Hurry, go grab a pair of gym shorts. She heard.
“Why?” Gwen whispered.
You’ll see, or I guess that’s what I am trying to avoid. Suddenly, just as sudden as Andrew had transformed into something horrible, he was turning back into his human form. Snapping and cracking echoed in throughout the gym dimmed by the unrelenting buzz of the fire alarm. He was naked kneeling on the slick floor, his tanned backside to Gwen. Oh God, Gwen thought. She hobbled to the boys’ locker room returning with a pair of the first athletic shorts she could find. Thankfully they managed to fit.
She turned away and held out the red shorts to Andrew who was attempting to conceal all that needed to be concealed. Her cheeks felt fire engine red, though her embarrassment was short lived when Andrew slipped the shorts on and turned to face her. He had a wound where the knife had pierced his flesh. Gwen’s knees buckled as she examined her similar wound to the chest. Though her pain was definitely dulled, her wound was still evident and bleeding more every second. Oddly, though it didn’t hurt near as much as it should have. Even more surprising than her lack of pain was the mark. It was another figure eight matching Andrews, every bit as radiant but smaller. Gwen tried to be alarmed but something was holding her back. She stayed surreally calm.
Andrew put his hand large hand over Gwen’s chest, covering her wound. He panted wincing in excruciating agony. “Is your pain completely gone?” he asked through clenched teeth. Gwen now couldn’t feel a thing.
“Yah. It is. How… is that…possible?” she muttered through her high.
“We don’t have long we have to call an alchemist. Our wounds will start actually bleeding soon. Do you have your phone?”
Gwen reached into her pocket. “Uh huh,” she stammered handing it over to Andrew. “Who are you calling?” she sloppily asked.
He quickly dialed a number. Still holding Gwen’s chest, he waited impatiently for an answer. Gwen slowly slipped into what seemed like the best high she’d ever experienced.
“Ash, yah we’re in the gym, we need you now!” He waited for a response. “Pirates….yah their gone, huge mess. I’ll tell you when you get in here. Hurry. Bring the healing stuff. We have stab wounds to the chest…..yah three bodies lots of blood………yah I have clothes…….tons of pain…I’m with Gwen….Ash, I had to….yes she has one too….no I’m taking hers she’s fine until you get here…hurry.” Andrew hung up the phone and fell to the floor dragging Gwen down with him, his hand still pressed firmly to her wound. He slid Gwen in front of him pressing her back against his chest, Gwen liked the comfort, but otherwise oblivious to what was happening. Andrew moved her hair and talked slowly into her ear in a soothing, milky tone.
“Gwen, try to listen to me ok?” he winced, in unimaginable hurt. “I’ve been taking your pain upon myself, but I’m afraid I’m going to pass out and you’ll feel it all.” Letting his cheek fall onto the top of her head he closed his eyes in denial. “I have to transfer some back ok? It won’t be much but, brace yourself alright?” He closed his eyes and Gwen flinched. When he opened them he looked ashamed. Gwen was breathing harder and coming around more.
“Ugh,” she groaned, grabbing at her chest.
“She’ll be here soon just hang on, I know it hurts but we’ll be ok I promise. Look at me Gwen.” He took her chin and tipped her head so he could see her face. “It will be fine. Pete and I will explain everything as soon as we get out of here. I have already told Tok and Koli what happened. We’re going to meet them in the woods as soon as Ash gets here and fixes this stuff ok?”
Gwen was so confused. How had he told Tok and Koli already? And Ash? “Ashton is coming?” Gwen asked through her dreamlike haze.
“Yah Ash is coming,” he said full of sympathy. Just then Ashton appeared in the gym. She stopped short and ran her hand through her long, blond hair in frustration.
“What the hell happened?” she asked. “How’d they find her? Good thing I made some of this last week.” She rummaged through the black bag slung over her shoulder. That didn’t sound like the ditsy Ashton Gwen knew.
“There was a group of them. They pulled the alarm to find us. Must have followed one of us through the portal,” Andrew answered.
“Does she know anything yet?” Ashton motioned to Gwen who was still mostly in her own world.
Andrew shook his head. “Bits and pieces but not really.” Andrew started to shake. “Can you hurry up, I think I’m gonna pass out.”
