The Other Unmasking
"You will not get off this island," Meredith seethed. "All of you!"
Snarling, she twisted her right hand. Yrza doubled up in pain, dropping to the sand, screaming, as did Rollo. [not for sale or printing]
Zeida, trying to break free from Meredith, cried, "Stop, Mother! Please stop! Don't hurt them! It was my fault! It was my fault!"
"I don't care whose fault it was!" Meredith roared. "I have had enough of you both! I have had enough! I raised you, fed you, gave you a home—and this is how you repay me? You are better off dead!"
Her face was grotesque in her wrath, as if all the blood in her body was boiling. Her eyes were almost popping out of their sockets, her nostrils were flared, and her lips were drawn back, her teeth bared.
"You think I didn't know that you have not been drinking the tea? You think I wouldn't know about your plan to escape? Fools!" She bellowed as she pulled Zeida's hair back, hard.
Aldoz watched in horror as Zeida's neck dropped backward at an angle that can only result in it breaking. His eyes turned to Yrza, whose body was twisting on the sand, as with Rollo. All of them were screaming in utmost pain.
Without thinking, he charged at Meredith. But before he can reach her, he hit an invisible wall and was flung backward. [not for sale or printing] His breath in gasps, his body ached all over as he tried to get up, sprawled on the sand.
He was faced with the ugly truth: Meredith was a strong witch. He had been arrogant in assuming that as an Aquaean, [not for sale or printing] she cannot touch him. She can, and by the looks of it, she can kill him along with the girls.
"Use the Crocus."
The woman standing beside him did not speak, but he heard her voice clearly in his mind, like he did with his echo. She had been [not for sale or printing] paralyzed to the ground, unable to move; another of Meredith's magic.
"H-how? How do I use it?" he asked her telepathically, dumbfounded though he was.
"You'll know how," was her reply in his mind. "You'll know, Aldoz."
He stared at the Crocus still clutched in his hand. Its purple blooms were vivid, its leaves a vibrant green. Full of life, of promises of joyful living. Whereas the five of them were on the verge of death in the hands of a deadly witch.
"Save us. . ." he whispered to the plant. And because it was his nature, he added, "I beg of you, save us."
One of the blooms fell from his grasp, down to the sand below, where it greeted the swash of a gentle wave that kissed the shore. The water, upon being joined by the Crocus flower, rose up, up, up—gathering volume and strength and height, and soon it was as high as a hill, standing proudly for a moment. . . [not for sale or printing] before charging at Meredith and hitting her solidly in the chest. Caught completely unaware, she was thrown high in the air, before falling to a point in the shore a good kilometer away from them.
Scrambling to his feet with the Crocus still in his hand, Aldoz quickly got up and ran toward Zeida, Yrza and Rollo. They [not for sale or printing] were groaning, but they weren't in much pain anymore. The woman, too, was no longer paralyzed, coming up beside him to help them up.
"Hurry! Let's get you all into the boat! I'll push it to sea! We'll be able to escape from here! Hurry!" he shouted.
They rushed, running and wading in the shallow water, until they were able to get into the fishing boat.
