The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga

by Paige Dooling

  Jade stood up from the ground, wiping a dirty wrench off on her black jeans, “Avery?” She asked, looking a little puzzled, “What are you doing here?”

  Jade knew that the trailer park had always made Avery uncomfortable. Although most of the residents of Rebel Moon Trailer Park were perfectly lovely, there were a few who were not the most respectable in Redemption. One in particular was Curt Weiner who lived next door to Jade. Avery hated how he couldn’t put one sentence together without having at least four explicative’s thrown in, or how he never wore a t-shirt over his wolfman chest, all the while telling Avery what a pretty girl she was growing up to be. Plus, Avery knew for certain that it wasn’t an herb garden he had begun planting on the side of his house. Then there was the Draper family who lived three trailers down and collected guns the way some people collect Pez dispensers. Their favorite form of entertainment was getting black-out drunk and shooting their guns into the sky.

  Thinking about the usual uneasiness she felt in the trailer park, Avery realized her nerves were blotting out her discomfort. For the first time in her whole life, Avery actually began to appreciate the value of being nervous.

  Avery was about to explain to Jade why she had come, but as she stared into Jade’s dark eyes, she found herself lost for words, “I…um,” she struggled for something, anything to say, “you weren’t at school today.” Avery knew that was lame, but it was the first thing that popped into her head.

  Jade laughed, “Avery, the real news flash would be if I actually went to school. I’m never there…you know that better than anyone.” She picked up a towel lying across the seat of the motorcycle and began to clean the grease off of her face, “Don’t tell me you drove all the way out here to give me my homework.” That made Jade laugh even harder, the thought of her actually doing homework, mixed with the thought of Avery actually driving to the trailer park to give it to her.

  Jade’s laughter help erase some of Avery’s nerves, “You know, it wouldn’t kill you to do homework once in awhile, Jade. It is something you have to do to actually pass high school. Well, that and showing up.” Avery scolded Jade. Avery hated the laissez-faire attitude Jade took towards school and she could never understand why Jade didn’t care more.

  “Oh, Avery, I love you to death,” Jade said, sauntering up to Avery and placing her hand on Avery’s shoulder, “but,” she shrugged, “let’s face it; you’re the geek in this pair. You always have been and you always will be.” Jade flashed a sharp side smile, “I’m just the incredible looking brawn.”

  Avery rolled her eyes, thinking how unbelievable Jade could be sometimes.

  A car door slammed behind Avery, causing her to freeze. She saw Jade’s eyes grow wide, and she knew exactly what Jade was looking at.

  “Who the hell is that?” Jade asked, pointing the wrench she was still holding in her hand towards the direction of Avery’s car. All the humor and laughter was gone from her voice.

  Avery turned around, already knowing what she was going to see.

  Gumptin had gotten out of the car and was now standing in front of it, in full view of Jade.

  Avery scolded herself for actually trusting him to do what she said and stay in the car. Up to this point, he hadn’t made anything easy for her; why should he start now?

  There was nothing else that Avery could do, but simply tell Jade the truth.

  “That’s Gumptin.” Avery said, her brain unable to form any other thought at that moment.

  Jade looked at Avery like she had gone insane, “Oh, that’s Gumptin, is it.” She said sarcastically, “Well, that explains everything, doesn’t it?”

  This wasn’t getting off to the start that Avery had hoped for. She opened her mouth to try and say something else, to explain who Gumptin was, but her mind and mouth seemed to be having a communication problem.

  “Um…” Avery began. However, it didn’t really matter what she was going to say next, as Jade barged in with her next question, not bothering to wait for Avery’s fumbling explanation.

  “Did he just get out of your car?!” The abrasive tone in Jade’s voice and the way she was staring at Avery, like a parent getting ready to take away every toy from a disobedient child, made Avery desperately wish she could lie to Jade. Unfortunately, she needed to tell Jade everything and that included Gumptin. So, Avery steadied herself for the admonishment she knew was about to come her way and answered Jade’s question, “Yes.” She said.