Ashton motioned to Gwen as she pulled out too vials. She mixed them together.
“Lay her down.” Andrew slid from behind Gwen laying her onto the cold wooden floor. Noticing more blood seeping from her wound he pressed his hand harder. Ash waited. “You know how this works. You have to move your hand while I put this in the wound.” Andrew slid his hand to expose one side of the wound. “No I need all of it. Get out of the way Andrew, gosh what’s wrong with you?”
Andrew shook his head in objection. “She’ll feel all of it.”
Ash looked confused, “Why do you care-” she looked up from her vials, with a furious expression on her face. “You initiated the bond! God of course, that’s what you meant by all that taking her pain stuff!” Ashton exclaimed. She wiped some blood from Andrew’s chest with her bare hand revealing the mark.
“I had no choice. I had to touch her she couldn’t hear me over the buzzer and besides no one was sure we’d bond anyway. The chances were so slim I was meant to be her protector…”
“You could have killed her! You know the bonds have to be initiated with a first touch in a controlled environment, alchemist and council member present! You are lucky neither one of you went into a coma or had a brain aneurysm! Especially you two, her being a Regal and all. The pain had to be awful.” Ashton lectured.
She forced herself to look compassionately at Andrew now. “The pain is more than any one person can take, it’s amazing you haven’t passed out already. You have to let go. I’m here, she’ll be ok. This stuff is extremely fast acting even on a wound this size but the sooner I get the process started the better.” Andrew nodded his head in agreement.
Ashton spoke loudly to Gwen. “Okay Gwenny, look at me honey.” Ashton shook her friend a bit. Gwen opened her sleepy eyes. “This is going to hurt…well…really bad sweetheart. Take a big breath when I tell you ok? Andrew, on three take your hand away ok?” she readied the blue smoky vial, positioning it above Gwen’s bleeding lesion. “Alright here we go. One. Two. Three!” Simultaneously Andrew forced himself to move his hand away, Ashton poured the liquid, and Gwen screamed. Her wound healed quickly before their eyes. Andrew lay beside Gwen as Ashton poured the second half of the vial onto his chest. It was gone.
“There you two now get going while I clean the rest of this up.” Ashton examined her surroundings. “Woah. This is going to take a little while. I hate dissipating these things; they’re so ugly and they smell when they melt,” she complained as she sprinkled different colored powders over the bodies and blood stains holding her nose. Smoke rose from the saturated areas as the evidence disappeared.
Gwen quickly became completely coherent. “Ash? You know Andrew? You understand all of this?” shaking, she felt betrayed. Why had no one told her about this? Any of this? Wait what was all of this? Especially Ashton. They’d grown up together. She thought she knew everything about her ditsy best friend, the one who was a bit vain, loved shopping, and bribed smart boys to do her chemistry homework. Ashton looked over her shoulder at Gwen as she hurriedly mixed vial after vial and bag of powder after bag of powder. She looked like a crazed chemist in the midst of an intense lab experiment.
“I know this is hard Gwen. Our friendship is true, know that. Andrew will explain and I’ll meet you guys in at the cabin later ok?” Gwen could tell she was torn between her work and her friend. She could tell she desperately wanted to console her, but couldn’t. Dreaming, yes dreaming that’s what she told herself. Sleeping and can’t wake up. Hello? Wake me up someone. She screamed inside
but no one could hear her, not at the moment.
“Koli is outside the back door. I want you to walk casually smiling and laughing ok? I’m sure there’s an audience and fire trucks, the whole bit. Just don’t touch me. We’re not out of the woods yet for all of the coma and brain stuff. Not to mention the killer migraines again.”
“Trust me, touching you again is the last thing on my mind,” Gwen snapped, her head still pounding. They opened the door and headed down the cement steps. Fortunately, most of the spectators were gathered around the front of the school, making for a smooth exit. They quickly opened the doors of the black escalade and hopped in just as Koli sped off.
Koli adjusted his review mirror. “You guys ok?” he asked in his high, overly worried voice. “That was some crazy shit!”
“Yah, I think so,” Andrew tentatively said, glancing over at Gwen in affirmation. She was looking out the window tears rolling down her face, head pressed against the cool glass. His voice softened. “Gwen? Are you ok?”
