Quicksand Fans

I've been working on this story on and off for over a year, and I finally finished the first scene a few weeks ago. I'm taking a bit of a break before moving on to the second scene, and hoping to get a bit of feedback to help me make an important decision about it. It's a long story, so I'll be posting it in parts. It was inspired by a magazine cover I saw in a dream - I never got to read the story, and this is a long way from what it would have been like, but I'm happy with the way it's turned out so far.

QUICKSAND TIDE
By Nidoking

Nadia sighed as she pushed her way out of the rough wooden building onto the crowded boardwalk, clutching the bag of food to her chest protectively. Her instincts served her well, as a large man shoved her aside almost immediately, oblivious to her presence as he went on his way. The impact spun her around until she was facing the window of the restaurant she’d just left. The girl behind the glass stared back through the gap in her shoulder-length dingy brown hair, the small bag with the Sandwich Hole logo a colorful contrast to her tattered white T-shirt and dingy blue skirt, the pained expression on her face barely registering before the next pedestrian plowed into her and knocked her in the opposite direction. She bounced into one person after another, gradually stumbling toward the alley between the restaurant and the clothing store next door, until the impassive crowd finally ejected her into the slightly claustrophobic safety between its walls, where she landed on her knees and the hand that wasn’t still cradling her dinner. The roaring of the ocean seemed a bit louder, echoing through the narrow space, but it swallowed the din of footsteps that filled the main boardwalk and gave her some relief. She got to her feet, took a few deep breaths, and brushed aside the curtain of hair that had caught in her glasses.
Around the back of the building, she found her destination – the ladder that led to the roof of the restaurant. She climbed up and crossed to the front of the building, where she sat down on a box with a door on top whose purpose she’d never understood. It didn’t matter what was inside, anyway. It was just the right height to give her a view of the boardwalk and beach below without being easily visible from the ground while she ate. It gave her some small satisfaction to watch the masses of humanity going about their business, every one of them in such a hurry to be somewhere. None of it mattered, yet they all moved with unshakeable purpose, each the center of their own universe. It could be fascinating when viewed from a safe, aloof distance, when she could place herself above the crowd both literally and colloquially.
She opened the bag and pulled out the paper-wrapped Full Moon burger, the only thing that could tempt her to brave the boardwalk at this time of the month. The crowding wasn’t normally such a problem, when the beach was open, but with the heavy chains blocking the stairs down to the sand and the menacing “QUICKSAND TIDE – BEACH CLOSED” signs spaced out along the dunes, the wooden walkway had to support the entire population, and the lack of access to the ocean strangely didn’t seem to deter people from spending their day as close to it as they could get. The shops all offered discounts or monthly specials during the full moon to prop up their business, and it was a surprisingly popular model. Nadia could only hold so much disdain for the practice, since it gave her a chance to enjoy a rare treat. She chewed peacefully, feeling even more at ease because she was alone, quietly enjoying her meal while the rest of the world bustled past, chaotic in its diversity, hectic to the point of humdrum. It was the only bit of sanity she could find, and she relished it every month.
She was so caught up in her reverie that she almost didn’t notice the tiny figure breaking away from the pack and stumbling down the nearest staircase, and when she did, she initially dismissed the impossible sight and went back to her meal. Nobody would be ignorant enough to walk out onto the beach during the quicksand tide, and if they tried, surely someone would stop them and warn them of the danger. By the time she thought to take a proper look, there was no sign of anyone on the sand. She made a mental note to have her prescription checked when she could be around people again and took a sip from her soda straw.
But there it was again; a tiny glint of blonde just peeking out from between the dunes for a second before vanishing. She coughed in surprise and nearly choked on her soda. Letting it dribble down her chin, she stood up and leaned over the edge of the building, peering down to where she’d seen the person, expecting to see a cat gallivanting across the beach, or perhaps a lost yellow bag floating in the breeze. Anything to convince her that there wasn’t a fool walking obliviously to their death. But as the seconds passed and no sign of a non-human presence appeared, her heart leapt into her throat as she realized that she was the only one who’d seen anything. The mass of people on the boardwalk were too busy with their own lives to notice anyone but themselves, and even if anyone had the attention to spare, nobody even looked out over the beach at the quicksand tide; there was nothing out there to see. If there really was someone out there, unaware of what could happen to them, Nadia was the only one who knew they were there. The only one who could do anything.
Before she had time to form another thought, she was racing down the ladder, leaping down the last few rungs and darting into the alley. She bolted into the middle of the boardwalk, pushing her way past people left and right, marveling at how easy it was to get through when she, too, felt the need to be somewhere and let no one stand in her way. She nearly fell over the chain with the warning sign dangling from it, catching herself on the wooden railing and still nearly pitching headfirst down the stairs. As she tried to stand, an elbow landed in her back, knocking the air out of her lungs. She quickly stepped over the barrier before anyone else could find a faster way to propel her past it, then stopped to breathe, waiting for someone to yell at her for being a damn fool and ignoring the signs, to tell her to get back up where it was safe, to stop her from doing what she was about to do. But nobody paid her any more attention than they had her predecessor, and she trotted down the steps as quickly as she could, remembering why she’d come this far and what might be at stake. She hesitated on the bottom step, panting, as the reality of what she planned to do sank in. She was standing there at the edge of the deadly beach, staring across a wide expanse of sand that could open up and swallow her the moment she stepped onto it. The area above the dunes was generally safe, and the dunes themselves were packed high enough that the water never filtered up to them, but past the signs was a no man’s land where every step could be her last. Her grip on the handrail tightened as she looked down at the smooth, innocent surface of the beach, willing herself to move, but unsure which direction. She only needed to look, she told herself. Even climbing up onto the nearest dune, far enough to get a view of the beach and confirm that no one needed saving, would be enough, and almost completely safe. Her conscience could leave her alone and she could go back for whatever was left of her dinner, if the seagulls hadn’t picked it clean already.
There were footprints, shallow but unmistakably human, leading away from the foot of the stairs and tracing a path around the side of the dune. She gasped, but barely heard it over the crashing waves, nearly deafening this close to the rolling ocean. Someone had definitely come this way, and recently – footprints didn’t last long at the quicksand tide. But since there was no sign of the person who’d made them, the ground was clearly solid at least that far out. She steeled her nerves, then launched herself from the wooden plank and took off at a run, following the footprints before she could change her mind. It was just possible that the person she’d seen somehow knew a safe path across the beach, in which case, she too would follow that path and reach whatever destination was so important to be worth risking a life over. If she couldn’t return until after the sands had settled, she’d deal with the situation then. In any case, as long as the mystery person had managed to tread safely, the chances that the sand would have liquefied in the meantime were slim. The sand shook under her feet as she ran, but held her weight as she rounded the side of the dune, bringing the rest of the beach into view.
She saw the figure in the distance at the same moment when she first heard the bone-chilling screams, almost inaudible over the roaring of the waves and the soft hissing sound that seemed to rise from the sand all around. The figure lifted a hand to wave, but quickly dropped it again, and Nadia knew that her fears were confirmed – whoever was out there was trapped in the quicksand and trying to escape. She’d paused to take in the scene, but now she lurched forward with renewed vigor, only to stumble and nearly fall flat on her face. Her shoes, covered with mud, were sticking to the beach and weighing her down. She quickly kicked them off, then, with a few hops on each foot, yanked her socks off as well, taking the final stretch in her bare feet. She could make out the figure clearly now, a woman with long, curly blonde hair and a pink T-shirt and shorts, buried in the beach well over her knees, trying to lean forward far enough to get purchase on more solid ground and pull herself out.
“Stop moving!” Nadia shouted, hoping that her voice would carry over the sound of the waves. “Don’t try to fight it! I’ll be right there!”
“Please, help me!” came the response, cutting through the din quite clearly. “I’m in quicksand!”
Nadia bit back a number of sarcastic but unhelpful responses as she slid to a stop just beyond the woman’s reach. “Stop struggling,” she advised, dropping her voice now that they were close enough to hear each other. “It’ll only make you sink faster. I’ll try to pull you out.” She looked around, hoping against reason to spot a convenient stick or towel she might be able to use. “Do you have anything I can grab onto?”
The woman raised her hands imploringly.
“I don’t want to get any closer than I have to,” said Nadia. “Even a bag with a strap would be great.”
“I dropped my bag when I fell in,” the woman said sadly. “I tried to grab it, but I couldn’t pull it out. It was too heavy and I was afraid it would drag me down.”
Nadia groaned. “Couldn’t you have emptied it?”
The woman had the grace to look ashamed. “Oops.”
“Never mind. At least you didn’t hold onto it and let it pull you down.” She leaned forward and grabbed the woman’s hands. “Okay, just hold on. I’m going to try to pull you out now, so just stay calm and try to relax. Okay? You’re going to be safe.”
The woman nodded and looked up at Nadia with determination in her eyes, squeezing her hands tightly. Nadia leaned back and dug her heels into the sand, hauling with all of her weight. Her shoulders wrenched almost immediately, but she kept a steady pressure, well aware that if she let up at all, the woman would sink even deeper and it would be that much harder to pull her out again. She strained again, hoping to make any headway at all, but the woman wasn’t budging. Nadia found herself appreciating why the lifeguards didn’t patrol the beach during the quicksand tide, as rescue seemed like a hopeless endeavor. She’d assumed this would be an easy, death-defying rescue, like in “Terror of the Swamp Witch”. The dashing hero’s companion had wandered off the path and blundered into a bottomless bog, but the hero had hauled him out by the collar without breaking a sweat. The author had clearly never encountered the real thing. Nadia made another mental note to write an angry letter to the editor.
Lost, as always, in a fictional world, Nadia failed to notice that her feet were sliding forward until the ground turned to mush under them. She felt herself slipping down the steep embankment of packed sand at the edge of the pit, frantically kicking in hope of catching herself on the way down, but the sand had been loosened by the other girl’s attempt to escape, and she sank to the same depth in an instant, her face inches from the panicked face of the woman she’d been trying to save. They stared at each other, frozen in shock.
The other woman was the first to recover. “I’m SO sorry!” she shouted. “This is all my fault!” She tried to bow her head, forcing Nadia to lean back as best she could to avoid being smacked by a bony forehead.
The sudden movement brought Nadia to her senses. “What were you thinking? I was trying to pull you out! Why would you pull me in?”
“I wanted to help,” the woman said contritely. “I didn’t think it was fair that you were doing all the work, when I was the one stuck in the quicksand.”
“Well, now we’re BOTH stuck in the quicksand!” snapped Nadia.
“I’m sorry!” the woman cried again. “I’m really sorry! Now we’re both going to die and it’s all my fault!”
Nadia sighed and tried to calm herself. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is right now. We’re both stuck here, and there’s nothing we can do about that now. So let’s just stay calm and shout for help and hope somebody finds us.”
The woman nodded, wiped tears from her eyes, and suddenly lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Nadia. Nadia pressed her hands against the woman’s shoulders, trying to push her away.
“What are you doing now? I said calm, not clingy!”
“I’m just so happy!” the woman offered by way of explanation. “I thought I was going to die alone!”
“Well, don’t take me down with you! I want to live!”
“Don’t struggle so much,” said the woman, still trying to pull Nadia into a hug. “It’ll make us sink faster.”
Nadia sighed again, giving in to the hug. “Why did it have to be me?”
After a few moments, the woman released Nadia and leaned back to put her hand between them. “I’m Aria.”
“What?” Nadia stared at the proffered hand, confused.
The girl reached down to grab Nadia’s hand and shook it. “My name is Aria. I figured we should probably introduce ourselves, since we’re going to be spending the rest of our lives together.”
“Nadia,” she replied vacantly, still bewildered at the sudden change in tone. She pulled her hand away sharply. “How can you be so chipper all of a sudden?”
Aria shrugged. “It gets cold when I’m sad, so I have to be happy all the time.”
The mention of cold brought Nadia’s mind back to the chill of the quicksand around her legs, and she shivered. “Well, you can be happy all you want. I’m going to try to get someone’s attention.” She cupped her hands around her mouth and turned toward the dunes that now towered above them. “Hey! Can anyone hear me? There are two of us down here on the beach!”
