Page 64 of Wandering Wild

She pulls away slightly to ask, “Did I drool on you?”

I bite back a laugh, since she absolutely did. Like a lake. “No.”

She drops her head onto my chest again. “Phew.”

My grin is wide, but only because I know she can’t see it. I run my fingers through her hair, enjoying this sleepy, cuddly version of her, and I musingly ask, “What color is this? Purple? Blue? I can’t figure it out.”

“It’s called ‘galaxy,’” Charlie answers. She goes on to tell me about a pact she made with Ember years ago when Ember first started her medical treatments and her hair fell out, making my heart warm all the more toward Charlie and the depth of care she has for her friend. She finishes by muttering, “We can’tallhave interesting natural hair, Mister Anime Character.”

A startled laugh leaves me. “Mister what?”

Charlie freezes, as if she didn’t intend to say that out loud, and she quickly covers, “Ember has a good eye with picking colors for me, but I like this one the most since it makes my eyes look violet.”

“Mmm, I’ve noticed that,” I say, pushing her hair back from her face to look into those ethereal eyes.

“They’re normally a much more boring bluish-gray,” Charlie states, her breathing picking up speed as she stares right back at me, a blush staining her cheeks as she notes how close we are. But she doesn’t pull away.

My voice is husky as I say, “I have trouble believing anything about you could be boring, Charlie Hart.”

She sucks in a quick, surprised breath, and her blush deepens. Her gaze flicks to my lips, and I shift ever so slowly toward her, waiting to see how she’ll react. But again, she doesn’t pull away. Instead, she moves closer.

Until—

A loud, gurgling sound rumbles from her stomach, and she slams her eyes shut, her blush becoming red paint splashed across her face. “That’s embarrassing,” she mumbles.

I try to hold back my mirth, but it’s impossible, especially when she cracks one eyelid open to shoot a glare at me.

Our intimate moment is effectively—and regrettably—broken, so I rise to my feet and pull her up with me, saying, “Let’s get you fed.”

There are a few sandpaper figs left on the branch she brought in for us last night, so we finish those off, before checking the status of our clothes. My hiking pants and fleece pullover are dry enough for me to tug them on over my thermals, but my coat is still soaked from the river. When I peek out of the cave, the sky is clear, just like when we were stargazing, so both Charlie and I decide to risk leaving our heavier outerwear behind. If all goes to plan, we’ll be back in civilization before the temperature drops again tonight anyway.

My stomach swoops at the thought of our imminent rescue, anticipation swirling within me—not just for us, but for Hawke and Bentley, too. I know they have plenty of experience surviving in the wild and there’s no logical reason to be concerned about them, but I can’t help wondering how they fared overnight, stranded at the base of the mountain. Hawke’s injury means they have no choice but to sit and wait for us, which only heightens my sense of urgency to get them help. And we will, later today. Because if we don’t...

No. Positive thoughts only.

I turn my mind to Charlie, pondering what our rescue will mean for the two of us beyond getting the hell out of this forest. We haven’t had a chance to talk about what will happen once we’re no longer relying on each other to survive, and until last night, she made it clear she was eager to be rid of me. But now... I’m hoping that’s changed, even if it does create a whole new set of problems, given how vastly different our worlds are—not to mention that we live on opposite sides of the globe. The thought of flying back to LA tomorrow and leaving her behind prompts a tight feeling in my chest, but it eases slightly when I remember what she said about how she’s ready to dream again, to see the world, tolive. Because that more than anything gives me hope that we’ll be able to work something out—assuming she feels the same way.

“Ready to go?” Charlie asks, breaking into my thoughts.

I smother the dying embers of the fire. “Ready.”

Together we leave the cave, blinking against the early-morning sunlight filtering through the trees. I’m thankful we won’t have to deal with the rain again today—especially since Hawke warned about another slot canyon coming up—but even without having to battle the elements, we still have hours of hiking ahead, plus two more of his aptly named “obstacles.”

I wince as I consider how much more damage my body will sustain before we’re done with this trip. As it is, I feel as if I’ve been trampled by a herd of elephants, and while my pain isn’t as severe as when I first coughed up all the river water, my chest, lungs, and throat are still sore from my near-drowning. Or actual drowning, really. I’m going to need time to process what happened—how I stopped breathing, how Charlie brought me back to life. It hasn’t sunk in yet, how close I came to dying. All I know is that I’m immensely grateful to still be here, even if we have a long way to go until we can be considered safe.

Fortunately—or unfortunately, given how it came about—our trip down the river yesterday worked in our favor, since the twists and turns of the rapids sent us roughly in a northwestern direction. According to the map, it hasn’t shaved much time off our hike, but it also hasn’t added to it, so we consider that a win as we head back to the river and follow the bank, squelching through mud and jumping over roots and saplings the whole way.

The water eventually narrows enough that we’re able to use a fallen tree trunk to cross over to the other side—a harrowing experience, and yet nothing compared to what we’ve faced during the last few days. Charlie even grins as she balances her way along the log, loving every second of her rediscovered thirst for adventure.

Onward we hike, and unlike the discomforting silence of yesterday, today we converse freely. Charlie tells me more about her childhood, both before and after Ember came into her life, giving me deeper insight into her family and her world. I learn how she never knew her biological father but she doesn’t feel like she missed out on anything because her stepfather, Jerry, is amazing—when he’s not struggling with grief over her mother, that is. I hear how she and Ember wanted to take a gap year after school to go backpacking, but that was derailed by Ember’s sickness and then, later, Charlie’s sorrow. I also discover that their original plan included them returning from their travels only to move away to university, but when I ask Charlie what she’d intended to study, she admits that she was never able to decide on anything, and she was going to wait to see what course she was accepted into.

To me, it’s even more evidence that what she realized last night is what she needs the most right now—to explore the world and find her place in it. When I tentatively mention as much, I’m worried about her response, but she only agrees, shyly at first, before a steely, even excited, determination comes over her.

Back and forth we talk, learning more about each other. She asks about my early years in Montana and California, curious about my life before stardom. I tell her things she’ll never find in any online interview, anecdotes I prefer to keep private because of how impacting they were in shaping who I am today—like how my third-grade teacher heard I was getting bullied so she gave me the first book in theLost Heirsseries, along with a note that said:Whenever you need an escape—the Enchanted Vale awaits.

“In hindsight, she really should have done more about the bullying,” I say with a thoughtful frown as I help Charlie over a rotten log. “But I guess she didn’t want to inflame the situation, especially since I was so lost in my grief that I wasn’t reacting to it anyway.”

We continue talking about anything and everything, the floodgates opening when Charlie realizes I don’t mind her asking about the movies, at which point she unleashes her inner fangirl. It’s cute, something I didn’t expect from her, especially given how much she was holding back from me before. I love that she’s comfortable being herself now, because that makes it easier for me to be the same in return.

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