The Guardians' Daughter

by A. M. McPherson

  I keep my lips together in a straight line, and my eyes crease into slits.

  He scans the room in a frenzy, probably to try to find another seat, but soon realizes one isn’t available. He eyes me again, and I sigh, refocusing out the window. The desk squeaks as he sits in front of me.

  From the corner of my eye, someone else catches my attention. A short woman with chestnut-colored hair pinned on top of her head quickly scurries into the room, carrying a large stack of books. Her long-sleeved blouse and red plaid pencil skirt looks like she bought them from a clothing catalog for librarians. She has thick, brown-framed glasses that slightly magnify her eyes, making her look almost owl-like.

  She sets her books on the desk in front of the room and faces everyone. “Good morning, class! I’m Professor Souris, and this is English one-oh-one!” she says way too chipperly, like she had too much coffee this morning. She opens a black notebook on top of her stack of books and retrieves a pencil from behind her ear. “First, before we jump into our first lesson, I will take attendance.”

  I drop my head into my hands.

  “Abigail Lancer?” Professor Souris asks.

  I don’t look to see who raised their hand.

  “Jerry Drake.”

  After she’s called a few more names, I drag my head upward. I need to accept the inevitable will happen.

  Professor Souris coughs. “Aiden Stiles.”

  The guy in front of me raises his hand.

  I stare at the chalkboard, unblinking, and my vision blurs.

  Professor Souris calls a couple more names but suddenly stops. This catches my attention. She looks a little startled as she adjusts her glasses, like she’s reading something she didn’t expect to see. “Oh, uh—Ember Vulterra?”

  The light chatter immediately stops.

  My heartbeat thumps loudly in my ears, and, for a moment, I forget how to breathe.

  Aiden Stiles turns ever so slightly to spy me, and I stare back at him. Neither of us breaks eye contact. Looking at his crystal-blue eyes reminds me of when I confirmed my identity to him. I decided that day to no longer hide.

  I raise my hand into the air.

  Aiden gives me a tiny nod with an encouraging smile before turning back around, but I get sudden goosebumps. His eyes might’ve left me, but I feel the rest of the class staring at me. The whispers start.

  “Oh wow, is that Emerald Blaze and Digger’s daughter?”.

  “Is that really her?”

  “I heard she was coming here, but I figured it was a rumor.”

  “She looks like her mom.”

  It takes everything in me to not survey the room. I don’t want to acknowledge anyone staring at me, no matter how much their comments sting. However, I do look at my professor.

  She’s staring at me like she’s seeing a ghost.

  Did she really not review her class list before today? I give her a tight-lipped smile to acknowledge her, hoping this will satisfy her.

  She relaxes and returns the gesture then resumes announcing more names.

  I close my eyes and imagine my safe place—my room at home with Eliza—tuning out everything around me for a moment. I focus on a family photo on my dresser, of a time when I was happy and not so alone. My dad’s bright brown eyes and my mom’s gorgeous green eyes look at a younger version of me full of love and adoration. This brings some warmth to my heart.

  Soon Professor Souris finishes attendance and moves to discussing the syllabus.

  No matter how much I don’t want to, I keep focusing on the people still whispering about me. Their scrutinizing gazes make me feel like I’m under a magnifying glass. I raise my book farther in front of my face like it’s some magical shield that will deflect their comments.

  “Ember Vulterra, who would have guessed?” a guy questions. “It’s about time she shows her face.”

  “So, what? Is she here trying to be a Guardian or something?”

  “So, that’s what Ember Vulterra looks like? Think she’ll go out with me?”

  Aiden turns around in a huff, glaring at the other students. “Hey, how about we pay attention to the professor instead of talking and distracting those of us who are trying to learn?”

  Everyone becomes quiet, including Professor Souris.

  My eyes are frozen on Aiden’s chiseled face.

  He looks at me, and a grin teases his pink lips right before he turns back around.

