Powerslide (7 page)

A gust of wind blew rain across our faces, and the trees swayed.

“Anything?” Jack called from farther down the road.

“No. It's sheer rock everywhere.”

“Nothing here either,” he called back. “Goat!” he yelled into the forest below. He joined me at the spot where Goat had gone over. He looked pale. “What are we going to do?”

I didn't know. All I knew was we had to get to Goat as soon as possible. I looked over the edge again. “Maybe we can climb down one of these trees,” I said. I reached out and touched the end of a long branch. There had to be a ledge or a landing of some kind below. Either that or the trees were hundreds of feet high. “We just have to swing across on one of these branches, grab hold of the trunk and climb down.”

“No way, man,” Jack said. “What if I fall?”

“Listen, Jack, none of us would be out here right now if it wasn't for you.”

“Don't hang this on me, man. I never forced anyone into doing anything. Goat came to me with the idea—”

“And you could have said no, but you didn't. So I had to do these stupid competitions with Goat. Don't you see that? I didn't have a choice, Jack. Not all of us are big movie stars who don't have to worry about anything. But you wouldn't understand, would you? Everything is a game to you,” I said.

“That's not true. I wanted the best trainer and stunt double, that's all.”

“You already had him,” I said. “None of this had to happen. Goat's five inches taller than you. Is it even possible for him to be your stunt double?”

“Sure, well, maybe.”

I was tired of Jack Coagen. He was never going to understand what I was talking about. The guy shot his first film when he was four. What did he know about trying to make a life for himself? Everything had always been handed to him.

“I don't get you,” I said. It was getting darker by the minute. Soon we would need flashlights to find Goat. “Listen, you can stay here if you want. I'm going to climb down and try to help Goat.” I fixed my eyes on the nearest tree. The branches were thin but long, and the trunk wasn't more than five feet away. If I jumped, I could grab one of the branches and swing to the trunk. I stepped back and bumped into Jack. “Move. I have to get a run at this,” I said.

Jack looked at me and then looked at the tree. “You think you can make that jump?”

I clapped my hands together. They still burned from my wipeout. My knee hurt, too, although it wasn't broken, probably only bruised. I was still hobbling, but I could run and jump across to the tree. I hoped.

“I have to try,” I said. I was about to start running when Jack put his arm out in front of me.

“Wait,” he said.

“What?”

He pointed to a different tree. “That one is closer. And there aren't as many branches.”

I looked where he was pointing. He was right. The other tree was a better option. Plus the trunk looked thicker. I walked toward the edge.

“Let me go first,” Jack said.

“What?”

“You're right. I got you into this. Both of you.” He brushed past me and lined himself up with the tree. “Plus, you're hurt.”

Before I could say anything, he leaned forward and, in one swift motion, ran to the edge of the road and jumped. He flew through the air, his arms outstretched before him, and disappeared into the branches of the tree.

chapter fourteen

“You all right?” I yelled. He didn't say anything. “Jack!”

“Yeah, yeah, I'm all right. Just got the wind knocked out of me.”

I squinted into the darkness. I could just barely make out his form clinging to the trunk of the tree.

“It's not that bad,” Jack said. “But you have to be ready for it. I'll yell when I get to the bottom.”

“All right.” Branches snapped as Jack climbed down the tree. I felt as if I was standing alone at the edge of the world. “You down yet, Jack?” I yelled. There was no response and my heart started to beat faster. “Jack!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “The branches at the bottom of this tree are thick. Come down slowly. The jump isn't that far. You'll be able to make it.”

“Okay,” I said. “Look out. I'm going to throw my board down.” I heaved the board over and listened to it breaking branches the whole way down. I hoped it wouldn't land on Goat. I leaned forward and ran, jumping at the last possible moment.

It was exhilarating, leaping through the air, but painful when I hit the tree. I wrapped my arms around the trunk and tried to catch my breath.

“You okay?” Jack yelled.

