Julia thought about their last conversation and how Skye had thanked her and said she felt she had blown it all. Now the words echoed in Julia’s head like a valediction and even though the morning sun was already warm, the memory made the sweat at the back of her neck turn cold.
They were coming now to the ridge and as they walked the last few steps, the other side of the mountain revealed itself and for the first time Julia saw the fire itself and the damage it had already done. For perhaps a thousand feet below where they stood, the land was a smoking wasteland, the trees broiled to charred spikes that still smoldered in the wind.
Below that, beyond one of the many rocky spines that traversed the mountain, the forest was as yet untouched. But farther down, just before the trees gave way to grassland and the scrub-filled gullies converged, there were pockets of white smoke where sparks must have carried and caught.
The main fire had been driven north and east across the mountain by the wind. Julia could see it about half a mile away, a tall front of flame moving steadily away from her through the trees. She had never seen a forest fire before and she found herself oddly mesmerized. It seemed somehow animate, even the sounds it made, the roar and crackle and rumble, like some insatiable beast rampaging through the trees. She dragged her eyes away from it and scoured the slope back and forth for any sign of life but saw none. She got out her map and worked out exactly where they were.
‘So if you were Skye, standing here, what would you do?’ she said.
Katie didn’t answer at once and Julia turned and saw she too was transfixed by the fire. She looked very frightened.
‘Katie, we’re safe here. Ed always says it’s like with money, if you’re in the black, you’re okay. Everything around here is black and burned. We’re safe.’
Katie nodded.
‘So what would you do? Where would you go if you wanted to get out of this place?’
‘We don’t even know she came up here.’
‘Assuming she did. Where would you go?’
Katie considered for a moment. She looked at the map and then pointed to her left down the southern section of the mountain face where the unburnt gullies and spines of white rock funneled down toward the river.
‘Down there, I guess.’
‘Me too. I’d head for the river.’
That is, she added to herself, assuming I wanted to survive.
They stood staring down the mountain while Julia tried to figure out a route. Unlike the east side of the ridge, where they had camped, there was no obvious trail. They had no idea what time Skye had sneaked away. If the fire was already burning by the time she reached the ridge, maybe she would have turned back. But they had found no footprints heading back down. The chances were that she had gotten here before it started.
Then the thought occurred to Julia that perhaps, in some vengeful brainstorm, Skye might have started the fire herself. She doubted it, but it was possible. But then, there were a hundred other possibilities. They knew nothing. The only course, Julia resolved, was to follow her own instinct. And her instinct was the same as Katie’s: Skye would have headed down the left-hand side of the slope, following the diagonal spines toward the river. If the fire had already been burning, this would have seemed the safest route. If the fire hadn’t yet started, it would still have seemed the most logical.
‘Come on, let’s go.’
They hiked along the ridge until they were above the edge of what had been burned. The first of the spines was directly below them and its white rock stood out starkly beside the black of the burn. To reach it they had to clamber down a short but steep fall of loose rocks then lower themselves feet-first past a small overhang. Then they were on the spine and the going was easier. The rock was smooth but not slippery and the gradient was gentle. Sometimes Julia felt as if they were descending a broad white staircase, bordered to the right all the while with the black carpet of the burn.
‘Look, what’s that?’ Katie said, pointing ahead.
On the black earth, some fifty yards below, something white was fluttering and at first Julia thought it might be a wounded bird. They scrambled down toward it and as they drew closer she saw it was a book. It was lying open with the wind strumming its pages and long before she picked it up Julia knew whose it was. It was only a paperback and from Skye’s avid use of it the covers were battered and creased. The pages were singed at the edges from the heat that lingered in the scorched earth. Julia flipped to the title page and saw what John Standing Bird had written on it.
For Skye McReedie.
These are your people.
Welcome home.
Skye heard the plane just in time, a moment before she saw it. It was coming from the south, flying low above the river and as its nose appeared around a bluff she dived for cover. Had she been walking on top of the rock they would surely have seen her, but luckily she’d just dropped down to cross one of the gullies and so she plunged into the bushes and stayed put until the sound of the engines melted into the dull roar of the fire.
She rolled over on her back and lay there, panting and looking at the sky through the dry leaves of the willow scrub and realized she wasn’t scared anymore. Not like she’d been when she first came over the ridge and saw the fire. She’d stood watching it awhile, wondering if she should go back and warn the others, then deciding not to and persuading herself there was nothing to be scared of. The worst that could happen was that she might die and she didn’t give a shit about that. She really didn’t. What was the big deal about dying? It was just bang and then nothing. Just plain black nothing. It sounded like bliss. Then she’d had a sudden flash of the young cop they killed and the terror in his eyes as he was being dragged along beside the car and she slammed a door in her head and refused to go there. But it must have affected her because after she’d set off down the mountain, the fire kept on scaring her, the sound of it more than the sight.
But now she was okay. She was even starting to think how good it was to be on the run again. For a while, these last two or three weeks, she thought she’d found somewhere she belonged. But it had turned bad, just like everything always did and the best thing was to get the hell out of it.
