The Guardian's Protector: The Chamber of Souls

by Debbie Kowalczyk

  Ethan, screaming in a fit of rage at the figure of light, grabbed Kate’s hand who stood, trance-like, to follow him. The figure of light grabbed Amy’s face and sent a wave of light up her nose and into her throat, taking away the smoke and the spell, and she instantly screamed, ‘TOM!’

  The luminous figure left her and, letting the fire tear through his light and rip into his skin with each step, ran straight up the stairs. Amy stood and watched Ethan drag Kate down the road.

  ‘I’m in here,’ Tom’s muffled voice screamed, followed by barking from David.

  As Amy looked up, Tom’s bedroom window smashed open. Amy ran backwards as the figure punched the rest of the glass from the pane. Pulses of dazzling light fought to dispel the flames that were tearing deeper into his skin.

  Amy screamed as she watched the man flip Tom’s mattress to blanket the majority of the flames while Tom hammered his fists on the wardrobe.

  The man opened the wardrobe, and a burst of light rid him of flames as he grabbed Tom and David. Amy saw the man’s back catch fire again. The fire ripped through his skin but he steadily leaned out of the window as far as he could and dropped David into Amy’s arms, then, with Tom tight to his chest, the man leapt out of the window, landing awkwardly on his back so Tom had a soft landing.

  Amy, still screaming, threw herself at Tom and the man, beating them both to put out the flames. Even though the man was unconscious, little bursts of light came from his body as if to help her in her quest.

  It was only once the flames were dead and his light gone that Amy could clearly see the man who lay as though dead. Even though he was burnt beyond belief, his face almost turned into ash, it wasn’t hard to recognise him. How could she not recognise the man she loved?

  Tom looked fine but, from the state of Mark’s face, and his body, which could be seen through the bits of material his clothes had been reduced to, Amy became hysterical.

  ‘Where’s Ethan?’ Mark whispered.

  Amy couldn’t believe he was alive; she could see he was in sheer agony. ‘They ran off,’ Amy stuttered, crying at the state of him. She couldn’t believe he had run through all those flames and damaged himself for Tom.

  ‘Shout…’ Mark started, then fell unconscious.

  She glanced at his body and saw his right knee bent out the wrong way, the bone sticking out. ‘I…need…to phone…an ambulance.’

  ‘I can heal Mark,’ Tom offered, placing his hands on Mark’s face. As light emanated from his palms, Amy sat back in a mesmerised stupor.

  In the dark of night, it wasn’t the sound of the windows exploding or the roaring flames that startled Amy; they paled in significance. All she could see, while her jumbled, traumatised mind registered what Mark had done, was the immense, silvery-white light Tom had conjured.

  Swirling and gleaming with tiny, luminous speckles, pulsating like it had a mind of its own, it seeped into Mark’s pores. The bedazzling light then glided up and down his body as if finding all the right places to heal, hypnotising Amy as it did. She gasped in awe as Mark’s completely burnt face began to reform to its natural skin colour, all the burnt bits flaking off him as if it had been just a mudpack. Tom took Mark’s arms and did the same. The concentration on his face was immense as the flesh reformed and healed.

  Tom then placed his hands on Mark’s broken leg and, with a blinding flash, it twisted and popped then, after the bone re-entered the broken skin, it knitted back together, healing the wound it had caused.

  The cracking sound made the hairs on Amy’s body stand on end. It glowed for a moment longer before giving off one last, blinding flash and then seemed to sink fully into his skin.

  Mark lay peacefully as if the doctoring hadn’t caused him pain while Amy dropped back, cuddling David, and continued to watch in awe as Tom cured each of Mark’s burns. She wondered for the first time whether what she was seeing was a dream. What was this miracle before her? How could what Tom was doing be possible? The true nature of who he was hit her like a physical blow.

  Another blow hit as she then realised that it must have been Mark who saved her from the dark alley years before.

  ‘Mum, can you help me turn him over please?’

  Amy just stared, shivering on the freezing floor, in shock. In her dumbfounded state, she barely heard him.

  ‘Mum,’ he repeated, clapping his hands to get her attention, ‘his back’s hurt!’

  ‘No,’ she said, shaking her head.

  ‘Mum.’

