Free Fairest by Chanda Hahn Page B

bus as the Ogre turned his head toward the road and continued driving.
     

Chapter 7
    Holy buckets, she was on a bus being driven by an Ogre! When the Ogre made no more movement toward her, threatening or otherwise, she turned and hurried toward the rear exit door. There should be a safety feature where she could pull open the door, and if needed to- jump. Mina gripped the rubber lined door and pulled, it slowly slid opened exposing the rushing pavement beneath her. She looked toward the Ogre bus driver. He still hadn’t moved.
     
    Could she do it? Could she really jump from a moving bus into the street? Would she die? Did it matter, if she might die anyway by being lunch for an Ogre? No she was going to have to jump for it. Sliding her backpack on, she closed her eyes and counted to three. One-two-three! She leapt into the air and felt a jolt on her back as something grabbed her from behind forcefully mid jump.
     
    Opening her eyes, Mina looked down and saw her feet dangling mere inches from the rushing pavement. She screamed in fright as she dropped farther, and her shoes dragged on the asphalt. Turning, she met the eyes of the angry Ogre. He hauled her back onto the bus and forcefully pushed her into a bench seat, grunting at her to stay. He ambled back to the front of the bus and slid into the driver’s seat again, just as the bus began to veer into a ditch. He gripped the wheel, grunted, and maneuvered it back onto the road.
     
    The bus pulled off the main road and headed into the Mt. Adams National forest. He took the bus down back roads and unmarked dirt paths. It was unbelievable that the bus even made it down the path. Moments later the bus rolled to a stop. The Ogre stood up and ambled toward her again, his large forearms bulging with muscles, which were overly long compared to his shorter legs.
     
    Mina was prepared this time; she pulled out the Grimoire and held it up at the Ogre, waiting for it to be sucked into the book. Nothing happened. The book was still a book. Mina screamed in fright as the Ogre reached for her jacket and lifted her up into the air. Suspending her in the air, the Ogre growled and shook her as if trying to get her attention.  Instead, she began to fight back by clawing and kicking, and the Ogre just looked at her. In a moment of desperation, she hit the beast between the eyes with the corner of the notebook, and it flinched. He started to lower her to the ground, and she placed a well-aimed kick right between the Ogre’s legs. He grunted and dropped her to the ground, leaning over in pain.
     
    Mina scrambled frantically away, crawling on her knees toward the front of the bus. She was halfway to freedom when she realized she had dropped the Grimoire. Turning, she reached back to grab the notebook and then ran out the door into the night.
     
    Breathing hard, she raced blindly through the dark woods, branches snapping loudly under her feet, she didn’t waste precious time in trying to mask the noise she made. She heard a deafening roar split the forest from somewhere behind her.  It was the Ogre, and he was on the move after her. Her hands began to shake, and her chest burned from the exertion of running.
     
    She tripped and fell forward into a ditch; the ground seemed to disappear from under her. Desperately, she grabbed at branches, rocks, anything to slow her descent as the incline became steeper. She thought it would taper out and her descent would slow, but instead, she picked up speed. There was another sound of roaring, only this time softer, more constant, like water. Water!
     
    She knew what it was and accidentally let out a scream of fear. She flailed out, and her fingers found purchase on a large tree root.  Her body left the embankment to hang in the air, and she began to tumble over a cliff. The roaring river passed some forty feet below her. Loud crashing and snarls came from above her, and Mina knew the Ogre was closing in on her. She closed her eyes in