Forbidden: Book One of Wild Sky Saga

by Tanna Marie Angers

  Nehemiah took Israel’s hand and looked. “You’ve made your decision, I see.”

  “Father, I…” Israel started to explain but Nehemiah just turned around, walked out of the kitchen into his room, and closed the door.

  Abby looked at Israel for a second, then ran after Nehemiah into the bedroom and reclosed the door.

  “Nehemiah,” she spoke softly, concerned.

  “He made his decision, now there’s no other choice. Abby, he won’t be strong enough to do what he now has no choice in doing!” Nehemiah upset, pushed everything off their dresser.

  Trying to compose himself he continued, “If I lose my son…” Nehemiah shook his head, he couldn’t even grasp the words he was speaking.

  Israel listened to the muffled voices through the door. He looked at his sisters, then grabbed his keys and walked out the front door. Abby jolted as the door slammed.

  Israel walked to his car and got in. He sat there for a few minutes not really knowing what to think. Regardless, it was done, and there was no going back.

  Israel turned on his car and pulled out of the driveway. As he drove to pick up Aira he looked around in wonder. Everything seemed brighter, more vivid.

  He rolled down his windows to let the air touch his face. He could really feel it. He watched the sun dance off the leaves of the trees and closed his eyes for a second to let it all settle inside of him.

  Up ahead he could see a girl walking on the side of the road. His vision went into slow motion as he past her, and she turned her head and looked at him.

  She had beautiful, long, platinum blonde hair and deep brown eyes. She was wearing a short flowing dress, and older looking cowboy boots. Her eyes caught his with a quick reflection and she smiled. It was like he was put under a spell, taking all of his attention.

  He slowly braked his car until he stopped. He sat there for a few seconds, then put his car into reverse and drove back to her.

  She leaned into the window. “Hey, good lookin,” she said and it daunted him. He could barely get any words out.

  “Would you like a ride somewhere?” he asked, feeling painfully shy.

  She smiled and looked down the road.

  “I feel like walking.” She looked back in at him. Israel didn’t know what to say.

  “I like to walk,” he finally spoke and then instantly felt stupid. She laughed.

  “Maybe I’ll see you around,” she said as she walked away.

  Israel sat and watched her walk. He felt completely taken by her. He slowly drove up to her again.

  She stopped walking and let out a smile.

  “What’s your name?” he asked, looking at her entranced.

  “Mary.”

  “Mary,” he repeated and she looked back at him.

  She opened his car door and got in.

  “My mother named me. She was always fascinated with the story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.” As she spoke, Israel watched her rub the bare part of her legs. She looked at him watching her hands, and when he realized what he was doing, he put his eyes back on the road and began to drive.

  She smiled to herself and looked out the window.

  “It’s so beautiful out here,” she said.

  “It calms me,” he replied, looking over at her. She smiled, then there was silence until they pulled into town.

  “Where can I take you?” he asked.

  “I’m actually going to enroll into school, we just moved here…”

  “I can take you. I’m going there anyways,” he quickly replied.

  She smiled at his hastiness. “Actually, I need to do a few things. Can you just drop me off here?” she said, looking out the window.

  “Okay, sure.” He pulled over to the side of the road a little ways down from The Moose.

  She unbuckled her seat belt. “I’ll see you later then, I guess.” She smiled at him and got out of the car. Israel watched her walk away, still mesmerized.

  He sat in his car for a few minutes, not really able to think too much about anything. He looked over and saw Avery and Joshua walking out of The Blue Moose.

  He realized he had completely forgotten about picking up Aira. He had forgotten about her all together. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t know what had just happened.

  In a panic he drove to her house. Aira was sitting outside on the porch. As he pulled up her driveway she stood up. She was beaming with love for him.

  Israel smiled, took a breath, inhaling through his nose, got out of his car and walked over to her.

  “I thought you weren’t going to come.” Aira let out a light smile.

  “Please don’t ever think like that.” He pulled her into him, resting his chin on her head as he hugged her. He was completely confused and overly worried. He was now realizing the severity of his decision. He had put them both in a very, very dangerous game of chess. And the one thing he knew for certain was that the Darkness loved to play.

  “Come, I want to take you somewhere.” She grabbed onto his hand and dragged him to her truck.

  “Now?” He followed smiling.

  “Yes, get in!” She walked to her truck door and stopped. “It’s one day.” She looked so cute to him standing there.

  Israel opened the truck door and got in. Everything she did made him feel alive and that meant everything to him.

  Aira got into the truck, and as she was about to turn the keys in the ignition he touched her hand to stop.

  “I love you, Aira,” he spoke reassuringly.

  “I love you too,” she replied quietly with a slight smile.

  Israel moved his hand back onto his lap.

  “Okay, now I’m ready.” He calmly smiled. Israel couldn’t let on that anything was wrong. Every single move he made now had to be right. There was no room for mistakes.

  She let out a light laugh, shaking her head. Aira turned the key to started the truck and pulled out of her driveway.

