Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

THE CROWD ERUPTED when Ty reached the top. He offered a wave, then let himself fall to the mats.

Three out of four climbs down. Ty scooped up his things and started to head for the isolation area backstage. As he did, he shot a glance toward the cluster of athletes who'd already finished their semi-final round. Ty couldn't know the scores yet, but the expressions of the climbers often told the story before the numbers ever did.

He found Elijah among the pack, but he was just sitting there with his elbows resting on his knees. He didn't look particularly elated or defeated. Maybe he was on the cusp of the cutoff for finals. Ty was one of the last climbers out, so it was only the strongest climbers trying the routes at this point. If Elijah was in fourth or fifth place, he might just be anxiously waiting to see if he would sneak in. Only eight climbers got to progress, so with all the best climbers coming out now, even fourth place could get bumped out of contention.

Ty hoped that explained things. He'd tried catching glimpses of Elijah as he rotated through isolation during his climbs, but then, as now, he'd revealed little. He'd always been a climber who seemed to handle the pressure well, never letting his emotions get the better of him, but that also made him difficult to parse when all Ty got were brief sightings between climbs.

Ty made it backstage as Jude ran out for his chance at the wall. Ty sank into a chair and eased his shoes halfway off so his toes would stop screaming at him for mercy. The first three climbs hadn't been too bad, a dyno followed by a pretty straightforward vertical climb and a slab. Ty knew Elijah was capable of all three of those climbs, but so were most of the guys on the wall right now.

He didn't get to worry about it for very long. It felt like only seconds before the judges were calling for Ty and his group to prepare to go back out there. Had everyone out there finished all the climbs that quickly? That wasn't a good sign for someone in Elijah's position. If these four climbs were easy tops for the guys at the end of the rotation, all the early climbers would get knocked out thanks to tie breakers and attempts.

Only one other climber joined Ty on the mats when he jogged out for his final climb of the semi-finals. As people finished, they stopped joining in the rotation, which made for empty spots in the lineup as the final competitors finished their climbs. The guy still climbing with Ty was a dude named Jeong, a hometown favorite right from Seoul. He was a strong climber, and ridiculously tall on top of that. He would be tough to wrangle in the finals. Plus, the crowd freaked out every time he stepped on stage.

The cheers were deafening now as Jeong and Ty faced the spectators, waiting for the signal from the judges. Ty could barely pick out the beep of the clock starting over the roar of the fans packed before the stage. So many people, and it wasn't even the finals. Hopefully, someday America would be able to match the climbing culture in places like this.

Jeong and Ty got the signal and spun to face the wall. Ty sized up his final climb, a relatively straight up and down route that seemed to require little more than raw power. It was mean of the route setters to put it last, but it was also the exact type of climbing that suited Elijah best. Even before Ty touched the holds, he felt certain Elijah had topped this one. Maybe he'd even flashed it by getting to the top on his first try. A flash could go a long, long way toward pushing you up in the standings.

Ty shook out his arms before chalking up. Unfortunately, this was not as much his style as Elijah's. He'd enjoyed the first climb more, the one with the big dynamic jump right at the start. It definitely favored people who were both tall and springy, and Ty was both. Had that one flustered Elijah? It definitely wasn't his style. Could it have set a negative tone for the rest of Elijah's comp, ruining things before he even got a chance to try a problem that was more his style?

He was thinking too much about someone else's climbs. The first time Ty tried the last climb, he completely missed a foot and floundered around, lost and scrambling until he dropped back to the mats. That could prove significant on a climb Ty assumed most competitors would top. Hell, the guys going at the end of the order might largely flash it.

Ty forced himself to pause and chalk up slowly, shaking out his arms to get rid of the pump. His forearms felt hard as rocks, completely suffused with blood from all the climbing he'd done so far. And there was still finals ahead. Assuming he made it in, he'd only get a few hours to rest before he'd have to tackle four new boulders.

Ty glanced at the clock. He'd rested for about thirty seconds, which would have to be good enough. Powerful climbs often took time to work through.

The next time he approached the climbing wall, he exhaled to send his stray thoughts off into the ether. Ty focused his attention on nothing but the plastic before him, then finally set his hands on the first hold.

He moved from small, delicate feet to small, delicate hands. Ty had to curl all his fingers fully and even crunch his thumb down atop them to make the tiny crimp holds useful. His muscles protested as small tendons in his forearms worked overtime to create tension and keep him off the mats.

It was slow going to the next hold. Ty reached better feet, but they led him to an undercling, a hold that was essentially "upside down." Ty had to grab it like he was lifting up the trunk of a car, pulling upward to keep himself on the wall. It required a different kind of strength than the small holds, but that didn't make it any less energy-sapping.