She sat up and cautiously raised her head above the bushes, like a rabbit peering from a hole. The plane had gone but she knew it was probably looking for her and would be back. She was thirsty and reached for the knotted red T-shirt that she was using for a bag. All she had in it were her water bottle, Katie’s headlamp and her book and now, reaching into it, she found that the book was missing. She gave a little moan and her shoulders slumped. She cursed out loud and then thought what the hell, what did it matter? All that Black Elk stuff was just bullshit anyway, just their way of trying to fool her into thinking she had something to be proud of.
The water bottle was almost empty and she drained it in one swig and threw it away and still felt thirsty. Her own gray T-shirt was sweaty and torn so she untied the knots in Katie’s red one and put it on instead and threw hers and the headlamp into the bushes. Katie’s boots were about a half-size too big for her and she had painful blisters on both heels, but there was nothing she could do about them. She stood up and looked down the mountainside. She felt as if she’d been hiking downhill forever, but the damn river didn’t seem much closer. At the top she’d kept well to the left and started following these weird platforms of rock, but lower down they kept going off at funny angles and took her too close to the fire, so now she was going to try cutting across them and head directly down the slope.
The gullies were of different depths and widths but all were filled with the same tangled scrub that was as high as Skye’s hips and sometimes her shoulders. Now and then she found a trail that must have been made by animals, but mostly she had to wade through it and soon her arms were scratched and bleeding and she had to hold them aloft to protect them.
Soon she heard the plane again, and she ducked down and watched it through a gap in the bushes. This time it dropped a pair o
f pink and yellow streamers which snaked through the air over to her right where the fire was. The plane disappeared again, but in a short while it was back and dropped two more, blue and pink this time, and then did it a third time, two blue ones, by which time Skye was not only puzzled but also a little freaked. It was like they were playing a game. She figured the streamers must be some kind of signal or marker or something.
Each time the plane disappeared she stood up and headed off down the mountain again. By now her arms were covered in blood and she had nothing to wipe them with. The next time the plane came, it flew in a lot higher and this time, instead of streamers, it dropped two people on parachutes and she wondered if they’d been sent to find her or if it had something to do with the fire. Then it came back and dropped two more and then the same again and again until it seemed like a whole goddamn army was being flown in. She watched them floating down, drifting across the mountain, blue and white and yellow. They looked real pretty but no doubt the sonsofbitches all had their beady eyes spying for her so she stayed crouched in the bushes until she was sure the last of them had landed. She couldn’t see where they came down, but it was definitely a lot farther up the mountain than she was and that was good because it meant they probably hadn’t seen her.
When she stood up again the air felt cooler and the wind was stronger and seemed to be coming from a different direction. It rattled the dried leaves of the scrub and felt good on her face and on her bleeding arms. Away on the horizon there were some weird clouds building up. The sky seemed to be boiling.
She set off again. The river was at last starting to look a little closer. What exactly she was going to do when she reached it, she had no idea, but something would happen. Something always did.
They had made radio contact with Julia on their very first pass across the mountain. What with all the engine noise, it was only Hank Thomas who got to hear her voice, but he relayed what she said and Ed felt a great rush of relief that she was safe. Connor grinned and gave him a pat on the back. Julia told Hank where on the mountain she was and on the next pass Ed and everyone else peered out of the windows and saw two tiny figures fifteen hundred feet below, standing on a strip of white rock and waving frantically.
Hank asked her if she had any idea where the runaway girl was and Julia said she hadn’t but that she thought she must be somewhere between her and the river. But even though on every subsequent pass, every jumper on board scanned the mountain, no one had caught a glimpse of her.
The jump spot was a patch of grass and sliprock below the tail of the fire. Ed and Connor were jumping last stick and by the time they reached it, the others had stowed their jumpsuits and parachutes. They did the same and then the firefighting equipment came in and everyone tooled up and gathered around Hank Thomas. He was talking with Julia on the radio and looking at the map while she gave him the map reference of where she and Katie were. Ed was struck by how professional she sounded. The voice was level and precise and betrayed no fear. But somehow it was like listening to a stranger.
‘What’s the girl’s name?’ Hank asked her.
‘Skye. Skye McReedie.’
Ed looked at Connor. They both knew how attached Julia was to the girl and how thrilled she had lately been at Skye’s progress. It made the calm, professional way in which she was talking to Hank all the more impressive. Hank asked her if she’d seen any sign of the helicopter search and rescue team that was supposed to be on its way. Julia hadn’t and Hank said he was going to radio right away to see what was keeping it. Meanwhile he would send three of his jumpers to help her and Katie look for the girl.
‘Julia, one more thing. You see those thunderheads bubbling up over there to the northwest? There’s a cold front coming in. The wind’s moving around and it’s going to blow stronger. We’ve all got to keep alert to that. This old fire could start fooling around and moving any which way. We don’t want anyone taking any risks. Do you copy?’
