The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga

by Paige Dooling

  Of course, thinking about it now, Avery realized they might have given Cinder so much consideration because they knew one day they would have to take her to a world that wasn’t her own and away from everything she knew. Because, even though both Cinder and Avery had no prior knowledge of Orcatia, Avery figured at least her parents knew that, at one time, Avery had had a life on Orcatia, even if she couldn’t remember it, whereas poor Cinder only ever had this life on Earth. Plus, Avery figured the whole being a Protector thing probably caused her parents to worry about her more in some way, like dying, and less in other ways, like how it might emotionally scar her to leave the place she thought of as home.

  Whatever, Avery thought; she didn’t have time to worry about herself. Now, like her parents obviously were, she was worried about Cinder.

  Avery walked up to her little sister and knelt down in front of her. She saw that Cinder’s eyes were slightly red from crying.

  “Are you alright?” Avery asked her sister gently.

  Cinder nodded, sticking her lower lip out in a slight pout, “Mommy and Daddy said we have to leave and I’m not gonna see my friends anymore.”

  Avery sat up a little and gave her sister a hug, “Well,” Avery told her, “I’ll be there and we’re not just sisters, but we’re friends too, right?”

  Cinder smiled and wiped at her already dried tears, “Yeah, plus we get to bring Bailey, Justice, and King, and they’re my best friends!”

  Avery nodded in agreement, somehow alright with being placed fourth behind three dogs.

  “And,” Cinder continued, excitement in her voice, “Mommy says that there are a lot more animals where we’re going, and really big trees, and waterfalls, and magical stuff, and a lot more kids for me to play with!”

  Cinder’s trademark dimples appeared, as the more she talked, the more and more excited she got.

  “Sweetheart,” Avery’s Mom stopped Cinder before she could go on with the hundred other things she was looking forward to, “I already packed your clothes. So, why don’t you go get your pink duffle bag, go to your room, and fill it with the things you want to take with you.”

  “Alright!” Cinder said joyously, bounding up from the couch and away from Avery.

  “Remember,” Avery’s mom shouted after her youngest daughter, “just the items that you really want!”

  Avery could already foresee Cinder crying her eyes out an hour from now when she’d want to take more than her parents would allow. Avery bemused at how quickly a child’s emotions could change and wished she could be able to express her feeling with as much abandon as Cinder did.

  Once Cinder was gone and out of earshot, Avery stood up and faced her parents. Jaw clenched and arms folded, she stared them down. Avery knew why they had kept everything a secret, she could even understand it, but that still didn’t stop her from being angry with them about it. She had given her parents that hard, I’m pissed face enough times for them to know exactly what Avery was thinking. Instead of trying to defend themselves or explain they both stood up from the couch and walked over and hugged their daughter. The daughter they had traveled to another planet for, just to bring her back to life.

  It didn’t take Avery long to cave and hug them back, “You could have said something.” Avery said, her face buried in her mother’s shoulder.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” Her mother told her, stroking Avery’s long auburn hair, “but we just couldn’t risk it.”

  Avery pulled away and looked up at her mother; a pretty middle-aged woman with short dark brown hair and gray eyes, “Mom,” Avery said loudly, “my whole world just got turned upside down in one single day!”

  “We were strictly told not to tell you anything, Avery,” Her father, a tall, sturdy man with sandy brown hair and a beard, said to her, “and we weren’t going to go against anything the Elementals told us to do.”

  Avery shook her head and turned away, biting her lip to keep from crying. With everything that had happened she hadn’t cried once today and she planned on keeping it that way.

  “Honestly, Avery,” Her mother told her, coming up and placing her arm around her, “it was sort of a relief for us to have you grow up as just a normal girl. We didn’t have to worry about you the way we did on Orcatia and you didn’t have to worry about things like you did on Orcatia.”

  Avery wished her mother would stop talking. It was bad enough that she couldn’t be angry with her parents like she wanted to, but she didn’t want to have to be grateful at this very moment, as well.

  “I know you can’t remember anything, sweetheart, but if you could I know you’d be happy you had this time on Earth to just be a girl.” Her mother said.

  Avery pulled away from her mother; she didn’t want to hear anymore, “Why do you think I’m upset?” She told her parents, “I’m upset because I love my life! I really love everything about it! It’s not about me not being ready for it to change; it’s about me not knowing if I want it to change!” Saying it out loud almost forced the tears out of Avery’s eyes.

  Avery’s mom looked like she was about to cry herself.

  “Believe us, Avery,” Her dad said, “if it was our choice, we’d stay in Redemption.”

  Avery wondered if that was really true. Gumptin had made it sound like her parents had given up a full and whole life to come to Earth, which made Avery wonder about what her life was like back in Havyn. Whatever it was like, she wasn’t going to imagine it now. Right now, she wanted to distract herself.

  “I’m gonna go to my room and pack my stuff.” She told her parents, and when she saw their still upset faces, she added, “I’m really alright. I just needed to vent a little, but the more time I have to let it sink in the more fine I am with it.” She lied.

  The walk down the hallway seemed excruciating long to Avery. She passed Cinder’s room and looked in and saw her little sister scrambling to fit every stuffed toy she owned into her child’s sized pink duffel bag.