“I don’t think anyone can hear us from here,” Aria said quietly. “The ocean’s really loud and the dunes are blocking the sound.”
“Well, unless you can think of a way to get us out of here without help, I’ve got nothing better to do for the next few hours.”
“You’ll hurt your voice shouting like that,” Aria warned her. “I’m giving mine a rest, now that you’re here. I might need it later.”
Nadia bit back another snappy retort, judging that it might be wise to try to remain on good terms with Aria as long as they were stuck together. Keeping her calm and still was essential to their survival.
They sank in silence for a while longer until Aria broke it again. “How long do you think we have?”
“What do you mean?”
“Until we drown,” Aria explained. “We’re sinking pretty slowly, right?”
Nadia looked down. The quicksand was lapping at the bottom of Aria’s shorts. “You’ve sunk a few inches since I got here, so at that rate…” She did a quick mental calculation. “We’ve got a few hours. But we should sink more slowly the deeper we get, so we should be able to hold on until nightfall.”
“We’re going to die at nightfall?” asked Aria, suddenly sounding worried.
“I hope not,” said Nadia. “But it’s out of my hands.” Aria’s face betrayed her confusion, so Nadia changed the topic again before she could ask any awkward questions. “So, what were you doing out here, anyway?”
“Well, first, I was walking, and then I started sinking. I’ve been doing that ever since.”
Nadia rubbed her temples in frustration. “I mean why were you out here during the quicksand tide? Did you WANT to get sucked in?”
“Oh!” Aria chuckled. “I just wasn’t watching where I was going. Sometimes, I get totally lost in thought, and I just keep walking until I get somewhere.”
Nadia understood the feeling, but… “You had to climb over the chain, though! You came down the stairs! Are you seriously telling me you didn’t recognize where you were headed?”
“I really didn’t mean to!” Aria cried defensively. “I wasn’t thinking. I forgot it’s a full moon tonight.”
“How can you forget the full moon?” Nadia snapped.
“I don’t pay much attention to the phases of the moon,” said Aria. “I didn’t think it was such a big deal.”
“NOT A BIG DEAL?” Nadia didn’t even realize that she was shouting until Aria flinched, cowering as best she could while trapped a few inches away. She breathed heavily, forcing herself to calm down again. “You’re right. I guess it isn’t a big deal to most people. Then again, most people pay attention to the signs, so they don’t need to keep track of when the quicksand tide comes in.”
“You don’t need to make me sound stupid,” Aria pouted. “I just had a lot on my mind today.”
“Is that unusual?”
“You’re still making fun of me!” Aria cried. “You really don’t need to rub it in! I know I messed up! I didn’t see the signs, and I walked into quicksand, and now I’m going to die!”
Nadia’s heart sank. She was starting to feel the chill again – the water was starting to soak its way up her skirt, and the wet fabric was clinging to her hips. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. In fact, I get absorbed in my thoughts sometimes, too.”
Aria nodded wistfully. “Yeah, that’s what I would have expected.” She pointed to her eyes. “It’s the glasses. They make you look really smart, like you’re always reading books.”
“I do enjoy reading,” Nadia agreed. “I’m starting to wish I’d brought a book with me.”
“Aren’t you afraid it would get wet?”
“I think that’s the least of my problems right now,” said Nadia, tracing her fingers across the surface of the sand. “I’d dump a whole library into this stuff right about now if it gave me something to stand on.”
“No, no, no!” cried Aria, clenching her fists. “You can’t do that! Books are important!”
Nadia raised an eyebrow. “You read?”
“Well, not much,” Aria admitted, “but I know there are all sorts of neat things in books! There are knights, and dragons, and princesses, and monsters, and fairies, and sometimes people even kiss!” She looked thoughtful. “That sounds really good, actually. Now I want to read a book like that. Do you think I could borrow one, if we get out of here?”
“I don’t have any books with dragons,” Nadia said quietly, raising a hand to her mouth as if trying to hide it.
Aria cocked her head and stared. “Are you… blushing?”
Nadia shook her head and glared at Aria. “I am not!”
“You are so!” Aria laughed. “You’re thinking of a naughty book, aren’t you?”
“No!” Nadia shouted, feeling heat rising to her face. “It’s not about books.”
“Then what is it?” Aria leaned to one side, then the other, trying to read Nadia’s expression, but Nadia covered her face with her hands and turned away as best she could. “Come on! What are you so embarrassed about? It’s not like I can tell anyone.” She raised a hand. “I solemnly swear that I will take your secret with me to the grave.”
Nadia couldn’t stifle a laugh. “You’re really something, you know that?”
“That’s what I’m told!” Aria proclaimed proudly. “So?”
Nadia pursed her lips in frustration. “It’s… well…” She sighed again. “The quicksand… it’s getting my underwear wet, and it feels weird and gross.”
Aria’s eyes widened. “I know! It feels like you peed yourself, doesn’t it?”
Nadia couldn’t help but glance down at the water stain spreading up Aria’s shorts, and felt sure that her face had actually burst into flame. “I was really trying not to think about it that way.”
Aria’s hips squirmed. “I wish I’d worn a swimsuit, but it didn’t make much sense, since we can’t really get to the ocean to swim or anything.”
“Stop that,” said Nadia, suppressing the urge to shift her own body in search of a slightly more comfortable position. “The more you move, the faster we’re both going to sink.”
“I think it’ll be a bit better once it’s up to our waists,” Aria speculated. “It’ll be like we’re just swimming then.”
“I’d rather wait it out, if it’s all the same to you.”
“Even without a book?”
“I don’t want to die sooner just because I’m bored.”
Aria froze. “Oh, right. That makes sense.”
“You really don’t stop to think before you do things, do you?”
Aria’s body slumped, letting her hands rest on the surface. “I really don’t. I’m always getting into messes like this and relying on the kindness of strangers.” Then she perked up. “But today! Today I got to meet you, the kindest stranger of all!” She suddenly lunged forward to hug Nadia again.
“Quit it!” Nadia shouted, frantically trying to keep her balance. “You’re pushing me down!”
“Oops!” Aria shifted her grip and tried to pull Nadia back up, but only succeeded in pushing herself in deeper.
“Just stop moving. Entirely. Not an inch, okay?”
“Okay,” Aria mumbled, resting her head on Nadia’s chest.
“Let go of me and stand up straight, then stop moving.”
“I don’t want to. This is comfortable.”
“It’s not comfortable for me!” Nadia shouted, trying to find a way to grab Aria and pry her away without stirring the quicksand any further.
Aria loosened her grip just enough to look up into Nadia’s eyes. “You don’t like hugs?”
“Not particularly, no.” Nadia finally grabbed Aria’s shoulders and pushed her back into an upright position. “Definitely not from people I just met, especially when that person is responsible for my imminent death.”
“Are you going to stay mad at me the whole time?” Aria pouted. “I said I was sorry!”
“Sorry isn’t helping! We. Are probably. Going. To die here!” Nadia fumed. “The only hope we have right now is to keep perfectly still and try not to sink too much until someone finds us or we figure out a way to escape. The deeper we go, the less chance there is of getting out alive. So your attempts to show your gratitude physically are literally killing us.” She shivered again, her indignation sending a chill through her body. “I’m sorry I’m not the kind person you thought I was.”
“You’re still the only person who tried to save me,” Aria pointed out, a tear rolling down her face.
“And look at how much good it’s done either of us.” She felt a jolt as the quicksand touched a patch of bare skin where her shirt had come untucked. It had covered the waistline of her skirt while she was yelling, and the top of Aria’s shorts was rapidly vanishing below the surface as well. “I don’t think we’re going to make it. I don’t think I’m ever going to see the full moon.”
“Don’t give up hope!” cried Aria, clenching her fists again. “You’ll see the full moon tonight, and the next one too!”
“I don’t really care about the next one,” said Nadia, looking up into the cloudy sky. “It’s tonight’s full moon I want to see.”
“Is tonight special?” asked Aria. “Is it an anniversary or something?”
“No, just another ordinary full moon.”
“Then why do you want to see it so badly?”
“Because it’ll mean I survived.”
“That’s the spirit!” cheered Aria. “Try to look on the bright side!”
Nadia blinked. “‘Maybe we’ll survive’ is a bright side?”
“It’s a lot better than ‘I don’t think we’re going to make it, just go on without me,’” said Aria, doing a painfully accurate impression of Nadia’s voice.
“I didn’t say just go on without me,” Nadia pointed out darkly. “That doesn’t even make sense. There’s nowhere to go.”
“Quit taking the fun out of everything! Find something to be happy about!”
“Like what?” asked Nadia, grabbing a handful of mud and holding it in front of Aria’s face while it oozed between her fingers. “What’s happy about being stuck in quicksand?”
“At least the weather’s nice for it?” Aria tried meekly.
Nadia looked up again. “I guess. The clouds are going to be a problem tonight, but at least they’re protecting us from getting sunburnt. And the breeze is nice.”
“Thanks!” said Aria, beaming widely.
“For what?”
For a moment, Aria looked ashamed of herself for saying the wrong thing, but she quickly covered her misstep. “For trying it my way. Being positive.” She collected herself and thrust her hand into the tiny space between them with a thumb raised. “You get an A-plus!”
Nadia chortled.
“What’s so funny? Did I do something wrong?”
“No, it’s not that. You just reminded me of my school days. The teachers were always so proud when they gave me an A-plus, and everyone else was always so impressed with me.” She sighed. “But that was just who I was. I was the girl who got the A-plus on everything. When I got just an A, it hurt, and if I ever got an A-minus, I felt like I’d failed.”
“That’s really impressive, though!”
“See what I mean?” Nadia asked slyly. “Everyone always thought it was such a big deal that I felt I was letting them down with anything less than perfection.” She grinned. “Once, I even got a B-plus. I was so ashamed, I shredded the paper and hoped my parents wouldn’t find out.”
Aria nodded sagely. “I got a B-plus once, and the school told my parents. They all thought I was cheating.”
“They thought you cheated and still only got a B-plus?”
“That’s what the principal said.” She squared her shoulders and imitated a much older man, holding her finger under her nose to mimic a mustache. “‘This is exactly the sort of incompetent performance that characterizes your daughter.’ I guess they just figured I was as bad at cheating as I was at everything else.”
Nadia chuckled again. “I’m sorry. That’s sad, but it’s kind of funny too.”
Aria slumped, her forearms settling into the mud. “My whole life is a joke. I’m terrible in school, I suck at sports, I can’t make friends, and I’m never going to amount to anything.”
“Oh, no,” said Nadia, reaching out to touch Aria but stopping just short. “I didn’t mean it like that!”
“I should have died alone out here,” Aria sobbed. “Then you wouldn’t have had to get involved.”
“That’s not true!” Nadia shouted, grabbing Aria’s arms. “Nobody deserves to die!”
“But it’s my fault that you’re here!” Aria protested.
The breeze was picking up a chill from the ocean, and Nadia felt it in her bones as the gloom settled over both of them. “I chose to come here,” she said, fighting to keep her composure. “I knew what might happen, and I still came.”
Aria blinked back tears. “Why?”
“What do you mean, why? I wasn’t going to leave you to die!”
“But why did you come out here onto the beach? You knew it was quicksand tide!” She wrapped her arms around Nadia again, crying onto her shoulder. “Why would someone like you throw your life away for a worthless nobody like me?”
Nadia slowly brought her hands together behind Aria’s back, pulling her as close as she could, welcoming the warmth of her body in the cold air. “You’re not worthless,” she assured Aria, patting her back gently. “You just haven’t figured out who you’re meant to be yet. I don’t think I’ve really figured that out yet, either. What do academic achievements do for me out here? All those A-pluses don’t really mean a whole lot now, do they?”
Aria shook her head, grinding her nose into Nadia’s shoulder. “But you’re smart, and pretty, and brave. You could have done anything you wanted. Now you’re just going to die here, all because I couldn’t watch where I was going.”
“Would you stop that?” Nadia shoved Aria away again, looking her in the eyes briefly before letting her gaze wander downward. “I’m not the wonderful person you’re trying to make me out to be. I shut myself away from society because I could never make friends. I don’t even own a swimsuit because I’m ashamed of my own body, and the only reason I come to the beach at all is for a hamburger with pineapple on it.”
“I love that burger.”
“I passed all the tests in school and never learned how to live,” Nadia continued, ignoring the interruption. “I never figured out what to do with my life, so I just never did anything. I’ve spent my whole life in books until I stopped caring about the real world anymore. I’m bitter and cynical and I don’t even know how to cheer up someone who’s so cheerful, she can make me laugh when I’m facing death. I’m not any of the great things you think I am.” She stopped, suddenly feeling the emotional weight pressing down on her so heavily, she thought it might actually push her under the sand.
A sniffle brought Nadia’s attention back to the girl in front of her, and she looked up to see tears pouring down Aria’s face. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea you felt that way.”
“I know what it’s like to hate yourself so much that you can’t see the good parts anymore,” said Nadia. “I also know it’s not the truth. So please, don’t say you deserve to die. I can’t stand hearing it from anyone else.”
Aria nodded. “You really are amazing, you know?” she asked, wiping the tears from her face and leaving streaks of mud in their place. “I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather spend my last moments with.” She lifted her arms and reached toward Nadia again, but stopped short and just wrapped her arms around herself, her elbows settling into the mud. “Can I ask for a favor?”
“What is it?” asked Nadia, struck by the pathetic sight.
“Could you… hold me again? Like before? I know you only did it because I was freaking out, but I’m cold and scared, and I feel so alone even though you’re right here with me.”

