The day after the performance their teacher walked into the classroom with a big smile on his face.
"Guess what," he said the excitement plain on his face. Almost everyone got excited. He wasn't one of those teachers that are like 'guess what I got you guys. A practice test!' He knew when to make something exciting. Rebel seemed to be the only one not paying attention or excited.
"What?" Everyone called at relatively the same time.
"I got all the papers filled out for the hiking field trip to study rocks and underground caves in the desert." Their teacher said. Everyone, except for Rebel, whooped with delight. Devaki heard him mutter,
"Shut up," under his breath. Two days later the whole class stood outside the bus. No one was wearing their uniforms. All the bags had been put into the compartment and locked in. Devaki gripped the strings of a drawstring bag. In it was her lunch, some things for the road, and bandages. The day before she had gone to the doctors to have stitches put in. She could walk just fine though.
"Okay, I'm putting you in your groups for camp. You won't sleep with all these people, but you will do separate activities with them sometimes. These people will also be team members for games unless you want to trade people." The teacher called. Everyone turned and looked at him as he consulted a clipboard. "Group one is, for the girls, Akela, Devaki, Peta, Phoenix, and Vixen. For the boys, Caspian, Aragorn, Rebel, Bela, Alvin, and Galen. You guys may enter the bus while I get the other groups." Group one boarded the bus. Group two was, for the girls, Amaris, Bahira, Eleta, and Zia. For the boys, Ari, Chase, Ash, Tokala, Neil, Ashur, and Laydon. The last group was, for the girls, Arianwen, Atara, Bellona, Diana, and Uma. For the boys, Mace, Valiance, Ranger, Aslan, Duke, and Casey. On the bus Devaki slid into the back seat and looked out the window. Without a comment Rebel sat next to her. Go away Halfblood. Devaki thought mechanically. But she honestly didn't mind sitting by him. Everyone piled on trying to sit next to their girlfriend or boyfriend. Devaki just stared out the window as they pulled away from the school. Rebel didn't talk to her, he just sat listening to music. Their teacher was playing loud music over the speakers and half the class was singing along. It took nearly the whole day to reach the red rock mountains. Devaki had fallen asleep on the window during the drive. Akela woke her when they parked. Devaki grabbed her bag and followed her out.
"Wow this place is amazing." Uma said looking around.
"Yes, I hope to make this your best field trip ever!" Their teacher said. A man wearing hiking boots and hiking clothes walked up to him. He, like Aragorn, was a ram.
"Hello, you must be the group of kids I heard that were coming." He said. Everyone nodded. He led them down into a small canyon. There was a campfire pit, lunch hall, a girls cabin, a boys cabin, a teacher's cabin/medicine cabinet, and bathrooms complete with showers and everything. The teens went back to the bus and got their things and took them to their cabins. When they had everything they met by the fire pit for camp songs and the plan for the next day. They would be going on a short camping trip to see an underground cavern filled with water.
"The hike should be pretty easy." The guide told them before they left for their cabins. No one heard Akela whisper to Ari,
"This will be test number one for Rebel. Make sure everything is ready." He nodded at her and went to his cabin. In the morning they packed for the overnight trip and went to breakfast. As they ate the camp guide talked to them about the hike.
"This should be an easy hike, however there is one dangerous aspect. We will all wear safety hiking gear the whole time. There is a half a mile stretch that we have to go along with a shelf that is only six inches wide. It is a long drop to the trail below. We will pass above the cavern during this adventure. Please remember you safety gear. Everyone have their numbers? Good, let's get ready." Everyone scattered. Akela felt sick. She glanced at Ari, he didn't look well either.
"Try to be careful and the stunt won't happen." Ari whispered. Akela nodded and they followed everyone out to get ready. Everyone wore a harness with two straps attached to carabiner clips. These would secure them to the rock wall when they went across the small rock cleft. Each of them wore a hiking backpack with the things they wound need for camping. With the guide and Rebel at the head, they set off. Devaki was behind Akela who was behind Ari, five more people, then the guide. The hike was exciting. Akela and Devaki talked the whole time about nothing in particular. Everyone was excited and a tad nervous to go across the small rock shelf. Devaki didn't mind heights, and a few of her friends were birds. The birds were not worried at all. They had wings. But when they got to the rock cleft, even Devaki felt her tail fur stand on end. There were rings that were attached into the rock wall. They would buckle one clip onto the ring and step out, then they would put the second clip in the ring. Then take out the first clip and put it in the second ring and so on till they reached the second side. They were about halfway across when they guide stopped and pointed down. There was a hole in the ground.
"That's the cave we will be visiting." He yelled. Everyone gazed at it as they moved on. At that moment a spider decided to make a drop right in front of Akela. The girl happened to be terrified of spiders. She leapt back screaming, smashed into Devaki, and fell. Her clips attached to the ring in the rock wall stopped her fall, but not for Devaki. Devaki had been transferring one of her clips when Akela ran into her. Both of the straps ripped from the clips and Devaki plummeted downward. She screeched trying to keep her tail out of her face.
"Devaki!" Screamed Rebel trying to rip his clips off.
"Rebel!" Shrieked Devaki. She hit her right shoulder on a boulder jutting out of the cliff and kept falling. Suddenly something hit her back, knocking her pack off. She was flung into the cave and into blackness. Rebel flapped quietly watching her disappear. He had gotten his clips off and had flow down. Unfortunately he had hit her back and now only her pack remained in his hands.
"Come back up." The camp guide yelled. Rebel flew back up and secured himself to the wall.
YOU ARE READING
Three Shades of White
Romance"Devaki," a mild tenor voice whispered into her ear, making the fur on her tail stand on end with fright. She glanced around the room. "I wanted to know if you have any other plans this week. Call back." It was the Halfblood, Rebel. For some reason...
