Touched by Darkness (Young Creator Trilogy)

by Christiane Shoenhair

  The sun is starting to go down, and just as I’m about to get up I notice Keagan approaching us; he has hot-pink lipstick smeared across his lips. Chelsey notices and glances at me with raised eyebrows. “It appears that he and Porsche are umm … together.” Chelsey stares at me, mouth gaping open, while Sam looks back and forth with confusion. However, when he notices Keagan and understanding dawns, he shakes his head in disbelief.

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me, seriously? The guy that threw a huge fit when he thought that you were interested in me,” Sam states.

  I turn away from their probing eyes, not wanting them to see the hurt in mine. “It seems that when I brought him back, all memories of us had been wiped away. Chelsey, he is so different.” I think she is about to say something, but changes her mind when Keagan arrives in front of us. He stands there, looking down his nose at us.

  “You wanted me to meet up with you before tonight, so here I am. What now?”

  Ugh,he’s so rude! My teeth clench together to keep the words that are about to burst forth at bay, but Sam speaks his mind.

  “Dude,seriously, that’s how you speak to the girl that saved your life? You’re an ass!” Sam turns from Keagan and grabs a hold of Chelsey, jumping up and pulling her up along with him.“Come on, Chels,let’s get out of here.I don’t feel like being around idiots that can’t see what’s right in front of them.” I’m speechless and have no idea what to say. “I’ll see you later, Trish. Come find us when you’re done with the idiot.” He turns and walks away, pulling Chelsey along with him. She quickly glances over her shoulder, mouthing,‘Sorry’.

  I’m nervous, anddon’t know what to say after everything Sam just did. I start playing with my new strand of black hair to give myself something to do. Keagan just watches me, a look on his face that Ican’t quite decipher

  “So what are your thoughts?” I ask.

  “Don’t worry about my thoughts,” Keagan replies arrogantly.

  “You seriously make me want to pull my hair out.” I emphasize this by grasping my hair and pulling it straight up. I notice that his eyes focus on the black strand.

  “That’s a weird fashion statement. I don’t like it.” He crosses his arms in front of his chest, and looks me up and down, focusing again on my hands in my hair.

  How can his memory of me have changed so much in one day? If this had been the Keagan I had met,I don’t believe I would have ever even considered dating this annoying ass. I don’t believe that any single person, not even Porsche, has ever been able to irritate me as much as Keagan is today. Even though when I first noticed the black streak in my hair I was not too fond of it, I have come to accept it as a part of me now. It reminds me of that special moment when I believed that Keagan was dead, and then I met his very alive eyes.

  “You’re a condescending ass, you know that?” I now have my arms crossed in front of me, too, and am tapping my foot with impatience.

  “Feisty little thing, aren’t you?” He takes a step in my direction.

  “What are you doing?” I ask while stepping back. The smirk that I’m now becoming accustomed to returns to his face. Then, as if he has come to some sort of realization, his whole composure changes. Gone is the arrogance and macho attitude, and in its place is pure determination.

  “Let’s stop with the games. We don’t have time for them. You said something earlier that caught my attention, so hereI’m at your request to come up with a plan. I might not like the situation I find myself in, but I intendto do my duty.”

  “Okay, so do you remember anything at all about us?”

  “There is no us!”

  I let out an exasperated sigh and tell myself to be patient. “Not that you remember anyway. I don’t understand how or why it happened, but since I’ve brought you back, it’s as if I’ve been erased from your memory.”

  “What are you talking about? Brought me back?” Keagan is looking at me with confusion, and at that moment I realize he has no clue that he died and I brought him back to life. I don’t know what to say to him, so I try to change the subject.

  “You and Porsche, cute couple,” I say sarcastically.

  Keagan is silent for a moment, but to my immense relief he goes along with my change in topic. “It just kinda happened.It’s actually pretty weird. I have never been a big fan of Porsche and never felt any draw in her direction, but that completely changed yesterday. I remember the first thing I wanted after blacking out was to be near Porsche.I missed her.” He shrugs as if it’s just natural for him to want Porsche.

  Hearing all of this chips away a piece of my heart, and I try really hard not to let the hurt show on my face. “Well, I hope that you get what your heart desires. But back on topic, I think that you must have hit your head when you blacked out.” When I emphasize blacked out with finger quotes, I receive raised eyebrows, so I decide to focus on the one thing that I know will get to Keagan. “You, Eddie, Chelsey, and I were all friends back at Dalton Academy. Eddie figured out that I was a Young Creator, so you did your duty to humanity and brought me to Haven. When we left Haven and met up with Aunt Tisi, she discovered that you and I have a weird bond while training me. Instead of me controlling my protective shield, you do. So in a fight, such as we might be engaging in tonight,we have to have each other’s backs.” Keagan is staring at me with eyes wide open,but I decide to just forge ahead. “So what I think we should do is something we did before, and it worked.” I manifest a yellow, round sponge and hand it to Keagan, who is looking at me likeI’m straight up crazy. “All right, Keagan, what I want you to do is throw the spongeat my head.” Without hesitation, he throws the sponge and hits me right in the face. He starts laughing, which Iignore. “All right, this time thinkthat you don’t want anything to happen to me.” He throws it again and it hits me once more, right in the face.