  Jade grabbed hold of Avery by her shoulder and moved the two of them farther away from Gumptin, “How can you be so naive?” Jade hissed.

  That struck a nerve in Avery. If she had been anything today, it wasn’t naïve. It wasn’t like she had decided to follow some little man down a rabbit hole because he offered her candy. She hadn’t even agreed to go with Gumptin until he brought up the safety of her friends and family.

  “Jade, I’m not a child.” Avery said, defending herself, “I can make my own choices.”

  Jade shook her head in disbelief, “I can’t leave you alone for a second.” She told Avery, tightening the grip on her shoulder, “You just don’t go around picking up circus freak strangers.”

  From behind her Avery heard Gumptin cough, “If you two are done with the domestics,” he said, as Avery turned towards him, “it would be nice to get to the point of why we are here. We really do not have time for the two of you to stand around tongue-wagging.”

  Jade’s eyes became dark daggers as she stared Gumptin down. Then, those daggers switched over to Avery.

  “So, not only did you pick up a stranger,” Jade told her, “but you picked up an ass.”

  Gumptin snorted in the background.

  Avery backed away from Jade, freeing her shoulder, “Look,” she said, “he’s not technically a stranger…to me, or to you.”

  Jade gave Avery a ‘what the hell are you talking about’ look.

  Just say it, Avery urged herself…just say it, “Alright, Jade,” she began, “I’m about to lay some pretty heavy stuff on you, and I just need you to keep your mouth shut until I finish, alright?”

  Jade looked like she was about to argue, so Avery made her eyes look as puppy dog as she could and added, “Please.”

  This maneuver had always worked with Jade in the past and Avery was more than sure it would work now. No matter how upset Jade got she couldn’t argue with Avery’s well practiced sensitive eyes.

  Not looking too pleased about it, Jade took a deep breath in and nodded in agreement.

  Now that she had as much cooperation as she was going to get from Jade, Avery decided to just start at the beginning, “Alright, like I said,” Avery started, “this is Gumptin.” Avery pointed behind her to where she knew Gumptin still stood, “I met him at the park by the school and he’s…um,” Avery began to falter. Suddenly the idea of just blurting out the truth didn’t seem like such a good idea, but she was too into it now to stop, “well, he’s, um…he’s a gnome.”

  Even though Avery had told Jade to keep her mouth shut, the look Jade was directing towards Avery, like Avery had just told her she had ridden there on a unicorn, compelled Avery to ask, “So, what are you thinking right now?”

  Jade stood silent for a moment just shaking her head, which wasn’t like Jade, she usually had something to say about any and everything.

  “Honestly, Avery,” Jade said after a few seconds, “I don’t even know what to say to that. I mean, obviously gnomes don’t exist, but up until this minute I thought you knew that.”

  Avery rolled her eyes and thought that if Jade ended up calling her naïve again she was going to have to slap her, “I know they’re not suppose to exist,” she barked, getting agitated, “but, I mean, just look at him!”

  Jade glanced over Avery’s shoulder towards Gumptin, a deep scowl forming between her brows as she looked him up and down.

  Gumptin stared unflinchingly back at Jade, giving her a small little wave.

  Avery continued on, stopping Jade from further protesting th
e believability of Gumptin’s existence, “Jade, you’re gonna have to wrap your head around the whole magical creature thing, because that’s just the start. He came from another world, which, I guess, as it turns out, happens to be our world as well. Well, one of our worlds.” Avery felt herself getting off track and quickly tried to remedy that, “Anyway, he came from this other world to get us…you, me, Bunny, Sasha, and Skylar, and take us back. You see, apparently we were some hard core warriors and we were killed by this evil Emperor. Although, I don’t actually know how hard core we were if we ended up dying, but, whatever,” Avery shook her head, realizing she was straying from the point, “it doesn‘t matter, because this planet really needs us back to stop the guy that killed us.”

