Queen of Hel

Chapter 4: Aftermath

"So to summarize I'm never going back into nature," Avery says as we are walking home.

Sam laughs. "Why?"

"It sucks." Sam laughs again and Avery glares at her. "I'm serious! It sucks."

I shake my head a bit. "You loved it," I argue.

"No I didn't!" She protests.

"You went off on your own," Sam says.

"Just you and nature," I sing, watching as Avery's face get redder and redder the more we talk. I just laugh.

"Let's see who's laughing when I push you in a waterfall this summer." Avery glares at the ground. I remember that Avery and I are going with Sam to a place up north with a bunch of waterfalls.

"Yeah when we go to, oh what is it called." I look at Sam, hoping that she will help.

"I don't know the name changed but it used to be call the Niagara Falls." Sam shrugs, "It might've changed after the war or something."

"Avery I don't think that you are going to have any luck with pushing us into the waterfalls there though," I say. "I think that they probably have fences around them to protect exactly that from happening."

Avery scoffs. "Maybe, maybe not. You don't know."

Before I could respond to that, Sam moves in between us and pushes us away. Because she was closer to me, I got the most of it and tripped.

I give Sam a betrayed look as I pick myself and my stuff back up. "How could you," I say, in a pretend hurt voice. "You betrayed us."

"Stop arguing or die," She states.

Avery gives me a look. I nod at her. Sam catches our eyes and swears before starting to run.

We chase her, but Sam takes a turn onto her street. I run faster, leaving Avery behind. Even though Sam was the most athletic one, I was about as fast as her. I catch up easily, and when Sam looks behind her, she swears again.

Finally, we round a corner and Sam bolts onto a deck. I follow, but the door was already unlocked and opening. Right as it closes, I grab the handle and pull, trying to get in. Sam was already up the stairs by the time I enter, leaving the door wide open for Avery.

I step into the house and my watch pings. I look down and remember that my parents asked me to be home. I walk over to the other end. "Sam, I actually have to be somewhere," I call.

"Okay, you can kill me later," She responds.

Avery runs into the house. "I'm guessing we stopped trying to kill Sam," She says when she sees me walking towards the door.

"Yeah, my parents want me to be home." I open the back door and walk into the smallish back yard. I walk over to the fence and climb over it, Avery right behind me.

I land in Avery's yard, which is a bit bigger than Sam's. Mine is about the same size, but looks bigger because it curves more around the house. I walk over to the fence on the other side and climb over that one too. "See you on the other side," I say to Avery and she laughs as I jump over.

I walk over to my house, and sat down on the porch. I shrug off my bag, letting it land with a soft thump besides me. I expand the screen of my watch, letting it hover around the band. I tap on the search bar and look up the periodic table. I scan the elements. Nothing has changed since I studied it. All the elements were the same. I then check what elements were radioactive, and only one glowed green. So it couldn't be that.