Intriguing story. Loved that it wasn't the least bit rushed. You really put a lot of effort into it and it shows. Your style of writing makes for a quite enjoyable read. Felt very natural. You've a lot of talent, my friend. Can't wait to see where this goes next.
I should mention....you had me hooked with the comment about how it came to you. I can't ever recall magazine covers in any of my dreams....ever! Clearly, yours was a doozy!

This was pretty awesome! Sure hope to see your next part!

Glad everybody's enjoying it so far. Here's the next part, up to what I consider to be the climax of the scene. You're welcome to try to guess what happens next, but my expectation is that nobody will come close, and then when I post the ending, everyone will wonder how they didn't see it coming. That's what I'm going for, anyway.

Nadia leaned forward as far as the quicksand climbing her ribcage would allow and pulled Aria into a tight hug, holding her close with one arm and patting her head softly with the other. “It’s okay. We’re going to be okay.”
Aria sighed happily. Her arms reached out to encircle Nadia again, then stopped. “So, why don’t you like being hugged?”
“I just had a traumatic experience once while someone was hugging me,” said Nadia. “Now I remember it every time anyone hugs me.”
“I don’t think I could stand that,” said Aria. “Being hugged is the best feeling I know of.”
“Maybe someday, I’ll be able to feel so comfortable with someone that they can hug me and I’ll be okay with it. But even if that ever happens, it’ll take a long time.”
“What about kissing?”
“What about it?”
“Do you feel the same way when someone kisses you?”
“I don’t know,” Nadia reflected. “I’ve never tried it.”
Aria shifted abruptly in Nadia’s arms, looking up at her with their noses almost touching. “You haven’t kissed anyone since it happened?”
Nadia blushed. “Never, really. I’ve never had a reason to kiss anyone.”
“Never? You’ve never been in love?”
“Who am I going to fall in love with? Who’s ever going to fall in love with a nerdy girl like me? I’ve read enough books about romance to know that it’s got nothing to do with me. It’s just escapism for people who can’t find happiness in their own lives.”
Aria laughed. “If you have your nose in a book all the time, you’re not going to see love even if it’s right in front of you.”
“The only person in front of me right now is you,” Nadia quipped.
“Yeah…?” Aria responded, trailing off meaningfully.
Nadia waited for more, but Aria fell silent at that, her face growing red in the dimming light as the sun made its way down toward the horizon behind Nadia’s back. They stared into each other’s eyes as Nadia replayed the conversation in her head, hoping that the meaning of the single-word response would make itself clear if she thought about it enough.
The tumblers finally clicked into place, and the blood rushed to Nadia’s face again. “You mean… you… me… really?” Aria nodded shyly. “Why? How?”
“I knew for sure when you held me,” said Aria. “I felt so safe and warm that I just wanted to be in your arms forever. But I think it started when I saw you running across the beach to save me.”
“Right when you first saw me?” asked Nadia. “Isn’t that a little cliché?”
“It was amazing!” Aria insisted, her face now positively glowing. “You were so worried about me that you didn’t even seem to care what might happen to you. It was the first time I ever felt like someone really cared about me.”
“But we’re both girls!”
“If a man had come to save me, then maybe I’d have fallen in love with him,” said Aria. “But he didn’t, and you did. And now we’re here, together, and I’m running out of chances to tell you how I feel. If we get much deeper, I won’t be able to kiss you.”
“You want to kiss me?” Nadia fervently hoped that the sun was low enough to prevent Aria from seeing her face, which had to be red enough to be indistinguishable from a sunburn.
“Isn’t it natural to want to kiss the one you love?”
“But we only just met!” Nadia reminded her. “How can you fall in love with someone you barely know?”
Aria shrugged. “I can’t explain why I feel the way I feel. Maybe it isn’t really love. Maybe it’s something else. All I know is, I want to be as close to you as I can get. Even if we get out of here, I still want to be with you. And I want to kiss you more than anything.”
“That’s probably adrenaline,” said Nadia. “When you’re close to death, your emotions can go out of control and lead you to do all sorts of abnormal things.”
“Even if it is!” cried Aria. “This could be our last chance! Do you really want to die without ever having kissed anyone?”
“I don’t want to kiss someone just because I’m afraid of dying.”
“You don’t have to love me back,” said Aria. “It would probably be weird if you did, since I’m the one who got you into this and you probably hate me. But I want to feel you in every way possible. I want to be one with you. If we have to die, I want us to die together, not just at the same time.”
“This is making me really uncomfortable,” Nadia apologized, trying unsuccessfully to put any distance between them. The sand around her held her completely immobile, and all the talk of physical contact was drawing her awareness to the sensation of Aria’s breasts pressing against hers. She hadn’t paid any attention to them during all the hugging, but now they felt like a wall crushing her chest, making it hard to breathe. Or was that just the sand pressing on her from all sides? Was it Aria’s heartbeat she could feel pulsing at the point of contact, or her own? The entire situation had suddenly taken on a new connotation of intimacy with Aria’s confession, and the heightening titillation in the middle of what was undeniably a life-or-death ordeal was obviously inappropriate.
The most discomfiting part of all, though, was that deep down, Nadia found it all strangely arousing. It was the closest thing she’d ever had to sexual contact, and the first time anyone had ever shown anything like romantic interest in her. The warmth quickly spreading through her body was probably adrenaline, or perhaps the onset of hypothermia, but it made her feel happy and considerably safer than seemed appropriate, given the circumstances. It was surprisingly intense, and she didn’t know how to fight it, or even whether she wanted to.
Lost in the rush of unfamiliar emotions, she barely registered Aria’s disappointed “Oh. It’s okay.”
Her thoughts came together at last, and she finally found a way to express her feelings. “I mean, it’s making me uncomfortable how much… I want to.”
It was Aria’s turn to be caught off guard. “You really want to?”
“No!” Nadia said quickly. “I mean yes! Maybe?” She sighed. “What I mean is, I don’t feel any particular urge to, but… I thought I’d be grossed out by the idea of kissing a girl, and I’m kinda not. I’m actually a little interested. Isn’t that weird?”
Aria looked puzzled. “What would be gross about kissing a girl? Girls are MUCH better at kissing than boys.”
“You’ve kissed enough to make that comparison?”
Aria shrugged. “There are lots of people who want to kiss me. Mostly guys, but they always kiss like they want something more from me, like they’re just doing it because it’s the first step on the road to something else. When a girl kisses me, it’s more passionate.”
“Oh.” Nadia felt strangely disappointed at this revelation. “So it’s not just me.”
“I said there were lots of people who wanted to kiss ME,” Aria said indignantly. “I wasn’t interested in any of them.”
“But you kissed them anyway,” Nadia pointed out.
“I kept hoping maybe I’d feel something if I kissed the right person,” explained Aria. “But I never did. I never felt anything like this.” She clasped a fist in front of her heart. “This is the first time I’ve ever actually wanted to kiss someone.” Blushing, she turned her eyes downward. “I know this probably isn’t what you expected for your first kiss.”
“I wasn’t expecting to have a first kiss at all, honestly,” said Nadia. “I never thought anyone would even care that I exist. So this… this is about what I would have guessed.”
Aria laughed, then slowly slid her hands between Nadia’s hair and the sides of her head. “Well, I think it’s time we see whether the real thing lives up to the stories.”
As Aria pulled her head forward, Nadia felt compelled to reach up and brush a wisp of hair out of her face, even though it wasn’t really in the way. Aria smiled, but didn’t slow down in her approach. She closed her eyes, pursed her lips, and gently tilted her head. Nadia followed suit, trusting Aria to guide her. Just as her neck started to ache from stretching so far, she felt the cool rush of Aria’s breath across her cheek moments before the soft flesh of her lips made contact. They pressed against each other, lightly at first, and then Aria became more animated, opening her mouth slightly and closing it again, caressing Nadia’s lips with her own like fingers. Nadia followed her example, and their mouths danced in unison, slick with saliva and likely a bit of sweat. There was a subtle, slightly sweet flavor to it, just pleasant enough to make Nadia forget how disgusting the idea of swallowing someone else’s bodily fluids was.
Aria’s mouth closed around Nadia’s lower lip, and with the tiniest giggle, she brought her teeth in for a playful nibble. The sudden sensation sent a shudder through Nadia’s entire body, and she gasped. Aria backed away immediately, a worried expression on her face. “Was that too much?” she asked.
“No, it was really nice,” said Nadia, surprised at how heavily she was breathing. “Amazing, actually. But I don’t think we should do that again.”
“Why not?” asked Aria, clearly disappointed.
“Because I don’t think I’d be able to keep still, and we’ll sink even faster.”
“What does that matter now? Look,” she said, sweeping her arm in the direction of the dune. There was a faint corona glowing above it in the fading light of the setting sun, but as the sky darkened, so did the glow from the boardwalk. “The boardwalk’s closing. There’s nobody left up there to find us. And even if they did manage to notice that we’re out here, how would they save us at this point? We’re in way too deep!” She let her arms drop, but they didn’t have far to fall before they rested on the surface, straight out at her sides. “It’s too late. We’re going to die sooner or later no matter what we do. So I’d rather die kissing you right now than spend hours waiting to drown.”
She stared into Nadia’s eyes, and Nadia tried to look away, but had no idea where to turn. Her eyes drifted downward, to where Aria’s breasts were still filling most of the space between them, but now she noticed how the wet shirt was clinging to the soft curves, the bright pink fabric collapsing into a dark valley as they slowly descended into the muck beneath. Her own shirt was soaked through as well, and the regrettably plain white cloth was becoming transparent. She pulled her eyes back up, hoping to avoid drawing attention to her predicament, only to find herself staring at the lips that had kissed her, still coated with a thin sheen of their shared drool. Everything that had seemed so ordinary just an hour ago was suddenly erotic, and the temptation to join Aria in one final kiss was overwhelming. Nadia steeled herself and inhaled sharply. “No,” she insisted. “I still haven’t given up on seeing the full moon tonight.”
Aria turned her head as far as she could to look at the thick clouds blanketing the horizon where the moon was rising in obscurity. “I don’t think it’s going to be visible tonight.”
“It has to be.”
Aria turned back. “Does it really mean that much to you?”
Nadia nodded. “More than you can possibly imagine.”
Aria sighed. “Then I hope you do get to see it.” She let her head fall backward. “Maybe if it gets high enough, I’ll be able to see it with you.”
“I promise you, it’ll be amazing.” Nadia reached forward and grabbed Aria’s arms, then lifted them and wrapped them around her neck. “Here, you’d better hold on to me. It’s going to get cold now that the sun’s down.”
Aria snuggled against Nadia’s shoulder and sighed again, happily this time. “I’m so glad fate brought us together, even if it’s only for a few hours.”
Nadia scoffed.
Aria leaned back to look at Nadia in what little light remained. “What’s wrong? You don’t like being with me?”
“I just don’t believe in fate,” Nadia said darkly, as the sun finally vanished behind her and Aria’s face disappeared into the night. “It’s a literary device to explain why an unlikely hero goes on a futile quest, that real people like to pretend exists when things go wrong.”
“You just said the same thing about love,” Aria pointed out, the disappointment in her voice painting a brilliant picture of the scowl Nadia could no longer see.
“Okay, maybe there is something to love,” Nadia admitted, “and I just had to experience it for myself to believe it. But a higher power pulling our strings, making things happen for some purpose we can’t possibly understand? There’s just no way.”
“Why not?” asked Aria, her tone now more genuinely curious than hurt. “What’s wrong with believing that we were just meant to meet this way?”
“That’s exactly the problem,” Nadia explained. “Just imagine that there really is something out there deciding what happens to us. So whatever it is must have looked at me, looked at everything that’s ever happened to me, and said to itself, ‘You know what? Nadia clearly hasn’t suffered enough in her life. I think she needs to be up to her armpits in quicksand. That’s going to make the world a better place.’”
“Maybe it decided I needed to be in quicksand, and just sent you along to keep me company,” Aria suggested.
“Either way, the world is full of too much pointless cruelty. If there is something choosing who lives and who dies, who gets mugged on the way home and who doesn’t, whose house burns down and whose car is destroyed, then it has the power to make sure none of those things ever happen. And yet they happen anyway. So if it exists at all, it’s clearly evil.”
“But so many of those bad things lead to something good!” Aria protested. “Things can’t be perfect all the time, but everything always works out in the end.”
“That’s not fate, though,” said Nadia. “That’s just human nature. When bad things happen, we try to find a way to make the best of the situation, and usually, we find a happy ending somewhere. Then we look back and say things like ‘If I hadn’t been hit by that car, I wouldn’t own this three-story mansion today.’ There’s no way to know. Maybe that still would have happened. Maybe something even better. And you can’t possibly expect me to believe that fate can see all possible outcomes of everything that might happen, and it can’t find a better way to its happy ending than through all the suffering.”
Aria didn’t say anything for so long that Nadia began to think she might have gone too far and upset her. When she finally broke the silence, her response was so unexpected that Nadia almost didn’t catch it. “Why did you come out onto the beach today?”
Taken aback, Nadia didn’t know how to answer. “Where did that come from?”
“Most people wouldn’t risk their own lives for a stranger,” said Aria. “But you did. Why?”
“I told you before, I wasn’t going to leave you to die.”
“And did you really think you could save me all by yourself?” Aria asked accusingly. “Without any equipment, or help from anyone?”
“I didn’t really have time –”
“If you really wanted to save me, you could have called the police, or a lifeguard, or at least found someone with a rope or a ladder!” Aria shouted. “That’s what most people would have done!”
The familiar ladder at the back of the Sandwich Hole popped into Nadia’s mind, and she suddenly felt ashamed that she hadn’t thought of it sooner. She tried to imagine pulling it down from its place and crossing the crowded boardwalk with it. Surely, that would have attracted someone’s attention, and she might even have drawn a crowd. At that point, even if she’d ended up in the same situation, there would be people who knew she was in trouble and could call for help. She and Aria would have been saved long ago. She groaned as she realized how foolish she’d been.
“So why?” Aria asked again, her voice gentle and concerned now. “Why did you come after me yourself?”
“Would you believe I just didn’t think about asking anyone for help?”
“That much goes without saying,” said Aria. “But you really seem like the type of person who thinks really hard about everything. I find it hard to believe that you’d run into a situation you knew was dangerous without stopping to make a plan, at least.”
“It’s not that I didn’t make a plan! I just… didn’t factor other people into it.”