  From the start of Avery’s explanation Jade hadn’t moved a muscle. She just stood with her arms folded, keeping her mouth shut like she had agreed to, until now, “Did he drug you?” She asked seriously, “Because if he drugged you I’ll kill him.”

  Avery’s mouth opened, but she had no idea how to respond to Jade’s question. So, instead, Gumptin spoke up.

  “That was one of the most pathetic explanations of anything I have ever heard in my life, and I am over a thousand years old.” He said.

  “Hey,” Jade shouted gruffly, arms still folded, “you don’t get to speak until I find out exactly who you are.”

  Gumptin rubbed at his forehead with his little fingers, “This is why I wanted to avoid dealing with you until the last possible moment.” He said more to himself than to Jade or Avery, “Fine,” Gumptin sighed, “I am Gumptin, I am a gnome, and Wizard and I was your mentor back on Orcatia, the planet you were originally born on. You…are Jade Kai, a Protector with the ability to control the power of water and one of the most aggravating individuals I have ever known. You were killed on Orcatia by the Emperor, a powerful dark Warlock who controls an army of over twenty thousand vile creatures. You were sent to this planet to be re-born. Your memories will not be returning to you, and, now you must come back with me to Orcatia to save the planet from certain destruction.”

  Avery was in awe. The only thing she couldn’t figure out, is if it was because Gumptin had summed up in a few sentences what would have most likely taken herself an hour to explain, or because for the first time in Avery’s life, she was witnessing Jade completely dumbstruck. Jade had no retort, no sarcastic comeback; she could only look at Gumptin like he had just appeared out of thin air.

  “Well?” Avery asked, nudging Jade out of her trance.

  At Avery’s question Jade shook herself out of her mesmerized state and slapped her eyes back onto Avery.

  “What do you want me to say?” Jade shrugged, “Obviously, I don’t believe a word of it.”

  Avery didn’t believe her, “Oh, come on,” Avery urged, “you have to admit a lot of what Gumptin said somehow sounds familiar to you.”

  Jade scoffed.

  “I saw your face when he said Protector.” Avery continued, “When he said Orcatia. Those words mean something to you, even if you don’t know what it is. The same thing happened to me.”

  Jade waved her hands in the air, as if she was trying to swat away everything Avery was saying to her, “That’s enough, Avery…enough!” She shouted, “Even if some of the things he said sound vaguely familiar in a very tiny part of myself, that doesn’t mean that I’m about to throw reality aside.”

  A small cloud of dust rose up as Avery stomped her foot into the ground. She grunted in frustration. It upset her that she was having to argue so hard to get Jade to come back with her when Avery was pretty certain she didn’t even want to go back herself.

  If telling Jade the cold hard facts weren’t going to work, Avery decided to try a new tactic…pleading, “Look, I know how insane I sound. Believe me, I know. When I first met Gumptin and he tried to explain everything to me that he just told you, I wanted to call the crazy police and have him locked up, but instead I went with him.” Jade opened her mouth to say something, but Avery held up her hand and stopped her, “I went with him and saw that everything he said was the truth.” Avery decided to leave out the part about how she had really only gone with Gumptin because he said the people she cared about could be in danger if she didn’t go. Avery felt that might not go over too well with Jade right now,

  “Jade you know me.” Avery continued, “You know me better than anyone else in the whole wide world.” Avery saw Jade’s face soften, her disapproving scowl disappearing, “I would never lie to you. As crazy as it sounds, I’m telling you that Gumptin’s telling the truth. Please, Jade, please just come with us, so we can prove it to you.”

  Jade raised her hand to her face and began slowly massaging the brow between her eyes with her middle finger. She always did this when she was struggling with a decision. This gave Avery hope, because if Jade was struggling to decide, then she wasn’t completely shutting out the idea of going with them.

  Unfortunately, all of Avery’s hopes were dashed with Jade’s next sentence.

  “Avery,” She said, face softening even more as she looked Avery in the eyes, “you know I trust you. I’d trust you with my life, but this is just too unbelievable.”

  Avery could practically feel her whole body deflate.