  I stare at his ponytail, suddenly not seeing or hearing anything else around me. Did he do that just so they would stop talking about me? Part of me appreciates it, but I fight my own battles. No one, especially him, needs to do it for me.

  When class ends, I quickly head outside. No way will I give anyone the chance to talk to me. Thankfully, Stella is already waiting for me just a few feet from the door.

  She waves, but her smile fades as I approach. “Hey, Em, you okay? What’s wrong?”

  Lime, sitting on her shoulder, gives me a concerned frown as well.

  I rub my forehead. “I’m fine. It was just a long morning.”

  A few students pass us, and I look in the opposite direction, shutting out both the quiet remarks and stares coming from them.

  “I see.” Stella looks past my shoulder and smiles. “Oh! Hey, Aiden!”

  My eyes feel like they’re about to pop out of my head. “You know him?”

  Stella’s smile falters. “Yeah, from high school. It looks like he’s coming over here, but he doesn’t seem too happy. I wonder what’s wrong.”

  I turn around and, sure enough, Aiden is walking toward me with a look of utter determination. My chest trembles at the sight of him. His height and broad shoulders make him look like he could take quite a few punches without flinching. He seems almost ghost-like in the sun because of his skin’s paleness. Even his blue eyes seem otherworldly with the intensity of their color. I would be lying if I said he was not one of the best-looking guys I have laid eyes on.

  Aiden stops a few feet from me and scratches the back of his head. “Hey, I’m sorry to bother you, but can we talk for a moment?”

  I scowl and cross my arms. “Why?”

  He frowns, like someone who regrets breaking something. “I want to apologize for the other day. I shouldn’t have been so forward. As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them.”

  My stance softens. “Oh?”

  He nods. “When I heard everyone talk about you in class today, that made me feel even worse. I can’t imagine how hard all of this has to be for you. The last thing you need is for people like me trying to call you out.” Regret is evident across his face as he studies the ground to avoid my eyes.

  To my own surprise, I feel bad about the way I’ve been acting toward him. He honestly didn’t do anything wrong by asking who I was. At least he kept my identity to himself. If he didn’t, I’m sure I wouldn’t have had such a quiet weekend. I drop my arms to my sides. “It’s okay. I mean, I didn’t like it, but, in the realm of things, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

  His vivid eyes somehow look even brighter. “Thank you, Ember. I appreciate you letting me talk to you about this.”

  The corners of my own lips curl. “Of course.”

  His mouth opens as if he’s going to say something else when Stella steps forward. “Hey, Aiden!”

  Aiden’s head snaps in Stella’s direction, and a huge smile erupts on his face. “Hey, Stella!” He notices Lime on her shoulder. “Lime! Good to see you again, little bud!”

  Lime lets out a little high-pitched squeal, almost like a baby laugh, and waves at him.

  Aiden’s eyes dart from Stella to me and back to Stella. “Wait, you guys know each other?”

  “We’re roommates. Crazy, huh?” Stella laughs.

  He chuckles, but it sounds more like a snort. “Yeah, small world! Well, I don’t want to hold you guys up, so I’ll let you two go.” He tips his head a little to get my attention. “I’ll see you on Wednesday. Thank you again,” he says with a charismatic smile. “
You really have no idea what this means to me.”

  My face suddenly feels like it’s on fire. “Yeah, of course.”

  Aiden looks down and smiles to himself as he walks past us.

  I glance behind my shoulder to watch him walk away, noticing the definition of the muscles on his back even through his shirt.

  After a moment, he looks back at me.

  Our eyes meet, and my breath escapes me. I turn back around quickly and see Stella standing right in front of me with an eyebrow raised. “So, what was all that about?”

  “What do you mean? Aiden?” I say, trying to act dumb.

  “Yeah, I guess he was the one who bugged you on Saturday?”

  “Yeah, he was. But the bigger story here is you guys went to high school together?”

  She shrugs. “Yeah. He’s a great guy, and he has been working toward being a Guardian since middle school. So it’s natural we both ended up here, since I have Guardian aspirations as well.”

