Saphora: vol.1 Retention (The Athena Universe) (4 page)

“Well that was odd
,” he said with a slight grin.

She shook her
head a bit. He wasn’t going to fool her. This tree… What was she doing to this tree? She turned back to look at it again in wonder, and he cleared his throat again, trying to get her attention.

“As I was saying. I’m your hunter. I need you to come back with me, or I might have to use this. I spared you this weapon before because you were a child. But it seems I underestimated you
,” he said with a grimace, walking towards her again. She swung her arm out again, staring at the tree. But it did not move. She raised her arm above her head, and still nothing. This made him laugh.

“What are you doing? Do you think you did that? Obviously the tree just fell a little mor
e,” he said, rolling his eyes.

She stopped her
moving and thought about that. It had been in a position where it was susceptible to falling further. Her suspicions died a bit as she thought about the logic behind that. She turned back to look at Tebias, who was beginning to really close the gap between them, making her retreat again.

“Who are you?” she
asked again, having been lost in her thoughts.

“Why, I just told you. Is your memory really that bad?” he asked in a soft voice.

“What do you mean, you’re hunting me?” she asked, beginning to feel like she was in a dream. Maybe she had actually fallen unconscious in the tree, and she was now dreaming. It would make sense that she would dream of him, after just talking about him in her session with Dr. Lupin.

“Just as it sounds. You’re hearing it right
,” he said with a grin, spinning the weapon on his index finger, causing her attention to be drawn to it. And then it was suddenly aimed between her eyes, making them go wide as her body tensed. She was in no dream. Her body would have startled her awake ages ago. No. This was a living nightmare.

“So are you going to come with me
, or am I going to have to use this?”

“Go where?”

“That’s none of your concern. It’s a yes or no question.”

“I think it
is
my concern.”

His grip on the weapo
n tightened in frustration and she took an uneasy step back, which he followed and then some.

“Yes or no
,” he repeated, his eyes narrowing while hers darted about. Her heart rate quickened and her frame began to shake again as he waited for her answer, which she knew to be no. Sensing her answer, he shrugged and gave off a look of indifference before speaking.

“Suit yourself. Such a waste
,” he said before going to pull the trigger. She felt her body pulse with adrenalin as her arms moved to guard her body, and her face buried itself into them. The time seemed to expand and move so much slower, because she saw it all. From under her arms, she watched the ground beneath her pulsate and indent into the ground, almost like a ripple. And as she panicked, her breathing quick even in this slow-motion vision, she watched as the tree trunk as it was slung forward over her and into Tebias. The bullet Tebias had fired had gone into the trunk of the tree as it hit him, and sent him hurling into the ground under it. She lifted her head with wide eyes and watched him fly alongside the tree while his weapon was knocked into the air and out of sight.

And then time picked up, and everything landed with a ground
-shaking thud. She seemed to be gasping for air when it was all over. She watched as the tree rolled to a stop, the leaves shaking subtly. She looked around at the other half of the tree, which was now beginning to fall down on her at a rather quick pace. She lifted her hands above her head, looking up at it in horror, and then in disbelief when it stopped in midair, almost like it was floating. She blinked, and stared, before even considering moving her hands, in fear that if she did, the seemingly magical tree would then continue to fall. But with a sudden knowledge of what she was doing, or an involuntarily jerk of her shaking body, she did just that. She shifted her hands to the left, and the tree followed, falling onto the ground. She huffed out a nervous laugh and looked down at her trembling hands in awe.
I did that?
she thought.
The tree … Did I just move a tree?!
And then another realization hit her, once again. She had just seen Tebias.
Tebias
. His name was Tebias, and he was real. But with what had just happened … She looked over at the rummage of the one half of the tree trunk that had fallen, slammed up against another tree with what she knew to be Tebias under it. Had she just killed someone? Her chest heaved at the thought, and she felt her knees go weak for a moment. Even though the man had just tried to kill her, she may have just killed someone. Her body shook as her mind started to pick up in speed during her thought process. She started to panic. What would she do?

“Oh my god … He’s real. He’
s real, and he’s dead,” she said to herself in a shaky voice, as she began to move her feet. In fear that if she didn’t, they would give in on her. Suddenly her world was thrust into action. She’d waited all this time for some kind of contact with her past, and now she was getting it – physically. He was just in front of her. Talking to her. Threatening her. Her head spun as she tried to recover from the impact with the brick wall of reality. For the first time, without paranoia behind it, she felt fear. Actual, logical fear. Her hands fumbled for her back pocket, aiming to take out her phone so that she could call Fran. But she stopped herself when she heard movement from the branch that had been tossed. Her body froze as her head slowly turned in its direction. It rocked, ever so slightly, stabbing Saphora’s heart with a surge of fear, before slipping from the angle it was leaning at on another tree, and falling to the ground with a loud, earth-shaking thud. With eyes that seemed to be caught in headlights, she stared at the tree, watching, and anticipating any sudden movements from it. There were none in the next immediate moments. But she didn’t want to stick around to see if there would be any in the near future. If Tebias was alive, she wanted to be as far away as she could before he came to.

Making the wise decision to leave, Saphora took off in the direction that
would take her towards the zoo, where Fran worked – or so she thought. She didn’t want to go home – not where she would be alone for the next several hours. She wanted to be in a crowd. She wanted to be somewhere she could hide, where if she was found again, it would be harder to get a hold of her. But more than anything, she wanted to feel the safety of being in Fran’s arms, under her watch. Of course, that wasn’t real safety.  Not from a man with a gun. But Saphora was frantic. She didn’t know where else to turn, or where else to go, except to the only person she trusted would do her no harm after listening to what happened.

