Carol's Story; Epilogue

And this is the end! The epilogue, actually, but close enough! Thank you for sticking with me through this adventure!
This also marks the very first time I've stayed on a single story (on this blog, at least) for more than a month! This is Week #10 - that's 2.5 months! o.o I'm so persistent, and I never even knew it.

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"And that's all there is to it." Carol finished her story with a shrug, smiling in spite of the spreading bruise on her face. She could feel Jake's hand around her own and it was such a comfort to know that if there was a monster over the next dune, he would be at her side. It was better like this, in so many ways. 

The man shook his dark head slightly, looking impressed. It was very satisfying to know she'd given him something to admire about her very own self, though she wondered if this was really the way it would have worked out the best. Were there other ways she could have accomplished this? Maybe. Did it matter? Not really. 

"You're amazing, did you know that? I mean, I must have told you that at least once." He gave her hand a squeeze, and Carol felt her face grow warm, but before she could reply properly, she heard something to their collective left, a rustling in the dune grass. Thoughts of human-faced spiders and giant lion monsters made her heart beat faster. The grass waved wildly for a moment - more than long enough for her imagination to invent a hundred new beasts coming to eat her - and then a smallish creature tumbled out of the tall stalks onto the sand near their feet. It looked like a cat, except its fur was all gleaming gold, and it teeth were silver like polished steel. Despite how cute it was, Carol didn't feel at all relieved. 

"That's... not a natural creature." The cat thing was shaking its head, looking dazed and upset. When it saw them, it mewled hungrily and staggered to its too-big paws, stumbling toward Jake to sniff at his pant leg. 

"It looks like a lion cub." Jake sounded awed, but he wasn't entirely sure what to do with the thing as it reared up on its hind legs, pawing at his leg plaintively. It was scrawny and in bad need of a bath. "Where's your mama, little one?" As he started to crouch, intending to touch the cub, Carol's hand tightened convulsively around his. 

"I think we should go. That thing's mom might be around here somewhere, and that would be bad news for us." 

"I think it's alone, Carol." He gave her an encouraging smile, then released her hand. Just losing contact with him in that small way shot a spike of fear through her. 

"But you know what this means, don't you?" Hastily, she stepped behind Jake as he crouched to fondle the cub's ears, checking it over for ticks or whatever it was that he did when he found strays. "This means we're not home. We're still somewhere monsters live and things want to eat us instead of just steal all our income." 

Jake was still for a moment, but she could feel that his back was still relaxed under her hand. He wasn't tense or afraid, though she thought he should be. Maybe he hadn't had to face down as many monsters in the past 24 hours as she had. 

Starting with the cheesecake devil, she reflected, and smiled a little at the thought. "We should go, Jake. Maybe we can find somewhere safe to-"

"No." Jake straightened, and now he had the cub in his arms. It hooked its paws over one of Jake's shoulders and tried to climb him like a tree, wanting to perch on his shoulder like a pirate's parrot. The man winced, but held on until the cub settled. "If there's one thing I've learned from this, it's that it's never worthwhile to leave an innocent behind. We'll find somewhere safe to sleep and see if we can catch something to feed to this little guy." He studied her with eyes so steady they were like an anchor to Carol's quaking heart. He stabilized her. 

"You're... probably right. If this place is anything like what the Sphinx had mocked up, then it's going to be like one of those stories, where if you're nice to the bees, they help you find the princess later on." 

From the strange look Jake gave her, it was clear he had no idea what she was referring to. With a shake of his head and a crooked smile, he gave her a nudge and nodded toward the hills further inland. 

"We'll be better off finding shelter away from the beach. We'll take things as they come, and no matter what, we'll face it together. Right?" He looked so confident, so self-assured, that she couldn't help but believe him. Carol grasped his hand with a watery smile. 

"Right." 

They walked silently for a while, weaving their way between the dunes and staying out of the dune grass as much as possible to spare Jake's bare feet. The cub, though squirmy at first, eventually calmed down and even went to sleep in Jake's arms. Carol watched it for a while. Jake had been right. It was an innocent, no matter how dangerous it (potentially) was. 

By the time they reached the inland hills beyond the dunes and the dune grass, it felt like they had walked several miles. Considering all they'd been doing over the past 24 hours, maybe they had. At the first relatively sheltered copse of trees, Carol threw herself down on the heaped pine needles with an exaggerated sigh of relief. Jake sat down beside her, and the cub woke from its nap, springing out of Jake's arms to chase what looked like an ordinary squirrel. 

