The Atheil Chronicles: A Call to Fire

Chapter 5

The second the alarm began to blare, Ariana blindly flung her hand out and smashed the off button in a hurry. She lifted her head and looked toward her moms door, listening for any sort of movement. When she didn't hear anything, she gingerly peeled back the covers and rolled off the side of the bed onto her knees. She reached her hand underneath the bed and patted around until she felt the cool handle of the flashlight meet her searching fingers.
Just as quietly, Ariana slipped on a pair of black jogger pants and a matching v neck, depositing the flashlight in her pocket as she scooped up her sneakers from the ground. She tip-toed down the hallway with the care of someone who definitely did not want to explain why she was sneaking out into the forest in the middle of the night. While she knew she was technically an adult, she also knew that her mom would be mad about her going into the forest at night time, especially by herself. If she knew she was also planning on veering off the path, she'd be downright furious.
Once again, Henry was nowhere in sight and Ariana wondered if she would find him in the clearing like she had done these past 2 times already. The first time she had stumbled upon it, there had been no question that the clearing in itself was a strange anomaly. Now, however, it had taken on a new meaning with the disappearance of the pond practically right before her eyes. Maybe she could have written it off as a hallucination if it hadn't been for the fact that she had seen it up close and personal with Henry that day she first found him there. There's no way she could have imagined it 2 times in a row, of this much she was sure.
Ariana shut the door behind her as gently as she could and started down the porch stairs. Turning on the flashlight, she took one last look at the house before starting forward into the dark forest. Immediately upon crossing over from the yard into the line of trees, the darkness seemed to swallow her whole. Even with the flashlight on it was nearly pitch black, the dim light barely penetrating the darkness before it. Around her, the wind blew ever so softly, making the branches overhead creek eerily as she made her way to where the bushes held the secret pathway.
Ariana paused as she reached her favorite oak tree and turned to the left, walking slowly toward the bushes. As always, she began looking for the gap between the winding branches, her flashlight seeming to do very little to help battle the darkness. She reached forward, her fingers searching in between the tangle of sharp branches. After a few more seconds, her hand shot through the gap and she squeezed through, her hair catching on some protruding branches as she passed by.
If the rest of the forest had been dark, the tunnel was even worse. The darkness seemed to completely swallow the light from the flashlight, making it practically useless. Ariana began slowly down the path, a sense of unease forming within her with each passing step. She had just passed out of the tunnel and into the path of trees when she felt a tingle run down her spine.
She spun around quickly, her hair whipping around her face as her eyes scanned the darkness. For what, she didn't know. Somehow, she felt that she was no longer alone. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, goosebumps rising on her skin in a wave of fear. She swung her flashlight around her wildly, seeing nothing but the dense wall of trees rising up on either side of her. As she turned to continue down the path again, a soft voice spoke.
"Do you usually wander the forest at night?"
Ariana jumped, dropping her flashlight in alarm. She looked up into the trees where it sounded like she had heard the voice coming from. It's him, she thought, somehow instinctively knowing that this voice belonged to the stranger from earlier.
"Who are you?" She asked, her voice somehow coming out strong and confident despite not feeling so.
"The question isn't who I am, but who you are." Now, his voice was no longer up but somewhere to the side of her.
Ariana whipped her head around and looked toward the nearest tree branches on her right. "Why should I tell you?" She asked, taking a step toward the branches and peering around them.
A soft chuckle sounded from the trees behind her. "Are you always this rude to people?" He asked.
Ariana rolled her eyes. "Only when people insist on following me when they have no right to." She put her hand on her hip and squinted her eyes ahead. "Now why don't you stop playing games and come out from behind the trees."
The voice got quiet. The man's next words came from the set of trees directly in front of her. "Why don't you make me?"
Ariana took a hesitant step forward but his voice suddenly sounded to the left of her. "You might as well not even try, I'm far too quick."
She rushed to the spot but missed, seeing nothing but fallen leaves. He let out a soft chuckle again and Ariana let out a frustrated breath. She thought for a moment and then she closed her eyes, feeling the warm wind brush her cheek and hearing its soft whisper in her ears.
She stayed perfectly still, listening closely, before she leapt forward, reaching out and feeling her fingers tighten around the sleeve of shirt. Ariana dug her heels in and pulled backward, making the man come stumbling out into the clearing where a lone patch of moonlight shone down on his face.
