Page 12 of Alien Noble's Pretty Human

"Three emergency beacon flashes at twenty-second intervals."

Despite myself, I'm impressed by his knowledge. "Well, well, look who actually was paying attention for once."

“Laugh it up. I’ll be bailing you out before you know it, princess.”

“I am not your princess. Stop calling me that.”

“That you are not.”

As much as we clash, at least I can rely on his preparedness out there. Still, I have no intention of needing rescue.

The mountain awaits. Let the real contest begin.

7

RYLAN

“Five, four, three, two…”

Everyone takes off like a shot at the gun. It’s kind of silly considering this is a marathon, not a sprint. I shoulder my backpack and walk quickly.

Today’s climb is one of the most challenging parts of the race, right at the very start. I’ve done it many times before. If I can get through that without needing to rest, I’ll end up ahead of everyone who wasted their energy running through the woods to get there.

I take the first right turn. It is less direct, but I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a bottleneck at a relatively small rock face. I wind my way back and forth through the switchbacks, then the trail leads me back to the main route.

Let’s see how many suckers went this way,I think as I get closer. I can see a couple of competitors who finished heading up the trail already. I’m about to peer down when a head pops up. It’s Iara.

“Oh, hi.”

She looks at me. Her face is flushed, but she shows no sign of weakness as she pulls her whole body up over the edge. Our eyes meet, and I quickly look down.

As I suspected, there is a large queue. Several people are pacing back and forth, clearly annoyed, but there is only so much room. The only thing worse than getting stuck at the bottom is getting stuck on the rock directly below someone.

“Is that…?”

She reaches down and plucks a flower. I forget the name of it, but I know that it’s a great thing to have in your pocket. You can pull a petal off and slap it on a cut. It will stop the bleeding and disinfect it.

Iara twirls it between her fingers a moment, caressing it with nimble fingers. I find myself somewhat astonished at how gently she treats the fragile thing.

She’s right to do so, of course. That flower may prove to be the one thing standing between her and an early grave. Still, I’m drawn into the display. My chest aches for those fingers to land on my own skin and gently run up and down my pecs…

I shake my head. Now is the worst time to get carried away into some ridiculous fantasy land.

“Did you go around?” she asks.

I look at her and see she’s grinning.

“Yes.” I shrug. “And looking at that mess, I think I made the right decision.”

“I didn’t figure you for someone afraid of climbing.”

“I’m not—!”

She takes off. I shake my head.

“Forget about it,” I mutter.

If she’s baiting me, she’s probably just trying to get me off my game. I resume my slow, steady pace. I should overtake her in a few minutes. My stride is probably at least twice hers.

---