Archer Lumen: Earth's Version of Hell (Unfinshed)[Edited Up to Escape]

Chapter 29 | The New Coast

The Sun Was Beginning To Set when the village on the map came into view. I glanced at the darkening sky―I had a week and a half left until my mother became Tern’s new toy. Great. I knew we’d made some good time because of the speed of our other forms, but I was still anxious.

  I was pushing to enter the village, get some food, but the others wanted to avoid it.

  “Who knows how good the communication is between that town back there and this village? They might kill us if we enter.” Ridge said.

  “Dude that was miles back. I doubt they even know each other.” I reasoned.

  In the end, my friends won. We skirted around the community, my stomach rumbling at the scent of pie on the windowsill of some house. My glowing blue eyes focused on the low open window. I squinted the eagle eye. A skirt came into view; it had flowery patterns that kind of…shimmered. I guessed at some point my ears had shifted, because I could hear the skirt’s owner humming a pretty tune. There was movement, and then the woman’s face came into view. Tan skin, dark hair, and dark eyes. She was beautiful. I froze as her opaque jewels met mine. The others realized that I’d stopped moving pretty quickly and came back.

  “What is it?” Wren asked, touching me with a frozen finger.

  I jumped and turned to them. “I think…I think that the Oracle is here.” I said.

  Wren shook her head, “No, she’s in the desert. She’s always been in the desert.”

  She sounded so certain, so I wondered why she didn’t just tell us to follow her. She kept looking at me with raised eyebrows and I realized something.

  In a way, Charlie had been right. I was their Captain. Their leader. The boss man. I thought. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I cleared my throat, straightening my posture. “Alright, we’ll keep going. But I’m telling you, I think she’s here.”

  Wren relaxed and led the way, taking the map. The sound of rushing water hit my ears―no, not my ears. It hit my body. I could feel the water travel through my veins, into my heart and up to my brain. I gasped quietly. “Guys?” I stammered. “Do deserts have…oceans?”

  Up ahead, water was slamming against a beachfront. Pandora let out a gasp and Kate and Ridge ran forward. I stumbled after them. The energy from the Moon and the ocean was filling me up. But there was something wrong. As I stepped onto the soft sand, I realized that there were chunks of sand floating in the ocean.

  Is it an ocean? I wondered.

  As I neared the water, I realized that I could see more sand on the other side. But it was moving away, and fast. Kate and Ridge had begun to splash the water on their faces. The ground began to rumble and chunks of sand began to rise through the air.

  “Guys…guys!” I outstretched my hands, using the seawater.

  It turned into two hands that grabbed the pair and threw them back softly onto the grassy land. Then the section of land that we had been standing on began to detach from the rest. I’d been quick enough to get them to safety, but I’d been too slow to help myself. The sandy land floated into the sky. I looked down at the others, who were staring up in fear. Ridge began to summon wood, I could see it sprouting from the ground.

  “Wait!” I yelled.

  Kate began to yell at Ridge as I floated higher and higher. She pointed angrily at something behind me.

  I turned and froze in shock. A hole had formed in the air―a tear, really. It sucked sand from my little piece of land―it didn’t even have manners. Ask before you take a person’s only means of survival. It was common sense.