Guardians of the Akasha

by Celia Stander

  The sound of Simone’s low laughter made her turn to the small group a few feet away from the car.

  “You remember Marco?” her aunt asked.

  “Yes, of course.” Keira tried to hide her chagrin at his presence. He was dressed, again, in Levi jeans that hung at just the right spot on his hips, a white shirt unbuttoned to show a hint of tanned skin at his throat and shirtsleeves rolled up to reveal smooth, strong forearms.

  He stepped closer, his eyes flashing blue as he took the hand that she had automatically extended to him. Their skin barely touched when Keira jerked her fingers back and took a firmer grip on her shoulder bag.

  “Well then, let’s go inside,” Victoria commanded.

  Keira followed as Marco led them up the steps of the main castle keep. The tall front door swung open and she had to narrow her eyes as the sun glinted off the brass scales of a dragon set in a panel on the door. For a moment it seemed as if its sinuous form twisted and its huge jaws stretched even wider, then she stepped into the darker interior of the building and she had to blink her eyes a few times to adjust it to the change in light.

  They walked into a great hall. A wide expanse of stone floor was partly covered by rugs woven in rich hues of amber, burgundy, and terracotta. Brown leather couches were arranged at the far side of the hall, in front of a fireplace that took up most of the wall. Thick logs burned and gave off enough heat to warm the cavernous space. All around them, embroidered family crests hung from the high ceiling criss-crossed by a web of black wooden support beams. Keira recognised the Wilde family crest, hanging prominently above the fireplace.

  To their left, a wide staircase curved to the higher levels of the castle, and it was in this direction that Victoria steered her.

  “The living quarters are this way, Keira,” Victoria explained. “Now where is that little—”

  “Hallo, hallo, so you arrived then, sorry I’m a bit late. Been out playing with the pups,” a cheerful voice interrupted her.

  A young boy had run up to their side, out of breath and grinning at Victoria’s frown. His brown eyes twinkled merrily in his freckled face and tousled black hair stood out in every direction.

  “Well, better late than never!” Victoria pretended to scowl. “Keira, this is Justin. One of our younger initiates and general nuisance to all.”

  “Aunt Vic!” he howled with a hurt expression.

  “There, there, no need to make such a racket!” she shushed him. “Take Keira’s bag to her room, then you can come back and give me a full report on Ylva’s pups,” Victoria winked at the boy.

  “Keira, why don’t you go freshen up. We’ll meet back here for dinner,” Victoria said and waved Keira and Justin off in the direction of the stairs. She made sure that they were out of earshot before she turned to Marco.

  “Have any of the Council members arrived yet?” she asked.

  “Only Mr Savelli. And the observer from Japan you invited, Mr Harigaya. The rest of the Council members will arrive tomorrow. That is, except the Moreaux representative. They’ve sent a message informing me that they withdraw from Council,” Marco replied.

  “Ha! Those cowards. They didn’t even have the decency to come and tell us themselves.” Victoria gave an unladylike snort of derision. “Have they joined forces with Daemon?”

  “Sebastian is in France and is investigating, but it would seem so,” Marco agreed. “I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me if they did. They’ve been sitting on the fence for a while now. Well, at least we know who our friends are—and who aren’t.” Victoria was lost in thought for a moment as she took count of the allies they had left. “Are the Draaken in place?”

  “Yes, they are. Victoria—” Marco hesitated.

  “Yes?” she asked.

  “Chloe has reported an unusual lack of activity surrounding Daemon’s location in New York.”

  “Don’t let that fool you. He is planning his next move,” Victoria said. “He will know that the Council is meeting here the day after tomorrow. If his intelligence sources are any good, and I suspect they are, he would know by now that Keira is the source of the power surge in London, also that I have brought her here, which clearly broadcasts my intensions.” Victoria frowned, “That can’t be helped though, the time for secrecy is over. War is upon us.”

  “I have increased security around the perimeter,” Marco nodded.

  “Good. Although Daemon would be a fool to attack us here,” Victoria said.

