Dawn of Dreams

Chapter 5

Jaden paced. Three weeks had passed since his encounter with the strange beast, and it was gnawing at him. The more he tried to convince himself he had hallucinated the whole thing, the more he knew he hadn't. He had seen something. More than that, those "feelings" he got rarely lied. What he had felt was real. The threat wasn't a trick of the altitude. But the question remained: how to prove it?

He glared at his wall screen, silently rebuking him as it displayed his current study materials. Study materials he should use to prepare for his year-end exams, scheduled to start in four days. Four wretched days, including today, for him to take action and settle his mind so he was free to concentrate on his studies.

Finalizing the plan swimming in his head for the last twenty minutes, Jaden strode from his room in search of his mother. She would be the one to ask. Her love of hiking would make it happen.

He found her in the kitchen, baking cookies. Wryly, he thought of Bree's extravagant creations. While they were spectacular, there was something special about his mother's baking. It was a treat to get home from the LC and find freshly baked cookies to snack on, stuffed with wholesome goodness. An afternoon tradition he counted on even more these days with his near-constant hunger.

He inspected his long limbs, knowing his hunger was driving their growth. Although he understood their disproportionate length was a necessary, transient part of attaining his full height, he wished he would start filling out now.

His friends joked that if he didn't stop growing soon, he'd be a candidate for the hoop games, an annual event starring kids with one thing in common—their height. Already taller than his peers, Jaden took comfort because he was still far short of the hoop games' contestants' lofty status. However, winners received substantial grants, which merited consideration. Still, is that adequate compensation for the gangly limbs?

His stomach growled as his nose acknowledged the unique aroma of chocolate chip cookies. Smiling at his mother, he sidled up to the cooling rack and snagged a warm cookie.

"Yum!" He drooled, his teeth sinking into the soft, crumbly center and his taste buds responding to melted chips of heavenly chocolate.

His mother grinned. "Hungry again, are we?"

"You know I can't resist your cookies."

Clara Jameson smiled as she continued lifting cookies off the baking sheet and placing them on the cooling rack. "How are your studies going?"

Jaden grimaced. "Not as well as I would like." Now to plant the idea, he thought. "Some fresh air and exercise would help clear my head. Re-energize me. Help me concentrate."

Demolishing the cookie, he covertly studied his mother's reaction. She seemed to consider his request—probably calculating whether this was a ploy to get out of studying for an afternoon. Unexpectedly, she looked at him, her gaze penetrating. Jaden tried to keep his face expressionless. Snakes! It's like she knows I'm up to something.

"I guess you're hinting at going on a hike?" she finally said, raising an eyebrow.

"You got me!" Jaden laughed. "But seriously, Mom, I need to go. It really would help."

Although he tried, he couldn't keep the pleading from his voice. He sounded desperate, and desperate he was. Not for the fresh air. Not for the exercise. But for the chance to prove he had seen something, to prove the altitude hadn't affected him. To prove he wasn't losing it! Something was out there, and for some unknown reason, he was compelled to know what it was.

His extreme anxiety didn't escape his mother's attention. Genuine concern replaced contemplation. "Jaden, is everything alright?"

"Yes. I just need to get out the house for a bit. Please?"