The Last Mile by Blair Richmond

Author:Blair Richmond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: paranormal;young adult;vampire;vegan;environmental;eco-lit. ecoliterature;eco-fiction;ecolit;Oregon;Ashland;nature;romance;love triangle;Twilight
Publisher: Ashland Creek Press
Published: 2014-07-08T04:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

I’m not exactly sure what caused that earthquake the other day,” says Professor Towson.

She’s standing in front of a huge map of Oregon and California. The maps illustrate the underlying plates, fault lines, and volcanoes. I see Mount Lassen down in California and Mount Hood up north of Portland. Professor Towson points to various lines as she offers various explanations but then raises her arms in the air. “It’s a mystery.”

“Why?” I ask.

“If this were a standard earthquake, we’d have a reading that correlated with one of the fault lines. Yet the source of the earthquake was Mount Lithia.”

“So it’s a volcano?”

“I don’t know. Mount Lithia has been dormant for thousands of years. There’s no sign of a pending eruption. We have monitored this mountain in the past and detected no activity whatsoever.”

I look at the door, waiting for Lucy to barge in late, as she often does. She is the only one missing from class today. Normally we are short a few students, but with the earthquake, Professor Towson’s class is one hot ticket.

“Now, with this latest temblor,” Professor Towson says, “we’ll be looking into it further, of course. But it’s still quite unlikely that this little shake means the volcano will erupt again anytime soon—if ever.”

I don’t want to worry about Lucy, but recent events have shaken my confidence that anyone is truly safe in Lithia. And after what happened to Doug, I’m all the more terrified at the thought of something happening to Lucy.

I’m beginning to wonder if perhaps Victor has already won. How many more friends do I have to lose before it’s over? Maybe it really is for the best that I leave Lithia. At least that will save the few people I still do have left.

I’m grateful that David and Kendra are on their honeymoon—at least I don’t have to worry about them. But eventually, they’ll return, and if Victor’s still here—well, something’s got to give.

I try to focus on the rest of the class, but I can’t concentrate. I hear Professor Towson say she’s going to spend time on the mountain with other experts and all their monitors, and that they will wait to see if the ground shakes again. It’s not a comforting thought—that some of the smartest people in town have no idea what’s going on—and yet I shouldn’t be surprised. What’s been happening in Lithia for hundreds of years isn’t exactly explainable, least of all by science. Vampires, ghosts, necklaces with strange powers—who’d believe it?

Awakening volcanoes—that’s a new one, and I hope Professor Towson is right that the little quake doesn’t really mean anything. Lithia has been through enough lately.

Q

When I walk out of the classroom, I hope to see Lucy in the hall, or on the quad, or in the little juice bar where she’s been spending a lot of her time. It’s not unlike her to skip a class now and then, and not at all unusual for her to be late—but her not being around at all makes me anxious.

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