It's getting crazy...and if anyone gets confused, I apologize. I'll be glad to answer questions - just message me. :)
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He's glad he can't feel the cold; waiting for Audrey in the Bronco would suck if he knew his toes were frozen solid or his ears were on the verge of frostbite. But since none of that registers with him, he sits in the Bronco, occasionally running the heat for short bursts of time, and waits.
He sits and he waits and he thinks and he comes to a very sudden, very unsettling realization.
He can't remember his life before Audrey Parker arrived and tried to drive herself off a cliff. He knows he had a life, knows it was mundane and boring and full of routine, but he can't really remember it.
He also knows he can't imagine his life without her and watching her walk off into the pine forest made him feel, for just a split second, like a real boy – he could have sworn he felt his heart pound in his chest and a rock settle in his stomach.
And now he sits and he waits and he thinks…
"This was supposed to be easy," Alice says, her cold smile fading as she stares at Audrey.
There's venom in Alice's voice, acid dripping with her words. Audrey's felt hate before, but never like this – and never directed towards her. She feels the chill of it even through the many layers of warmth she's wrapped herself within.
"My mother's instructions were precise and I followed them to the letter," Alice continues, her voice carrying through the snow.
Audrey takes a moment to choose her words carefully. "You did a spell? For Nathan?"
Alice's expression becomes haughty. "That's simplifying it greatly, Detective Parker."
Audrey's patience is thinning, has been thinning since she got that phone call from Officer Mars. "Well, then, explain it to me, Alice." She shakes the snow off her shoulders, takes a few steps closer toward Alice. "That's why we're up here, isn't it? So you can brag all about it and then maybe throw me off the cliff?" She sticks her hands in her pockets, uses the inner zipper on her right side to get into her jacket and unholster her weapon, all while keeping her eyes and attention on Alice. "Let's get to it, then; it's cold and I've got dinner plans with my partner."
Alice narrows her eyes at this. "Why, Detective?" She steps closer, her boots crunching on the hard-packed snow. "Why did the dreams reach you, instead of him?" Audrey's grip tightens on the gun in her pocket. "It should have worked the first time, after the man on the beach. The woman, she should have grounded it. But the boy, the boy on the docks – that should have been the definitive moment."
Audrey's skin prickles. "So you killed those people."
Alice waves her hand dismissively. "That's a strong word for it, 'kill'. I took from them what I needed to continue on, to make my way towards Nathan." Her eyes glow unnaturally green in the gray light around them.
"The histories," Audrey says, confused. "They never said anything about water witches taking lives. I don't understand."
Alice's tilts her head to the side. "Water witches?" She sounds genuinely taken aback, perplexed.
"I read the books, Alice. I read about the boats landing in the cove across from this Bluff, about the women who came onto the shore and brought the sea with them."
Alice stares at her a moment longer before she starts to laugh. The sound is a dry cackle that shakes snow from the pine boughs around them. It travels beyond the Bluffs, blankets the entire area in a cruel bubble of mocking.
"Water witches," she says, the cackle subsiding to a girlish hiccup. "I haven't been called a witch since, oh lord, the seventeenth century I think."
Audrey feels the world tilt on its axis. "But the histories…"
"The histories were accurate, yes. We did, in fact, arrive in boats all those years ago. But we're not what you think we are, not what you've incorrectly deciphered from that vague paragraph written by scared pilgrims." The air glows around her, her skin pale and smooth, her hair bright and red. She's so young, too vibrant and beautiful to be as old as she claims to be. "They called us witches because they didn't understand."
"What are you, Alice?"
"We are ondine, Detective Parker. Ancient and soulless."
He's so close behind her, his own climax approaching quickly. She's tight around him, her body moving in time with his even though she's beyond, caught up in her own bliss. His back strains – so very close – and she coos in his ear, coaxing him forward.
And as he feels himself near completion, she cackles loudly, breaking the moment…
He wakes with a start, his face flushed and his jeans tight. He opens the door and falls out into the snow, the cold having the desired effect though he doesn't realize it. He can't believe he fell asleep, scrambles to push up his sleeve and seek out the time. It's been nearly an hour since Audrey ventured into the woods.
The air fills with a violent, ancient cackle – not unlike the sound that Alice had made in his dream – and he lifts his head in the direction of the trail. It takes him only a second to take off at a dead run into the wilderness towards the laughter.
Towards Audrey.
Alice smiles, then, and there are rotten teeth behind dry, cracked lips. She's ancient and wrinkled, her hair no longer vibrant and thick. She looks mummified, diseased. "Do you see me, now, Detective Parker?" she asks, her voice harsh. "Do you see me for what I am?"
The icy tingle of fear walks down Audrey's spine. For the first time since she left Nathan in the parking lot, she's worried. She had expected something strange, something Trouble-esque. She hadn't necessarily expected a vindictive, psychotic water creature in serious need of a chemical peel and some Botox.
"Why Nathan?" she asks. "Why focus so intently on him? Why kill for him?"
"We are cursed to live forever unless we can find a soul." The winter wind picks up, cold tendrils whipping around them as the snow grows heavier, a dense fog moving up and around them. "My mother did just that; she met a fisherman and fell in love. He married her, gave her the child she needed to become mortal."
Audrey is confused, so incredibly confused. "I don't understand!" She has to shout to be heard over the wind.
"I want a soul, Audrey!" Alice reaches out, her arms lightning fast, and grabs Audrey by the front of her jacket. Audrey struggles, tries to pull away. She pulls her hand from her pocket, the gun wrapped in her gloved fingers, but the movement is hindered by her layers and the gun falls to the ground, disappears into the snow. She's defenseless. "Nathan need only love me. I need only bear a child and I'll be mortal – I'll no longer need to feed upon the lives of others to survive."
"Alice, there has to be another way…"
The ancient woman yanks her arm back, bringing Audrey's face close to hers. The world goes silent around them.
"He's my salvation, Audrey, and you're the only thing standing in the way of that."
Boots crunch on the snow behind them and Audrey turns her head to see Nathan running towards them, his weapon out and pointed in their direction. Alice's surprise lasts barely a moment before she drags Audrey with her towards the cliff's edge.
"Alice, stop!" Nathan shouts. "Enough is enough!" They stare at each other over Audrey's head and she feels the tension in Alice's hand relax, her grip loosening. "Let Audrey go and we'll talk about this. We'll figure it out."
"She's ruined everything, Nathan!" Alice screams, shaking Audrey like she's a rag doll.
In the past year, she's managed to keep her calm throughout everything. Keep calm and carry on has been her motto while dealing with the Troubles. But right now, standing on the edge of a ridiculously high cliff, all Audrey can think about is how scared she is and how badly she wishes she'd kissed Nathan properly before she'd left him in the parking lot earlier.
"Alice, I'm asking you nicely," Nathan says, his voice dangerous. "This is the last time I'm going to say it. Let. Audrey. Go."
They're at the edge of the cliff, the waves crashing against the cliff face. Audrey looks up into Alice's face, sees the malicious intent reflected there, and knows exactly what's about to happen. She turns to Nathan, opens her mouth to scream, and feels Alice's footing slip just as the bullet from Nathan's gun slams into the old woman's chest.
She has a brief moment when time slows and she sees Nathan rush towards them. She locks her eyes with his, wishes she didn't see the terror and heartbreak there. Then the world goes upside down and white and they fall from Tuwiuwok Bluff, tumbling down towards the raging Atlantic waters below.