Chosen

by Lauren Chow

  “I like her as a sister if that’s what you mean. It’s my job to protect her,” Jared answered.

  “You’ve been saying that for quite some time now,” Jay said, irritated.

  I heard a snicker.

  “Someone is jealous!” I heard Drake laugh. At least he was here too.

  “Jay, it’s nothing like that. Clara likes you. You will be fine.”

  Jared! You can’t say that!

  Jared squeezed me tightly but continued walking.

  I’m just being honest. It’s not my fault you are eavesdropping.

  Feeling embarrassed and needing to stop the conversation, I started to move around in Jared’s arms. I felt him stop as I opened my eyes. He slowly put me down and made sure I had my balance. I thanked him before I turned and saw Jay and Drake, who were covered in soot.

  Before I could greet them, I was engulfed into a hug. I instinctively wrapped my arms around Jay’s bare waist. I breathed in his cologne, even if he also smelled like smoke.

  “I’m glad you’re safe,” Jay muttered. “Don’t scare me like that again.” I nodded my head, hoping he could feel it. He sighed before pulling back a little. I tilted my head up to look into his relieved grey eyes.

  “I’m still here. You can’t get rid of me that easily,” I said with a smile. Jay smiled and kissed the top of my head. It took all my control to not melt into his arms.

  “Hate to break the moment you two, but we need to meet up with everyone else. They are probably pulling their hair out. We’re only a mile south,” Drake said cheekily before skipping away. You heard me—skipping.

  “Your brother is so strange,” Jared muttered, and we all laughed.

  “Don’t worry, he’s manly half of the time,” Jay chuckled. He pulled away from me, and I tried not to show my disappointment.

  We began to follow Drake through the woods.

  ***

  “Jared, can you just finally answer my questions now,” I asked when I began to get bored. We’d been walking for a few minutes in silence and it was killing me. I looked at Jared expectantly.

  Jared sighed and grabbed the back of his neck.

  “What do you want to know?” Jared asked.

  “Your job? Life? How you found me?” I listed off things using my fingers. “You’ve left me in the dark and I’ve recently learned I hate secrets.”

  Jared shrugged as we kept walking.

  “In the magic world, I’m known as a Warrior. Warriors are known as guardians for the magic and human world. It’s an organization and considered an honor if you get picked to join. Each warrior has a specific job and duty. My duty is to guard souls,” Jared said simply.

  “More detail please. You make it sound so boring.”

  “It can be a bit boring sometimes,” he admitted. “I usually get a list of people to visit daily so I can stay updated on people. If anything seems strange, I report it and update the person’s file.”

  “Then why are you here when you could be with your clipboard?” I asked.

  “Eric called the Warriors and asked to assign me to protect Clara. My assignment now is to make sure Clara is safe. I’m on leave for now. However, Clara decided to find me first before I got my assignment.”

  “How do you know Eric?” Jay asked. Jared let out a small smile.

  “He’s a good friend I met during my travels. He’s a good man,” Jared said, and his tone showed the deep respect he had for Eric.

  “So, you are like my own personal security guard? Was Eric the one who called you while I was sleeping?” I asked.

  Jared nodded. I stopped and gave him a hug. I tried not to feel weird since he was still shirtless. I was thankful to have someone looking out for me. He was like the big brother I never had, aside from Adam. I heard a grunt and pulled away when I saw Jay look at us with disapproval.

  “Come on, slowpokes! We’re here!”

  I looked in awe at the log cabin in front of me. It was different from the other cabin, since this place actually looked like it could be lived in. It was a large cabin with large logs holding the structure.

  “Why is everything big with you guys?” I muttered.

  “Let’s knock,” Drake said as we stood in front of the door. Drake barely knocked once before the door flew open and Maggie tackled him, giving him kisses all over his face.

  “I was so worried about you! Never pull a stunt like that again, Drake Gordon Woods!” Maggie said as she man-handled Drake to see if he was alright. Drake pulled away wide-eyed and wiped his face with his arm.

