The Wild in her Eyes by Karina Giörtz

Author:Karina Giörtz [Giörtz, Karina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Magic, Humor, self discovery, mystery, family and relationships, young adult, circus, adventure
Publisher: Never Did Point North Publishing
Published: 2019-04-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

THE STORY

“Swear this won’t turn out to be the unexpected end of my story?” Annis whispered, staring up at the tent ceiling. She was sorry she’d asked the twins to care for Finian while she went with Bess to tackle the flag problem. He would have provided her an excuse to back out, completely through no fault of her own. After all, who could have blamed her if Fin had been too scared, or too squirmy to hold on to? Not to mention feeding time.

“I swear,” Bess said, squeezing her shoulder. “It’ll make a wicked good plot twist, though. No one would see it coming,” she laughed. “Least of all you, from the looks of it.”

Annis felt her entire body shiver, starting at her core and spreading evenly in both directions until her teeth began to clatter. “Maybe I can’t do this,” she breathed.

“It’s just nerves, Annis. You need those. They let you know when you’re growing, taking chances, becoming more. If you don’t feel the rattle of your teeth between your jaws every now and again, you’re not living right. Hell, you’re probably not living at all.”

The words reckless and fearless bounced back and forth inside Annis’s mind, and the conversation she’d had with Hugh about them ran through her thoughts on loop. The longer she listened to Bess, the harder it was for her to determine which one she was chasing at that moment. Was she being reckless? Taking a stupid chance? Or was this calculated risk without the fear of falling? Because that’s what she would be required to do to complete this task: Give up the fear of falling.

“Tell me again how we’ll do it,” Annis begged.

“Nope,” Bess answered. It was the most cheerful rejection Annis had ever received.

“Okay,” she muttered, following Bess, who reached up for the first rung drilled into the pole and began to climb.

“Don’t look down, Annis,” she said for what had to be the hundredth time since talking Annis into this asinine plan. Annis wasn’t sure she agreed with Bess’s advice. Looking down seemed sensible. How else would she know when she’d reached the point of no return? Or climbed so high that survival was out of the question should she make one mistake and slip?

“I won’t look down,” she promised, despite her reservations. Annis reminded herself repeatedly that Bess was the height expert, the woman who knew how not to fall. Whatever Bess said, Annis would treat as law and follow to a T. Annis would not look down.

Seven rungs in, and she was still whispering the same words to herself over and over again: “Don’t look down, Annis. Don’t. Look. Down.”

And she didn’t. Instead, she kept count.

Eight rungs.

Nine.

Ten.

By the time she reached fifteen it occurred to her that she might have preferred knowing how many there would be in total, so she could track the climb. On the other hand, should the number have been something as terrifying as a hundred or more, she likely wouldn’t be at number twenty-four right then, or on any rung at all.

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