I fell with a sickening feeling. My arms flailed wildly. Hands clutched, trying to grab something.
I caught a branch under my knee, missed the grip, and fell to the next one. I slammed into the branch but grabbed hold and stuck.
I hung from the branch, my body dangling. Then I pulled myself up and hugged the tree trunk. Pulse pounding.
Opening my eyes, I saw I had only dropped a short distance. I was still high in the tree. I was still alive! But I needed to get down.
I dropped from branch to branch, first carefully placing each hand, and then letting myself swing and hang. I had to trust my body. I was a gymnast and I could do this.
An eagle screamed above me. I glanced up and missed my next hold. I slipped. A branch caught me under the left arm and stopped me short. I clung tightly, breathing hard. Rough bark digging in. Focus!
Branch by branch, I made my way toward the ground. When I got to the lowest branch, I peered down at the log I had braced against the tree. How had I jumped that high? I couldn’t let myself drop that far.
I sat on the branch, both legs dangling over the side. What was I going to do? I was stuck in the tree.
If I slid down the trunk with bare hands, I’d be flayed alive by the rough bark.
I patted my pockets and took a closer look at the belt on the suit. It was made with a wide band that looked like seat belt material. I pulled it out of the loops until I was holding just the belt, and then expanded it so it was as long as possible. Now I needed to get it around the tree trunk. I tried whipping it so the end would come around the trunk, but it didn’t reach all the way. I kept trying to whip the buckle around the tree until, finally, I was able to grab it with my other hand.
I had both ends in my hands now. I just needed to jump. When I peered down at the ground, it swayed. I shut my eyes tight.
“Be brave. Let yourself go. You used to do this. You can do it again.”
I eased my butt off the branch. Bracing my feet against the trunk, I leaned out, clinging to the belt. My stomach leaped up into my throat with the feeling of falling. I slid down the trunk, bark flying from my shoes. Before I’d even shut my eyes, the belt stopped short on the propped log and I let go. I dropped the rest of the way and landed.
Not on my head. On my feet.
I raised my arms and posed like I had just struck a perfect landing. My knees trembled; my legs hardly held me. I craned my head to look up into the branches.
“Yeah, I can!” I yelled.
“Did it work?” Marina shouted back. “Are they coming?”
“They’re coming!” I yelled as I raced back to our camp. I could see the fire burning bright against the dimming light.
But no one came.
As darkness settled, we had to face another night in the shelter. Mosquitoes and black flies crawled in my hair, buzzed in my ears. Marina’s wrist was now twice as swollen as it had been, and a really ugly color. And we were thirsty. I was feeling even worse after all that climbing.
“You’re going to have to walk out of here and let them know where I am,” she said quietly. “I can’t walk that far.”
The night was long.
I added wood to the fire to keep the bugs away. We listened to the whales and the seals and the owls and things that scurried in the dark behind us. Each new noise made us freeze and stare, wide-eyed, into the night.
Soon, the forest around us appeared in the pre-dawn light. We were still planning how I was going to be able to find help. How to follow the shoreline so I wouldn’t get lost. I didn’t want to leave Marina.
Once again, we heard splashes coming from the ocean. “Selkie coming to check on us?” I said, as I rolled over.
“Not seals,” Marina said.
I looked out and my whole body zinged with energy. We turned to each other and laughed. And then Marina started to cry. She held out her good arm and we hugged.
A boat was coming straight toward us.