  Maggie gave us all hugs before ushering us inside. I was drooling from the smell of breakfast and followed my nose to the source.

  “Food!” I cheered, startling everyone in the kitchen. I noticed that they were all dressed and cleaned up.

  “Girl Scout!” Adam sang and tackled me into a hug. “Finally, you joined us! Have some food because there’s plenty to go around.”

  “Clara!” Tanya bulldozed into me.

  I laughed before giving a hug to Tanya.

  “You scared the life out of me! And we are seriously giving you a makeover. You look terrible,” Tanya stated, looking at my dirty attire, and pulled a leaf out of my hair. I rolled my eyes.

  “I’m feeling the love Tanya,” I said sarcastically.

  As I finally sat in front of my beautiful plate, I felt hands grab my shoulders and felt my aching muscles relax. I touched my head and felt the aches go away. I looked up to see a cheeky Luke.

  “Thank you Lukie!” I said sweetly and grabbed his cheeks. He swatted my hand away and rubbed his cheek.

  “You have a hard grip, woman,” he said. I shrugged and dug into my plate of goodies.

  “Alright, since everyone is here, Clara can tell us what the hell happened this morning?” Eric said, walking into the room. I could tell he was frustrated since his hair was all over the place. I sighed and set my fork down to explain. As I told my story, I got different reactions: shock, anger, fear, and awe. Not in that order.

  When I finished, we were silent for a while.

  “Well, this just got more interesting,” Eric muttered. He looked at all of us.

  “Get some rest. We’re heading out at dusk. This place has been compromised,” Eric said before heading towards me. He gave me a soft kiss on the top of my head.

  “You keep scaring me Clara. We’re going to need to stop that soon,” he scolded gently.

  I laughed softly. “Everyone is wishing the same thing.”

  ***

  “Tanya! Get that out of my face!”

  “Come on! LET ME PUT THIS ON!”

  “No.”

  “Yes!”

  “No!”

  “LET ME PUT THE LIPSTICK ON!” Tanya screamed.

  “Alright! Don’t hurt my eardrums,” I whined.

  We were leaving in a few minutes, but Tanya felt the need to ‘prep’ me for the journey. I showered, and I was now wearing jeans and a simple grey sweater. Tanya curled my hair and put lipstick on. I refused anything else besides that, since she screamed at me for it.

  “Perfect. Let’s go!” Tanya sang and looped her arm through mine. We laughed as we walked to the garage.

  I gawked at the garage—not because it was grand with a bunch of cars lined up—but because of how modern it was. It was a simple garage with two minivans. I couldn’t help but laugh at that.

  “Alright, everyone get in one of the vehicles,” Maggie instructed.

  I crammed into the van. It was funny seeing the guys trying to sit comfortably.

  In our vehicle, Maggie was driving with Drake sitting at the shotgun. Tanya and Jay sat in the middle while I sat between Jared and Adam in the back. Luke, Tony, and Eric were in the other vehicle.

  “I call being the DJ!” Drake yelled. We all groaned. Drake didn’t have the best taste in music.

  My point was proven when 500 Miles started blasting in the vehicle. Adam started banging his h
ead on the headrest in front of him.

  “Hey! Don’t hate,” Drake scolded as he snapped his fingers off beat to the music.

  I looked at Adam pleadingly for help. Adam sighed and shrugged. He was too far away since we were in the back. I poked Jay in the shoulder, since he was in front of me. He turned and must have seen my pleading eyes and smiled a bit.

  “Help,” I mouthed and pointed to Drake.

  Jay chuckled before leaning over and taking the iPod away from Drake. He ignored Drake’s protests and began scrolling through the music. I saw him hit shuffle. He looked me in the eyes, and I stared right back. I could see something in his eyes, but I couldn’t decipher it. It brought shivers down my spine, and I tried to cover it up. Jay always made me feel like this.

  Thank you.

  You’re welcome, Clair.

  I smiled at the endearment. It started to slip and Jay furrowed his brows in concern.

  What’s wrong?

  I looked away for a few seconds before responding.

