Don’t rush, but don’t move as slowly as a sloth.”

“Easy for you to say.” He probably crosses bridges like this on the daily. This was probably a delta enforcer training exercise.

“Baby girl, you are the lightest of all of us. I think you are going to be just fine.” Rumor crooks a finger at me, and my feet move before I tell them to chill out. “You’re going to be okay.”

Bryn threads the rope around me, adjusting it so it moves freely so I can adapt as Rumor moves across the bridge. “All right.”

“Sin.” Bryn ties the rope around him. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he warns, “like panic and run, because then I’ll have to run, and I’m the biggest of you all. If it’s going to break, it will be when I cross.”

“Not helping my panic, Superman,” I squeak out.

“Can’t you just fly across?” Sin jokes, but it’s strained.

Bryn just glares at him for a moment. “All right, the wooden slats don’t look sturdy. Keep to the edges. Your foot placement is everything here. By keeping your feet to the edges, you’ll be able to grip the side if you slip.” He looks at Rumor. “Go.”

“Once I’m three-quarters of the way, you should be okay to cross.”

“That isn’t one on at a time, Rumor.” I can feel panic welling inside me.

It’s fine. This is fine.

Nervous energy bubbles within me, and there’s no containing it. The only way this is going to get better is if I cross that damn bridge.

Fearless, I need to be fearless.

Rumor steps onto the bridge, his hands on the two ropes. With the next step, the whole thing swings.

“Nope, I can’t watch.” Sin turns around, facing the other direction. “I haven’t been this freaked out since…” He looks at me. “Since I lost Thea.”

I reach for his hand and squeeze his fingers, not letting go. He stares at where our fingers grip one another while I watch as Rumor takes one careful step after another.

Though most of his focus remains on his feet, every now and again, he looks at the tree line. Somehow, he makes it two-thirds of the way before my rope tugs.

“You should be good,” Bryn says, glancing down at me with a turbulent gaze.

Sin squeezes my fingers again before letting go, but he says nothing more.

My heart pounds and sweat beads on my forehead as I wipe my palms on my pants. The only light remaining is the glow of sunset, lost behind a copse of trees. The sky bleeds red and orange, and while it’s beautiful, this is an experience I’d rather never deal with again.

“This one’s for you, Jenny,” I whisper, knowing that she probably crossed this bridge while running for her life.

There’s a chasm of fear opening in the pit of my stomach. I’ve never been one who fears heights. In fact, they fascinate me. Once I felt the drive to jump when I was at the top of one of those carnival slides. It wasn’t the fear of falling that got to me, but the drive to just jump.

As I step onto the bridge, that drive kicks in, and unlike earlier, I get a perfect view of the beauty surrounding me. Water rushes far below me, and from here, it looks like a stream, though it could be more. Shadows creep across the bottom, tantalizing me to join them.

Time to focus.

I quickly look away before that high place phenomenon takes over my need to get to the other side of this damn bridge.

I place one foot to the right, ensuring it is sturdy before I place the next. The rope tugs at my midsection, and I take another step, then another.

All I can focus on is Rumor ahead of me and my breath, not the ravine below or the water and shadows, nor the dead men decaying in the trees or the unknown hidden ahead of us.

Right now, this entire moment belongs to focusing on the next step, then the next.

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