Witch of the Wild Woods

Chapter 28 - Airline to Heaven

Chapter 28 - Airline to Heaven

It was so much harder to breath now on his own. Not just because of the putrid sulfur smell and ash raining down; Lane's sister was gone. He was alone. While the ground still shook and the storm above raged on, there was a bitter stillness when something so valuable was stolen right in front of him. Sheet lightning blanketed the sky. Deafening thunder cracked above Lane as he stood upon the beach. Both his sister and the Deer Woman had vanished.

"What have you done?" A sad, deflated voice asked.

Jude Abidalli.

Lane remembered he was still too angry to mourn. Unbuckling his belt and pulling it free from the loops around his waist, the solitary twin approached Jude.

Exhausted, chilled to the bone, and mad as hell, Lane walked the perpetrator through his rights, "Jude Abidalli, under the authority of Revised Code of Washington State Law, chapter 9A section 04.060, I'm placing you under arrest for the murder of your wife and daughter. Anything you say or do from this moment on will be recorded and offered to the court to be used against you. You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford-"

"You think you have the power to--?' Jude interrupted but was silenced just as quickly. The lone twin used his belt to bind the former camp director's hands together behind his back.

Lane continued, "You have the right to shut the fuck up. Now, on your feet. Move!" Holding Jude by the improvised handcuffs, Lane pulled the perpetrator to his feet.

"My head," Groaned a familiar voice.

Lane looked away from Jude, glancing down at the sand where Alice lay. She remained naked, except where covered in wet sand.

"Alice? Are you okay? Can you stand?" Lane asked.

She nodded weakly, "I think, maybe? Everything is so muddled."

Lane forced Jude back down onto the ground to tend to Alice. He quickly examined the nude girl, a familiar scene and yet thankfully different than when they'd first met. Offering her a hand up, he tried to reassure her, "Everything is going to be okay. We--" Lane flinched, "I'm going to get us out of here." The boy peeled off his vest, and offered his wet shirt to Alice.

As she gingerly took the only available garment to cover herself with, Jude began to chuckle. His chuckle quickly turned to manic cackling.

"Are you blind?" He howled, still laughing, "Did you think I was lying? The game had already been won before you stepped foot on this beach, Roswell. Look with your own eyes, witness the end of everything."

Almost as if he'd choreographed his maniacal little speech, the unmistakable sonic boom of a first-stage eruption shook the earth. A plume of smoke and ash jettisoned itself up into the air. Lightning bolts streaked down from the dark storm clouds and touched down upon the thrashing lake.

Alice gasped.

Lane set his jaw. He reached into his jacket for The Journal. Perhaps there was some kind of incantation, some obscure spell he had overlooked that happened to be powerful enough to stop a volcano. Or, barring that, something to buy him and Alice enough time to... No. There wouldn't be enough time to escape. Lane simply couldn't accept loss. Not now. A torrent of sweat ran down from his brow. He was only skimming the contents of the book now. He knew, in his heart, there was nothing in his arsenal that could stop the destruction that was coming.

They had to run.

"Come on," Lane urged Alice, "We can reach the parking lot before-"

Another quake rattled the surrounding woods. Whole trees snapped and clattered to the forest floor. The earth was hit with such force Lane and Alice both toppled over onto the sand. Mere meters away from where they all sat, a fissure opened in the ground.