  They drove out of town towards Silver Creek, another small neighborhood only a few minutes outside of Hope. Once there, she turned left down Silver Skagit Road.

  “Where are we going?” he asked curiously. The scenery was so beautiful. Trees surrounded them in every direction and there were waterfalls all along the side of the road.

  “It’s a surprise.” Instead of taking him to Silver Lake she went a different way. It wasn’t too far from the lake. She drove for a while longer, and then slowed down to park on the side of the road where a trail cut to the right through some trees. She put her truck into park and unbuckled her seat belt.

  “Come,” she said, getting out. Israel got out of the truck, and looked around while he walked over to her. He moved his hands out of his pockets and zipped up his dark blue hoodie, pulling the hood over his head.

  She took Israel’s hand and led him down the trail that led to a mountain-fed pool of water surrounded by beautiful trees. To his left were two massive boulders pressed up against each other like a step. There was grass then sand, almost like a small beach.

  “I like it here,” he spoke simply.

  Aira took off her shoes. “Our dad used to bring us here when David and I were younger. My mom would lay in the sun and watch us run around. We spent hours here.”

  Aira smiled at Israel, walked over to the water, sat down, and put her feet in.

  Israel walked over and sat down beside her.

  “It’s still one of my most favorite places... When he left, I used to come here with so much anger from seeing my mother in so much pain. I remember one day in particular, my mother had been crying all day. I left the house and came here. I started to pick up rocks and smashed them into the water. I screamed and cried until I couldn’t cry anymore. Then I sat down and felt helpless. I lifted my head and I looked around… there was this calmness everywhere. Nothing around me changed, and I realized that w
hether I was running around and laughing or I was full of anger, that this place had nothing to do with it.” Israel listened to every word she spoke. “I could bring everything I felt here, and it stayed solid no matter what. It never changed, and it was always here. It let me release everything, without judgment or telling me I had to feel differently. It became something to me rather than a memory that just left.” Aira looked at Israel with a calm smile. She watched as he swirled his finger in the water. He had closed his eyes. Aira didn’t notice, but energy came off of Israel’s finger into the water. She watched him with so much love in her eyes.

  He was envisioning himself walking into the water and submerging himself, then coming up out of the water for a breath of air. He laid on his back in the water and looked up to the sky and trees.

  Aira grabbed onto Israel’s hand and it brought him back into himself.

  “This is where you heal,” he spoke, looking at her.

  Aira looked into Israel’s eyes. She could see a faint picture of the trees and sky he had just seen.

  “Your eyes,” Aira said, looking intensely into them. Israel looked away, and in that moment he could hear a raven cawing in the distance. His vision changed. He had a flash of Mary come to him and he became almost instantly different. His eyes turned black for a second and he stood up.

  “I want to go,” he said.

  Aira could sense something had changed.

  “Okay,” she said confused. Israel was already walking away through the trail and Aira ran after him tripping over a few things.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I’m fine.” He looked at her as if she was nothing and started to walk down the road towards town.

  “Where are you going?” She stopped walking.

  “I feel like walking,” he said, and he kept going.

  Aira stood by her truck and watched him walk further and further away. She got into her truck and turned it on. Putting her truck in drive she found a place to turn around and slowly pulled up to him.

  “Israel?” she said softly.

  “I said I wanted to walk!” he snapped, and his eyes changed black again for only a second.

  Aira didn’t know what to do. She was beyond puzzled.

  She started to slowly drive away. She stopped, and then drove a bit, stopped and then drove, and she did that until she got into town.

  Aira eventually pulled into her driveway, got out of her truck and walked inside. Her mom was standing in the kitchen reading some papers until she saw Aira walking to the stairs.

  “Honey?” Maddy asked concerned.

  “I’m not feeling well,” Aira answered, then walked up the stairs to her room and closed the door.

  Maddy stood in the kitchen and looked at the front door.

  Israel kept walking. He didn’t really know where he was going. He walked along a small pathway to an opening that had led into another trail. In the clearing just before the trail there were picnic tables, and on one sat Mary.

  She stood up, brushed off her dress and smiled at him.

  Israel looked up, stopped dead in his tracks. There were specks of black in his eyes.

  He took a breath in, then walked towards her with confidence. Israel picked her up in an instant. She wrapped herself around him and he started to kiss her as he walked with her down another trail.

  He put her back against a tree and ran one of his hands along her thigh and up her dress to her buttocks.

  She moved herself down off of Israel to stand on the ground, put her hands down the back of his pants and looked at him, letting out a small devious smile.

  Grabbing onto his hand, she started to run through the trail with him.

  She let go of his hand, coming out into a large opening and walked towards the lake. She took off her boots, then her dress, then her white lace bra and underwear. She turned to Israel and smiled as the sun shone all over her, then she walked into the lake.

  He watched her for a moment, then took off his shirt and shoes, then his pants, and followed her into the lake. He swam up to her and she jumped up and wrapped her body around his.

  She slowly leaned back as he held her until her hair hit the water. She pulled her head back up and playfully laughed. He looked at her like she was the only thing his body craved.

