The Eden Series: The Complete Collection (37 page)

“I guess so,” Aiden finally replied.

“Cool,” Wes responded, slamming the door to his locker shut. “I’ll see you later at practice then.”

They parted ways, and Aiden entered his next class, moving instantly to the back row. The fair. The thought loomed in his mind throughout the entire lesson. It was odd how he had no problem taking on an army of supernatural creatures, but a simple night out with his fellow students made him feel sick.

At lunch he found Ethan sitting at their normal table, chewing on a large bite of hamburger.

“I think I’ve seen pigs eat neater than you,” Aiden commented dryly as he sat down across from him. Ethan looked up defensively.

“Like you’ve seen pigs eat,” he scoffed. Aiden chuckled.

“So guess what I found out today?”

“That the whole football team is required to attend this year’s opening school fair?” Aiden nodded. “I know, I heard some guys talking about it in the hall. Sucks to be you, dude.”

“That’s an understatement,” replied Aiden. “So are you going to go then?”

“To the fair? Hell no!” he answered loudly. A few other people around them looked up in surprise. Aiden rolled his eyes. “Sorry,” Ethan shot out, sarcastically. Everyone quickly looked away.

“Aren’t you going with your other steroid infested jock friends anyway?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah I am.”

“Then why would I go?”

Aiden shrugged. “I was just asking.” He got the impression Ethan was slightly bitter about the whole thing, which made him feel guilty. He knew how hard it was for Ethan to accept that Aiden had physically and socially changed over the summer. They had always been on even ground together. Both were the same social standing in school, and were just as equally ignored by the majority of the student body. This year Aiden was moving up, and he wondered if Ethan felt like he was being left behind. “You can always come with us?” Aiden offered hopefully.

“No thanks.” The answer was flat and concrete, so Aiden dropped it.

He thought about asking him what was going on with Melissa, but decided against it. How did he even feel about it? Aiden thought about the idea of Ethan liking Melissa, and surprisingly it didn’t really upset him as much as he thought it might. Was it possible he had gotten over his crush? Maybe, he thought truthfully. It was possible, since he had been interested in Elisa, but now that wasn’t an option anymore. Elisa was betrothed to Wolf. There was nothing he could do about it, never mind the minor fact that he didn’t even live in the same world as her. Would he ever see her again? He was getting depressed, and focused back on Ethan and Melissa. No, he definitely didn’t care. Maybe he should encourage him? How would Ethan react?

Aiden watched Ethan as he ate, trying to decide how to handle the situation. The truth was, Ethan was never very forthcoming about his feelings, so Aiden had no idea how to approach him. He’d think of something, he decided, opting to talk about World of Warcraft instead. Ethan sat up straighter, answering Aiden’s questions with his usual good humour.

When he walked out onto the field after school, the sky was full of ominous grey clouds, and the air was moist with a hint of autumn chill. Aiden shivered as the wind rushed over him. Hopefully practice would be cancelled if it started to rain, Aiden thought optimistically. No luck. The rain came halfway through their drills. By the end of practice they were all soaking wet and miserable. As the team dressed in the locker room, the coach announced that they were indeed obligated to attend the fair. A unanimous groan rippled through the locker room.

“Go cry to your mommies,” Coach Morris barked. “I expect to see you all there – with smiles on your faces!” he added, turning to enter his office, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * * * *

“It could be worse,” his mom said, as she stirred a pot of pasta. “They could have forced you guys to actually participate in the fair activities. At least this way you can just roam around for the night.” Aiden sighed. His mother laughed in response. “I swear I don’t know whose child you are. When I was in high school I loved going to events like this. Where is your school spirit?”

He looked up tiresomely. “I’m already on the football team…Doesn’t that count for something?”

“For you, yes. I’m still shocked,” she smiled. “One night out for a school event won’t kill you,” she pointed out judiciously. He had to admit, he had been through worse things in his life. Eddie grabbed at his pants, tugging on them with her small little hands. She held a book up. Smiling, he picked her up, sitting her down on his lap. He knew the words to all her books by memory now, and that she wouldn’t be satisfied with just one. As he finished the third book, he could tell she had fallen asleep. Her head felt heavy on his chest, and her breathing was even.