"Maybe he'll catch it, and then we won't have to feel him." Carol grinned tiredly up at her... what was he now? She propped herself up on her elbows. They would need to talk about this one way or another. "What are we, now? I mean... 'friends' doesn't cover it. Not anymore." 

There was an expression of surprise on Jake's face as he glanced at her, then he smiled. "No, it doesn't." For a moment, the silence settled between them, comforting and warm like a blanket. Accepting. Words weren't necessary. Good, but not needed right this very instant. It was nice. 

Finally, Jake spoke again. "We both could have died today. It would be stupid not to say it." 

"Say what? That we might have died?" 

"No. That I love you." 

Carol stared at him. She felt like the world was tipping on its side, like an enormous plate. Not that she hadn't suspected - even hoped! But to actually hear him say it was a horse of an entirely different color. 

"I... love you, too." It was surprisingly easy to say. All the stories made it sound like it was this huge struggle to say for the first time, especially when one was caught by surprise. But this felt... like a release. Carol smiled. "Thank you. I mean... for... everything." When he smiled back, she felt warm inside. Then she decided it was time to lie down, because her head was spinning. Right. Still hadn't found water. 

"I don't know about you, but I'm really thirsty. And hungry. Survival is a blast. Love it." 

Jake laughed quietly. "We'll survive. Give me a couple minutes, and I'll see if I can find something."

The Sphinx (Part 6)

Reunion (The End)

The sting of the sand against his face (it was like rug-burn) was enough to keep his mind sharp. He rolled over, ready to kick his attacker away. Then he saw that it was Carol. She was crying, still hugging him tight around the waist and refusing to let go.

"Hey, hey, Carol, it's okay. I'm here. It's all over." He patted her back somewhat awkwardly, uncertain how to deal with this when the dampness from the sand was seeping into his clothes and chilling his shoulders and back.

"I knew you could," she told him, shaking a little, but she lifted her head to smile at him. He felt a jolt when he saw that one side of her neck was all scratched up, like something with claws had been trying to get at her throat. The scratches stretched along her skin and under the collar of her shirt, implying that there were more injuries he couldn't see.

"What happened to you, Carol?" He sat up as well as he could, and sighed with relief when she let go, sitting up with him and shifting into his lap, wrapping her hands around one of his arms.

"The Labyrinth is not a kind place." The Sphinx was standing not far from them, still watching the pair with his fathomless eyes, which seemed to change between orange and gold and pale yellow. A predator's eyes. "I will admit I was surprised that she lasted so long without losing more than a little blood." The Sphinx gave her a solemn nod, but Carol regarded him with more than a little fear in her expression.

"There were monsters in there. Some of them weren't so bad. They just made a lot of noise and tried to scare or surprise me. But the bigger ones..." Carol shuddered again, and Jake put an arm around her, feeling like he was in a dream instead of really finished with this unreal quest. He held her, felt her warm body under his arm, knew that she was safe, and relaxed.

"You're safe now," he assured her quietly. "It's all over, and we can just go home and get those scratches taken care of, alright?" He saw her smile weakly, and felt her warm, soft cheek against his.

"Thank you, Jake. I knew you would do it. I couldn't. The tentacle thing frightened me so much, I just couldn't finish, so I had to leave, and then I couldn't figure out how to go back without scaring myself silly." She sighed, and Jake lifted his head to look at the Sphinx, but the beast was gone. He scanned the beach, frowning a little as he realized what had probably happened.

"I used my boon to get you out of the Labyrinth," he murmured, still holding Carol close to his chest, "and now we're here, instead of home."

"West coast," said Carol with a quiet laugh. "No money, no ID..."

"No shoes," he pointed out ruefully, wiggling his sandy toes. "But at least we're alive. That's definitely something." He joined her in a laugh, and started to get to his feet. She seemed unsteady, but he was more than willing to put an arm around her and keep her close, supporting her. "Do you still have your phone?"

"No. Lost it in the Labyrinth. You?"

"No. I think I lost mine in the tunnels with the giant ground squirrel."

"No one's ever going to believe that."

"Still better to be alive." He gave her a squeeze and a smile, making his way toward the dunes in the hopes that they would find a town or something nearby. From the waves, a scaly green face watched them with interest. It had been a long time since humans had strayed to this part of the world. Perhaps they would stay. It would be good for trade. With a flash of pearly scales, it turned and darted out into the cove to tell the rest of its tribe.

It would be some time before the humans realized that they weren't really home at all.