Page 22 of Found By the Surly Ranger

And the second I do, I need to tell her the truth.

She's mine. I'm hers. And I'm going to make sure that she's never afraid of anyone or anything ever again.

15

KARA

My fingers ache and my knees feel all scraped up against the rocky wall as I attempt to climb the mini cliff. Finally, I get to a point where I feel like I shouldn't go any higher. I'm already afraid to look straight below me.

I've made more than a few mistakes in my life, and I'm starting to think this one is pretty high on the scale. Peering left and right, there's no way of knowing where I am, or how far it is to Maple Trail, never mind Jace's house.

Only a few raindrops have hit me so far, and the trees are providing shelter, but it's starting to get dark, so if I don't find a direction fast, I'm in big trouble.

Clamping my fingers around the edge of rock, I look carefully over my shoulder, making sure not to look down. The valley in the distance looks familiar. Is that the one we saw from the lookout near Jace's house? If so, then Maple Trail is between there and where I am now. It seems incredibly far. It could take me hours to get there.

My entire body sags. Why didn't I just go back into the library to get Jace? Why did I have to run?

Because you panicked. Because you're a silly girl who keeps messing everything up.

The breeze picks up. I need to decide right now whether to try to climb higher, or get back down. Then I hear something. Not the wind. More like…a call? Straining to hear, the sound floats by again.

"Kara? Kara!"

I don't think it's Brad's voice. But it's definitely not Jace. I don't recognize it.

"Kara – we're friends of Jace."

Then a second, slightly different tone. "Kara – Jace sent us to find you."

It's two different voices. Brad wouldn't know about Jace, so they're definitely trustworthy. "Over here!" I holler back, trying to climb back down the cliff.

Looking down…oh god, that makes my head swim…I'm only maybe twenty-five feet up, but it feels like a mile.

"We've found her." I turn to see two burly men heading toward me, one of them on his phone. "She looks okay."

The other man comes closer. "Kara, my name's Barrett. Can you start climbing down?"

"Yeah. I think so."

The other man is obviously on the phone with Jace, explaining where we are. Barrett focuses on me. "You're okay now. Just relax. Take a deep breath, and start backing down nice and slow."

He's standing right underneath me, but there's no way he could really catch me if I fell. I attempt to calm my ragged breathing, then reach my left foot back down to the edge I used before.

"Thaaat's it," he says quietly and encouragingly. "One step at a time."

"Jace is on his way," the other man says. As I slide my eyes to him, he smiles and waves. "Hey. I'm Griffin."

"Thanks for coming to get me." My voice sounds tiny in the wind, which is starting to bounce off the rocks and trees around us.

As I slowly move down, I hear Griffin quickly calling several people to let them know that I've been found. Wow – Jace set up a full on search party for me? That makes my heart sing.

"Let's try to get you down before it rains," Barrett says, throwing a worried glance at the sky. "Don't rush, but…yeah, keep going."

I manage to climb down a few feet more before it starts to rain in earnest. "That's it," Griffin calls up. "There's a good hold for your right hand about one foot below."

Between the two of them guiding me, I manage to make it a few more feet. It's super slow going, since I'm afraid to look down. All the way up, I could see what I was doing. Now my own body is in the way as I struggle to find hand- and footholds.

What was I thinking? I'm not a rock climber. Once again, I panicked, and as a result I'm in over my head.

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