  “You are a strange girl.” He laughs some more, and picking up the sponge he throws it to me. I catch it and toss it at him. Before it can even come close to hitting him, the force field that I have created makes it bounce off harmlessly. “That’s a pretty neat trick.”

  “Right, and you should be able to make the same thing happen when it comes to me.”

  “Look,I’m a Guardian, not your little magical play thing. If that is all you want from me, then I’m going now.” I don’t know what to do. I need this to work,but don’t understand why it’s not. I need Aunt Tisi. I have never done this before, but decide to give it a try. I picture her standing next to me, telling me the answers to all of my problems. Nothing happens.

  Keagan turns and starts walking away from me, toward the rebel camp. I have to make this happen now. So instead of thinking of what she is going to be doing, I shut my eyes and imagineAunt Tisi’s journey from where she is now, to when she stands beside me. I see her turning into billions of particles right before my eyes, traveling at the speed of light and reassembling right next to me in the form of Tisi. I slowly open my eyes. She is standing right next to me seeming disoriented and confused as to what just happened. I smile, and when she notices she shakes her head with a look of wonder.

  I glance at Keagan’s retreating back and yell,“Hey, Keagan, wait up! Aunt Tisi is here to help us with our plan.” Keagan immediately turns on his heels, and with an awestruck look on his face, returns to stand next to us. I really don’t understand what his deal is. He has no issues with a full fledge Fury whose nature it was to destroy and who has done some unthinkable things, but he literally hates me… who has done nothing except try to save humanity. That boy doesn’t make sense.

  “So what’s going on?” Aunt Tisi inquires.

  “Force field is not working, and I don’t really know why,” I tell her. I guess she doesn’t believe me, because the next thing I know an apple hits me in the shoulder. I roll my eyes at her; I’m really getting tired of getting hit with random things.

  “Hmm. So, Keagan, how did it make you feel when Trish got hit with the fruit?”

  “It was kinda funny,especially seei
ng the look on her face.” Then he chuckles, which makes me glare at him, and the chuckle turns into a full-blown laugh. I seriously want to kick him in the shin. Suddenly, a dagger is flying at my face. There are no thoughts in my head and I can’t move. I simply close my eyes, anticipating the pain.

  Chapter 5

  Touched by Force

  The pain never comes; I see the knife laying at my feet, its tip sticking in the dirt. “What happened?” I look at Keagan, whose face is a pasty white color, and then at Tisiphone, who is shaking her head.

  “What happened? I will tell you what happened. You just handed me your life on a plate,

  Trish. You may not have your protective field, but you still have your power. I have seen you

  turn swords into noodles and other objects before, but when it really counted you completely

  froze up. If Ihadn’t been here and manipulated the knife to stop an inch from your face, it would

  have hit you, and most likelyyou’d have been dead. You might not know this, but killing a

  Young Creator is extremely… hard if not impossible. Yesterday was the only exception because

  of the force field.” I don’t think I have ever seen Aunt Tisi so mad before, and I hate the anger

  and disappointment on her facethat’s directed at me.

  “I don’t know what happened, I just went blank.” Aunt Tisi is pacing back and forth; I

  watch her, not knowing what else to say. On the fifth round I notice that her eyes have turned

  this eerie white and she is starting to pace several inches of the ground. It always freaks me out

  when I see her doing this. I guess it’s a fury thing. I can still remember Allecto’s black eyes, and

  Ican’t help but wonder why the two sisters have different eye colors when they get like this.

  Tisiphone’s eyes were one of the first things that I noticed about her. They started off an eerie

  white, which took up her entire eyeball, but once she got closer to me her eyes turned into

  normal human eyes that just change color every few seconds; something that I still notice when I

  have a conversation with her. It’s super distracting. I get brought out of my thoughts when

  Tisiphone says my name.

  “Trish,are you listening to me?” I notice Keagan snickering, clearly amused at my

  expense.

  “Sorry, Aunt Tisi, I didn’t realize that you were talking. I was just thinking.” “I noticed. Sit, both of you!” She points to a fallen tree that is just a few feet away.

  Keagan and I sit down, several feet in between us. Tisiphone lets out an aggravated sigh. “You two get closer!It’s not like you haven’t been all over each other before,and I don’t think either one of you will bite the other.” I glance over at Keagan, wondering what his reaction to her words is going to be. He is wearing an annoyed look on his face, clearly tired of hearing references to our relationship. Regardless, he gets up and moves next to me, but sits far enough

  away that we are not touching.

  “I need both of you to focus. The challenges ahead of us are already going to be hard

  enough without you two not getting along,” she scolds. I just point at Keagan, clearly letting her

  know it’s not my fault. Glancing over to Keagan, I notice that he is sitting with his arms crossed,

  pretending that this is not concerning him.

