The Atheil Chronicles: A Call to Fire

Chapter 4

Now, as Ariana pulled into the driveway, she saw her mom was outside waiting for her on the porch. She had put her hair up into a messy bun on the top of her head and changed into a pair of overalls. Her shins were caked with mud and, as always, she had trails of dirt on her face. Ariana smiled to herself as she grabbed the bags out of the passenger's side and made her way toward the house.
She sprang to her feet as soon as Ariana was within a few feet of the porch. "Honey!" She exclaimed, grabbing a few bags from Ariana and trotting alongside her. "You were right, it's not nearly as bad as it looks. Once I cleaned up most of the debris, there were only a few plants that couldn't be salvaged."
"That's great, mom." She said, nudging the door open with her foot. Her mom rushed in ahead of her and tossed the bags on the counter, rooting through them. Ariana followed her in, letting the screen door fall shut behind her with a twang.
"Oh good, you remembered the rice!" Her mom grabbed the bag of rice and piled it next to the stove along with the carrots and a few stalks of celery. She already had the cutting board out and was running water to rinse the vegetables.
Ariana began unpacking the bags, sorting the foods by which cupboard they went into. In the background, her mom could be heard chopping away steadily at the vegetables, her knife smacking against the cutting board in an almost rhythmic way. 
Ariana sat down at the table and stared out the screen door, her eyes scanning the yard. The line of trees at the edge of the yard looked darker than usual, their trunks barely visible in the shadow of the leaves. Ariana leaned on her hand, racking her brain for some sort of way to excuse herself.
"Ariana," her mom said, pulling her from her thoughts, "the mail lady dropped off some mail for you while you were gone. It's on the table."
Ariana glanced down, noticing for the first time the two large envelopes laying in the center of the table. She reached over, sliding them toward her and sighing when she saw where they were from. "Thanks, mom." She said quietly, picking them up and tossing them in the trash unceremoniously.
At the sound of the envelopes hitting the garbage, her mom whirled around, carrot still in hand. "What are you doing?" She asked, her brows furrowing with confusion. She walked over to the garbage and then looked at Ariana again. "Aren't you even going to open them?" She asked.
Ariana leaned back in her chair, looking out at the yard to avoid her mother's gaze. "I'm not interested." She said, watching the tree line.
She heard her mom shift her weight and then set the carrot down on the counter. There was a rustling sound and Ariana didn't have to guess what it was since her mom dropped the envelopes back onto the table with a loud slap seconds later. "Why wouldn't you be interested?" Her mom asked, more than just a hint of disapproval in her voice.
Ariana glanced at her and shrugged. "It's not my thing, mom." She said, trying to sound casual as to drop the conversation.
Her mom huffed lightly and pushed the envelopes across the table to Ariana. "Listen," she said, clearly working herself up to some sort of lecture, "you've been getting these envelopes for months now and you never even open them. Why don't you want to see what they say?"
Again, Ariana looked out the screen door to the yard and suddenly wished she were anywhere but in the middle of this conversation. "It doesn't matter what they say, mom. I don't want to go to college, so what's the point of opening them?" She rubbed a hand over her eye and waited for the inevitable.
"Don't want to go to college." She repeated slowly, drawing out the words in a way that did little to hide her disapproval. "What do you want to do then, if not go to college?"
Ariana shrugged. "I haven't really thought about it that much." She paused and then looked up at her mom. "I'm happy where I'm at right now, isn't that enough?"
Her moms face was screwed up as if she had tasted something sour. "No, it's not enough." She stated, not even trying to hide her disapproval now. "I'm supposed to be pleased that you want to do nothing with your life?" She asked.
"Mom," Ariana started, but then stopped at the look on her moms face. She began again. "Look, I'll find my way eventually. I just don't think that college is for me..." Ariana trailed off, looking outside again.
Her mom slammed her hand down on the table in a completely uncharacteristic manner. Ariana started and looked up at her mom with wide eyes. "That is it, Ariana." Her mom said, her voice clenched with anger.
"Mom!" Ariana retorted, but her mom cut her off.
"No," she said, shaking her head and making strands of orange curls spring out of her bun, "I've held my tongue all these months and I'm through with it. You have absolutely no plans for yourself! I always knew you were different, but this is just ridiculous." She held up a finger and wagged it at Ariana accusingly. "You were one of the top students in your class, with perfect grades and attendance. All these schools are interested in you, but you won't even give them a chance. I don't want you to waste your talents away and end up like me, alone on the outskirts of town barely scraping by..." She trailed off, bringing her hand up to her head and looking at her lap.
Ariana was at a loss for words. She looked at her mom as if seeing her for the first time. The silence between them was deafening, and after some time Ariana finally broke it. "You always told me that it was good to be a free spirit."
