by C. A. Bleu
Her heart pounded as she began the final uphill section of the trail. Raindrops started mingling with her silent tears and sweat as she broke through the tree line. Zara put her hands on her head while she walked in small circles trying to catch her breath. When her heart rate slowed, she decided to walk the last half mile back toward her house. She could tell she had not run in a while and knew she would feel this later.
Taking in the scenery around her, the roofline of her house came into view. Tall magnolia trees were everywhere with their thick white flowers and orange daylilies were blooming along the edges of the gravel drive. Even the birds were singing a song in the light rain. Everything seemed perfect, yet Zara sensed a feeling of unease trapped underneath all this beauty. Whatever happened with her mother this morning had left her heart and soul aching.
Walking toward the house, she thought of Aaron. Aaron Chavez, her mother’s best friend. He had been living with Zara and her mom when her mom died. Aaron had agreed to become her legal guardian. It felt natural to Zara, he had been the only father figure in her life. As far as Zara knew she did not have any other family. He was good to her and always made her feel safe and protected, but he wasn’t much in the way of ‘nurturing’ emotional support.
Aaron was more focused on making sure she was strong, insisting on her being trained in martial arts and ready to defend herself at all times. He lived and breathed the military and taught her to be self-sufficient. She could protect herself if needed. Recently, she overheard him on the phone, whispered conversations about some kind of upcoming event, security and their sworn duty. She hadn’t mentioned it to him. Then about a month ago, she took his car to work and found several weapons hidden in the trunk of the car. Aaron had taught her how to handle weapons, but she certainly had begun to feel that he was up to something. What event had he been talking about and why the arsenal of weapons?
Nearing her driveway, an ominous feeling crept up her spine, a sensation that she was being watched. Looking over her shoulder she scanned the area, but there was no one there. Feeling paranoid, she decided to run the last bit. With more mental clarity after her run, she began to question the events of the morning, had she really seen her mom? Maybe it was the illness she had been fighting for the past week or maybe she had still been asleep and dreaming? However, finding the Trinity Ring was something she could not yet explain. As she crossed the street and stepped onto her driveway, the feeling of unease grew, and she felt the heat of someone’s eyes on her. She noticed Lilith’s car parked in the driveway and let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness,” she said to herself.
Zara rounded the corner of the house, stepping onto the side porch where she found Lilith swinging on the porch swing. Her wavy brown hair swayed in the wind as she swung back and forth. Lilith looked at Zara with her dark brown eyes shining. “The door was locked, I guessed you must have gone for a run so I figured I’d wait here,” she said with one eyebrow raised as she took in Zara’s appearance head to toe. Zara knew she had to be covered in splattered mud and sweat, she could feel her socks squish with each step. Lilith’s eyes raised in concern. “Zara, what happened? You sounded scared to death on the phone and what did you mean it was about your mom?”
Sitting down next to Lilith on the swing Zara prepared to unload about her morning, but as she opened her mouth to answer she hesitated, feeling a prickling sensation at the back of her neck. She didn’t know why, but it felt like a warning. Confused and unable to explain it, she felt like something was warning her to not share the news of finding her mother’s ring. Zara took a steadying breath and told Lilith about how she had been feeling sick lately and a little more stressed than usual. She told Lilith about how she thought she saw her mom this morning. Zara explained it away as a dream, that she must have still been asleep, but it had still spooked her since the anniversary of her mom’s death was tomorrow. She apologized for calling Lilith in a panic.
“Wait, you thought you saw your mom, but you hardly ever even talk about her. What happened exactly?”
Lilith was always supportive, but at times could be a little too pushy. Zara had met Lilith about a year earlier when Lilith became the new kid at school their senior year. They seemed to like all the same things and in no time, they were hanging out a lot. Zara didn’t make friends easily and she liked that someone finally wanted to know about her and was interested in what she had to say. Something in the way Lilith had opened up to her made them instant friends.
However, as close as they had become, Zara always kept some things private, close to her heart. As she sat on the swing next to Lilith, Zara could not shake the feeling that she should not tell Lilith everything about her mom and the ring she found. Something in her gut twisted and she knew deep down she would not tell her about the ring.
“Nothing really happened, I just thought I saw her is all, but it was right when I woke up and I was feeling so sick at the time. Of course, I don’t believe I really saw her, that would be crazy. I must have still been asleep, it had to have been a dream.”
Zara felt a small nagging worry build and found herself wishing she had not called Lilith after all. Closing her eyes, she breathed deep, trying to ease the warring emotions within her. Maybe the stress of knowing she was about to be a full-fledged adult and still had no clue where she would go or what she wanted to do with her life was eating at her more than she realized. Zara made small talk with Lilith a while longer to be polite, but she worked hard to change the subject so she didn’t seem rude or evasive. Soon she was thanking Lilith for coming over as Zara stood up from the swing. She needed some time to herself before Aaron got home.
Lilith appeared reluctant to drop the subject as she tried one more time, she stopped swinging and squared her shoulders looking up at Zara. “Look, I know you think it was just a dream, but could you make out any words? Could you make out anything she was trying to tell you?”
