Chapter Twenty-Two
Your Sister is a Badass
Sharp rocks and pieces of old branches clawed into my back.
I careened down the side of the ridge, digging my fingers into the dirt but couldn’t stop my forward momentum.
The farther I slid, the deeper the branches cut into the coveralls, tearing straight through to the skin on my arms and back.
The slick bottoms of my tennis shoes made me sail down faster.
My only saving grace was that I was headed straight for the ledge and a small copse of trees that would break my fall.
After a few more bumps, and the unsettling tearing of cloth, I landed with a painful thud against a tree. Stars swam across my vision, but I was safe. Alive. My breaths came in rapid bursts until the sound of a tiny steel jingle made me sit up.
I moved to my hands and knees and crawled around the side of a tree.
Mara sat with her back against the trunk, eyes closed, her breathing even like she was asleep.
An angry red cut sliced across her forehead, and she held a hand against her right shoulder.
Her beagle, Banjo, lay across her lap. When he saw me, he limped in my direction.
The moment his right front paw touched my hand, a familiar shock vibrated through me.
Both of them were in rough shape, and I had to steady my breathing before I spoke.
The last thing I wanted to do was scare an already terrified child.
‘Mara, I’m here to help,’ I said in a soft voice.
Her eyes slid open and tears immediately spilled down her dirty cheeks. ‘Dr McGuire? How did you find me? Is my dad here?’
Her dark hair swung across her shoulders as she tried to inch forward. The slight movement made her let out a heartbreaking cry.
‘Try not to move, sweetheart.’
‘My shoulder. It really hurts.’ More tears wet her cheeks while she watched me gingerly examine Banjo’s body. He whined under my touch but remained still. From the way he was favoring his right paw, I was convinced he’d broken a bone or two.
‘Is he hurt?’ Mara whimpered.
‘Maybe his paw, but I won’t know until I can get an X-ray.’
She started to sob again, and I squeezed her hand. ‘I’m going to call for help. Hang on.’
Thankfully my phone was still lodged deep in my pocket. I held it up for a signal, but nothing registered. My sisters and Bryce had to realize I wasn’t behind them, but that link between us was fading.
I shouted at the top of my lungs for my sisters. For Bryce.
‘It won’t work,’ Mara said quietly. ‘The river below is too loud.’
Think, Dani.
I inched farther out on the ledge and held my phone up again.
‘Your phone won’t work either?’ Mara said with a tremble. ‘How will anyone find us?’
I cursed under my breath. The thing was basically a useless brick down here.
I took a moment. Listened to the wind sing through the trees until an idea hit me. I pressed the button for my music app. Last week, Jessa had downloaded a few of my favorite playlists to use in the office so I didn’t need a Wi-Fi signal.
After a few taps, and raising the volume up as high as possible, Van Morrison’s ‘Brown-Eyed Girl’ echoed across the forest. I scooted closer to Mara and held her hand. Halfway into the second chorus, the shouts came. First Bryce’s low voice, followed by Aster’s strangled call of my name.
I silenced my phone and crawled my way to the back of the tree. Above me, Bryce, Lia and Aster teetered at the edge of the ridge.
‘Are you hurt?’ A painful hitch colored Lia’s voice.
‘I’m okay. Mara’s with me and she needs medical attention.’
‘Is that Lia?’ Mara said.
I crept back to her. ‘Yes. There are a lot of us out here looking for you and Banjo.’
‘Your sister is a badass.’ Her cheeks pinked up. ‘Don’t tell my dad I said that. I’m not supposed to curse.’
I gave her a smile. ‘It’s our secret, and I agree. Lia is a badass.’
‘Can Mara climb up on her own or does she need the rescue litter?’ Lia called.
‘Send the litter,’ I shouted back.
‘I’m going to call it in. Hold on,’ Lia said.
Mara closed her eyes. Pulled in another painful breath. ‘I’m sorry. This was such a stupid idea.’
‘Wanna tell me what happened?’
She turned into my side, making herself smaller. ‘I was at the festival with my friends at that spot everyone likes behind the candy store. They were all talking and making jokes about a sleepover they had last night.’ Her eyes filled with tears again. ‘Without me.’
‘That must have been hard.’
Her chin trembled. ‘I got mad and took off. My dad and I come up here on Sundays. We read. Talk to my mom. It’s a special place.
’ Another tear tumbled down her cheek. ‘My friends said they didn’t invite me because I don’t have a phone.
They were texting funny memes, and then the idea for the sleepover came up.
’ She gave Banjo a loving pat on the back.
