by Lady Lilium
‘Only if Lauralie doesn’t come’ Lucas droned.
‘Why do you want them to come over’ Reuben asked.
‘Well’ Drake wagged a finger at Reuben knowingly. ‘One is a guardian, and the other isn’t. Maybe we can find out what's happening to you’ he said turning to Ebony. ‘I’ll just give them a call.’
He left the room quickly, taking out his mobile as he did so.
Lucas glanced sideways at Ebony. ‘What do you think of him?’
She shrugged. ‘He seems nice.’
‘I told you you two would get along.’
Ebony shuffled in her seat, fiddling nervously with the hem of her skirt. Pokie was by her side, standing with his front feet leaning against her as if to comfort.
‘Are you sure I'm ready for this?’ she asked Lucas.
Lucas cocked his head at her. ‘They're not going to hurt you.’
Drake returned a moment later. ‘They’ll be here shortly’ he declared. ‘They're on their way right now.’
Not long after that there came another knock at the door and Lucas made his way towards it. Reuben, picking up some of Ebony’s tension sat rigid in his seat. Drake sat back in his chair thoroughly relaxed, tapping his foot casually.
The door was opened, and in came a beaming Lauralie, and a cautious looking Jacob.
‘Awww hai!’ Lauralie said bounding in. ‘It’s so great to see you three. It’s been ages!’
Drake and Reuben lifted their heads at them, smiling and nodding in acknowledgment. Jacob entered the room after her, immediately noticing the unfamiliar figure of Ebony. Lucas closed the door behind them.
‘Hey Jacob’ Lucas nodded to him. ‘Did you enjoy your holiday?’
‘Oh so now you're ignoring me?’ Lauralie protested loudly, turning to Lucas with a glare and her hands on her hips. ‘Why are you always so mean to me? Actually I'm surprised you invited me over. I thought you didn’t like me.’
‘I don’t’ Lucas said flatly.
She made a face at him, sticking her tongue out and showing him and palm of her hand.
‘If you don’t have anything nice to say then I'm not going to listen to you’ she said turning away from him.
‘So how are you guys?’ she sang, looking from Reuben to Drake. ‘I see you have your cast off Reuben. That must be nice for you. And Drake, how’ve you been?’
Drake glanced sideways at Ebony who sat silently next to him; she gave him a worried look.
‘Guys’ Jacob spoke. ‘You didn’t tell me you had company.’
‘This is Ebony’ Drake introduced, looking back at Jacob and Lauralie. ‘She’s a guardian.’
‘A guardian?’ Jacob repeated staring at the girl dressed all in black. He smiled uncertainly, quiet and reserved when it came to strangers. ‘Hello’ he said.
Jacob hesitated then as he noticed the toy, hovering in the air beside Ebony. It cocked its head at him, but did not speak.
‘My name is Jacob’ he said to Ebony. ‘We all go to college together.’
‘I'm Ebony’ she replied, hunching her shoulders and looking down at her lap, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
‘That’s a pretty name’ Jacob replied. ‘Is that a stone?’
‘Actually it’s a wood’ Ebony smiled.
‘You know I should thank you Drake’ Lauralie said to him, completely ignoring Ebony and making no indication that she had noticed her existence at all. ‘I was so mad at first when you left me with Diz and Adrian, but I'm not mad anymore. In fact we seem to be getting along quite well.’
‘That’s strange’ Lucas mumbled, glancing at the back of Lauralie’s head as she launched into a full speech about all the wonderful things she and the brothers Diz and Adrian had gotten up to since they first met. ‘Not only does she seem to be unable to see you’ he said to Ebony, ‘she seems to be unable to hear any reference to you.’
‘I told you’ Ebony mumbled sadly.
‘What are you guys talking about?’ Jacob frowned at Lucas.
‘The reason we invited you’ Reuben explained to Jacob, ‘is because we wanted to know if you could see Ebony, and if Lauralie could see her too.’
‘Lauralie doesn’t seem to have noticed you’ Jacob said to Ebony, furrowing his brow in confusion and glancing at Lauralie as she rambled on, speaking to Drake who smiled back at her, feigning interest.