Confused and suddenly very frustrated, Zara felt her body warning her to not say too much. “What is your deal Lilith, it’s like you’re fixated on my mom for some reason. I’m going upstairs to shower, I’ll just see you tomorrow night, okay?” Zara reached down to untie the now muddy house key from her shoelace.
“Sorry, you know I’m just trying to help,” Lilith said, though she appeared to be edgy for some reason, as her eyes shot back and forth looking for a way to continue the conversation. With a resigned sigh, her shoulders sagged. “I’ll just let you go rest, call me if it happens again though. Wait, didn’t you want me to come up to the cabin tonight?”
“Tomorrow night is fine. We’ll be getting things ready tonight since no one has been there in a while. I’ll see you then.”
Zara turned away, heading toward the front door, hoping Lilith would take the hint. She kicked off her muddy shoes before stepping through the doorway. As soon as she closed and locked the door Zara leaned back against it, looking up at the ceiling as she tried to rub away the beginning of a headache. Something strange was happening or she was starting to have some serious mental health issues, which would be understandable with all she had been through. Why had she snapped at Lilith? After all, Zara knew she was only trying to help.
Walking into her bedroom, she paused just inside the doorway. Zara could still feel something in the air, it was electric, making the hairs on her arms stand up, but it didn’t hurt. If anything, it almost seemed to calm her nerves if that wasn’t even more crazy. She showered quickly and collapsed onto her bed. Her eyes had barely been closed a minute when she heard Aaron come through the front door yelling that he was home. She had already decided she was not going to tell him anything about seeing her mom or finding the ring.
“Hey, I’m up here, I’m still not feeling well, I’m going to lie down for a bit,” she yelled back, a little white lie as she was finally feeling better, but she really did not feel like talking right now.
“Okay, but I want to head out soon if we are still doing this tomorrow night.” His voice h
eld an edge of concern.
Chapter 3
Aaron Chavez grew up in California. From the time he was a young boy, he was training to be part of the Protectors of the Trinity. Raised at their headquarters, he was destined to become the head of the Protectors one day. His father and his grandfather had both served the Trinity line and his father had been the head of the Protectors of the Trinity before his death. When he was of age, Aaron swore an oath to protect and serve the Trinity line until the time of his death.
Aaron had moved from California to East Tennessee with Zara’s mother Isabella Trinity before Zara was born. It had been Isabella’s request to move into the home they were now in, but when Zara’s mother died, his world turned upside down. He could not take Zara back to his headquarters until after her eighteenth birthday, as this had been Isabella Trinity’s final request. He never understood why he shouldn’t take Zara back to California, but he followed Isabella’s wishes. Above all, he believed in the Trinity line and lived to serve them.
Aaron had always kept in contact with other Trinity Protectors and knew they were just a phone call away should he need them. Only a few of his closest and longtime friends knew their true location. Over the years he watched Zara grow, he helped her become strong, training her to the best of his ability. Very soon she would learn more about herself than she ever thought possible.
This was going to be difficult for Zara, and he wasn’t sure how she would react. He wasn’t even sure if anything would actually happen since they never found the Trinity Ring. None of the Protectors could understand how the ring was no longer on Isabella Trinity when she died. He and the few he trusted the most searched everywhere for weeks until they finally gave up, assuming it had disappeared for good. Aaron knew that Zara wanted to leave town as soon as she had graduated, but he made her promise to stay at least until her eighteenth birthday.
Guilt weighed heavy on his heart as he headed down the hallway to pack his bag for the cabin. Zara was the most important person in the world, and she didn’t even know it. Aaron wondered if he had been wrong not to tell her more. Along with the oath he took to protect her, he had also been instructed not to share anything about the Trinity Ring or the prophecy until her eighteenth birthday. Still, regret gnawed at him with the secrets he kept.
A picture in the hallway of Isabella and Zara stopped him in his tracks. Zara was just a baby in the picture and Isabella was swinging her high in the air with the sunlight filtering down between them. He noticed a subtle golden glow around Isabella that he had never noticed before. Seeing her face, smiling and carefree, his heart ached. Clearing his throat, he looked away before allowing tears to prick his eyes and saw his own reflection staring back from the hall mirror.
He looked sad. His short buzzed hair had grown longer, and his stocky strong shoulders slumped. Straightening his shoulders, Aaron stood up tall, always fighting for that extra inch of height. With a sigh of determination, he continued to his room, thinking about how tall Zara had become recently when her mother Isabella had only been about five feet tall herself. What he lacked in height he made up for in toughness and skill. There was no one stronger or more willing to sacrifice everything to protect Zara Trinity.
Chapter 4
A few hours later Aaron and Zara were loaded into his old black Jeep heading toward a cabin deep in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Zara had never known exactly whose cabin it was, only that Aaron said it had been in her mother’s family for over a hundred years. It didn’t matter to her who owned it as long as she could be there. The cabin and the land where it resided were a place she loved more than anywhere else. Every time Zara arrived, even as a child, she was flooded with a feeling of coming home, a true home where she felt she belonged. The tires crunched loudly over the gravel as Aaron slowed to punch in the key code at the black iron entry gate.