There was a long, uncomfortable pause, during which Nadia felt the blush coloring her face again. Hearing the words in her own voice had really driven home what a mess she’d made of everything.
It was Aria who finally broke the silence. “When you said you shut yourself away from society, you really meant it, didn’t you? You closed yourself off from people entirely?”
“I didn’t think I had much choice,” Nadia replied. “I couldn’t be around them anymore. I figured that anyone who got too close to me would hate me, so I just tried to pretend that other people didn’t exist. They don’t care about me, so I don’t care about them.”
“You cared about me,” Aria repeated. “And you didn’t know anything about me.”
“That’s different. You were going to die.”
“People die all the time, and I can’t imagine you’d throw yourself in quicksand for all of them.”
“Maybe if I thought it would save them.”
“Why?” Aria asked again. “Why would you care that much about someone you don’t know?”
“Are you familiar with the bystander effect?”
“No, but if you name some of their songs, I might recognize one.”
Nadia had no idea whether Aria was serious or not, since her face was still invisible in the darkness. “It’s not a band. It has to do with the way people act when they see something wrong. If someone’s alone, they’re more likely to do something about it, but if there are other people, nobody ever does anything because they’re all hoping someone else will handle it. Ironically, the more people there are when you need help, the less likely you are to get it.”
“So… you came to help me because you felt like you were the only person there?”
“Not quite. Just that I was the only person who cared. I don’t think anyone else saw you come this way, and if they did, they obviously didn’t try to stop you or call for help. Nobody tried to stop me, either. They just get lost in the crowd, all thinking of themselves, too busy to notice anything else. I just felt like, if I didn’t do something, nobody would, and I’d come back to the boardwalk next month to see faded MISSING PERSON posters with today’s date and a picture of someone’s mother, father, son, daughter…. And what would I do? Pretend I hadn’t seen you? Tell them that whoever it was had probably died that day and they should just stop looking?”
“I guess you’d feel pretty guilty about that,” Aria agreed.
“Or worse, there might not be any posters.” She sighed wistfully. “You know, there’s always a brief moment, every month, when I find myself staring out at the empty beach and wondering what it’d be like if I just walked onto the sand and disappeared. Would anyone even know I was gone?”
“I’m sure someone would miss you!” Aria sniffled. “I know I would.”
“You didn’t know me until today,” Nadia reminded her. “Nobody really does. I’m just one more face in that crowd, showing up once a month for a burger, burying my nose in a library book, and hiding from civilization the rest of the time. Even if anyone noticed I was gone, it would be ages before it occurred to them to look for me. For all I knew, you could be just as alone. You could have been someone who’d vanish and never be missed. I just… couldn’t let that happen.”
Aria clapped her hands on Nadia’s shoulders. “So… what you’re saying is that when I needed help, the one person in the whole world who cared enough just happened to be there and felt compelled to try to save me?”
“That’s where you were going with this?”
“Yep!” Aria declared proudly. “Fate doesn’t have to be some cruel entity out there making decisions for us. It’s everything that happens, the sum total of our lives and experiences, that leads to the outcomes. Sure, there are coincidences, and like you said, we all try to make the best of things. But somehow, everything comes together in the end, and there’s no way to say that anything isn’t the reason for anything else.”
Nadia grinned. “You’re surprisingly deep, you know that?”
“That shouldn’t be a surprise,” said Aria. “We’ve been sinking for hours now.”
“That’s not –” Nadia bit back her words and surrendered. “Never mind. I take it back.”
“Then again, I think maybe we’ve stopped sinking?” Aria slapped the ground at her sides with a wet splat. “I think this is how deep I was when we started talking about fate.”
“It’s about time,” said Nadia.
“What do you mean?” Aria asked suspiciously. “Did you know we’d stop sinking?”
Nadia sighed. “Of course. You realize this is just ocean water drawn up into the sand by the tidal convergence of the sun and moon being opposed, don’t you?”
“I think I heard something about that somewhere,” Aria agreed.
“Well, all the sand does is make the water hold our weight a bit better, so we sink into it slowly, and prevent us from swimming out easily. Otherwise, we can float here just like we could out in the ocean, as long as we keep still.”
Aria growled. “Why didn’t you say so earlier? I thought we were just going to keep sinking until we drowned!”
“I thought you knew,” said Nadia. “I learned about it in elementary school.”
“I think they said something about it at college orientation,” said Aria, “but I was distracted by the guy behind me trying to ask me out.”
“You didn’t think maybe it was more important to listen to potentially life-saving information?”
“It’s kind of like those safety briefings on airplanes,” Aria said dismissively. “Nobody pays attention to those. And this guy was REALLY annoying.”
Nadia groaned. “You have no sense of perspective, do you?”
“Well, I’m not the one who was going on about how we’re going to die in a few hours and being all dramatic,” Aria retorted. “We can just float here until the morning when the beach goes back to normal and someone finds us.”
Nadia shook her head before she remembered that Aria couldn’t see her in the darkness. “It’s… not that simple.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that when the tidal convergence ends, the water drains out of the sand from top to bottom. The top layer dries out while the sand underneath is still saturated with water.”
“And then it won’t be quicksand anymore, right?”
“Yes and no,” said Nadia. “Dry sand only holds weight because the grains of sand support each other all the way down. They fit together to form something that acts like a solid mass. The water turns it to quicksand because it gets in between the grains and gives them space to get out from under whatever’s on top of them. But a thin layer of dry sand on top of quicksand only makes it look safe. Even though the sand on top settles, if someone steps on it, it’ll sink right under them because there’s nothing below to hold it up. That’s why the most dangerous part of quicksand tide is the first and last few hours, when the water level is still low. The dry layer doesn’t provide the same flotation as water, so it’ll just swallow people instantly.”
“Wow!” Aria gasped. “No wonder they call it quick!”
“That’s not why –” Nadia began, but she quickly gave up. “Anyway, what’s holding us up right now is the water, not the sand. So when the tide goes out and the water level goes down… we go down with it.”
“Oh.” Aria was clearly crestfallen. “So we’re still going to die.”
“Sorry if you got your hopes up.” Nadia shivered as the chill of the night air suddenly asserted itself. “I guess we’ve both been let down tonight.”
“How long do we have?” Aria asked quietly.
Nadia let her hands rest on the surface of the sand and pressed down lightly, squeezing a thin film of water to the top. “We’re safe for now,” she explained. “The beach is still fully saturated. Once the water drops below the surface, it’ll drain completely away within a few hours.”
“And you said you learned how this all works in school, right?”
“It’s pretty essential knowledge for anyone who lives here,” said Nadia.
“So why hasn’t anyone ever done anything about it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean it’s an entire beach that turns to quicksand every month, and obviously people in high places know about it if they made it part of school curriculums. So can’t they do something to stop it from happening?”
Nadia sighed. “This WAS the fix.” Her finger started to trace a spiral on the surface. “Something like sixty years ago, the beach was eroding rapidly. Something about how the tides work at this part of the coast was tearing the sand away from the beach faster than the town could afford to replace it, and without a beach, a coastal town doesn’t have much of an economy, not to mention the potential for damage to the bedrock near the shore if all the sand gets washed away. So they hired some geologists to try to find a way to stop it.”
“From the geology department at the college?” asked Aria.
“These were the scientists who founded the college,” Nadia replied. “They couldn’t do much else after they ‘fixed’ the beach. They came up with some combination of underground pipes and plastic sheets that did end up trapping all the sand on the beach… but at the full moon, it traps the water too, and that’s what causes the quicksand tide. They never were able to explain exactly why it happens, and they had no idea how to fix it without completely destroying the beach. So they offered to pass on their knowledge to future generations in the hope that someone might be able to find a better solution.”
“Couldn’t they just pave over it all?” Aria suggested.
“It wouldn’t be much of a beach without sand,” Nadia replied. “Nobody would come here to see the world’s biggest oceanside parking lot. There’s a lot of competition for tourists along the shore, so every town needs something to make it stand out. The quicksand tide was perfect. They just renamed the town Quicksand Beach and made an attraction out of it. Once word had gotten around that the beach was safe the rest of the time, people just adapted to it.”
“How? How do people just adapt to living near a killer beach?”
Nadia shrugged. “It’s not like it’s out there hunting people down and eating them. Everyone just figures that if someone ignores all the warnings and drowns, it’s their own fault. The tourism brochures all point out that only a few people a year actually die in quicksand, and most of those are frat boys playing some stupid chicken game where they run across the beach just before it opens and see who can get out the farthest. I think the line is ‘you’re more likely to drown in the bathtub at home than at Quicksand Beach.’”
Aria hummed thoughtfully. “I wonder if the Nunus would be interested in that game.”
Somehow, Nadia wasn’t surprised to learn that Aria was a sorority member. “I hope the girls have more sense than that.”
“We’d use ropes or something. We’re not BOYS. I just think this would be kind of neat if we weren’t going to die at the end of it. Once you get settled in, it’s actually pretty nice.”
“You can still die using ropes,” Nadia informed her. “It takes a lot more than just human strength to pull someone out of quicksand if they’re in deep, and if the rope breaks or comes untied, it’s useless. If you play in quicksand, you’re gambling with your life.”
“Yeah, but I think I get it now,” said Aria wistfully. “That story made me realize something. People live in places where there are disasters like floods, earthquakes, and tornados, and lots of people die all at once and can’t do anything about it. Humans are always standing in the face of nature, trying to achieve mastery over things they can’t control. Maybe this beach is the same sort of thing. When there’s a place you can’t go, it makes you want to go there even more, doesn’t it?”
Nadia glared impotently into the darkness. “Please tell me that’s not why you tried to cross the beach.”
“No, not me! I mean the same thing that drives people to go into space, or to the bottom of the ocean, or into unexplored deserts and jungles!”
“There’s nothing to be discovered on this beach,” said Nadia. “And it’s easy to stay away when it’s dangerous. People going into space and jungles take appropriate precautions, and as for natural disasters, that’s just people living where there’s room. Nobody lives in those places because they WANT to be in a tornado or an earthquake.”
“It’s not just about discovering new things. Sometimes, it’s just about challenging death and surviving. It doesn’t really mean anything if you know you’re not going to die. It’s like bungee jumping or skydiving. You feel more alive after a near-death experience.”
“And much less alive after an actual death experience,” Nadia retorted. “Trust me, feeling alive isn’t about being helpless. It’s exactly the opposite. It’s about being strong, powerful. Being able to dominate your surroundings. Knowing that nothing will ever threaten you. You can’t get that from bungee jumping, and you sure can’t get it from running into quicksand.”
There was a long, uncomfortable silence. The ache in Nadia’s shoulders from the effort of holding her arms out of the muck, which she’d been ignoring courtesy of the distraction that the conversation had provided, reasserted itself with a vengeance. Her muscles started to tense involuntarily. “I’m sorry,” she said at last. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Oh, no!” Aria replied quickly. “You just surprised me. I didn’t know what to say.”
“How did I surprise you?”
“Well…” Aria paused sheepishly. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t strike me as the type of person who has the kind of strength you were talking about.”
“Oh, right.” Nadia sighed. “I really don’t. I spend so much time reading about people going on adventures and doing interesting things with their lives that mine seems so dull by comparison. All I can do most of the time is go with the flow and get dragged into things.” She grabbed a handful of sand, noting how dry it was. “It’s like I’ve been trapped in quicksand my whole life. Stuck in one place, unable to move, and anything I do to try to break free just gets me in deeper. All I can ever do is stop struggling and surrender, and even then, it just means I spend even longer waiting for the same end.”
“But you’re not in quicksand!” Aria protested. “I mean, okay, you are NOW, but like you said before, life is all about the choices you make. You’re never as trapped as you think you are!”
“It’s not like I’ve never had chances to escape,” Nadia agreed. “There are times when I could just fly away and leave everything behind and never have to look back. But I can’t do it. I’m always afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“Afraid that I’ll stop and settle somewhere and find myself right back in the same quicksand I tried to get away from in the first place.”
“They have quicksand in other places too?” Aria asked, confused.
“It’s the same metaphor. I mean that no matter where I go or what I do, I’ll always just be me.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being you,” said Aria. “I like you just the way you are!”
“That’s not really the point.”
“No, I think it’s exactly the point,” Aria continued. “I think the problem is that you’re trying too hard to change yourself, when you just need to find a new perspective. A new way to see yourself that isn’t so familiar.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?”
“It’s not really something you can do on your own,” Aria explained. “It’s what friends are for. They see the sides of you that you don’t know about.”
“That would be the problem, then,” said Nadia. “I never had any friends.”
“You’ve got me!” Aria replied cheerfully. “And I can introduce you to all the great girls at Sigma Nu Nu. They’ll love you! I don’t think your metaphorical quicksand will seem as scary when you’ve got people to help pull you out of it.”
Nadia sighed again. “Wonderful. Well, that’s my life all sorted out, then. Hooray friendship.”
“You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re almost up to our necks in real quicksand here.” Nadia raised her hands over her head to keep her arms free as the sand started to engulf her shoulders. “So I don’t think I’m ever going to have the chance to meet your friends, you know? There’s no point trying to solve all my problems.”
“There’s not much else to do, is there?” asked Aria. “All we can do is wait and see. After all, doesn’t the hero always show up just in the nick of time to rescue the damsel in distress?”
“This is real life. If it were a story, this is when the clouds would part and I’d get to see the moon.” She tilted her head back to stare into the starless sky one last time, her hair bristling as it brushed against the sand. “Obviously, that’s not going to happen. Life just isn’t that convenient.”
Aria fell silent again. Nadia took as deep a breath as she could, her chest barely moving as the pressure of the sand around her increased, and let out a final sigh. “Well, this is it. Goodbye, moon. And thanks for trying.” She closed her eyes to wait for the end.

