Read Online Under Zenith by Shannen Crane Camp - Free Book Online Page B

death.”
    “You’re already dead,” he pointed out, quite unnecessarily.
    “Fine, I’ll die again. I’ll fail to reach my Destination and you’ll have a track record of oh for two.”
    “The island isn’t as far as it looks, just run, jump, and grab any tree root you see,” he told me.
    Of course he had to make it sound like the easiest thing in the world.
    “Fine,” I said simply, going back to my starting position once more, running, and failing to jump again.
    “You have got to be kidding me,” Hayden said in exasperation. “I can’t take much more of this. My ten year old niece had harder tasks than this and completed them in half the time.”
    Except that she didn’t make it to the end , I thought, knowing that this fact was too sensitive to actually bring up. Still, I couldn’t ignore the fact that it was possible for me to fail and, looking at the impossible floating island, the odds were not in my favor.
    “Would it make you feel better if I did it with you?” Hayden asked , his brow furrowed in a concerned manner.
    It had to be a trick.
    “I thought you couldn’t help me,” I asked suspiciously.
    “It wouldn’t be helping you physically. It would just be offering some moral support if I made the jump with you,” he answered reasonably.
    I looked him over for a moment, wondering why he had suddenly turned nice and still sure it couldn’t be genuine.
    “Isla,” he said, placing his hands on my bare shoulders and looking at me with his icy blue eyes. “I want to make the jump with you, okay?”
    He was so close to me that I could smell the scent of soap on him and suddenly I felt as if I couldn’t breathe properly. How could I go from hating him to being flustered by him so quickly? Sure he was sort of gorgeous and had that whole ‘bad boy with an accent’ thing going for him, but he also happened to be the rudest person I’d ever met and completely unhelpful when I was facing death or death again circumstances.
    Except for this moment.
    For some unknown reason, Hayden had decided to grow a conscious right at the moment I needed his help desperately.
    “We can do this,” he whispered to me , his thumb tracing little circles on my bare shoulder.
    I hated myself for noticing how close his face was to mine and tried to regain some sense of composure.
    “Okay,” I said with a dopey smile.
    So much for my dignity.
    Hayden took my hand and walked with me back to my starting point.
    “Just let me know when you’re ready,” he said supportively, giving my hand a little squeeze.
    “Okay?” I said , sounding very confused over this personality change. “I think I’m ready.”
    “Great. Here we go.”
    With that, we both began to run full speed, Hayden holding on to my hand so tightly that I couldn’t back out of the jump even if I wanted to. If I suddenly stopped running, I’d mess up Hayden’s speed. I might not go over the edge, but he definitely would and it would be all my fault.
    There was no other option. I had to do it.
    Screaming as loud as I could right before I got to the ledge, Hayden suddenly released my hand, slowed his pace, and gave me one extremely violent push right in the middle of my back. My feet left the ground and the air left my lungs from the force of his hands on my back, and before I knew it, I was sailing through the air, arms flailing ungracefully all around me and my mind going crazy with a million thoughts at once.
    I was angry at Hayden for tricking me, panicked at the fact that there was an endless amount of open air below my feet, and determined to grab at least one of the tree roots sticking out of the earth in front of me without being impaled by them.
    There wasn’t much room for error in the split second that I had to grab onto whatever came into my grasp. If I didn’t manage to stop my fall, I’d definitely be a goner, and something told me the unknown for those who didn’t reach their Destination was not a pleasant place.
    Letting out one