  ‘No, no, no, this isn’t happening.’

  ‘Mum!’ The sternness of his voice made her leap towards him and do as he asked. She then watched him rub his glowing hands down Mark’s spine. Through the tatters of his clothes she could see more of his burns being healed. As if they were on rewind, the crumpled, black skin flaked off and new fibres of fleshy, white skin appeared.

  ‘Mark,’ Tom said, ‘are you hurt anywhere else?’

  Mark stirred and lifted his head. ‘Hurt?’ he said, disorientated, turning over and sitting up. He looked down at himself, rubbed his healed leg and looked confused.

  Amy threw her arms around him, weeping uncontrollably, as Tom, after all his hard work, sat back and cuddled David. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Amy asked, squeezing him to the point of strangulation.

  ‘I tried,’ he said, holding her close to his body, now fully allowing himself to do so. He wasn’t rigid and uncomfortable any more. His body, as if trying to absorb some kind of love he’d not allowed himself to feel until now, was totally pressed against her. Embracing her. Loving her. She could sense the relief inside him.

  She pushed away from him to meet his eyes. ‘It was you that night in the alley.’

  ‘Yes,’ he admitted.

  ‘Are you always going to be around to save the day?’ she asked, runny-nosed and grateful.

  ‘Of course,’ he replied, wiping a tear from her eye. ‘Especially now you’ll be living at mine too,’ he added, looking up at the burning maisonette.

  ‘Wow,’ Tom murmured as the flames grew. ‘This is the best birthday ever!’ Mark smiled and ruffled the burnt cinders from Tom’s hair.

  CHAPTER 16

  THE MOVE

  ‘All Tom’s birthday presents!’ Amy wept as she took in the burning home before her. Looking up at the flames, eating away at all they owned, she became stricken with loss.

  ‘I’ll replace them,’ Mark said, patting her shoulder. ‘Everything he had.’

  ‘I can’t let…’ she began, her eyes locking with his.

  ‘Don’t be silly. My money is to make people happy.’

  Amy turned as flashing lights and sirens came up behind them. As fire fighters began putting out the flames, the paramedic, considering the state of Mark’s clothes, rushed to him and asked if he needed any help and, after taking another look, was confused that he didn’t. He then checked Tom.

  As if the sirens and lights woke Amy from her trauma, Amy’s eyebrows furrowed. A flash of reality hit. In a split second she went from feeling grateful and loving towards Mark, to feeling betrayed. Her eyes flaring with rage and upset, she pushed herself from his arms. He wasn’t her Mark anymore and, as if he noted the change, Mark grabbed her hand and tried to pull her back towards him.

  ‘No,’ she said, yanking herself free, ‘you lied to me!’ She looked at him like he was from another planet. A feeling of overwhelming loss washed over her as she sat back to look at him with new eyes.

  No wonder he looked at her like it was the last time he would see her. No wonder he asked her about lying. All along, he must have seen her turning white near him, just like Tom. She was embarrassed. Distraught. It wasn’t just her home—it was as if her whole world was tumbling down beside her.

  ‘You’re white all the time!’ Amy said, tears in her eyes. Tom said he was white and she stupidly presumed it was because he loved her.

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘I’ve been so foolish,’ she said, remembering Adaizi telling her that Guardians don’t
have relationships. He was an older version of Tom, a magical being who had come to serve Earth. With the realisation he didn’t love her like she loved him, couldn’t love her the way she wanted, she broke down.

  ‘Amy,’ Mark started, up on his knees, grabbing for her hand again, ‘it doesn’t change anything between us. I’m still the same pers—’

  ‘It changes everything!’ she yelled, yanking her hand from him, her eyes filled with a mixture of pain and hatred.

  In response, to her utter dismay, Mark’s beautiful eyes filled with distress and hurt, and welled with tears. He stared intently at her with every inch of his love for her, although a Guardian’s love was somehow not the same.

  ‘You really fooled me!’ she hissed. ‘No wonder you love Tom. No wonder you weren’t freaked out by him. You’re not a super nice person who loved him for what he was! You’re the same as him!’

