Page 52 of Death Match

But this?

I squeezed my eyes shut for a long moment, trying to concentrate on something else besides my scattered breathing and my pounding heart. At that moment, it felt like I could die right here, right now, by doing nothing but just thinking about the bridge and the possibility of falling.

All the confidence I had mustered during my jumps across the maze walls was gone. Poof. Just like that.

You’d think after everything I’d faced in my afterlife, being confronted by heights would be no big deal. But of course, it wasn’t that easy. The phobia was still there, seizing every inch of my body and taking complete control.

What was I going to do? I had to get across. Somehow, I had to figure out a way to do this.

All right, Jade. You’ve done this before. It’s just a bridge. It’s just a… a bunch of century old ropes and planks of rotting wood fashioned together to make an unstable bridge across a mile-wide pit, probably over some treacherous and deadly rapids and sharp, jutting rocks. No big deal.

Hot bile crawled up my throat, coating my tongue. I wanted to hurl, so I bent over and hacked, only spitting up more stomach acid and coughing. Feeling unsatisfied and still sickly, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and straightened.

That’s when a familiar sound rose up from the gorge, echoing off the rocky faces and making my blood run cold.

A baby’s cry.

It couldn’t be. I must have been losing my mind. Why would a baby be in a gorge?

Inching my way to the edge of the cliff again, I forced myself to look down. The mist off the water was so dense, it was a challenge to see through. Holding onto one of the stumps that held the bridge to the cliff, I leaned forward a little. I could just make out shadowy shapes below, on what looked to be a small ledge on the opposite side and quite a ways down.

Someone was trapped down there.

“Hello?” I called out as loud as I could. My voice came back to me in a disjointed echo. “Anyone down there?”

The sound of a baby’s wail rose above the noise, and a chill ran up my spine.

Nope. Not hallucinating. A baby was definitely stuck down there.

“Hello? Is someone there? Hello?” When a desperate female’s voice rose over the whooshing water, my heart shattered into a million pieces.

I knew that voice.

And that meant, I knew that baby.

“Kay?”

Panic. Absolute panic.

For a moment I was gob smacked by it. How was Kay and baby Zachary here? In my Trial?

I wanted to vomit all over again.

I had to get down there. I had to get them out.

“Oh my God! Who’s there? Please! Help!” Kay’s frantic cries twisted an invisible knife into my chest.

How could this be happening? Had I unknowingly brought her and Zach into another deadly situation? Just thinking about it made my head pound with terror and guilt. I’d promised I wouldn’t do this anymore. I wouldn’t involve her in my crazy. She didn’t deserve it. Neither did Zach. He was just a baby for Pete’s sake.

“Kay! It’s Jade! I’m going to get you guys out of there. Don’t worry,” I called to her, my voice trembling a bit.

“Jade!” Relief rang in her tone. Zach continued to cry. “Thank the Lord! Please, get us out of here.”

“I’m coming. Just stay put.”

Frantically, I searched the cliff for something to help. Like a rope or a helicopter, which was preferred. But all I could find was a knife stuck blade down in the dirt, as if it had been purposely put there for me.

And maybe it had. But how was I going to save Kay and Zach with a knife?

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