  Everything will be okay, right?

  Jay examined my face, looking for something. Once he found what he was looking for, he let out a smile.

  Of course. We you have here. That’s all we need to survive.

  I blushed and looked away, only to flush more when Adam wiggled his eyebrows at me. Goodness knows what emotions I was feeling right now. I turned to Jared to hide my face in his arm.

  How embarrassing. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

  “Road trip!” Adam screamed in my ear.

  This was going to be one long road trip.

  ***

  “Come on Clara, wake up. We’re here.”

  I grumbled and started to get up. I rubbed my eyes and blinked slowly to adjust to my surroundings.

  I felt myself being pulled out of the van, and I almost stumbled until arms caught me. I looked up and saw Jay looking at me intently. I tried to fight off a blush and went to move out of his way. The funny thing was I couldn’t. I felt comfortable being in his arms. I felt him tighten his hold on me.

  “Thanks,” I whispered to him. He shook his head and blinked a couple of times before nodding his head. We heard a throat clear and snapped our attention to a grinning Adam.

  “Come on, love birds! Clara, you need to see this view!”

  I walked away from Jay (regrettably) and found myself on the edge of a cliff. “Wow,” I whispered as I looked down and saw a shore that had been left untouched. I looked in the distance and didn’t see any civilization, just sand.

  “It’s beautiful here,” I gushed.

  “Come on folks! Time to get inside!” Eric hollered. I went up to him and spun around a couple of times in confusion.

  “Eric, there’s no house around here,” I said slowly, hoping he could comprehend what I’d said. He just looked at me, amused.

  “I may be getting old, but I’m wiser than all of you combined. A little help here, Maggie?” Eric called. Maggie walked up to him, amused.

  “I’m coming. I’m coming,” Maggie said and walked to the edge of the cliff. She closed her eyes and looked like she was concentrating. Suddenly the floor began to shake and I stumbled into Tony, who crashed into Adam. We all fell to the floor. Tony was on top of Adam while I was tossed aside.

  Well then.

  Jared and Jay helped me up, and we looked at the couple on the floor. Tony was on top of Adam but was on his elbows so he didn’t crush Adam. It was amusing to say the least. I think my favorite part of this whole thing was that Adam looked like a tomato.

  Goats! I sang into Adam’s head, making him groan. Payback hurts, Keller!

  “You got to be kidding me!” Adam grunted and turned even redder. I giggled as Tony got off Adam with an unreadable expression on his face.

  After Tony helped Adam, I turned to Maggie. She looked proud as she pointed to the floor and I gawked, seeing a hidden stairway going down the cliff.

  I guessed I’d found our new home. We all made our way down the steps and a door welcomed us after two staircases. Eric opened the door, and I was overwhelmed by the sight of the room before me. This was probably bigger than the mansion. I didn’t think that could be possible.

  “So, I need to people to share a room. Any volunteers?” Maggie asked. Tanya grabbed my hand and raised our arms in the air excitedly. Guess I had a new roommate.

  “Everybody get settled in. We are having a meeting after dinner. No training today and get rested,” Eric declared, exhausted.

  “We just went through hell today.”

  23 - Wall to Rubble

  “I think it’s time we all had a group meeting,” Eric said slowly.

  We were all in the living room and quite frankly, I was impressed. This place was way classier than the mansion. I mean, there were chandeliers!

  However, there were some negative things about our new home. Keller wanted to be like Sia and swing around on one, but luckily, Tony held him back. Barely. He’d just end up breaking his neck.

  “Now, I think we all learned that we are in some serious trouble. It’s one thing if our kind is in the war. It’s another thing to have other supernatural creatures join.”

  “We need back up,” Jared said. “Drakkens are very dangerous creatures, and you need the right training to kill them. Even though Clara can speak to them, they aren’t all going to be as nice and friendly. We were lucky we got off that easily. But it’s not possible for Drakkens to join the outside world.”

  “I can call people to help. I know some connections. While we hide here, we can have people keep an eye out,” Eric said.