  Avery reached the door with a poster of the Orion Nebula taped onto it and opened the door to her room. The smell of the vanilla candles she burned every night hit her nostrils, and Avery walked into the room she had thought of as her sanctuary. Its violet walls, wallpapered with posters of her favorite bands, far off galaxies, a ridiculously large horse calendar, and multiple clippings of actors and actresses taken from magazines.

  It felt good to Avery to be able to heave the backpack she had been lugging around with her all day onto her bed, which was covered with a dark purple bedspread and far too many sparkly pillows. She dumped her school books out on the bed and began filling the backpack back up with her most desired possessions. First, went in her poetry books, Avery figured a little Edgar Allen Poe after a hard day of fighting couldn’t hurt. Next, went in her photo album and all the photo’s she had in frames around her room. Then, her journal, her favorite nail polish, a few pieces of jewelry, a stuffed coyote she had since she was six, and a few other necessities. Avery looked longingly over at her shelf of trophies, some for the Chess Club, a few for the Astronomy Club, some for Junior Rodeo, and one very proud looking National Watermelon Seed Spitting Championship trophy. She wanted to grab them all and take them with her, but knew that trying to travel with them would be ridiculous.

  After she was done packing her backpack, Avery joyfully took off her disheveled clothes and threw them in the hamper of dirty clothes that would never be washed. She threw on a pair of black skinny jeans, lacing her boots up over her jeans, and a black plaid flannel shirt. Avery reached into her closet and pulled out her black duffel bag and began filling it with jean, shirts, undergarments, socks, and jackets. She figured she probably had clothes back on Orcatia, but if her style had been anything like what she saw the other villagers wearing, she was definitely bringing her own Earth clothes with her.

  Before Avery tried to pack everything she owned into her bags she decided it was time to leave. She threw her backpack on, grabbed her duffel and hurried out of her room. Avery was out the door wit
h the lights turned off in a matter of seconds, making sure she didn’t turn around and take a final look. She wasn’t sure she would be able to leave it if she did. Luckily, her phone going off in her right back pocket gave her a reason not to think about it.

  “Hello?” Avery answered her phone.

  “Hey, it’s Skylar.” The voice on the other end said.

  “You’re back!” Avery said excitedly, curious as to how Skylar and the others had taken the trip to Orcatia, “How are you? How did everything go?”

  Skylar took a long sigh, “Well, when you told us you had a surprise for us, you really weren’t kidding.”

  Avery couldn’t think of anything to say to that, so when she didn’t, Skylar continued, “Basically, Sasha argued and bitched until Gumptin told her if she didn’t come back and help he’d have the Elementals undo the whole life spell on her.”

  Avery wasn’t really sure if Gumptin would or even could do that, but she thought it a brilliant strategy for handling Sasha.

  “Of course,” Skylar said, “Sasha started to feel a little bit better about the whole thing when I told her she’d definitely be the hottest chick on Orcatia…total lie by the way. Plus,” a lightness entered Skylar’s voice, “being a Protector is kind of like winning a huge popularity contest. Bunny was basically quiet the whole time. You know her, introverted.”

  Listening to Skylar, Avery thanked her lucky stars that she didn’t have to be there to deal with all of that.

  “Skylar,” Avery said, “you’re awesome.”

  Skylar laughed, “I know, but you’re not so bad yourself. Anyway, I just called to tell you we’re all back and should, I repeat should, be ready to leave in an hour. Gumptin told us to go on through and he‘ll be waiting for us on the other side.”

  That surprised Avery, “Wow, he’s actually throwing a little trust our way.”

  Skylar grunted, “I think it more had to do with him being sick of dealing with Sasha than actually trusting us.”

  That caused Avery to laugh, thinking it was most likely true, “I’ll see you in an hour.” Avery told Skylar.

  “I’ll be ready for one wild ride.” Skylar said, “See ya then.”

  Avery hung up and pocketed her phone, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to use it where she was going, but wanting to keep it anyway as a sort of security blanket.

  When Avery walked outside she saw that her parents had already loaded up most of their stuff into the family’s red van. Just as Avery had suspected, Cinder was going on about how it was impossible for her to be expected to load her life’s collectibles into one small bag.

  Walking to the back of the van to pack her luggage, Avery saw Justice, King, and Bailey already loaded into the back seat next to Cinder’s crated white Persian cat Romeo. Avery loaded her bags around the menagerie of pets and hoped that nothing would get crushed or destroyed by furry butts and paws.

  The drive to the park was a silent one, with each member of the Kimball family lost in their own thoughts. All except for dogs and cat whose barks, whines, and meows provided Avery with a much wanted distraction.

  As Avery’s dad parked their van up against the curb at the park, Avery saw that Jade and her family had already arrived. They were standing in silence over by the Ora Gateway. It wasn’t uncommon for the Kai’s to not talk to each other. Their trailer had seen a lot of silent nights. Of course, there were just as many nights yelling at each other. The fact was that Jade’s parents just didn’t know how to deal with their daughter’s wild ways. Now that the truth was known about who they really were, Avery figured Jade’s parents probably saw their daughter heading down the same dangerous and reckless path that led to her death, even if she was on a different planet.