Her mom looked up at her, her face flushed. "Ariana," she said, her voice softening slightly, "I love that about you, but even you must see that there has to be more than just that."
Ariana shook her head in disbelief. "I don't see why I should have to go through the motions just because you aren't happy." The words came out before she could even stop them.
Her mom leaned back in her chair, clearly stunned. "I never said-"
"Then what, mom?" Ariana said, her own face now flushed.
She shook her head and now there was anger in her eyes. "Do you think it's been easy, Ariana? If I had gone to college like my dad wanted me to, I wouldn't be struggling the way that I am. My parents had a college fund for me, I could've gone anywhere and done anything I wanted if I had just listened to them. I said the same things you're saying now; I always thought that things would work out, that there was all the time in the world." She let out a low laugh. "I was young, I didn't realize that the world wouldn't make accommodations for me just because I was 'different'."
"I'm only 18." Ariana said.
"You're almost 19." Her mom responded. "You've been out of school for over a year and yet you haven't even put a single thought into what you want to do. All you do is go out into that damn forest and sit around all day."
Ariana stood up suddenly, the force throwing back the chair and making it slam into the floor as it tipped over. "I don't have to listen to this!" She exclaimed.
"Then don't." Her mom said, her voice now eerily calm. "Go outside and go into the forest, just like you always do." She nodded toward the screen door, her eyes moving to the tree line. "I know that's what you want, you've been staring at it this whole conversation."
Ariana closed her eyes and then walked to the door, pulling the screen door open.
"But," her mom said, stopping Ariana in her tracks, "there will come a day where you can't just run away and hide from your problems, Ariana. One day, you'll have to face them."
Ariana didn't answer, she just let the screen door shut behind her with a loud bang and began to run down the rain slicked stairs. She barely touched the ground as she raced across the yard, the trees getting closer with each passing second. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she could hear her blood rushing in her ears. As she reached the trees, she didn't slow down, but quickened her pace. The darkness of the forest enveloped her instantly, the trees around her seeming more like shadows than living things.
After a few minutes, Ariana began to calm down and slowed to a stop. She stumbled to the nearest tree and leaned against it, gasping for breath. She felt her heart racing rapidly in her chest as she clutched at the dampened tree bark, her fingers curling into the rough grooves with a sort of desperation. She felt tears stinging her eyes as her mother's words seemed to catch up with her. Once she calmed her racing heart, she realized the reason she was so upset was because her mom had struck a chord. Everything her mom said was true; she had absolutely no clue what she was doing with her life. Around her, the world seemed to be moving forward while she stayed stuck in place. As much as it frustrated her to admit, her mom was right.
With that realization, Ariana felt her face flush. As she did every time she fought with her mom, Ariana felt wracked with guilt. She was the one person in this world who was always on her side and here she was fighting with her. It wasn't like she wanted to disappoint her mom, she was just confused and unsure of how to move forward. If it came off as flippant and uncaring than that was just an unfortunate side effect; the truth was she was just lost.
As she thought this, her eyes wandered ahead of her to a pair of bushes. Without even realizing it, she had stopped a mere 10 feet away from the entrance to that mysterious clearing. As if in a trance, Ariana pushed herself away from the tree she was clinging to and walked slowly toward the bushes. She didn't hesitate as she stuck her arm in the tangle of branches and forced her way inside. As soon as she stepped onto the path she felt something different in the air. She couldn't explain it, but it almost seemed too quiet, the air too still. Ignoring every instinct inside her telling her to turn back, Ariana started down the path to the clearing.
When she finally reached the end, she stepped lightly onto the grass on the edge of the clearing. If she had been paying more attention she might have noticed sooner that something was amiss. She wasn't alone in the clearing.
Ahead, a man was kneeling down on one of the small boulders that surrounded the small pond, a sword hanging from his waist. Ariana noticed that he was tall, even as he was kneeling down, and he was dressed in odd clothes that she had never seen a person wear before, except maybe in movies. He had on a pair of brown leggings and an earthen green tunic, his sleeves covering his arms and the fabric coming to points on the backside of his hands. He had long, flowing hair just past his shoulders and the perfectly straight strands were the blackest that Ariana had ever seen on a person. As she looked closer, she could see that the sword at his waist was a few feet long with a leather wrapped hilt that had a light green jewel at the end of it, the sun's light bouncing off of its faceted surface and throwing it in different directions. It struck Ariana that he almost seemed to belong in a Shakespeare play or at a renaissance fair.
She kept her eyes on him as she attempted to get closer. Although she never made a sound, his whole body tensed and he suddenly looked up. Ariana was instantly taken aback by his beauty. His face was angled and he had a delicate nose with a strong looking jaw and skin that was smooth and pale. As her eyes moved to his, she saw that he had almond shaped eyes the color of light jade.