Still finding this to be a fascinating story...will be looking forward to the final installment....good job!

Here's the final part of the first scene. I'll add my request for specific feedback at the bottom.

The seconds seemed to drag forever, and Nadia could barely feel herself moving. The silence of the night was disturbing, and once again, she found herself longing for a friendly voice to remind herself that she wasn’t alone. “Are you still alive over there?”
“Yeah. Sorry. Just thinking.”
“What about?”
Aria sniffed. “There’s something I need to do. But it’s hard.”
“What do you mean? What can you possibly have to do now?”
“Well, first, I need to tell you something.”
“I’m listening.”
“I’m really sorry I got you into this. But I’m glad you were here with me. I was so scared that I was going to die alone.”
“You said that before,” Nadia reminded her. “But I know what you mean. The past few hours would have been a lot worse without someone to talk to.”
“And that’s why,” Aria continued, sniffing again, “I’m so sorry I can’t stay with you until the end.”
“You can’t?” Nadia asked, thoroughly confused. “Where are you going?”
Aria’s hands fumbled clumsily, grabbing at Nadia’s arms before settling at the sides of her head. They pulled her forward, and Aria’s lips met hers in a desperate kiss. There was no movement, just the firm pressure of Aria’s mouth, and a tiny bead of water running across the top of her lip.
“Are you… crying?”
“Please don’t think of it as me leaving you alone,” Aria sobbed. “Just think of it as me leaving you with someone better to share your last moments with.”
There was a finality in her words that sent a chill running through Nadia’s body. “What are you talking about? What are you going to do? Please, just tell me!”
“Goodbye, Nadia.” She took a single deep breath, and then all was still.
“a r i a !” Nadia’s shout was swallowed as the world seemed to explode around her. A harsh wind whipped at her face, making her feel like she was trying to yell into a hurricane. Sand pelted her from all sides, and she had to pull her arms down to cover her eyes and nose. She could barely draw a breath from the air as it spun furiously past her.
Then, as suddenly as it had started, the wind died with a soft gurgling sound. Nadia cautiously blinked, then opened her eyes. “Did you feel that? What just happened?” There was no reply. “Aria? What was that?”
Nadia blinked again, and this time, she thought she could make out a dark shape silhouetted against the slightly brighter background of the cloudy sky on the horizon. As she watched, the sand around her started to glow in a faint light. She looked up, barely daring to hope. The clouds were drifting apart overhead, creating a gap through which the bright, round face of the full moon shone down on her, illuminating the beach below.
“The moon! We might make it!” Nadia shouted joyfully, pulling her eyes back to the ground. But all that was left of Aria was a pair of arms, buried to the elbows in the sand. “Oh, no, no, no!” she groaned, lunging forward. “Why now of all times?”
She managed to grasp Aria’s wrists in her shrinking fingers and pulled with all her might, but the quicksand held Aria firmly in place. “Just hold on!” she cried, her voice scratching in her throat. “Don’t give up!” She felt her body beginning to expand rapidly below the surface, displacing the quicksand in concentric waves that sent the surface heaving. The first crest threw Aria up from the depths, and Nadia quickly hauled her forward, pressing her hands to the back of her neck and hoping she would get the idea. Their work done, Nadia’s arms vanished beneath the sand, growing shorter and thicker as they migrated to her underside.
Aria’s hands clutched at the skin of Nadia’s neck, finding purchase in the scaly surface just behind Nadia’s head as it started to rise toward the sky, pulling Aria up and out of the sand with it. Aria gasped and coughed, spitting mud, but managed to swing her legs up and clamp them around the ever-growing length of Nadia’s neck, clutching it like a monkey clinging to a tree. Relieved, Nadia let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, steam rising from the nostrils at the end of her snout. She waited until the coughing abated. “ARE YOU OKAY?” she asked, her voice now a deep rumble emanating from deep within her cavernous body.
Aria’s fingers tightened their grip, and she finally seemed to realize where she was. She looked up at Nadia’s reptilian face. “Nadia, is that you?” she asked meekly.
“YES, IT’S ME,” Nadia replied, hanging her head in shame as she waited for the inevitable screams of fear.
“Oh, that’s a relief,” said Aria. “I was afraid for a second that you’d been eaten by a dragon! But it sounds like you ARE the dragon.”
“HOW IS THAT A RELIEF?” Nadia demanded. “AREN’T YOU SCARED?”
“Do you want me to be?”
“IT’S NOT A MATTER OF WHAT I WANT! MOST PEOPLE IN YOUR POSITION WOULD BE SCREAMING AND RUNNING AWAY!”
“Well, there’s nowhere to run,” Aria pointed out. “We’re surrounded by quicksand, remember? And you’ve already saved my life twice, so I know you’re not trying to hurt me.”
“BUT…” Why had Aria picked this of all things to be so logical about? “HOW CAN YOU BE SO CASUAL ABOUT THIS? YOU DON’T EVEN SEEM SURPRISED!”
“Oh, I’m surprised!” Aria assured her. “I knew there was something special about you, but I didn’t think you’d turn out to be a dragon!”
“WERE-DRAGON,” Nadia corrected her.
“No, YOU’RE dragon,” Aria shot back. “I’m a wind sprite.”
“A WIND SPRITE?” Nadia repeated. “LIKE A FAIRY THAT CONTROLS WIND?”
“That’s me!”
“WOW. REALLY?”
“You sound like you don’t believe me,” Aria said sadly.
“WELL, I DIDN’T THINK FAIRIES ACTUALLY EXISTED.”
“You turn into a DRAGON!”
“OKAY, SO THAT PROVES THAT DRAGONS EXIST. IT’S NOT EVIDENCE OF ANY OTHER MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURES! WHAT’S NEXT? AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE IN VAMPIRES? ZOMBIES? THE CHUPACABRA?”
“What does Mexican food have to do with anything?”
Nadia tried to groan, but it came out as a low roar. Aria nearly lost her grip in surprise. “NEVER MIND. JUST TELL ME ONE THING. THAT STORM THAT BLEW THE CLOUDS AWAY… WAS THAT YOU?”
“Yep! Impressive, huh?”
“VERY IMPRESSIVE,” Nadia agreed. “BUT IF YOU COULD DO THAT AT ANY TIME, WHY DID YOU WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE? WE COULD HAVE BEEN OUT OF THIS HOURS AGO!”
“Well, if you’d told me you could turn into a dragon, I would have! I didn’t know why you wanted to see the moon so badly!”
“I FIGURED IF I TOLD YOU, EITHER YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE ME OR YOU’D FREAK OUT. EITHER WAY, IT WAS PROBABLY BETTER JUST NOT TO SAY ANYTHING, AND IF I HAPPENED TO SEE THE MOON, I’D FIGURE OUT HOW TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING ONCE WE WERE SAFE. IF NOT, THEN IT WOULDN’T MATTER.”
Aria laughed.
“WHAT’S SO FUNNY?”
“We almost died because we were so determined to keep secrets from each other!”
“I CAN JUST IMAGINE HOW THAT CONVERSATION WOULD HAVE GONE. ‘HEY, JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT I TURN INTO A DRAGON IF I CAN SEE THE FULL MOON, NO SERIOUSLY, BY THE WAY, DO YOU HAVE ANY MAGICAL POWERS THAT WOULD MAKE THAT HAPPEN?’”
Aria laughed again, loosening her grip enough that she started to slide down Nadia’s neck.
“CAREFUL!” Nadia warned her. “IF YOU FALL IN AGAIN, I DON’T THINK I’LL BE ABLE TO PULL YOU BACK OUT.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not THAT clumsy.” Aria slowly slid down the length of Nadia’s neck until her feet came to rest on Nadia’s back, just below the surface. “I just couldn’t hold on any longer. I’m all wet and your scales are kinda slippery.”
“OH, RIGHT. COULDN’T EXPECT YOU TO HANG ON MY NECK ALL NIGHT.”
“So, what do we do now?” Aria asked, swinging herself around to stand behind Nadia’s neck. “You can fly us out of here, right?”
“OH, YEAH.” Nadia sheepishly unfolded her wings… or tried to, but they didn’t move. She strained harder, but her wings felt like they were glued to her back.
“Is something wrong?” Aria asked.
“I CAN’T OPEN MY WINGS,” Nadia confessed.
“Why not? Am I standing on them?”
“OH, NO. THEY’RE FARTHER DOWN MY BACK. BUT THAT’S THE PROBLEM. THEY’RE BURIED UNDER A TON OF SAND, AND MY MUSCLES JUST WEREN’T BUILT FOR OPENING UNDER PRESSURE.”
“Well, that’s okay!” said Aria. “We can just wait until the water drains, and then… I can probably dig you out or something!”
“THAT WON’T WORK,” Nadia warned her. “WHEN THE SUN COMES UP, I’LL TURN BACK INTO A HUMAN, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A GIANT DRAGON-SIZED HOLE IN THE BEACH. IF IT’S DRY ENOUGH THAT WE DON’T DROWN IMMEDIATELY, THE SAND WILL COLLAPSE AND BURY US.”
“Oh.” Aria sat down heavily. “Okay, we’ll think of something else. Have you got a plan?”
“THIS WAS THE PLAN,” Nadia sighed. “TURN INTO MY DRAGON FORM, FLY AWAY. THAT’S ALL I HAD. I NEVER IMAGINED WE STILL WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO ESCAPE.” She let her head droop in shame. “I’M SORRY. EVEN AS A DRAGON, I COULDN’T SAVE YOU.”
“That’s not true!” Aria insisted, throwing her arms around Nadia’s neck in a hug. “You already saved me! Don’t you remember?”
“YOU MEAN JUST NOW, WHEN YOU WENT UNDER AND I PULLED YOU OUT, RIGHT?”
“That was the second time,” said Aria.
“THEN WHEN WAS THE FIRST?”
“When I first started sinking, I was panicking,” Aria explained. “If you hadn’t shown up and helped me stay calm, I probably would have kept struggling the whole way down and digging myself in deeper, like you said. I’d have been dead a long time ago. It’s only because you were here that I’m alive now. And you weren’t even in your dragon form then.” She squeezed a bit tighter, although Nadia could barely feel it through her scales. “But you had the heart of a dragon.”
“A LOT OF GOOD THAT DOES US NOW.”
“Stop doing that!” shouted Aria, squeezing harder again, this time in anger.
“DOING WHAT?”
“Being so down on yourself all of a sudden! I’m trying to tell you that turning into a dragon isn’t all that you are. It’s not what makes you… YOU. You’re smart, and caring, and brave, and you’re all those things whatever shape you’re in.” She stood up, patting the back of Nadia’s neck gently. “We have lots more time than we did before, and I know you can think of something. I believe in you. So I want you to believe in yourself.”
Nadia felt so hot with shame that she nearly spat fire. “YEAH, YOU’RE RIGHT.” She raised her head proudly. “I’VE GOT THE BODY OF A DRAGON AND THE MIND OF A GENIUS. THERE’S GOT TO BE SOMETHING I CAN DO!” She turned her thoughts inward to take stock of her situation. True, she had the body of a dragon, but most of it was buried – she couldn’t move her wings or legs at all. Only her head and neck were mobile. It wasn’t much to work with, but at least she wouldn’t have many ideas to sort through. The problem was coming up with even one.