‘I know’ Ebony sighed. ‘It’s why I can’t live with my foster parents anymore.’
‘That’s terrible.’ Jacob sympathised.
‘I know’ Ebony sighed again, resting her chin on the ball of her hand. ‘It didn’t used to be this bad. But now it seems that the only people who even notice me anymore are guardians.’
‘I've never heard of that happening before’ Jacob mused.
‘Neither have we’ Lucas added.
They fell silent then, watching Lauralie as she continued to drone on and on to Drake about the street dancing brothers. Drake appeared to be trying his best to listen, but at this point his eyes had glazed over.
Lucas turned from the room, drifting into the kitchen. Reuben followed after him as Jacob struck up a conversation with Ebony. The brothers left the room to blurred conversation that faded into white noise.
Lucas let out a deep and weary breath, leaning forwards on the kitchen counter and staring vacantly out of the window.
‘Are you alright?’ Reuben asked him.
Li sniffed the ground furiously, hot on the trail of their prey and feeling more determined than ever to reach the end of the hunt. She lifted her fox-like head, letting out a series of whooping howls. She called her companion to her side. Kreas was there in an instant, he too picked up the scent Li had, and he began to chatter and cackled excitedly. Li led the way, her long legs giving her a wide gallop, Kreas scuttling after her.
They ran through the town one after the other. Crossing busy roads and leaping over cars and over the heads of the people in the town, all of whom were completely oblivious to their presence. They skidded to a halt outside a block of flats. Li lifted her head high, sniffing the air with lips curled up, revealing sharp canine-like teeth. Kreas skulked beside her, hissing through his needle teeth as Li stood rigid beside him with a paw lifted.
‘It’s here’ Kreas hissed eagerly. ‘It’s very close now.’
Lucas tensed suddenly, seeing through the window two creatures skulking in the alley just below the window. Two creatures he had not seen before, creatures that were not of this world.
Simultaneously the beasts lifted their heads, as if sensing his gaze. They spotted Lucas through the window, snarling silently and running out of sight, heading towards the entrance doors of the flat.
Lucas slowly straightened, backing away from the window; he began to pant, panicking silently inside.
‘What's wrong?’ Reuben asked, worry laced his tone. He had not seen what Lucas had seen.
Lucas turned to his brother, paling. ‘They're coming.’
The explosion caught them completely off guard as the front door was blown inwards. Shards of splintered wood cut the skin of those in the room as they cowered in fear and shock. Ebony lowered her arm she had raised to protect herself, seeing the beasts advancing into the room. She gasped, drawing back in fright. Pokie seeming to have no sense of safety rose higher in the air to get a better look at the new arrivals.
Kreas circled around from behind Li, creeping with his body hunched close to the ground. He screeched joyfully at the sight of Ebony, red eyes pupil-less glaring at her. Li was the first to attack; lunging forwards she snatched the toy Pokie from the air and decimated it. Shaking it violently from side to side, ignoring Ebony’s cry of despair. Li dropped the lifeless toy, its spirit now fled, her attention moved to those within the room.
Together the two creatures attacked, targeting two individuals, the strongest and the weakest beings in the room.
Lucas and Lauralie.
Li made a huge jump, leaping in one bound right over the sofa, over the heads of
the others and into the kitchen where Lucas stood. She clashed with his defence, teeth striking a hard object that Lucas had summoned by magic, a sort of short lance, glowing blue in colour.
Kreas went straight for Lauralie, but was barrelled sideways by Drake as he ran to defend her, Lauralie shaking and frozen in horror could only watch. She can see, Ebony realised with horror glancing briefly towards her. She can at last see magic.
Drake grabbed the creature by the ears, forcing its small head downwards and away from him; the beast was hissed furiously at him through its teeth. It jerked its head from side to side, seemingly trying to break free. The creature began to spin, turning over and over again in circles, trying to free himself from Drake’s grasp. The table in the centre of the room was struck by one of Kreas’s flailing limbs, the wood splintered and the glass shattered. Jacob could only watch the struggle helplessly beside Lauralie and Ebony, wishing desperately that his magic would come to him.
