-Worlds Apart- Ruination Read Online Free PDF Page B

box in the corner until I’m ready. I step off the platform and race home to finish preparation for tomorrow’s test.
     

Chapter 7
     
     
    Morning finds me stepping out of the bathroom straight into Emma’s frantic pleas, “Nessa, braid my hair. I need to look extra pretty today and my hair looks so awful right now. Pleeeeease, Nessa!” She whines.
    I debate saying no just to hear her whine some more but I don’t have the heart. I guide Emma to our sitting room, directing her into the chair. She hums and lazily swings her legs as I make a winding braid that weaves around her whole head. I finish before first light. Curfew’s lifted at first light and I’m free to join Garrett. I tuck the last pin into her hair just before the first rays fall. I lean over, wrapping Emma in my arms. She giggles when I kiss her cheek, she’s always been ticklish. She hugs me back before I leave for our hideaway. I run and I run, carrying the provisions I’ll need for his test. I think about his challenge, wondering if I’m about to push him too far. The air’s cool as I cross the log onto our hillside. The culmination of Garret’s test will be the moment he spears the last clue, which is partially made from my grey play-clothes I saved from childhood.
    I break onto the hill just as Garrett slips past the southern embankment, swallowed up by dying trees. I’ll meet him back here later, after I set-up his challenge. It takes practically two hours to set-up the challenges and when we meet back at the hill we’re both sweating. I’m doubled over with my hands pressed onto my knees as I try catching my breath. He stands to my left laughing. 
    “Shall I go first while you gather yourself?” He taunts. While I want to say no, he’s right; I need time to recover. I hand him his first clue. 
     
    ‘ Find the bed that neither animal nor man lays in, where water once stood but has since gone dry, yet animals still travel to wet their lips and find there, the way to cross.’
     
    He freezes briefly before he’s off running toward the overflow bed I was hinting at; it’s about a half-mile through the brush. It’s a dried-up streambed that’s always the first to flood when the rains are heavy and the first to dry when they’ve stopped. Over the hundreds of years of wetting and evaporation, chemical sediments have developed into salted formations that draw the deer and other animals to it. I follow closely behind him, sure he knows of my presence but he doesn’t say a word, he’s on a mission.
    He reaches the bed and instantly spots his next clue attached to a large sediment rock. I painted it bright red and marked it with a piece of tattered grey cloth. The entire streambed is smattered with red and brown rocks positioned at a seemingly random fashion but it’s anything but accidental, it’s a puzzle.
     
    ‘ To cross this bed you must dance above rocks that are red. Many paths you may make, but rest assured there’s only one you should take. Use these two boards of different lengths to navigate from bank to bank. The boards are all that can touch down, and must be moved from red to red and never touch brown.’
     
    Garrett works the puzzle in his mind. His handsome face scrunches in deep thought. I shift side to side, enjoying minutes of watching him agonize over his plan. I’ve seen him look this way before, confused yet unrelenting. I love watching him plan and struggle, it brings him to everyone else’s level, even if it’s momentary. Finally he springs into action and I watch him lifting and swiftly moving board to board. At first he chooses the right path, forcefully placing the small board forward, long board left, small board backward and then he moves off course by setting the long board left not forward. 
    He’s a board-length away from the clue when he grasps he’s out of moves and has squandered at least fifteen minutes. The frustration’s obvious and I relish in watching the ultra-cool Garrett sweating,