“The beach is really beautiful at night, isn’t it?” Aria asked suddenly.
“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?” Nadia retorted, slightly annoyed at the interruption even though she hadn’t really gotten far enough in her thoughts to be disturbed. “IT’S THE SAME BEACH IT WAS IN THE DAYTIME, ONLY DARKER, SO YOU CAN’T SEE IT AS WELL.”
“But I’ve never been to the beach at night,” Aria explained. “Look at the way the moonlight reflects off the sand.”
Nadia stared at the ground. “I CAN’T REALLY SEE ANYTHING. MY NIGHT VISION ISN’T THAT GREAT FOR THINGS THAT AREN’T MOVING.”
A strong breeze suddenly picked up, scattering grains of sand from the nearby dunes into the air. Nadia suddenly found herself surrounded by faintly iridescent particles that shone blue and silver as their tiny facets caught the dim light at every angle.
“WOW… IT’S LIKE SNOW!”
“I want to come back here another night,” Aria said wistfully. “Obviously a night when the ground is solid.”
“THAT WOULD BE NICE,” Nadia agreed with a sigh. “STILL, WE’D HAVE TO SURVIVE THIS NIGHT FIRST.” She shuddered slightly as the floating sand started to settle on her neck, getting into the tiny cracks between her scales. Not wanting to deal with the irritation, she lowered her head to the ground, taking shelter behind the nearby dune as the wind continued to strew sand into the air above her. It seemed like such a tiny pile when she was this big that it seemed laughable that, during the day, she would have had trouble climbing to the –
The idea was so obvious that she couldn’t believe it had taken her so long to realize it. “HEY, ARIA,” she called out, stretching her neck to bring her head closer to the slope. “DO YOU THINK YOU CAN CLIMB UP MY NECK WITHOUT FALLING OFF?”
“If you lie flat like that, sure,” Aria replied. “Why? Do you have a plan?”
“I THINK YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO JUMP FROM THE TOP OF MY HEAD TO THE TOP OF THE DUNE,” Nadia explained. “THE DUNES MARK THE EDGE OF WHERE THE QUICKSAND FORMS, SO THE GROUND SHOULD BE SOLID THAT FAR UP. IF YOU CAN MAKE IT THERE, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET UP TO THE BOARDWALK.”
“That’s perfect!” said Aria, spinning around to straddle the base of Nadia’s neck. “And then I can get to a phone and call the lifeguards!”
“WHY?” asked Nadia, genuinely confused. “YOU’D ALREADY BE SAFE.”
“So they can come rescue YOU, silly!”
“NO!” Nadia shouted, raising her head sharply and knocking Aria onto her back. “YOU CAN’T!”
“But then how are you going to get out?” Aria asked, genuinely hurt.
“DON’T YOU GET IT?” Nadia snapped. “I’M IN TOO DEEP! NOT EVEN THE LIFEGUARDS HAVE THE EQUIPMENT TO DIG ME OUT OF HERE BEFORE DAWN. AND IF THEY DID, THEN WHAT? EVERYONE WOULD KNOW. THERE WOULD BE NEWSPAPER ARTICLES, TV REPORTS! THEY’D PUT ME IN A CAGE AND RUN EXPERIMENTS ON ME. I’D NEVER BE FREE AGAIN.” She hung her head. “SORRY, BUT I’D RATHER BE DEAD THAN LIVE THAT KIND OF LIFE.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess most people would make a big deal out of seeing a dragon.”
“I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DIDN’T FREAK OUT.”
“Did you want me to? I still could,” offered Aria.
“JUST GET TO SAFETY ALREADY,” said Nadia, lowering her head to the side of the dune again.
“No.”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NO?”
“I’m not leaving you to die alone!” shouted Aria, stomping a foot.
“YOU CAN’T SAVE ME! THERE’S NO POINT IN YOU DYING TOO. AT LEAST, IF YOU SURVIVE, I DIDN’T THROW MY LIFE AWAY FOR NOTHING.”
“That’s not good enough!”
“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?”
“There has to be a way to save you, too,” Aria insisted.
“THERE ISN’T.”
“You just haven’t figured it out yet! You can’t just come up with one idea and then give up because it didn’t work. You have to keep trying!”
“I CAN’T DO WHAT I CAN’T DO!”
“Well, you can’t just give up!”
“I’M NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO BREAK THE LAWS OF PHYSICS,” Nadia countered. “IT’S IMPOSSIBLE.”
“We’re both impossible already, by most standards,” Aria pointed out. “I know we can do this if we work together, so I’m not leaving without you, and that’s final.”
“SO ARE YOU JUST GOING TO SIT THERE UNTIL WE BOTH DIE?”
“If that’s what it comes to… yes.” Aria sat down heavily with a deep sigh that sent a chill down Nadia’s spine.
“THERE’S REALLY NO POINT TO THIS,” Nadia continued, but Aria didn’t respond. She was leaning forward, exhaling in short bursts. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
“I think I have an idea,” said Aria quietly. “Look what happens when I blow the quicksand away.”
Nadia craned her neck to see Aria staring intently into a small trench in the surface of the beach, clearly created by her own breath. “YEAH, I SEE IT. WHAT ABOUT IT?”
“Well, you see how it kind of slowly oozes in to fill the gap? I bet I could blow it all away before it flows back in. Then you could get your wings out!”
Nadia’s heart leapt up into her throat. “CAN YOU REALLY DO THAT?”
“I don’t think we have a choice,” Aria replied. “It’s our only hope.”
“NORMALLY, I’D SAY YOU’RE CRAZY, BUT I JUST WATCHED YOU BLOW THE CLOUDS OUT OF THE SKY. IF ANYONE CAN DO THIS, YOU CAN.”
Aria inhaled deeply for such a long time that even Nadia started to feel light-headed. “Here I go!” She braced herself against Nadia’s neck and began to exhale a storm – literally. Nadia didn’t dare turn around to see what was happening for herself, for fear of getting more of the abrasive sand in her eyes, but the weight pressing on her back quickly gave way to the rush of cold air. The stream moved from side to side slowly, sweeping out a widening cone of swift-moving, low-pressure air. Nadia’s wings suddenly unfolded of their own accord, the pressure difference peeling them from her back to whip majestically across the surface of the beach around them.
Startled, Aria lost her grip and nearly tumbled off Nadia’s back. “Whoa… your wings are huge!”
“WHY DO YOU THINK I COULDN’T MOVE THEM WITH ALL THAT SAND ON TOP OF THEM?” Nadia raised her wings straight up and shook the sand from them as best she could. “THEY HAVE TO BE THIS BIG TO LIFT ME.”
Aria reached up and ran her hand across the skin of Nadia’s right wing. “It’s so beautiful – like a bat’s wing.”
“A BAT’S WING IS BEAUTIFUL?”
“Yours is.”
“I GUESS I NEVER REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT HOW THEY LOOK. I JUST USE THEM TO FLY.”
“On that subject…” Aria gave Nadia’s wing a final pat, then sat down and straddled her neck. “When do we take off?”
“WELL…” Nadia flapped her wings uselessly. “I HATE TO SAY THIS, BUT I DON’T THINK I CAN.”
“What? Why not? We got your wings free and everything!”
“MY WINGS ARE FREE, YES, BUT THE REST OF MY BODY IS STILL BURIED UNDER A TON OF SAND. I CAN’T LIFT MYSELF OUT.”
Aria groaned. “So even after all that work, you’re still stuck?”
“IT’S NOT THAT I DON’T APPRECIATE ALL YOUR EFFORT!” Nadia said quickly. “IT’S JUST NOT ENOUGH.” But as she spoke, inspiration struck. “ALTHOUGH… HOW MUCH SAND DO YOU THINK YOU COULD MOVE?”
Aria leapt back to her feet. “I’m a little winded, but for you, I’ll blow away this entire beach!”
“I HATE TO SAY IT, BUT THAT’S NOT FAR FROM WHAT WE NEED. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN SHIFT ENOUGH OF THIS QUICKSAND TO DIG ME OUT?”
Aria heaved a deep sigh. “All at once? I said I could do it, but that’s a lot of sand, and it’s going to be filling the hole in constantly.”
“I KNOW. I KNOW YOU’RE TIRED. BUT I BELIEVE IN YOU. FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE WE GOT STUCK HERE, I FEEL LIKE WE MIGHT ACTUALLY MANAGE TO SURVIVE.”
“Yeah, you’re right!” Aria announced. “I can do this. I have to do this!” She took a few deep, labored breaths.
“TAKE YOUR TIME,” warned Nadia. “YOU DON’T WANT TO GET HALFWAY THROUGH AND RUN OUT OF ENERGY.”
“I’m not waiting! Not now that we can finally escape together!” She started to draw her biggest breath yet. Nadia found herself holding her own breath in anticipation more than once, and had to force herself to keep breathing steadily as Aria continued to inhale.
Just as Nadia found herself wondering just where in that tiny body Aria could possibly store so much air, with perfect comic timing, the inhalation stopped. There was the tiniest pause, and the storm began again. Aria spun slowly in place, sending her hurricane-force wind down into the beach around her, leaning to both sides to pass her air under Nadia’s wings. Sand and water flew in all directions as Aria gradually carved out a large trench around Nadia’s body. Water flowed rapidly back into the hole as soon as Aria turned away, and the mud slowly followed, but Aria kept turning back to keep the areas she’d already covered clear before continuing her circuit. She moved quickly across Nadia’s back, concentrating most of her effort on the deeper sand in front.
As the hole grew wider and deeper, the pressure on Nadia’s body decreased, and she found herself able to move slightly against it. She slowly swayed back and forth, testing the limits of her movement, but carefully avoiding any sudden movements that might cause Aria to lose her balance. One leg at a time, she started to wiggle free, loosening the quicksand that still held her lower extremities in place. As Aria’s breath passed over her back again, she wrenched her tail upward, sending a spray of sand into the swirling wind as it broke free and rose toward the sky.
Aria’s breath was starting to flag, but she leaned heavily on Nadia’s neck and continued to blow. Nadia stretched her wings, catching the updraft, and pushed against the bedrock with all four legs at once, launching herself with as much force as she could muster. It was a tough fight against the feet of water that still surrounded her, but after all of their combined effort, it was like leaping out of a clear lake. Her wings flared, and a few mighty flaps carried her up out of the pit at last.
Aria gasped. “We did it!” she cheered weakly.
“WE DID IT,” Nadia echoed. “YOU WERE BRILLIANT!”
“Thanks,” Aria replied, swooning. “I’m so glad.” She finally fainted on her feet, then pitched over and plummeted from Nadia’s back. Quick as lightning, Nadia’s tail darted forward, catching Aria’s falling form and, in the same smooth motion, clutching her to Nadia’s undercarriage, holding her firmly in place.
“GO AHEAD AND REST,” said Nadia. “YOU’VE EARNED IT.” With that, she banked out over the ocean and began the long flight along the coast toward the mountains in the distance.
*************************************************

