Page 132 of Tiger's Quest
“Well, I’m going to jump, so are you coming with me or not?”
“Did anyone ever tell you you’re stubborn? Were you this stubborn with Ren?”
“Ren had to deal with stubbornnessandsarcasm, so consider yourself lucky.”
“Yeah, but at least he got some kissing for his effort.”
“You got a few kisses yourself.”
“Not voluntary ones.”
“True, you stole them.”
“Stolen kisses are better than none.”
I raised my eyebrow. “Are you just starting an argument with me to chicken out?”
“No. I’m not chickening out. Fine. If you insist on doing this, please explain to me how it works.”
“Easy. We strap ourselves in, jump, clear the tree, and pull the ripcord. At least I hope that’s how it works,” I mumbled softly.
“Kelsey.”
“Don’t worry. It’s the way we’re supposed to get down. I know we’ll make it.”
“Right.”
He strapped himself in while I put our regular backpack on backward against my chest. Then I approached Kishan.
“Umm . . . you’re too tall for me. Maybe I can stand on a taller branch.”
I looked around for something to stand on, but Kishan wrapped his hands around my waist and picked me up. He snuggled me next to his chest while I strapped myself into the other part of the Scarf’s harness.
“Er . . . thanks. Okay, so what you need to do is carry me, run, and leap off the branch. Can you manage that?”
“I’m sure I can handle it,” he responded dryly. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
He squeezed me close.
“One . . . two . . . three!”
Kishan ran five steps and hurled his body into the void.
22
Exit
The wind screamed around us as we plummeted freefall through the sky, spinning like Dorothy’s house in the tornado. Kishan was able to stabilize us in a face-down position. He took hold of my wrists and drew our arms out in an arc. Not a moment after we stabilized, we heard a screech overhead. An iron bird was on our tail.
Kishan lifted my left arm in the air, and we dramatically veered to the right and picked up speed. The bird followed. He lifted our right arms, and we swung left. The bird was on top of us.
Kishan screamed, “Hold on, Kells!”
He pulled our arms back to our sides and tilted our heads down. We burst forward like a bullet. The bird folded its wings and plummeted with us.
“I’m going to flip us! Try to hit it with a lightning bolt! Ready?”
