Beware of the Werewitch

Chapter 8

Ella had followed the river bank back in the direction that she had come from for almost an hour in hopes that she would find a suitable place to cross. She had not seen anyone at all on either side of the river. The sky was darkening, and she was hoping that she could find a way to cross over the river, since the river was not calm enough to swim across.

Ella was hurrying now since she knew that her mother would be furious, and it was well passed the time that she was supposed to be home to get the decorations ready for the party. Ella moved beyond the place where the log had originally sat and was now further upstream.

She thought that she remembered another fallen tree across the river. This one was across a narrow spot where there were rocks jutting out of both sides of the river. It sat more diagonally, and there was a giant root ball with dirt and roots standing in the air on her side, but she still thought that she might be able to get across it.

At dusk, Ella saw what she was looking for in the distance. She began to hurry. While all werewolves were able to see in the dark, they still saw better in the daytime, and Ella had already been in the river once today. She did not want to be in there again, especially after dark. She might not be able to find her way out.

Listening hard, Ella thought that she heard, what sounded like, whistling. Someone was at the log bridge. She slowed to make sure it was safe. Ella knew many of the warriors came down to the river to fish, or take their girlfriends or boyfriends for some alone time. While she did not want to disturb anyone, she needed to make her excuses and get across that log to get home.

Ella stepped out of the brush only to stop dead and step back. She had a good view of the log now, and her heart sank. Andy was sitting fishing off the log by himself. He had his shoes off and his pants rolled up to the knee like something out of a novel. Ella knew that he would not stay there much longer as it was getting dark.

Ella peered out from behind the trees. Andy did not seem to be paying attention to whether fish were biting, and instead he was watching the other bank of the river. Ella waited, hoping that it would not be too much longer. Finally, after what seemed like forever, but was really only a couple of minutes, Andy packed up his stuff. He stood up and walked across the log. Andy jumped down as there was movement in the brush on his side of the bank. Ella could not see what it was.

"You are still here." An unknown hoarse voice said.

"And you weren't mate. What took you so long?" Andy asked.

The unknown male voice returned, "I have been out with the search party. They found no trace." There was a long silence and then there was the sound of Andy's laughter.

"Really?" He questioned, barely able to get the words out through the guffaws. "That is the best news I've heard all day! Come on, let's go celebrate!" Andy said with a whoop.

The two speakers walked off into the woods. Ella thought that the second voice sounded slightly familiar, but it was so raspy and gruff she could not be sure. Now that Andy was out of sight, she began to work her way around the tree stump, climbing the roots that were sticking out like they were a ladder. She went around the other side to make her way to the main trunk of the tree.

Balancing herself on the trunk, she began to walk across to the other side. Ella was almost to the other side when she heard running feet heading her direction. She froze where she was standing. Andy came out of the trees at a run. At first, he did not see her. Ella did not move, hoping that he would not look in her direction.

Andy walked to a backpack that was lying on the ground by a tree. He heaved the backpack up onto his shoulder and turned to leave, when his eyes fell on Ella. His face darkened.

"Why couldn't you have just died like you were supposed to?" Ella's eyes grew wide as Andy dropped his backpack and charged at her. Ella hesitated and watched Andy run at her with a roar of fury. She waited, as Andy drew close to the log, he slowed and bent down to try and lift the log. Andy was bent down and Ella jumped over the top of him, doing a back flip and landing on her feet behind Andy on the ground.

She ran as soon as her feet touched the ground. She sped into the woods where she had just seen Andy come out of, knowing there was a path that she could follow back home. Passing the first large tree, Ella ran straight into Jake who was walking into the clearing. His arms came up and he grasped her arms. She screamed in sudden fright, and then turned around in his arms with a spin and then continued to spin around him and kept running down the path. Jake turned and watched her go. Andy came running up behind him.

"Why didn't you hang on to her. We need to throw her back in. Jake reached out and grabbed Andy's arm. "My Dad and all the other people that are out looking for her are just a short way down the trail." Jake let go and started to walk in the direction that Ella just ran.” Andy paused and then wrenched his arm out of Jake’s grip and with a huff continued at a walk. Jake followed behind him.