by Bryna Butler
***
This time Colby awoke in a place more familiar. He was on the ancient horsehair sofa in Keira’s living room. Nana knelt beside him, dotting his forehead with a cool, damp cloth. “Are you awake, dear?” Nana asked. “That must have been some dream. I think that you got a touch of that food poisoning from the Food Court too.”
“What?” Colby asked. He was shaken, but he still knew the difference between what he had just witnessed and a dream. “What’s going on?” He pushed Nana’s hand away. “Stay away from me.”
He could see Keira lurking in the doorway. Nana put down the cloth and retreated to her. The two started arguing in hushed tones while Colby watched helplessly. He took those moments to assess his current predicament. He knew that he could not depend on his legs to carry him out the door. He knew that he had left his phone on his desk at home. His mind started racing, searching for a means of escape. This is completely insane, he thought. But, his survival instinct was now in full control. His head and his gut were screaming at him to run, but his body could not support the effort. He started breathing rapidly. His heart beat fast. And then everything went black for a third time.
He awoke this time to find that he hadn’t moved. He was still on the antique couch in the living room at Keira’s house. He felt rested and a bit calmer. He could also feel that his strength was returning. Yet, his head was throbbing. He held it in both hands and pressed on his temples in a feeble attempt to release the pain. He sat up with care and examined his surroundings. The room was silent, except for the unrelenting ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner. Nana and Keira were standing in the doorway between the room and the kitchen. He focused on them, still not able to stand of his own merit.
Colby could tell that they were having a heated conversation and that it was nearing an end. At last, Nana shook her head and threw up her arms. She left the doorway in the direction of the kitchen. Keira walked into the living room and sat on the coffee table beside the sofa. Her hands were clenched nervously.
“What have you done to me?”
The question took Keira aback. “What have I done to you?” Her brow furled, then an understanding smirk broke across her face. “Is that what you really think of me?,” she said. “What do you think happened?”
“I can’t. I’m not sure.” His mind started to clear. He began to remember that this was his friend. He knew that there had to be a sensible explanation. He started thinking out loud, “A tornado?…but, the house is intact…was I hit in the head?” Colby couldn’t piece it together. Nothing made sense and wasn’t there something about a baby?
“Ooh…tornado…interesting, that’s a new one, very clever,” Keira noted. “Have you heard that one before?” she shouted toward the kitchen. Nana didn’t answer. “Guess not,” she shrugged.
Keira was eerily confident despite the unusual events of the evening. Her posture was very erect, not the slouched, easy-going stance that she usually exhibited. It was clear to Colby that she knew exactly what was going on and was even a bit pleased by it. It’s her fault, he thought. She did do something to me, he thought. However, it was a fleeting notion. He couldn’t bring himself to truly believe that she would ever hurt him. Still, Colby’s head was pounding and he was in no mood for games. He planted his feet and quickly rose only to find that it was a little too quickly. He wobbled and Keira came to his support.
“Seriously, rest a little. You’ve been through a lot. I’ll tell you everything you want to know. In fact, I can’t wait to finally tell you everything,” Keira reassured him. She eased him back onto the sofa. Her words soothed him, but the slowness of her delivery was taking its toll.
“Do you trust me, Colby?” Keira asked. “Are you my friend no matter what?”
His brief moment of relief now turned to concern. “Trust? You’re talking to me about trust? Now? Just tell me what’s going on,” Colby demanded. Then he looked at her. He really looked at her, his best friend, seeking to confide in him. He took a deep, cleansing sigh. “Keira, you know that you can trust me. If you need help, I’m here.” He started to feel that nervous twinge in his stomach, the same one that he got every time he knew Keira’s exploits were going to get him into trouble.
“If I need help,” she laughed. “You’re the one who is flat on his back.”
It didn’t take long to see that Colby wasn’t laughing. Fear consumed his face. She could see it now. She stifled the giggles and continued for his sake. “And you’ll keep my secret? You must promise your most sacred promise to me.”
“I guess we’re in this together, like always.”
“Good,” she said. “Some of this will be very unbelievable, but I swear to you, it is true, I’ll prove it to you.” Colby could always tell when Keira was lying, another benefit of their long-time friendship. He knew that this was not one of those times.
“Tonight, you got to see something extremely rare. It was by accident, but I’m glad it happened,” Keira said. Her tone was almost giddy.
“Glad? I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck and you’re glad? What’s going on? Did you do this?” Colby questioned. “What did I s…” his words dropped off as he saw what Keira was doing. Her eyes were closed. Her hands were cupped at her chest. From within them was the same tiny, white glowing light that he remembered from the nursery. He blinked his eyes to adjust them to the light. Startled, Colby drew his legs up and moved as far back on the sofa as possible.
Still he couldn’t take his eyes from it. As he focused, he realized that it was not an orb like he expected. At its core it wasn’t perfectly round, but more egg-shaped. The core itself didn’t seem tangible, just a denser light than the outer part.
She opened her eyes and stared knowingly into his. “It’s okay, Colby. This is a vox,” she said calmly. “It’s kinda like my gift.” She closed her eyes again and the light slowly faded out as she pushed it against her chest.
“What is that? What are you?”
Keira’s mouth fell open. She had tried to be calm and understanding for her friend, even though her insides were jumping at the excitement of telling him everything. This is all she’d ever dreamed of. She was just moments from confiding it all. How could he say that? It hit her like a swift kick to the stomach.
“What are you?”
His words repeated over and over in her head. Her first reaction was to cry, but crying is a gesture of weakness. Displays of weakness were simply not in Keira’s nature, so instead, she turned that emotion to defense.
“I’m Keira. I’m the same Keira that’s been your friend for as long as either of us can remember. I just have this one thing.”
