Grabbing hold of her partner under his arms, she pulled him up as he continued to thrash and kick at the creatures pawing at him. From the murkiness of the storm-churned ocean, a clawed hand wrapped around her ankle, digging into her flesh, and yanking her down with it. Giving her free leg a swift kick down to her assailant, she connected with something hard and felt the grip loosen. One more hard kick, and the hand let go, allowing her and Charles to make it to the surface. Breaking through the waves, both of them gasped for breath and located the boat a suitable distance away from them. The soul eaters almost dragged them past the shelf, into the unforgiving depth of the Atlantic. With neither of them willing to get pulled under again, they made their way towards their craft, battling the swells, and a faint riptide trying to pull them back.
Reaching the boat, they clambered up the ladder while Zack helped them in with his uninjured hand. Away from the creatures, and out of the surf, the two of them sat on the deck, panting and shivering as their wet clothing acted like acid. The soaked sweater stuck to Charlotte like a straight jacked, snuffing the air out of her lungs, and her skin tingled and burned from the gusts of wind rocking the ship. Her cheeks stung, and her arms and legs were going numb, even as Zack wrapped her up in a warm wool blanket he found in the cabin. Glancing over at her partner clinging to the dry cloth he was given, she tightened hers around her neck and smiled.
"You all right, Chuck?"
"Yeah, thanks for coming in after me. I'm not sure how long I would have lasted under there on my own."
"Not going to let my partner die, at least not on my watch. Hey Kev," she turned to her son who was staring at her with a gaping mouth, "why don't you go start the boat, and we can get out of here."
Nodding, the boy ran back into the cabin. Charlotte waited for the boat to move, but all she heard was the sputtering and churning of the engine trying to start. Something was wrong. The boat wasn't starting, stranding them close to the island which was threatening to sink under the ocean like some lost continent of Atlantis.
Jumping up to her feet, she ran to the side and started to pull up the anchor with Charles close behind to help. At the very least, with the boat loose they might drift from the island to safety, but something below the surface was holding on to their mooring, pulling it back down. Looking up at the cloud-streaked sky, she noticed the moon had almost regained its silver glow, the Feast of Shadows was almost over.
"Get them, don't let them get away." Victoria's angry voice bellowed from the shore. "Make sure they don't get out alive. If we are going down, they are coming there with us."
Letting go of the rope, Charlotte looked over at the moon-washed sands of Autumn Falls with a woman in ragged robes standing on the beach as the wind tossed about her silver hair. Her eyes blazed with teal flames as she pointed a crooked finger towards them, directing a small army of soul eaters rushing down the wooded hill into the water, vanishing beneath the waves. Grabbing a paddle, she raised it above her head, waiting for the onslaught, and whacking the first creature which popped its head above the surface of the water. Screaming for Kevin to lock himself in the cabin, Charles grabbed hold of the second oar and began hitting the monsters as they swarmed the boat like ants, tipping the port side closer to the surf.
The soul eaters started overwhelming the boat, almost capsizing it, when a tremendous earthquake shook the island, rocking the boat, shaking the monsters off, and causing Charlotte and Charles to tumble to the deck. Jumping back to her feet, she sent a creature sitting next to her flying into the ocean with her oar before looking back towards the lighthouse. The cliff upon which the brick tower sat crumbled into the raging waves. Boulders rained down into the ocean as a flash of lightning split the sky, making the lighthouse glow. Black smoke seeping from the splitting ground engulfed the island, and it trembled, lurching the boat in the waves. Steadying herself on the railing, Charlotte looked towards the cabin of the boat and saw something slinking on the roof, getting ready to pounce.
"Zack, watch out!"
She reached out to him, hoping to pull him back as the soul eater poised above his head with its mouth wide open like a snake, ready to swallow him whole. Pushing her aside, Chuck yelled for Zack to duck, raised the paddle above his shoulders, and swung it towards the creature like a bat. The oar connected with the monster's chest with a sickening wet crunch and sent it flying into the ocean as it let out a wail. Giving Zack a hand, Charles pulled him up to his feet and sat him down closer to the action as he took a swing at another creature climbing up the side.
"Thanks again, man." Zack looked up at him, with his hand clutching the back of his shoulder. "Let me guess, you were the paramedic team’s star hitter too?"
"Something like that."
Chuckling and winking, Charles joined Charlotte, who was cracking the monsters climbing up the hull as if playing a game of whack-a-mole. Close by, the island rumbled once more, and a giant wave leapt up from behind them, towering over the small fishing boat. It collapsed onto the tiny vessel with a deafening crash, washing over the deck, thrashing the hull, and sweeping the soul eaters clinging to it ashore. Drenched, Charlotte coughed up water, looking over at the landmass threatening to fall apart. The moon had returned to normal; the time was up, and she waited for something dramatic to happen.
At first nothing seemed to transpire, and the only thing heard was the sizzling of rain hitting the boat, but as the trio stood on the deck, they spotted rusted chains rip their way from the ground, whistling, and snaring the witch in their grasp. The metal links twisted and tangled as she screamed and fought against them, tearing away the paper-thin flesh covering her arms, drenching the ground in her inky blood. Once the iron serpents had her firmly in their grasp, the hill behind her opened its mouth filled with stone teeth, sucking her into the abyss beyond while she let go her final hiss.
Watching the wound in the earth close, they turned in time to see another rogue wave batter their vessel, snapping the rope attached to the anchor, allowing them to drift away from the shore. Floating past the continental slope, the engine magically turned and roared to life as the propeller churned the water with a harmonic hum. Running toward the bow, Charlotte glanced at the beach bathed in the silver light of the moon where the lanky creature she saw in her unconsciousness come into view. Hunkering down, it gave her a nod of its colossal, alien-like head before slinking away into the forest. With the Skudakumooch's blessing, she waved to the spirits of Iris, Clarence, and her father gathering on the cliff by the lighthouse and went into the cabin to stir the boat towards the mainland.
