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I take a peek over the edge. I’m not sure what I’m expecting to find. Maybe the decaying body of a giant scorpion at the bottom, but the fog hasn’t dissipated in the heat of the day. In fact, it only seems to swirl thicker.
“Think we can walk the edge and skirt around it?” I ask. “It has to end somewhere.” Of course, the end could be a cliffside over the raging ocean on both sides, but I don’t know how helpful it is to mention as much.
“I don’t think that’s going to work,” she says, staring down into the canyon, lost in thought.
Okay, so I suppose my comment about the cliffside wouldn’t have been the least helpful thing spoken by either of us today.
“And why not?”
She bites her lip, glancing between me and the abyss below.
Oh.
“Because,” she says, tapping her foot precariously against the cliff, “I think maybe the eyelet is in the canyon.”
“What do you mean, you think the eyelet is in the canyon?”
“I mean exactly what I said. Why is that so hard to believe?”
“Why didn’t you mention this earlier?”
Rage flashes across Zora’s face. “Why? Are you doubting me? You think I risked my life saving you just so I could double-cross you? Just so I could convince you to jump off the edge of a canyon to your death?”
I groan. “No, of course not.”
“Really? Because I’m beginning to think you really do think I’m that dumb. I get it. You’re used to playing the intelligent, studious twin. Well, excuse me for not bowing before your greatness. I can’t believe I didn’t think to let you die when you were already hanging from the side of a cliff. Silly me.”
Zora sits down at the edge, swinging her feet off the side. There’s nothing I want more than to drag her backward, but she’s right. She’s lived dozens of lives. She’s earned the right to dangle her feet off the edge if she wants to dangle her feet off the edge.
“I’m sorry,” I say, sitting next to her and trying not to stare too deeply into the abyss. “I don’t mean that I think you’re betraying me. I just don’t understand why you didn’t notice the eyelet was down there before.”
“I was a tad distracted by the giant scorpion, if memory serves correctly,” she huffs, but there’s less aggression in her voice this time. “Trust me, I don’t like it any more than you do.”
“So what? We’re just supposed to jump?”
Apparently it’s time for Zora to look at me like I’m stupid.
“Sure. Go ahead, if you think you’d get a thrill from splattering your guts across the ground.”
We sit in agitated silence for a moment, before she says, “I think it’s down there somewhere. “
“What makes you say that?”
She frowns and taps at her heart. “Just a feeling.”
“So, how do you suggest we get down?” I ask.
Zora has always been a fidgety person, never able to stay still for long. I found it a nuisance when I was a child, but now that she’s quite literally kicking her heels against the edge of the chasm, I find it abominable.
I find my gaze searching the fog below, thinking of the scorpion we never heard land.
In the end, we decide to trace the path along the chasm for a while, though after half a day of trudging, we discover exactly what I was afraid of. A cliffside whose steep descent plunges directly into a rocky surf below.
All the while, the only voice that rolls over in my head is Zora’s, questioning about why we didn’t hear the scorpion land.
It’s a crazy thought, really. Bordering upon insanity, but this time, when I draw near the edge, the pull I feel toward the bottom of this chasm is stronger than any I’ve ever felt.
Not since…
