273 Chapter 273

Rather than jumping out of the tree in one leap like Elliott had, I took my time and chose my footing carefully. I'm sure I was moving faster than most humans were capable of, but relative to the rest of my team, I was slow and cautious. Getting down is almost always harder than getting up when it comes to climbing, but I knew if I hurried, I'd end up falling, and I wasn't ready to test out how badly I could hurt myself.

I was about halfway down before I lost my balance the first time and had to grab at a branch that wasn't quite as strong as I'd hoped. I recovered, but the branch broke free, and then I found myself falling through the air. My hands shot out, and I reached for another limb. This one was strong enough to hold me, and by the time I steadied myself, I realized I was only about ten feet off the ground. "You can do this," I whispered, and then, looking for a clear path between the remaining rows of branches, I jumped.