Where The Mind Is With Fear

Part 12

"Where are you going?", she demanded in a malevolent voice. 

"I- We were jus-, Mrs.Russo, I am sor-", I stammered, when she interrupted me by laughing.

"Haha fooled you!", she said.

"What?", Seth asked in bewilderment. This was the first time he had spoken after the confrontation.

"Look at your faces. Hahaha!" Seth and I looked at each other in confusion. What the hell was going on?

Then as abruptly as we had seen Mrs.Russo, instead we saw Aarya standing in front of us. 

"Oh God, now don't be dumb. It was me, silly", she said.

WHAT exactly was happening? "Aarya, can you please open that tiny mouth of yours and explain things a little clearly?", I asked batting my eyelids in a sarcastic way.

"Well, Mrs.Russo just taught me how to disguise and I disguised as her. You people got fooled, you people got fooled!", she chanted and before I could react, she scampered off into the garden.

"Gosh, she is one tiny little monster!",Seth chuckled.

"Tiny? Little? You've got to be kidding me, Seth."

"Anyway, can we like, horse ride now? My horses have started producing new ones."

"Sure Mr. Funny!" We walked on until we had reached the gate. Just one step, and I'd be out of this mansion.. After almost four months I was getting to see Venice properly. I have no clue how I survived for so long in this mansion. This was going to be fun.

Seth must have sensed my nervousness because he said,"Relax, I am with you. If we are caught, I'll tell them I forced you to come."

"I thought we weren't going to get caught?",I asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, but IF we do, you have my back"

"Okay."

"So ready? In 3, 2, 1.." And as soon as he said one, we pushed open the huge gates together. A cool breeze hit my face and I realized that the outside temperature was different from the inside one. 

Seth shivered beside me, due to which his skin rubbed my forearm very slightly, which caused me to shiver in turn.

Venice had always been as I had imagined. But, I wanted to see more of it. Just peeping out of some grand car's window to endeavor the whole of my dream city was not enough. 

"So, where exactly are we horse riding?", I asked Seth, breaking the silence between us.

 "Just follow me honey"

"Uh. Okay. Are we just gonna walk?"

"Yes it's not that far!" We walked on for few more minutes until we came across a vast barren land. In one corner, a cow was whisking it's tail, trying to keep the flies off itself. 

"How come there are places like this in Venice?", I asked. As far as I knew, Venice was only the city of dreamy, mystic things like winged golden lions, magnificent gondolas and stuff like that.

"This is artificial, made solely for horse riding. Nobody uses this patch of earth and it has been officially declared for free use. I come here for practicing horse riding as well as playing soccer on the weekends with my friends."

"Oh cool. So shall we?", I sounded like I was going to ask him to dance.

"Yep. Castor! Pablo!", he called to his horses. The two beautiful creatures galloped towards where we were standing and stood beside Seth. 

"Now do you want to ride on Pablo today or Castor?", he asked.

"Err, the brown one?"I had always a thing for brown horses. But, how did Seth expect me to identify which one was who?

"Haha, you mean Castor. Okay, so just remember, when you give directions to Castor, be gentle. He doesn't like it when someone treats him rashly."

"Oh, don't you teach me how to handle horses!", I was little frustrated. I mean, no one can ever doubt my horse-handling skills. Not even Seth.

"Okay, okay. Here you go." he said, handing me the reins that were joined with Castor's bits. 

We walked our horses towards one end of the land. "Hey, just a second. I forgot something at home." I was about to ask how he would get something from his house in a second, but before I could even take a breath, he had vanished. Then it struck me, the Schizone network.

Seth was back in a second, holding a stool, another set of horse bridal, and a brow band.

"Here!", he said, setting the stool down so I could climb onto Castor's back.

"Thanks." I said. I climbed on Castor and tried pushing the stool towards Seth with my leg, but he said," Nah, I don't need it.", and with that, he climbed onto Pablo without any support, and as swiftly as if he was some expert at it. 

"Whoa. You gotta teach me that Seth! It's so cool!", I said.

"You know this is the first time you've said something good to me, and it feels so nice."

"No, seriously Seth. You are amazing at this."

"Okay, thanks. So can we start?", he asked. Something was wrong with him. He never talked to me like that. Not only me, with anyone for that matter. 

"Hey. Is everything right?"

"Huh? Oh yes. Nothings wrong", he smiled. I didn't bother questioning him further. As it is, there was the pressure that Mrs.Russo was probably searching for me with a hunter in her hand. On top, I'd trusted Aarya to handle things for me. 

We started making our horses walk a little so that they could warm up a bit. We walked on a few centimeters and slowly, the horses started to gain speed. Before I knew it, both our horses were racing and Seth was screaming from where he sat. 

"Woo hoo! It's like I'm in a roller coaster!", he screamed.

Castor was galloping fast and I could feel the wind blowing past me. I opened my rubber band with one hand, while holding the reins with my teeth. My hair cascaded down and I felt even more free. It was like the whole world revolved around me, the horses and Seth. I was thoroughly enjoying this.

As we were racing past the fences surrounding the vast land, everything seemed like a blur, but the sensation of the wind slapping against my face, and then blowing back only to get hit by another wind made me feel so serene. 

From the corner of my eye, I saw Seth looking at me. I turned my head towards him and asked questioningly ,"What?"

He slowed down his horse a little and said nothing with a shrug. Then, before I could answer, he picked up speed again and raced ahead me. 

We kept horse riding for sometime, but then I could feel myself panting and decided that it was time to stop. I made Castor slow down, then he started walking, and we were already near the place where we had first started. I got down and fed Castor some hay. He chewed on it happily while I rested under a tree. 

Seth came along, and slowing down his horse he asked,"Hey! Tired so soon?"

"Yeah but you carry on. I'll join you in a few minutes."

"Are you sure you will be by yourself, Court?"

"Yes, you go ahead", I said tying up my hair. It was sticking to my forehead because of the sweat.

"Okay. By the way, you looked good when your hair was open.", he smiled and raced off with Pablo.

-----------------------------------------------------------

so far, so good? =) thanks for reading everyone. do you think Seth and Courtney like each other? they would make a good couple, what with sharing same interests n stuff. Just leave a comment and let me know. Thanks again for reading =D

keep commenting,voting and fanning

=D