‘Copy.’
‘Good. Julia, I’ve got someone here who wants to say hello.’
He grinned at Ed and shoved the radio in his hand.
‘Julia?’
‘Ed! I didn’t know you were there.’
‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine. Just worried about Skye.’
‘She’ll be fine. We’ll find her.’
‘Is Connor with you?’
‘Yes, he is. Here’s Hank again.’
Hank took the radio.
‘Julia? Stay where you are. We’re on our way.’
They signed off and, before Ed had the chance to ask, Hank named him, Connor and Chuck Hamer as the three he was sending to help in the search. Hank and the other four jumpers would cut a line around the fire’s eastern flank.
As the three of them moved away into the forest, he heard Hank start to make the call to find out where the hell the helicopter rescue team had gotten to.
It took them twenty minutes to hike across to where Julia was. They headed up along one of the strange spines of rock that they had seen from the air. Connor could see how this one had acted as a natural fire line. The mountainside above it was black, with the charred totem poles of burnt trees still smoking, while the forest below remained unburned. Connor didn’t know why, but ever since his first glimpse of the mountain from the plane, something about it made him feel uneasy.
They walked single file with Connor in the lead. Once he stepped up onto a ledge and almost trod on a rattlesnake. It ignored him and slithered off, heading with speed and purpose away from the fire. Then up ahead he spotted Julia. She was sitting on a platform of rock with Katie and he called out and they waved and came running down toward them. She was wearing shorts and her pale gray T-shirt was patched with sweat. Ed ran ahead to meet them, taking off his hardhat, and he and Julia flung their arms around each other and held each other while Connor and Chuck walked toward them.
Julia turned to Connor as he came near and hugged him too and he held her tight and was almost overwhelmed by the feel of her and the smell of her and at having her just for that moment there in his arms. They stepped apart and she looked him directly in the eyes and maybe he imagined it, but there seemed for a moment to be some message there for him but he didn’t know what it was. She smiled bravely and looked away and he could see the tension in her face. She said hello to Chuck and introduced Katie who promptly burst into tears and clearly needed someone to hug too and chose Chuck.
‘Hell,’ he said. ‘Why can’t I always have that effect on women?’
They spread the map on the rock and had to hold it down because the wind was whipping around them now. The thunderheads were moving in fast. Julia showed them the route she thought Skye might be taking and where they had found the book. She suggested they fan out across the slope and move down in a line, keeping radio contact. Katie was the only one without a radio and when Connor suggested that she should team up with Chuck, she looked relieved. As they were about to move out, Hank came on the radio and said the rescue helicopter had lost radio contact and no one knew where it was. For the time being, he said, they were on their own.
The idea was that they were going to move down the mountainside in a line, as straight as the terrain allowed. Ed was going to take the northern end, nearest the fire, Julia next, then Connor, with Chuck and Katie taking the southern end. Ed stayed where he was and wished them luck as Connor and the others set off to take up their positions.
Chuck and Katie hiked on. Connor walked beside Julia.
‘Oh, Connor,’ she said quietly.
She took a deep, shuddering breath and kept her eyes straight ahead. He could tell she was right on the edge.
‘We’ll find her.’
‘If anything happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself.’
He put a hand gently on her shoulder and she pressed her hand on his hand but still didn’t look at him.
‘It’s all my fault.’
He wondered what had happened to make Skye run but it didn’t seem the
time to ask. She took her hand away and so did he.
‘You know what I keep thinking about?’ she said. ‘That elk you took the picture of. The one with its antlers on fire. I can’t get it out of my head. I don’t know why, but every moment I think he’s going to step out in front of me.’
Connor didn’t know what to say. He’d had the same thought himself but it wouldn’t help to tell her and they walked awhile without speaking. The wind rushed around them and rustled the huckleberry along a rim of forest below and it seemed to Connor that the sound issued from some joined but desolate corner of their two hearts.
‘Connor?’ She was looking straight at him.
‘What?’
‘Tell me it’s going to be all right.’
‘It is. I know it is.’
It was the first time he had lied to her. And it wouldn’t be the last.
12
Skye watched the anvil clouds moving ever nearer. They were the color of gunmetal seamed with a sickly yellow and as they came they seethed and merged and lightning flickered from their joined belly like the tongues of angry serpents.
How many gullies she had crossed, she didn’t know. But now the land was tilting and sending her across toward a vast curving valley of grass and boulders which seemed the best way down to the river. The valley was fringed on both sides by unburnt forest. She stopped in the shelter of a leaning rock to catch her breath. Her blisters hurt and her knees ached from hiking downhill for so long. The inside of her mouth felt like sandpaper. God, what she’d give for some water.
She turned and scanned the mountain for any of those people who’d come in on parachutes, but there was still no sign of them. The fresh wind had caked the blood on her arms and they itched and she stood scratching them and watching the clouds roil and the sun searching for cracks between them, sending patches of golden light scudding across the shadowed land.