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“We’re sure,” I respond confidently.

“Night’s still young,” she suggests in a singsong voice.

“She scares me a little,” James whispers just loud enough for me to hear.

“What’s that?” she says.

“Nothing,” I say.

“I’m going to sleep with one eye open,” he whispers again.

“Hmm?” Genie says.

I elbow him in the stomach while smiling ahead.

Eventually, it’s Peter who stops Genie from dragging us back for “all this fun,” and we make our way into the protection of the canopy of darkness and begin our descent beside the falls. We crawl through the first of the trees, the roar of the top of the waterfall beside us.

“Do you think we’re safe? Or should we just keep going all the way to the car now?” James says.

“From Genie? Oh, she’d just find you in your bed. No, there’s nowhere now that’s far enough away to be safe. You’re on her radar now. Welcome to the club. We all find it’s just best not to resist.”

“She’s quite the evangelist of fun.”

“She could sell broken pens door-to-door. Persuasiveness is a core part of her being. Thankfully,” I say, grabbing a tree as I work my boots around a rock, “she uses it for good. She could’ve grown up to be a regular nightma—Oh!”

I’ll be honest.

Being next to the top of a waterfall isn’t the best time for your boot to slip on an icy rock—particularly right at the rare point of the climb where it really matters that you do not fall.

And to make matters worse, the branch I was holding on to while working myself down the rocks isn’t quite as sturdy as I hoped it would be.

Then there are my fingers, still icy numb and tingling, which aren’t the best at gripping in this critical moment—especially through gloves. And the falls beside me, spraying a dark sea of foam while roaring unapologetically in my ears, aren’t exactly comforting.

Topping everything off, of course, is the fact that trying to navigate anything in the dead of night is not conducive to a successful self-save. Which is to say: Now is not a great moment to fall off the edge of a waterfall.

I feel my body tip forward toward the powerful waterfall raging downward and reach helplessly in a futile attempt for something to grab onto. My arms swipe through the air and come back to me empty, and it’s all I can do to close my eyes and throw up a prayer of Help! before succumbing to a probable death, or if not death, an indefinite amount of time in a hospital recovering from broken limbs while Genie sits by my bedside, lecturing me with “I told you to stay! You should’ve listened and stayed!” I really do not want months of waking up to her hovering over my body in a hospital bed declaring, as she spews snack machine pretzel crumbs, that she’s never going to leave my side again.

Maybe death would be the better route.

But just as I’m making peace with my end, a strong grip wraps around my chest and pulls me back. It’s a force equal to the waterfall itself. My headlamp slips off my head and dives straight down into the roaring falls, a symbol of what could’ve been.

James and I sprawl onto our backsides, and I hear a groan as I land on him and he lands on something painful.

But I’m alive.

Alive.

With all limbs intact.

And no future of Genie and pretzel crumbs in a hospital.

In an instant, I’m adjusting to life again. “Are you okay?” I jump up off James and swivel round to help him up—or at the very least, assess the damage.

My arm stretches out and he takes it, grimacing in pain but moving nonetheless.

“Look at you!” I exclaim, holding firmly on to his arm as all the events of the last ten seconds begin to click into place, both mentally and emotionally. “I think you just saved my life!” My brows furrow as I watch him. “But are you okay? But also, honestly, I really think you might’ve just saved my life!” I say in wonder. “I’ve never almost died before!”

I’m talking enthusiastically now, realizing the incredibleness of the last few moments. “You’re . . . a hero!” I pause. “Have you ever saved someone’s life before? Oh!” I feel the moment replay in my mind, the solid, saving grip of arms coming out of nowhere and pulling me back. “That was amazing! You’re going to have a story for the rest of your life! I can’t believe that happened.”