Page 63 of Into the Mountains
Avery barely manages to stifle her laugh, but no one notices. They’re all too engrossed in whatever this next phase of team bonding is going to bring. So far, it’s bringing out everyone’s more competitive side and I’m trying to figure out how we are going to bond over this.
“Let’s just get this going, alright?” Jacob, forever the pacifist. Him and Sky compliment each other more than perfectly.
We each take our positions on either side of our respective water vessels and get ready for the whistle. At this point, I’m only assuming there’s a whistle with the way Sky has planned this whole weekend. I wouldn’t be shocked if she blew an air horn or had a starting gun at this point.
“Ready.” Every one hinges their hips and bends their knees ready to push the canoes into the lake.
“Set.” I actually see Hudson readjust his grip on the back of the canoe like he’s really focusing on beating everyone.
Elias lightly bumps his elbow against me. “You ready?”
“To win?”
“Hell, yeah.”
“Hell, yeah,” I echoe at the same time Sky shouts, “Go!”
The next few seconds are a frenzy of grunts and shoes squelching in the mud trying to find some sort of traction. Elias and I manage to find a tree root to push off of. It’s enough to get the canoe into the water, which is freezing. We’re shin deep before we are able to pull ourselves into it. Elias helps me with ease. Jacob and Avery are close behind us. They had a large rock near them they were able to push against. Shouts are already coming from the direction of Sky and Hudson and I’ll be shocked if they both make it to the end. At least one of them is going to end up in the river.
“Have fun you two,” Elias shouts back to them.
“See you for dinner,” I add.
Sky pauses her effort to help push for a second to give us a very unkind gesture that makes us descend into another fit of laughter.
“Maybe this will be more fun than I thought.”
“You didn’t think this would be fun?” Elias asks as he gets situated in his seat in front of me.
“I mean, I wasn’t sure what to expect with Sky honestly. This whole team bonding thing has been kind of a bust so far.”
He shrugs like he hasn’t had two near death experiences in just as many days.
“I mean, we’ve had our struggles.”
“Struggles? I wouldn’t call last night a struggle.”
My cheeks flush at his words as heat rises in me remembering the “struggle” last night.
The ripples of the water and our oars fill the silence. I put my oar to the left of the canoe so we can drift enough into the left turn without hitting any of the nearby embankments. The current is trying its hardest to carry us into one, but with Elias rowing back and forth at the front and me being able to steer efficiently from the back, we make it through with ease until it opens up to a wider section.
“Think Sky and Hudson are going to make it through that?”
“No chance,” he chuckles. “Siblings have their rivalries, but when it comes to those two, they get in their own way when they need to work together. They’ll definitely get stopped there for a while.”
“And Jacob and Avery are already really far behind us.” I shouldn’t be considering this, but since we said we’d keep it to this weekend, I feel our time slipping away from us quickly and there’s a chance we can get away with it if I hurry.
When I don’t say anything else, he looks over his shoulder. “What are you thinking, red?”
“Really diabolical thoughts.”
“Do tell.”
I don’t. Instead, I abandon my oar and scoot over to him as gracefully as I can manage. “Switch me seats.”
He doesn’t bother to ask questions and maneuvers his way around me until he’s sitting in the back. “Now the narrow path ahead is about a half a mile long.”
“Did you look at a map?” He says with a small laugh.
