The Sacred Guardians Series Box Set: Books 1-4 Omnibus

by Wendy Owens

  “I suppose …” Gabe said crossing his arms slightly. “But just a little.”

  “And she is pretty hot,” Uri added with a chuckle.

  “Just for Sophie I’ll call you a pig,” Gabe said with a big grin.

  “Agreed.” Uri was glad to see his friend smile. “I think we should find her and tell her everything you told me. Perhaps she has some answers for us. You never know, she might be able to help point us in the right direction,” Uri urged.

  “Fine, we’ll talk to her, but I still don’t trust her completely.”

  “I need to call home and check on everyone. I’m going to see if someone can show me to a secure line. Do you want to come?” Uri asked.

  “No, I think I will head out and get some breakfast, but make sure you ask how Sophie is, too.”

  “Come on, like I am going to forget to check on Sophie. I’ll meet you in the dining area … wherever that is,” Uri replied.

  “Don’t worry, I think our lovely hosts will make sure we both have a guard with us at all times. Think of them like our own personal tour guides,” Gabe joked.

  “Keep it together Gabe. You can’t let on that we know anything. Got it?” Uri warned.

  “I know, I won’t. But we had better get to the bottom of this fast. I can’t even stand being around these people knowing what they’re really like.”

  “Peter,” Gabe heard Artis’ voice behind them. “Wait up. Where are you headed?” Soon enough, Gabe realized Artis was talking to the guard that was escorting him to breakfast.

  “Alfred has me on guest duties,” the muscular boy replied.

  “Yeah, guest duties,” Gabe mumbled under his breath as he rolled his eyes. “More like guard duties.”

  “Guest? What guest?” Artis asked, clearly playing dumb to Gabe’s existence.

  “Some Guardians are in from Rampart.”

  “Uh yes, hello … I am right here,” Gabe chimed in with a hateful and sarcastic tone.

  “This one here has a pleasant disposition,” Artis remarked about Gabe.

  “Gabe,” Peter still managed to say politely. “This is Artis. Artis, this is Gabe.”

  “Nice to meet you, Gabe,” Artis said, extending a hand. Rolling his eyes at the charade, Gabe reached out his hand and shook hers briefly.

  “So you’re from Rampart?” Artis continued.

  “That is what the man said, isn’t it?” Gabe snapped, now hungry and annoyed to be the guests of what he considered quite dishonest folks.

  “Peter, I have a ton of questions about the demons of their region. If you don’t mind, I would be willing to be his escort so that I can pick his brain a bit.” Suddenly Artis’ plan became quite clear to Gabe and he wished he hadn’t been so antagonistic.

  “Oh, I don’t know Artis. Alfred told me not to let him out of my sight,” Peter protested.

  “Oh, come on, Peter, I promise to keep a good eye on him,” Artis replied.

  “Yeah Peter, she promises not to let me off my leash,” Gabe added, trying to sound convincing with his attitude. “You can run along.”

  Peter gave Gabe a disapproving look and then glanced back to Artis’ sweet and innocent smile. “All right, but you swear you will come get me if he gives you any problems?”

  Peter looked at the two, still concerned about his decision as he backed away. Artis reassured him with an eager nod.

  “So where can I take you?” Artis asked loud enough for Peter to hear as he continued walking hesitantly away from the pair.

  “I’m starving,” Gabe replied in an equally empowered pitch.

  “All right, follow me and I will take you to the dining hall. Sooo …” Artis glanced over her shoulder and once she realized Peter was far enough away she sighed a puff of relief and relaxed her posture. “I thought he’d never leave.”

  “What’s your angle?” Gabe asked, giving Artis a questioning stare.

  “Angle?” Artis sneered.

  “Yeah, what’s in this for you?” Gabe continued, refusing to relent his hard line of questioning.

  “Nothing, I just want to see justice done and I want to help your friends.” Artis insisted.

  “Yeah, ok, whatever you say.” Gabe snapped. “For some reason Uri trusts you, so I guess you’re what we’re stuck with.”

