The Rise and Fall of Derek Cowell by Valerie Sherrard

Author:Valerie Sherrard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction
Publisher: Cormorant Books Inc.
Published: 2020-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The bones in my legs had turned to rubber. Rubber that was oddly disconnected at the knee. This, as you can imagine, made it difficult to take the few steps I had to conquer in order to reach the waiting Plexiglas cubes.

Steve was already up and walking around on them by the time I’d managed to shuffle my way to the one nearest me.

Meanwhile, Riley had wandered over to the roof’s edge — a fact I tried not to register but couldn’t quite shut out.

“I love this! It’s amazing up here,” she said. “It feels like you’re safe from the whole world.”

Safe wasn’t the word I’d have picked and I almost heaved when she threw her arms into the air as though she was about to dive off.

I looked away a little too quickly, which caused some sort of tilt inside my head. Slamming my eyes closed, I took a couple of long, deep breaths to steady myself before letting them creep back open.

What a nightmare.

“The fog machine is on so you guys need to be ready as soon as it starts rolling,” Riley told us then, her voice suddenly all business. “The batteries won’t last long.”

“Okay,” I croaked.

Steve gave me a curious look.

“You look kind of pale,” he said. “Is it that vertigo thing?”

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“That’s not good,” he said. “You want a drink of water or something?”

“I have some water in my pack,” Riley said. She’d stopped whatever she’d been doing and was watching me.

My mouth felt like I’d been swallowing fistfuls of dandelion fluff and a few gulps of water would have been great, but all I wanted was to get this whole business over with. Fog had started to seep from the machine. The sooner we got started, the sooner I’d be back on the ground. I waved off the offer, took a deep breath and stepped up onto the nearest cube.

My knees tried to unhinge. That sent a shock of terror through me — a jolt that actually felt as though it had stabbed my heart. Miniature beads of sweat popped out all over my face and neck. In seconds a cold sheen had spread across my forehead and was moving rapidly downward.

It took everything I had to draw a deep breath and steady myself on that cube.

Slow breaths. One. Two. Three. In and out. Eyes locked straight ahead.

I’m not sure how much time passed. Steve was moving around slowly, his hands exploring the air in front of him as though he was finding his way along. I wanted to yell at him to stay away, in case he bumped me. There was no doubt in my mind that the slightest nudge would topple me and that if I began to fall, there would be no end to the plunge.

“Okay, so go ahead and walk around, Derek,” Riley said. “Right now it looks like Steve is up here with a statue.”

That was when it hit me. In order to take a single step I was going to have to look to see where the other cubes were positioned.

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