Nomad (15 page)

"Yes, we are," Macey said. "Come talk to me." She pulled her friend aside again, with an unhappy look back at Raven. Raven realized the girl was terrified by the thought of rock climbing and trying her best to hide it. She felt sorry for the girl.
If I don't change things, you've only got a few years to live, honey,
Raven thought.

"Are you sure about this?" Logan asked Raven with his lopsided smile. "We won't show you any mercy."

"I don't need your mercy," Raven replied. She watched Macey whisper to her friend Sophie, who kept shaking her head, clearly not wanting to go. "I don't know about those two, though. They look scared."

Logan laughed, then cast a quick look at his two male friends who were still there. One of them nodded and nudged the other, and they both walked away to join the larger crowd inside.

"You sent them away with one look," Raven said. "How impressive."

"Is it?"

"I told you, you like to be in control. You like power."

"Why do you think you know me?" he asked.

"Am I wrong?"

Logan studied her with his magnetic green eyes.

"What does one bring to a rock climb?" she asked him.

"I've got all the gear you'll need, but you could buy some climbing shoes. You need shoes with a good grip."

"What do I wear?"

"Dress like you plan to climb up a cliff. What goes well with blood and broken bones?"

"It sounds like so much fun."

"You can't back out now. You already shamed Macey into climbing. That's hilarious." The music swelled louder inside the dining hall, and he reached for her hand. "Let's go dance."

"I can't." She backed away from him. "I don't have time, I have to be somewhere else."

"You're kidding! It's early. The party hasn't even started yet. It's mostly just us party-committee nerds so far," Logan said.

"Sorry." Raven was all nerves on the inside. She felt she'd made progress, securing future plans with him, and she wasn't ready to keep up the college-girl act all night. "I just have to tell my roommate I'm leaving...It was nice seeing you, though, Logan. I'll call you." She started toward the dining hall, and he kept pace with her.

"Did you get any good pictures the other day?" he asked.

"Some," she replied, caught off-guard by the question. "Buildings...trees..."

"Buildings
and
trees? Holy shit. Where did you find those?"

"You're making fun of me."

"I wouldn't do that." He escorted her indoors, where the party had grown much larger in just a few minutes.

Raven intended to say good-bye to Audra and hurry to the nearest exit. Instead, Logan managed to steer her to the dance floor area in front of the undead DJ, where nobody was dancing under the green and purple lights. He even managed to get her dancing to a song she didn't recognize, something with a medium-fast beat and a loop of synthesized sounds. She should have felt awkward, with nobody else dancing, but he made it seem perfectly normal.

More people drifted onto the dance floor, couples and groups of vampires, mummies, and other make-believe monsters. Raven stayed much longer than she had intended, looking up into Logan's face, searching his bright green eyes as though she could find a hint of the real monster hiding inside him, waiting for years to pass until its appointed time to come out.

His eyes were searching hers, too, but she had no idea what he might be thinking. She felt the powerful muscles through his silly red suit as he drew her closer, then the heat radiating from his body. He smiled, which raised the horns on his head slightly.
He is the devil
, she thought,
and I'm dancing with him
.

After a song ended, she backed away. "I really must go now," she said.

"You can stay a minute longer," he told her.

"I'm running late."

"If you know about a better party, I'll go with you," Logan offered.

"Have a good night, Logan. This was fun." She smiled as she walked away, resisting her instinct to run. She saw Audra surrounded by friends and decided it would be too hard to get her attention. She would text her instead, letting her know she'd left early.

Raven stepped out onto the sidewalk and hurried down the dark road, finally letting herself run. She was just a street fighter. She had no training for deep-cover intelligence missions, but she was trapped in one now. She felt sick, and she missed her friend Kari.

Chapter Seventeen

Logan was out of town for half the week because of a varsity golf match. Raven didn't see any need to keep stalking him, anyway, now that she was openly moving on him.

On Monday, she took a lesson at the indoor climbing gym, and she returned each morning for the rest of the week to practice. She wanted to be on top of it before her climbing trip with Logan and pals. Working her way up the small handholds had an oddly familiar feeling, and stirred up memories of climbing among urban ruins--scavenging, hiding, or preparing to ambush.

