Wild Fire (14 page)

Kara had an instant picture of Tia covered head to toe in an itchy red rash. She knew she should be ashamed of herself, but the image made her smile. Tia turned calf-eyed every time she was anywhere near Colin. Not that she should care—Tia flirted with all the guys—but for some reason Kara felt betrayed when her best friend acted like that with Colin.

“Wow!” Ryan dropped to his knees and began digging through the ashes with his hands. “Way cool! Look, Colin, real bullets.”

Kara grabbed Ryan's arm, then relaxed when he held out a handful of empty copper-tipped cartridges. “Throw those things back,” she ordered. “They're filthy. And you'd better put your shirt back on. You'll get a sunburn.”

Ryan glared at her then turned away, stuffing the spent bullets into the pocket of his jeans. He snatched something else out of the ashes and ran to stuff it in the leather pouch hanging from Star's saddle.

Kara sighed as she watched him carefully tie his long-sleeved shirt around his waist, leaving his back bare. She knew she should make him obey her, but maybe a sunburn would teach him a lesson.

Tia hollered, “Hey, you guys, let's get with it. Colin found the trail.” Her face was flushed, and she didn't look a bit worried about poison oak.

Colin had been right. It was only a deer track, dusty and so narrow in places that they had to turn sideways to push through the thorny brush.

They walked single file with Colin in the lead, then Tia and Ryan, with Kara bringing up the rear. Colin stopped with a finger to his lips and pointed out deer feeding on the dry, brown grasses just inside the tree line.

Kara felt sorry for the animals. They looked skinny and weak. Even the fir trees were turning brown in this heat.

Tia screamed and the deer scattered.

Kara pushed past Ryan. “What is it?”

Colin was already hovering, working something out of Tia's hair. “It's just a twig. See? Good thing your hair is short. It pulled right out.”

Tia flushed. “Sorry. Something grabbed me. I didn't know what it was.”

Ryan wiggled between them. “Let me see. Aw, I thought it was a snake or something.” He sounded so disappointed, even Tia had to laugh.

Colin turned and started down the trail. Kara fell back to her spot behind Ryan. His arms were getting scratched, and his back was already turning red. She should make him put his shirt on, but it wasn't worth the fight.

“It must be 95 degrees in here.” Colin took a swig of water from his canteen.

Kara drank, then handed the canteen to Ryan. “It looks like it opens up ahead.” She pointed to where the trail topped a small rise, then seemed to end in a halo of light.

Colin followed her gaze. “Man, I hope so. I could use some fresh air.” He looked at his pedometer and let out a low whistle. “I can't believe it, but we've come three miles already.”

Kara grimaced. She could believe it. Her feet were throbbing inside her hiking boots, her hair felt sticky and heavy on top of her head. Sometimes she wished she had gotten it cut like Tia's. A hundred yards ahead the trail ended in a small clearing. Boulders the size of a small house shot up in front of them. The forest closed in thickly to the right, and on their left the ground dropped off twenty feet or more into the river below.

Tia sat down and pulled off her tennis shoes. “Ow! Look at the blisters.” She propped herself against a tree and stretched, peering through one eye at Colin. “I am totally done. Someone will just have to carry me back.”

In your dreams
. Kara bit back the retort and said instead, “I told you to wear hiking boots.”

Tia shrugged. “They're too stiff. I'd have blisters all the way up to my ankles.”

Colin broke into their conversation. “Listen.”

When they stopped talking, they could hear the sound of water rushing over rocks.

Colin slipped off his backpack and handed it to Kara. “The river's too shallow to make that much noise. There must be a waterfall. I'm going to climb over and have a look.”

Colin was halfway up the pile of boulders when Ryan called out, “Hey, look, you guys. You can see it from here!”

Kara gasped. He was standing on tiptoes at the edge of the canyon, pointing eagerly to where the water flowed through a huge hole in the rock face. “Ryan Sheridan, come away from there!”