  “We can stay here and keep Clara safe,” Maggie chimed in.

  I listened silently as everyone chimed in on strategies. Finally, I’d had enough of this nonsense.

  “When?” I asked quietly.

  Everyone quieted and looked at me.

  “What?” Eric asked, confused. “We can call right now.”

  “When?” I said louder. “When are we going to actually face Dexter? I am the girl of this prophecy, who was sent to lead a group of people into a final battle, right? When do I get to do that? We have people, but what about me? So, when?”

  Everyone stayed silent so I kept going.

  “I have a feeling this place will be compromised soon. Dexter found us in weeks. We need to take him out. We can’t keep hiding and move place to place while other people do our dirty work. I am not saying I am ready to face Vlad head on—I’m not ready for that. But how about getting rid of his right-hand man? It makes him weaker.”

  I let the room stay in silence.

  “She’s right,” Adam said quietly. I sighed in relief. At least someone understood me.

  “But she still needs training!” Jay shouted. I almost jumped at the anger in his voice. “Clair doesn’t have the ability to fight anyone besides us.”

  “I will keep training Jay; you can help me. But I can’t keep hiding forever. What good will that do for anyone? I am not a damsel in distress,” I argued.

  “You are in no condition to face Dexter. You just came back from his prison and look what happened! You were beaten to the bloody pulp,” Jay snapped. I flinched but became overcome with anger.

  “And you think I wanted that? Because you’re wrong! I didn’t want to get beaten and bare these mental scars. But look where I am now! I’m here now and I’m ready!” I shouted in anger.

  “No. You’re. Not! I won’t let you,” Jay said as he clenched his fist.

  “I don’t care Jay! I’m going to face him sooner or later. Either you are with me or against me! Take your pick.” We looked at each other, breathing heavily. The room stayed silent as we slowly began to cool down, not breaking eye contact.

  “Fine. You want to get hurt? Go for it. But I’m not going to be there to witness it.” Jay shook his head before storming out of the room. My eyes followed him until he was out of my line of sight.

  The room stayed in a tense
silence until Luke broke it.

  “As much as I hate this, I know you’re right. We just have to wait it out.” Luke sighed.

  “We can call the connections if we see any sudden movements from them,” Maggie said. A ghost of a smile formed on my lips as everyone nodded their heads.

  “I think I know a connection for the Drakkens,” Tony piped in. He turned to Jared worriedly. “But I have a feeling Jared isn’t going to like who it is.” Jared looked at him, confused before a look of annoyance registered across his face.

  “Oh hell no!” Jared shouted. Tanya and I jumped at his outburst.

  “Come on Jared, he is the only reliable one who actually has a brain,” Tony reasoned.

  “But he is so annoying,” Jared said.

  “Can someone fill us in?” Drake said, annoyed that he was left out of the conversation. Jared looked at him.

  “Troy Becker. He has better connections to the Drakkens than we do. He would be a good ally. Unfortunately, he’s annoying and an immature piece of ass,” Jared said.

  I raised my eyebrows at him.

  “I have a feeling everyone will play nice. When can you meet him?” Eric asked.

  Tony chuckled, embarrassed.

  “It’s not when, it’s where,” Tony said vaguely while Jared mumbled under his breath.

  “We aren’t going today. We can go in three days. He’s always partying on Fridays,” Jared muttered.

  Everyone began to disperse, leaving Tanya, Jared, and me alone. We looked at each other.

  “How do we blend in? Outfit wise?” Tanya asked nervously.

  Jared looked back and forth between each of us.

  “I’m not telling Clara or else she’s backing out. I will tell you though, since you’re likely going to help her,” Jared explained.

  Tanya nodded her head.

  What kind of outfits were they talking about?

  “Clara! We’re going to be experimenting with your magic tomorrow!” Maggie called.

  I groaned. Here we go again.

  ***

  “And again!”

  “Maggie can’t I take a break?” I pleaded. We’d been doing this for hours and my mind was starting to ache.

  “Alright, but we’re trying something completely new. I want to see if it works.”