Throwing his weight back to the left, Max regained his balance, but the wall continued to crumble. Focusing his power through his hands, he tried to will the wall back into place, but he could not stop the natural displacement of dirt.
Both Max and Jason followed the dirt avalanche with their eyes wide as it slid closer to the point where the wooden beams met the wall.
«Jason, hold on!» Max yelled as he went back to the position he had been in before he started moving to the side.
Jason lay on his stomach and tightly hugged the beam he was on.
The dirt wall deteriorated at an alarming rate.
The end of the beam began to slide down the wall.
Max aimed his hand at a point several inches beneath the beam, readying himself to use his force field. He hoped he wouldn't have to deploy it in front of Jason, but he knew that exposing his powers to the boy was far more preferable to watching him fall to his death.
One of the wooden beams behind Jason slipped out of the wall and started a long fall to the bottom. Max could hear it hit ground, and agreed that Jason was right when he'd said it had been a considerable drop.
Fortunately the wall stopped crumbling and the beam
Jason was on came to rest after only sliding a few inches. Max stayed where he was, afraid to move either left or right. He knew that the part of the wall he was on was stable. He had seen to it as he climbed down by using his powers to manipulate the molecular structure of the wall, but he was afraid to touch the loose dirt to the side of him for fear of it all falling away once again.
«Okay, we're going to have to go to Plan B.» Max reached out his arm to check the distance between himself and Jason.
«I'm not going to like this, am I?» the boy asked.
«You'll be fine.» Max paused to convince himself that Plan B was, in fact, a viable option. He realized that there really was no other choice. «I'm going to need you to jump to me.»
«Are you crazy?»
Max tried to keep his voice calm, although his entire body was trembling as he considered what they were about to do. «It's only a couple feet. I've got a good hold on the wall. It will be okay.» He wasn't entirely telling the truth, because his body was beginning to tire from the strenuous activity, but he knew that he would have to keep going for Jason's sake as well as his own.
Jason looked down beneath them. Although Max knew the boy couldn't see the bottom, they both were aware of the minimum distance the drop had to be based on the length of time it had taken for the beam to crash to the ground. When Jason looked back up, Max could see even more fear in his eyes.
«I can't do it," Jason said, still hugging the beam and shaking his head vigorously.
As if to help Max convince him, the beam slid another inch.
«You've got to," Max said in a forced calm voice. «Trust me.»
Jason looked up at the teen he had hardly even met.
Max could only meet his gaze, trying to be both forceful and calming at the same time. He hoped that his face showed the look of someone Jason could trust.
«Okay," Jason resolved. «I'll do it.»
Max let out a sigh of relief. «Good. Now, I need you to stand up slowly.»
Jason did as he was told, balancing himself on the unstable beam.
«All right," Max said, continuing to use the ultra calming voice. «When you jump to me, you're going to have to use the wood to push yourself off. That means you're going to be adding extra pressure.»
«Which means the beam is going to collapse.» Jason completed the thought with his voice shaking.
«So you're going to have to move quickly," Max concurred. «No hesitation. No turning back.»
«I can do it," Jason said firmly as he obviously tried to convince himself to believe what he was saying. Although Max could still hear the hesitation, he knew that Jason was ready.
Max removed his right hand and foot from the wall and leaned back to the left so he could form a pocket for Jason to jump into. «I want you to throw yourself into my body. I'll grab you as soon as you hit.»
«Can't I just reach for your hand?» Jason asked.
But Max had considered that option and was afraid that
even if Jason did manage to clasp onto the small target, his skinny hand would slip right out of Max's grip. «This will work fine.»
Jason looked unsure, but determined.
«On three," Max said, preparing his body to take the impact when Jason hit. «One… two… three!»
Jason launched himself off the beam.
The beam tore away from the wall.
The boy's body slammed into both Max and the wall at the same time.
Max threw his right arm around Jason and turned his own body into the wall.
The beam crashed down many, many feet below.
Jason was cradled in Max's body and pressed up against the wall. They were both breathing heavily and holding tightly onto the wall. As the realization struck them that they had been successful in what they had just done, both boys started laughing uncontrollably.
«Max! Jason! Is everything all right!» Liz screamed from above. Obviously she had heard the crash.
«We're fine!» Max hollered back up to her as the laughing subsided.
He looked to Jason to confirm that he was «fine," and found him to be shaking and breathing heavily, but surprisingly unscathed.
«Time to make like Spider-Man," Max said with a look of relief. «The hard part's over. Let's get out of here.»
Still cradling himself in Max's body,, Jason turned around to face the wall. Max instructed him on how to use the handholds and footholds that he had left behind on the way down, hoping that Jason just assumed they were a
part of the original shaft design. Either way, he did not question their escape route as they slowly made their ascent to freedom, thirty feet above.
«I don't know whether to hug you or hurt you," Liz said with relief as she saw Jason's head pop out of the hole.
«I think he's been punished enough," Max said, pulling himself up onto solid ground, still shaking.
As soon as Jason had found his footing and moved away from the hole, Liz wrapped him up in the biggest hug she could muster. Jason flinched as she squeezed, causing her to let go immediately.
«Are you okay?» Her concern came back as she saw him nursing his shoulder.
«Yes," he said quickly.
«Let me see.» She leaned to him, attempting to pull the neck of his shirt aside, but he struggled against her. «Jason, hold still.» She held tightly to him and finally managed to tug the shirt away from his shoulder, revealing a huge bruise.
Suddenly, all the pieces fell into place for Max.
«We should get you to a doctor," Liz said.
«It's okay," Jason replied. «Really.»
«But you could have a serious injury from the fall," Liz said. «That bruise doesn't look good.»
Jason said nothing in response.
«That mark isn't from the fall, is it?» Max asked, almost rhetorically, since he suspected that he knew the answer.
Jason sat on the ground, but still remained silent.
«You had it last night, didn't you?» Max gently prodded.
Liz looked at Max questioningly as they both sat on either side of their young friend. She had no idea what he was talking about.
«You pulled away when I touched your shoulder last night too," Max recalled. «I thought it was because you just didn't like to be touched, but I had hurt you when I grabbed the bruise.»
«Is that true?» Liz asked, obviously concerned. «What happened?»
«Was it George?» Max carefully continued the questioning, choosing the most likely suspect.