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The Worst Mistake

She was flying, skiround with no track under her, not even a hoverboard, keeping herself aloft by sheer willpower and the wind in her outspread jacket She skirted the edge of a e, black ocean A flock of seabirds pursued her, their wild screaed voice

Suddenly, the stony cliffs beneath her cracked and fissured A huge rift opened up, the ocean rushing in with a roar that drowned the seabirds’ cries She found herself tu doard the black water

The ocean sed her, filling her lungs, freezing her heart so that she couldn’t cry out

"No!" Tally shouted, sitting bolt upright

A cold wind off the sea struck her face, clearing her head Tally looked around, realizing that she was up on the cliffs, tangled in her sleeping bag Tired, hungry, and desperate to pee, but not falling into oblivion

She took a deep breath The seabirds still cried around her, but in the distance

That last dreaht over the ocean, turning the water bloodred Tally pulled her shirt and jacket on before daring to e The teht fading before her eyes She hurried to get ready to go

The hoverboard was the tricky part Its unfolded surface had gotten wet, covered with a fine layer of ocean spray and dew Tally tried to wipe it off with her jacket sleeve, but there was too h jacket The wet board folded up easily enough, but it felt too heavy when she was done, as if the water was still trapped between the layers The board’s operation light turned yellow, and Tally looked closely The sides of the board were gradually oozing the water away "Fine Gives me tiBol, then realized that her purifier was empty The only ready source of water was at the botto out her wet jacket, which produced a few goodsquooshes, then scraped off handfuls of the water oozing from the board until the purifier was half-full The result was a dense, overspiced SpagBol that required lots of chewing

By the tiht had turned green

"Okay, ready to go," Tally said to herself But where? She stood still, pondering, one foot on the board and one on the ground

Shay’s note read, "At the seconda mistake shouldn’t be that hard But as theworst mistake? She’d almost killed herself once today already

Tally ree would count as a pretty bad ed it to the cru down to where the river met the sea far below

If she climbed down, her only possible path would be to follow the river upstream Maybe that’s what the clue meant But the steep cliff showed no obvious path, not even a handhold

Of course, a vein of iron in the cliff ht carry her down safely Her eyes scanned the walls of the gorge, searching for the reddish color of iron A few spots looked pro darkness, she couldn’t be certain

"Great" Tally realized that she’d slept too long Waiting for daould be twelve hours lost, and she didn’t have any more water

The only other option was to hike upriver atop the cliff But it ht be days before she reached a place to cliht?

She had to make up time, not blunder around in the dark

Tally sed, co to a decision There had to be a way down on her board Maybe she wasa ed the board off the bridge until it began to lose purchase It slipped down the cliffside, descending faster as it left the metal of the track behind

Tally’s eye searched desperately for any sign of iron in the cliff She eased the board forward, bringing it closer to the wall of stone, but saw nothing A few of the board’s oing to fall

This wasn’t going to work Tally snapped her fingers The board slowed for a second, trying to climb, but then shivered and continued to descend

Too late

Tally spread her jacket, but the air in the gorge was still She spotted a rusty-looking streak in the wall of stone and coaxed the board closer, but it turned out to be just a slimy smear of lichen The board slipped doard faster and faster, theout one by one

Finally, the board went dead

Tally realized that this ht be her last