Standing on the Edge (That Goat Will Probably Eat You)

Test Dummy

We're still walking. We've come across several possible stopping places but Dayn has dismissed them all. I know she didn't say or do much, but the Career pack seems empty without Daisy. For once they're all on edge as well, glancing around nervously every time something moves. Even Dayn seems jumpy. Any second I expect Garth to do something stupid and jump out of his hiding place, just to startle everyone.

It's not just the atmosphere that's dangerous. The slopes and paths aren't steep this high up, but they're all coated in a thin layer of ice. The cloud is closer and occasionally drifts in front of view, and every so often a fierce blast of wind threatens to throw us over the edge. For the first time Alice seems uncertain, clinging to the rock faces just like me, her pretty face contorted. The arena sprawls nauseatingly in front of us. If I thought it was cold before, it's a thousand times worse now.

Garth can't possibly be following in this.

I look backwards, peering down the path for the umpteenth time.

"Something bothering you, Faraday?" asks a smooth voice casually. Startled, I whirl around; Dayn is leant on the rock face, his face impassive. The other Careers watch curiously, while Alice looks at the floor. Emerald keeps her face very sternly forwards, white as the snow.

"We've come very far," I snivel pathetically. It really is a good job there's no sponsors this time, or I'd have none. At least the snivelling covers up my lying. Well, it's not really lying. We have come a long way. I'd say it's about midday now, not that you can see the sun through the persistant cloud.

"He's still bothered about Ford," Alice chirps suddenly. I almost gawp at her and she smirks ever so slightly at me. Now I'm completely confused. Dayn is suspicious already, and now is Alice too? Or does she geniunely think that's what's wrong with me? She has a point, though. Ford's dying face floats through my mind every so often, no matter how hard I try and force it away. Cinder chuckles and even Chuck smiles.

"Come on, Faraday," Cinder urges, "You want to get back to your girl, don't you?"

Callie, he means Callie. But I think Tara too; she's my girl, my little sister.

"Of course," I whisper, as wind searches for a way through my clothes. 

"Well then, you did the right thing. Now come on," he insists. I'm not comforted by this, but then again it would take a lot to comfort me right now. The Careers must have families too. Friends, certainly. Well, maybe not Chuck, but I can imagine Emerald and Cinder and Dayn being popular. What about boyfriends, girlfriends? Alice has a boyfriend, though I can't remember his name and she doesn't mention him much. Only when Cinder starts up one of his stupid question games.

Home. I never thought I'd miss the drab, dark wooden house, falling apart at the seams, with damp corners. My room, all the old school papers on the floor. I never was much good at maths.

Where are they living now?

"Come on, Faraday," Alice calls, tugging hard on my arm. I hadn't even realized that I'd phased out and snap back into the real world, the cold and the height and the desolation coming back. Alice is looking apologetically at me; the rest of the Careers are forging on ahead, Emerald keeping close to the walls and very purposfully not looking down. Cinder and Chuck, perhaps teasing her, are trying to guess how far down it is. They still look jumpy and keep glancing behind.

"Careful, it's slippery," Alice advises, as my concentration wanders. It is. There's a patch of thick ice, and I have to grip the rock wall just to get across it, my feet flying all over the place.

"I really don't like it here," I mutter, as if that'll solve anything. She smiles kindly at me, though I notice that she looks unsettled.

"Are there many hills in Twelve?" I ask, trying to make her feel better. It's weird, that Alice with the infallible composure is starting to lose it. It doesn't bode well for the rest of us. She laughs quietly to herself. "Nothing like this. What about in Five?"