Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Zahra dusted her hands, staring up the rock face, her expression determined and focused. She was the shortest of all of them, just shy of five feet by a couple inches, which made it difficult to climb given the way many of the routes were set up. She didn’t have the wingspan taller climbers had. She was extremely flexible and could smear her feet up tiny holds that others couldn’t stand on. The other thing Zahra had going for her was she maintained good form. Her body always knew where her center of gravity was and seemed to keep it automatically.
Zahra stood on the crash pads for a moment and then she reached up, her fingers barely finding some small crimps to start with. She easily pulled herself up onto some tiny footholds. She pressed into the rock and reached up with her right hand above her shoulder to find the next crimp. The next move was a high step, but she didn’t commit and instead jumped down. “What was that? You jumped off, Zahra,” Stella said.
“I fell off.”
“You jumped.”
“She’s just warming up. You got this, Zahra,” Vienna said.
“Thanks, Vienna. Yeah, I was just warming up.” Zahra smirked at Stella with her laughing dark velvet eyes.
“I think you’re warmed up, girl. You got this, and Vienna and I will spot you.” Stella knew that Zahra was a bit afraid, although she would never admit it to the group. She preferred to keep things light and funny. “Vienna is an excellent spotter, and you know I won’t let you get hurt.”
Zahra looked at her friend with knowing eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said. Her whole posture changed and she approached the rock with determination. She pulled onto the same crimps, but this time with quick efficient movements and commitment. She made her way up the rock face easily, moving with natural grace. Zahra might not like bouldering, but her technique was solid and she made short work of the problem easily. Once she stood on top, she smirked at them both.
“Are you happy now, ladies?”
“Yeah, Zahra. Nice job! Now you have to try the V2,” Stella yelled at her, with a laugh.
Zahra rolled her eyes at her. “You have to help me get off this boulder first. Are you going to bring the crash pad around for the downclimb?”
Even Shabina was beaming, although she sobered almost immediately. “I guess that leaves me. Are you all certain you aren’t tired and want to have lunch? When Zahra comes down, we can ask her. She’s always hungry.” There was a hopeful note in her voice, but Vienna could see as she studied her expression that when she looked at the boulder, there was longing there as well.
“What is it, Shabina? I know you want to climb,” Vienna said softly, sitting down beside her, making a pretense of holding her arms out for Shabina to massage. “You know I’m not going to say anything. None of us would anyway. We all have reasons to be afraid of something. If you didn’t want to climb, we’d all understand, but it’s clear that you want to. Maybe talking it out would help.”
Shabina looked at the boulder Zahra had climbed and then around her at the other boulders. “I live in Knightly, where there is some of the best bouldering in the world. My best friends love to boulder, and I enjoy spending time with them more than I like to do anything else. So, yes, I want to learn to climb, but every time I look at a boulder, I get this really ugly feeling in the pit of my stomach. It takes a while to overcome it. A lot of deep breathing and meditation.”
A shadow moved over the two of them and Vienna saw Shabina flinch and pull into herself, her head turning quickly and her hands going up into a defensive position. Vienna’s instincts were to shield her even though she knew it was Stella and Harlow coming up behind them. The women had water bottles and the trail bars Shabina had made.
“A quick pick-me-up,” Harlow said, leaning over Vienna’s shoulder to hand them the goods. “Private convo, Shabina, or can any of us join? No hard feelings either way.”
Shabina hesitated and then shrugged. “It’s all right. It’s silly really, always fighting bad memories. Stella has bad memories, and she functions fine every day. She runs a beautiful resort and a fishing camp. I’m sure all of you have bad memories,” she added as Zahra flung herself on the crash pad beside Vienna.
Zahra glanced at Harlow but didn’t say anything, only nodded. Raine joined them, sitting with her back against the rock, facing them. Vienna knew in Raine’s job working for the government, the people around her were often vetted. Raine knew more about them than they probably knew about themselves, but she was very good at keeping confidences. That knowledge often set her apart, and Vienna sometimes felt bad for her. Often, Raine could look lonely.