The Ascent

Chapter 39

Moving through the forest with only rare beams of moonlight that managed to break through the branches as their guide reminded Jasmine of her childhood again, of those bitter-sweet memories that seemed determined to resurface at the worst times possible, it seemed like every little thing could transport her back to that time. A time when she was happy and protected, traversing any path, no matter how challenging, on her father's shoulders.

However, once the house of cards that was her parents' marriage collapsed, safety became something she found impossible to feel. If everything she thought she knew about her parents' marriage was a lie, then even her happy childhood memories were just an illusion. And now she was learning the world itself was just one big mirage, a playground where powers she couldn't even begin to comprehend were playing games that could cost the human race so much, probably their whole existence.

Maybe it would have been better to go to a different planet, to cut off all ties with the world that seemed to only cause her harm.

"Jasmine, are you okay?" Isaac suddenly whispered. "You didn't say anything in ages. Does it hurt?"

Jasmine raised her head quickly, making herself dizzy, remembering the ties that held her to the here and now. These people she didn't know that well had become more like a family to her than her blood relatives. She needed to stay present and strong for them.

"I'm fine," Jasmine said, some feeling finally returning to her. "I was thinking about the last time I had to do this."

"Run away from aliens into a dark and creepy forest?" Isaac asked, the spark of curiosity still burning brightly even after all the danger they had faced.

"Haha, no, I've never had to run from aliens before," Jasmine said, putting more weight on Isaac as they tried to gracefully slide down a particularly steep hill. "Just going through a small forest to get home after staying at the neighbors' for a bit too long once upon a time."

For the next few minutes, any talk was impossible because instead of doing a controlled slide down the steep side of the hill, they ended up flying down it at a neck-breaking speed.

Luckily, Asher and Arman were already at the bottom, so Asher caught Jasmine with one hand while still holding his daughter in the other as Jasmine was about to speed past him, unable to control the inertia. Arman, on his part, managed to clumsily stop Isaac from hurting himself.

"Are you okay?" Asher asked Jasmine immediately, looking her over with a focused gaze. "Are you hurt? Is your leg in pain? How's the head?"

"Asher," Jasmine said, gently lifting his head from where he was scanning her leg to force him to look her in the eyes. "I'm fine. I didn't hurt myself, and the medication is still working. So, no pain there. Okay?"

"Okay," Asher said, letting out a breath of air for which Jasmine wondered how long he had been holding.

"Where is the spring?" Isaac asked, not in the least disturbed by their dangerous descent.

"Over there," Asher said, pointing at the side of the hill.

"Dad, can we wake Ari up now? She'll really want to see this," Arman asked excitedly, circling around Asher more energetic than ever.

"Fine," Asher said after giving it some thought, as there didn't seem to be any immediate danger they had to worry about. "But you wake her up if you can."

"Yep, I always have my secret trick," Arman said, smiling naughtily, his smile so big that he looked like the Cheshire cat. "Dad, can you bring her down?"

Guessing what he was about to do, Asher lowered himself into a crouch with Ariyana so that she was on Arman's level. Then Arman stood close to her ear and started letting out an inhuman-sounding sound, which always reminded Asher of the guttural growls of a tiger or some other wild animal and which irritated Ariyana the most, whether it was when she was awake or asleep.

Annoyed, Ariyana opened her eyes quickly to glare at her brother, but he just smiled brightly at her, too excited to be bothered by the death glare she was giving him.

"I thought you'd want us to show Isaac the spring together," Arman said, beaming smugly, knowing he said just the right words to make his sister forgive him and jump immediately out of their father's arms, ready to go.

After that, Ariyana and Arman took Isaac by the hands, and the three of them rushed to the spring with Ariyana and Arman eager to share with Isaac something they thought of as cool, and that was, in a way, their family secret.

"Have they ever been here before?" Jasmine asked, seeing with how much confidence Asher's children approached the source of fresh water, finding the metal mug conveniently stashed nearby with practiced ease.

"No, never," Asher said as he helped Jasmine move towards the children who were already drinking the cold water. "But I might have talked about this place a bit too much, so they remember the details."

"I thought you hated it here?" Jasmine asked as he helped her sit down on a nearby tree stump.

"I never could hate this place. It's too beautiful for that," Asher said, looking up at the tall trees that shaded the spring, hiding it from inquisitive eyes. "I just hated the reason my father brought me here. I always thought we were better off having a picnic, enjoying nature and the wildlife, instead of destroying it. Surely, beauty should be preserved. Yet, he always seemed to want to prove to nature that we were its masters when we clearly never were, never would be."

Jasmine listened to his speech with utter fascination. She had never heard a man speak like that, not in real life, and it was so refreshing that she forgot all about their present situation and admired the guy for who he was.

"Here, Jasmine, have some water," Isaac said, offering Jasmine a freshly filled mug. "You are old. This must have been tiring for you."

Jasmine was drinking the offered water when she heard the last comment, causing her to choke on it.

"Gee, thanks a lot," she said with sarcasm when she stopped coughing violently and then she continued drinking the most refreshing water she had ever had.

Isaac just grinned at her playfully and went to fill the cup for Asher once she was done drinking.

"Do you hear anything now?" Jasmine asked after Isaac joined the strange stick game the children had started playing, while carefully listening for any out-of-place sounds.

"No, not really," Asher said, looking around the dim moonlight that made every shadow look like potential danger. "Still, I don't know if it's smart for us to stay here. I've never seen this place at night before. There are way too many shadows for someone to hide in. Besides, it's not far enough from the house, and they might be using some of the advanced technology Raven mentioned in her diary to track the stray humans."

"Maybe, but Asher, it's too dark for us to just go around blindly blundering through the forest," Jasmine said, thinking carefully through their options even though her mind was foggier than she wanted to admit. "It might be better to stay put for now and set out at first light."

"But..."Asher started to say before she interrupted him.

"I know it's risky, but our choices are limited at the moment," Jasmine said, doubting her own plan even as she said it. "Besides, we'll probably hear them coming, right?"

"Let's hope so," Asher said, giving up after remembering how many times Arman tripped and almost fell. If any of them were seriously injured, it would have been as dangerous or even more so than getting caught by the aliens. Especially considering they only had the most basic medical supplies. Even those were limited and difficult to restock.

Jasmine suddenly started shivering, uncertain if it was because of the combination of the chilly night and cold water or from fear. Either way, when Asher put his jacket around her shoulders, she was embraced by two types of warmth, stopping the shivering in its tracks.

"Thank you," Jasmine said, smiling brightly at the man who showed her more kindness in times of trouble than most people have shown her in more peaceful times.

"You're welcome," Asher said, smiling back at her.

All the danger nipping at their heels was forgotten for that one precious moment.

Then they waited...

For salvation or damnation remained to be seen.