Harrison grinned and pulled himself up off the car, “Any casualties on your side?”
“No, only a few still on the vessel,” he looked back into the triangular craft. “They are licking their wounds by now, of that I am sure.”
“Very well, let us get these humans back to their homes and erase the encounter from their minds.”
Levi nodded, “There must be at least fifty more humans on that vessel. Tell Samuel to send for more Guardians in order to help return them back to their normal lives.”
Harrison clapped Levi on his shoulder, “Mission accomplished?”
Levi laughed, “For now.”
The holographic screen became black and iridescent lights gradually illuminated the large room that Levi, Harrison, and all who attended their final ceremony were in.
Clapping filled the room as Harrison leaned over to Levi, “You know, that simulation seemed so much more intense when we actually completed it.”
Levi continued to clap with the audience and graduates among them. “What are you talking about?”
“Forgive me, but we are graduating at the top of our class and they show that training reel that we underwent last week.” He sighed. “It looked like a bad alien film from Earth…and we were the stars! It is a bit embarrassing.”
The clapping stopped as the emperor took his place at the podium to close out the graduating ceremony.
“How would you know what a bad ‘alien’ movie on Earth was like?” Levi telepathically asked his cousin and newly assigned Guardian partner.
Harrison looked somberly at the emperor, yet continued to converse telepathically with Levi instead of listening to the closing comments of their graduation ceremony.
“I believe it was the first—no, perhaps the second visit to the planet with my instructor that I convinced him that we should partake in one of Earth’s greatest past times.”
Levi’s glanced over at Harrison, “You went to a movie theater while on assignment?”
“The refreshments are absolutely delicious. They have this amazing thing called popcorn…You just have to try it to know what I am talking about. You are really going to love it.”
Is this what my future of serving on Earth with you shall consist of?
What else would it consist of?
“And in closing, I ask that you stand to recognize yet another phenomenal generation of Guardian warriors.” Navarre turned toward the large group of warriors and led the crowd in clapping to acknowledge their promotion.
Chapter One
Harrison and Levi followed the mob of guests out of the ceremonial room of Pasidian Palace. As they walked toward the grand ballroom for the after ceremony celebration, they were stopped by the emperor.
“Gentlemen, you are to change into the clothing assigned for a mission that you are needed on immediately. Each of your butler’s have been given the outfits that you will use to blend in. Once changed, report to the Command Center at once. Samuel has your orders. Prepare to leave Pemdas immediately.
Without questioning the emperor’s words, both men did directly as instructed and when dressed, walked briskly through the private servant passageways. Once at the Command Center, Harrison shoved the doors open, and marched in with Levi at his side.
“Gentlemen,” Samuel, their commander, greeted them.
“Commander,” both men responded simultaneously.
“I am fairly confident that you both are still wondering why we have chosen this particular mission for you and why you must leave immediately.”
Harrison crossed his arms, “I am definitely interested in learning why we are infiltrating a high school on Earth.”
Samuel instantly picked up on Harrison’s tone of annoyance. “Do you have a problem with this assignment?”
“Sir, with all due respect, I am truly struggling to understand why our first assignment—”
“Listen,” Samuel cut him off in his deep voice. “We have an important situation at this particular school that requires the Guardians to be present. I think it is quite obvious that our seasoned Guardians will not blend in as well as both of you, being that you both are eighteen and nineteen years of age. Do you expect I should put Julian Hamilton on the case?”
“Of course not, sir, but—”
“I am not finished, Guardian,” Samuel barked at Harrison. “You and Levi graduated at the top of your class, and you both know very well that we do not flippantly send our new recruits to Earth without a seasoned partner. If you both,” he eyed Levi, then Harrison, “should feel this assignment beneath you, you can easily be replaced with Mr. Visor who graduated closely behind you. Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Yes, commander.
“Good. Moving forward. We have reason to believe that the Ciatron are a part of a series of abductions of teens from this high school.”
“Abductions?” Levi questioned. “How could this happen without any warning?”
“This is what we need you to uncover. You will attend this school as new students, discover who is behind this, capture the being, and locate the abducted humans.”
“May I ask how many have been abducted?” Harrison asked.
“Five.”
“Very well.”
“Now, you are to be at this school in less than an hour,” Samuel handed each man a paper with class itineraries on it. “You will first report to this location where you will find a room set up with supplies for your assignment. Ensure that you do not attract attention upon arrival.” He tossed Levi and Harrison both a set of silver keys. “You are already checked in to your motel room. Do not be late for your first day at this school, as it will draw more interest to your presence there.”
Levi and Harrison turned to leave. “Gentlemen!” Levi’s father, the emperor, called out stopping them. He studied both men, “Do not force me and your commander to regret this decision.”
With a nod of dismissal, Emperor Navarre turned to Samuel, prompting Harrison and Levi to leave the command center.
“Well,” King Hamilton, Emperor Navarre’s closest friend, said as he approached the men exiting the command center. “I see you both are adequately dressed for your first assignment on Earth.”