  “I really need you two to stop acting like children. And yes, Trish,I’m talking to you,

  too. From whereI’m standing,you’re not really helping the situation.” I feel like I’m being

  punked;she can’t be for real. I haven’t done anything.

  “Apparently the two of you can’t work together right now, which is really endangering

  this whole operation. Not only that, Keagan, but you might be the only person that stands

  between Trish and a certain death, which would be devastating on so many levels. The way that I

  see it, Trish is going to be protecting everyone else and you, Keagan, need to have her back.

  With the force field this would be a lot simpler. You just have to want no harm to come to

  Trish.”

  “It’s not that I want anything to happen to her on purpose, it’s how I feel about everyone.

  I’ll do my best to make sure that I have her back,but that’s all I can do. Not trying to be mean,

  but I would do the same for anybody. There is no special protectiveness that I feel toward Trish.

  That’s just how it is.” Keagan shrugs, as if to say it’s not a big deal. I know I shouldn’t take it so

  personally, but when just a few days ago he made me feel like I was the most important person

  on the planet and regardless of what we’d faced he would always walk into the fire right beside

  me, him not caring hurts. I know hedoesn’t remember, but it still feels horrible. I think that Tisi

  can tell that my feelings have been hurt; her eyes soften when she meets mine and she gives me a

  sad smile.

  “Well, I guess we will just have to work with that for now. Keagan, you are her Guardian

  and you need to protect Trish regardless of what else is going to happen tonight. She is your

  mission, and you will not leave her side. Do I make myself clear, Keagan?’

  “Yes, ma’am.” Hedoesn’t look happy, but knowing Keagan he is going to make sureI’m

  safe.It’s just the kind of person that he is; always taking his responsibilities seriously. “It’s time, we need to get ready. Let’s head back, and remember my words… both of

  you.” Tisi starts walking and both of us jump up in an instant to head back. I wonder why, on

  occasion, Aunt Tisi transports herself or others to places, and other times she takes her time and

  walks.

  We arrive back at the village,and to my amazement it’s as if it has turned into a military

  camp. Everywhere I walk I notice different groups working on different tasks. A blacksmith,

  whose massive arms are bulging with muscles, is covered in soot and pounding the end of a red

  hot sword on an anvil. I notice a pile of metal that he still has to work on laying in a mountain to

  his right. While he is pounding, a young redheaded man, slender in build, is dunking the swords

  into cool water. Then, a sturdy looking woman is giving it the final touch on the sharpening

  stone, using it to grind the edges. The sword’s edge that she is holding looks like it could cut

  through a body with barely any resistance. I notice that she has about fifty swords piled up on a

  wooden table. I guess everything gets used when they are on a mission, since the table is one of

  the ones that I just used a few hours ago to eat on. She must have felt my eyes on her, because

  just as I’m about to look away from the task that she is completing she nods her head at me,

  acknowledging my presence. I return her nod and continue on.

  People are rushing everywhere, most of them carrying something in their hands.

  Everywhere we walk we get acknowledged by smiles and claps on the back. When we reach the

  tent, I notice Helen with a large whiteboard behind her. The board is divided into two sides, and

  as I get closer I notice that one side is a task list with the responsible parties listed next to it and

  the other side is a rough map of Haven with different colored stars on it. I’m going to assume

  that the stars are various groups of people that will be responsible for different missions tonight.

  I stillcan’t believe they are wanting to do this all tonight. I always thought that planning and

  putting everything into place for a battle would take weeks, if not months, to prepare. “Does anyone have any questions about what their role will be tonight?” Everyone nods

  their head, acknowle
dging that they understand what is expected of them. Helen sweeps her gaze

  over the assembled crowd of about ten. When she notices the three of us, she excuses herself

  from the group and heads over to us. “Tisi,what happened to you? You just disappeared.” “Trish needed my assistance, so she decided to bring me toher side.” Helen stares at me

  in wonder. I shrug my shoulders, wanting to sayit’s no big deal. I notice Keagan once again

  staring at me and it’s making me super uncomfortable. Why do I keep finding myself in his

  presence? I haven’t even had the chance to digest this change in our relationship, and at the pace

  I keep getting thrown into stuff I don’t know if I will ever get a chance.

  “Well, since you three are back,let me explain the plan to you for tonight.” “I can’t believe how much is going on. Everyone seems to be so busy. What do you need

  us to do?” I ask Helen, wanting to be useful.

  “As I was explaining during the meeting this morning, only a few of us will go talk to the

  head Guardians at Haven. The rest of you will all be posted around Haven, so in case itdoesn’t

  go over well with the council we will immediately be able to attack. All of these stars are various

  groups with different missions. Do you see the yellow star right there?” She points to one right

  on the edge of Haven. When I look at the map, I realize that it’s a part I’m not familiar with. “Why are you having us up on that bluff?” Keagan inquires.

  “Trish has to be able to see what is going on so that she can protect the rebels. So the two

  of you will be on the west side of town and responsible for those people.” I look at the map of

  the village and feel a huge burden settle on my shoulders. What if Ican’t save someone or don’t

  react in time?“Tisiphone, you and Maximus will be on the east side and responsible for that side