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ya know?”
    “Because
I’m not a fucking cartographer, that’s how.”  Snapping at Warren made her feel
better, but it wasn’t really helping.  Lucy needed to figure out what to do.
    “Well,
what are we going to do?”  Warren demanded on cue.
    Oh
good.  They were a “we,” now.
    Lucy
rolled her eyes and didn’t bother to argue the point.  He’d just follow her if
she didn’t let him come along.  “We start walking.”  She decided and headed off
down the beach.  Since they had no flare gun, phone or taxi available, it was
really only choice.
    Trudging
through the sand was just exactly as fun as she’d imagined it would be.  All
the pointlessness of P.E. combined with a growing certainty that she was in
deep, deep trouble.  Plus, Warren was there to add his stimulating
observations to their ongoing disaster.
    “Is
that mountain supposed to be smoking like that?”  He asked, pointing at the
volcano.  “It seems like kind of a bad sign, ya know?”
    “I
don’t think our signs can get much worse, actually.”  Lucy was keeping track of
the sun’s position in the sky.  They’d been walking for a long time, but it
seemed like they were going in a circle.  Only she was sticking right by the
shoreline, which meant that this was indeed an island and they were headed
right back to where they’d started.
    “If
it comes down to it Warren, I’m going to have to kill and eat you.  Nothing
personal.”
    “I
have a green belt in karate.”  He informed her seriously.  “I can totally take
you in a…”  His boast trailed off in a panicked scream as the ground started
shaking.
    The
earthquake felt just like it had in her dream about Rhawn.  Sort of a low-grade
rumble.  It didn’t knock them off their feet, but it was enough to send trees
swaying and sand shifting.  Above them, the volcano’s cloud of smoke grew
darker in response.
    Angrier.
    “Oh
shit.”  Lucy whispered.  Anyone who’d ever seen a documentary on Mount St.
Helens knew this was bad.
    “What’s
going on?”  Warren demanded.  Apparently, he didn’t watch PBS.
    “That
volcano is going to erupt soon.”
    “Oh shit. ”  Warren agreed in an octave so high that even bats would have
cringed.  “We have to get out of here!”  He started for the ocean, close to
hysteria.  “I’ll take my chances with water over goddamn lava, ya know?”
    “We
need think for a minute before we start freaking out.”
    “You
think all you want.  I’m dogpaddling outta here.”
    “That
water has to be close to freezing.  You’re going to get hypothermic.”  Neither
of them was dressed for the frigid climate of this island.  The sun was still
out and Lucy could already feel the cold biting through her shirt.  God only
know what kind of temperatures night would bring.  “We need to dry out, not get
even wetter.”
    He
didn’t slow his desperate flight into the icy sea.
    “Warren…” 
Lucy sighed in annoyance as he floundered out into the waves.  A big part of
her wanted to leave him, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to walk away. 
Still, he clearly wouldn’t listen to logic.  Maybe she needed to persuade him
with something even more frightening that freezing to death or erupting
volcanoes.  She thought for beat.  “There are probably sharks out there, you
know.”
    He
came splashing back out of the ocean even faster than he’d waded in.  “Jesus,
what is with this place?”  Dashing up the sand, he stood by the line of
trees, breathing hard and eyeing the shoreline.  Apparently, he was waiting for
a Great White to evolve legs and creep up onto the beach after him.  “This is
your fault!”  He jabbed a finger at her.  “ You’re the one who insisted we
leave the gift shop.”
    “Because
the ship was sinking!”
    “You
don’t know that.  You don’t even know for sure the Arden went down, at
all.  Maybe it’s fine.  Maybe it’s just floating on its side, ya know?  Maybe
everyone’s headed