“Yeah,” I said. I placed my foot on the first branch I could reach. I shifted over, put my other foot on a branch. The branch creaked and groaned, but it held. I looked down and all I could see was darkness.

“You see Goat anywhere?” I said.

“I'm waiting for you,” Jack said. “It's really dark down here.”

I shifted down another couple of branches and felt as if I was entering another world. “You see my board?” I asked, wanting to hear Jack's voice again.

“Yeah. Yeah, I got it right here.”

I slid down a few more branches. One smacked against my face, and I checked to see if I had been cut. I felt the gash on my forehead and pulled my hand back to find blood on my fingers. “Crap,” I said.

“What?” Jack's voice sounded closer, but I still couldn't tell how far away the ground was.

I slid down another couple of branches. “Nothing. I just cut myself.” I put my foot on the next branch and heard a snap. A moment later I was free-falling. I landed on the ground, a tangle of arms and legs.

“Casey, are you okay?” Jack asked.

I nodded and tried to roll over. I had only fallen a couple of feet, but I had landed weirdly. I gasped for air, coughed a few times and inhaled. “Yeah,” I said. I got up on one knee. It
was
really dark down here. There were funnels of light from above where the trees thinned. It was quiet too. Very quiet.

“Which way should we go?” Jack asked.

“Just a second,” I said. I worked at breathing properly again. Then I waited until my eyes adjusted to the darkness. Jack stood in front of me and ran his hand through his hair.

“Man, he could be anywhere down here,” said Jack. “He could be dead.”

I slowly stood up but had to stay crouched over. My whole body felt bruised. “We need to search along the side of the cliff. He has to be near the edge somewhere.” We were standing on more than just a ledge. It looked as if we were actually at the top of a long, steep hill.

“All right, let's see if we can find him,” Jack said.

Neither of us moved. There was a chance Goat was dead. It was a long fall, and he'd shot straight down. “Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, let's get started.” I tucked my long board under my arm.

“Oh, man,” Jack said. “I hope he's alive.”

“Same here.” We hadn't walked more than ten feet when I spotted something on the ground.

A foot.

It was bare, and its whiteness cut through the dark foliage.

“Crap,” I said, coming to a stop.

Jack bumped into me. “What?”

“There he is.” We stared down at Goat. His right leg was bent under him. The left one stuck out in front of his body, and his shoe was missing. His head tilted awkwardly to one side, and his eyes were closed.

He looked dead.

Really dead.

“Is he alive?” Jack asked.

“I don't know.”

“Well, check.”

I took a deep breath and knelt beside Goat. Blood was seeping out of his pant leg, and his right wrist was bent back at a strange angle. It looked as if he had crashed through the branches right to the ground. There was a skid mark in the leaves behind him.

“Is he alive?” Jack said again.

I didn't reply. What if he was dead? What if this stupid competition had killed him?

“Casey,” Jack said. “Is he alive?”

I finally put two fingers on Goat's neck, which was exactly when he sat up and sucked in a giant gulp of air.

chapter fifteen

“Goat!” I yelled.

He stared at me as if he had no idea who I was. Then he reached for his right leg and fell back, screaming. “What the hell!” he yelled and closed his eyes.

“It's all right, Goat. You're all right,” I said.

His hands came away from his leg with blood on them, and he screamed again. “What the hell happened!”

Jack knelt on the other side of him. “It's all right. We're here,” Jack said in a strange, almost motherly voice. “You took a fall.”

Goat stared at him, blank-faced. “Oh, man, I went right off that cliff.”

“You did,” I said.

He closed his eyes. “I must have hit a dozen branches on the way down.” He looked up at me. “How am I still alive?”

“I don't know,” I said. “You think you can stand?” He didn't move. I wasn't sure if he hadn't heard me, or if he was too freaked-out to answer. “Goat, do you think you can stand?”

“I don't know. It feels like there's something wrong with my ankle.”

“Try moving,” Jack said.

Goat gently pulled his right leg out from under himself. He winced. “That really…arggg…hurts. My wrist as well. I can't feel my fingers. And it's hard to breathe.” His face was completely white. He shook his head and said, “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

“Do you have your phone?” I asked.