  “There’s just no way I’m going anywhere with that creepy psycho,” Jade nodded towards Gumptin, “and, you know what, neither are you.”

  Jade grabbed hold of Avery’s wrist, hard and pulled her towards the trailer. Avery tried to pull her wrist free, but Jade, whose lean muscles had always made her strong, had a vice-like grip on her.

  “You’re going inside this trailer,” Jade told Avery, once they had reached the trailer door, “and you’re staying there till I get rid of this guy.”

  Being man-handled by Jade was the final straw for Avery. She had gone through enough today already, but she absolutely refused to be thrown into a trailer by her best friend. Avery did the only thing she could think of. She grabbed Jade’s thumb and wrenched it back as far as it could go.

  “Owww!” Jade hollered in pain, releasing Avery’s wrist.

  Avery took a few steps back from Jade, so that she wouldn’t be able to grab hold of her again.

  Shaking her head, Avery felt crazy for thinking that Jade was going to believe her. After all, it had taken Gumptin actually bringing Avery to a whole other planet, through a magical gateway, to make her believe. That was when Avery decided the only way to get Jade to believe was for her to see it with her own two eyes, just like Avery had.

  After all of Jade’s protests, Avery knew of only one way to get Jade to come back with her and Gumptin, and she knew Jade would agree to come, even if every fiber of her being was screaming at her not to go.

  Avery thought back to all the times Jade had refused to let her walk home by herself. She thought back to Alex Marquez and his poor beaten-up nose. She remembered, how for Christmas, Jade had given her a Swiss Army knife and portable pepper spray.

  She thought back to all of these things, and then told Jade, “Fine, you don’t have to believe us. You can stay here, but I’m going back with Gumptin…alone.”

  Avery turned around and started walking towards her car where Gumptin was still standing. She began counting down in her head, “…5, 4, 3, 2…”

  “Wait!” Jade called from behind Avery, right on cue.

  Avery stopped in her tracks and tried to stifle the huge smile that was forming across her face as she turned around to face Jade.

  “You know I think this is certifiable,” Jade said, walking up to Avery, “and I’m gonna have to beat some serious sense into you later, but there’s no way in hell I’m letting you drive off alone with him.” Jade motioned towards Gumptin with disgust.

  Gumptin, who had moved into the passenger seat and was now sitting, shouted from the car, “Jade Kai, shut your mouth and get in this car.” He lifted his little head out the passenger seat window, “We all know you are going to end up coming with us, anyway. So stop wasting our time!”


  Before Jade could shout something back at him, Avery slapped her on the back, “All good then, let’s get going.”

  Avery slipped into the driver’s seat and waited for the other two to get situated.

  Jade opened the passenger door, reached in, and grabbed hold of Gumptin by one of his oversized sleeves, yanking him out of the car.

  “You’re in the back Gump.” Jade told Gumptin, pulling the passenger side seat forward and motioning for him to get in.

  “The name is Gumptin!” He barked, tugging his sleeve free from Jade’s fist.

  Gumptin straightened his tunic out, all the while glowering at Jade. He turned his nose up at her, signifying his disapproval.

  “You,” he sniffed, “have not changed one bit.”

  Jade shrugged and shoved him into the car, “I’m taking that as a huge compliment.” She told him, a sly smile playing at her lips.

  Gumptin positioned himself in the back seat behind Avery, as far away from Jade as he could get, “Trust me,” he grumbled, “that was anything but a compliment.”

  Once Jade sat down and slammed the door shut, Avery started the car. She thanked her lucky stars that they were finally on their way. The frustration of trying to convince Jade to believe her, mixed with having to listen to Gumptin and Jade bicker like two old ladies had taken a toll on her already frazzled nerves.

  Avery gripped the steering wheel tight as she turned back out onto the highway, grateful that both Jade and Gumptin seemed content to keep their mouths shut.

  “And I shall tell you another thing, young lady,” Gumptin said from behind Avery, “once we get back to Orcatia, you shall see that that repellent mouth of yours will not do you an ounce of good.”