Page 19 of The Explorer
“Oh, so you care more about Banni’s opinion than your father’s and mine now, do you?” Indiana scoffed.
“The only opinion I care about ismineand right now I think Banni is right. I’m an adult, and I don’t want you controlling my every move.”
“That’s too bad because your father made me your protector and I take that seriously.”
With my lips pressed together, I stirred the oatmeal with angry movements and reached for a plate. Slapping two spoonfuls onto the plate, I grabbed a spoon and went to sit down on a log while the others poured themselves some of the oatmeal.
Banni came to sit next to me with a plate in his hands while Indiana chose a log on the other side of the fire pit.
“Seeing your father gives me a better understanding of how you became so fearless and strong,” Banni muttered low. “Standing up to a man like that must have been scary as a child.”
“My dad is intimidating but he can also be generous and caring. It’s been a long time since he’s been that furious with me.”
I appreciated that Banni and I could speak in hushed voices because I didn’t feel like involving the others and it annoyed me how Indiana scowled at us.
After breakfast, we packed up and got to the highlight of the day when we took the boat down the river.
Banni sat in the stern acting as the captain while the four of us sat on the edges of the boat with our paddles ready. “It gets rough in places, but that’s the fun part of it. Once we get under the mountain, I’ll need you to pay attention to the height. Don’t bump your heads.”
“What about the drone?” Indiana who sat behind me asked.
“I’m sending the drone off to meet us on the other side of the mountain. It will take us about four to five hours to go through the caves and do all the testing.” Banni used his paddle to push us free from the riverbank.
From the beginning, the river was fast and the boat sped along. I loved watching the trees close to the bank. It was as if some of them were dipping their branches into the river to feel the temperature of the water. None of us said much as we focused on staying free from roots, branches, stones, and logs that blocked our passage in some places.
I was proud when Indiana and I once again proved that we could pull our own weight. We knew how to follow instructions and the two times that the raft got stuck in shallow water, we knew how to distribute the weight and rock the boat to get it moving again. The third time that we got stuck, Indiana was the first to jump in the freezing water and pull us free. Alex and I pulled him back in the boat as we took off at high speed again.
“You okay back there?” I asked while focusing on paddling according to Banni’s instructions.
“Yeah.”
Indiana had to be freezing. It was late December and the water was ice cold.
“How soaked are you?”
“Stop worrying about me. I’m fine.”
I didn’t hear his teeth chattering when he spoke, which I took as a good sign. It made me look down at my knees. My legs should be soaked from all the water that had splashed on me, but I didn’t feel cold or wet at all.
“What are these clothes made of again?” I shouted for Banni and Alex to hear me. Since Val didn’t say much, I had stopped directing my questions at him.
“Less talking and more attention to the water, little grasshopper,” Indiana shouted as the raft bobbed up and down on the temperamental river.
Val pointed to a stone structure that reached up through the trees and looked back at Banni.
I figured the two of them were communicating through their brain link and understood when Banni shouted, “The river will split in two soon. We’ll need to paddle to keep left or we’ll end up going down a massive waterfall. We made that mistake once, so let’s not repeat it.”
I watched ahead and when I saw the split in the river, I called it out loud and began paddling.
Rejecting the natural course of the stream took hard work and we were all paddling in sync using all our muscle.
There was a feeling of relief in my body when we forced our way to the left and sped in the right direction. This part of the river was calmer, and we stopped paddling.
“Relax, save your strength. The entrance to the first cave isn’t far now.”
My neck tipped all the way back as I looked up at the mountain. Using my hand to shade my eyes from the bright light, I soaked up the sight of spotty moss on the sides and trees that were naked due to the winter season. This would be beautiful in the summer and reminded me of home.
“This is it.” Banni steered to the entrance of a cave and told us to mind our heads.