  “He does?”

  “What?” Gabe asked.

  “Uri trusts me?” Artis repeated, almost swooning as the words left her lips.

  “I don’t know, I guess,” Gabe’s continued negative tone at last silencing the young girl.

  The pair continued walking toward the Iron Gate dining hall in silence. At last, Artis couldn’t remain quiet any longer. “So what happened last night?”

  “Actually, it was quite exciting,” Gabe replied, happy to retell the evening’s heroics as they had been relayed by his friend. “Uri said Patina and her guards burst in our room last night, but of course I was passed out from the transport spell.”

  “Well, wasn’t he?”

  “No, it weakens Uri a lot but he has been training so long with our leader, Michael, some things come easier to him,” Gabe explained.

  “He can transport freely?”

  “Well no, even small distances are still taxing on him. I would guess that after Patina left, he pretty much passed out. It’s a pretty recent thing that he can actually transport and stay conscious. Honestly though, I am shocked he was able to transport us both and keep it together.”

  Gabe noticed that Artis looked confused.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Just surprised I guess. We’re not even taught transportation until fourth year and we certainly are not allowed to attempt it,” Artis explained. “Don’t get me wrong, we’re teenagers, it’s not like we don’t do it anyway. We just try and hide it from the administrators.”

  “We don’t learn it until fourth year either, but there are some students Michael takes under his wing and helps along. He says it’s something to do with preparing us, blah, blah, blah,” Gabe grinned, hoping his dismissive approach would change the subject which felt increasingly like he was being probed.

  “Well that’s understandable since he’s your friend,” Artis replied as she continued to walk.

  “Wait, what?” Gabe asked, perplexed by her statement. “What do you mean because he is my friend?”

  “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean anything by it,” Artis defended herself.

  “What did you mean?”

  “We all know about the prophecy. Patina warned us all that Baal is on the hunt for you.”

  Gabe was speechless. He couldn’t say anything because everything Artis said was true. His friends were in danger because of him. Uri had been put through rigorous advanced training since he came to the manor because of him. Heck, Uri had even been handpicked to befriend Gabe when he arrived to make sure he was always protected. Now he had put everyone at Iron Gate in jeopardy just by coming here. Gabe started to wonder if he was angry with everyone at Iron Gate or really at himself. One thing he couldn’t deny is that people who get close to him either get hurt or end up dead.

  “Are you all right?” Artis asked, still concerned she had upset him.

  “Yeah, sorry, I’m just really hungry,” Gabe partly lied.

  “Well, here we are,” Artis said coming to a stop outside the dining hall. Gabe was surprised to see how similar it was to their great hall back at Rampart. The two silently slid in, filled their plates with food and took a seat at an empty table. The awkward silence still hung between them.

  It wasn’t until they had finished their meals and were back outside the hall that Artis decided to talk again.

  “I know you may not trust me, or any of us, Gabe, and you have no reason to, but I really do want to help you and Uri. I know you think Patina has something to do with what happened to your friends, but she really is an amazing leader. She just lacks people skills sometimes,” Artis explained.

  “Well, you’re wrong. I know what I saw last night,” Gabe
insisted.

  “What exactly do you think you saw?”

  “I know what I saw!” Gabe exclaimed.

  “Ok, fine. What did you see?” Artis relented.

  “I saw your precious Patina looking at a set of stones. A set that apparently were used as a decoy until the cursed stones could be passed off to my friends,” Gabe explained confidently.

  “What? Oh no,” Artis gasped. “Well, I am sure Patina knew nothing about them before.”

  “What is with you defending Patina all of the sudden? Does she know what I saw? Did she send you?” Gabe interrogated.

  “What are you talking about?” Artis cried, stumbling back a couple steps at the allegations.

  “You don’t get it do you? She is in charge; this happened under her watch. She might as well have switched the stones herself. I don’t care if she knew anything about it. She should have been doing her job and now, because she didn’t, the person I love most in this world is lying at home, and I am not sure I will ever get her back. Do you get it now?!” Gabe shouted, enraged.

