by Lady Lilium
Lauralie went red.
‘Drake told us’ Reuben explained. ‘Apparently they’re both very handsome. So tell me, which one will you pick?’
She poked his bruised shoulder hard.
‘Ow!’
‘You know if you frown any harder’ Lucas laughed at her, ‘your eyebrows will meet in the middle.’
She balled her fists, shoulders raised, she was positively fuming.
‘You're making fun of me’ she whined.
‘Yeah? And it’s so easy’ Lucas teased.
She turned on her heel and stormed away. Lucas watched her go with smug satisfaction as she headed towards her class.
‘Good riddance’ Lucas said clapping his hands together as if dusting them off.
‘Hey Lucas’ Reuben said.
‘Yes?’
‘Can I ask you something?’
Lucas looked to Reuben. ‘What is it?’
‘Did you find her? Rhian I mean?’
‘No’ Lucas replied, looking away. ‘I believe she had already gone.’
‘Where?’
‘Who knows?’ Lucas shrugged. ‘I don’t think we’ll be seeing her again. Ever. It’s a good thing I suppose, I’d hate to find out what I’d do if I ever got my hands on her…after she…’ he trailed off, glancing at his brothers cast.
‘We don’t have class for another hour or so’ Reuben said. ‘Why don’t we go to the train station to meet Drake?’
Lucas’ mood seemed to lighten at this.
‘Are you ok to run?’ Reuben asked him. ‘Has your wound healed yet?’
‘Has yours?’ Lucas replied teasingly. ‘How about a race?’
‘You're on.’
Lucas was off in an instant, quickly being caught up by Reuben. They ran side by side towards the gates of the college, Reuben shoving his brother lightly as Lucas struggled to keep up. The two travelled through the streets, winding through back alleys and over fences and through car parks, using all the familiar and hidden paths they had grown up to love, in this town they called home.
Lauralie arrived at her lecture early, all her anger from talking to Lucas had faded away by the time she sat at her desk, and she waited patiently for the others to arrive.
The lecture began, and as time wore on, Lauralie’s attention began to waver. Her eyes slid around the room as she searched for something of more interest. It was then she noticed that Rhian’s desk was empty. She spared it little thought, looking ahead again and not really listening to what the lecturer was saying. There was so much on her mind recently, and it became difficult at times to concentrate on any one thing. Her mind wandered, but then someone broke her train of thought. One of the girls beside nudged her and passed her a note.
Lauralie read it.
Oh no, not this again.
Handsome, self-absorbed and selfish, David, was a guy all the girls were chasing, but not Lauralie. Perhaps that was what attracted him to her. He had everything a person like him could want, well-off parents, natural good looks, and a charming and witty attitude that earned him loads of friends and tons of attention from the girls.
Pompous little prick.
He had been chasing her for the last few weeks now, and his confidence and unspoken belief that he was somehow better than most people was the number one thing that annoyed her most about him. She had seen him being quite unkind to several people who he felt had wronged him, a few of which were her own friends. All of whom had suffered from broken hearts because of him. She had helped them recover.
After class he tagged her down before she had a chance to escape.
‘For the last time the answer is no!’
He flashed her his most charming grin that would have set most girl swooning, and although Lauralie was suddenly consumed in a flurrying wave of annoyance, she couldn’t stop herself thinking how white and perfectly shaped his teeth were.
Are those real?
‘Come on babe, just stop playing hard to get.’
‘I am not playing hard to get!’ Lauralie snapped back. ‘And don’t call me babe.’
She made to leave, but suddenly was held back. He had grabbed her by the wrist.
Lauralie alarmed that he had turned physical with her, swiftly returned the favour with a well directed kick to the groin.
Surmise to say he let go of her. He fell to his knees, eyes watering. David moaned in agony, hunched over with his hands between his legs.
‘You bitch…’
‘And so the true self comes out’ Lauralie declared, ‘I always knew you had a temper on you.’
