Then, to her absolute horror, Easton unclipped from the belay rope and started to climb after her. Unlike River, there was no one to catch him if Easton fell. But he’d already committed to the climb, and yelling at him wasn’t going to help anything.
River had no choice but to watch him, every swing of his ice axes as fluid and effortless as the last, until he was below her on the falls.
“You’re trying to give me a heart attack,” River accused him when he was close enough to hear her.
Easton flashed her a grin so broad, even the beard couldn’t cover how much he was enjoying himself. Then, because he actually must be trying to make her keel over, he let go of one of his axes and twisted, dangling above the ground as he took in the view around them.
“Easton, I’m not above spanking you.”
“And here I thought you wanted to keep this professional.” Easton pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture while still dangling. Taking one more of her peering down at him, Easton then tucked his phone away and crested the falls like it was nothing. She was impressed—more than impressed—but somewhat annoyed too.
“You free-climbed that,” she growled at him.
“Yep.”
“After all the crap you gave me for wanting to climb this, you head on up like it’s nothing.”
Easton shrugged, then unexpectedly draped a heavy arm over her shoulders, pulling her tight to his side. Below them, the marmot scuttled around in a circle, frantic at being left behind.
“Hey, Easton?”
“Yeah?”
“Does the marmot seem off to you?”
“It’s totally bonkers.” They sat in silence for a moment, then he spoke. “Hey, River?”
“Hmm?”
“I like climbing with you.”
Resting her head on his shoulder, River was unable to help her smile. “Yeah. Me too.”
• • •
The day’s climb had taken the energy out of her.
Across the campfire from the rest of her party, River stayed seated cross-legged on the thin layer of snow, her weatherproof snow pants softening the chill. She could only imagine how cold it would be in the dead of winter, when this mountain would be untouchable. Her fingernails idly scratched at the ground next to her hip, an unconscious tic as she stared into the flames.
After the waterfall climb, they’d spent a significant amount of time interviewing River about what experiencing that climb had been like. Deciding to use her in the film hadn’t been River’s first choice, but they were limited with how many interviews they had. When it came to the experience of being on Mount Veil so far, River would have to do.
They’d made camp, this time setting up the dining tent so they would have a place to prep their food and eat it away from the snow. The scent of their campfire mingled in her nostrils with the heavy aroma of pine. She could have joined the three card players in the dining tent, but River was enjoying sitting beside the fire, relaxing and taking it all in.
“You realize what it says about you that you always choose to play the unicorn, right?” Jessie told Bree. “The unicorns are inevitably evil, no matter what you draw for abilities.”
With a snort, Bree laid down a card. “I’m increasing my light-footedness. And your insistence on only playing the magpies clearly delineates your need to prove your heroic qualities in a fake world, to counterbalance your less than heroic qualities in the real one.”
“I wasn’t skipping out on washing dishes,” Jessie burst out. “I wanted noodle cups for dinner. People eat noodle cups.”
“People who don’t want to take their turns cooking and cleaning up eat noodle cups.”
Easton interrupted them with a growl. “Hey, can you two cram it for a minute? I still don’t understand where my fluffy bunny comes in.”
The pair stopped arguing long enough to eyeball Easton. His cards were wedged in the fingers of one hand while he skimmed the worn sheet of rules held in the other. “Fluffy bunny is the warrior class, right?”
“You’re killing me here, man.” Jessie sighed with quickly lowering patience as Bree flipped the rule sheet over.
“You’re an assassin class,” Bree explained. “It’s totally different. Warrior classes don’t exist in this game.”
“Why not?”
“Because not every game should require the hero and heroine to smash the bad guys to bits.” Jessie sniffed. “UniMagP is all about finesse.”
“I’m a bunny.”
“You’re an assassin bunny,” he countered. “Which is the ultimate unknown. You can never trust a bunny.”
“Nope,” Bree agreed. “Try to draw a gravity card. Increased gravity increases weight, and you can squash what you hop on—”
River shared an amused look with Ben, who had taken a seat across the fire from her. “Do you think Easton’s going to get it?” she asked.
“I think he’s trying much harder than he normally would.” At her curious expression, Ben chuckled. “I’ve been with him on climbs where he didn’t say two words the whole trip, other than ‘clip on’ or ‘we’re stopping.’ He’s trying to get along with them.”
“Why’s that?”
Ben smiled at her. “Why do you think? I’m going to call it a night.”
Since everyone was busy, River decided it was a good time to sneak away from the campfire and get some time to herself. Taking the handheld with her, she slipped outside the circle of firelight. Since they were still in grizzly country, River didn’t go too far. When the camp’s fire had softened to a small orangey glow a hundred feet away, River found herself a smooth boulder to stretch out on. On her back, she held the camera above her face, pointed at the colors playing across the sky.
“Incredible,” she said softly to the viewers she hoped would one day see what she was seeing now. “The way the sky changes to these pinks and reds behind the cloud cover. As if an artist had painted a sunset, but a storm is rolling in, determined to drive that sunset away. Only it won’t, because up here, nothing can take this away. The beauty is too powerful.”
A noise pulled her attention, the quiet clearing of a throat to warn her of another human’s presence. Several feet away, Easton had paused beside a smaller boulder, waiting for her to notice him. His choice of leaning post was sturdy and strong, like he was.
“I thought you were scared to be alone in the woods with me.” River stayed on her back but twisted so the handheld was turned his way.