The second her eyes met with his, Ariana instantly felt something spark between them. Her heart sped up and it was as if the air between them was an electrical current. He held her gaze, not moving. Ariana didn't move, either, mesmerized by him. Suddenly his body relaxed and Ariana saw the tension drain from him. She opened her mouth to say something, although she wasn't exactly sure what.
In a quick, fluid movement he turned his back to her and leaned forward toward the water. Ariana heard a rustle of leaves behind her and turned her head towards the noise. As soon as she realized that there was nothing there, she whipped her head back to where the man was, but nothing remained. Ariana's stomach twisted as she saw that, not only was the man gone, but so was the pond. Somehow they had both disappeared without a trace.The spark that Ariana had felt moments before was gone and she shook her head in disbelief.
Surely she hadn't imagined the whole thing. But as she quickly closed the distance between where she had stood before and where the pond and man had been, she realized that maybe she had. Not a single stone or drop of water was left to prove that the pond had once stood there. She fell to the ground in disbelief, her hand reaching out and slowly swiping at the earth.
"I don't understand." She said finally, after a long silence in which she pondered her own reality. This spot gave her a feeling in her chest that she couldn't explain, a sort of anxiety...but for what?
A gentle wind picked up and Ariana looked to the edge of the clearing where a familiar shape was pushing its way through the tight trees.
"Henry!" Ariana exclaimed, wholeheartedly surprised to see him here. At hearing his name, Henry dropped down into a long stretch before slowly making his way to where Ariana sat.
Ariana reached out a hand and Henry pushed up against it, petting himself with her hand before climbing up onto her lap and curling up. She looked down at him and he blinked at her lazily. "Why do we both keep finding ourselves here?" She asked quietly, mostly to herself.
Henry let out a small meow almost as if he were answering her. Ariana, suddenly feeling exhausted from the events of the day, fell backwards onto the soft grass and looked up at the little bit of sky that shone through the canopy. Every once in a while she caught a glimpse of the sun, but then it retreated back behind the leaves.
Ariana absentmindedly stroked Henry's silky fur as she closed her eyes, her mind wandering away from the clearing, the pond, and her troubles. Before she dozed off, she pictured a pair of glittering jade green eyes.
* * * * *
Ariana and Henry got home just as the sun tucked itself behind the trees. After gently depositing Henry on the front porch, she took a deep breath before making her way into the house. Her mom was in the living room doing yoga as Ariana tried to silently creep past her.
"Where were you?" She asked. Her eyes were closed but she knew Ariana was there.
Ariana stopped, caught. "I went for a walk." Her hand reached casually for the wall, her palm pressing flat against its light blue surface. She tried her best not to look guilty, which seemed a little pointless considering her mom still hadn't opened her eyes.
"How was it?" She asked.
"Nice." Ariana said, hoping to end the conversation. Her eyes darted down the hall to her open bedroom. She hoped to be able to make a run for it sooner rather than later.
She opened an eye and looked directly at Ariana. "Good." She said, her green eyes piercing Ariana with a look only a mother could give. "Have you come to any conclusions on anything?"
"I'm not sure what about, but I think I'm going to go to bed." Ariana stretched and faked a yawn. "Yeah, I'm worn out." She said, trying to make her tone sound final.
Her mom looked at her with a hint of suspicion. "Ariana..."
Before her mom could finish, Ariana skipped over and kissed her gently on the cheek. "Night mom, I love you." As she pulled away, she could smell the familiar scent of lavender mixed with tea and she closed her eyes for just a second before opening them again.
Her mom sighed, but a smile was playing at the corner of her lips. "I love you too, Ariana. Goodnight."
While neither of them had said any words, Ariana knew the fight was long forgotten and, more importantly, forgiven. Her mom wasn't always the most sentimental so this was probably the closest she was going to get to a mutual apology. They had both had time to think about the things they said and it was clear they both regretted it. That was all that mattered.
Ariana patted the wall gently before she headed to her room and laid down thoughtfully on her bed, wrapping herself in her floral comforter. Whatever had happened back there at the clearing had left her jarred. She knew with 100% certainty that she had seen both the pond and the man, regardless of what the facts said otherwise. There was something about the man that seemed strangely familiar, like something from a dream long ago that she could no longer remember.
Ariana let out a soft breath and rolled on her side, looking out the window as the darkness chased away the last of the light. As always, her eyes found their way to the edge of the yard where the forest rose up like a wall of shadow. In that moment, Ariana made a choice. She reached up on her end table and grabbed her alarm clock. As she set the alarm for midnight, Ariana felt a sense of excitement rise up in her. By the end of the night, she expected to have some answers.