Chapter 31
Artemis
“Sometimes, the best way to be found is to hide in plain sight.”
—Eloisa Hobby
“Well, crap-a-doodle-do,” Artie muttered under her breath. Not exactly what she imagined for this day.
After a fantastic slumber party, rock climbing seemed the perfect topper to a terrific weekend, and she’d been so excited to scale Opportunity Ridge.
Turns out, not so much.
She was in a fix of her own making with no idea how to fix it. Yes, she had people around her . . . or rather, above her . . . but they seemed powerless. Not that she was blaming them. Far from it. Facts were facts.
Her happy ass was stuck between a rock and another rock.
If she hadn’t been showing off her athletic skills, she wouldn’t be here. Apparently, she was a natural at rock climbing, scrambling up the rock face with an amazing agility that surprised even her. The problem came when they reached a plateau. If she hadn’t sprung like a spider monkey over the crevice, she wouldn’t be in this fix.
She almost made the jump too. Everyone else was too scared to take it, even Orion. Artie thought the jump across the crevice was simple, as she had broad jumped almost seven feet in her PE class, doing as well as many of the boys.
But the second she was airborne, an uh-oh feeling came over her. She landed on her toes on the other side, at the very edge of the crevice. But gravity, that Debbie Downer, pulled at her backpack and she lost her purchase.
Orion, who was tethered to her, hollered, “Falling! Falling!” Just as the Scout leader dad had taught them to do in his tutorial. The other girls took up the cry. “Falling! Falling!”
Artie, unfortunately, couldn’t stop her fall.
Orion tugged on her end of the rope and tried to yank Artie across the divide before she tumbled all the way in, but Orion simply was no match for downward momentum and Artie’s heavier body weight. While Orion was able to set herself and keep from falling in, she couldn’t prevent Artie from going down.
The Scout leader dad and the other girls helped anchor Orion.
Now Artie was wedged like a canned sardine, her backpack smashed hard against her back, acting as a stopper.
Which was lucky. It kept her from a full-on crash to the bottom.
Another bit of positive news. The crevice wasn’t too deep. If she managed to dislodge herself and fell farther, she would only tumble about eight feet. Alarming, but survivable as long as she didn’t land on her noggin. Although she could end up with broken bones.
Eh, it wouldn’t be the first time she broke something.
She was a good six feet from the top and from that distance, no one could grab her hand.
Thirty minutes had passed since her descent. Artie begged them not to call her mother, but Dot, she of the satellite cell phone, insisted.
The traitor.
She was also miffed that Dot had been holding out on her about the satellite cell phone. The woman was a self-proclaimed Luddite. The hypocrite.
Dot also had the audacity to yell down at her, “See why I call it Trouble Ridge?”
Yeah, got it.
The sun beat down, and Artie was pretty darn thirsty, but her water bottle was in her backpack, which she could not reach, pinned in as she was.
Sorry, Mom, can’t hydrate.
“C’mon, guys, get me out of here before my mother shows up! She’ll have a literal cow.” To be fair, they had tried but their efforts so far had only led to a tighter wedge.
“Too late,” Orion said. “Here she comes.”
Artie grimaced and braced herself.
“She’s got my dad, your gran, and Eloisa with her too.”
Ahh, the circus had come to town.
“Artie!” Her mother’s panicked voice sounded above her.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Are you all right?”
Well, her legs were numb, but she wouldn’t bring that up. “Hunky-dory.”
“How did this happen?” Mom’s voice echoed through the crevice.
A shadow fell over Artie, and she craned her neck as much as she could under the circumstances and saw her mother leaning over her. “Long story. Doesn’t matter. Let’s work on the fix, ’kay?”
“Luna,” Paul said in a kindly tone. “Please come back from the ledge. We don’t want you tumbling down there with her.”
The shadow disappeared and to Artie’s surprise, she felt a little orphaned. Her mom would never leave her, but being trapped was freaking her out. Right now, she’d be happy as grape punch to have her mother squeeze the stuffing out of her.
“How are you doing, Pumpkin Pie?” It was Jeanie now, peering down at her. Her forward lean didn’t go as far over as Mom’s.
“Just hanging out, Gran. What’s going on up there?”
“They’ve got a huddle. Don’t worry, they’ll get you out of there,” her grandmother said.
“Could they hurry? I gotta pee.”
“They have to do some figuring. Something about lines, angles, and pulleys. You know, geometry.” Gran put a cheery note in her voice.
“My dad is good at mathy stuff,” Orion reassured Artie.
Several minutes passed.
“Hello up there. How’s the escape plan coming?” Artie asked, her legs prickling pins and needles. Her chest felt tight, and she was sick to her stomach. Ack. The last thing she needed was to barf on herself.
Her mother’s face appeared again. “Hang on, sweetheart. They’re figuring the best way to pull you out, don’t worry!”
“Um, okay.” Breathing was becoming a chore, but panic? Nah, not Artie’s style. “Mom?”
“Uh-huh?”
“Can someone be afraid of depths?”
“Oh, baby. I know how that anxiety feels. We’re going to get you out of there. I promise. Can you take some slow, deep breaths?”
Mom sounded calm. Too calm, really. That freaked Artie out a little. Mom got supercalm when things turned serious.
“I’m . . . tr-trying. The backpack is pressing on my lungs kinda hard.”
Mom stood up and moved from the crevice. Artie heard her murmuring something urgent to someone Artie couldn’t see.
More time passed.
Artie eyed the sliver of sky she could see. She’d been down here at least an hour.
Finally, Paul appeared. “We’ve got enough people now and we’ve worked things out. We’re going to start pulling the rope now. Give a holler if anything feels wonky on your end.”
Artie gave a half-hearted thumbs-up. Her arms were achy and so was her neck from staring up. This was nerve-racking. They tugged, and gradually she started to move, and for a glorious moment the pressure on her backpack eased.
Yay!
They tugged her up a few inches. It was working! Until the rope caught on a tree root growing out of the crevice wall.
“What’s happened?” Paul called down.
“Tree root,” Artie said. “But keep going.” She wanted out of here before she had a complete meltdown.
They yanked.
The rope sawed against the tree root.
“Harder!” she yelled.
They heaved, and the rope bumped past the tree root, but then it gave a sickening crack and Artie gasped as she watched the fraying strands break. “Hurry!”
They tugged even more forcefully.
She swung wildly and tilted upside down.
“Holy shit!” she screamed, struggling to right herself. If she landed on her head, she was screwed. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she braced for impact.
Air whooshed past her body as she fell, and she heard her voice echoing through the crevice. “Ayeeeeeee!”
A bone-jarring crash abruptly halted her fall as pain exploded through her body. Far above, faint panicked voices called her name.
But Artie couldn’t respond, the wind was knocked out of her. She focused on breathing through the agony. Now came the real test of her grit.