“Where's yours?” he said.

“The battery's dead. And Jack left his in his car. Man, where's that paparazzi guy when you need him?”

Goat looked at Jack. “Where's your skateboard?”

“In my car, why?” Jack said.

Goat sighed. “Because that's how the paparazzi guy was finding you.”

“What?” Jack said.

“My phone's in my pocket,” Goat said to me. “Front one. You'll have to get it. I can't move my hand.”

I reached into his pocket and felt the broken bits of what had previously been Goat's phone. I pulled it out in case the battery happened to be the same as mine. It wasn't.

“The skateboard I gave you had a
GPS
tracker on it,” Goat said. “That's how the photographer was able to locate you.”

“What the hell?” Jack said. “You put a
GPS
tracker on my skateboard?”

“Your agent told me to. He was the one who set all of this up.”

“Why?” Jack said. He was still kneeling beside Goat.

Goat closed his eyes. “He said some of the producers were thinking of pulling out of the film and taking their money with them. They don't think you're going to make it as a non-kid actor.”

“So what does that have to do with the photographer?” I said.

“Jack's agent asked me to get his face in the tabloids. He wanted dirty shots. Like the one of Jack in a fight at the party. And that one of the cop holding on to him at the park the other day.”

“So that was all a setup? That girl claiming I had assaulted her?” Jack said.

“Yeah. She's a friend of mine. She told the cops someone had knocked her over and grabbed her arm and stuff. She said she thought it was you, but that she wasn't certain. So the cops brought her to the park to
ID
you. Once the photographer had taken the pictures he needed, she told the cops it wasn't you. But by then, the story was out about you being questioned on an assault case.”

“Man, that is low,” Jack said. He stood up and took a couple of steps back. “Why would my agent do that?”

“I paid McNaughton to harass you too,” Goat said. “To try and get you in a fight or something. Anything for a good photo opportunity.”

“Goat,” I said. “Can you stand? We have to get out of here.”

Goat sat up. He touched his right leg and cringed. “I think it's broken. I can't move anything from my knee down. It hurts too much.” He put his left hand on the ground behind him and fell back. “And my wrist too. Man, I think it's broken as well.” There was no easy way to get back to the road. There was only one way for us to get out of here, and that was down the hill.

I put my long board on the ground. “Do you think you can sit on our hands if we cross them into a chairlift?” I said.

Goat raised his head, and we helped him sit up. He leaned against Jack. We slid our hands underneath his butt and tried to lift him.

We could only raise him a foot off the ground. Goat was breathing strangely. Kind of gasping and then exhaling slowly. “This is not going to work,” Jack said.

We put Goat back down. “Are you all right, Goat?” I said.

He shook his head. “I told you, I can't breathe right. It hurts every time I inhale.”

“That's not good,” Jack said.

“No,” I said. “Goat. We're going to have to get you down the hill.”

“But I can't walk,” he said. His voice was quivering. He sounded terrified, like a little kid who's lost in a mall and can't find his mom.

“Goat, no one is going to come and get us. The only person who even knows we're up here is Sara, and she went to her grandparents. Unless you told someone?” I said.

“No,” Goat said.

“No one at all?” I asked.

“No, man. I didn't think it was something we should advertise.”

I looked down the slope into the darkness. Night had settled around us, and with the thick storm clouds and rain, no moonlight reached us.

I knelt down beside him. “We'll have to carry you. It's our only choice, Goat. It's going to get colder soon. We don't have a phone, and no one uses that road at this time of year.” He looked at me, and I could tell he was on the verge of crying. “We're not going to leave you here.” His lips were quivering, and his eyes were glassy. I grabbed his arm and threw it over my shoulder.

“Jack,” I said. “Get the other side.” Jack got under Goat's other arm and we slowly raised Goat up again. He immediately sagged forward, causing us to stumble a couple of steps and fall. Goat screamed as his injured wrist and leg hit the ground.