by Nana Malone
“Don’t get all hysterical on me; he’s fine,” Liz assured her without an ounce of comfort. “But you and I have some business to take care of before I deal with him.”
She dragged her away from the campsite, down the trail. Ali screamed and fought her hold, desperate to get back to Ryan, but Liz’s iron grip was impossible to break. The further they went, the more frantic she became until Liz swung around and backhanded her across the face. Ali stumbled backward in shock, cradling her stinging cheek as she stared at Liz.
“You want to go back up and watch him die first?”
Fear seized her heart. “No!”
Liz jerked her head in the direction they’d been headed. “Then shut up and let’s go.”
Resentment reared up as reality sank in. She was going to have to fight Liz all by herself.
Ali slowly lowered her hand to her side and hesitated just long enough to let Liz know she wasn’t going to follow orders mindlessly. Blue ice narrowed dangerously, and she realized she’d be smarter to appear passive. She quickly moved past the witch and picked her way down over the snow-covered rocks.
Then she slowed down as much as possible without being too obvious. She needed as much time as she could borrow to think things through and figure out a way to beat Liz.
With each step they took, she was reminded of what was to come. She’d taken this trek three lives before, and she’d drowned in her dreams too many times to count. But after what she’d shared with Ryan last night, she wasn’t giving up—not without a fight the likes of which Liz had never seen before.
Walking in front allowed her to pull the amulet and crystal out from under her shirt. They were warm from her body heat as she wrapped her fingers around them. Energy coursed into her hand, convincing her Ryan was alive. A second pulse and flash vision of his face gave her further reassurance.
Behind her, anger radiated off Liz in nuclear waves, and a glance behind confirmed she was no longer recognizable as the woman Ali had loved as a child. Confusion from past lives swirled with betrayal in this one.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked into the second mile of their descent. “What have I ever done to you?”
Again, Liz laughed. “You already know that answer. I mean, you know who I am. Who you are. Surely you must remember the rest?”
All of a sudden, she did. She remembered young Elizabeth from way back in the first life. So pretty, with her beautiful hair and fancy dresses, that big house and a wonderful, normal family. When she was with Elizabeth, the townspeople didn’t look at her as the strange, poor urchin who belonged to those people who lived in seclusion on the mountain, and she’d treasured every moment they spent together.
“I remember us being friends,” she whispered.
“Friends? Is that what you call it? You stole my fiancé!”
“If I’d had any idea when I met him—”
“You still would’ve gone after him. From the day we met, you coveted what was mine. I saw it in your eyes. And then you became so jealous, you pretended to be my friend, used your magic, until my parents sent me away.”
Is that how she saw it?
“It was horrible in Boston. The bluebloods looked down their noses at me, as if I were nothing more than a speck of dirt on their fancy little slippers.”
Alianna knew that feeling well.
“My daddy had more money than half their families, but they all still thought they were better than me. So I grew the magic you taught me and vowed one day they’d all be sorry. When James came along, he was the key to my revenge. Handsome, successful…they all wanted him, but he picked me.”
“He never even asked you to marry him,” Ali interjected, suddenly remembering from when Elizabeth had returned home all those years ago. James had travelled west to ask Elizabeth’s hand in marriage, but after he’d met Alianna, he couldn’t remember a single thing he liked about the controlling, dark-haired girl. Liz had picked him, not the other way around. “Love cannot be dictated or manipulated by magic.”
“Everything was fine until he met you,” Liz spat. “In every life.”
Was the woman really so delusional that she didn’t see he’d never once truly wanted her?
She moved closer and caught Ali’s arm with a jerk. “This is where we detour so you can pay for your sins. Again.”
They stepped over a rotted split rail fence and struggled through overgrown brush alongside the river. Ali suppressed a shiver of apprehension. They were so close. The roar of the water tumbling over the boulders magnified in her ears, drowning out all else.
Drowning.
Rising fear tightened her chest and clogged her throat. The ease with which Liz had thrown Ryan made her wonder how in the world she could hope to fight a witch?
She tucked the necklaces back inside her shirt, needing their warmth against her skin.
“You know, I’m beginning to enjoy this part,” Liz mused as they approached the river.
The tree from the past still connected to their side, but the other end had rotted away until half the trunk was submerged in the water. The wood was wet and dark and covered in green moss.
“Do you really believe you’re going to get away with this? You’ve already been connected to two drownings up here,” she reminded Liz. “You won’t be able to explain a third.”
“I flew to San Francisco for a writer’s convention this weekend,” Liz said. “Max and your mother will easily confirm that fact, while you will become nothing more than one more tragic story to add to the legend.”
Ali maneuvered to keep from turning her back to Elizabeth or the river, only to find herself transfixed by the deceptive stillness of the water between the tumbling rapids above and the deadly waterfall not even twenty yards beyond the log.
“And Ryan?”
“He’ll be mine, like he should’ve been back then.”
