Priscilla Sum

Part 30--Storm Breaking

Trees cracked and groaned all around me. I tripped and stumbled my way down whatever clear path I could see two paces ahead of me. The wind picked up, but I couldn't tell if it was helping me or trying to impede my progress. I couldn't even tell which direction I ran, whether it was toward safety or to some hitherto unexplored corner of Fourtouna.

"Pris! This way... Over here!" A voice screamed--Jordyn?

I tried to make my way over to her--I thought I could see a flash of her bright-red backpack--but a massive tree tumbled and curled between us with all the grace and mobility of a giant octopus. One of the writhing roots wrapped around my waist, jerking me backward. It was like being attached to a free-hanging roller coaster with just a belt to secure me. Branches and roots whipped around me, scratching my face and my arms and legs. The scraping ended and I came to a stop when the back of my head slammed against a large boulder. The root gripping my waist had slipped in a groove down the middle and gotten trapped. At least it wasn't pulling anymore, but it was definitely too thick for me to try and escape it at all. I stared up to see the triple peaks of The Brothers looming over me against a churning, swirling sky.

I heard shouting. How badly I wanted to jump or wave or find some way to signal the others that I was down here off a cliff, pinned to an outcropping.

"Come on, man!" Someone called, closer than ever.

"Dude, look out!" called another.

Hope surged in me.

"HELP!" I screamed as loud as I could. "I'M DOWN HERE!"

A dirty mop of blonde hair popped out from behind one of the Brothers.

"Pris?" Kayce cried in surprise.

I waved and pointed to the trapped root. "I can't move!"

"Hold on!" Kayce called down to me, and the head disappeared.

I rolled my eyes and tried to relax with the uneven edges of the boulder digging into my back. As if not moving was even optional for me!

I heard the other person (Derrick? Or maybe Tony) start whooping again, and then Kayce came into view, working his way down the cliff toward me.

"You're okay," he spoke like seasoned lifeguard calming a terrified child. "I've got you. It's gonna be okay."

He knelt next to me and pulled out his army-surplus pocket knife. Working quickly, he hacked the root in two and pulled me to safety.

I caught my breath with a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

"No problem," Kayce offered me a half-smile. "Ready to keep going?"

I glanced around. I still couldn't orient myself without knowing where the sun was--and it had started to rain. "Going where?" I asked. "Back to camp?"

Kayce shrugged. "That does seem like the best option, in spite of what we've discovered about their ulterior motives. If the whole island is freaking out like this area," he gestured to the cracking cliffs and the stirring trees around us, "then probably their first instinct is going to be to leave as soon as possible, and we don't exactly have another way off Fourtouna."

I nodded as more trees swayed and tumbled of their own accord. It was only a matter of time before the demon figured out where we were. "Works for me!" I replied.

Kayce beckoned to me. "Come on," he said. "This way."

He started off down a narrow trail along the cliffside, which led us to a much wider path. Once there, he paused to check his compass. "Okay, so we know that the dig site is on the southeast side of Fourtouna, and the docks are just west of that. If we head southwest," he pointed in the same direction our path led, "we should eventually meet up with it."