Ty trembled, his whole body screaming for relief from the strain. Even his legs shook when he raised one foot to get it on a higher hold. That would create just enough tension throughout his body that he could release one hand and reach for the next hold. Of course, that meant keeping himself on with just the other hand for at least a few seconds.

Just as Ty was tensing up to make the move, the crowd exploded behind him. He didn't need a scoreboard to know that Jeong had just made it to the top of his climb. The cheers rang in Ty's head, a swirl of noise he had to shove aside so he could focus on the task before him.

Everything tensed, his body pushing and pulling in opposite directions to create the force that would wedge him into the wall just long enough. Then, finally, he released, slapping up for the next hold.

His whole body jerked back when he caught the plastic. Gravity tore him backward, but Ty gritted his teeth and fought it, curling his fingers in his determination to remain on the wall.

A new cheer rose from the crowd. Apparently the move had looked just as difficult as it felt if the South Korean crowd noticed it amid their celebrations. But Ty couldn't linger just to savor the moment. He was on the hold for now, but his body couldn't hang on much longer.

With numb arms, Ty clambered up the final couple holds, shouting victoriously at the wall when he got both hands on the final hold. The crowd cheered almost as enthusiastically for him as they had for Jeong, and Ty fell to the mats, letting gravity take him at last.

He landed on his ass and lay on his back panting for a few seconds. Finally, he dragged himself up and gave the crowd and judges a wave. He could hardly keep a hold on his bag and towel with how pumped out and numb his arms were from expending every ounce of strength they had to offer.

This time, Ty didn't head back to the isolation area. There was no point in isolating when you'd touched every climb. Now, it was just a matter of waiting for the final few climbers to complete their round and finding out where in the standings Ty would land.

A laptop waited on a table in the area reserved for climbers who'd completed their round. A website displayed the names of all the climbers in the semi-finals and their placements. Ty didn't have to scan for long to find himself. Second. With only three people still climbing, he was guaranteed a spot in the finals.

But that hardly offered him any relief. Ty kept scanning, eyes going lower and lower. No, he must have missed it. He checked again, hunching toward the laptop to search for the name he really wanted to see: Reed.

Thirteenth place.

Ty's heart sank into his shoes. Not only did Elijah not make it, he wasn't even close to making it. This was exactly what Elijah had feared — and exactly what Ty had assured him wouldn't happen.

Considering where Elijah had started the day, thirteenth was actually pretty damn good. Ty knew before he ever found Elijah that that argument wouldn't hold up for a second, however. Elijah had put a lot of pressure on himself with this, pressure to prove he could still do this, pressure to convince his sponsors they hadn't wasted their money, pressure to represent more than just himself at the highest levels of climbing. He would definitely view this as a failure.

Ty had to find him, but he was supposed to be sitting with the other climbers likely to get into finals. He scanned the waiting area anyway and found Elijah still back there in his plastic chair. The area closer to the front was a grassy little green where some of the higher ranked climbers were lounging with their shoes off and chatting about the boulders. A couple eyed the stage warily, their jaws locked up with tension as they waited to see if they'd get knocked down to ninth place and out of the finals.

It was a position Ty had been in plenty of times himself, but he couldn't pause to offer them any sympathy today. He had to get to Elijah while there was still time.

Ty waded through congratulatory shoulder pats and fist bumps to reach Elijah behind the throng. Maybe it was brash going directly to him during the comp like this, but Ty didn't care in that moment.

By the time Ty reached Elijah, he was more out of breath than he'd been on the wall. He stood over Elijah, who still slouched in a plastic chair with his elbows resting on his thighs.

"Are you okay?" Ty said.

It was probably the worst thing he could have chosen to say. Elijah wouldn't want pity right now, especially from a guy near the top of the leaderboard. But Elijah simply shrugged, his smile bitter enough to give black coffee a run for its money.

"What could I have expected?" Elijah said. "It's like I told you before. I'm simply too old for this."

Ty dropped down to his haunches to crouch before Elijah. It left Elijah little space to escape Ty's gaze.

"It's one comp," Ty said. "You just flew in. I'd be off too if I didn't get a whole extra day to deal with the jet lag. Hell, I still feel kind of weird from the time zone change. "

"It wasn't the jet lag."

"I know that dyno on the first problem isn't really your style," Ty pushed on. "It's bad luck. The setting here wasn't very favorable to you."

"Ty."

"Plus, you had some bad luck in the qualifiers, too. You'd need a miracle round to get into the top eight from where you started. You did amazing, all things considered. You—"

"Ty." Elijah snapped the word, loud enough to draw a couple curious looks from the climbers closest. He lowered his voice when he continued. "It wasn't any of that, okay? I'm just not up to this kind of thing anymore. It's hard enough when you're young. When you're neither young nor accustomed to comp life, it's a damn miracle to even make it into semi-finals, frankly."

"It wasn't a miracle," Ty said. "You worked hard. You earned your spot."

