He holds open the harness and crouches in front of me. “I'm assuming you haven't worn one of these before?”
I step in carefully, fully aware of his proximity to my body. “You assume correctly.”
He stands, pulling the harness up and fastening it around my waist while I stay perfectly still with my arms up in the air. Oh, he smells yummy. Too bad he’s a total arsehole.
“Turn around, please.”
I do as he says, and he tugs on the harness, tightening it even more, his fingers dangerously close to the bottom of my bottom. Clearing my throat, I say, “I could probably manage this myself.”
“I'm sure you could, but we’re in a bit of a rush, and it's not something you want to get wrong.”
Fair enough. When he finishes, I turn to find him directly in front of me, holding a backpack. I take it from him, and the weight of it causes my arm to fall to my side. It feels like it’s got a bowling ball in it, but I don't dare complain. Instead, I slide it on, wishing I was anywhere but here.
Will gestures with his head, and we start toward the helicopter. I jog along behind him, ducked down like an idiot the entire time, even though we're still a good fifty yards from the helicopter. Once we’re on, he attaches two long ropes to my harness and checks to make sure everything is secure, tugging hard enough on the equipment to lift me off my feet.
Mac and Tosh sit across from us, then Dylan gets on. As the helicopter lifts off, my stomach hops up to my throat and I plaster a smile on my face in spite of the fact that I'm positive I'm going to vomit. That lunch was a bad idea.
Tosh points the camera at Will, who puts on an easygoing smile and starts to talk. “We’re here in the beautiful jungles of Zamunda—the third-largest untouched rainforest on the planet and also one of the most species-rich habitats on Earth. There are over 10,000 species of tropical plants here, four hundred species of mammals, a whopping eight hundred fish species—including piranhas. And for anyone who likes to have a lie-in, this is not the place because these forests are home to over two thousand types of birds. And they like to wake up early. The Zamundan jungle is one of the most dangerous places I’ve been, and also one of my favourites.
“It’s literally teeming with wildlife and danger at every turn. And we are about to be dropped into the heart of it, where we can only hope we don't come across any of the several species of gorillas or chimpanzees, who, from my past experience, I can tell you arenotbig fans of humans venturing into their territory. If we manage to avoid them, we’ll still have to worry about the giant rats that call this jungle home. They’re roughly the size of a large house cat and they have razor-sharp teeth they use to kill any venomous snakes who try to attack them. But all of that is nothing compared to the deadly spiders we’re sure to see. And as if that wasn’t enough, it’s not just the animals who live here that can kill you—some of the plants can as well.”
He stops talking for a second but keeps grinning. What the hell is he grinning about? None of the things he just said sound remotely positive. I glare openly while he continues.
“Venturing out here without a good knowledge of the area is going to get you killed, because even though you’re surrounded by food sources and fresh water, if you don't know where to find them, you'll likely succumb to poisoning. That is, if you don’t starve to death first. These forests are so dense and the terrain so difficult, it would take a search and rescue team several months to find your body.”
Tears spring to my eyes and I quickly look out the side of the helicopter which only causes my stomach to lurch.It’ll be okay. Just don’t listen to him, Arabella. He's only saying those things to add to the drama.
“We’re about to rappel down into the canopy of the jungle to start our trek all the way to Mbambole. This is where we have to have an incredible amount of trust in our helicopter pilot because one wrong move by him, and Princess Arabella and I will fall to our deaths or be impaled by one of the thousands of tree branches below. Lucky for us, Idriss is one of the best in the world.”
Will casually leans his upper body out of the helicopter, searching for a spot to stop. I have a sudden urge to grab him and pull him back in, but I don’t. After a few minutes, he shouts, “This looks good here! There’s an opening in the trees directly below us!”
Does it? Does it really look good?
Idriss gives him the thumbs up.
I guess it does.
“All right, Your Highness, are you ready to do this?”
I try to nod, but my head shakes a solid no, instead.
“I thought as much,” he says with a look of understanding that I’m positive is totally phony. “It's okay. It's pretty cool that you even got this far. Very few people on the planet have ever seen any of this.”
He smiles in a way that is both kind and condescending at the same time.
There's something about it that ignites a fire in my belly. “You'd like that, wouldn't you? If I stayed in the helicopter?”
“To be honest, yes. Then I wouldn't have you to worry about the entire time,” he says. “Think about it—by tonight you could be at home on your thousand-thread-count sheets.”
“They’re two thousand, actually, and they’ll be waiting for me in ten days. Now how do we do this?”
He gives me an exasperated look, then stands up and turns his back to the open side of the helicopter. “Stand here,” he says. “Grip this bar. Step back onto this skid. Then step off slowly and you'll start to slide down.”
“See you out there. Or not,” he says, stepping back and dropping out of sight.
I stand, my entire body feeling wobbly as I reach up and grab hold of the bar next to the door.Okay, Arabella. You can do this. It's just an easy step back. You are not going to die.
Yes, you are, you fool. Get back in your seat, where you belong!