  Chapter 11

  Justin brought Keira to her room, all the while chattering about Ylva’s new litter and asking hundreds of questions, without waiting for the answers.

  “You will love the pups, they are so cool. They’re just beginning to play—but you have to be careful, their teeth are super sharp. But don’t worry, Ylva keeps them in line, she won’t let them hurt a human, unless of course you try to harm them.”

  The boy paused for a breath. “Did I tell you I’m an initiate here at the school? Well, I am,” and he puffed his chest with pride. “I’m training to be a healer and Marco and Rafael said I’m going to be the best one yet. I’ve been healing animals at the ranch since before I knew what I was doing—I’m a natural, they said. It’s a pity you won’t see the other students right now. Everyone is on holiday because of the Council meeting. They always send us home when the Council members are here, but my Uncle Marco said I can stay and then we’ll go back to the ranch later, but he doesn’t want me to call him Uncle, just Marco.”

  “You are Marco’s nephew?” Keira asked when she could get a word in edgewise.

  “Yes, my mom is—was—well,” Justin stammered as his bright smile disappeared. He looked on the verge of tears.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Keira said with concern.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered. “My mom was Marco and Rafael’s sister. She and my dad died in a car crash.”

  “I am so sorry,” Keira repeated and put her arm around the boy’s narrow shoulders.

  “It’s okay,” he said again. “Marco is really cool. He’s been looking after me. We stay on this awesome ranch in Argentina, when we’re not here, of course, and it’s such fun when everyone is there. I have a horse and we go riding…” and Justin was off again, telling Keira about his animals at the ranch.

  Keira smiled and nodded at the right places but her heart was breaking for the young boy. She wondered if she might not have misjudged Marco.

  Justin eventually left after she promised to go see the pups at the first available opportunity.

  Alone, Keira stood in front of the lead-paned windows of her room and looked out over the inner courtyard. She could see the tops of the trees waving beyond the castle’s battlements. Her hands rubbed up and down her upper arms, trying to get some warmth back into her body.

  What am I doing here?

  It was only her love for Victoria which kept her from grabbing a phone and calling somebody, anybody, to come and fetch her from this place.

  Keira groaned in frustration. Alison and Sammy were both with their parents, having wonderful, blissfully ignorant family holidays. And even if she did call her parents, or Richard and Mary, what would she tell them? That the world as they knew it was about to be annihilated by a power-crazy megalomaniac who wanted to be God?

  Keira turned away from the window and paced restlessly past the antique dresser and big, four-poster bed. She glanced at her suitcase which lay open on the royal-blue bedcover and thought about unpacking her things, but nervous energy refused to let her stand still for more than a moment.

  A soft knock at the door interrupted her pacing and she called, “It’s open!”

  A blond head peeked into the room and soft brown eyes gave Keira a head-to-toe scan, before their owner stepped inside.

  “Hallo, my name is Chloe. I wanted to make sure you were comfortable. Do you have everything you need?” the young woman asked.

  “Yes, thanks, th
at’s very kind of you,” Keira said, mesmerized by the woman in front of her. Chloe seemed about a year or two older than Keira. Her skin was translucently pale and her hair was long, straight and silver-blonde, shimmering with a light of its own. Her eyes were almost hypnotic in the way that they assessed Keira.

  “Yes, Victoria was right, as usual,” Chloe said.

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?” Keira asked, confused by Chloe’s comment.

  “You are The One,” Chloe said with unwavering certainty and not a trace of irony.

  “Yes, well, that sounds great and all, but I have no idea what that means,” Keira couldn’t keep the irritation out of her voice.

  “Oh dear, this has been hard for you, hasn’t it?” Chloe walked over to Keira. She took her hand as they sat down on a wine-red velvet-covered settee. “It wasn’t meant to happen like this you know. Victoria had planned to ease you into this life gradually. But even so, I am really happy to meet you at last. Welcome.”

  Chloe’s kindness broke the last bit of control Keira had over her emotions and she burst into tears. “I am—so—sorry!” she cried, trying to wipe her eyes on her sleeve.