After running for about a minute, and getting deeper into the woods, Saphora began to lift herself into the air. She was doing so hurriedly, causing her limbs to flail with the fluctuation of her distraught concentration. She ended up running into a tree, so to
speak, and wrapping her body around the branch she hit. She coughed from the impact to her diaphragm and gagged for air as she tried to keep her grip on the branch. In the mists of the chaos of her cracking psyche, Saphora felt her eyes begin to well with tears at the stress of the trauma. Her chest heaved in a sudden sob.
Why didn’t I listen to Fran?
she thought hysterically, blinking away the forming tears. This was too much. What was happening to her? Why?

She lif
ted herself up on the branch with uneasy limbs, and steadied herself to leap into the air. But during the moment of takeoff, that same bone cringing cry struck her ears, and her hands immediately went to cover them. Her concentration was nearly shattered as she screamed and fell to the ground with a crackle and a thud. The air left her lungs once again, and she curled into a fetal position. Her hands gripped the thick grass of the ground as her lips parted to wheeze and force air into her crumbling lungs. Again she coughed, desperate to inflate them as she lifted herself back onto her knees.

She couldn’t fly. And the zoo was over an hour away on foot.
The tears began to well again. What if she couldn’t make it to the zoo before he woke up and came searching for her? She turned her body to look behind her. Thankfully, there was no sign of Tebias’ recovery, if there was one to be made. Her head jerked back in its previous direction with a sudden sense of ambition, filled with the desperate hope that she had the time to get away. But now that she feared flying, she would have to rely on other methods of getting to the zoo in a timely fashion. Feeling her lungs recover, she stood once again, and started running in the direction that she needed to go. And while doing so, she dug into her back pocket to reach for her phone once again. She speed dialed Fran, and waited for her to pick up as she rushed through the scattered trees, trying to get to the open road on the other side. Fran picked up on the third ring.

“Hi,
honey. You finished doing you-“

“Fran
, he’s real. I saw him! He’s … He’s …” she breathed as she ran, being careful not to let the phone slip from her grip. “He said he was hunting me, Fran. A tree fell! I fell when I was flying, Fran, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said in a slurring cry into the phone, nearly tripping over herself. Fran shook her head, stopping in the mists of her walking and pressing her index finger into her other ear so she could hear her better. The man who was walking with Fran slowed to a stop as well, turning back and seeing the look of distress on her face. They were on their way to the iguana exhibit. Fran pressed the phone against her ear; there seemed to be static interference.

“Wait – What? Saphora,
honey, slow down. I can barely hear you. What are you saying?”

Saphora groaned, pushing her free hand against a passing tree to give her a bit more speed. She gave a quick glance behind her as she ran, to see if Tebias had begun to follow. He hadn’t, but the combination of her turning and hurried movements caused her to trip over an uplifted root and tumble onto the ground. She grunted uncomfortably, dropping the phone and tumbling a few feet forward.

Fran’s eyes narrowed and then widened when she recognized the sounds of movement of pain. She bent over herself, pressing the phone to her ear in worry.

“Saphora? Saphora!”
Fran shouted, alarming some of the people that were around her, including, Brad, her coworker. He came closer, worried but not quite sure what to do.

Meanwhile, Saphora was slowly getting back onto her knees for the third time, while looking around for her cell phone. She could hear Fran yelling on the other end, and it helped guide her hand-ear coordination. She succeeded in finding the phone, and stood up, placing it back against her ear and immediately starting to run again.

“Fran, he’s real!”

“Who’s real? What just happened? What was that?”

“I fell, Fran. I heard this noise and it was awful and I fell into a tree and the tree fell only it didn’t fall and-“

“Saphora! Slow. Down. I can’t understand you. You fell?”

“Flying! I fell out of the sky.”

“You
what?!
”

“I-“

“What did I tell you?! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where are you?”

“I’m in the woods,
” Saphora sobbed. “He’s trying to kill me. I can’t fly! Please, come get-“

“Kill – what? Hello?”

“Fran!”

“Saphora? Hello?
Honey?”

The phone’s connection was beginning to worsen, no doubt
due to the dense area of forest she was currently in. It wasn’t long before the phone beeped and cut out completely, losing the signal. Saphora whined, listening to the line go dead, and looked at her phone in utter disbelief and propelling sorrow. In a hurried trial, she tried dialing her number again. But with each attempt, all she got was the distant beeping on the line, telling her that there was no service. With a huff of frustration she stuffed her phone in her pocket and picked up her speed. She thought that maybe if she could get to the road, she could have a good enough service to reach Fran. She could tell her where she was, and get her to come pick her up. She had to tell her what happened. That the story she had been telling for all these years, and blindly defending, was actually fact. Facts that left her with so many more questions. But none that currently had any time to be answered.

Meanwhile, Fran was at the zoo, still standing in the middle of the pathway, yelling into her phone.

“Saphora? Saphora! Hello? Saphora?” she repeated again, and again. Brad, who was beginning to get more concerned, stepped closer to Fran, wanting to know what was wrong. Fran’s eyes were beginning to tear up, and Brad, like any other
sensible man, did not want to have a woman crying – especially not beside him on a crowded path.

“Fran, what’s wrong?
What happened to Saphora?” he asked, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She immediately sprang up and grabbed onto his other arm with her free hand, somewhat startling him.

“She’s in trouble. She’s never in trouble, Brad. She said she fell out of … in the woods. I lost her signal
. She sounded like she was hurt,” Fran said, trying to level the wobbling in her voice. Brad gripped her shoulder a bit tighter, trying to steady her.