She ran off before he had time to do or say anything else, not wanting to be around when he finally regained himself, which judging by how hard she had kicked him wouldn’t be anytime soon. But still…
People around stopped to stand and stare, one or two offered help, few even dared to laugh. But one figure who watched the scene unfold was not like the others. She had nothing to do with the college or even this world. Her name was Shire.
A tall woman, she wore a dress of fine materials, white with a black sash bound tightly around her waist and a red garment that covered her shoulders. She stood and stared as a small crowd began to gather around the unfortunate boy. People who were walking away looked back over their shoulders, wondering what they had just missed.
Shire watched this, standing in plain sight, yet was unseen by anyone.
If anyone were to have seen her, they would have stopped and stared at her, for besides from wearing clothes that were different; her very being was different also. With skin that was almost pure white, her lips held little colour. But the most distinguishing feature about her, besides her long jagged azure blue hair which was tied in several knots and ponytails, were her eyes. She had the most unusual shade of burnished gold and yellow, with emerald shaded edges.
It was eye catching.
Her eyes would have drawn all the attention, almost making the rest of her jealous.
But it wasn’t the boy kneeling on the ground in agony she watched, it was Lauralie.
The guardian hummed thoughtfully to herself, furrowing her brow. Two young couples passed very close by her, facing each other they didn’t notice the strange woman who stood so near.
Shire unfolded her arms; turning away from the scene she left the grounds of the college. Casually sauntering through the streets she headed towards the edge of the town, every person that passed by looked through her. But she paid no attention to any of them.
She met her fellow guardians, gathered beneath a bridge under a railway line that had for years been abandoned.
She paused to watch the fight that was before her. Again their group had run into the creatures Li and Kreas, and again they battled.
Li screamed like a banshee, a terrible pitch so deafening that it hurt the ears to listen to. She was pinned to the floor on her side by the aberrant-guardian, who struggled to hold her down. His wings flailed as he fought for balance. Li caught the aberrant’s arm as he made to swipe at her, sinking her teeth deep into his flesh. But the aberrant didn’t cry out, he slashed at her stomach with his free arm, and was jerked to the side as Li, still holding him by the arm, threw him off her. Beside them the red haired guardian battled with the creature known as Kreas, who was far quicker than his companion Li. Like an insect he clung to the walls and scuttled along the ground, his movement was rapid and perfectly controlled. Indigo had spent much of his energy blocking, protecting himself from the barrage of attacks that seemed to be never ending. Kreas moved with relentless speed. He cackled as if mocking his opponent, screeching and laughing like hyena. He leapt at the red haired guardian, flying through the air he covered a huge distance, crashing into him and pinning him down.
Shire found her way down from the tracks that ran across the bridge, and to the space below where the others fought. She stood beside her daughter Siren, who had been watching from a safe distance the scene unfold.
‘They jumped us’ Siren explained gently, voicing no worr
y in her tone for her companions. ‘They came out of nowhere.’
‘Like hunters they stalk’ Shire agreed glancing at her daughter.
Siren was a girl in her late teens, looking very much like her mother with pale skin which was almost snow-white, and lips of faded colour. Her azure hair was wavy and longer than her mothers, tied on one side of her head and reaching past her waist. Her eyes, though hidden now by the hood she wore, and the fringe that grew long, were however different from her mothers. They were void of bright colour, instead were a light and misty blue.
Siren clutched the orb she held tightly in her hands; it now flashed vividly, with many bright and fabulous colours.
Siren lowered the hood of her black cloak, brushing back her blue fringe to see clearer.
‘I don’t like any of this’ she stated simply.
Noticing Shire, the fourth guardian had returned, Li alerted Kreas with a cry. Kreas stilled his anger and stopped his volley of charges immediately. Li shook her head violently, snarling like a wolf. She turned and leapt away, Kreas followed after her in great bounds.
Indigo stuck his lance in the ground, snarling after them through bloodied teeth.
‘That’s it! Run back to your masters!’ he hollered.
The creatures left only clouds of dust behind them as they went.