Chapter Fifty-Six
"Every story has an end, but in life every ending is just a new beginning." - Uptown Girls
P iloting the boat through the jagged rocks surrounding the fog-locked island, Charlotte waited for Chuck to finish patching Zack's wound. For the second time in one week, she thought how it was fortunate she carried a suture kit in her bag and stole a glance outside at her partner who stitched her son's father up for the long trek to the mainland. She wasn't sure how long it would take; it was two hours by ferry on a clear day, but she guessed with the remnants of the storm, and the cloak of night, they would not get to shore before dawn broke. The rough, choppy sea made the boat bounce on the wakes and sway with every wave, forcing her to keep the speed down until they cleared the treacherous rocks encasing the island. Having finished with Zack, Charles snuck into the cabin unnoticed, shut the door behind him, and patted her on the shoulder.
"You sure you know how to drive this thing?"
"Yes, I have my boating license, you know. How's Zack?"
"He'll live. The wound was clean with minimal damage to the surrounding tissue. After they patch him up at the hospital, and maybe repair any torn ligaments, he will be as good as new, and probably as cocky as ever. Your boy will be up making TV shows and hunting aliens in not time at all."
"Where is he now?"
"Outside with Kevin, showing him the constellations, and telling him maritime g
host stories now that the rain has let up." Charles rolled his eyes with a smirk. "At least it gives me a chance to check you out. You look like you have a baseball stuck to your face, and your right knuckle resembles purple hamburger."
"I'll be fine. I'm pretty sure I broke my hand punching Victoria, and Bret rearranged the bones in my face when he knocked me out. But the injuries will heal, unlike the guilt I feel over what he did to Iris."
"Wasn't your fault, Char. I was the one who should have never left them alone in that house to begin with. I should have taken them with me after everything we went through in there."
"You didn't know Bret was on the island, or that he posed a threat to anyone but me."
"Neither did you, so don't blame yourself."
“Then don’t blame yourself either.”
An awkward silence fell between them as they averted each other's gaze for a minute. Then Charles spoke again.
"So, what now? What do we do from here?"
"We go to the mainland. From there, I call my mom to tell her what happened, and I move to New York with Zack as planned. What about you?"
"Same. I told you we're partners till the end, and that my uncle will help us stay that way. Not to mention Iris said she had a little going away gift for us, a glowing recommendation from Autumn Falls emergency services." Craning his head, Charles stole a glance outside. "Although... I need to get you and Zack to a hospital first for a check up and have you put back to factory settings."
"What are we even going to tell the nurses and doctors there? We look like we fought a war."
"Tell them the truth. Tell them your ex-boyfriend turned stalker followed you to the island and attacked you in your home. I'm sure they will have to file a police report at the hospital. Then the cops will lookout for Bret, but they'll never find him, and he will have a warrant out for his arrest. As for us, we can get the hell out of this cursed state as planned." He shrugged and looked out at the water churning outside the window in silence. "Think we did the right thing by letting that creature loose again?"
"What choice did we have?"
"None, I guess, but..." he shuddered, "do you think it poses less of a threat to people than Victoria did?"
"I have to say yes. There is nothing in this world that can compare to the evils men is capable off, and she was the embodiment of that evil."
"What do you think will happen to the people left on the island? Now that they are free from her spell that is."
"They'll go on living. Life always goes on. And maybe, for the first time in their life, things will be different. They have a chance to start fresh, live life the way they see fit, and I'm sure the island will flourish because of it."
"Well, I can tell you one thing for sure. I am never stepping foot on that hunk of rock ever again."
"Me neither." Charlotte laughed recalling how she thought her mother was insane for telling her to keep away from Maine. "What do you say we get a clean start as well partner, far away from here?"
"Sister, I say drive on."
Sitting down on a worn-out, white vinyl cushion beside her, Charles tilted his head back against the glass and closed his sagging eyelids. She knew he was tired, and she was content to let him sleep as it gave her the much-needed time alone with her thoughts. Stealing one last glance behind her, she spotted the fog swallowing up the island thicken like curdled milk, hiding it from view, and she saw the seagulls heading to Autumn Falls for the first time since she got there.
Pushing the lever forward, the engine whined, and the boat sped up as she pointed it towards land, skimming along the waves which were smooth as glass now that they were away from the storm. As the night got darker, and all lights faded, Charlotte felt a chill in the air. The hairs stood up on her arms, and she heard a faint wail coming over the ocean. The island left her with a parting gift.
Author’s Note:
Hi, I wanted to thank you for reading my book. It means a lot to me that you took a chance on my work and I sincerely hope you liked it. While I have written four full-length novels and three novellas, Autumn Falls is my first horror book. So why the leap? Well, one night I had a vivid nightmare and not one to waste an opportunity I decided to write it down and created what is now Autumn Falls. I figured it was not a leap going from dark fantasy to horror, and I hope I did a good enough job and that you enjoyed it. Please let me know how I did by leaving me an Amazon or Goodreads review. I always appreciate any feedback I get as it helps me learn and boosts sale. And if you liked this book, sign up for the newsletter at arkingston.com to get news on upcoming books, free chapters, and possible ARC copies.
About the Author
Multi-genre author A.R. Kingston is a lover of all things dark and magical. She started out writing fanfiction in High School until going off to college to pursue her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and spent a few years in the mental health field before her passion for writing called back to her. Now she spends her time weaving fantastical tales of magical worlds or planting terrifying beasts on earth. When she is not writing, you can find her enjoying tea with her potbellied pigs while she reads a book or hones a new skill. Eventually, she hopes to retire in her beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado, and run her own pig rescue.
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