Page 50 of Hidden With You

ChapterFifteen

Jasper walked across the gravel-covered turnaround, then sat down at the edge, his feet dangling off into the void. He kicked, and his heels against the rocks sent bits of shale skittering down into the abyss below.

He was looking straight forward, not down. But he knew what was below him. Small trees growing horizontally out of the cliffside. Birds’ nests. Bugs. A raw, vertical surface full of jutting rocks of different colors.

At the bottom, there were tangled trees and vines. Years of untrimmed undergrowth. And one battered blue Toyota, its tires in the air, one door ripped completely off.

He drew a breath, gathering courage, then tilted his head so he could look down into the canyon at the metal undercarriage of the car.

Clouds moved across the sky, blocking then revealing the sun, which reflected off the metal of the car. A message, he thought, and he stared at the flashes, trying to make sense of them.

Dot. Dot. Dot.

Dash. Dash. Dash.

Dot. Dot. Dot.

The signal repeated itself over and over.

Dot. Dot. Dot.

Dash. Dash. Dash.

Dot. Dot. Dot.

A distress call. An emergency. And here he was, safe on solid ground. That wasn’t right. He needed to help. Carefully, he scrambled to his feet, almost slipping once. His chest tightened. Fear engulfed him. Adrenaline threw him back. He exhaled sharply, realizing he could have fallen over the side.

If he had, he would be dead.

He looked down at the car once again.

Dot. Dot. Dot.

Dash. Dash. Dash.

Dot. Dot. Dot.

He had to help, but he didn’t know how. He looked around, for the first time noticing a knotted rope tossed over the side of cliff. He moved to it. It was close by, just one or two steps away. He bent over and tugged on it. He couldn’t see what it was attached to, but it seemed secure. Carefully, he held on just above one of the knots, then—moving hand under hand—he slowly descended into the gorge.

It had seemed so far down when he looked, but he reached the car without even noticing his descent. He was suddenly just there, standing on the undercarriage.

The sun was behind a cloud now, the emergency call no longer crying out to him. Everything was still. There was no wind, no sounds from animals. No noise from cars driving on the road so far above them. It was eerie, and he felt so alone.

Then he heard it. A small sound. A mewl. Like a small cat trapped in a cupboard. He looked around, but he saw nothing.

Then he heard a faint scratching. It seemed to rise up from underneath his feet. From the car’s interior. He tried to listen. Tried to figure out what the sound was. But he had no clue. It was too faint.

“Jasper!”

He froze, his head cocked. But the sound wasn’t coming from the car. It was coming from above him. He looked up and saw her standing at the edge of the cliff. Immediately, fear filled him. He threw up a hand, crying for her to stop, afraid that she would fall.

“Zelda! Zelda, what are you doing?”

“I’m waiting for you. Are you coming back up?”

“I can’t. Not yet.” He wanted to. He wanted to climb back up that rope and hold her in his arms more than anything in the world. But he was here now for a reason. He wished he could remember why. Something about the car and the cliff and a knife.

“I have to do something,” he called up to her.