Page 76 of Forbidden to Fall

James glanced at me, amusement on his face. “It’s a different level of dark, isn’t it?”

“How does it not creep you out?”

“It did at first.”

I looked up at him. “And now?”

“I sleep best outdoors.”

I stared into the trees and tried to imagine how I’d get any sleep, much less the best sleep of my life, with my brain filling in the darkness with things from the deepest, most morbid recesses of my imagination.

“Hey,” James said, stopping and looking at me intently. “I’ll keep you safe, okay? I swear.”

My stomach swooped, and I nodded.

I believed him. Not just believed him, though. If there was anyone I wanted to keep me safe, it was him.

We kept walking, and I felt less apprehensive.

The pit took me by surprise. Without any remaining embers, it blended in with the surroundings, but James had known exactly where it was. I secretly marveled at his knowledge of the woods in the overwhelming dark.

We set up camp, but I made sure to lay out my pad before James so that he’d be the one to decide how close we would be.

He put his pad a few feet from mine—a respectable distance that somehow disappointed me. For safety reasons.

I reached for a sleeping bag.

“Are you tired?” James asked. “Or do you want to build a fire with me?”

“Fire,” I said, abandoning the sleeping bag immediately. Yawns and sleep were distant dreams, and I was eager to add another thing to my resume for Mia.

Using the pile of wood and the axe he’d brought earlier, James showed me how to chop off smaller pieces for easier kindling, how to arrange them in the pit, and how to use the flint and steel to get the fire going. He didn’t do anything for me—just guided me through it with his words and, every now and then, his hands.

His words were less distracting, but I wanted his hands anyway.

The sense of accomplishment I had when we stepped back and admired the fire I’d created was a headrush. I could see why James loved this sort of thing.

With the fire going strong and a pile of wood to add nearby, we grabbed the sleeping bags. I uncinched the top of mine and pulled it out of its sack.

“Ooh,” I said. “Batman.”

James turned.

“Very cool,” I said. “No wild animals will dare mess with me in this.” I held it up to my shoulders. It didn’t quite reach the ground.

He swore under his breath. “That…wasn’t the one I meant to bring.”

“It’s cool, James. I’m sure lots of grown men own Batman camping gear.”

He snatched it from my hands, a smile glimmering on his lips. “I got that for my seventh birthday, thank you very much.”

“Uh-huh.”

He laughed and tossed me the other sleeping bag. “Take that one.”

“Is this one Wonder Woman?” I pulled it out of the bag. It was completely plain—a shiny black mummy bag. “Very boring.”

“Boring and warm.”