Chaos Theory (Nerds of Paradise #2)(68)

—and shouted a curse that was likely to wake every living creature for miles around. He knocked the burning-hot teapot over as he snatched his hand back. Red welts were already beginning to rise on his singed hand.

“Oh, sweetheart!” Melody grabbed his hand and turned it palm-up to get a look at the damage.

Will swallowed a curse at the flash of pain that caused and drew his hand back.

“Shoot. Let me grab some cold water.” Melody rolled away from him and snatched up one of the water bottles that sat nearby. Will growled in pain as she poured cold water over it. “It’s a shame to waste our water supply. I don’t know if we’ll be able to get back to the lake anytime soon.”

“It doesn’t matter if the finish line is as close as Jonathan says it is,” Will said through clenched teeth.

“I wonder—”

Melody’s thoughts were cut off at the sound of a woman shouting something, far off in the woods. She gasped and shot to her feet.

Will rose with her, holding his burnt, trembling hand with his free hand. “That has to be them.”

“But it’s so early. Would they really be up and moving already?”

“If they think they can win.”

Will took a few steps in the direction of the voice, but gave up. It would be impossible to tell where the voice was coming from, especially since he couldn’t see any sign of movement through the forest. His next instinct was to look up. The sky was still a bluish-purple, though it was lightening fast. He should have checked where they were on the map before they’d gone to sleep last night. For all he knew, the finish line was a stone’s throw away.

“Melody, can you climb up one of those trees and see if you can get an idea of where we are?”

He didn’t think about the implication of his request until after it had been made. Melody stared up at the tree nearest to her, mouth hanging open.

“Up?” she asked, voice weak.

Will winced. So much for that idea. “We need to figure out where we are, where they are, and where the finish line is.” He started pacing around the area of their camp, looking for another way.

Melody still had her eyes trained on the top of the pines. “And we can figure that out by climbing a tree.”

“We could have. I’d climb up myself if I hadn’t just fried my hand. We’ll figure out something else.”

“No, no, I’ll do it.”

Will stopped his increasingly frantic pacing and turned to her. Even the stinging throb in his hand stopped. “I’m not going to make you deal with heights just to figure out where we are.”

But Melody’s expression had changed. The sick fear that had pulled her mouth tight was gone. A determined look had taken its place. “Okay. I can do this. I’m going to do this.” She started for a tree several yards away that had the lowest branches.

“You don’t have to.” Will marched to intercept her at the tree’s base.

“I want to,” she insisted. She took a deep breath. “Just maybe give me a hand up to get started.”

“I’ve only got one hand, but do you think you could pull yourself up on that branch if you stepped up on my knee?” He dropped to one knee, patting his thigh to indicate she should stand there.

A giddy smile flickered over her lips. “Why, Clementine, I can’t believe you’re getting down on one knee for me already.”

“It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

She blinked. He was as startled by what he’d said as she looked. “Really?”

The easy way out would have been to say no, he was joking, and urge her to get up the tree. He never had done things the easy way. “Competition first. The rest of our naked lives in the woods second.”

A typical Melody giggle escaped her. “Right. Here goes nothing.”



It was bound to happen eventually. She’d joined the competition as a way to push herself, so she should have expected there would come a moment when she’d have to push herself in a direction she didn’t necessarily want to go. That direction always seemed to be up.

“I’m not going to hurt you, am I?” she asked, totally stalling, as she lifted her foot to step on Will’s leg.

“No. Don’t worry about it. Go on.”

Melody licked her lips and reached for the lowest branch. She could reach it standing on the ground, but there was no way she had the upper body strength to hoist herself up. At least with the boost of Will’s leg she was able to scramble up onto the branch. “Okay, one down. Now what?”

Will stood, still favoring his burnt hand. “Keep going. The branches are closer together now that you’re in the tree.”

He was right. As she looked up, Melody could see exactly the best route to climb through the tree. She could also see a hefty amount of sticky sap oozing from the trunk and branches, and a few spots of rough bark. It wasn’t so bad looking up as it was contemplating the ground beneath her and the potential for returning to that ground in the fastest and sloppiest way possible.

“And you’re sure you don’t need me to stay on the ground and see about your hand?” she asked, only half joking.

“It’ll be fine. We need to see how close we are to the end.”

“I thought you’d say that.” She sighed, glanced up once more, and took a deep breath.