  She moved her body up then back down, putting him inside of her, and his eyes went wild.

  Darkness started to stretch itself across the sky, a storm was brewing quickly. Mary looked into his eyes, she could see how she had entranced him; he was completely consumed. She was delighted.

  Israel closed his eyes, and his body yearned for her more and more as she made love to him.

  Flashing into his body, a new black vine started to wrap around his heart, until it locked up, stopped beating, and the blood that flowed slowly evaporated. It was like she was feeding from him, taking more and more of him. And the more she took, the louder the thunder roared, and the harder the rain fell. The way the clouds moved was so strange.

  The Dragon could now see and go through him to get Aira. Mary kept her eyes on him the whole time. Israel opened his eyes and his pupils went from small to filling his entire iris.

  Somehow the darkness in the sky went away and it was light again. The sun shone, and everything was quiet.

  He looked at her, almost zombie-like. Everything that he knew about Aira completely changed. Everything was scattered, fragmented, and made no sense. Static filled his mind. Pieces couldn’t be put together, or they were missing altogether. The only thing he was able to see was that Mary was the one. She was the only thing his mind and thoughts could focus on.

  Mary slowly pulled herself off of him. She walked out of the water, put on her dress, picked up her worn cowboy boots and walked away.

  Israel fell back so that his whole body was submerged under water, then came back up and took a breath of air.

  He laid on his back and looked up at the sky, and he floated there until nightfall.

  Cleo sat in front of her mirror. She fixed her hair and smiled back through the mirror at the dark man who was standing in her doorway. The man walked over to her, put his hand onto her shoulder, ran his finger up her neck, and then turned around and walked out.

  That night, as Aira was sleeping, she had the same recurring nightmare, standing in the same forest, but this time black-thorned vines started moving along the ground until they reached her feet. The vines slowly grasped onto her ankles and moved their way up her legs. Aira tried to run, but they pulled her down and her back hit a tree. She looked up and saw a man in a long, hooded, black trench coat in the distance watching, and out from behind him came a pasty white creature with cold black eyes. The creature crawled up to Aira’s face and began to shriek.

  Aira opened her eyes to the sound of her alarm. She moved her hair off of her face and slowly sat up. Confusion clouded her every thought. She pulled herself out of bed and looked out her window. The day was dark. Gloomy. Israel was so different. It didn’t make any sense. She remembered seeing the black in his eyes and how cold they were.

  Aira got dressed, grabbed her keys and her bag and ran downstairs to go out the door.

  “Aira,” her mom spoke up, walking out of the kitchen. Aira turned around and looked at her.

  “You okay?” Maddy seemed concerned.

  “I’m fine. I guess I just needed to sleep.” Maddy just looked at her. Her daughter looked worn, like something was weighing on her.

  “Mom… really, I’m fine,” she tried reassuring her.

  “Tomorrow we are—”

  “Hunting, I remember.”

  “If you’re not feeling up to watching David, we can stay home.”

  “Mom…” Aira shook her head, she thought her mother was being ridiculous. “Stop…You’re going. I don’t have anything to do anyways.”

  “Wh
at about Israel?” Her mother could sense something was going on.

  Aira didn’t want to get into it. “He’ll probably just come over or something,” she lied, unsure what else to say.

  “Okay.” Maddy smiled, walked over to Aira and gave her a hug. “You can tell me anything, you know that, right?” Her mother didn’t believe her.

  “I know, Mom…” Aira nodded. Maddy could see the confusion in her daughter’s eyes.

  Aira opened the front door. “I’ll see you later.”

  “I love you. Try and have a good day.”

  “I will.” She walked out and closed the door, leaning her back against it for a moment. She took a small breath, pushed herself off the door and walked over, got into her truck and drove to school.

  As gloomy as the day was, it didn’t bother her. It seemed to match how she felt. Driving through town, she felt nervous. She felt like everything she was sure of had just lost ground. She wasn’t even sure if she could approach him. The closeness she had felt to him now felt so far away.

  Eventually pulling up to the school, she looked for his car, but it wasn’t there. She pulled into a parking spot and sat there for a few minutes looking around every once in a while.

  Aira put her head down and there was a knock on her window. It startled her, it was loud.

  Aira looked up and Avery was waving at her, then gave her a look like, ‘what are you doing?’

  Aira grabbed her bag, opened the truck door and got out. Aira had the same heavy look in her eyes as when she looked at her mother.

  Avery looked at her and Aira helplessly shrugged her shoulders. Avery looked over at Joshua, they both knew something wasn’t right.

  Avery gave her a comforting smile, put her arm around her and they walked into school together. Joshua followed as they walked by.

  The day seemed calm, still. Every class, Aira couldn’t seem to concentrate. More than ever she was trying to figure things out.

  At lunch, Jaidas watched her from another table. Aira starred off blankly. Even Avery didn’t know what to say. It would have been like talking to a wall. She wanted to ask her, but she didn’t.

  The day went on and finally the last bell rang. Aira grabbed her stuff out of her locker.