She was right. He knew that this was still his friend. He would struggle to remember that, for her sake. Colby could feel that what he had said hurt her and she was unsure whether to proceed with her explanation. Still, he had to know.
“I’m sorry. Go ahead. Please, I’m listening.”
“Are you sure, Colby? There are things that you can’t un-know.”
He looked into her eyes and nodded.
She let out a gasp of exasperation and flopped on the floor beside him. She took a quick moment to compose herself.
“Okay, so here it is. I’ve practiced this in my head a bunch of times, so don’t laugh.”
“I promise you, I’m in no mood to laugh.”
“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “In all the world, only a handful of people are meant for greatness. I don’t mean politicians or those of blood nobility, I mean truly great people. They are those that change the course of history for the better. Some are known to man and famous for their work. Others are nobodies who by their actions start a ripple effect that changes the entire world,” Keira said.
“So what does this have to do with anything?” Colby prodded. “Are you telling me that you are going to change the world?” Nothing was making sense to him and this just sounded like a lot of blah, blah, blah.
“Just listen.” K
eira continued, “When there is good, there is also evil. There are those that wish to stop the great ones from growing up to make their contribution to society. There are three times that this can be done. The times when they are most vulnerable, when they receive their vox,” she said looking down at her hands.
“That glowing thing, the thing you were holding in the nursery?”
“Yes,” Keira answered. “There are three vox bestowed to a great one by their guardian. The first vox is the Voice of Passion or you might say emotion, or maybe more accurately, devotion. It’s given to the great one in infancy, right after they cut their first tooth.”
She continued, “The second vox is the Voice of Truth. The great one receives it when he or she passes from infancy into childhood, signified by losing their first baby tooth. The third and most precious vox is the Voice of Wisdom, given at the sunset of childhood when their last baby tooth is lost. I am one of many who protect the great ones and bestow the vox. I am a guardian.”
“Wait a sec.” Colby tried to wrap his mind around what Keira was telling him. “You visit children at night after they lose their baby teeth. Are you telling me that…no…you’re the tooth fairy?” Colby asked half joking, half serious.
“Tooth fairy!” Keira scowled. “That’s a story made up by idiots to justify what they thought they saw. It’s ridiculous.” Colby didn’t like her tone, but he did feel almost comforted by seeing her temper show, a trait that was definitely the old Keira.
She took a deep breath, calmed herself, and continued, “I suppose we are called tooth fairies in the English-speaking world. In the Spanish-speaking countries, they call us ratón de los dientes and that’s a bit closer to our true nature. But, we call ourselves guardians. This was my first charge. You see, for each great one there’s a guardian. The guardian calls her great one, her charge. That baby you saw, the one I was holding, he’s my charge.”
“Why was I there?”
“Sorry, my bad,” Keira apologized. “Midnight is the magic hour, that’s when it takes place, but I don’t know what day I’ll be called. It just happens at midnight after the tooth is lost. And since guardians don’t know their charges, it’s impossible to predict when that will be. I’ve been able to form the vox for months. I’m always at home by midnight in case I’m called, but tonight...”
The guilt that had been cloaked in confidence, now made its way to the surface. Keira stared at her hands clenched in fists, resting in her lap, “I was so wrapped up in my own stuff that I lost track of time and this night just happened to be the night. You were just sort of drawn in. Doesn’t happen often, but it’s not unheard of to have a stowaway.”
“Stowaway” seemed like an odd choice of words, but Colby did not dwell on it. It was already too difficult to take in all this information. All the little things in his life that never quite added up, suddenly made sense. It was like someone had finally turned on the light. Keira’s strange reaction in English class on the first day of school became clearer. In fact, this story cleared up a lot of questions that Colby had about his friend, except one.
“What’s a mogdoc?”
“Where did you hear that word?” Keira was thrown. Colby could hear the sound of china hitting the floor in the kitchen. Obviously, his question shocked an eavesdropping Nana as well.
“Brooke said something about it,” Colby replied.
“Well, I have to say, she’s got more brains than I gave her credit for. I thought she bought that whole too much hairspray nonsense,” she mumbled. “Mogdocs would be the evil. They try to prevent the great ones from receiving their gifts. Without the vox, the course of the charge’s life would be very different.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hmmm.” Keira thought about that for a moment. “It would be kind of like trying to get through an underground tunnel without a flashlight. You may still find your way out, but it will take a lot longer and you might be too late.”
“So basically, you light the path, protect the innocent, and save the world?”
Keira couldn’t help but giggle. “Just call me Wonder Woman.” Colby laughed for the first time since the event that opened his eyes and changed his life.
Nana returned to the living room with some cookies and milk. She listened intently as Colby helped Keira recount the tale of bestowing her very first vox. Gone was the anxiousness and rehearsed calm of their earlier conversation. Her excitement was now overwhelming and contagious. She told of how the “coil” pulled her to her charge, to the exact spot where she was needed. In a dramatic leap, she jumped on the coffee table to show the brilliance and the danger of the moment. She thanked Nana for training her so well, so that she could not only withstand the coil’s effects but also handle the job at hand. She bragged about how flawless the whole event was, with the exception of a human stowaway of course. Although, Colby mentally noted that Keira mentioned pulling her dagger when she heard rustling that turned out to be a grunting Colby lying in the corner. He distinctly recalled no such weapon hidden in her sock. She didn’t even have socks on. And there was something else…something that he didn’t remember before. That one detail that Colby had seen through blurred eyes came rushing back.
“ACH,” he muttered under his breath.
“What’s that?”
“On the baby’s blanket, I saw the initials ACH.”
“Wow, now that I have his initials, maybe we can google him,” Keira joked.
“No need,” said Colby sternly. “I’ve seen that blanket before in my mom’s hands…Andrew Christopher Hayes”.