  My stomach growls, reminding me of lunch. We should probably head to the student center. Nonetheless, I really want to know more about this Aiden Stiles, even if he is pursuing a terrible path. “Oh, really?” I ask, a little too eagerly.

  “Yeah. Hey! Let’s get something to eat. I promised Lime I’d get him a chicken tender.”

  Lime jumps on her shoulder while clapping.

  “Wait a second.” I point at Lime. “He eats chicken?”

  She brings her hands past her shoulders while shrugging. “Yeah, or more like he likes to pretend he’s eating. He really doesn’t need to.”

  Lime rubs his little tummy.

  I chuckle. “Oh, okay. I see.”

  We maneuver through a crowd toward the student center. I accidently bump into a guy who has a bunch of thick scars on one side of his face.

  His black eyes stare at me coldly.

  “Sorry!” I say quickly.

  He continues walking without a word.

  I brush off the encounter and try to focus on what I want for lunch, but my mind keeps returning to Aiden. “So, Aiden has wanted to be a Guardian for a while?”

  Stella smiles at me. “Yeah, since seventh or eighth grade. He actually won the YAC last summer.”

  I tilt my head. “The YAC?”

  “Yeah, the Youth Abilities Competition held downtown,” she says as if I should know this. “He won first place, so he got a full scholarship to come here.”

  Since I haven’t cared to train my own abilities, it slipped my mind about the competition. “Oh. Well, that is impressive,” I respond, even if I shouldn’t be impressed with someone who is setting himself up for failure.

  Stella frowns. “Yeah, he’s come a long way. He used to be severely depressed in middle school. This was before he decided to take the Guardian route. I think the training gave him something to focus on, which helped him.”

  Aiden doesn’t seem like the type to have ever suffered from depression. Shame on me for assuming. “Oh, really?”

  She nods somberly. “Yeah, it was sad to witness. He stopped talking to everyone and just kept to himself. He would randomly burst into crying fits during class and would be gone for days at a time. No one knew what was going on with him.”

  “Do you know what happened?”

  She shakes her head. “No one, at least in our class, knew.”

  I shrug, trying not to pry too much. “He seems to be doing well now though.”

  “Yeah, after one summer, he seemed to get a new lease on life and began training to get into the Defender program.”

  I focus on the gray brick sidewalk while we walk. All the information I just learned about Aiden is taking a moment to process. I wonder what could have happened to him.

  “Well, I should say he was almost himself. He used to have brown hair,” Stella adds.

  “What? Really? He dyes it white?”

  “Oh, he doesn’t dye it. It happened after he started to train harder. I think the intensity of his ability just did it to him.”

  “Wow, that’s something. I don’t know if I’ve heard of that happening before. Normally, you’re born with whatever features your abilities may cause.”

  She chuckles. “Yeah, it was drastic at first. It took a while to get used to … but, Em?” An eyebrow raises. “I’m curious, why are you so curious about Aiden?”

  The heat from earlier instantly returns to my face. “Oh, I’m not. I was just wondering, since I have a class with him.”

  Stella smiles to herself. “I see.”

  Chapter 6

  Aiden

  I tap my pencil against the side of my forehead. Okay, I just need to solve this last equation. All I need to do is find the exact value of csc 420० by using a triangle or a unit circle.

  “Hey, Aiden!” a recognizable voice calls out.

  I look to see Billy entering our room. Today he is wearing a simple white tank top and jeans over his muscular frame. His skin is his normal sandstorm of colors wanting to blend in with the surroundings. However, his brown hair and brown eyes remain their “natural” color. At least he didn’t camouflage against the wall and scare me like he did last night.

  “Hey,” I reply as he closes the door.

  Billy goes to his side of the room, which already looks like a tornado has gone through it, with clothes, books, and papers thrown about. As he sits on his bed, it creaks loudly in protest. He drops his backpack at his feet and removes his shoes. “Man, this school is insane with the workload! But there are tons of hot chicks, so that’s a plus!”