‘At least we did some damage.’ The aberrant released his grip on his weapons, using his magic to make them vanish into thin air. He turned calmly to Shire.
‘Did you find anything?’ the aberrant Culture asked her.
‘No’ Shire replied with a shake of the head. ‘The one we seek is very elusive.’
‘She is here’ Siren clarified staring into her orb. ‘I can feel her.’
‘Of course she is here’ Indigo replied, moving closer to them. ‘She is trapped. There is nowhere for her to run. I just wish our search would not be constantly hindered by these beasts’ he said, indicating the direction that Li and Kreas had fled.
‘So if you found nothing’ Culture asked Shire, ‘why were you gone for so long?’
‘I was watching.’
‘Ha!’ Indigo laughed, ‘watching? Watching! Hey, she said she’s was watching.’
The aberrant smiled, as if it was some kind of an inside joke that they shared.
Shire made no reaction. Instead she changed the subject.
‘I think we should keep looking.’
‘No’ Indigo cut in, sweeping back his blood-red hair. ‘I feel like we’re trying to catch a single bird from a flock by hand, and we’re doing it blind.’
‘You're proposing we give up?’ Shire asked.
‘No’ Indigo repeated. ‘We have her trapped now.’ He fell silent for a moment, before speaking again. ‘We need to sit and think about this. Or else we would be wasting time and effort.’
‘You have something on your mind?’ the aberrant asked.
‘I'm thinking’ Indigo replied. ‘Why has she lingered here? The entire time we’ve been chasing her, she’s always moved on quickly. Why has she stayed here so long to allow herself to become trapped like this?’
The other three listened silently in thought.
‘Why indeed?’ the aberrant purred. ‘I feel a strange presence in this town, something I am drawn to…but I feel like I'm being pulled in different directions.’
Siren gasped suddenly, staring into the orb.
‘What is it Siren?’ her mother asked. ‘Is something wrong?’
‘I understand now’ Siren said, ‘I understand why we’ve struggled so much to find her, why the others have struggled too.’
‘Why?’ Indigo asked her slowly.
Siren raised her head; a strange look upon her face. ‘Culture’ she said to the aberrant. ‘You said that you felt like you were being pulled in different directions.’
‘Yes?’ the guardian replied.
Siren looked back down to her orb. ‘It’s because there are two of them.’
‘What?’ Indigo gasped.
Beside her Shire tensed, and Culture blinked in surprise.
‘I can see her’ Siren breathed. ‘She is a polar opposite of the one we were originally chasing. This new one is dressed all in black.’
Siren saw a second figure appear in the orb, standing beside the one dressed in black. She lowered her head, her blue fringe falling over her face again.
‘I see a guardian with her’ Siren whispered. ‘He is young and inexperienced.’
She narrowed her eyes, staring down in wonder.
‘Lucas is his name.’
The brothers ran through the town. Lucas slowed to a stop after a time, waving at Reuben to do the same.
‘Alright you win’ Lucas gasped, hunched forwards and holding his side. ‘I can’t…I can’t go on anymore…’
‘How’s the injury doing?’ Reuben asked, turning back to him.
‘Getting better’ Lucas answered straightening up again. ‘It feels a hell of a lot better than it did the other day.’ He smiled. ‘I think it’s even stopped bleeding.’
‘Good.’
‘But can we walk from here?’ Lucas asked. ‘I'm not sure I'm up for running and jumping around anymore.’
‘Sure’ Reuben nodded.
They ambled side by side, walking at a gentle pace through the town as they headed to the train station. But before they came close to the station, Lucas pulled back, spotting a short distance away a figure he recognised.
‘Ebony?’
She bowed her head shyly, realising she had been spotted. Lucas changed direction, striding up to her. Reuben hesitated for a moment before following, wondering in his head who this new person was. She smiled at Lucas, but appeared to become a little nervous as Reuben approached.