  “You can’t be serious!” Artis pushed right back. “Are you telling me Michael has never let anyone slip past him? He has never been betrayed by someone he trusted? Why do you think Patina is taking this so personally? She probably wants to figure out who is behind this more than you because whoever did it was someone she trusted, we all trusted.”

  As soon as Artis’ words hit Gabe’s ears, an image of Anthony on the beach popped into his mind. Michael’s closest friend had betrayed him and tried to kill Gabe only months ago. Perhaps Artis was right and he was being too hasty in his accusations of Patina.

  “Whatever,” Gave said in a dismissive tone, not yet willing to openly admit his error. “We need to figure out who actually switched those stones. Who would possibly know that?”

  Artis thought about Gabe’s question for a moment. “If Beetlemeyer didn’t know who did it, than the only other person who might be able to help is Katrina,” Artis replied.

  “Great, who is Katrina?”

  “Our Oracle.”

  “Oh God, please tell me you’re joking,” Gabe had had enough experiences with his own Oracle to last him a lifetime. The last thing he wanted to do is deal with another troublesome crazy Oracle.

  “I am out of ideas,” Artis said.

  “Fine, let’s get Uri and then you can introduce us to this Oracle I suppose,” Gabe said walking towards the building where his room was. Even though Gabe dreaded the idea of dealing with Katrina, he was beginning to feel the urgency. He had to figure out this curse before it was too late.

  As Artis and Gabe arrived, a guard stood at full attention in front of the door, clear evidence that Uri was back inside the room. Gabe looked down at the ground sheepishly, deciding it was best for Artis to take the lead on the situation with the guard.

  “Artis, what are you doing here?” the muscular boy in his late teens asked. “Wait, I thought Peter was with our guest.”

  “He was, but I relieved him,” Artis replied, hoping her vagueness would suffice. “I am going to take them to Patina.”

  “What?” the guard replied. “Nobody told me anything about this.”

  “Well, of course not, she just sent me. I found this one with Peter while I was on my way here.” Gabe couldn’t help but marvel at the way she weaved her tale of deception with such ease, batting her big eyelashes and shrugging her shoulders innocently.

  “I see, well I suppose that makes sense,” the boy said, his eyebrows clearly showing he wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing. Turning to grab the door knob, he continued, “This one made a phone call earlier, but has been in his room ever since.”

  “Great,” Artis croaked, leaning forward and touching the boys hand. “I will let Patina know about his activities. Please, Gabe, won’t you ask your friend to join us?” Artis asked, trying to sound official.

  “Yeah, of course,” Gabe replied, still in awe as he watched Artis take the guards hands and lead him to the far side of the hall like a puppy in love with its master.

  Gabe walked in the room, closing the door gently behind him. He quickly clued Uri in on what had been transpiring in the hall and that they were going to try and meet with Iron Gate’s Oracle. Uri didn’t miss a beat and assured his friend that he was prepared to play along. After a few moments, Uri and Gabe emerged from the room.

  “Excuse me, I was told Patina would like to see us?” Uri questioned, another pro with the charade. Gabe smiled as he thought how perfect Uri and Artis probably were for each other. Though he was not willing to trust her yet, he could tell Artis did excite his dear friend and for that, he was pleased for him.

  Artis simply nodded and turned to the guard once again. “I’ll take it from here, thanks.”

  “Wait, I don’t know … Artis, he is my responsibility. If anything happened, Alfred would …” the boy stammered. “I know. I will just go with you.”

  “No, really, I’ll be fine,” Artis insisted.

  “Artis, come on, really. There is no way I am leaving his side after the warning Alfred gave me. I will go with you to Patina’s office.”

  “Gee, I didn’t know I was traveling with such a hardened and dangerous criminal,” Gabe muttered under his breath to Uri and the two boys snickered quietly.

  “Very well, it’s your waste of time,” Artis replied turning and walking down the massive hall. Gabe wondered how she was going to get them out of this one. When they arrived at Patina’s office it would become evident very quickly that she had been lying and they would all be in trouble.