They departed early on a Saturday morning, before dawn. Logan was all smiles when he met Raven at her front door. She lugged her camera bag with her, remembering how hiding behind the camera had made her feel more in control with him.

"There's my new climbing buddy!" He was annoyingly cheerful. "Ready?"

"I'm awake," she grumbled. "Why don't you look sleepy?"

"I only sleep four or five hours a night. After that, I'm wired. You're climbing in those boots?"

"They're nano-engineered for performance," she said.

"Sounds fancy."

"They're very futuristic boots. If you don't need sleep, why do you drink so much coffee?" She followed him down the rickety outdoor stairs.

"I like feeling sped up. It's nice." He jumped over the final flight of stairs and landed neatly on the ground, then led her to the silver Lexus sport-utility vehicle idling in front of her house.

"Let's go, Logan! Before we get carjacked in this creepy neighborhood!" a girl's voice snapped from the open window at the middle row of seats inside the SUV, where Macey and her friend Sophie glared at Raven with barely concealed disgust. Sophie was the one who'd spoken.

"Come on, this neighborhood is classic New Haven!" Logan opened the car door for Raven and helped her up into the back seat of the Lexus, behind Macey and Sophie, and sat right beside her.

"How do you live in a place like that?" Sophie asked, her upper lip rising in a sneer. "It's so gross. I feel like I'd get robbed all the time."

"Riley, this super-friendly girl is Sophie, and this is Macey. You already met her the other night, right?" Logan said.

"Hi." Macey spoke softly and gave Raven a slight wave, acting very distant. She wore a faded Habitat for Humanity sweatshirt, and her long blond hair was drawn back into a ponytail. Her friend Sophie wore a cashmere hoodie and designer jeans, as though she had no intention of getting dirty today. Raven wondered whether the two girls recognized her from their unpleasant encounter at the coffee shop. Raven had seriously changed her image since then.

"That's Chandler and Ethan up there, my climbing buddies, I think you met them at Inferno," Logan pointed to the boys as he named them. Chandler was their driver. "Everybody meet Riley. She's a crazed photography student."

"Brilliant major choice." Sophie rolled her eyes.

"It's not my major," Raven told her.

"What is?" Macey asked.

"I'm thinking about switching to history," Raven said.

"Oh, yeah? You like museums and stuff?" Logan asked.

"I like understanding how things happened. You can't change history if you don't understand it," Raven said.

"You sound just like my Uncle Henry," Logan snickered. "He's got a million of those sayings. He'd probably love you."

Raven smiled.

"How do you want to change history?" Macey asked. "You mean change the world?"

"Why not?" Raven asked. "The world could use some changing, right?"

"Totally agree." Macey looked at her more carefully. "Which college are you in? I haven't seen you around before." Raven knew Macey was assuming she went to Yale like everyone else, and she was asking Raven's residential college.

"I actually go to Albertus Magnus," Raven said. Sophie let out a barely audible snort. Macey seemed to relax, as if this information made Raven less of a threat.

"Why don't you tell us about your family, Riley?" Sophie asked, in an overly sweet tone of voice. "What do they do? Where did you grow up?"

"Seattle. I didn't actually know my parents. I grew up in some foster homes." Raven had invented this story because it seemed the most difficult for anyone to research and disprove. Any other story would involve pinning herself somewhere more specific, to specific people that she would also have to make up.

"You don't have any family at all?" Macey asked. Her baby blue eyes gleamed just a little, as if this idea had made her instantly sad. "I'm sorry."

"It's nothing, that's just how I grew up," Raven said.

"You know, there's this program where you can tutor underprivileged children in New Haven," Macey said. "I volunteer with them. You should do it, too. I bet you could teach those kids a lot, you know?"

"Oh...okay," Raven said. She wasn't sure how to respond to this shift in Macey's attitude. Macey was treating her like a poor orphan in need of friends--a little condescending, maybe, but not intentionally hurtful. Raven felt a little better about saving her life.

"It's just a thought, but call me if you want to do it," Macey said. "I mean it."