“I’ll take her,” his mom whispered. She smiled down at Eddie, pure love in her eyes. “Sometimes I’m still in awe that we were blessed with her.” Her face looked suddenly sad for a moment, before she turned abruptly to walk upstairs.
What was
that
about?
He wondered.

* * * * *

The floor was littered with dirty clothes. Aiden swore as he searched frantically for a clean sweater. It was still early in the fall, but nights were already getting cold. Wes would be at his house in ten minutes to go to the fair and he wasn’t ready. There was a soft knock on his bedroom door.

“May I come in?” his mother asked, poking her head around the corner.

“Sure,” he answered quickly, keeping his focus on the task at hand.

“What are you looking for?”

“A sweater.”

“You know, if you cleaned up this place once in a while, you might actually find things in here,” his mother lectured, stepping wearily over the heaps of fabric. “Your friend is waiting outside. I asked if he’d like to come in, but he said he’d wait in the car.” Aiden swore again. He settled on a green hoodie that looked and smelled cleaner than the rest of the sweaters he had picked up.

“This will have to do,” he said, turning to go. His mother stepped hesitantly in front of him before he could make it to the door.

“I want to say something to you before you go,” she said, her voice sounding unsure. That was unusual for her. Something was up.

“What’s going on?” he asked, disinclined to actually hear the answer.

“Well, it’s just –” she faltered. “Well, this is the first time you’re going out with your new friends from the team, and I just want to make sure that you’re going to be safe.”

“Safe?”

“What I mean is – don’t do drugs,” she blurted.

Aiden rolled his eyes. “Is this what you really wanted to talk to me about? A don’t-do-drugs lecture?” He walked around her, rushing to the stairs leading down to the second floor. His mother was close on his heels. “We’ve already talked about this before, Mom. Don’t worry about me.”

“I know it can be hard though, especially when it comes to peer pressure,” she explained. They were both descending the stairs to the first floor now. Aiden turned to face her when he reached the front door.

“I’m not one to succumb to peer pressure,” he replied, reassuringly. “I’m also not one to do something as stupid as drugs, so can you please stop all this?” She looked unconvinced, but nodded her head.

“I told you not to bother him!” his dad’s voice bellowed from the family room.

Aiden leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll see you later tonight.”

“Have fun,” she replied, softly. “And be safe!” Her voice faded as he shut the door behind him.

“Wow, I’m impressed,” Wes said, in a slightly awed voice. “This thing actually looks pretty cool.” The grounds were set up exactly like any real Fairground would be. There were games and rides, food stands with popcorn and cotton candy, and ticket booths with long line-ups. The lights from the rides lit up the dark sky. Aiden looked around and couldn’t help but wish Ethan had decided to come after all. He scanned the faces of those who walked by, but didn’t see him anywhere.

The other guys had started toward the games. Aiden followed close behind, enjoying the feeling of actually being out with a large group. They all decided on a shooting game and lined up in front of the booth. Aiden laughed along with the rest, his smile widening as he effectively beat them all. They nicknamed him
Sharpshooter
from that point on.

They walked deeper into the thick of things, the sounds from the crowd, games and rides making it almost impossible to hear the each other. Aiden was shocked at how many people had actually shown up. If he guessed, he would have said almost the entire school was there. The merry-go-round was near the middle; he could see the colours and lights of the ride from where they stood. Melissa stood leaning against the fence that wrapped around the perimeter of the ride. She wore a green scarf around her neck with a dark black jacket. She was looking around like she was waiting for someone.

“I have to go,” Aiden said, suddenly, walking away from the group. Confused looks followed him, but no one called for him to stop. She spotted him as he made his way closer, a wide smile stretching across her face.

“Hey stranger,” she said, as he reached her.

“Waiting for some hot date?” he asked, smiling down at her.

