FIFTY-ONE

There,” Jordan said. The beam of the flashlight showed Caitlyn’s ankle stuck in the webbing of the rope bridge. Her head dangled only inches above the water.

Billy still cradled Jordan, like a child in his arms. They had thundered through a series of short tunnels to the base of the waterfall, Jordan giving Billy directions at every turn.

Billy set Jordan on his feet. He didn’t need instructions.

When Billy stepped onto the rope bridge, it sagged with his weight. He wished he’d left the life jacket on, instead of throwing it off back in the other cavern.

Jordan kept the flashlight beam on Caitlyn. Her eyes opened.

“Don’t move,” Jordan urged Caitlyn. “Don’t panic.”

It was obvious that if she shifted slightly, her weight would pull her loose from the bridge. As it was, she was slipping incrementally.

Billy tried to tiptoe forward, but the bridge kept swinging. One of the slats that formed the floor of the bridge snapped. His right foot slipped through.

Think, Billy told himself, think.

If the slats couldn’t hold his weight, he knew the rope could. That left one option.

He slowly pulled his foot loose and backed up the half step to the end of the bridge and found solid land.

“You’ve got to go,” Jordan said. “She can’t hold on much longer.”

Billy grunted. He moved to the side of the bridge, squatted, and leaned his upper body precariously over the swift-moving water. If he fell in, he’d drown. It was too far to the open cavern on the other side, where Pierce and Theo and Gloria had been sent floating down the river in life jackets.

But he had no choice.

With one hand, he grabbed the lower rope of the bridge, where the slats were attached. He allowed himself to fall forward.

For a moment, the water threatened to suck him loose, an angry monster determined to steal its prey.

But Billy managed to secure his other hand on the rope. Now he clung with both hands. He scuttled sideways, hand over hand, toward the center of the bridge, his legs and waist in the current, dragging at him with malevolent power.

He dared a glance over at Caitlyn. She hung upside down, arms at her side, making no movement that would pop her loose from the rope webbing that held her by the ankle.

Hand over hand. Hand over hand.

As he got closer, she slowly reached for him.

They were inches away, pinned in the beam of light that Jordan held at the edge of the river, when she fell.

Billy gave it no thought. He let go with his right hand and clutched for her wrist. His fingers closed over her lower arm. Her body jerked as her feet fell toward the water.

She gasped and their eyes met.

Neither said a word. Billy was concentrating too hard on keeping his grip on her arm. And on the rope bridge with his other hand.

The current pulled too hard, and her arm began to slip through his fingers.

“No!” Billy roared. He’d never felt anger, not like this. He roared at the river as if it were a living creature. “No!”

Her wrist slid into his fingers, and he tightened his grip. But that was all he had. Her body was deep into the water. Almost to her neck. He only had one arm to pull her loose. If his grip on the rope bridge broke, both of them would be swept away.

“No!” he roared again. He fought the river, inch by inch, getting her closer and closer. Finally, her legs pulled loose, and the tremendous strain on his shoulders and arms lessened.

“Arms around my neck,” he panted. He needed both hands to fight his way back.

She reached around with one arm, then the other. Billy never knew arms could feel so good.

He also knew the river wouldn’t win now.

Hand over hand, he brought them back to safety.

The chopper was in the air. Brij and the others were all in plastic handcuffs, captured and transported.

Brij had never seen the valley from this perspective. He also knew it would be his last view of it. He had no doubt that he and the two dozen other Clan members would be sent to the factory. Some might be executed by stoning, but with such a large group, they would be valuable as slaves in the factories.

Brij wore a wan smile.

They’d sacrificed themselves to save the rest of the Clan, but it was a sacrifice with even more meaning. The survivors would be sent to the factories, a chance to be among the poor, the desolate, and the hopeless who lived there.

Caitlyn had helped the Clan more than she could imagine. She’d been a decoy, bringing soldiers to a decoy headquarters. Bar Elohim would believe he’d found a way to destroy the Clan’s ability to remain hidden in the mountain.

But the others were safe and would continue what the Clan had already been doing for a generation. Eventually rumors would reach Bar Elohim, and in a few years, he might understand that he’d failed yet again.

In the meantime, it would be that much easier to help Appalachians reach Outside, where they had freedom of choice and belief. With Bar Elohim convinced the underground railroad had been dismantled, it would operate in far greater safety.

Far more than that, however, was the chance to end the desolation and hopelessness in the factories.

For years, Brij had been wondering how to smuggle faith inside, but Bar Elohim would be doing it for them, unaware that the choppers were the ultimate Trojan horse.

“You have wings,” Billy said. He had his life jacket on again. His voice was filled with awe.

Caitlyn had spread them to let them dry after their time in the river. They were back in the cavern, downstream from where they’d nearly drowned at the rope bridge.

“I have wings,” Caitlyn said, simply. They covered her arms as if wings and arms were one unit. Nothing seemed strange about it. As if this had been the destiny of her body and she’d finally reached it.

“Are you going Outside too?” he asked. Jordan sat in the wheelchair again, out of earshot, giving them privacy.

“Not by river,” she said. “They’ll be watching for me.”

“Oh.” Billy gave the implication some thought. “But you will be going Outside. Another way.”

She nodded.

He was losing his breath again, the way it had happened the first time he saw her. Her face. Her eyes. He wanted to tell her how looking at her made him feel, but he didn’t know if he could put it into words, not even for himself.

And he was big. Too big. Too slow. Too stupid.

She was exquisite. Beautiful.

He was a lumbering creature of the earth. She was of the sky.

He didn’t deserve to even dream about her, so he said nothing. Only let that feeling of not being able to breathe grow and grow. He hoped he would remember this Outside.

“Good-bye,” he said. “Theo’s already gone into the river. Mrs. Shelton says she’s going to be with us Outside. Will we see you again?”

What he didn’t dare ask was something more direct. Will I see you again?

“William,” she said, “thank you.”

“William?”

“Stop calling yourself ‘Billy,’” she said. “People call you that because they want you to stay like a little boy trapped in a man’s body. Outside, they won’t know who you were. Don’t let them believe you are less than you are.”

Billy nodded. He wanted to remember this too.

“Good-bye,” she said. “I’ll look for you on the Outside. William.”

He stepped into the current. Faster than he could have guessed, it took him into the passageway that led to freedom.

That was the final picture of Appalachia for him.

Her. In shadows. Wings outstretched. Beautiful.