She never took her head off the window. “Of course I’m not ok,” she said through sobs. “Do you even know what I just witnessed!?” she screamed. Slowly she lifted her head for fear the change in position would intensify the ache. “All the blood…and you!” she scolded Andrew. “What the hell are you!? What is all of this sci-fi bullshit! Who were they? Oh god them,” Gwen heaved forward putting her hand up to her mouth in hope to stop her vomit. She contained herself. “This princess stuff, is everyone referring to me!?” Her stomach contracted as she felt herself lose control of her breathing. Hyperventilation was in her near future.
“Gwen stop. You’re going to make yourself sick. It’s not good to get this upset. You could cause some serious brain damage after just being bonded.” Andrew attempted to calm her through their connection.
Stop!” Gwen cried. “If it’s you whose making me lose my ability to feel anything, don’t. I want to be mad I have the right to be pissed off. No one is telling me anything. I just saw something that belonged in a fucking horror movie, and it happened in my high school gym! I want answers and I want them now!” she demanded, slightly embarrassed she swore.
Koli looked at Andrew in the review mirror, shaking his head. “I have to. She does have the right to know,” Andrew said convincing himself more than his brother.
They stared at each other, having a conversation only they could hear.
Koli threw up his hands in defeat. “Pete’s going to be furious, but ok, tell her what you want. I’m just the driver.”
Gwen wiped her tears, quickly turning her body on the tan leather seat to face Andrew. She eagerly awaited his explanation. There had to be some logical explanation.
He rubbed his furrowed brow as if struggling over whether to tell her or not, giving in he sighed. “Ok. I guess we’ll start with us.” He motioned to himself and Koli. “We’re not from Baltimore...” Ugh you idiot he thought to himself. How was he going to explain it all and not scare her into a heart attack?
Gwen stared blankly at him. “No. Kidding.”
“Yah, that’s kind of obvious I guess. We’re not from this dimension, a different world you could say. We’re from a place called Everland, and…well, so are you, sort of.” He paused, making sure she was alright.
“I’m from a parallel dimension. Right. This is ridiculous. Please take me home.” Gwen had had enough. “Now.”
“Well, the proofs on your chest.” Not to mention in your head his voice appeared inside her. That Gwen couldn’t deny. The mark. That was true. She examined the mark with her finger. It is beautiful. She thought to herself, well she thought anyways.
“Yah I always thought so too.” Andrew answered aloud. Gwen shot him a surprised look. “Yah when you touch your mark, I can hear you too. Kinda like walkie-talkies.” Quickly, Gwen dropped her hand from the mark blushing. “And before you ask, no, we can’t hear each other unless we press our marks.” He half smiled. What a difference he was now from what he had become. Shivers ran down Gwen’s spine.
Still processing it all, she said “Okay…if this is true…I want to know everything. Like why we have this ability? What happened to you back there? And if I am this long lost princess of Everland why am I here and not there? Oh and what does Pete have to do with all of this? Not to mention Ashton?” Gwen asked utterly overwhelmed. She couldn’t get the questions out fast enough.
“Whoa hold on. One at a time.” He began. “Everland is completely different from everything you know. Like Koli and I. We are guardians, handpicked from our kind to protect your kind, the immortal humans.”
Gwen examined their tan skin and dark hair. “So, you guys are like Indians or something?” Koli laughed. “Yah, actually not like Indians, we are the original Indians. The Native American population here is actually native to Everland…”
Gwen looked confused.
“One of our ancestors, a young woman Abeytu, found her lover to be unfaithful and left the Manticans, that’s our real name,” he began. “She befriended a fairy, who showed Abeytu a portal into your world, which by the way we call the middle world. I guess I should explain fairies first. The only way we can travel between worlds is with a fairy. They possess the powder of the stones. Each fairy colony is centered around a mother stone, from which the fairies harvest their energy and powders.
