Free Lost by S. A. Bodeen Page A

hand.”
    â€œOkay.” Sarah grunted as she slid her hand.
    â€œNow slide your left hand over toward me as much as you can.”
    â€œIt’s on the notch!” Sarah said.
    â€œYou’ll have to lift it a little.”
    Sarah held her breath, sure she would lose her grip. But her hand slid over the notch, toward the cliff and Marco and safety. She breathed out.
    â€œNow slide your right hand over to the other one.”
    Sarah inched her way over, all the while feeling her arms and shoulders begin to burn. She had set the pull-up record for girls at her school, but hanging from a bar with a mat a few feet underneath was an entirely different thing from hanging off a cliff. The lower half of her body dangled, and she tried to hold it steady. “I can’t hold on anymore.”
    â€œYes you can! Sarah, look at me.” Marco held out his hand.
    Only a foot remained of the gap between them, and Sarah continued to painstakingly slide one hand, then the other. Tears blurred her vision. Unable to wipe them away, she felt them dripping down her face.
    â€œThat’s it,” said Marco. “You got this. Almost there!”
    Sarah slid one more time and looked up.
    Marco’s hand was right there. “Okay, on three you’re going to reach out your left hand to me as you try and push away with your right arm, okay?”
    Sarah couldn’t even nod, but managed to squeak out an okay.
    â€œOne,” said Marco. “Two. Three!”
    Sarah didn’t move. She was frozen.
    Marco let out a heavy breath. “You have to let go or it won’t work.”
    â€œI’m scared!” she yelled.
    â€œEither we do this now or you hang there until you get too tired to hold on.”
    â€œFine!”
    â€œOkay,” said Marco. “On three. One. Two. Three!”
    With a cry, Sarah pushed off with her right arm as she let go and reached out with her left. She felt the squeeze as Marco’s hand clamped down on her wrist. Her right hand let go of the branch, and she was falling. She screamed, but then another strong hand joined the first around her left wrist, and she felt like her entire hand was being wrenched off as she hung by Marco’s grip, her knees bumping against the side of the cliff.
    â€œClimb!” he yelled.
    She put her left foot on a slight protrusion in the cliff and felt herself rise a bit. She found another for her right foot, and then suddenly she was up, her head and shoulders above the edge of the cliff.
    Marco had ahold of her wrist with both his hands, and his feet were propped against a tree trunk, leaning back as he held on to her. His face was contorted and he grunted as he tried to pull her up.
    She bent a leg and got it over the edge, then let him pull her the rest of the way up. She landed facedown. Safe.
    Sarah lay there for a moment, panting into the dirt. When she finally caught her breath, she lifted her head. Marco leaned back against the tree trunk, rubbing his hands.
    â€œYou okay?” she asked.
    He nodded. “You?”
    She sat up, then scooted farther away from the edge of the cliff. Her palms were red and scraped, as were her knees, but otherwise she seemed to be in one piece.
    They sat in silence for a few minutes as she gently blew on her palms to help the stinging. She let out a deep breath and said, “I think you just saved my life.”
    He shrugged. “I figure I would have gotten in a lot of trouble if I’d let you fall off a cliff. Not exactly stepbrother of the year.”
    She grinned. “Well, thanks.”
    Suddenly, Marco’s eyes narrowed and he pointed behind her.
    She whirled in time to see a red bird fly in front of them, even with the edge of the cliff, so she could get a good look at it. Four wings. No beak. Mouth full of teeth. She gasped. “Your bird!”
    Marco crawled over to the edge with her and they lay shoulder to shoulder on their bellies, heads at the cliff’s