"Not so cocky now, are you?" She said with a smirk. She was feeling quite proud of herself at the look of disappointment that had crossed his face.
He frowned at her. "How did you know I was standing there?" He asked.
Ariana shrugged, tilting her head to side. "I just listened for you to move." She looked him up and down, noting that he was still carrying that sword with him. "Why were you following me?"
He pulled his sleeve out of her grip and she watched him curiously. "I wasn't." He said, almost indignant.
Ariana gave him a look of doubt. "From where I'm standing it looks like you were. Are you telling me you usually just sit in the trees waiting for people to pass by?"
He put a hand on the hilt of his sword almost absentmindedly. "Okay." He said, looking down, possibly even ashamed. "So I was following you."
"Duh." She said, hardly bothered. She looked at him, raising her eyebrows. "Why, though?"
The guy shrugged and he almost looked uncomfortable. "I was curious to see where you were going at this hour."
"Ah-huh." She said, slowly drawing out each syllable. "How is it your business where I go at any hour?"
He looked taken aback by not only the question, but by the fierceness of her tone. "It-it just is."
"Really." She said, crossing her arms. "Do you own the forest?"
He blanched. "Well, no."
"Okay, then." Ariana said, a note of irritation creeping into her voice. "Then I really don't think it's of any concern to you where I'm going, regardless of the hour."
This comment seemed to amuse him because he started to smirk before changing to look more somber. "You're-" He paused, looking like he was choosing his words carefully. "Strange." He finished, nodding as if this was exactly the word he was looking for.
"I could say the same about you." Ariana looked at him again, seeing that he was still clothed in the tunic and tights from earlier.
She hated to admit it but, up close, this guy was even more striking than she had originally thought. His hair looked radiant under the moon's soft rays and his eyes almost seemed to glow a faint green. He was beautiful, she thought, surprising herself with this revelation. She felt a blush creeping up her neck and into her cheeks.
He leaned closer, stopping Ariana's train of thought suddenly. "What's your name?" He asked her.
Ariana bit her lip, tilting her head to the side. "You first." She said, hesitantly.
He nodded slowly as if he had been expecting her to say this. "Ryonen." He said, bowing his head and peering at her through his long black eyelashes.
"Ariana." She answered back.
He gave her a sideways look and reached out his hand to shake hers. As soon as their hands met, Ariana felt a shock of electricity run through where their skin touched. She jumped, pulling her hand back and rubbing it gently with the other.
"Ouch," she said, surprised. She held her hand close to her, feeling a slight tingle still buzzing beneath the skin.
Ryonen still had his hand extended and, after a moment, he slowly let it drop to his side. "Sorry." He said, sounding as confused as she was feeling.
"It's fine." Ariana said slowly, still feeling taken aback. "Must just be static electricity."
"Static electricity," he repeated, the words sounding foreign in his mouth.
Ariana watched him silently, her eyes running once again over his strange clothes and sword. "What are you doing out here, anyway? Are you going to visit the pond, too?" She asked.
This seemed to surprise him because he looked completely taken aback by the question before composing himself. "Pond?" He asked, his brows furrowing.
Ariana gave him a dubious look. "Now you're trying to act like you don't know what I'm talking about?" She asked him.
He pursed his lips. "No," he said, carefully, "but I didn't know that you were so familiar with it." On the path, she could just make out his body language, which shifted from relaxed to almost tense. However, when she looked at his face, which she could easily see due to the rays of moonlight peaking through the trees at their shoulder height, he seemed unbothered. She let the silence stretch between them, not responding.
After a few moments of them just taking each other in, Ryonen spoke, breaking the silence and taking a step back, "I think it would be best if I left. You know," he added with a smile, "most people are sleeping at a time like this."
Ariana shrugged. "I guess I'm not most people."
"No." He said softly. "You most certainly aren't."
A bit confused at his words, she stopped him before he could walk away. "Wait," she said out loud, "will I see you again?"
He smiled, his mouth pulling up in one corner slightly. "Stranger things have happened. We'll see." He said simply, stepping back into the line of trees and disappearing into the dark without another word.
Ariana stood there, staring at the trees where he left. She listened carefully for a few moments, not hearing even the crunching of leaves as he walked. He was seemingly gone.