"Thanks." Raven decided to change the subject away from herself. "So, you guys go rock climbing a lot, right? You definitely know what you're doing?"

"Three times so far, and once a week at the climbing gym," Logan said. "Ethan and Chandler just started this year--"

"Right after we met Logan," Chandler added from the driver's seat.

"We're all in the Climbing Club, but we're going to bring back the spirit of the old-school Yale Mountaineering Club," Logan told her.

"Yeah, we are!" Ethan said, acting as Logan's hype man.

"They had expeditions to Alaska, the Yukon...they used to explore uncharted territories and do the charting. That's what we should be doing, not just playing around on these little cliffs and crags," Logan said. "That's much more
Yale
, I think, breaking new ground, going new places. We're going to restore the lost glory."

Ethan gave a loud
whoop
as though he found this to be an inspiring, rousing speech.

"It seems like a good way to break your neck," Sophie said.

"That's what makes it worth doing!" Logan said. "You see what I mean?"

"I hope you boys are careful," Macey said.

They drove north out of New Haven, along an interstate winding through pleasant-looking suburbs that had not yet been touched by war. Autumn trees filled the pastoral streets with color, an effect that became even more pronounced as they reached the countryside. Ahead, the sheer basalt cliffs of Ragged Mountain rose hundreds of feet into the air.

"
That
is what we're climbing?" Macey's face turned pale as she stared at the steep mass of rock.

"Scared yet?" Logan asked.

"No," Macey said in a small, soft voice.

"I'm not climbing it," Sophie said. "I think it's a stupid idea."

"You have to come!" Macey insisted.

"I
did
come. I'm here. I didn't say I would climb anything," Sophie replied.

"What about you, Riley?" Logan asked as they parked. "Still ready to go?"

"Just show me where to start." Raven climbed out of the car and looked up the sheer cliff. They were at a detached slab, which ran straight up eighty feet to a natural, squarish rock tower formation at the top.

"Is there like a...bunny cliff for beginners?" Macey asked.

"This is the beginners' cliff," Logan replied, while Chandler opened the back of his SUV. They began unloading ropes. Macey let out a small sigh as she looked at the steep climb ahead.

"Let's harness the girls for a practice climb," Logan said. "Ethan, you can harness up Sophie--"

"I'm not going," Sophie sat on a boulder. "I can cheerlead. That's my specialty."

"Oh, come on!" Macey said.

"--Chandler can rig up Macey, and I'll take care of Riley." Logan grinned at Raven and approached with a harness of nylon webbing, with loops for her waist and legs. He knelt in front of her, his face at her hips. "Step in."

"You're going to tie me up?" Raven teased as she stepped into the loops. She rested a hand on Logan's shoulder as he drew the harness up her legs and tightened the straps around her thighs.

From the corner of her eye, she noted a quick, unhappy look from Macey as the other boy strapped her into her harness. She clearly would have preferred to get harnessed by Logan instead of Chandler.

While Logan stood up and adjusted her waist strap, Raven gazed at the tanned muscles of his neck and arms. He was close enough that she could smell his leathery, spicy cologne.

"That looks great," Logan said, stepping back with his eyes on her hips. His eyes took their time moving up to meet hers. "We don't usually stoop to top roping, but we'll keep it safe for you new girls. I'll belay Riley. Chandler, you can belay Macey, right?"

"What does that mean?" Macey asked.

"It means I stay down here with the other end of your rope and keep you from splattering on the ground when you fall," Chandler told her, pointing at the hard, rocky earth at the foot of the cliff.. "Splat! Ever seen
Faces of Death
?"

" When I fall?" Macey's eyes grew wide. "Not
if
?"

"And that's why I'm staying on the ground." Sophie flipped her hair and searched for a signal with her phone.

"I'll set the anchor up top. Back in a second." Logan began climbing the vertical slab, using the smallest cracks and fissures as finger holds, towing ropes behind him on his harness.

After he'd climbed several feet, he paused to inject a temporary mount for his climbing rope into a crevice.

"This will stop me if I fall...probably," Logan said. "You don't have to worry about setting up protection, though. We're making it easy on you today. Just watch how I place my hands and feet. I'm sure you can both do it."