Elijah snorted something vaguely related to a laugh. "Sure, I worked hard for a couple weeks and just jumped right back into international competition climbing like I had any hope of keeping up. God, why did I ever think this wouldn't be a disaster?"

He put his head in his hands, shaking his head at himself. Ty grabbed his wrist, trying to pry his hand away, but Elijah refused to budge.

"We can keep working on it," Ty said. "We can keep training together. You can't quit after the first one."

Elijah finally relented, letting Ty pull on his wrist so he uncovered his face. Ty didn't let the touch linger. They were still sitting among a whole crowd of climbers and spectators, after all. This was supposed to be a friendly mentor-student kind of relationship and nothing more.

"I appreciate the offer," Elijah said, "but I don't think I could live with myself if I distracted you from your own training when you're at the top of your game."

"I—"

"No," Elijah cut in. "I know what you're planning to say, but even right now, you should be eating and resting and preparing for the finals, but you're consoling some washed up old man instead."

Elijah leaned a little closer, voice softening.

"I had my time, Ty. It's your turn now. There's nothing I want less than to hold you back when you should be absolutely crushing every other climber out there."

Ty responded just as softly. "It would be more fun to crush them with you."

The faintest flicker of a smile tugged on one side of Elijah's mouth. "That's … kind, but I'm not going anywhere. I'm already in Seoul, right? I'll be right here cheering you on from the front row. That's my number one job right now."

Elijah looked like he wanted to lean forward and kiss Ty. His eyes softened. The pain of the loss eased out of his face, leaving behind resigned serenity.

Ty barely managed not to lunge up and take that kiss for himself. Jude's questions from a couple days ago lingered in his mind. Kissing in public would definitely get people's attention, and neither of them wanted that. But even if the public scrutiny wasn't a problem, the type of kiss lingering on Elijah's lips right now was gentle, soothing. Not sexy. It was a boyfriend kiss, not a hookup kiss, and as far as Ty knew, they weren't actually dating.

Ty swallowed and forced himself to stand. Elijah smiled up at him.

"Make sure you get some water," Elijah said. "And don't let yourself cool down too much. Stay loose. That Jeong guy looks really strong."

"I know," Ty said.

He almost said more, almost tried to go on consoling, but the tightness around Elijah's eyes warned him against it. Elijah was doing his best to smile. Ty had to do his part and start focusing on his own climbing.

"I'll see you afterward," Ty said.

"Yeah," Elijah said. "You bet. Climb hard, all right?"

Again that urge to soothe welled up, a warm pressure in Ty's chest. He forced it down. Later. It would have to wait for later. Elijah clearly didn't want Ty's pity, even if they weren't in public.

Elijah held up a fist. Ty bumped his against it. It was the most contact he'd get in the middle of a place like this .

"Get going," Elijah said. "They're looking for you."

Elijah nodded. When Ty followed the gesture, he found the qualifying climbers had mostly gone back into isolation to rest between rounds. A woman with a microphone waited expectantly behind Ty.

He plastered on a smile as he approached. Ty knew her. Everyone knew her. In the climbing community, even the commentators became familiar faces. Hell, half the time they were climbers eliminated from previous rounds. Maggie was purely an IFSC commentator and not a competitor, however.

"How was the round?" she said when he approached.

"Good, I think," Ty said. "Some hard climbs."

Dragging up the words he was supposed to say was like trudging through waist-high sand. Every sentence required an effort, even though it was more or less the same questions Ty faced at every competition.

Then Maggie deviated from the script.

"So I noticed you went to chat with Elijah Reed after your round. Can you tell us what that was about? Was he hyping you up for the finals?"

Ty's blood ran cold but he managed to cling to the smile on his lips. At least she'd offered him a convenient enough excuse. "Oh, yeah," he said. "Yeah, he was super encouraging."

"It must be great having a mentor with so much experience. "

"It is," Ty said. "He's great. We met in Vail and I got to climb with him a bit."

"Wow, that's great. Not every day you get to climb with your idol."

Ty's laugh sounded more nervous than amused to his own ears. Maggie didn't seem to notice. "It's nice having him here supporting me," he said.

"A shame about the finals, though," Maggie said.

"Yeah, but there's always next time, right?"

"So he'll be competing more?"

Ty realized his mistake too late. "Oh. No. I mean, maybe. I don't really know. It's up to him, you know?"

"Sure, sure," Maggie said. "So let's get back on the subject of your finals, though. Do you think you can out-perform Jeong Kim today? He seems untouchable."

Ty nearly sighed with relief at the change in topic. They stuck to safer subjects for the rest of the interview. Then Maggie let Ty retreat into isolation to rest and recover while the route setters redid the wall for the finals round. In just a few hours, he'd be back out there climbing again, but no matter how Ty tried to get his head straight, it wasn't the comp his thoughts kept wandering back to.