After a minute of confused silence, Ariana finally turned on her heels and started back up the path. As she wound her way through the tunnel and back through the gap in the bushes, she thought of nothing but this mysterious new stranger. Ryonen, she thought. What a strange name. Granted, he did seem to be a strange guy, so maybe it was fitting that his name, too, was strange. She felt as if she were in a daze, hardly noticing her surroundings as she walked almost mechanically through the dark. Here and there she saw rays of lights flickering through the branches and she thought of how striking Ryonen had been in the light of the moon, almost ethereal.
Before she knew it, Ariana had reached the edge of the trees and she could see her house in front of her, the lights still dark inside. She crossed the moonlit yard quietly, her footsteps hardly seeming to make a sound as the damp grass crunched beneath her.
Henry lay in wait next to the door, his golden eyes glowing lightly as he regarded her. When she reached the top of the porch, she scooped him up gently and eased through the door before letting it shut softly behind her.
When she finally settled into bed, Henry nestled up alongside her on top of the comforter and she turned her head, gazing out the window. The moon shone in through the panes of glass, its light falling across her bed in soft white rays. As she drifted off into sleep, she brought her hand up to her chest, still remembering the shock that had resonated through her when she touched Ryonen's hand. Even now, she felt a slight tingle in her fingers, the remnant of her meeting in the woods with a strange man on a moonlit night.
* * * * *
Ariana sat up straight in bed, her blanket wrapped around her legs in a tangled mess. She reached up and rubbed a hand on her neck, a sense of unease making her stomach churn. She had been dreaming, but about what, she was unsure. Whatever it was, it had spooked her. She scooted back in her bed, leaning against the wall and letting her head fall gently back to meet it.
Just then, Ariana felt Henry jump up onto the bed and brush up against her side. She pet him absentmindedly, feeling distracted. She was trying desperately to remember what she had been dreaming about before she woke when she felt Henry nibble her finger lightly. Ariana pulled her hand away and gave him a dirty look.
"Why did you do that?" She asked him, looking at the tiny indent on her finger from his tooth.
Henry tilted his head to the side, piercing her with his golden eyes. He held her gaze for a few seconds before he turned toward the window, licking his lips.
"You're such a weird cat." She said finally, standing up and throwing on some clothes.
She found her mom outside, as usual, pulling weeds in the garden. Ariana walked over to her and plopped down on the grass, her bare feet splayed out before her. Today, the garden already looked a hundred times better. It was obvious that her mom had been outside working at it for hours, meticulously pruning dead leaves and stems and clearing debris from the garden bed.
Her mom smiled down at her before depositing a clump of soggy leaves in an increasingly large pile behind her. She had a smear of dirk on her cheek, per her usual, and about a half  dozen curls spilling out of her ponytail. "Hey, honey. Sleep well?"
Ariana nodded. "Slept like a rock. How about you?"
"Same." She surveyed the garden and then looked at Ariana, tilting her head to the side thoughtfully as she studied her face. "Got something on your mind this morning?" She asked, wiping her dirty hands on the front of her shirt.
Ariana nodded again, pointing at the ground. "I was thinking that I see a weed."
Her mom leaned forward and pulled out the weed. "That's not what I meant." She said, throwing it behind her without looking.
"I know." She said. Ariana looked at her freckled face and debated on whether or not to tell her about meeting Ryonen. Although Ariana wasn't particularly weirded out by the encounter, her mom would definitely find it to be creepy that a man was lurking in the forest behind their house. Regardless of the strange circumstances surrounding their meeting, Ariana couldn't help but feel a sense of calm when thinking about him. Even though she barely knew the guy, nothing in his demeanor made her think that he meant her harm.
In the end, Ariana knew her mom far too well and figured it was better not to worry her unnecessarily.  "I was just thinking I might go for a walk." She said instead.
"Oh." Her mom smiled. "Sounds nice, honey. Have fun."
Ariana stood up, watching her mom for a minute as she turned her full attention back to her plants, her hands smoothing over dirt with gentle care.
After equipping herself with her sneakers and a granola bar, Ariana headed back to where she had met Ryonen the night before, but he was nowhere to be found. The only souvenir of their encounter was the fallen flashlight, flickering feebly in the dirt.