‘What are you doing here?’ Lucas asked her, standing in the shaded patch before the coffee shop where Ebony was hovering. Ebony clung to the gate behind her, leaning into the metal bars like they would offer her some sort of protection.
‘I found you’ she uttered. ‘It was all by chance. I was wandering the town for hours.’
‘Why?’ Lucas asked her.
‘I…’ Ebony averted her attention. ‘I…I wanted to see you.’
Reuben glanced sideways, giving his brother a devious look.
‘Lucas…’ he said in a mock tone, ‘you didn’t tell me you met a lady friend. What were you doing when I was in hospital? Oh! But what would Sian think?’
Lucas grimaced, speaking patiently as his eyebrow twitched in annoyance.
‘You know it’s not like that’ he huffed. ‘God you're starting to sound like Lauralie.’
‘Who’s Lauralie?’ Ebony asked him.
‘Nobody’ Lucas answered shortly. ‘Just another stupid girl.’
‘Another?’ Ebony spoke tentatively, eyes beginning to shimmer.
‘I mean’ Lucas began, ‘…that is…I didn’t mean…I wasn’t calling you stupid’ he said hurriedly. He glanced at his brother for support.
‘No keep going’ Reuben told him. ‘Soon you’ll need a ladder to get out of this grave you're digging for yourself.’
‘Why do I even ask for your help anyway?’ Lucas muttered to him, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes at him.
Ebony blushed, avoiding looking at either of them now. Her companion, the toy named Pokie who had been hiding behind her up until that point, suddenly made itself known.
‘You can see me as well?’ The toy said to Reuben as he noticed the surprised expression on his face. ‘You must be a guardian too.’
‘What the hell…?’ Reuben exclaimed. ‘Hey’ he smiled suddenly, looking at the girl now in a whole new light. ‘You're a guardian too. That’s great so are we.’
‘Reuben’ Lucas said to him gathering himself. ‘This is Ebony and Pokie’ he said, indicating the toy.
‘Hello Reuben’ Ebony smiled politely. ‘Lucas has told me so much about you.’
‘He has, has he?’ Reuben said raising an eyebrow. ‘Good things I hope.’
�
��Of course’ Ebony replied.
Reuben’s attention drifted past her, and he glanced with curiosity at the toy again.
‘What's wrong with you?’ the toy spat bitterly as Reuben began to stare. ‘It’s like you’ve never seen magic before.’
‘I'm sorry’ Ebony said in a hushed voice. ‘He gets a little jealous at times.’
‘I can tell’ Reuben frowned sceptically at the thing floating in the air. It didn’t have any facial expressions of any kind, but its body language said more than enough.
The toy didn’t like him either.
‘So’ Lucas began speaking to Ebony, ‘what are you doing out here? Why were you looking for me?’
‘Lucas’ Ebony began uncertainly. ‘You said that you’d help me if ever I needed it.’ She looked at the ground, holding her hands behind her back. ‘Well…I think I need your help now.’
They headed home instead of going to the train station, Ebony walking with them. Once they reached the apartment, Lucas seeing how tired Ebony was, allowed her to sleep in their mother’s bedroom. They had talked briefly before Ebony lay down to rest. Lucas placed a thin blanket over her, drawing the curtains shut. He paused only briefly to watch as Pokie padded in circles beside Ebony on the bed, before lying down next to her. Lucas turned away, closing the bedroom door quietly, leaving Ebony and Pokie alone together.
‘She looks like she hasn’t slept all night’ Lucas spoke to his brother in a hushed voice as they stood before the bedroom door.
‘Is she ok?’ Reuben immediately began to interrogate in a whisper.
Lucas nodded. ‘Apparently she’s going through a hard time right now.’
‘Nothing that time wouldn’t mend right?’ Reuben said enthusiastically.
‘She said her foster parents don’t see her anymore’ Lucas continued. ‘Literally. Not even when she yells and screams.’ He shook his head. ‘I tell you what Reuben…there’s something strange about her. I know when a guardian uses magic most other people are unable to see it, but I've never heard of this before.’