  “It’s all right, you let it all out,” Chloe cooed while softly patting Keira’s back.

  This just made Keira sob even louder. She was so used to hiding her feelings that she never needed to be comforted by anyone. Even her friends would have been shocked to see her like this, a complete blubbering wreck.

  “It’s—I—I’ve always been so afraid!” Keira wailed. “Now—I don’t have to be. So I am really happy!” and she collapsed under another storm of tears.

  “There, there,” Chloe crooned.

  “But—but at the same time—I’m so mad!” Keira hiccupped and blew her nose into the wad of tissues Chloe handed her.

  “It’s okay,” Chloe said. “I would be angry too.”

  “You would?” Keira asked, grateful that someone had an inkling of what she was feeling.

  “Of course,” Chloe nodded. “You grew up with these powers that you didn’t know what to do with. You had to hide it because people probably already thought you were slightly strange. Kids can be so cruel,” Chloe sighed.

  The young woman’s empathy caused Keira to burst out in a fresh bout of sobbing. Years of pent-up emotion poured out of her in a confused tumble of words and tears and all the while, Chloe sat and listened, making comforting sounds and assuring her that, “There, there. It will be all right.”

  After a century of agonising emotional purging, Keira’s sobs subsided and she lay spent, her head on Chloe’s lap. She gave a last, shuddering sigh and sat up. The room was darker; dusk had set in. It took a moment, but then she realised something inside her had changed. She felt strangely confident, even happy.

  Keira looked at Chloe. “I can’t begin to thank you. I’m feeling so much better—it’s—I don’t know how to describe it!”

  Chloe smiled. “It’s okay, Keira. Even The One is entitled to a breakdown every now and again.”

  The women looked at each other and started giggling. Then suddenly, they had to hold on to each other as their laughter rang through the room.

  “Well, well. Seems like you two are having fun,” a dry male voice sounded from the door.

  Gasping for breath and clutching her side, Keira looked up. Marco and a younger, almost identical image of him, stood staring at them.

  “Hallo, darling,” Chloe said, in between a fresh fit of giggles. She got up and glided over to the men. Keira felt an inexplicable pang of relief when Chloe hugged the younger man next to Marco.

  “Keira, this is my partner, Rafael. He is Marco’s brother,” Chloe said.

  “Pleased to meet you, Keira,” Rafael said. “I was looking for you,” he said to Chloe, holding her tightly to him. Keira was almost jealous of the love that shone between the couple; they had eyes only for each other.

  “We’re on our way to change. Victoria said to tell you dinner will be served in an hour and the dress is formal,” Marco said. The brothers looked at each other with nearly identical grimaces.

  “Oh come on,” Cloe laughed. “It’s not every day we get the chance to dress up.”

  “Thanks. I’ll unpack—get ready—” Keira said and looked away. Her eyes felt as if they were the size of grapefruits, swollen from the marathon crying session.

  Chloe noticed her discomfort and shooed the men out of the room. “Okay, off you go, we’ll meet you downstairs. Oh, Rafael darling, please ask Zina to come up here when you see her?” she called after the brothers as they left the room.

  She came to sit next to Keira again and asked, “While we wait for Zina to come and help you freshen up, do you mind if I tell you my story, how I became part of the Guardians?

  “No, of course not,” Keira said, surprised at Chloe’s question.

  Chloe took Keira’s hands in her own again. “Well,” she began. “I grew up in a small hamlet in Austria, near Innsbruck in the Alps. I have six older sisters. They all still live there; the eldest four in the village with their husbands and children; the other two with my parents.”

  “Are they also magickal?” Keira asked.

  “No, they are not,” Chloe replied. “You see, my parents are devoutly religious and view anything out of the ordinary as an affront to the Church. Needless to say, when I came along and started seeing things that happened in nearby towns, they weren’t impressed.”

  “What happened?” Keira asked.

