Forbidden: Book One of Wild Sky Saga (15 page)

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.”

“What 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.

Avery walked up and started to open her locker. She stopped and looked at her best
friend.

“We’re gonna go see a movie tonight. You should come.” She knew Aira probably
wouldn’t.

Aira took a breath, closed her locker and looked at Avery. “I kind of just want to
sleep.”

Avery nodded her head. “Okay… If you change your mind, we’re not going til
eight.”

Aira let out a small smile. “Thanks…I’ll talk to you later, okay?” She paused for a second and then walked
away.

Avery watched her as Joshua walked up to
her.

“You ready?” he
asked.

Avery took a breath and gave him a smile. “Ya.” She closed her locker and they left
school.