But even so, she came close to sliding off.
She was only saved by the broad base that housed the brush, which acted as a kind of safety seat for her butt to land on. It allowed her a second to scrabble her way back up toward the handle, hand over hand. And once there she hooked her feet together, so nothing could jolt her free.
While the Hoover sent her higher and higher.
Seth now looked incredibly far away.
All she could make out was the white of his face, and his frantically waving hands. Before a wave of vertigo made her look away again.Focus on flying,she told herself, frantically. But that just made her think of the impossibility of what she was doing. The fact she was actually soaring through the air on an electric appliance, at a speed that turned her hair into a streamer.
Soon, she would be in the sky.
She’d be able to brush the tops of the trees with her hand.
She even thought she might dare to, once she was there. But just as she thought of something that strange and wonderful, just as she started to see things in a more positive light, something bad seemed to happen. She felt a jolt go all the way through her, violent enough that she almost lurched off the Hoover. And it took almost everything she had to haul herself back on. She heaved so hard her muscles screamed at her. Bones got bent into positions they didn’t want to be in.
Then somewhere in the middle of all of this, she tried to look back and figure out what was going on.
And that was when the Hoover seemed to jackknife. It swung toward the nearest tree, in a way that spelled out exactly what had happened. The rope had caught on a branch. It had gotten snagged—and, oh that was bad, it was very bad. It made her brace, and press her face into the backs of her hands, and try to make her body as small as she could.
But she still felt every twig and leaf and bit of bark bashing into her.
Something jabbed her in the stomach. Suddenly there was a leaf in her mouth, bitter and wet and choking. And though she tried to grab hold of something, she couldn’t, she just couldn’t, it was all going too fast. There wasn’t even time to breathe or think. She just had to close her eyes, and hope something kept her from plummeting.
Because the Hoover sure wasn’t going to do it.
She lost it, somewhere amid the maelstrom. Heard it crashingthrough the tree below her, loud enough that it made Seth make a terrified sound. Then there was a crunch, and she felt something rough against her cheek, and suddenly everything was quiet. Everything was still.
She had come to rest on a kind of hammock of branches.
She was all right. She was all right.
Or as all right as anyone could be, while jammed in a tree about thirty feet above the ground. With absolutely no way to get down.
Yeah, you didn’t think of that when you were getting all high on being almost impervious to harm, her brain sneered. And sure, it was being a jackass. But it was also completely correct. She couldn’t even see the Hoover anymore—which meant it was most likely too far away to retrieve. It might have even hit the ground by that point.
Can you see it and possibly send it back up like an elevator, she wanted to yell at Seth.
But then Seth bellowed, “Cassie, do not move. I’m coming to get you.”
And to her surprise, she found she didn’t doubt him. She didn’t even worry that he might do it badly and fall. She just peered through the leaves, fully expecting to see him grabbing branches and hauling himself up.
But somehow, he still did more than she had imagined.
He climbed thetrunk.
And he used his claws to do it. As if he could summon them up at will—which, honestly, until that point, she’d had no idea was even possible. She’d thought he needed something to spike it, and yet here he was shredding bark to get to her. And not just with his hands either. His feet were bare, and in very much the same state.
It was like watching a jungle cat scale its way up to her.
Several times she almost moved to get a better look, before realizing what that would mean for her.You try, and you will test what plunging to the ground is going to do, her mind hissed. Then she forced herself to stay still and wait.
Not that she had to do so for long. Ten seconds later, there wasSeth’s face, peering at her from between the branches. And he wasn’t furious or mocking. He just looked incredibly stressed.
“I seriously thought you were going to end up on the fucking moon,” he said, between frantic breaths. “And that was not a fun thing to experience. I mean, sure, the potion will protect you. But how would I get you down from outside earth’s atmosphere, huh? Answer me that.”
But he didn’t wait for her to try.
He just reached forward. He got a hand around her waist. And then he pulled her, carefully but firmly, into the circle of his arms. He cradled her, gently enough that it gave her weird goose bumps, everywhere he was touching her body. Between her shoulder blades, against her upper arm, just a little at the nape of her neck, where it still felt sensitive from that lick of his warm breath.
