“We’ll take my canoe,” said Alice.
“Where are we going?” said Melissa. She was lying on her stomach on the flat rock, drying off in the hot sun. The swim had been amazing, the water like cool silk. Now she felt like a lizard, unable to move.
“Get your paddle,” said Alice.
Melissa reluctantly sat up. “Where are we going?” she repeated.
“You’ll see,” said Alice mysteriously.
Melissa retrieved her paddle and climbed into the bow of Alice’s canoe. Alice scrambled into the back and untied the rope. It was much easier to paddle a canoe with two people, Melissa quickly discovered. She was amazed at how fast they skimmed across the still water.
They paddled straight across the lake to the opposite shore. It was very rocky on this side of the lake, and the forest went straight uphill from the edge of the water. There were no lily pads or reeds, just deep green water. Melissa rested her paddle for a moment and stuck her hand in the lake. The water ran in silver lines between her fingers.
“It’s along here a little ways,” said Alice. “Just around that point.”
They glided in and out of shade, rapidly approaching the point, which was covered with dead trees. They paddled past it, into the mouth of a narrow bay shaded by the steep forested hillside that circled it. At the end of the bay was a high cliff with an exposed sunny outcropping of rock at the top.
Three ducks, their peace disturbed, splashed across the smooth water and flew into the sky. A dragonfly hovered near the canoe, its wings glistening. Alice let her paddle drag. “This is it. D’you think anyone has ever jumped off that cliff?”
Melissa stared up at the cliff. “No,” she said, though she had a feeling that Alice was going to tell her that she was wrong.
“My brother Austin did. Last summer. He’s not afraid to do anything.” Alice dug her paddle into the water. “If we get right up close, there’s a place where we can land. There’s a trail to the top.”
The girls paddled into the end of the bay until the cliff loomed over their heads. They tied the canoe to a dead tree and scrambled onto the shore. A steep trail zigzagged up between the trees. The ground, carpeted in pine needles, was hot on their bare feet as they climbed. In a few minutes they emerged onto the open rocky outcropping, breathing hard.
The dark narrow bay lay below them, as still as a piece of glass. Alice walked right to the edge of the cliff, but Melissa hung back. Heights had always given her a sick feeling. She remembered once climbing all the way to the top of the ladder on the high diving board at the pool in Huntley and then being embarrassed when everyone had to get off the ladder so she could go back down. The lifeguard had frowned at her and some boys had jeered.
“He jumped right from here,” reported Alice. She looked over her shoulder at Melissa. Her eyes gleamed with excitement. “He said it felt fantastic. He said it didn’t hurt at all when he landed.”
“Oh,” said Melissa.
“Are you afraid to stand on the edge?” said Alice.
“Not really,” said Melissa. “I just don’t want to, that’s all.”
“What about jumping? Would you be afraid to jump?”
“I don’t know,” said Melissa. “It’s just not my thing.”
Alice peered over the edge one last time and then walked back to Melissa. “This is my plan,” she said.
Melissa felt a tickle of apprehension run up her back.
“We agree to jump. Both of us.”
“I don’t want to,” said Melissa quickly.
“I don’t mean now. We have to psych ourselves up for this. We’ll make a pact. We’ll solemnly swear to jump in one week.”
“No,” said Melissa.
“I thought you were in on this,” said Alice.
“In on what?” said Melissa weakly.
“This whole thing. Being part of Dar Wynd. Elfrida is brave. She’d do it.”
You’re the one who’s pretending to be Elfrida, not me, thought Melissa. Alice’s stare made her uncomfortable.
“We need some kind of test of bravery,” Alice persisted. “And it’s not like it’s even dangerous or anything. Austin’s done it tons of times.”
That’s not how she had made it sound before, thought Melissa. She had pictured Austin jumping once, that was all. Maybe he had just been lucky. “I’d never be able to do it,” she said.
There was a short silence. Then Alice said frostily, “Okay, I’ll do it by myself. And I’ll have to think about all this. You coming to Dar Wynd, I mean. It’s not going to work if you won’t do stuff.”
What kind of stuff? For a second, Melissa pictured Alice climbing in the window of their cabin. Was that the kind of stuff she meant? Melissa felt miserable as she followed Alice back down the trail to the canoe. She scrambled in her mind for a way to repair the rift that had sprung up between them. Alice had said they would jump in one week. Melissa could always pretend to be part of the pact and then at the very end say she had changed her mind.
Melissa sucked in her breath. “Okay, I’ll do it,” she said slowly.
Alice spun around, a wide smile lighting up her face. “We’ll prick our fingers with the knife when we get back to Dar Wynd. This is going to be great. I’m so glad you came here, Melissa!”
Melissa flushed. No one had ever said anything like that to her before. She felt guilty about deceiving Alice, but it was worth it if she got to keep her for a friend.
“May the gods witness this deed,” whispered Alice. “We take the oath to jump from the High Cliff on the eleventh of August. We seal this pact with the blood cast this day at the stronghold of Dar Wynd.”
Melissa studied the pinprick of deep red blood that sprang up on the tip of her thumb. She glanced up at Alice’s pale face, pinched with excitement, and shivered.