Levi studied the king’s humored expression, knowing that their good friend Julian Hamilton—the king’s son and a Guardian on Earth for the last year—and the witty king probably had great enjoyment learning that the men’s first assignment would be to blend in as high schoolers on Earth.
“More than excited, Your Majesty!” Harrison forced himself to say with excitement.
King John Hamilton’s bronze eyes glimmered in amusement, “I can see that.” He gripped Levi’s shoulder, “I am confident that you shall return from this mission, proving that it is possible to send new recruits to Earth without a seasoned Guardian to help them.”
“Our only concern at the moment is ensuring these humans are returned home without memory of being abducted and our person of interest answers to the Council of Worlds for breaking the treaty.”
King Hamilton nodded, “Please, do not let me keep you any longer.”
Harrison’s eyes followed King Hamilton as he walked nobly into the command center.
“Is it just me, or do you get the odd feeling Samuel, your father, and Ham are all in there enjoying a good joke at our expense?”
Levi resumed their walk, “First of all, we need to remain focused on the assignment, as human lives depend on it. Secondly,” he looked at Harrison’s annoyed expression, “it would be best if you get it through your stubborn mind that Samuel is no longer ‘Samuel.’ He is our commander, now. And most importantly, even though I am the emperor’s son and you his nephew, that doesn’t mean we are more privileged than others.”
“I think the commander made that perfectly clear when he threatened to put Visor on the case.”
Levi smiled. “Perhaps he should have,” he rose a brow in humor. “At least I would have a partner that would appreciate any assig
nment given to him.”
“You are saying that Samuel would have only replaced me?”
“Did you hear me complaining?”
“Touché.”
The first assignment on Earth was certainly something that annoyed Levi as well, yet he was able to remain silent about his true feelings. His cousin, known for being outspoken, had nearly cost them the case. Annoying or not, Levi knew that both he and his cousin would handle this assignment flawlessly and be trusted from this point on to serve on earth without a seasoned Guardian’s assistance. Unfortunately, they had no idea that the assignment that awaited them would be one that even a seasoned Guardian would struggle to conquer.
Chapter Two
At the end of their first day at this high school, Levi and Harrison were left with no leads. They returned to their motel room in hopes to conjure up a plan to find their person of interest before another teen was abducted.
While sitting across a small table with an untouched salad in front of him, Levi’s thoughts were distracted when he glanced over at his cousin devouring a hamburger as if he’d been starved for a week.
“You act as though the palace has never fed you,” Levi said as we watched Harrison toss a handful of fries into his mouth.
Disgusting, he thought, losing his appetite and shoving his salad to the side.
“What?” Harrison returned with a mouth stuffed with food. “This food is phenomenal. Pasidian’s staff needs to change things up in the kitchen if you ask me.” He eyed his hamburger before taking another bite, “What’s in this?”
“It is called sodium, my friend, and I believe it is having an odd effect on your brain.” Levi sighed as he gazed out of the window to their right. “The entire staff has been cleared at this school, the students remain unaffected by the teens that are missing—I am desperately hoping that we can come up with something before being forced back to that school for another day.”
Harrison gulped down his soda and grinned, “Afraid that young Vanessa is going to make a solid move in your direction again?”
“I am not afraid of anything,” Levi tossed Harrison a napkin. “I want to get to the bottom of this and quickly.”
“Then I suppose we have no other option than to intrude upon Vanessa’s little get-together tonight.”
“Only you would know she is having a ‘get-together’ after one day. Do you believe that this is where the next abduction will occur?”
“It is as good a guess as any. This creature is seeking young, teen females. Vanessa’s parents are out of town, and what a perfect—”
“Wait,” Levi interrupted his cousin, “this is information we could have used earlier. This creature is only abducting teen females?”
“Yes.”
“You couldn’t have bothered to share that information with me sooner?” Levi rose up, shoving his chair backward. “We need to leave now!”
Harrison stood with Levi, “I can’t finish my—”
“No,” Levi sheathed his dagger into his boot and chucked Harrison the other sheathed blade. “What is wrong with you, anyway? You withhold the only information that would serve to help us out of this entire, obnoxious day, but you would rather finish a meal that has…” Levi stopped himself. “Forget it. Let’s just go.”
* * *
Levi was relieved to see his cousin back in action, once nightfall covered the desert town they were in. Both tall men walked somberly toward the house that Vanessa had mentioned she and her friends would be at that evening.
As the men stepped up to the front door of the home, Levi stopped when a blue aura appeared out of the corner of his eye. Instantly, both men reacted when the sounds of a young woman scream’s filled the air.
Sprinting through the streets, both men’s supernatural stealth helped them swiftly trail the illuminating being dragging the human young woman at his side. Harrison unsheathed his dagger while Levi ripped the woman from the captor’s embrace. As the woman fell to the ground, Harrison and Levi both lunged into the air to snatch the being, a bright light flashed, and they both landed on a hard desert surface.