He scowled at her. “I'm not doin' nothing, I just want to see.” He took another step, then his arms flailed wildly as the ground crumbled beneath his feet. Before Kara could move, he landed hard on his bottom, then slid with an avalanche of rocks and dirt over the edge.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Kara could hear Tia's frantic screams. She heard Colin yell, “Hang on, I'm coming!” Then she was at the spot where her little brother had disappeared.

She grabbed a low-hanging tree branch, leaned out, and scanned the river below. The water flowed shallow and clear. There was no sign of a body, only rocks. Her eyes darted back up over the face of the cliff.

Tia was still screaming, “Oh, no! Ryan! Oh, no!”

Kara's patience snapped. “Tia, shut up! I have to listen for Ry.”

The tree branch was slippery in her sweaty hand. She got a better grip and leaned even farther out over the edge.

Then she spotted him. He sat, hugging his knees to his chest, on a small ledge only a few feet from the top of the cliff. He had scooted back as far as he could under the overhanging rock. She could just see the front of his body.

“Don't you move, Ry! Not even a wiggle, do you hear me?”

He buried his face between his knees.

She took a deep breath.
Stay calm. Think it through
. The only rope she had was three miles away, hanging from Lily's saddle. Anyway, the ledge was too small to lower anyone down. And the lodge was too far away to go for help. He could panic any minute and tumble into the river.

A whimper from the huddled form spurred her into action. She threw herself on the ground and scooted toward the edge. “Tia. Grab my ankles!”

“I can't! Kara, don't, you'll fall!”

“I've got you. Go slow.” Kara felt Colin's strong hands grip her ankles as she eased her way over the ledge.

Don't look down
.
Focus on Ryan
. She took a deep breath, then scooted forward. Another few inches and she'd be all the way over, and Colin might not be able to hold her. “Ryan. Look at me.”

He shuddered, but he didn't raise his head.

“Ry, come on, I can't quite reach. You have to help.”

Colin spoke from behind her. “Come on, partner. It's getting late. We gotta get back and feed that horse of yours. You wouldn't want Star to go hungry, would you?”

Ryan looked up, and the terror on his face made Kara's heart pound. She forced herself to smile. “Hi,” she said gently. “Scoot out just a little and lift your arms so I can reach you, okay?”

He didn't move.

Kara took a deep breath.
Please, God, make him listen
. She tried again. “Ryan, grab my arms. I won't let you fall, I promise. Colin won't let either of us fall; he's going to pull us up, just like in that John Wayne movie. Remember?”

His arms inched upward. She could touch his hands, but she couldn't get a grip. He was too far under the overhang. He would have to slide forward and turn around. If she tried to bring him up the way he was, he could break his back.

She could hear Tia sobbing. Then Colin's rough voice, “If you can't help, be quiet or go away!”

Sweat dripped from her forehead. She wiped her slippery hands on the dusty rocks and tried to ignore the pain in her legs and thighs. “A little farther, Ry. Come on.”

“Come on, partner, you can do it.” Colin's voice was close and comforting. She felt his grip tighten around her lower legs
.

Suddenly Ryan moved forward. Eyes squeezed shut, his arms shot high above his head. Kara grabbed his forearms and felt his slender fingers wrap around her wrists.

“I've got you. Now stand up.”

He let her pull him to his feet. Kara let her breath out, then filled her lungs again, muscles taut. “Turn around, Ry, you have to face the rocks.”

She shifted her grip as he obeyed.
Okay. We have to do this in a hurry
. Up and out in one smooth motion.

“Let's get out of here, Ry. Use your legs if you can.”

He nodded.

“Okay. One, two, three.”

Colin started to pull her backward.

Then Kara's hands slipped. For a split second she thought she had lost him. Ryan's legs pumped air, then connected with the rock face as he helped propel himself up the cliff.

When she was all the way back on solid ground, Colin released her, grabbed the back of Ryan's jeans, and lifted him up over the edge.

