Penn switched his focus to Yas. He was angry and defiant. It scared her. Sam noticed this too and moved to protect her. They looked up at the words of the peacekeepers, hovering above Penn. Surprisingly, Penn smiled.
“Nothing is ever as it seems,” he said calmly, and raised his hand in a choking fashion. Words behind him that had been part of the dragon, flew towards Yas. Sam saw them coming and moved to defend her. He tried to catch and deflect the words, but instead they flicked him aside. Sam went skidding backwards and hit the wall.
Before Yas had time to react, the words shot straight towards her and gripped her around the throat. She reached up and grabbed at them with her hands, fighting against them, trying to release them enough so that she could breathe. Lacking air, she quickly became lightheaded and reached for the floor with one hand. Yas’s mom rushed over, caught her and lowered her to her knees. Sam got to his feet, a little shakily, and ran over to Yas, firing word arrows angrily at Penn as he went. Vickers and Peter also conjured magic and fired back at Penn. In response, Penn commanded the words around him to swarm, meeting and absorbing each shot. He laughed in reply, relishing their defeat.
The world around Yas started to become less solid, less certain. Flashing lights danced at the edge of her vision. Sam looked down at her, then touched her shoulder and sent healing magic to dissolve the cords. Nothing seemed to work.
Yas knew she had to do something. She reached up with her hand, shaking as she did so, a sweat starting to appear on her brow with the effort. She formed word arrows in her hand, powerful words. In her oxygen starved mind, her thoughts became darker. She knew the shot had to maim or kill and she wanted that. She let the words fly to Penn where they avoided his defences and pierced his chest. A look of surprise suddenly rippled out across his face. His mouth opened in shock, trying to say something, but nothing came out. He stood there astounded for a moment.
‘Got you!” she found herself thinking. The tendrils around her throat dissolved and shrank back to where they had come from. Then she coughed as she found herself able to breathe again. When she looked up, she saw that the words that had been hovering over Penn’s head had rushed downwards, into his mouth, nose and the wound that she had caused. He gargled as he tried to say something. His head started to ripple, bubble and bulge as he struggled to fight off the internal battle that was occurring. Then books started to swarm around him, tugging at his very fabric. The edges of Penn dissolved and moved outwards. What remained, started forming into words, the matter of the realm. For some seconds, there was a resistance to whatever was pulling him apart. Eventually, there was a release, a roar of defeat and anger. He split apart, the words that formed him were pulled into the books. As the energy that was Penn disappeared, the books moved off into bookcases, and passageways.
In the silence that followed, Yas collapsed to the floor on all fours, Sam holding her.
“Yas?” he asked in alarm.
She turned her head and smiled back at him weakly. She was glad he was there, he helped to bring her out of the dark place she had been in. As air returned to her body she looked up past Sam and into the blurred world that sat behind him. There was a difference in the air. It was one of gratitude. That felt good, but she felt numb. Something had changed. She wasn’t sure what.
The remnants of the peacekeepers moved outwards and were scooped up by books that gathered like seagulls looking for food. Books moved past each other, then made their way onwards to corners of the room and disappeared. Gradually the number of books moving about reduced, back to the level that she and Sam had seen when they had first arrived.
As Yas watched, she started to shake uncontrollably. The battle was done. The danger was over and yet she felt weak. She didn’t know where it had come from. A familiar headache was starting to form. A humming accompanied a strange brightness in her vision, and she found it hard to focus. She checked herself for injuries, lifting one hand from the floor. There was no pain, but she knew she was close to passing out. She had to lay down. Her muscles shook so much that she half dropped, half lowered herself to the ground, Sam helping her.
“Mom,” she said weakly, as she reached out for her.
“Yas,” said her mom softly. She grabbed Yas’s hand tightly as Yas lost consciousness.
Chapter 13
Between the lines
Yas awoke to find herself in bed, in her pyjamas. She looked at the clock. It was late morning. Her phone was on her night table. She picked it up, but it was off. She tried to turn it on, and nothing happened. It must have been out of battery.
“You’re awake,” said a voice gently from the doorway. It was her mom. She came in and sat on the bed. Yas pushed herself up into a seated position.
What day was it? Was she sick or injured? She couldn’t think straight.
“School?” she asked.
“It’s a sick day,” replied her mom. “I called in earlier.”
“Am I sick?”
“You needed time to recover,” soothed her mom.
“What happened after the battle?”
Her mom tapped her reassuringly on the arm. “I think you went into shock.”
“Shock?”
“Yes,” replied her mom. She moved next to Yas and put her arm around her. “It was a lot to ask of you at such a young age. I’m sorry you were thrown into the middle of this. I should have been there more for you these last two years.”
Yas sat still, feeling the closeness. It was different. It was good. Better than good. She could finally relax. She now had the emotional depth in the relationship with her mom that she had always needed. Everything was okay. Except it wasn’t. As she sat there opening her feelings, something bothered her deeply. The final seconds of the battle returned to her mind. Without understanding why, and having no ability to suppress it, emotion suddenly rose and burst long defended banks within her. She found herself crying.
