Gaze of Fire

by Melissa Kellogg

  Karena snorted. “That wouldn’t have been a bad idea at the time. That would’ve made him rethink things,” she said.

  There was stern knocking on the front door. Karena felt the shift in energy.

  “No, no, no,” she said, and put her face in her hands.

  They heard the door knob twist, and the door open.

  “Karena?”

  It was her dad.

  “I was wondering when he would return,” Hadrian said. “It’s not like he created enough of a headache last night. It’s not too late to run.”

  “Where to? That’s the problem. I doubt I have any friends left aside from you and Rose.”

  The closing of the front door and the footsteps of her dad filled her with dread. He rounded the corner. Dressed in metallic, black robes, he looked more formidable than usual.

  “There you are,” he said. “We have matters to talk about.”

  “I’m sure of it,” Karena grumbled. She should’ve stayed in bed.

  “I have learned from multiple sources that you actively and willingly chose to date Asher. He didn’t trick you into seeing him.”

  “That’s what I was trying to tell you all along.”

  He sat down, folded his hands on the table, and leaned forward towards her.

  Karena said, “I take it that we’re going to have one of those talks.”

  “Yup, one of those father-to-daughter talks.”

  She felt her insides shrivel up and die. Rose and Hadrian scooted back away from the table and left to go eat their breakfast elsewhere.

  Chapter 12

  When her dad finally left, after a long and scathing talk, Karena retreated upstairs. She sat down in the study room and gazed outside at the street, the neighbor’s house, and the grey clouds filling up the sky. It was as though the clouds were a mirror to her own mood. She watched Hadrian leave in his truck to go visit friends, but then return not even an hour later. He slammed his truck’s door close. He walked back to the front door with a jarring stride. It was easy to guess what had happened. Due to his association with her, he had been ostracized by his own friends.

  The consequences of her exposed love for Asher hadn’t yet taken a toll, but as the days went by, and as the mailbox filled up with hate mail, notes, and even letters designed to combust upon opening, Karena began to despair. Her car became as scratched as a cat’s scratching post. The words “traitor” and “whore” were the most common things etched into its metal. Due to the escalating vandalism, it soon became a morning routine to hose down the front of their house to rid it of the eggs, blood, feces, and paint that had been hurdled at it overnight.

  Going out was a miserable experience. Karena dreaded having to run errands. People would stare at her or yell awful things to her. She felt confined to her house. Except for Hadrian and Rose, the rest of her friends didn’t want to see her, or have anything to do with her. When her parents did visit, they were quick to point out her failings and how she needed to make a public appeal that she had made a grievous mistake by dating Asher and was planning to seek mental therapy. Hadrian and Rose suffered alongside of her, unable to go to work, or go out either without something mean being said to them.

  Karena hated what her life had become. How could something so wonderful have such cruel consequences? She loved Asher, and ached to see him, but because of the feud, everyone had jointly taken it upon themselves to bully her and deny her from having a relationship with him. They seemed united in their hatred of her and the opinion that the feud must never be resolved by acts of peace and love.

  For hours on end, she would stare through the upstairs study room’s or her bedroom’s window at a piece of the world that she had enjoyed, but now loathed. Because she had stepped out of line by daring to follow her heart, she had incurred the wrath of thousands of people who couldn’t see beyond their own noses’. She hoped that everything would die down after a month.

  On the third week after she had made front headlines, Karena crept out of her house to fetch the mail. The mailbox was a pitiful thing now. Dented, and leaning to one side, it looked like a tin can on a stick. She pulled out the handful of letters, most of which was sure to be hate mail. She walked through the front yard, which Hadrian had given up on trying to keep alive. It had been burned countless times, no doubt by angry Fires. It was a charred wasteland. The beech tree was nothing more than a stump now.

  Instead of going through the house, Karena walked around the side and into the backyard. She sat down beside the fire pit to begin sorting through them. She tried to not look at Rose’s garden, and how the roses wilted from distress. Multiple attacks had been made on them and their soil. Pests had been driven into their backyard from all three adjacent neighbors. Last night, she had heard Rose crying herself to sleep because two of her cherished rose bushes had died.

  Karena felt as though she was nearing a breaking point. She had caused all of this to happen to Hadrian’s house, and to his life and Rose’s. They were being targeted because they refused to leave her or to ostracize her. Everything that they cared about and loved were being targeted and damaged as a result. It horrified Karena how sadistic people could be.

  She set the small pile of mail on the ground, and examined each letter. She tossed the ones that were obviously hate letters into the fire pit. Out of the stack of thirty or so letters and notes, only two remained, one from a pen pal that Rose wrote to, and another that was addressed to her. It had a return address on it, but no name. The address in the top left corner looked familiar. She realized why; it was Asher’s address. He had been wise to not put his name on the envelope. Nevertheless, she gingerly opened the letter, pointing the open side towards the fire pit in case it was a trick, and pulled out the piece of paper.