  ‘The last thing I wanted was to fool you,’ he said, looking like she’d shot him. ‘I tried to show you. I kept bringing all those books, hoping you’d click I was the teacher in the Order. When I mentioned the classroom, I thought you’d realised…’

  ‘Oh yeah, that would make me think, “This man is a divine being and that’s why he’s giving my son a load of spelling books”! You should have told me you were a Guardian! Why didn’t you?’ All her attachments and feelings for him crumpled and severed as she spoke.

  Mark turned and gave a shy smile to the paramedic who’d turned in alarm at Amy’s outburst. ‘Because of your reaction. We thought you’d feel surrounded. Hounded, even. Like we were muscling in on you. We didn’t want you to be paranoid or feel crowded.’ The way he said ‘we’ hurt her deeply.

  ‘You mean I wouldn’t have trusted you or become as close to you or even let myself be around you like I have. You tricked me into wanting to be with you!’

  ‘No, it was never like that. Please believe me. I wanted you to know I’m your friend more than anything. I didn’t want you to feel spied upon.’

  ‘What?’ she yelled. ‘You’ve followed me and been watching me, not because you’re my friend, but because I’m the Protector!’

  ‘I was looking out for you! That’s what friends do as well, you know.’

  ‘Friends tell each other everything!’ she screeched, becoming more furious.

  ‘Friends are honest, yes, that’s why I couldn’t kiss you that day…I wanted you to know…’

  ‘I know why! I bet you had a right laugh! Amy trusts Mark…oh and look…now she loves him, ha ha?’ Amy felt like her heart was breaking in two.

  Mark looked distraught by her pain. ‘Guardians don’t lie and cheat or laugh at people!’

  ‘No, they just use deceit.’

  ‘Amy, please,’ Mark cried, his eyes begging and desperate. ‘It doesn’t change what we have.’

  ‘We have nothing!’ she said sternly. Before Mark could react, the paramedic interrupted.

  ‘The boy seems fine, but are you sure you’re okay, sir?’ he asked Mark.

  ‘He doesn’t need to be taken to hospital,’ Amy interrupted whilst laughing. ‘Can’t you tell he’s a magical being?’ The paramedic stared at her for a moment, not knowing how to react. ‘You can’t tell?’ she asked again. ‘Here I was thinking it was just me.’

  The man grimaced at her like she was crazy, and then looked back to Mark.

  ‘We’re fine, thank you,’ Mark said, his face as pleasant as ever.

  With the fire extinguished, there left only a cold silence. As the fire fighters made their way back to their engine, their faces filled with sympathy at Amy’s upset.

  ‘Can I at least give you a lift somewhere?’ the paramedic asked, not wanting to leave them in the middle of the pavement, looking lost.

  ‘We’re fine,’ Mark confirmed.

  ‘We are,’ Amy added, looking completely deranged. ‘We’ll probably be travelling in a big bubble of light!’

  As the man walked away, giving Mark a good-luck-with-your-handful expression, Tom’s eyes lit up.

  ‘Are we really travelling in a big bubble of light?’ he said as if he was going to an amusement park. Amy sighed.

  ‘Amy…’ Mark began, trying to grab her hand again.

  Amy pulled her hand away, stood, brushed herself down and stared coldly at him. ‘What happens now?’

  Mark stood. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I made a promise. I keep my word! Tom was in danger so I will invoke the light!’

  ‘Oh,’ Mark said, realising the conversation had turned professional.

  ‘I will invoke it and then kill the bastard myself!’ she added.

  Tom turned and looked up at her, shocked.

  ‘Sorry.’ Her face relaxed as if suddenly aware he was there.

  ‘You can’t do that!’ Mark said. ‘Not until he’s seven, that is.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘It’s unfair!’

  ‘Of course it is!’ Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him.

  ‘We have to give him a fighting chance. We have to make sure he will actually use the full powers he’ll gain for evil. And we have to wait until after his first term.’

  ‘We?’ she said. ‘I’m not a Guardian. I’m the Protector. I can do whatever I like. I’m not governed by your divine laws—’

  ‘There are still consequences for you! If you break these rules you will no longer be classed as Awake. You will have to take the Test.’

  ‘So what…at least he’ll be stopped and Tom saved from…’

  ‘Amy,’ Mark stressed, his voice authoritative, ‘if you have to take the Test, you may not come out of the Chamber again for a few thousand years. You will not be with Tom in the afterlife.’

