I turned and saw Boone. He was standing between me and the chasm, blocking the exit.
“Step aside,” I told him. “And we can forget you were ever here.”
Boone’s ponytail shook as he laughed. “Oh, really?”
He drew something from behind him that I recognized right away — a long dark stick. More of a sawed-off baseball bat really, but he carried it with him practically everywhere he went.
“I’m telling you now,” I warned. “I’m not in the mood.”
“No one ever is.”
He stepped in, swinging the bat in the air before him. Making some weird figure-eight, helicopter motion that he’d practiced hundreds of times. I picked up a rock. Threw it at him. He sidestepped, and the rock flew over his shoulder.
“You should’ve never come back,” Boone told me. “You made her so fucking angry.”
I picked up another rock. “You know why we’re here.”
He shrugged. Slapped the bat with his opposite hand.
“She’s petty,” I told him. “Vengeful. The worst kind of person.” I threw the rock, and he stepped to the same side. We were circling each other now, rotating positions. He watched absently as the rock skidded up against a wall.
“But you know all this already,” I said. “You learned it the moment you stepped in and tried to fill my shoes.”
“Your shoes?” he laughed derisively. “I’m filling much more than your shoes.”
“Maybe,” I smirked. “I hope you like following Christophe’s lead, though. She’s all about him now. You’re secondary, Boone. And that’ll never change.”
His mouth went tight, and I knew I’d hit the right nerve. I scooped up another rock.
“You’ll never be the alpha,” I told him. “You’ll try to please her in everything you do… but you and Lionel?”
I chucked the rock and almost hit him. This time it deflected off the edge of his bat.
“You’ll always be last choice.”
Boone’s upper lip curled in a sneer. He opened mouth and almost said something, but I quickly interrupted him.
“Have fun with all that,” I laughed. “In fact—”
He lowered his head and charged. But before he took a step, I whipped my arm forward and threw again…
I had no rock this time — it was only a bluff. But the motion was convincing enough that he halted, awkwardly, mid-stride. Throwing his arms over his head for protection, he didn’t see me rushing up to meet him. I collided with him before he could swing the bat, just as he realized he’d been deceived.
“UNGHH!”
My entire weight struck him right below center mass. It set him off balance. Sent him sprawling backwards…
Backwards and into the chasm.
I hadn’t realized he was so close! With all my rock-throwing I’d somehow circled him around. Repositioned him so that he had nowhere to retreat. His left foot missed the lip of the canyon, and at the very last second his eyes went wide, realizing what was going to happen.
So did mine.
He grabbed at me as he fell… and I reached out for him too. Our hands missed. For a heart-stopping moment his fingers swept through my hair… but they never caught.
“AHHHHHHHH!”
His scream was disturbing. Especially since it decreased in volume for a very long time and just sort of faded away, not even ending in a crash or thud.