  The group of four emerged from the building and rounded the massive stone wall. Artis continued to walk until she came to a split in the path. One direction led to Patina’s office and the other to the Oracle. She slowly came to a stop and looked at both paths curiously.

  “Is everything all right?” the guard asked, sensing her hesitation.

  “I thought I heard something,” Artis claimed, trying to rapidly devise a plan.

  “What?” The boy whispered, ears darting back and forth. “I don’t hear anything. What did you hear?”

  “I don’t know,” Artis whimpered as if terrified. “I think it was over there,” Artis added, pointing towards a small wooden hen house over flowing with straw.

  “I’m sure it was just a hen,” the boy insisted.

  “I’m scared,” Artis whined, sticking out her bottom lip and pushing the dirt around with her toe. Lifting a single finger, Artis traced the outline of the boy’s muscular arm and in an equally pouty voiced pleaded. “Will you check it out, please?”

  Not wanting to disappoint the sweet and precious Artis, the guard compliantly walked over to the hen house cautiously. He looked on both sides of the house and even behind it.

  “What are you doing?” Gabe whispered under his breath. Artis shrugged her shoulders in response as if she were clueless of her own plan.

  Before anyone else could say another word or even exhale, Artis darted across the path with great speed, coming to rest just behind the unsuspecting guard. A moment later she muttered the word “Dormio” in his ear. The boy fell to the ground with a thud.

  “Oh my God! What did you do to him?” Gabe cried.

  “Oh please, calm yourself!” Artis snapped. “It’s just a slumber spell.”

  “Isn’t there something in Iron Gate’s rules about casting on each other?” Uri asked.

  “Well yes, if you must know, but I was running out of options. I didn’t see either of you stepping up,” Artis quipped back.

  “Oh no, no, I was not objecting,” Uri reassured her. “Actually, I am quite impressed with your tactics as well as stealth. Very impressive.”

  “Really?” Artis chirped.

  “Ugh, gross!” Gabe gasped, snapping Artis out of her starry eyed love gaze.

  “Come on. Help me move him off the path before someone sees,” she commanded.

  The two boys each took a shoulder and Artis his feet. With great strain,
the three managed to carry the body and conceal him behind the hen house beneath a mound of straw.

  “What are we going to do when he wakes up?” Gabe asked the question he assumed Artis had not thought of with such a brash course of action.

  “I suppose we will all be in a lot of trouble. Instead of talking about it maybe we should hurry up,” Artis urged. She cautiously walked back to the fork in the path and after searching for any sign of other people, she took off running in the direction of the Oracle’s cottage. “Come on, we’re not going to get a lot of time.”

  The two boys followed, somewhat apprehensive about the trouble their new friend might be getting them into, yet both still grateful for her own risk in the forbidden adventure.

  “Are you sure about trusting her?” Gabe whispered as they followed Artis.

  “Got any better ideas?” Uri asked.

  “I just want to make sure you’re thinking with the head on your shoulders,” Gabe growled.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Uri defended.

  “Oh come on, it’s obvious you have the hots for her. You can’t quit staring at her.”

  “So she’s good looking, but that would never affect my decision making.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Watch it Gabe!”

  “What? I just want to make sure you know what we’re getting ourselves into here,” Gabe asserted.

  “She did knock one of her own unconscious back there. I think we’re pretty safe in assuming we can trust her.” Uri argued, his voice increasing with each word.

  “Hey!” Artis interrupted. “If you two ladies can quit bickering for a minute, we’re here.”

  Gabe glanced up. There was a small cottage in front of them. They had traveled through the same woods that had hidden them the previous evening. They were now in a clearing; at the edge were the remnants of that same fireplace.

  “Wait, this is where we were last night,” Gabe proclaimed.

  “And where’s that?” Uri pondered.

  “Look, right across the field; that’s the cottage of the Oracle, Katrina. Are you two ready?” Artis requested.