CHAPTER 12
The next day we hit the Narrows, a trail that cut a path through the canyons in Zion National Park. The water was green and knee-deep in some places, and the canyons were red and stretched up to the sky above us as we walked. The rocky walls were smooth, as if someone had taken sandpaper to them, creating rounded edges and hollowed shapes.
“This is cool!” Paisley said, her water shoes sending an arc of water out in front of her as she stepped over a boulder.
“So cool,” Skyler said.
Olivia narrowed her eyes at him as though he was being sarcastic, but I could tell he wasn’t. She must’ve come to the same conclusion because she just said, “It really is.”
Mom and Ezra were walking ahead of the group arm in arm and I wondered what they were talking about. My suspicions were still on high alert. They stopped in front of a circular cutout in the wall and snapped a selfie.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a text from Willow:“Wish You Were Here” should not be written on any postcard from a place called Death Valley.
She’d gotten the postcard I’d dropped in the mailbox at the Death Valley RV park. I typed back,This coming from the girl who left a note in my suitcase of me, in sunshine form, killing her.
True true.
Mom laughed and I glanced up to see Ezra saying something else that had her smiling.
I turned my attention back to my phone.Have you broken into my house yet?
Not yet. In the meantime, take this quiz. I took it. It’s official, we’re the best best friends.
Below her text was a link to aTeen Voguearticle:the ultimate best friends quiz
I replied:I don’t believe you needed a quiz to tell you that.
I went to click on the link when I tripped on a rock, nearly face-planting in the water. Someone caught me by the elbow and I looked over to see Skyler.
“You should probably watch where you’re going,” he said.
“Yeah, thanks.”
He was right. We were hiking in a rocky canyon through water. I was lucky I hadn’t dropped my phone. Willow would have to wait and so would that quiz.
Next to me, Olivia stumbled on a rock as well. Several other people on the trail had walking sticks. We should’ve brought walking sticks.
“You trying to make me feel better?” I asked.
She hooked her elbow in mine. “We can steady each other.”
“Good call. How did your shopping go yesterday, by theway?”
“I found some beautiful wind chimes. I’ll have to show them to you back at camp. Are you a wind chime girl, Norah?”
“Possibly. I have no idea what that means.”
“Some people get annoyed by their sound. The music isn’t a pleasant background noise to them but a distracting nuisance.”
“Oh…I’m not sure. We’ve never owned one.” The sides of the canyon were closing in up ahead, forming a narrow passage of the towering walls, proving how this trail got its name. It was gorgeous. “I think I’d like them.”
“Miranda, you’ve never had wind chimes?” Olivia called to my mom.
“They’re too loud!” she called back over her shoulder.
I laughed.
“You see,” Olivia said. “Your mom is not a wind chime girl.”