She laughed. “No, I lost some of my friends. I was just looking to see if I could spot them anywhere. You here with Ethan?” Her voice pitched on Ethan’s name, but Aiden was nice enough to ignore it. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

“No, I’m here with some of the guys from the team,” he explained. Melissa looked over his shoulder. He turned to see the guys all looking over at them. Wes smiled and waved.

“Sharpshooter!” a couple of them hollered suggestively. Aiden rolled his eyes and turned back to face her.

“Sharpshooter?” she asked, raising her eyebrows in question.

“They get hit a lot in the head,” he smiled apologetically. “You want to go on a ride?”

“Sure!” she replied, excitedly. Melissa looked around, her eyes landing on the large Ferris-wheel located at the edge of the fair. She nodded her head in its direction. Aiden started to walk towards it, chanting in his head that the ride was safe. It would
not
suddenly collapse and kill them all. When they reached the line-up, Melissa produced six tickets for the two of them. The man controlling the large wheel hit a red button and an empty seat made its way to the questionable platform. He let her go first and then sat down hesitantly beside her, the seat rocking back and forth under his weight.

Melissa let out a small laugh. “You look absolutely terrified!”

“I hate rides,” he admitted, watching as the ground slowly shrunk beneath him. She continued to laugh at him. He couldn’t help but smile when his eyes met hers. “Shut up, it’s not funny.” They both chuckled as they went around, coming to a stop right at the top of the ride. The air was colder now, a strong breeze whipping through their hair. Despite his fears, Aiden had to admit that it was nice where they sat. The lights from below were far away now, giving way to the darkness of the night. You could see the stars prominently against the sky and everything seemed quieter.

“What a nice night,” Melissa commented. He nodded his head in agreement. The ride started up again, moving them around in a slow circle for two minutes before the man below started letting people on and off again. They were stuck on the outside, swinging slightly in the night breeze. People laughed and yelled at each other from above, shaking the chairs dangerously for fun. Aiden was glad he wasn’t sitting with those people. “Look at that!” Melissa exclaimed, pointing out into the trees surrounding the grounds.

“Look at what?” he asked, squinting to find what she was looking at.

“Don’t you see it? Right there, in the trees,” she urged, pointing into the distance. “There’s a bright light over there, almost like a star. Can’t you see it? It’s shimmering!” Aiden tried to follow where she was pointing. At first he couldn’t make it out, thinking that she was probably mistaking the lights of a car passing by for something else. Then he noticed it. She was right, there was a bright light amongst the trees, shimmering in the dark. Something about it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. It was oddly familiar.

“It can’t be,” he whispered, the blood draining from his face. Just when he had put everything in the past and was moving on with reality, there it was again. He didn’t know how he knew, but something in his gut was telling him exactly what this was.

“Aiden?” Melissa’s voice shook him out of his trance, it was filled with concern. He looked over slowly at her. “Are you ok? What’s wrong?” Looking back out, Aiden tried to decide what to do.

Part of him ached to go and see who was waiting for him, to go back and see his friends and the land he had missed for so long. The large forests, snow covered mountains that sat in the far north, the high walls of Capital City with its beautiful stone buildings. Hadn’t he wished for this since he came back? On the other hand, a part of him was happy now in his life. He was finally accepted into a group in his school, and seemed to actually attract the opposite sex. Melissa was still calling out to him, but he couldn’t seem to focus on what she was saying. Time would stop if he went, it would seem like he had only been gone for a couple of minutes before he came back, but now he knew the danger involved in leaving. Someone had figured out a way to kill him in Eden, and that meant there was a possibility he wouldn’t return this time. If Diana hadn’t been there at the field he would have died. What if she couldn’t be around to save him again? There were just too many uncertainties, and yet he felt like time was ticking. He had to make a choice, or his chance to return would be lost.

“I have to go,” he spoke before he even realized he was doing it.

“Go? Go where?” she asked frantically. Aiden stood up in the chair, rocking it violently back and forth. “Aiden! What are you doing?”

“That’s it, Aiden!” someone called out from below. He ignored them both, climbing over the bar that held them in, teetering dangerously on the edge of the chair. It tipped forward, causing Melissa to slide forward against the bar.