“O
H
, R
Y
. Y
OU SCARED US
all to death.” Kara held him until they both stopped shaking. “Do you hurt anywhere?”

“His back.” Colin's face looked grim.

She quickly turned Ryan around. His bare back was scraped and bloody, pitted with rocks and dirt.

Colin unfolded his bandanna. “Here, use this. The inside's clean. I'll get some water.”

Ryan winced as she gently washed the wounds, but he didn't cry.

“That's the best I can do. Here, soak his shirt, the damp will at least cool his sunburn.” Colin emptied the third canteen on Ryan's shirt, then helped her ease it over his shoulders
.

Somehow they made it back down the trail. She and Colin took turns carrying Ryan when he couldn't walk any farther. When they reached the horses, Colin lifted him gently to the front of Kara's saddle.

“There you go, Tiger. I'll lead Star, okay?”

“I want to ride him.”

It was the first he had spoken since they'd pulled him up the cliff. Kara laughed, relieved. “No way, Jose. You stick with me until we get home.”

She knew it was getting late, but she forced herself to keep to a walk. Anything faster would be painful for Ry.

She wasn't surprised to find Dad at the barn saddling a horse to search for them. The look of relief on his face when they rode in made her want to cry.

Ryan did cry then as Dad lifted him from her saddle.

“It's his back, Mr. Sheridan,” Tia sobbed. “He fell off the cliff. It wasn't anybody's fault.”

Way to go, Tia
. Kara glared at her. “He's pretty scratched up, Dad, but nothing's broken.”

“Is everybody else okay?”

Kara nodded.

Colin squeezed her shoulder, then took Lily's reins. “You guys go on up. I'll take care of the horses.”

Dad laid Ryan gently on his bed. Anne took one look at Ryan's shredded back and hustled into the kitchen. She returned with one of the plants she kept on the windowsill. “Aloe.” She slit open several of the leaves and applied the sticky substance to Ryan's wounds. “By tomorrow his skin will begin to heal.”

Later, Anne took in a bowl of chicken soup and some herbal tea. Ryan polished it off like he hadn't eaten in a week. The next time Kara peeked in, she found him curled up sleeping like a puppy on a rug.

Kara and Tia turned in early too, but Kara's sheet felt like a lead weight pinning her to the bed. Every time she closed her eyes, Ryan's terrified face flashed into her mind. She finally gave up trying to sleep.

Tia snored softly from her cot just a few feet away. Kara bit her lip to keep from crying out as her leg muscles cramped. Her arms felt like taut rubber bands, and her abdomen
burned from being pulled along the ground. But she was nowhere near as sore as Ryan. Between the sunburn and the cuts and scratches, his back looked like a piece of raw meat.

She couldn't stay cooped up in here. She needed fresh air and a place to be alone. When the leg cramps passed, she tiptoed past Tia, pulled on her jeans, and eased open the bedroom door. Once in the hallway, she switched on her flashlight. In two minutes she was out the door and into the night.

The air was still warm, and insects hummed in the dry, brown grass. Something slithered past her foot, and she began to wish she'd worn tennis shoes instead of thongs. If she went back she'd wake Tia. Then she'd have to explain what she was doing up at this time of night.

No. Not this time
. She didn't want to talk about it anymore. Explaining to Dad had been hard enough. Not that he blamed her. Anne didn't either. Colin had told them how she hadn't even hesitated going over the cliff after Ryan. But she still felt like it was her fault. She wasn't watching him closely enough.

She hadn't been very nice to him lately either. And today, when she needed him to listen, he wouldn't budge. Not until Colin talked to him. It was Colin he trusted, not her.

Her eyes burned. She couldn't cry; she had to think. She followed the well-worn path through the trees to the spot where a huge, flat rock overlooked the river. It was a popular spot with the guests who liked to fish or broil their bodies in the afternoon sun. But at night, and in the very early morning, it was a private place where she could think or dream.