“That’s never going to happen. His connection is with me, not you.”
The stone and amulet against her chest pulsed in agreement.
She tore her gaze from the water and met Liz’s as the truth of her words rippled through her conscious. Liz took a step back, making Ali narrow her gaze.
“But you already know that, don’t you? That’s why you killed James. He didn’t love you even after I was gone. William was trying to save Anna when you pushed him in. You killed Shane when he tried to leave you, but Becca wasn’t even in the picture yet. And when I was ten, you could’ve just let me drown, except that wouldn’t have worked either, because you needed me alive to bring him here.”
Ali had advanced as she spoke her revelations, and now she stood toe to toe with the witch. The energy flowing into her body from the talismans around her neck made her feel invincible—until Liz lashed out and clamped her hand on the front of Ali’s throat.
“He is mine.” Liz’s voice dropped to a guttural level as she lifted Ali onto her tiptoes with unnatural strength.
Nails dug into Ali’s skin, cutting off her air. She tried to raise her arms to knock Liz away, but couldn’t lift them from her sides. Panic pulsed through her veins with every step Liz forced her closer to the water.
The toes of her hiking boots slipped on the moss covering the wet, rotted log that extended into the river. Liz held her upright, walking steady and calm without a single misstep. The flame in her blue eyes burned bright as they reached the middle of the river.
“Alianna.”
Liz’s eyes widened when Ali forced the name from her constricted throat.
“Alianna.”
“Stop it,” Liz commanded. “I don’t need her.”
“Alianna. Alianna. Alianna. Ali—”
Fingers tightened around Ali’s windpipe. Her lungs burned from lack of oxygen and black ringed her vision. Still chanting the name, she twisted as far as possible against Liz’s hold and peered into the still water below. Nothing but slimy green weeds undulated in the swift currents running beneath the glass-like surface.
“Alianna, Ali-anna�
��”
Her voice was fading. Darkness began to descend. From the corner of her eye, she saw Liz look down into the river. A horrified gasp burst from the witch’s lips. Her grip slackened and a sudden surge of energy spread from Ali’s chest through her entire body, giving her the strength to wrench free. Sharp nails scored her throat. She sucked in air, struggling to keep her balance on the slick log.
Then she caught sight of the image beneath the still water.
A shriveled gray face stared up with empty, soul-less eyes, its mouth opened in a silent scream. For a split second, the image morphed into Liz—full color and beautiful—but then the current shifted back to the grotesque.
Liz’s reactive jerk made her lose her footing. She tumbled into the water on the far side, where the rapids began again. Ali stared in horror as the current sucked her under.
She broke the surface of the water and clawed at the log. “Ali—help—please!” Liz extended her hand, pleading as the water pummeled her without mercy.
Ali hesitated long enough that she went under once more. Hot tears streamed down her face as a hand thrust from the water, followed by Liz’s dark head.
“I’m sorry,” she choked and begged. “Ali, please don’t let me die!”
She couldn’t do it. She didn’t have it in her to stand by and watch the woman drown no matter how many times she’d done it to her. It was a horrifying death no one deserved.
Ali grabbed hold of the lone branch protruding from the tree trunk and stretched out her other hand. Their fingers brushed. Terrified blue eyes met hers, silently pleading for rescue. She reached further, this time securing Liz’s hand in hers.
The current was strong, but Ali pulled with all her might, now desperate to succeed in the rescue. Her foot slipped, throwing off her balance with Liz’s weight pulling down. She tightened her grip on the stabilizing branch, and held on to both it and Liz through sheer force of will. An inch of progress turned into two, and hope surged.
Silver-hued blue eyes flicked a glance toward the branch. It cracked and Ali felt herself tipping forward. Liz’s fingers held fast to hers. Time slowed as she saw the witch’s face. A smile suddenly transformed panic to triumph.
She’s going to take me with her.
Unable to stop herself, Ali fell toward the water and mentally braced for the icy impact. Before Liz could drag her down into the watery grave, an arm caught Ali around the waist and jerked her upright, ripping her hand from Liz’s.
“I got you,” Ryan whispered in her ear.
Relief buckled her knees, but his strength held her safe. Rage filled Liz’s eyes as the current swept her out of reach. Her body flailed across the rocks like a ragdoll before plunging over the edge of the waterfall. As her scream echoed upward, Ali twisted to bury her face against Ryan’s chest.
“I tried to save her.”
“Shh…it’s okay.”
“I tried to save her, and she still tried to pull me with her.”
“But she didn’t. I got you.” Ryan eased them along the slick log until they stood on solid ground. He cupped her face between his hands, his brown eyes searching hers. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, but his gaze shifted down to her neck. Ali suddenly felt the burn of the four raw scrapes on her neck as if Liz raked her nails across her skin all over again.
“My God, Ryan, you should’ve seen her face. The image that appeared in the river… Her soul was so dark and evil and full of hate, it was like she was already dead.”