“I killed him, didn’t I?” she asked, tears trickling down her cheeks.
“Yas,” soothed her mom, leaning around to embrace her in a full hug. “It was self-defence. No-one blames you for what you did?”
“But I wanted it to hurt him,” she started to sob into her mom’s shoulder.
“Its okay,” replied Yas’s mom simply. She held Yas for some time, allowing her to release the emotion she needed to. It took time, her mom simply listening and acknowledging as she did.
“Its not me. I don’t want to think those thoughts,” cried Yas again, starting another round of emotional release.
“I know,” said her mom, rubbing Yas’s back. “Believe me, I know. It does not make you a bad person. You’ve got to believe me.”
“But what if it happens again? What do I do then?”
Yas’s mom paused for a time. Then she said, “You’ll do exactly what you believe you need to. As you did yesterday.”
“What about the others?” asked Yas. She remembered Sam looking at her with alarm.
“They’re all recovering,” replied her mom. “Sam came round this morning to check on you.”
“Sam?” she said, suddenly snapping to and sitting up, combing her fingers through hair. “What did you say to him?”
Her mom laughed and squeezed her for a moment. “He wanted to make sure you were okay,” she said. “I told him you’d message him when you were up and about.”
“Okay,” said Yas, relieved. “Of course. I’ll message him.” She reached past her mom and grabbed her phone again, then scrambled past her to reach her night table where she kept her charger. The charge symbol appeared. At least it was still working. She sat there on the side of the bed, looking at it. She wondered what Sam was thinking about the battle and realised that she really wanted to talk to him about it.
Her mom moved back up next to Yas, putting her hand on her leg.
“Its a lot to process, Yas,” she said. “It will take time. The realms, what your grandpa was trying to keep from the Controllers and you fighting in a battle. Let it sink in for a w
hile.” Her mom looked at Yas, moving her hand to wipe some of the tears from Yas’s face.
“Know this,” she said. “None of what you did makes you a bad person. You have good judgement and you did exactly what you needed to do. I couldn’t be prouder. And wherever Grandpa is, he would be also.”
Fresh tears slid out of Yas’s eyes at the memory of Grandpa. She nodded. She felt raw emotionally. It would take time, she knew that.
“Anyway,” her mom said to her. “Sam said he would probably pop in again later.”
Yas unconsciously wiped her hand across her face.
“Later?” she asked. That seemed to spur her into action. “I need to get changed.”
“Sure,” her mom nodded. “Join me downstairs when you’re ready. We have a lot to talk about.”
Sam arrived later in the afternoon. Yas went to the door, opened it and found herself giving him a hug before he’d even had a chance to step inside.
“Thank you, Sam,” she said, into his neck.
“Sure,” he said, returning the hug, after his initial surprise wore off. “Always.”
“I know. And I appreciate it.”
“Thank you too,” he said back to her, still holding her but pulling back a little and looking into her eyes. “What you did...” he paused, “...you were amazing, Yas!”
Embarrassed, she looked down, momentarily lost in her own thoughts.
“You okay?” he asked. “How do you feel about everything that happened?”
She froze. The emotion came again like a wave, surprising her. She couldn’t talk.
“I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be standing here now if it wasn’t for you.”
She nodded again. He was right, but she found her actions hard to accept. She felt so keenly the affect of emotional pain on others. Even though she knew Penn deserved what had happened, she found it incredibly difficult to come to terms with what she had inflicted. It was the same with McVale, the saving grace there was that her mom had intervened and healed her before McVale’s demise. Yas figured it would take time to get used to. She looked back up at Sam. She realised he was still stood outside the door.
“Listen,” she said to him, moving her hands to his. “Can we go and get a coffee or something? I need to get some fresh air.”
“Yes,” he said smiling. “I’d love that.”
She leaned forwards towards him, moving her lips towards his. Then his face met hers and they kissed for a moment. She pulled him inside and they kissed again. Then she grabbed her jacket and bag and pulled on a pair of boots over her jeans.
“Mom,” she called. “I’m just heading out for a while with Sam. Okay?”
Yas’s mom appeared at the kitchen door.
“Oh, hi Sam,” She winked at Yas. “Of course. Enjoy yourselves.”
Yas and Sam headed outside and walked towards town. She looked around. The sun was repeating its late fall, light breeze weather and the world suddenly felt lighter. She reflected that she had made a breakthrough in the relationship with her mom, and more importantly with Sam. It was all okay, and she was grateful. She smiled at him as they walked, holding hands.
“What?” Sam asked, smiling back.
“I was just thinking about all that’s changed. It doesn’t seem real, does it?” Then she realised how he might take it and added, “I mean this does...” she added, gesturing to the two of them, “...but the realms, the battle. It feels like some odd dream?”
“I know,” replied Sam as they turned the corner at the end of the street. “I couldn’t think about anything else all day. I needed to talk to you about it.” He paused. “When my dad was missing, you listened when others didn’t. It means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me.”