  She unfolded it and it read:

  Karena,

  My heart has been heavy these past couple of weeks. We need to discuss current matters and the future tonight. It is hasty, but we must be quick before someone finds out about our intentions and tries to stop us from seeing each other. Let’s meet in the middle of the ring of willow trees within the Arowana Ponds at nine o’clock tonight. It should be late enough for us to slip away unnoticed and remained undisturbed for a while.

  Asher

  Karena reread it. Worry about what was to be said produced a sour taste in her mouth and stomach. Without a doubt, Asher was enduring the same things that she was. Had he reached a breaking point? Was he going to renounce his feelings for her? The note didn’t have a trace of warmth in it, nor reassurance. It was vague about what where his mind was.

  The past many days had been horrid for her. If Asher broke up with her, it would only add to her misery because it would mean that her suffering had been for nothing. Had she made a huge mistake with Asher like her parents insisted that she had? The damage that her exposed relationship with Asher had created would be long lasting, whether they continued to see each other or not. No one was going to forget. She forced herself to not jump to conclusions yet, conclusions that were being based upon five sentences, and tried to think about other things, like where they would meet.

  The ring of willow trees was deep within the Arowana Ponds area. Was she being lured away? But Asher wouldn’t do that, and the Arowana Ponds were within the Water district, though just barely. It was a mile from the Fire district’s border. She had been there before. It was comprised of twenty-four ponds that were clustered together, but separated by strips of land. Each pond unit had its own separate ecosystem. Small bridges crisscrossed the area and paths skirted around the rim of the ponds.

  She looked at the note, and then it registered with her that he had said that they should meet that night. Mail took at least a day to process and another day to arrive. Had he dropped it off without even bothering to see her? She rubbed her forehead with both hands. She started to question everything, the note, Asher, her feelings for him, and her decisions.

  After sprinkling some neutralizing, magic retardant powder onto the letter
s, Karena struck a match and dropped it onto the letters in the pit. They burned, and some sparked, but because of the powder, they didn’t explode. She went inside, and waited for dusk. Her mind ran in circles the entire time, fretting and wondering what was to be said that night. It felt as though she was awaiting a possible life sentence of loneliness and regrets.

  Chapter 13

  Before the night set in, clouds of red and pink smeared together in a lighthearted laugh on the horizon. Karena wished that she could share the same mood. As she got ready to go out, she battled between hopefulness and pessimism. Even though she longed to see Asher again, she dreaded seeing him because her worst fears might be confirmed. Ice particles blew around her, and made it so that her pants became difficult to pull on because the fabric had stiffened.

  Her thoughts circled, as they had for some time. She hoped that Evelyn wouldn’t show up. If Evelyn did, she felt as though she would lose all self-control, and turn Evelyn either into a frozen statue or a pincushion of icicles.

  Karena contemplated letting Hadrian know where she was going, but decided against it. She sneaked down the stairs, slipped outside, and drove to the Arowana Ponds, which was west and slightly north of where she lived. She parked in a dark area on the street where her car wouldn’t be seen. Even in the low lighting cast by the moon, she could see the rake-like scratches, hateful words, and crude images on it. It would be easy to identify the car as hers. She crossed the street, and headed towards the Arowana Ponds.

  Once there, she passed through the entrance and walked onto its grounds. Aerating fountains splashed, and the night life chattered until she approached and it became silent. Bats fluttered above her head and dipped down to gobble up unsuspecting flying insects hovering near the water’s surface.

  Her feet pattered over bridges and across walkways. Everywhere she looked there was the gleam of water under the silver moonlight. Despite the beauty, there was an eeriness to it all, a quality that made her skin prickle and her senses strain. She didn’t know why, except that she didn’t like how deep she was venturing into the Arowana Ponds, and how there were few light sources. Unlike the Sageburrow Gardens and other places, the Arowana Ponds wasn’t meant for evening strolls or quiet hideaways.

  On an arching bridge, Karena paused to survey the waterlogged area. She listened, but didn’t detect anything troubling. She looked for odd specks of light, but didn’t see any. Up ahead were the willow trees. Inside of their ring would be an open patch of dry ground the size of a big backyard, which was often used for ceremonies, weddings, and sometimes séances. She hesitated. The weeks prior had shown her the callousness of human nature, and she was wary because of it. Nevertheless, she had to know for herself what Asher had to say.

  She crept towards the willow trees, and slipped through their long, feathery branches. Just as she exited from their curtains, she felt something like a string snap around her ankles. There was a slight echo in her bones from it. Had it been of magical origins? She looked down, but it was impossible to see in the darkness. She swept her right foot out to see if she could make it happen again, but failed. Perhaps it had been her imagination.

  After taking a few timid steps away from the willow trees, she heard her name called. Her eyes traveled up the slope, and saw Asher standing in the middle of the area. She ran towards him, dismissing every ounce of caution that was ringing alarm bells in her head, and threw herself into his arms. He caught her, and held her tight. She burrowed her face into his shoulder. As though she was dying from a lack of air, she sharply inhaled his cinnamon and apple-spice scent. Her hands went around his neck, and his arms wrapped around her waist. They held on to each other. She cried a little from joy and the pain caused by the feud. It was like a release for her. His presence brought comfort and safety back into her world.

