Myth studied Truth.

She's from the Institute.

The thought took a moment to settle.

She's been through it all. And she survived.

Myth was suddenly glad she wasn't standing.

This girl survived the horrors. Escaped. And has somehow kept going. On her own.

"What does it matter?" Myth snapped. "We come from the same place. So what. Are you planning a reunion of the survivors?"

Truth furrowed her brow. "It'd be a sorry reunion, seeing as there's only the two of us."

Myth shook her head. "What do you want with me?"

Truth set a hand on her shoulder. Myth swatted it away. The pale girl sighed and continued. "Listen. You're the only other person to have escaped Jade. I want to know how you escaped. Look as us— we're survivors! And we have a duty to save the rest of them. Everyone back at Jade. We did it, so we can help the others do it too."

Seconds ticked by remarkably slowly.

"Jade has my brother," she stated. She wasn't entirely sure why she said it. It was really the only thing she could think to say.

Truth nodded in excitement. "Don't you want to get him back? You and I, Myth. We could free him and everyone else."

Cold dread settled in her core like a stone. "I can't."

Truth's hands went to her hips. "What do you mean you can't?"

Myth drew her knees up and rested her forehead against them. "Why couldn't you have just killed me last night?"

Not a word from Truth. A cool breeze whisked through her shaved hair. She wished the wind would just carry her away. Let her forget.

The wind didn't answer her silent prayer. But Truth did.

The hard heel of a boot rammed into her shoulder.

One moment Myth was sitting on the edge of a cliff.

The next, she was rolling off the side.

Myth reached out to the rough stone, scrambling to get a handhold as she slid down. The rock scraped and burned her palms, but she refused to let go. Knolls in the rock reduced to rubble when she grabbed them.

Until finally, one outcropping of stone held strong.

Her hands bled, the knees of her pants had been torn, but she was alive. Suspended halfway between the rock top and certain death.

She panted, and risked a glance down. At least fifty feet to the inch-thick wooden roof of the inn. 

If the fall didn't kill her, the innkeeper surely would.

Truth poked her head over the edge. "Not quite so eager to die then?"

Fury raged through her veins. "You're a freaking psychopath!" Myth shouted.

"Hey, you said you wanted to die. Unless you've had a change of heart?"

The wetness of the blood on her hands made her handhold grow ever more precarious. "You might as well have killed me. There's no way I can get out of this without falling." The words felt as bitter on her tongue as the blood from the cheek she bit. She hadn't realized the fact until she said it. But her holding on only delayed the inevitable. There was no getting herself out of this alive.

"Well if you're so eager to die then, why do you hold on? You said it yourself, no way out. So go ahead and fall then," Truth called.

Myth pressed her head against the rock as a tear escapes her, running down her cheek. "Because I'm weak."

"What was that?"

"Because I'm weak!" Myth shouted so loud she was surprised the camp below didn't hear.

A moment passed. Then Truth spoke again. "You're wrong you know." Myth looked up at the pale girl far above. "Not that you're weak. I can't speak for you on that. But you were wrong that there's no way out of this alive."

"What?" Myth yelled up.

Truth grinned. "You climb!"

As if it was that easy.

Truth's expression turned serious. "You wanted me to slit your throat. Do the hard part for you. You can still fall, it you want. But you've got to do that yourself. I'm not doing that for you."

And just like that, Truth was gone.

"Truth!" Myth yelled. "TRUTH!"

No answer.

She was all alone. Myth, and her choice. No Soren to save her now.

Truth's words seared through her, as painful as her wounds.

You can still fall, if you want.

It would be easy, to let go. Let herself fall.

Yet she couldn't bring her hands to loosen.

Gently, gently. It doesn't need to be all at once. Slowly...

She let her muscles relax. She hung, so precarious that a strong breeze could have made her slip.

Just let go. Let go. Let the sky take you.

She'd begged the world before. Walked out into the swamps and begged the water to steal her under. Wandered into storms and pleaded for the wind to snatch her away. The world never answered her. It felt so unfair, how the world stole away people that didn't want to be stolen. Yet there she'd be, and the world ignored her.

Now here was was, too cowardly to take the world's hand. To make that one simple gesture, and then the rest of the work was gravity's.

Just let go.

But she couldn't.

Her arm strained from holding on. And a fear struck her belly. A fear that she wouldn't be able to hold on. That she didn't have the strength.

How she managed to go from fearing life to fearing death in a heartbeat was beyond her. From having the strength to let to having the strength to hang on.

It didn't matter now.

Suddenly the world was offering her its hand, and she was too terrified to take it.

- - -

Hours passed as Myth clung to the cliffside.

The midday heat became broiling.

The first sun peeked over the top of the boulder, greeting her with burning rays. When the rest of its flaming brigade came along, she'd be cooked alive.

If she didn't melt from the nether air first.

She'd spent too long in the nether already.

Going to earth wasn't an option. Not here. Wherever she wound up on earth, she'd fall the same fifty feet. The odds she'd land on something soft in a concrete jungle didn't sound likely.

Her throat was raw from thirst. Not that her voice would help her now. Truth obviously wasn't coming back. No one below would help her. The only one out there who would possibly save her was Soren. And he was gone.

No one's coming to save me now.

So if I really want to get out of this, I'm going to have to save myself.

Woman up, Myth. Pity time's over. Get yourself out of this.

Looking back up at the rock face, it wasn't as smooth as it appeared from the ground. It was riddled with small growths and hollows.

Handholds.

Tentatively, she let go of one of her bloody handholds, and reached up to a new one. She tested it to make sure it could hold her weight, then searched for a place for her foot.

Slowly, inches at a time, she raised herself up. Clawing her way one handhold at a time.

Her arms ached, her body convulsed with waves of heat.

Just get to the top. Then you can rest.

The time passed painstakingly slowly. The first sun was already touching the horizon by the time she finally neared the top.

Almost there. Almost there.

Her fingers curled over the edge.

Most of her clime had been a steep slope. Yet the final chunk of the climb was completely vertical, and most of her other handholds had disappeared. The mere thought of trying to heave herself over the edge made her dizzy with exhaustion. Her arms had become so weak...

Rest one moment. Then just do it.

She didn't have the chance. A firm hand wrapped around hers. Not a second later, Myth was heaved up over the edge and back onto the flat surface of the rock top.

"Well, looks like you decided you didn't want to die after all," Truth said.

Myth laid flat on her back, breathing. "I was too weak," she panted. "Too weak..."

Truth grabbed her shoulder with an iron grip, so strong Myth couldn't just swat it away. In a heartbeat the pale girl was there on top of her, pinkish-blue eyes staring down at her. "No Myth," she growled. "That choice you made down there, that is what sets you apart. That you chose to climb instead of fall..."

Truth leaned closer. "That is what makes you strong."