Our fairy is Tina, well, she’s Pete’s fairy I guess. Her stone is Emerald, therefore her powder is green. Okay back to Abeytu. Abeytu befriended an Emerald fairy, who had a great respect for nature, as Emerald fairies do. After being brought to the middle world, Abeytu, full of rage, disrespected the fairy by killing animals repeatedly out of pure hate in gruesome messed up ways. The fairy punished Abeytu by leaving her in Middle Earth and cursing her to forever protect the animals of the middle. The fairy stripped her of her transforming abilities, which is what happened to me back there, leaving her defenseless just as her victims were. Therefore, in
theory, she didn’t carry on the gene which explains why we have the ability and our ancestors here don’t.”
Overwhelmed, Gwen rubbed her forehead. Was he lying? The burn surrounding the golden mark on her chest answered her question. “Wow, ok so what is this immortal human stuff?” Gwen was beleaguered.
“Your kind rule Everland. You are the immortal humans,” he said it with a touch of sarcasm. “You don’t age after you’ve been sworn. You’re hearts beat purest of pure, and make you a target of the dark ones, we refer to as pirates. They feed on immortal humans gaining their life-force from eating the hearts of your kind. You are so important to them because if they devour your heart, they become closer to gaining your immortality. Pete is the natural born king and you the natural born…queen.”
Koli piped in from the front. “Yah and your mother still would be queen if she hadn’t left and been completely shunned-”
“Koli!” Andrew’s deep voice boomed. Koli took his scolding in his head.
“My mother? She knows about all of this? She has something to do with this?” Andrew still glaring at his brother answered, “Yah, I’m sorry Gwen, we should have been more sensitive.” He frowned at Koli harder.
“Well, tell me. What happened?” Gwen worriedly fiddled with the bottom edge of her sweater. Her mother?
“She was Queen for a long time…two hundred years or so I think. Everland flourished under her rule. The dark ones attacks were infrequent. Everyone loved her.”
“What happened?”
“Well… you. She was on a trip to the middle world on business with the Alchemists, when she met your father. She became pregnant and lost her immortality. The kingdom disowned her. Pete’s father, her husband, wanted nothing to do with her. She had ruined any chance at ever conceiving a completely pure royal. Once she lost her immortality, it could not be restored. She was forced out of Everland, never to return. Forced to leave her kingdom, family and friends. Forced to age and eventually, die.”
Gwen felt a lump beginning to form in her throat. Her mother was marr
ied before? To Pete’s father? She had virtually aided in killing her mother. Her mother would have lived forever if she would have had a pure royal child, not an unwanted one like herself. Gwen’s head was swimming. This story was beginning to sound familiar. “Then what could anyone want with me? I’m the daughter of the runaway queen.”
“The power source is running low. All of Everland is struggling to create enough magic to stay alive, let alone protect themselves. The dark ones have risen up. They have taken over most of Everland and killed many of the regals. It’s a blood bath. Pete is the only semi pure regal left… and you are the next most regal female. Only the two of you can produce another regal with enough percent of pure blood to keep the immortal human race alive...and mine. Without your
race, mine won’t exist. If a mantican’s meant to be sworn and they don’t swear, we die. You have to recharge the mother stone by spilling your blood into the lagoon, to keep Everland’s power source alive. Pete alone isn’t enough anymore. Without you, Everland will could cease to exist. My family could…die.”
“Wait. So okay my…child” Gwen could hardly say the word. “Pete and my future child will eventually save your world, but for now my blood will suffice? But he or she will be the last regal. How can Everland continue?”
“He or she will possess enough regal blood to choose another royal, and the percentage of royal blood will just continue upwards from there, if everyone carries out their royal duties by picking properly.” Gwen could hardly process this. Arranged marriages all around. She shook her head.
“So what about us? Why do we have a bond?”
“My kind are the natural born protectors of your kind. We become one. We feel what each other feel. We hurt when one another hurts. My sole mission in life is to protect you whether I want to or not. It’s not an option. The bond usually takes place when we turn eighteen though it can happen sooner if the immortals race is threatened. We don’t know who we will bond to. It’s a trial and error type thing. The bond either takes or it doesn’t. The more regal you are, the more guardians you can be bonded to. Like Pete is bonded to Koli, Tok, and Arthur. He’ll eventually have more, you might as well, but my goal is to do such an outstanding job you won’t need another.” Koli snickered.
Darlings Page 5