‘They forgot about me. Like I wasn’t part of the group anymore. ’
My heart ached for Mara. She’d lost her mother two years ago in a car accident. Darren was a good father, but growing up without a mom was hard. I understood her all too well. The only difference between us was that I had my sisters and Elena, who would never leave me out of a special moment.
‘How mad do you think my dad is?’
‘I can’t answer that, but I’m sure he’s going to be happy to see you. Hug you again.’
She laid a hand across Banjo’s head. ‘I was running and hit a patch of rocks and gravel. Shot off the ridge and slid straight down, landing a few feet away from here. It was painful, but I managed to crawl under the shade of this tree.’ Her thumb rubbed against one of his silky ears.
‘Banjo, he came after me. Never stopped.’
‘He’s a good dog.’
She gave me a sad smile. ‘He’s the best.’
I asked her more questions about school and her favorite subjects, trying to distract her while we waited for help.
‘The rest of my team are two minutes out, Dani.’ The sound of Lia’s voice made us both turn. Her helmet was the same shade of orange as her T-shirt. Once she found solid ground, she clipped off the rappelling line and took measured steps toward us.
Mara’s look of awe and wonder as she watched Lia made me proud. ‘Badass’ was the perfect term for my little sister.
Lia moved in and I whispered, ‘Possible broken collarbone.’
She took another few steps and bent down to examine Mara.
Her touch was gentle. Her voice low and kind.
This was a side to Lia most people never saw.
She may be a grump with adults, but when there was a child involved in an emergency call, the chief always sent her.
She had a remarkable way of soothing even the youngest soul.
Making them feel protected and safe. I was damn proud of her, and I didn’t tell her that enough.
‘I need you to listen closely, Mara,’ Lia said.
‘The search and rescue team is going to lower down what we call a rescue litter. It’s a big, long steel basket.
I’m going to help you climb into it. Once you’re lying flat on your back, I’ll strap you in, and then, with me tethered beneath the basket, I’m going to use our rope system to pull us back up to the top of the ridge. That sound okay to you?’
‘Can Banjo come with me?’
‘No. It’s not safe,’ Lia answered.
She tugged her dog close. Shook her head.
‘Banjo should go with me,’ I said. ‘Lia will give me her backpack.’
She grimaced. ‘I will?’
‘Yes, I’ll put Banjo inside it and climb back up with him.’
Lia frowned but didn’t offer up a better suggestion.
‘I need you to be my partner on this one, Mara,’ Lia said. ‘Be fully focused, so we can get you into the basket and make sure you’re secure. Can you do that for me?’
Mara’s eyes widened, stunned that Lia would trust her with such an important job. ‘Yes, of course.’
After a few conversations about logistics over the radio, the SAR team lowered the rescue litter. The steel basket bumped against the side of the ridge, the attached ropes sliding it down an inch at a time.
I helped Mara stand, cautioning her not to make any jarring movements to protect her collarbone. Once she was upright, I took Banjo from her and that jolt of pain and heat flooded my veins. The taste of steel and copper sat heavy on my tongue. He definitely had a few broken bones.
Lia stepped closer. A white helmet with a goalie-type mask dangled from her fingers.
Mara shrank back. ‘What’s that for?’
‘I need you to wear it. The helmet protects your head inside the litter, and the goalie shield will make sure falling rocks or dirt don’t hit your face. But that won’t be a problem, because I’m a total pro.’
Lia winked at Mara, who gave her a confident smile back. ‘I believe you.’
Once the helmet was on Mara, the snap secured beneath her chin, Lia helped her lie down inside the litter.
‘It’s like being in an open coffin.’
I hated that Mara even knew that image.
‘Consider it more of an open-air swing, with the rest of us just giving you gentle pushes upward.’ Lia gave a firm nod to reassure her.
Mara tucked her chin and closed her eyes. ‘Okay, I’ll picture that and not me swaying thirty feet above the river.’
‘Smart girl,’ Lia murmured as she strapped her in with what she called webbing before cinching four thick black bands over Mara’s chest, torso, thighs and ankles.
‘You’re in good hands with Lee,’ I said, gently patting Mara’s hand.
‘Thank you, Dr McGuire, for finding me. I’ll never forget it.’
Lia gave me a dark look before she clipped a rope to her chest harness. She radioed back to the team that she was ascending. With a quick yank on the ropes, Lia’s body slid beneath the basket as if she was cradling it in her lap. Inch by inch, she pulleyed her way back up the ridge with Mara.
I waited for a half hour until Lia rappelled back down with extra ropes and a harness for me.
‘What the fuck, Dani?’ she said as soon as her feet hit the ground. ‘Did you slide down here on purpose? I was halfway into the forest, and it was like a rubber band snapped in my chest. Ast felt it too. We panicked when we couldn’t find you.’