  They finally pulled away, and she had to brush her sleeve across her face to dry it.

  “I missed you,” she choked.

  “I missed you too,” he said, hoarsely. He turned his head away to rub his eyes.

  The moment he recovered, Karena bounced onto her toes and kissed him on the lips. He jerked his head back and increased the distance between them.

  She stared at him in horror. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Her fears had been realized; he didn’t want to be together with her.

  “You said in your note that you wanted to talk to me about ending our relationship, and here it is, you’re kissing me,” Asher said. He pulled out a note. From its wrinkly appearance, she could tell that it had been crumpled up many times.

  “I never sent you a note. Let me see it.”

  He offered it to her. She smoothed it out a bit more in order to read it. She gasped, and handed him the one she had received.

  “I never sent you this,” he said. He was equally as shocked.

  They looked at each other.

  Asher said, “I wouldn’t have ever suggested coming here. I don’t fancy dark places with a lot of water.”

  “Same here. So you don’t want to end it between us?”

  “Of course not.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her. Though Karena was relieved and melted from his pressing lips, she didn’t have the luxury of dwelling in the relief of knowing that he still loved her. There was something seriously wrong about the notes and being there. Being temporarily kept apart was now trivial compared to what could happen.

  “We have to leave. This was a set-up,” Karena said. Her hands were on his shoulders as she looked up at him.

  “Then where are the people who set us up?”

  They looked around, but didn’t see anything or anyone in the area. Nothing moved or presented themselves to them.

  “Next time, we need to tell each other in person where to meet,” Asher said. He shifted from foot to foot, uneasy and tense.

  “Agreed. I didn’t think this would happen.”

  Asher grabbed her hand. He said, “Come on. Even if we have to swim, we have to get out of here.”

  Just as they were about to spring forward, illuminated lines snaked across the ground, forming a spider web of geometric patterns and runes. A lighted circle rotated around her feet, and a separate one did the same around Asher’s. She tried to move, but her feet couldn’t break from the circle. The circle was keeping her confined to the spot.

  Now she knew what that strange snap had been when she had first entered the area. It had been a magical trip wire. She had dismissed it in her haste to go to Asher.

  The ground trembled and rippled with energy as the patterns powered up. A cloaked figure broke free from where it had been hiding amongst the willow trees. The figure came towards them, muttering and chanting from a book in his or her hands.

  “It’s a necromancer!” Asher shouted. He kicked his legs forward, but they wouldn’t extend past the circle. It was like hitting a wall.

  He burst into flames, but they were contained within his trapped space because she couldn’t feel his heat. Even if they had been able to use their powers, only a sorceress or sorcerer would’ve been able to effectively battle a necromancer.

  Necromancy was outlawed in the Sundarin Nation for good reason. She had read about the horrific things that necromancers had done to people in history class, and felt fortunate that she would most likely never meet one, but yet, here before her was one. Fear dowsed her with a coldness that rivaled even what her powers could do.

  The necromancer approached. Karena felt the dark energy in the air thud against her skin. It was as though she was in a whirlpool. The sky above them blacked out, and she couldn’t see the willow trees anymore. She felt something clawing at her shins and looked down. She screamed. Ghostly, flesh-stripped hands reached upwards and pawed at her and Asher. Translucent heads reared from the ground, mouths wide-open from agonizing pain. They were remnants of ghosts, but were they coming from their world or the next?

  Karena quivered, and she reached out to Asher. They held onto each other, having to lean in order to do so. Obelisks of
glass with smoke billowing inside of them rose from the ground. They screeched as they ascended and formed a wide circle around them about fifty feet away. Chains dangled from them, and linked themselves together until all of the obelisks were connected and had formed a fence-like structure.

  When the necromancer came closer, Karena could tell from his voice that he was a man. He wasn’t playing around or interested in talking. He kept chanting, evoking with his words the magic imbued on the pages of the book that he was holding. Gold dust rose from the exposed pages.

  The obelisks began to move in a circle around them. They spun faster and faster until they were a blur. Light flashed and zigzagged above them. A heaviness weighed on her. The sense that they weren’t in the Arowana Ponds anymore, or anywhere earthly for that matter, grew in intensity. Air buffeted against her, foul and ash-choked. They were going somewhere, but to where? Her heart pounded with fear.

  The obelisks slowed until they came to a stop. She felt as though she was going to faint. Behind the obelisks, towering cliffs, statues, and citadels pierced the hazy skyline. She couldn’t believe it. They were in the spiritual realm, specifically, the dark spiritual realm. The necromancer had done what was deemed impossible.

  Her body shifted into a numb type of shock from the transition into the dark spirit realm, which operated at a different, heavier vibration than the world she knew of and was used to. This dense frequency was what separated realms apart, even though they occupied the same spatial field. Some contained more energy than matter. There were different layers to the spiritual realm, and they were probably in one of the lowest and densest of them all. It was where necromancers drew their powers from and summoned their dark creatures. It was unheard of to physically enter that realm and he had not only transported himself, but two other people. No ordinary necromancer or spell book could do this.