“I’ve seen it,” he said, lowering his arms to grip her shoulders. “In my visions, and that day in the coffee shop. I know exactly what you’re talking about.”
“Yes. I saw it, too, in class the other day. It convinced me to believe.”
“Well, it’s over now.” His grip tightened. “Finally.”
Ali stared at the point where the water disappeared to fall more than fifty feet onto the rocks below. “Do you really think so?”
“No one could survive a fall like that.”
Something she knew from past life experience.
Ryan drew her close to rest his forehead against hers. “God, Ali, I thought I’d lost you again. My heart nearly stopped when I saw you out on that log with her.”
“You? I thought she’d killed you back there.”
“I couldn’t move at first, could barely even breathe. But then shortly after you left, I felt this burst of energy, and suddenly I was free. It came from that necklace you gave me this morning.”
Lovers’ Embrace. Ali nodded. “I felt it too.”
He brushed her hair away from her cheek with one hand. “You were right. We save each other.”
“Till death do us part?” she asked with a small smile.
His smile met hers as he captured her mouth for a long, soul-deep kiss full of love and a promise for a long future to come. And when he broke the kiss, he hugged her tight as if he’d never let her go.
Once more, her eyes were drawn to the waterfall over his shoulder. She managed to suppress a shiver at the memory of having gone over herself, and yet a sense of chill foreboding threatened to dim her happiness.
“No one could survive a fall like that.”
A small voice inside whispered, Liz was more than no one.
“Ryan…I…”
He pulled back to see her face, and she glanced at the river.
“I need to see her body. I need to know she’s really gone.”
His gaze searched hers before he gave a short nod. “Okay.”
They made their way around to the base of the waterfall. She hadn’t expected to see the body right there on the bank, but when there was no sign anywhere, her uneasiness increased.
“She was most likely swept downriver,” Ryan said, sensing her apprehension. He took her hand and faced her toward the waterfall with both hands on her shoulders. “She did not survive that.”
Ali stared for a moment, then twisted from his hold and started searching along the banks. Ryan followed, his gaze scanning the water with hers. After ten minutes, with the waterfall a muted roar in the distance, she halted and pointed toward a small area of debris caught up on some rocks in the middle of the rough river.
“There. What is that?”
“Looks like her vest.” Ryan moved closer to the bank. “It’s pretty ripped up. Do you want me to go get it?”
“No.” She caught his arm before he moved into the water. “The current is too strong. And look.”
In a small eddy about ten yards further down, a dark clump swirled in circles. Ali grabbed a stick and fished it out to reveal the black scarf Liz had been wearing. One last glance upriver at the boulders and foaming whitewater, and she decided she didn’t need further proof. Weariness threatened to take over as she turned to Ryan.
“Let’s go home.”
“Do we bring that with us?”
Ali stared at the material dripping from the end of the stick. “She had an alibi planned, so no one could connect her to what happened up here. Some writer’s conference in San Francisco.”
“Then she made her own bed,” Ryan stated. “If we connect ourselves, she’s in our life that much longer.”
Ryan removed the branch from Ali’s hand and cocked his head toward the river in silent question. She nodded her agreement. He tossed the whole thing into the middle where the water rushed the fastest. It remained visible for a few seconds before being sucked under.
She shifted closer to Ryan, and he pulled her against his side with an arm around her shoulder. The amulets resting against her skin gave off a steady, comforting warmth. Ali reached up to finger the entwined figures beneath the material of her sweater.
“We can finally live the life we were meant to all those years ago.”
“Till death do us part,” Ryan agreed before turning her in his arms to seal the promise with a kiss.
* * * * *
Epilogue
Missing University Professor’s Body Found in RMNP.
Officials
confirmed the body found in the Rocky Mountain National Park last week was local university professor and best-selling author Elizabeth Fielding. Fielding was originally reported missing on September twentieth when she didn’t report for work after a weekend writer’s conference in San Francisco.
As reported last week, the body was first discovered by a hiker in the park on November eighteenth. The medical examiner estimated from the level of decomposition it’d been in the water since the weekend of Fielding’s disappearance. Police have since discovered the author had registered for the San Fran conference, bought a ticket and even checked in for her flight. But instead of boarding the plane, she then left the airport in a rental vehicle and drove to the park. The last person to see her alive was the rental attendant, who did not believe her to be under any duress and reported she was alone the entire time she was on the property.
In a strange twist worthy of one of her popular thrillers, Fielding has been linked to two previous cases of drowning near the area where her body was found (see related article on page 17), though she was cleared of any suspicion twenty-two years ago. In light of this history, police have concluded there was no foul play and her death has been ruled a suicide.
Fielding is survived by her ex-husband, former NFL quarterback Ted Holt; the two had no children. Visitation services will be held Thursday, November twenty-ninth, at the Boulder University Campus Community Hall from 2-8pm. Burial services will be private.
~ ~ ~ THE END~ ~ ~
A note from Stacey:
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