And that's all I've got for now. I know what I want to happen in the next scene - Aria wakes up near Nadia's mountain cave, and they discuss the future. The question is, which character's perspective should I write the scene from? I think it will flow better from Aria's perspective, since she's the one waking up in an unfamiliar setting, and Nadia will be explaining things to her, which seems almost redundant if I'm writing from Nadia's POV. The reason it's such a big deal is that I'm planning to write more stories with these characters, as well as the other sisters at Sigma Nu Nu, with more strange things happening in the town. If I stick with Nadia's POV consistently, I think the collection of stories as a whole will be stronger and more relatable. On the other hand, if I switch to Aria here, then it establishes a floating POV for the series, which gives more flexibility in storytelling but detaches Nadia a bit from being the main character and the audience avatar. I'm open to any opinions on the subject, or anything else about the story. Whether or not you have anything to add, thanks for reading.

I enjoyed this post.

As for what to write next, just trust yourself. Don't try to appeal to anyone except yourself, and you'll end up getting a crowd that loves you for you.

I appreciated it, dialogue scenes are hard to write and they seem very natural... If I can tell. The first ending was unexpected, I am sure nobody so it coming actually.

For the sequel, yes, a change of perspective can be a welcome idea for it makes it impossible to focus on one of the characters. We rather see the situation from an external point of view. Keep going !

Thanks for the feedback on the first scene. Ultimately, I decided that the story I want to tell is Nadia's story, so I'm sticking with her perspective. The second scene was difficult to write, but I think it came out okay in the end. I'm going to let it sit for a while and then come back to it, with some reader comments I've received in mind, but for now, this is the final scene of the first chapter. It doesn't have quicksand in it, but it wraps up the events so far and sets up the next chapter, and gives some information about the story as a whole. I'll probably post the second chapter here as well, but I expect it to take a long time to develop and write.