“Yeah well, I did think you were a little crazy at first, talking about realms and stuff,” she smiled at him. “But I’m glad you did. I don’t think we would be here right now if not.” She gripped his hand more firmly and raised it a little to show how their friendship had evolved. She liked him a lot. He was genuine, brave and caring. The person that he was mattered to her and that’s what it came down to. She felt very strongly that the vice versa was also true.
“Crazy?” he laughed playfully. “Not crazy! A little weird, maybe!” They stopped and looked at each other.
“Yes,” she replied, laughing a little. He looked at her and they kissed again. “I’m glad you are!”
They continued walking.
“So, what happens with the bookstore now?” asked Sam.
“I don’t know. I think I’m out of a job. That’s for sure.”
“Why don’t you apply to the library? I could talk to Janine if you like. It would be awesome to work together.”
“Yeah, okay. I can try,” she replied. “Although, I’ll miss working in the bookshop.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I think I’ll miss the McVale that I thought she was.”
“I know what you mean. I’m learning that you can’t always judge books by their covers, too.”
“Who d’you mean? Do you mean me?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.
“No, no,” he replied quickly. “Janine. Vickers. She’s not who I thought she was. And I’m glad, too.”
“Yeah, I don’t understand why I didn’t see who McVale was sooner.”
“Well, like Vickers, I think she was acting a particular way for her own reasons.”
“Yeah, I guess I wasn’t the only one she double-crossed.”
“Your grandpa?”
“Yes.”
“What happened? I don’t really understand.”
“From what my mom and I have guessed, he’d been taking adventures with McVale to realms and borrowing different mythological guards. He noted them all down in his journal. Then he came to realise that he had been encouraged to do this for the wrong reasons. He realised that McVale was working for the Controllers and he decided to keep everything back. She retaliated, or someone did, and that’s how we think he died.”
“I’m sorry, Yas.”
“Its okay. Seeing him again... I was able to say goodbye. It forewarned him. Caused him to leave the clues for my mom and I to follow.”
“Wow. That blows me away,” said Sam. They walked past more houses. “How do you think we were able to go back in time like that?
“I really don’t know. My mom thinks that there may be threads of the past woven through the realms. Somehow, we’d picked up on it. An accident, I guess. It would be good if we could find out more.”
“Well, I might have an idea on that,” Sam replied, with a pleased look on his face.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you remember those other Guardians in the realm?” he asked.
“Yes,” Yas replied, still a little confused.
“It turns out, they were Sentinels,” replied Sam. “Summoned by Janine. We might be able to ask them?”
“What?”
“Yeah, Janine is part of a larger group of Guardians, called the Sentinels. She came here to investigate recent disappearances and how they might be linked to your grandfather.”
“So that’s why she knew about him?”
“Yes,” replied Sam. “She was trying to infiltrate the Controllers. That’s why she was acting a little crazy.”
“A little?”
“True,” he conceded, laughing.
They walked in silence under trees for a moment.
Sam continued. “What do you think happens now for the Controllers?”
“What do you mean?” Yas questioned.
“Well, Janine and my dad explained that Penn had been absorbed and spread across books. They seem to think that he’s not dead, but that he will arise at some point in the future.”
“He’s not dead?” she asked, incredulously. “But I hit him with everything I had. How did he survive that?”
“I don’t know, but that’s what Dad and Janine seem to think.”
Yas looked deflated for a moment. “Is there anything els
e we can do? To stop him?
“I was thinking maybe we should track down the books and destroy them,” added Sam. “Just to be certain.”
Yas thought about it. “No, I think that would be wrong. It feels like we’re trying to control something.”
“But if its for a good intention, though right?” asked Sam.
“I know,” said Yas. “But I think that’s where my grandpa became unstuck. Doing the wrong thing for the right reason.”
“Oh, I see” said Sam, feeling confused. “Okay?”
“What exactly did Janine and your dad say?”
“They seemed to think it’s a watch and wait game. I guess I was hoping for something a little more concrete, you know? Be more prepared?”
“Well,” replied Yas, thinking, “You know how yesterday we sensed the energy of the realm?”
“Yes,” replied Sam. “When we created the creatures, right?”
“Yeah, but there’s more. When I set the peacekeepers free, the energy in the realm changed. It felt like gratitude.” She paused. She wasn’t sure exactly how to explain it other than that. “Then there was a sense of justice being done when the battle finished.”
“So, what are you saying?” asked Sam. “There’s a way we can feel what’s happening?”
“I think so,” replied Yas. “Reading between the lines. Do you remember Y’in saying that to us? And my grandpa mentioned it too. Maybe if we practice it, we can start to figure out when Controllers are planning things and where?”
“You think that could work? But how?”
“Its not going to be easy, but I think its what Word Guardians have been trying to do in the past.”
They walked in silence for a moment, taking in the mid afternoon scenery around them.
The Word Guardians: and the Battle for the Peacekeepers Page 28