Angel Fall by Coleman Luck

island disappeared with it, which made Amanda feel even more lonely. She looked down at the little boy asleep in her arms; how strange and beautiful he was, so peaceful and content. She whispered to him, “Little baby, if you knew what was happening right now you’d freak. I’m gonna do the best I can, but I’m really scared. You know, it’s funny, Bellwind didn’t even tell me your name.”
    All that day they drifted. When the baby awoke, Amanda played with him and fed him a few pieces of fruit. That’s all he wanted. Not once did he cry. Finally the sun set and the moon appeared.
    Amanda was napping when she heard the sound of water on a beach. Turning her head, she stared. Several hundred yards away lay a narrow strip of sand and beyond that a jumble of low vegetation. Bellwind had said there would be a path, but she had warned against traveling at night. At night her enemies had great power. If they landed in darkness, the plan was to find shelter and wait until morning. Amanda hoped morning would come soon.
    As the raft drew closer to the shore, she saw something odd: sticking out of the vegetation at the edge of the beach was a row of mysterious shadows. Leaning forward, she squinted. They were rectangular silhouettes, like sections of a broken wall. She was straining so hard to see, that it was a shock when the raft ran aground on the sandy bottom.
    “Don’t tell me this is as close as we’re gonna get. Come on, move! ” She tried rocking back and forth, but it wouldn’t budge. Disgusted, she pulled the knapsack over her shoulders. Should she take off her shoes? If I cut my foot on a stone I’m screwed, she thought. Reluctantly she decided to leave them on.
    After rolling her jeans as high as she could, Amanda picked up the baby and stepped into the ocean. The water was cold and came to her knees. Cautiously she waded up onto the beach; the area covered by low vegetation sloped gradually upward for several hundred yards until it met larger shadows that she took to be a forest. All around her was a feeling of strangeness and gloom.
    She had to find someplace to hide.
    Not far away were the moonlit shapes. Walking toward them, she discovered that they were individual blocks of stone crumbled by the wind and rain of centuries. Hundreds stood in long rows that stretched away into the darkness, but only their tops were visible above a heavy mat of vines. She examined one; there was carving on it, letters in a strange language, and above the letters, a face with ghostly eyes. The stone next to it was the same, except the “face” was smaller.
    “I know what this is. This is a graveyard. I’ve gotta spend the rest of the night next to a bunch of graves.” But she wasn’t going to freak. If she freaked, she’d scare the baby. Bellwind had said the path would be close. Maybe she could find it and hide near it.
    Amanda began walking up the beach. After a hundred yards there was still no break in the vegetation.
    “Okay, so, where’s the stupid path?” It was supposed to come right down to the water. There was enough moonlight; she should see it. But she didn’t. The thought occurred to her that Bellwind had never been here. Not exactly the best person to give directions. And there was no place to hide except in the vines next to the graves. She shivered. Crawling in there would be totally creepy. As she tried to think of what to do, suddenly there was an odd sound.
    It came again…a whirling rush like wind in the treetops.
    But there was no wind.
    The third time it was much louder—and closer .
    As she stared into the darkness, Amanda realized that the air above the graveyard had changed. It wasn’t clear anymore. High up, a vague shadow had formed; at first she thought it was her imagination, but then she knew it wasn’t. The shadow was growing, and as it grew, it blocked out the stars. A voice in her head yelled, HIDE .
    Hugging the baby, she dropped to the ground and crawled into the vines. There