  I chuckle but roll my eyes. “The school should be intense, since it’ll help us reach our goal to be Guardians.”

  “Well, yeah. But it’s only the first day, and I already have homework in every class! I can’t wait to see how the Defender classes will go tomorrow.”

  “Oh, I’m sure the classes will run circles around us, but this is what we’ve been training for.”

  “I guess.” In a single motion, he stands from his bed, and I swear it sounds like it sighs in relief. He pulls a can of soda from the mini fridge. “So, how did your classes go? Were they just as grueling for you as they were for me?”

  “They were fine. I have a lot of homework too. I’m actually working on my trig assignment right now.”

  “Man, that sounds awful.” I hear a slight hissing noise as he opens his drink and takes a quick sip.

  “I don’t mind it. You know I’ve always liked math.”

  Billy burps loudly and laughs. “True, because you’re a freak like that.”

  I shrug and turn to focus on my homework sitting on my desk, but my thoughts quickly go somewhere else. Ember. I spin my chair around to see Billy sitting at his desk with his back to me. I clear my throat. “So, something interesting did happen today.”

  He turns around. “Oh?”

  “Ember Vulterra is in my English class.”

  His eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Seriously?”

  “Yep.” I nod in confirmation.

  “I bet she just loved seeing you again.”

  I chuckle. “Oh, most definitely.”

  “So, how did it go?”

  I smile the tiniest bit. “It went … better than I expected.”

  He cocks an eyebrow. “Oh? Or so you say?”

  “No, seriously it did.”

  Billy continues to regard me skeptically.

  “Okay, at first, it was a bit rough. When I saw her, it took me off guard, and she didn’t look too thrilled to see me. We didn’t talk to each other during—”

  “Oh yeah, that sounds like it went wonderfully.” Billy rolls his eyes.

  “Dude! Let me finish telling you the whole story first!”

  Billy sighs and motions for me to continue.

  “Well, during class, after the professor called Ember’s name, everyone started talking about her.” I think of the guy who made a comment about asking her out, and my reaction springs to mind. At that moment, I felt very protective of her, and I am not too sure why.


  “Hey, man. You okay?” Billy asks, bringing me out of my thoughts.

  I blink quickly to refocus. “Oh, yeah. Um, at one point, I actually got fed up with everyone talking about her. I kind of yelled at everyone to shut up.”

  Billy’s mouth drops open. “No way! Seriously?”

  “Yeah. I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut, and that’s when I realized I was being a hypocrite.”

  Billy sits back in his chair and puts his hands behind his head. “So, what happened?”

  “She rushed out of class as soon as it was over, but I caught up with her outside. That’s when I—”

  “Just get to the part where she spat in your face.” Billy laughs.

  “Seriously, Billy?”

  Billy raises both his hands in surrender. “Okay, I’m sorry. I won’t say another word until you’re done.”

  I raise an eyebrow at him, and he crosses his fingers together in front of him. “I swear, Aiden.”

  After a moment of hesitation, I decide it’s safe to continue. “Okay. Well, at first, she definitely seemed like she didn’t want to talk to me, but she let me apologize to her. She accepted it easier than I anticipated.” Her gentle smile comes back to mind, and I feel myself smile.

  Billy’s eyes crease with worry. “Aiden, just be careful.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Man, your history with her parents? Wouldn’t that complicate any kind of friendship with her?” he asks timidly. “Didn’t someone tell you not to say anything that you were there when the murders happened? I mean, you talked to me about it, but there’s no way you can tell her.”

  Avoiding Billy’s gaze, I look away. “Yeah. It was someone from her parents’ league, I think. The Capital League. I don’t remember too much, but my parents made it clear that I was instructed to stay quiet. I do have to admit, it crossed my mind before that it would be best if I didn’t see her all the time.” I look back at him. “That was before I knew she would be in my English class.”

  Billy cringes a little. “I get that, man. But you already seem to care about her more than you should. If I were in your shoes, I would want as much distance as possible from her.”