Then things happened like this:
After the initial walk down the dirt access road, we turned onto the actual China Spring trail, cresting a modest hill, only to be greeted by an open view of Thompson Peak. It was like stepping into paradise; I’d never seen anything like it. The trail flattened, and everywhere everything was green. Lush. Sparkling. Alive. A squirrel perched on a mossy tree stump watched us, then chittered and darted away. Sunlight gilded the meadow, which stood tall with wildflowers, the footpath lined with fiddle ferns.
I was awestruck. Everyone else kept doing what they’d been doing, but my mood soared. To be there, in that place I’d studied for so long but had scarcely allowed myself to believe was real, was the most wondrous thing. Walking alongside me, Rose squeezed my hand, which meant she liked it, too, which made me happy. Above us, to the west, reared the peak itself, that glacial basin riven by shadow. I held my breath and stared. It was more dramatic than any Ansel Adams photograph I’d seen, and not only because it was real and right in front of me. The mountain was just that goddamn beautiful.
The meadow dipped and we were in the woods again. The mountain vanished from sight, replaced by thick trees and even thicker gloom. We wouldn’t catch sight of the summit again until we were almost at the lake. But like the impending elevation profile, I kept that truth a secret. Better for the rest of them to wonder, I thought, than to have no hope.
The trees grew denser the farther we went; the trail steeper, cutting back and forth through the woods as we climbed. Crawling over fallen trees and skirting around dicey sections of the path where the earth had eroded away, we made our way onto the mountain. We passed a pond filled with orange-and-brown salamanders, and the air hung ripe with juniper scent. Mosquitoes and gnats swarmed in thick clouds, and soon we were all swatting and sweating while gasping for air.
At some point along the way, Dunc got a blister.
He started to complain.
Avery said she had some moleskin in her bag, so we stopped to let him take care of his foot.
Around this same time, Archie announced he had low blood sugar and needed to eat. I was doubtful—he’d been snacking the whole time we’d been walking, since breakfast, actually—but I didn’t argue. Something about Archie seemed off. His neck was pink, his eyes rimmed red, and he was breathing harder than anyone, like a winded dog. He collapsed his large body in the dirt next to Dunc and pulled out a protein bar.
Since it didn’t appear either of them planned on getting up any time soon, I asked the rest of the group if they wanted to go on ahead without us.
“You can even be the navigator,” I told Tomás in what I hoped was a patronizing tone.
He failed to take the bait, licking his lips and nodding like he was doing me a favor. “Sure. Where’re we going?”
I held the map out. “Hunters Camp. It’s not far at all. All you have to do is follow this trail. You’ll head west when you reach the junction. There’ll be a sign, so you can’t miss it. After that, the camp’s only a half mile or so farther on your left. You’ll pass over the creek to get there, but it should be low this time of year. That’s where we’re meeting up with Mr. Howe for lunch, but we’ve got plenty of time. He won’t be there for another hour or so, so don’t worry if you don’t see him. You’re still in the right place.”
Tomás looked around, pushing his dark hair from his eyes. “All right. So who’s coming with me?”
Dunc and Archie both smirked. I noticed this, then watched as a look passed between the two of them. It wasn’t a nice look, is what I’m trying to say, and for the first time I felt a twinge of sadness for Tomás. Not sympathy, really, or compassion.
Just sadness.
“Rose, you’ll go with your brother,” I offered. “Won’t you?”
She nodded, dropping my hand at precisely the same time Shelby announced that she’d go with Tomás, too. That didn’t make me feel so great, her being with Rose, but then Clay said he’d also go, and that was better. Inwardly, I prayed for Avery to stay behind so that I wouldn’t be left alone with dipshit city, and to my surprise, she did.
“Thanks,” I told her once the other four had continued on, vanishing around a steep bend in a flash of sunlight and dust.
Avery shrugged as if to say, I’m not doing this for you, which, you know, point taken. Then Archie started moaning again about how tired he was, and Dunc rubbed his bare feet like a baby. Avery turned and asked if I wanted to take a walk with her through the nearby woods while we waited for them to get motivated, just to get a feel for the terrain and take in the scenery. Just to do something.
I said sure. “Don’t go anywhere,” I told the other two sternly. “We’ll be right back.”
“Oh, we’re not going anywhere,” Dunc said, in a way that was more threat than promise, and as we left, I glanced over my shoulder to see Archie slide a bottle of what looked like Wild Turkey out of his backpack. The expression he wore was one of both guilt and blissful serenity.
—
We wandered into the trees. It felt nice to walk without purpose. To not be in charge or have my nose stuck in a map.
Avery was quiet as we hiked. I didn’t mind. She had a camera in hand, a Canon DSLR that I knew she’d borrowed from school—she couldn’t afford something expensive like that any more than I could. I watched as she focused the lens on a large bird that sat way up in the top of a cypress tree.
Shutter click.
“Hawk?” I ventured.
She turned. “Eagle. A golden one.”
I nodded. Shoved my hands in my pockets. “Hey, so what’re you going to be doing after graduation? You going to school anywhere?”
Avery squatted to take a picture of a glittering toadstool growing at the sappy base of a cedar tree. “Me? No. I’ll just be working for my dad next year. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Why not? You’re smart. You do that theater stuff. You could get a scholarship for sure. Any school’d be lucky to have you.”
She stood again and there was that smile of hers. Easy as always. “Smart’s not all that matters.”
“I know,” I said.
“What about you and Rose?”
“Oh, Rose . . . She’ll be off at college, for sure. She’s in the middle of applications at the moment. She was going to do poli-sci but now she wants to study math.”
“I hear it’s the only field that’s honest.”
I glanced at Avery in surprise. “You’re right. That’s exactly what she says. How’d you know that?”
“She told me.”
“She told you?”
Avery caught my eye. “We’re lab partners, remember?”
I nodded. “Oh. Right. How’s that going?”
“Good. I really like Rose. I like her a lot.”
“I’m sure the feeling’s mutual,” I said, although I actually had no idea.
“What about you?” Avery asked. “Where will you be going?”
I tried out my own smile, one that felt neither easy nor honest. “Same place as you. Which would be nowhere.”