  For a second she was struck dumb. She knew she didn’t fully understand the rules but she certainly understood the look on his face; she knew it wasn’t a good idea. ‘Okay, then, I will invoke the light, train with it, and when he’s seven then I’ll kill him! I want Tom out of it!’ She scowled at Mark, daring him to contradict her.

  ‘If you could do that, I’d help you,’ he offered supportively. ‘I don’t want Tom to have to go through pain either.’

  Amy’s expression softened as she realised he meant it. ‘Will you help me protect Tom from his fate?’ All her stubbornness and angst gone, she suddenly looked like a lost puppy.

  ‘You know I will,’ he promised. ‘With every fibre of my being! I would die for him!’ His beautiful and trusting eyes were more adamant than anything she’d ever seen. A rush of love washing over her, she felt angry again for her loss.

  ‘Are we travelling in a bubble?’ Tom said in an excited manner.

  ‘It’s called a Light-Void,’ Mark corrected, then looked at Amy for her response.

  ‘Can it take all of us?’ she asked, again cold and professional.

  ‘Yes,’ he said sheepishly.

  ‘Let’s go then.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Mark asked, with a worried look. ‘A Light-Void can feel a bit weird the first time you trav—’

  ‘Let’s go!’ she ordered.

  Mark stood, brushed himself down and held out both his hands. Tom grabbed one of them and then reached for David’s collar, then looked up at Amy.

  Mark nodded at his hand. Amy knew taking it and David’s collar, forming a circle, would initiate the Void. Her stomach turned as she grabbed David’s collar with one hand and then raised her arm slowly towards Mark.

  No sooner had their hands connected, she felt the air warp away from her as a blinding bubble of light pushed out the space around them, which instantly retracted again.

  In that split second she felt like her body had been taken and then given back to her. Feeling heavy one second and light the next. Whatever happened, she was outside her maisonette one moment, and stood on the clover-covered hill in front of Mark’s home the next. David let out a confused whine.

  ‘Wow,’ Tom said, elated. ‘Can I do that?’ he looked at Mark for his answer.

  ‘Not yet,’ Mark stated.


  Amy shot Mark a look. ‘I don’t want him to be told anything!’ she said. ‘Obviously I don’t expect you to lie if he asks things but…well…do you understand?’

  ‘Yes,’ Mark said, the smile wiped from his face. ‘I trust your way, Amy,’ he said, his voice deep with sorrow, desperation written all over his face.

  ‘Don’t we have a mission to see about?’ she said, her eyes begging him to let it go.

  His body deflated. ‘Yes,’ he said in understanding.

  ‘You better call Adaizi, tell her I’m ready,’ Amy added.

  ‘You can only open a channel on your birthday,’ Mark stated.

  Amy stared at him with a mixture of relief and curiosity. ‘But my birthday’s not until the twenty-sixth of July.’

  ‘I know. So relax. You have three months,’ he confirmed. ‘Adaizi can come and speak to you tomorrow. For now, let’s get you sorted.’

  Amy turned to look at the orphanage. She couldn’t believe that she’d now be living at the home. Under the pale illumination of the moonlight, amongst the deep star-dotted sky, it stood, Gothic and full of secrets. A flock of blue-grey clouds rushed overhead, darkening the moon every few seconds. Amy gazed at them, wishing they’d carry her away.

  David had already reached the doors and was scratching at them as if afraid to be outside, afraid of any more travelling.

  Mark walked forward, sadness overwhelming his face, and for a second Amy felt a pang of guilt. No sooner had she felt the guilt, reminding her she cared for him, she felt the immense anger again. As Tom skipped happily alongside him, asking many questions about how the Light-Void could surpass the laws of physics, she followed behind with an irate look.

  ‘Oh my god!’ Jack shouted, running from the kitchen as they all walked in. ‘What happened?’

  Winston came running from the TV room. ‘What on Earth?’ he said, taking sight of them.

  ‘Ethan again,’ Amy stated. ‘We’re your new lodgers.’

  ‘I don’t know whether to be happy or sad,’ Jack said, giving her a hug.

  ‘How bad is the damage?’ Winston asked Mark.