Although the cabin was well over one hundred years old, according to Aaron, Zara always thought it seemed newer. It appeared from the outside to have much of the same original structure of a historic log cabin, but there had been more modern upgrades throughout the interior. One upgrade was the tall iron gate requiring a passcode entry which Aaron seemed to change often. The gate actually wrapped around all seventy acres of the property. The grounds were kept up and the home was always immaculate. She wondered who took care of the place when they were not there. As far as she knew, she had no other family left and Aaron would always change the subject when she tried to ask questions about her family.
As they turned up the long private drive to the cabin Aaron’s heart began to race as he wondered about how both of their lives may change tomorrow night. “You know Zara, you were born at exactly 8:24 p.m. I guess that would be the exact time tomorrow night that you are officially eighteen,” he said with a slight shake of his head, trying to figure out how she had grown up so fast.
“Really? I never knew that before,” Zara replied, still looking out her window, trying to keep her voice even to hide her shock. Many years ago she had stopped asking questions about her mom and her past when she realized Aaron was never going to share anything. Either he didn’t know much, or he was purposely keeping it from her. She had always hoped it wasn’t the latter. The fact that he had just told her what time she was born was a huge deal, and it made her wonder what else he knew about her and her mom that he had never shared.
Zara’s accusatory thoughts were interrupted when she saw the red tin roof of the cabin begin to peek into view; she felt the surrounding forest call to her as it always had. She stared for a moment at the two-story log cabin with the red front door she so loved before fumbling with the lock, she could not wait to get out of the car and into the forest. As soon as Aaron parked, she was out the door with her backpack over her shoulder yelling that she would be back in a bit.
“Stay close Zara, I don’t want you heading out too far tonight since you’ve not been feeling well lately.” Aaron smiled to himself as he watched her walk off into the forest, his hopes lighting up inside at the prospect of what she could—what she would—become.
After a short walk, Zara reached the spot in the forest she loved the most and closed her eyes, filling her lungs with the fresh smell of cedar and lavender. A touch of sandalwood seeped in, filling her heart with the purifying feeling of earth. She immediately felt better, stronger, just being out there. Smiling to herself she felt in her heart this was where she belonged, maybe she would stay here for a bit after her birthday, she didn’t have to leave home right away.
Sitting alone, the quiet beauty surrounding her, Zara reflected on her life and thought about her mother’s ring, The Trinity Ring. Before she and Aaron had left for the cabin, she had retrieved the wooden box from its hiding spot behind the dresser in her bedroom. Zara had placed it in the hidden interior pocket of her backpack so it would be close to her. Aaron never messed with her personal items so she figured it would be safe as long as she had it with her.
Sitting in the grass, she pulled the small wooden box out of her backpack. The box itself was breathtaking, it appeared to be hand carved with the Trinity symbol on the top and the intricate swirling designs of dark and light shades of wood throughout. She slowly opened the box and felt the air around her go still. Pausing, she scanned the area, no one was there, and everything seemed okay. When she looked down again, she could have sworn the ring seemed to glow. She thought it must be the way the setting sun was coming through the trees above her causing a reflection somehow. She didn’t know why but she was nervous to actually touch the ring. By all accounts it did belong to her, so she should just take it out and put it on. Maybe the connection to her mom and her past was just too overwhelming, but she could not bring herself to try it on.
“Zara, where are you? Come on,” Aaron yelled from the covered porch at the back of the cabin.
Within a few minutes, he saw her step out of the tree line, but what he saw nearly took his breath away. Zara was walking toward him, backpack slung over her shoulder with a soft golden
glow surrounding her that she did not seem to be aware of.
“Oh, my God,” he whispered quietly to himself. Realizing the prophecy had to be true and at that moment he stood strong, fighting the urge within him to bow down and pledge his protection of her for the rest of his life as his duty would demand.
Zara was not aware that as she walked, fresh wildflowers were sprouting up behind her in the wake of her footsteps. She had no idea the power that currently lay simmering in her veins or the place she would hold in the world. It had been so hard on Aaron coping with her mother’s death, but now he realized her mother had been right. He didn’t know why, but Isabella had said she would have to sacrifice herself to protect Zara, she had told him it was necessary. He tried to accept that was the way it had to be, that Isabella knew best, he just hated to lose her in the process.
“Aaron, what are you doing? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Zara said with a raised questioning eyebrow, a bit shaken seeing Aaron this way.
With everything else she had experienced today it only heightened her own sense of anxiety. An ominous feeling began to settle in her gut as she walked past him into the cabin, leaving her worried and confused about the future. Her peace from moments before now replaced with a hint of fear as her mind drifted again to her mother’s ring. Did Aaron know something that he was not telling her?
Chapter 5
Zara stirred awake the next morning grateful for the few hours of sleep she found after tossing and turning most of the night. For the first time she could remember, she had dreamed about her mother. Not the vision from yesterday, but more like a memory. Images she had never witnessed, though it still felt like a beautiful memory as she relived them in a dream. Her mother was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen and this dream had gifted Zara with vivid snapshots of her.