Free Godless by Pete Hautman Page A

hands—I hate this part—and let go. I hit feet first and roll like a paratrooper, then run over to Shin. He’s still hanging on.
    â€œShin? You okay up there?”
    Nothing. I grab the cables and climb up to a point just below his feet.
    â€œShin? I’m right here.” I touch one of his ankles. “Right below you.”
    He makes a sound, something like “Urgh.” I take that as a good sign.
    â€œI’m gonna grab your foot and move it, okay?” Without waiting for another “urgh,” I clasp his right foot in my hand and slowly pull it out from where he has it wedged between the cables, move it down six inches, and shove it back. He doesn’t resist, but he isn’t exactly helping.
    â€œI’m right here. I’m not going to let you fall.” Another lie? I hope not. “You gotta move one of your hands now, Shin. Do it slow, like a snail. I won’t let you fall.”
    â€œOkay,” he says in a small voice.
    I wait. It takes almost a minute, but finally he manages to loosen his death grip on the cable and slide it down.
    â€œOkay, now your other foot.” I tap his ankle to let him know which one. A few seconds later he twists his foot and wriggles it out from between the cables and moves it down. “You got it, buddy, I say. Now your other hand …”
    Five minutes later we are down. Shin is squatting on the ground, his arms wrapped around his knees, shaking.
    â€œI’m useless,” he says.
    â€œNo you’re not.”
    â€œI froze up.”
    â€œLook, Spidey, it ain’t that easy. I froze up too.”
    â€œYou did?”
    â€œHenry had to talk me up.”
    â€œWhat did he do—threaten to slime you?”
    â€œNo…. Would that have worked on you?”
    â€œI don’t even remember. We were climbing, and it was really hard. My arms hurt and I was starting to get dizzy … then all of a sudden you were underneath me, talking.” He gives me a startled look. “How did you get underneath me?”
    â€œI took a shortcut,” I say, pointing up.
    Shin is rocking back and forth. “Some First Keeper I am. The Ten-legged One won’t even let me climb him.”
    He looks so miserable that I say, “Sure he will. The Ten-legged One was just testing you. I know a way to get you up there. I mean, you’re coming to Midnight Mass, right?”
    â€œMidnight Mass?”
    â€œNext Tuesday.”
    â€œThis is the first I’ve heard about it.”
    â€œI just decided. The entire CTG is going up. All of us.”
    â€œEven Magda?”
    â€œSure. Why not?”
    He tips his head back and stares up at the belly of thegod. “You really think you can get me up there?”
    â€œAbsolutely,” I say with complete confidence. “I have a plan.”
    But, of course, I’m lying again.
    The next day I happen to decide to take a walk, and I happen to walk in a southeasterly direction, and I happen to be walking past Wigglesworth’s Juiceteria when I happen to glance through the front window and happen to notice the Chutengodian High Priestess behind the juice bar blending a raspberry smoothie. I happen to open the door and walk inside.
    â€œHey,” I say, suave as can be.
    â€œHi, Jason,” Magda says, smiling.
    â€œI came to collect my free Brainblaster.”
    â€œComing right up.” She grabs a clean blender bowl and starts adding ingredients.
    â€œWhat’s in those things, anyway?”
    â€œIt’s a secret.”
    â€œThere are no secrets between Chutengodians.”
    â€œIf I tell you, I could get fired.”
    â€œJust tell me what makes ’em green. It’s not asparagus, is it?”
    Magda leans across the counter and whispers, “Kiwi fruit.”
    â€œAh!” I watch as she blends the kiwi concoction into a wicked-looking froth.
    â€œThere you go.” She hands me the cup, then says with a grin,