Unapologetically, Juliet

Chapter Twenty-Three

WITHOUT Trixi and Shel around, I didn't know what to do with myself. So, my genius solution was to throw myself into two things. Cooking and mountain climbing.

I figured Saber definitely wouldn't want to go with me in January like we'd planned, but I still wanted to do the climb. I'd already asked Sarah for the days off. During the two weeks after Thanksgiving, I spent every waking moment that I wasn't at work or perfecting my cooking (which also took a lot of effort), learning about Mount Osage. I wanted to know everything I was about to get myself into, mostly because the last time I'd even gone mountain climbing had been on my twentieth birthday.

As preparation, on the second weekend in December, I decided to do a practice climb. I wasn't going to go up Mount Osage or anything. I'd heard enough stories about the danger not to be stupid enough to go on my own. Instead, I decided to do an easy climb up the side of Devil's Thumb, which was basically just a giant rock formation, it wasn't even a real mountain.

I thought if I went out early enough, nobody would be around to see every mistake I made. At first, I didn't see a single soul as I hiked through the dense woods that surrounded Devil's Thumb. In fact, the day was really quiet until I reached the place where I usually started the climb. Grimm always told me there was an easier way up, but I liked the challenge. Besides, I'd already put a bunch of anchors up.

Dropping my backpack on the ground, I immediately started pulling all my gear out and hooking myself in. I liked using two different ropes and two separate self-belay devices, just in case. Grimm, who used to go climbing with me all the time a few years back, preferred using two of the exact same device, but I didn't like putting all my eggs in one basket that way.

At first, I started the climb pretty slowly, trying to get my groove, but once I figured it out, I got halfway up Devil's Thumb in about twenty minutes, which was way faster than I'd expected. There was a narrow ridge that was wide enough to sit down comfortably where I decided to take a break. I'd packed a few granola bars, trail mix, and beef jerky, but I wasn't even hungry when I finally settled down.

The view very nearly took away what little breath I had left. Mountains towered in every direction, and a vast array of trees spanned as far as the eye could see. I had to admire the varying colors of the pine and fir trees, along with all the grays that winter brought with it. If I were an artist, I would've been tempted to paint the scene, but I sucked at art.

"You stuck?" I was about to stand up and continue when I heard the voice call out from below. I'd been so focused at looking outward, I hadn't noticed anyone beneath me. Being that high up, all I could really see was a figure, no details in the face or anything.

I decided my best course of action was to just keep moving and pretend like I hadn't heard, which was exactly what I did. It took me probably another half an hour or so to reach the top of the cliff. By the time I finally stood on Devil's Thumb and looked out over the valley, seeing Briarwood far in the distance, my legs were shaking. I had to sit down after a while and just catch my breath.

I ended up staying where I was for far too long. I should've just gone straight down, but instead, I daydreamed. For a long time, I just imagined where in the world the Burke siblings could've gone to lay low for a while. They had safe houses and hide outs all over the place, but they never told me where most of them were. Plausible deniability. At least, that's what they always said.

I heard the climber long before I saw whoever it was. The way their shoes scraped against the rocks and the sound of carabiners clicking together and rope sliding through metal. I thought I even heard a few swears, probably when the climber came upon the overhang that had been kind of a bitch to get over, but after that it was smooth for the rest of the climb.