  “They tried to ignore it for as long as they could—warned me to never speak of it in front of the villagers. But then, I had another vision. It was late autumn and my father wanted to take the goats out to forage for the last wild grass. Winters are brutal in the mountains and the goats needed to fatten up as much as possible. I saw that a terrible snow storm was speeding to our area. I warned my father not to take the goats out, to stay inside, but he didn’t listen. Well, the storm came and, when he was rescued from the mountains three days later, he was at death’s door. The goats were all lost. The villagers had heard me crying out to him to come back when he left with the herd, when I told him what would happen. They accused me of being a witch, an abomination who brought the storm upon them and caused my family’s ruin.”

  “Oh!” Keira gasped. It was she who showed Chloe sympathy this time as her new friend’s eyes teared up.

  “I’m okay, really,” Chloe tried to smile. “It just hurts still, even after all this time. I was so scared my father would die. I had hand-reared almost all of those goats. How could they think I would do such a thing?”

  “You don’t have to go on,” Keira said, not wanting Chloe to get upset reliving the past.

  “I have to,” Chloe said. “I want you to understand—” She squared her shoulders and continued.

  “A few weeks later, when my father had recovered, he packed a small bag and told me to come with him. My mother and sisters turned their backs to me as we left. We walked to the train station. He didn’t speak one word to me. At the station, he handed the bag to a woman in a uniform, and walked away. I tried to follow, but she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the train. I was seven years old and my parents had given me up to the State Orphanage. I stayed there for two years.”

  “Oh, Chloe! I am so sorry,” Keira didn’t know what to say. Her own childhood suddenly seemed almost idyllic.

  “When I was nine years old, a couple showed up at the Orphanage and adopted me. They said they couldn’t have children of their own and that they had been looking for me for a very long time. Well, they were Guardians and had read my ‘signature’ in the Akasha. They became my parents and, from the first day, I received only love and support from them. I came to believe that I had a gift, not a curse, and that I can help to protect our world from evil. That may sound a bit fairy-tale-ish, but it is what we do. I found my place and my purpose. My adoptive parents taught me what they could and then I came to the Initiates’ School. Here I was identified as a Seer and received additional trainin
g to join the Draaken. I also met Rafael,” Chloe smiled. All traces of sadness wiped from her eyes.

  “So you see, Keira. Even the saddest of stories can have a happy ending. All of us have walked different paths to get here, some easy and some difficult, but in the end we are all the same.”

  Another knock sounded at the door and without waiting for a response, a tall, elegant woman stepped into the room. Her ebony skin glowed with an inner radiance and Keira felt an immediate tranquillity descend over her.

  “You called, Chloe?” The woman’s voice was every bit as composed as her demeanour.

  “Keira, this is Zina. She is our Healer.” Chloe introduced them. Zina stepped forward with a warm smile. “It is so nice to finally meet you,” she said.

  “Nice to meet you, too,” Keira replied, curious as to why Chloe had called for a Healer.

  “Now, what can I help you with?” Zina asked.

  “I’m not quite sure,” Keira said. “Chloe mentioned you might help me freshen up, but I don’t know how you are going to fix this,” and she pointed to her swollen face.

  “I’ll leave you two to it, I have to go get ready myself,” Chloe called from the door, closing it behind her.

  “Hmmm…shouldn’t be a problem. Lie down here on your bed,” Zina said and waited for Keira to lie down. She placed her hands about two inches above Keira’s face and asked her to close her eyes.

  Keira could feel a warm, tingling sensation spread all over her skin and the smell of peppermint lingered in the air.

  “There, all done,” Zina said and helped Keira sit up.

  “Okay—well—thanks, I guess,” Keira said.

  Zina laughed, “Go and look in the mirror.”

  Keira walked over to the dressing table. “Oh! Wow!” she exclaimed and stared at her face. Her skin was clear and her eyes sparkling. Even the perpetual dark circles, the result of countless late nights, had disappeared. “That’s amazing. Thank you.”

  “It was my pleasure. I’ll see you at dinner in a few minutes,” Zina said as she too left the room.

  “Thanks again!” Keira called and looked back at her reflection in the mirror. “It does help to be magickal,” she murmured.