In the kitchen Li swung her head again in attack, but was deflected another two times, this time by both brothers fighting now as one.
Kreas pushed Drake to the side once more, then without warning swung his head sharply the opposite direction. Drake’s fingers slipped from the ears of the beast and he was thrown back when the creature swung its head back again the other way, hitting him and throwing him to the ground. Drake grimaced, picking himself up off the glass strewn floor. He threw a random spell towards the black creature. The magic struck Kreas on the forehead, but had as much effect it seemed as a fly bite.
‘You're weak’ Kreas hissed. ‘A weak juvenile guardian.’
‘It can speak?’ Drake breathed in shock and awe.
Behind him Jacob stared transfixed, as if in a trance. Beside him Lauralie clung to his arm, her skin was a sickly shade; on his other side Ebony remained seemingly calm.
Li in the next room had ceased her attacks on the brothers. Instead backing off momentarily, calculating the situation. She began to advance once more into the small kitchen.
‘What a surprise’ she growled as she formed her words with her canine mouth, ‘to find guardians so young, but so strong.’
Lucas narrowed his eyes at the beast. ‘What are you?’
‘Why, I'm a guardian like yourself’ Li gleamed.
‘What do you want?’ Reuben asked.
Behind them Kreas knocked Drake off his feet again, trapping and bearing down on him joyfully. He pressed a great clawed hand upon his chest, pushing down with all his weight. Beneath him Drake gasped for air.
‘We want’ Li answered, ‘the girl. The one in black.’
All eyes in the room turned to Ebony.
‘Or else we kill all of you, and take her anyway’ the beast Li finished.
‘We start with this one’ Kreas hissed, glaring down at Drake, who continued to struggle helplessly beneath his grasp.
Jacob snapped out of his trance then, blinking several times and shaking his head violently.
He moved forward, throwing out his hand. From the centre of Jacob’s palm came a fabulously bright blue glowing orb that had no effect whatsoever. The glowing ball of light sailed steadily through the air, and out the window.
Kreas began to laugh hysterically, cackling and howling. The weight he had on Drake lessened slightly, and Drake used this opportunity to free himself. He grabbed a shard of glass from the broken table that lay beside him, holding it tight and ignoring the pain as its sharp sides cut his palm. Slashing wildly at the air above him he cut Kreas at the throat, sending the beast rearing up in pain and shock as blood spilled to the carpet. Caught by surprise it retreated, Drake now able rose to his feet, holding the shard before him like a weapon. Blood dripped to the floor from between his fingers. But he paid this no heed.
‘You will pay for that’ Li growled as Kreas, surprisingly silent curled up into a ball, nursing his wound carefully and trying to stem the flow of blood. ‘You will die now’ Li threatened. ‘All of you.’
Lucas made a sudden move, flicking back his jacket and plucking from the waist of his jeans a miniature round device, small enough to hold in your fingertips. Li tried to stop him, but her snapping jaws just missed his arm by centimetres. The device struck the floor and exploded in a cloud of thick purple smoke.
Lucas darted past the beast Li, coughing and spluttering, and into the living room where the others were, grabbing just before he left the kitchen the first and only weapon that came to hand.
‘Ebony!’
He struggled to fight through the smoke, trying to find her, swiping at the air and stumbling.
‘Ebony!’
‘I'm here!’
Something grabbed him, something with claws. Lucas instinctively struck out with his weapon and stabbed. It let go of him, hissing like steam coming out of a vent.
‘Lucas!’
‘Ebony?’
He turned, seeing her there before him.
Drake was on his knees now; he lifted his head, hearing the sound of breaking glass.
Lucas put his arm firmly round Ebony and leapt through the window.
‘Quickly!’ Li called to her companion Kreas. ‘They're escaping!’
The smoke was still thick, though it was dissipating now. Kreas scanned the room, one claw hovering over his left shoulder, over the wound. The brother Reuben still remained in the kitchen, Jacob stood away from the creatures near the corner of the living room, and Lauralie remained frozen where she had been. But two of them where gone. The strongest one and the girl in black.
‘They're escaping!’ Li howled. ‘Hurry Kreas!’