“Hey, Nadia! Wake up!”
Nadia groaned as Aria’s shouts roused her from an uneasy sleep. Aria was shaking her vigorously with one hand.
“Are you awake?” Aria continued. “You won’t believe the weird dream I just had! You could turn into a dragon, and we almost died in quicksand!”
“THAT WASN’T A DREAM,” Nadia mumbled. “I’M A DRAGON RIGHT NOW.”
Aria took a step back and seemed to take in Nadia’s immense form for the first time. “Oh, wow! You’re right!”
“HOW DID YOU NOT NOTICE THAT BEFORE?”
“I only just woke up,” Aria defended herself.
As Nadia’s eyes adjusted to the pre-dawn light, she slowly swung her head around to bring Aria into view. She cut a pathetic figure, rubbing her eyes with the hand that wasn’t holding up the blanket that was her only protection against the chill. “OH, SORRY ABOUT YOUR CLOTHES,” she said quickly. “THEY WERE CAKED IN MUD, SO I WASHED THEM IN THE RIVER AND LEFT THEM TO DRY ON THAT ROCK BY THE FIRE. I HAVE SOME SPARE CLOTHES IN THE CAVE IF THEY’RE NOT DRY YET. I WOULD HAVE DRESSED YOU, BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO SCRATCH YOU WITH MY CLAWS.”
Aria yawned. “That’s okay. I always sleep in my underwear anyway.”
“I DIDN’T NEED TO KNOW THAT,” Nadia growled. “AREN’T YOU COLD?”
“Nope!” Aria said proudly. “I had a great dream, so I’m really happy!”
“IT WASN’T A DREAM,” Nadia reminded her.
“I know! That makes me even happier!”
Nadia just sighed, accepting that she’d never understand how Aria’s mind worked. “JUST GO GET SOME CLOTHES ON.”
“You… want me to put clothes on?” Aria asked, apparently confused.
“YES? IS THERE A PROBLEM?”
Aria giggled. “It’s just kind of weird. Most people seem to want to see me with my clothes off. You’re the first person who’s ever wanted the opposite.”
“PEOPLE ARE GROSS.”
“Well, maybe,” said Aria, shuffling her feet. “But I think it’s okay if it’s someone I like.”
There was something telling in Aria’s body language. “ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ME?”
“Don’t you want to look at me?” asked Aria, letting the blanket slide down her shoulders just a bit.
Nadia froze, baffled as to how she should respond. A strange feeling was rising within her, similar to what she’d experienced when she’d been chest-deep in the quicksand with Aria. An inexplicable sexuality had crept into a situation where it clearly didn’t belong, and it was making her deeply uncomfortable. At the same time, she didn’t want to offend Aria by refusing the offer. Her natural instinct was to stare fervently at the ground, but her dragon eyes couldn’t see downward past her snout, leaving her staring directly at Aria. She slowly turned her head, trying not to make it too obvious that she was casting about for anything else to look at.
Aria seemed to sense her discomfort and hiked the blanket up again, pulling it closed around herself. “I’m sorry. I probably went too far again. I’ve just never felt this way before, and I don’t know what I should do about it.”
So much for not offending her. “I’M SORRY TOO. I JUST DON’T THINK I’M READY FOR THAT. I BARELY KNOW YOU.”
“Yeah, that’s true. We’ve got time to get to know each other, not like when we thought we were about to die.” Aria heaved a sigh of relief. “So, you mentioned a cave?”
“CIRCLE AROUND BEHIND ME. YOU CAN’T MISS IT.” She started to swing her tail around to point, but barely stopped when she realized that she’d knock Aria over in the attempt.
Aria gave her one last, curious look, then spun and made her way toward the cave. The moment she disappeared from view behind Nadia’s body, Nadia felt a new sensation take over – an odd feeling of guilt, or something like it. She felt like she’d missed an opportunity, and that her failure had somehow disappointed Aria. Perhaps she’d violated a social convention. Would most people in her position have wanted to see Aria in her underwear? Well, that was a pointless question. Aria had said so herself. And Nadia could understand, vaguely. There were women in underwear, or bikinis, or less, all over the place. Commercials, posters, magazines… once she’d accepted that she’d never be one of those women, Nadia had grown used to tuning them out. But they were still everywhere, held up as the epitome of what people wanted to see everywhere they looked. Nadia didn’t see the appeal herself, but clearly, enough people did to make it the most prolific advertising method and the driving force behind almost every movie or sitcom. Every man wanted a woman, every woman wanted a man to want her… That was another thing she’d never understood. She’d overheard plenty of conversations between girls her age, discussing which celebrities they thought were “hot” or which ones they wished they could kiss. None of those conversations involved her, and nobody cared about her opinion, so she’d never been pressed to form one. But did all of those other girls choose men to be attracted to because they needed someone to talk about, or was there some more natural reason for it that didn’t apply to Nadia?
For most of her life, Nadia had simply been too young to worry about men, or romance, or any of the related concepts that she hadn’t known at all. It all existed in the realm of “when you’re older” to which adults tended to deport concepts like driving, alcohol, voting, and all the other things they seemed to fear would ruin their children’s lives if they discovered their existence. But there had been nobody in Nadia’s life to tell her when she was old enough, and all of those things felt as taboo as they had ever been. She just hadn’t realized that there was anything unusual about that as she waited to become “older” until Aria’s intervention. Suddenly, it dawned on Nadia that she was twenty years old, well into what even the most prudish adults she knew would have to consider adulthood, and that the day of awakening that she’d been waiting for still hadn’t come. Or maybe it had just passed without leaving any impression on her at all.
Aria stepped back into view, cutting Nadia’s train of thought short. She had dressed herself in a plain white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, but they were a poor fit – the shirt seemed to be stretched to its limit around the chest, and the waistband of the jeans was so loose that she had to hold them up. “This was the best I could find,” said Aria, apologetic. “The shoes were all too big for me.”
Nadia found the whole thing just a bit insulting, but there was much more than that going on. It was as if she were seeing Aria for the first time. It was, certainly, the first time she’d looked even vaguely natural in the time they’d been together. The ends of her hair were still streaked with dried mud, and her makeup was smeared, but somehow, she still seemed to have an unidentifiable radiance about her that commanded attention. Maybe it had been there all along, but Nadia had missed it while trying not to focus on Aria’s advances. She still felt like Aria wanted something she couldn’t provide, which was scary, but she also felt a strong desire to be closer to her in a way she couldn’t have described if she’d tried.
Aria stared back. “Is something wrong?”
Nadia felt strangely embarrassed at the question, or perhaps at having been caught staring. “NO, NOTHING’S WRONG. I’M JUST GLAD I HAD SOMETHING YOU COULD WEAR.”
“They’re pretty plain clothes, aren’t they?” Aria asked. “I couldn’t see well in the cave, so I just grabbed whatever was on top of the pile. But I figured you’d have some shirts with interesting pictures on them, or something.”
“I DO,” Nadia replied, again just a bit insulted. “I JUST DON’T KEEP THEM IN THE CAVE.”
“Oh, right,” Aria agreed. “These are just for emergencies, when your clothes get destroyed, right? It makes sense you wouldn’t want to wear any of your good clothes when there’s a full moon.”
“I’VE HAD ENOUGH CLOSE CALLS THAT I CAN’T AFFORD NOT TO BE PREPARED FOR EVERYTHING THAT CAN GO WRONG. I NEARLY DESTROYED ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHIRTS ONCE.”
“So is this where you always come to transform?” Aria asked, looking around for the first time. The cave opened into a wide clearing surrounded by trees tall enough to hide it from view, except from directly overhead.
“I WAS LUCKY TO FIND THIS PLACE EARLY ON,” said Nadia. “IT WAS PERFECT.”
“I think I know where we are,” Aria continued, fearfully. “We should probably leave before you change back.”
“WHY?”
“I’ve heard rumors about a spot in the forest, up in the mountains,” Aria explained. “People say there’s some kind of giant bear up here. I think we’re safe as long as you’re a dragon, but if you turn back into a human and it attacks us…”
“A GIANT BEAR? THERE’S NO GIANT BEAR HERE. IN FACT, I DON’T THINK THERE ARE ANY NORMAL-SIZED BEARS, EITHER.”
“But people have heard it growling from inside the cave, and they’ve seen giant footprints! I bet it’s a really, really huge bear, and it scared all the other bears away!”
Nadia sighed and shifted her weight, pulling her front leg out from under her body. She slammed it on the ground with a powerful thump, then lifted it carefully and tucked it back into place. The print in the soft dirt looked a bit like a bear’s paw, to anyone who didn’t look too closely. “THE RUMORS ARE CONVENIENT. THEY KEEP PEOPLE FROM GETTING TOO CLOSE. I HAVEN’T HAD TO HIDE IN THE CAVE FOR YEARS.”
Aria’s eyes widened as she realized what Nadia was implying. “Oh. Oh!” She smiled. “Well, that’s one we can cross off the list. Although I don’t know how I’ll explain it to the girls.”
“EXPLAIN WHAT? WHAT LIST?”
“Some of the girls at Sigma Nu Nu keep a list of the weird stuff that happens around town,” Aria explained. “The giant bear up in the forest was one of them, but we never bothered checking it out because it didn’t seem to be attacking anyone.”
“ARE THERE A LOT OF WEIRD THINGS HAPPENING AROUND HERE?” Nadia asked. “I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY.”
“All sorts of things,” Aria replied. “But most people don’t seem to notice them. That’s the strangest part of it all.” She chuckled, slowly taking a seat to free up both hands. “But then, everything about human society seems strange to me, so I’m probably not the best judge of what’s weird and what’s not.”
“MAYBE I’M NOT A GOOD JUDGE EITHER, IF I NEVER KNEW ABOUT IT.”
Aria sighed. “It’s nothing to do with you, I promise. I’ve existed for millennia, a being of pure natural law. I’ve only been human for a handful of years. Human lives are so ephemeral, it’s a bit sad.” She turned to Nadia with a broad smile that made Nadia’s heart melt. “And my life would have been cut even shorter if not for you. And I haven’t even thanked you properly.” She rolled onto her hands and knees and put her head on the ground, facing Nadia. “Thank you so much, Nadia. I owe you my life.”
“PLEASE, GET UP,” Nadia urged her, feelings scrambling to be identified within her. She couldn’t tell whether she liked being bowed to or not, but it definitely seemed wrong.
Aria sat up again, still on her knees, tears rolling down her cheeks despite the smile below. “I just wish you could see what I see when I look at you.”
Nadia understood that all too well. She didn’t know what she saw before her – whether woman, or fairy, or something else entirely, she wanted to be closer, and yet felt compelled to distance herself. Getting that close to anyone was wrong. But why? Why did she feel that way?
“Something really is wrong,” said Aria, crawling closer so she could see Nadia’s face in the dim light. “Please, tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I DON’T KNOW MYSELF,” Nadia replied. “THERE ARE THINGS I WANT TO DO, BUT I FEEL LIKE I CAN’T. THERE ARE THINGS I DON’T WANT TO DO THAT I FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO. AND I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH ANY OF IT INVOLVES YOU. IS THAT WEIRD?”
Aria laughed. “You’re a dragon, asking a fairy for advice. If anything about that ISN’T weird, then something’s wrong with reality!”
Nadia had to join in, with a laugh that sounded like thunder ripping through the trees.
Aria cringed. “Um, maybe you shouldn’t do that again.”
“SORRY. I DON’T THINK HAPPINESS IS A NATURAL STATE FOR DRAGONS, SO IT COMES OUT A LITTLE WRONG.” She paused to reflect. “MAYBE THAT’S MY PROBLEM. MAYBE DRAGONS JUST DON’T EXPERIENCE THE SAME KIND OF ATTRACTION HUMANS DO.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” said Aria. “You didn’t want to touch me while we were in the quicksand, either. I think that’s just not who you are.” She reached forward to pat Nadia’s snout. “And that’s fine. Believe me, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to take your time. I feel a bit bad for being so forward earlier. I’m just not used to people not wanting to…” She trailed off, clearly remembering something unpleasant from her past. “Anyway, I think it’s great that you’re not into me that way. It’s refreshing. I feel safer than I ever have before, and I bet you’d probably burn me to a crisp if you coughed right now.”
“NOT… EXACTLY.” Nadia blushed and kept the rest of the thought to herself.
“I know how hard it is to find someone you can open up to,” Aria continued. “You’ve been hurt before, and it’s difficult to trust someone when you don’t know how they’ll react to finding out the secrets you’ve been keeping from them. When you feel like you can’t let them see the real you. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying.” She stood up, brushed the dirt off her jeans, and leaned against Nadia’s side. “Come with me to Sigma Nu Nu. I want to introduce you to the girls there.”
“THE ONES WHO KEEP A LIST OF ALL THE WEIRD THINGS THEY HEAR ABOUT?” Nadia asked dubiously.
Aria smiled. “They’re the most caring, most accepting group of people you’ll ever meet. I’m not saying you’ll trust them all right away, but I have a feeling you’ll feel like you belong there. And I know they’ll be thrilled to meet you.”
“I DON’T KNOW… I’M NOT VERY GOOD AT MEETING PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY IN SOCIAL SITUATIONS.”
“You’ll be fine!” Aria assured her. “I’ll take care of all the introductions if you want. Trust me, I can be friendly enough for both of us!”
“I JUST DON’T LIKE BEING AT THE CENTER OF ATTENTION,” Nadia explained, resting her head on the ground.
Aria sat down, sliding sideways until she was right next to Nadia’s head. “If you really don’t want to, I understand. But I think it would be nice to show you where I live, even if it’s just for one afternoon.”
Nadia considered the empty apartment she’d be returning to once the sun came up. The same food, the same books, the same clothes, day after day, with no incentive to change any of it. She’d been slacking off on keeping it clean, since she knew she’d never be inviting anyone over. Perhaps a change of pace would be nice, even if she only got to do it once. “YOU KNOW WHAT? THAT DOES SOUND NICE.”
“Yay!” Aria wrapped her arms awkwardly around Nadia’s head.
Nadia sighed. “I JUST HOPE I CAN MAKE A GOOD IMPRESSION FOR ONCE. I HAVE A STRANGE KNACK FOR BURNING BRIDGES BEFORE I’VE EVEN CROSSED THEM.”
“We don’t have any bridges,” Aria assured her, “and you wouldn’t be going as a dragon anyway.”
“THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT,” said Nadia, too determined to get her point across to deal with yet another Aria-ism. “I DON’T GET ALONG WITH OTHER PEOPLE, EVER. I WOULDN’T EVEN STILL BE TALKING TO YOU IF WE HADN’T BEEN STUCK IN QUICKSAND TOGETHER FOR HOURS WITH NOTHING ELSE TO DO BUT BE FRIENDLY.”
“But that’s what makes you such a great fit for Sigma Nu Nu. It’s a place for people who don’t fit in anywhere else. Everyone there probably felt the same way you do until they got there. Now, we’re like a big family.”
Nadia bristled at the last word, the scales all over her body rippling, but Aria didn’t seem to notice. “I HAVEN’T HAD A FAMILY FOR A LONG TIME.”
“The Nunus will accept you for exactly who you are. That’s a promise. It’s what keeps us together. It’s the reason we have a sorority at all.”
“I DON’T THINK THEY’D APPRECIATE KNOWING WHO I REALLY AM,” Nadia insisted.
“Because you’re a dragon?” Aria leaned in close to Nadia’s ear to whisper conspiratorially. “I have it on very good authority that at least one of the girls there… is a fairy.”
Nadia snorted. “POINT TAKEN. BUT –” She stopped short as all of her muscles involuntarily tensed up and her skin tingled. “FINALLY, THE SUN.”
“Are you about to change back?”
“YEAH. SO… COULD YOU LOOK THE OTHER WAY?”
Aria crawled back toward the dying campfire and covered her eyes. Somehow, Nadia felt a bit ashamed at that, but she didn’t have much time to reflect on it. Her body was already shrinking, her scales smoothing into skin, her tail and neck collapsing into themselves. She pushed herself upright as her arms grew, so that her legs sprang out in front of her rather than awkwardly pinned under her. In less than a minute, she was fully human again, with no sign that she’d ever been anything else, aside from the unusual situation of being completely nude in the middle of a forest. She quietly crawled into the darkness of the cave to retrieve a spare set of clothes, afraid of making any noise that might attract Aria’s attention even though the other girl would probably respect her privacy enough not to look.
Aria had already changed back into her own outfit by the time Nadia emerged from the cave. “Here you go,” she said, handing over the borrowed clothes. “You probably want to keep these with the others.”
“Sure,” said Nadia. She took the clothes, rolled them into a ball, and tossed them into the darkness.
“You should take better care of your things!” Aria admonished her.
“I’ll pick them up next time I’m out here,” Nadia said with a shrug. “With any luck, I’ll never need to wear them again.”
“Isn’t it expensive keeping spare clothes handy, though?” asked Aria. “Especially the glasses.”
Nadia adjusted her glasses as if she’d only just noticed that she was still wearing them. “Oh, these don’t get lost. There’s a ridge on my snout that they kind of slide into and stay there until I change back. It’s strangely convenient, but I’m not going to complain. If I lost them, I wouldn’t be able to see enough to find another pair.”
Aria nodded vacantly. “Yeah, life can be funny like that.” She turned away, trying to hide her movements as she wiped a tear from her eye.
“What’s wrong?” Nadia asked.
“Oh… nothing’s wrong,” Aria replied quickly. “That’s what’s so weird. We’ve been through so much together, and suddenly, here we are, back to normal. This is what life is going to be like most of the time.”
Nadia felt her mouth curling upward as Aria echoed her earlier thoughts. “Yeah. Nice, isn’t it?”
“I guess I’m just worried. What if we get bored with ordinary life? What if we can never recapture that excitement? After an adventure like the one we had, how do you follow that up?”
Not an echo at all, then. That was the exact opposite of Nadia’s opinion. “Boring has been my life up to now. That’s why I get so lost in books. They’re the only excitement in my life. I never imagined something like yesterday could ever happen to me. There’s nothing wrong with a life that’s not constantly exciting. You make your own adventure, when you need it, and enjoy normality the rest of the time.”
Aria leapt forward and threw her arms around Nadia. “You’re brilliant! I love the way you think!” Then she let go. “Oh, right. You don’t like being hugged.”
Nadia’s heart was beating furiously, but she couldn’t tell whether that was a good or bad thing. She briefly considered asking Aria to do it again, but decided not to risk it so soon. There would be time for that later. “Sorry. But I’ve got a better idea.” She pointed up to the mountainside, above the cave. “There’s a spot right up there where we can get a nice view of the sunrise. Want to watch it together?”
“Sure!” said Aria, perking up immediately. “How do we climb up?”
“It’s over this way,” said Nadia, leading them to a slope up the right side of the mountain that was steep, but had plenty of footholds. She climbed a few steps, then turned to offer Aria a hand up. Aria hesitated for a moment, then took it. Together, they ascended to the top of the cave and lay down on the rock face, still holding hands. The sky was just beginning to turn blue, but the small fringe visible above the treetops was bright pink, almost the same color as Aria’s clothes.
“Wow, it’s pretty,” Aria observed. “I love nature.” A breeze blew down the side of the mountain, bringing a pleasant, earthy smell with it.
Nadia squeezed Aria’s hand appreciatively. “I don’t usually care all that much, but I always come up here for a bit of peace after I change back, before I go back to my boring life.” She took a deep breath as she remembered something disturbing. “Of course, it’s going to be a long walk back to town. I left my scooter parked at the boardwalk.”
Aria squeezed back. “Don’t worry. We’ll be walking together.”
“And you’ll need to replace whatever was in that bag you lost in the quicksand.”
“Let’s not worry about that right now. What matters is that we’re together, and the sun is coming up on our first day.” She turned her head and gave Nadia a quick kiss on the cheek.
Nadia felt her entire face growing hot, and could only hope that the red glow of the morning light hid it from Aria. The first day of what, she wondered? But the question died halfway to her lips. The fun, she supposed, would be finding that out as it came. She turned toward Aria, wondering whether she should return the cheek-kiss, but Aria was still beaming at her. They were in perfect position for a mouth-to-mouth kiss. Nadia licked her lips, considering the possibility… but no. It was too soon for that. She squeezed Aria’s hand again, and they turned in unison to watch as the rim of the sun appeared over the treetops. Just lying here, next to Aria, was the most comfortable thing in the world, and she almost wished it didn’t have to end. And maybe that was the key. Maybe this was the first day it didn’t have to end. Or maybe it would. Maybe, the moment she let go of Aria’s hand, she’d turn into a gust of wind and fly away, never to be seen again. It would be a fitting end to the past day, if a bit disappointing and – well, horrifying. But that made no sense. It couldn’t happen. People couldn’t just vanish like that.
But there was no need to take the chance, either, so she didn’t let go. And as the sun rose over the pair of them, hands firmly linked, Nadia tried not to worry about what would happen in the future. It didn’t matter anymore. She had found someone who accepted her, and in turn, she seemed to be important to Aria in a manner that she didn’t understand just yet. The details were irrelevant. All that she knew, all that she needed to know, was that every time the sun rose from then on, it would rise over both of them. That alone made life more worth living than it had ever seemed before.

Very well written, Nidoking, and quite creative as well. I hadn't read any of your earlier installments before today, and so I read all three parts in one sitting. I especially appreciate the attention you've given to developing Nadia's and Aria's characters and how the quicksand itself served as a plot device to drive your larger story rather than being an end in itself (although I suppose that if Aria hadn't turned out to be a wind sprite and Nadia hadn't turned out to be a dragon, the quicksand would have been an end -- literally -- for the both of them). Looking forward to future chapters!