  Avery unpacked her stuff and walked over to Jade. She nodded to Jade’s parents who nodded politely back. Avery had always felt a slight resentment coming from Jade’s parents. She thought it had been because they resented Jade spending so much time with Avery and her family when she barely saw them. Now, however, Avery thought it might have something to do with her leading their daughter down that path to death on Orcatia. Maybe it was a combination of the two. Either way, Avery just smiled politely and then pulled their daughter away so that they could talk out of earshot.

  “So, how’d it go?” Avery asked Jade.

  Jade shrugged, seeming agitated, “When I got home they had already packed my stuff.”

  Avery shook her head; she couldn’t see what the big deal was.

  Jade continued, exasperated that she had to explain it any further, “Avery, my mother and I barely exchange glances, let alone a fashion sense. I had to unpack everything, re-pack, and all the while listen to my parents go on about how I better be more careful this time because their hearts couldn’t take losing their only daughter again.”

  Avery let Jade act like it had irritated her, but she knew that deep down Jade had really been touched by her parents concern. Jade may act like she didn’t care, but Avery had been on to her act since they were five. Secretly, all Jade wanted was acceptance and love, and she desperately craved it from her parents. Avery suspected that was why Jade always acted out so much.

  A car door slammed catching Avery’s attention and signifying Skylar’s arrival. Skylar, Skylar’s mother, and their small black Cocker Spaniel, Shalom, all piled out of Skylar’s tiny Beetle.

  Next, Sasha and her parents arrived, along with Sasha’s younger brother Shawn. Shawn was only ten years old and in the same position as Cinder. He had never had a life on Orcatia and was now being forced to go there, and as far as Avery could see he didn’t look happy about that fact at all. Oh, well, Avery had her own sister to worry about; she would let Sasha and her parents deal with Shawn.

  Twenty minutes had passed since Sasha and her family had arrived, and there was still no sign of Bunny and her mom.

  The girls and their families had all piled around the gateway, some sitting, some standing. Avery sat on the ground with Jade and Skylar, listening silently to their parents talking a few feet away. They talked mainly of superficial things, what kind of food they had missed living on Earth, and what kind of foods they were going to miss now that they were going back, how they would assimilate back into their old jobs, about certain villagers they were looking forward to seeing again, Avery recognized the name Mrs. Bott and Thomas, but that was it. Every now and then the parents would quiet their voices to barely a whisper and Avery would have to strain to hear them. She missed most of it, but she picked up the word Emperor and Elementals, and she was pretty certain she heard Sasha’s mother say something about praying things go differently this time.

  “Do you think she skipped town?” Jade asked Avery, pulling her away from eavesdropping any further.

  Avery knew Jade was talking about Bunny, she just didn’t know if Jade was joking or being serious.

  “She’ll be here.” Avery told Jade. Jade’s opinion of Bunny wasn’t always the best and Avery didn’t want to say or do anything to stoke that fire.

  Bunny’s mother’s blue four door sedan rounded the curve of the park and Avery breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment she had wondered if Bunny really had become overwhelmed and decided to runaway.

  A few of the parents walked over to help them with their baggage. Avery noticed that although Ms. Claiborne didn’t seem particularly overjoyed, there was a certain excited glow in her eyes, which for her, was more emotion than Avery had ever remembered seeing.

  Ms. Claiborne volunteered Avery and Jade to assist in carrying Bunny’s large flower printed suitcases over to the gateway, leaving Bunny lagging behind them having to carry only her small purse. By the time they had lugged the heavy suitcases the few hundred feet over to the gateway, Avery was sure Jade was going to use one of the flowered bags to beat Bunny and her mother to death with, but she behaved herself as well as she could, instead throwing their luggage hard onto the ground. Avery could tell she was disappointed when it didn’t burst open scattering Bunny’s possessions all
over the dirt.

  “Well, now that we’re all here,” Jade said, throwing a sideways glance towards Bunny, “maybe we should get this parade started.”

  They all agreed, although reluctantly. It seemed as if no one was especially ecstatic about going back. The Protectors were enlisting into a life of duty they had no memory of, and their parents were going back to a planet where their children risked their lives every single day. Still, they all knew it had to be done.

  Avery nervously stepped up to the gateway. She had only ever seen Gumptin open the gateway before and had never actually tried it herself. Avery had to admit, she was excited. It wasn’t every day a person got to open up an intergalactic gateway.

  “Ora Gateway!” Avery shouted louder than she probably needed to, just to be sure. It earned her a snigger from Sasha that she quickly ignored.

  Just as it had for Gumptin, the Ora Gateway swirled and opened for Avery. Avery knew it wouldn’t have mattered who said it, but she felt a great sense of accomplishment, none the less.

  Family by family, they took their turns going through the gateway. The animals posed a small problem, but after some coaxing and a lot of pushing the dogs went through. Cinder insisted jumping in carrying her crated cat Romeo, and Avery just hoped the gateway was smart enough to make sure her sister landed on Orcatia intact, without any new cat parts.