The Reckless And The Brave

He Gets It From His Father

Camille's POV

Malakai hated walking, and I was pretty sure he got that from his mother. I didn't know when we were going to reach the next obstacle, but clearly it wasn't going to be anytime soon, unless something appeared in front of us. The flat stretch of land we were walking on went on for miles. Or at least, it looked like it did.

"I'm tired," he complained.

"Get over yourself, you big baby," I shot back. "Unless you want to turn around and go home, but good luck getting me across that bridge again."

"I can't win here," he told me, to which I rolled my eyes. Ignoring him, I kept walking ahead of him so I didn't have to listen to him complaining more than he already had.

But as soon as I saw the next obstacle, I stopped. "No, you really can't," I admitted. In front of me was a ravine that we clearly had to cross.

I felt him tense next to me. Malakai was not the biggest fan of water. In fact, he hated it. Those baby pictures people had when they took baths together? Yeah, we didn't have any of those. He never took baths, because he honest to god thought he was going to drown. He had told me felt safer in showers, since there was always an out.

"Camille," he said tightly.

"I know," I whispered. "Take my hand, okay? You got me across the bridge, I can get you through this."

His breathing became heavier as we got closer and he realized we actually had to cross it, and there was no other option.

"I really... don't want to get my clothes wet," I told him, more so trying to make him laugh than anything else.

"That's why we have extras," he reminded me, his face stone cold. I guess he wasn't in the laughing mood.

I took the first step in, and so did he. Whenever we went swimming, he always stayed in the shallow areas of the water. It wasn't like he was scared shitless every time he saw water, but this ravine had currents and sharp rocks and probably really big fish, too. Which he also hated.

"Hey, remember when you were talking about turning back," Malakai laughed nervously.

"Breathe, Kai," I soothed. "You can do this." We were knee deep now, and the current was pulling harder. If we let it take us, it would drag us down the river and we'd get smashed to death by these really scary looking rocks.

By the time the water got to our waists—well, his waist and my stomach—Malakai stopped. He just stopped walking.

"The water is going to take you if you let it," I reminded him. "We have to keep moving." He nodded, his jaw tight. And to my surprise, he actually moved in the direction he was supposed to. "Close your eyes," I ordered suddenly. I loved fish, but Malakai definitely did not. Not when they were alive, at least. And this huge was swimming in front of me actually looked pretty friendly, but I didn't want Malakai to go bolting in the other direction. "Are they closed?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied. He didn't even ask why.

"Good. Keep them that way until I say do," I ordered. I made sure to hold his hand and stay close to him as I led him through the rest of the ravine. The water went up all the way to my chin, but it never got to deep that I couldn't touch. It became difficult to fight the current at that point, but I was determined enough not to get smashed to death by rocks.

As soon as I pulled Malakai on to dry land, I told him he could open his eyes. He had been holding the backpacks above his head the whole time, so our clothes in there were still dry.

We got changed quickly, since we were both shivering. After we were dressed, we wrapped our arms around each other in attempt to keep warm. He wrapped me up in his arms and held me until my teeth finally stopped chattering.

"Thank you," I whispered softly, looking up into his eyes. They wavered for a moment, and I almost thought, for one brief second, that he was looking at my lips. But then he gave a short nod and turned away so we could keep walking.