One after the other, the creatures crawled through the broken window after them.
The next Reuben looked up; the smoke was almost all gone, along with the two creatures, Ebony, and his brother.
The aberrant guardian tilted his head to the sky, unfurling his wings at the sound of the cry of the beasts.
It’s them!’ the red haired guardian Indigo cried. He braced himself. ‘Those monsters are after her!’
Shire swung her head round, her blue hair swishing.
‘Go!’ she called to the aberrant.
Culture took off in a flurry, tearing through the sky as fast as his wings could carry him. The sudden wind created from the downwards thrust of his wings drew the attention of the people in the streets, who wondered where the unexpected gust had come from. Many looked towards the guardians, but they did not see them.
‘Where are they Siren?’ the Indigo snarled through gritted teeth.
Siren consulted the orb.
‘I see it clear…he has her…’
‘What?’ he rounded on her. ‘He’s found it before us?’
‘No’ Siren shook her head, ‘it’s not them, not the ones we know…it’s another.’
‘Who is it child?’ her mother Shire asked tenderly.
Siren narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, looking down into the swirling light coming from the orb.
Shire placed a hand upon her daughters shoulder.
‘Darling girl’ Shire told her. ‘We cannot waist time.’
‘She’s in safe hands’ Siren reassured. ‘Not with the enemy. She goes with Lucas willingly; they are fleeing together the beasts that hunt them.’
‘Lucas?’ Indigo repeated. ‘We must catch them up. We must find her before they do.’
‘Where are they Siren?’ Shire asked.
She pointed.
‘Nearby; in that direction.’
The next few minutes for Ebony were a blur. The wind was strong, and the ground beneath her moved quickly by, at a distance she dared not look to guess.
But soon the change in the wind and the sudden tightness in her stomach told her that she was descending. Her feet touched the ground, and steadying herself, she opened her eyes.
‘What happened?’ she asked, looking around blearily.
‘I don’t know’ Lucas replied, letting her go. ‘I don’t know what those things were. I just knew we had to get away.’
&
nbsp; ‘But what about the others?’ Ebony voiced. ‘What about your brother?’
‘My brother can take care of himself, as for the others…well’ he shrugged. ‘The creatures were only after you…or so they said.’ He fell into a silent worry, frowning to himself.
‘You're right, they only want me’ Ebony reassured him. ‘They wouldn’t have hurt the others. They have no reason to.’
‘Why are they after you?’ Lucas asked her. ‘Whatever the reason they seem hell bent on it.’
‘Well’ Ebony spoke slowly, almost teasingly as she gazed past him. ‘I suppose we both have secrets we’ve kept back.’
She turned and walked away from him. Lucas followed.
The tall grass of the field in which they stood swayed and danced as they moved through. A narrow picket fence with a single line of barbed wire ran along to the side of them, sections of the fence were broken and toppled over. What lay beyond was unremarkable, but within the field itself, grew a variety of wild flowers, making the field speckled with colour in the blanket of green.
‘Your belt’ Ebony said to Lucas who walked beside her. ‘What are those devices that you carry?’
Lucas automatically and unconsciously tried to hide them from view.
‘They're nothing’ he mumbled.
‘It was like a smoke-bomb, you used it to help us escape.’
Lucas reluctantly took one of the remaining two from his belt and showed it to her.
It was a curious looking device made of what looked like scrap metal, shaped like a piece of paper that had curled and scrunched up as it blackened in a fire.
‘What is it?’ Ebony said as she looked down at it.
‘Just small things I've been working on’ Lucas replied advertently. ‘Like a project.’ He shrugged. ‘You know.’
He tucked it away again.
‘Where are we?’ Ebony asked, taking in the ambience of the meadow around them.
‘We’re just outside the town’ Lucas replied looking over his shoulder at the buildings nearby. ‘I thought it was safer here.’
‘I didn’t realise we were still so close to home’ Ebony mumbled. ‘I thought you had taken me far away.’ She smiled then, taking a deep breath and stretching her arms high towards the sky. She sighed happily, allowing her body to relax again. ‘It feels like we’re in the countryside’ Ebony beamed. ‘It’s really beautiful here.’