“What in all of—”
“Wait,” Levi cut Harrison off, both men trying to get their bearings.
Suddenly, it was the middle of day, the modern buildings that once surrounded them were gone, and the electric shapeshifting being they had nearly caught had simply vanished.
Levi and Harrison remained silent, and all that was heard were a few birds and the rustling sounds of nature from a soft breeze blowing in from their side. They exchanged glances but continued to make out their new surrounding environment.
“Okay,” Harrison finally said, placing both hands on his hips. “One of Earth’s most natural beauties still remains unchanged and in the distance.”
Levi pivoted around. “Yes. We are still in the vicinity of the crimson sandstone formations,” he squinted at the horizon, “but why have all of the buildings vanished?
“Could we have been thrown into an alternate reality?”
“The Ciatron have no way of altering any form of reality; therefore, even though I wish to agree with you, it would not be possible.”
Both men, daggers in hand and entirely uncertain of what had happened, silenced themselves again, still trying to grasp their current predicament.
Harrison took a step to the side, only to hear the usual warning from a common venomous snake in the area. His sudden movement in the direction where the reptile was concealing itself prompted the snake to immediately strike toward Harrison. Fortunately, Harrison’s stealthy skills proved to be faster than the poisonous snake’s strike. He threw his dagger toward it and pinned the head to the hard surface of the desert floor.
Levi sighed, unaffected at the attack his cousin had countered. “Harrison, it is obvious that we are still on Earth. The rocks have proven we are in the same location we were in before that light flashed. The Earth’s magnetic energy in this location is still strong. No being can replicate that. So it is not a question of where we are,” he looked all around again, “I believe it is a question of when we are.”
Harrison stood and wiped his blade against the denim material of his pants. “How original, Levi,” he returned. “Can we stop a minute and think about this before you become even more melodramatic than this situation requires us to be?”
“More melodramatic?” Levi questioned in confusion, “Harrison, there are absolutely no buildings and no signs of life. If this were some fabricated alternate reality, that reptile you just destroyed—
“Would have turned to black particles or white smoke—I know,” Harrison answered in more frustration than usual.
“So my assumptions are not dramatic.”
“It was the way you said it.”
“Can you not see or sense it? We are in a different time period. There is no other explanation.”
“Impossible.”
Levi waved his dagger in the air. “How do you explain all of this? That reptile alone has proven the being, or whatever that things was, did not throw us into an alternate reality. None of it adds up unless you factor in time travel.”
“Time travel does not exist! Theories, yes, but, nothing has been able to ride the ripples of time. Nothing.”
“You know what? None of it matters. We basically rode that creature into this location, and now we have to find it—if it is not already listening to us bicker like an old couple—and when we capture it, we shall have answers and most likely have the humans it has been taking from…” Levi stopped.
“From?” Harrison taunted.
“From the time period we were forced out of.” Levi and Harrison exchanged glances of indignation toward each other. “Let’s at least find some cover to ensure our own safety.”
Harrison hesitated before following Levi out of the open location. “And here I thought I was the crazy one out of us both,” he glanced up into the cloudless, blue sky. “Apparently, I was wrong, along with everyone else. You, my friend, are the one wit
h the brilliant imagination!”
“It is simple logic,” Levi said glancing around the path they were traveling through. “If this were an alternate reality, everything would be fabricated. As I said before, the reptile you destroyed is only one example. Also,” he plucked a twig from a bush, “the branches we are removing from our path, would dissolve before us and no longer be present.”
“I can argue that easily.”
“Oh?”
“Indeed. Perhaps this human-abducting creature has been bringing in more than only humans into this reality.”
Levi stopped, turned to face his cousin. “What?”
“And so I have his attention. This thing we believed to be a Ciatron defender could be bringing in plant life and other life to create an ecosystem close to Earth’s in its very own fabricated reality.”
“For what purpose?”
“I don’t know. I am not the demented being that is doing this. Perhaps it wants to live as a higher being to be worshipped by everything it creates here. I would never put anything past our greatest enemy. The Ciatron will do anything to take full control of all realms and dimensions.”
“And I am the crazy, overly imaginative one?”
“Just walk!” Harrison ordered with the tip of his blade. “You have to admit, my idea is more much reasonable than time travel.”
“I am no longer arguing this point with you,” Levi interjected. “We will not know for sure what has taken place until we capture that being and question him.”
The men traveled under the scorching sun, both mentally overpowering their body’s need for rest, coolness, or hydration. A talent the Pemdai Guardians possessed was the ability to use their minds to control their bodies’ reactions to any harm that would come their way.
“So,” Harrison finally spoke, “for the sake of staying on task and working together to capture this being, let’s say that time travel does exist. If that is the case, what do you believe we are dealing with now?”
Before Levi could respond, they entered a clearing where a man and woman, both appearing to be in their twenties, were staring at them speculatively.
That Moment When: An Anthology of Young Adult Fiction Page 19
