Bound (The Guardians) (24 page)
Read Bound (The Guardians) Online
Authors: M.J. Stevens
Tags: #Sci-fi, #young adult, #adventure, #Fiction
Leo replies, ‘Yes. Everyone sees us as merely talk because we prefer negotiation over battle. But when pressed, we can be frightful. It is the power of the spirits!’
‘I know, I remember seeing your mother fighting.’
Leo nods. ‘My mother was powerful, indeed. Yet in the end she was not of our blood and her power was limited. This…this is the strength of a true Guardian!’
Wind howling in my ears, burning my eyes, sucking me closer, I watch transfixed. I see Elentia not too far from the tornado, somehow, managing not to get sucked in. But she has a disturbed look on her face. It appears she too has underestimated the extent of Lord Neros’s power.
The angry tornado lets out a loud, low-tone wail and starts swooping up the MECH troops. He sucks them in, twirls them around and then propels them against the Tower. By the end, each troop member is ground into nothingness. It’s terrifying and yet the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I can’t help but mouth the words, ‘Yes, do it!’
When the MECH troops are cleared out, the Neros tornado set its sights on Elentia. She grins. Elentia leaps into the air and remains there, like she’s flying. My mouth falls open. My father runs across the courtyard and jumps up next to her. What? He can fly too? Father lines up his gun arms and shoots a bright light at the Tower. It reflects off the crystal and blinds us all for a moment.
My eyes sting and I rub them, trying to see. When I finally refocus the two are gone.
Neros swiftly returns to normal, the tornado slowly disappearing. His twin brother jumps up and runs over to Neros. He catches the somewhat drained Lord Guardian. They smile at each other in a very similar way. The MECH troops that stormed the Tower are dead. The sky begins to clear once again.
I breathe a very small sigh of relief. For now, it’s over.
***
The gardens around me are destroyed, silent and eerie. I pick up something that used to be an elegant statue and fling it as hard as I can across the grounds. I’m furious. Da, he got away from me. But maybe not, after all the Da I knew disappeared the day he smacked me in Pekkin. Still, this new person walking around in his body, he’s still out there.
I will find you. I will stop you.
***
Without a second thought, orders are issued for immediate clean up and funeral arrangements for the Sentry officers who lost their lives. I venture back towards the Tower as people from Poridos clamber at the gates to see what’s happened. The local policing Concords are called in to temporarily replace Sentry and keep the people at bay.
The Guardians are used to all of this. They know what needs to be done after a crisis. They go about their duties so easily. But as I step over a mechanical arm, lying on the main path, I know it’s not going to be as simple for me.
Chapter Fourty
Not knowing where else to go, I sit on the floor of the foyer, leaning up against one of the walls. My legs are out in front of me. My hands are clenched tightly around a bottle of water. I had planned to go back to my room, but I found the spot where I landed to rest all too comfortable.
It’s hard to feel totally satisfied with the situation overall. Thankfully, no one I care about was killed. Soren was saved in time by Dorkarn from the room of oppressive heat. She was a bit dehydrated, but the doctors promised that within a day or two she would be back to her old self. Demmi was exhausted from being petrified and crashed out in the Tower’s hospital near Soren.
After Arin discovered a small hidden camera in the third pillar, the secret to Elentia’s continuous knowledge of current events in the Tower became known. Dorkarn ordered the search for her technology still hidden away, but it’s going to take some time to scale such a large area.
Doctor’s fingerprints are all over their fortress.
After the battle, Teros didn’t waste time leaving the Tower again. He said that he is united with a family of his own and wants to get back as soon as possible. I think he realised today, after the horrible spectacle, why he left Tower-life behind altogether.
‘Mellea, how are you feeling?’ calls a voice. I refocus from my thoughts. It’s Leo. ‘You have been sitting here a long while.’ He reaches down and puts his hand on my forehead. ‘Your fever has gone down. Good. I was getting worried.’
I smile. ‘The nurse said it was just stress related. Ergh. I’m so exhausted I can’t even stand up. How’s your nose bleed?’
Leo grins back. ‘It has stopped. Do not worry.’
I hear footsteps and notice Lord Neros walking across the foyer towards us. He has Dorkarn, Arin and Anrella behind him. The Guardian says strongly, ‘Mellea Wendorn. We need to speak to you.’
‘Ah…what’s going on?’ I ask, slowly sitting up.
Neros hands a small flat box to Leo. The Successor takes it, nods at his father before giving it to me. Leo says, ‘This belongs to you now.’
I sluggishly receive the box and pull off the lid. My body tingles as I pick up the gift inside. It’s Lady Lethia’s water Guardian stone necklace.
I make a face that clearly says I’m confused and distressed.
Leo explains, ‘Mother asked the Guardians in her last letter to entrust you with it, rather than returning it to vault after her passing. It is lucky that she did. I can imagine Elentia would have wanted that stone badly. By it not being in the vault, we have managed to stop her plans… a small amount.’
‘It’s special?’ I quietly question.
‘The water gem you hold is the only one of its kind,’ Neros says. ‘The other elemental jewellery pieces have duplicates, but the water stone is unique. If Elentia was to get her hands on it, the research about our gems would be complete. Who knows what she might uncover to use against us. We cannot allow that to happen.’
Leo says, ‘Mother said in her letter that you should use it to “fulfil a promise”, or something like that. I do not know what she meant.’
I do. It’s the agreement that I’ll try and get to know Leo better and that I won’t get so caught up on the idea of being united that I miss the chance to do something “wonderful” with my life.
I can’t help but stare at the beautiful item in my hands. ‘But…if Elentia wants this, she might come back for it. She
will
kill me if she finds out I have it. You should lock this up somewhere safe, don’t give it to the weakest person here!’
‘Our toughest safe was easily unlocked by her diligent hands,’ Dorkarn says. ‘No. The stone is safest with a person. The shield will activate and she will not be able to touch it, or you.’
Anrella winks at me. ‘I guess this means you’re a real Guardian now.’
Neros puts his fist on his chest and lowers his head. The others do as well. Leo looks at me and flicks his head downwards. I quickly do the same. I’m trying to be serious, but a smile remains on my face.
The group disperses and I’m left alone with Leo. I slowly drag myself to a standing position. I watch as Leo digs around in his pocket.
‘There is one more thing. I want you to have this.’ He asks me to hold out my hand. Carefully he places a piece of paper in it. When I move it, a small key falls out. I know what this is. It’s for my engagement bracelet.
I turn the paper over. It reads, ‘I trust you.’
I trust you.
Those words… they make me blush as if he had written,
I love you
.
I glance at him and say, ‘Are you sure about this? What if I try and run away again?’
Leo shrugs. ‘I have come to discover that even if you do run, you always find your way back to me.’
I squint at him. ‘Like some sort of homing pet you’ve trained?’ I ask sharply.
Leo chuckles and then breaks into a laugh. ‘No, because… we are friends…. Or at the very least associates…’
‘We’re friends,’ I confirm before he loses confidence. ‘You’ve got my back, I’ve… got some idea of what I’m supposed to do. It’s great.’
Leo smiles at me softly. He reaches out and says, ‘You have some dirt on your face.’ I wipe the spot he’s touched with my fingers.
Leo looks at me. ‘No… here.’ He leans forward and gently places his lips on my cheek. My face lights up with a glow you could probably see from the other side of Poridos.
Leo pulls back. ‘Maybe we can be more than friends someday.’
I clear my throat. ‘Y-yeah well… maybe. And I will keep this bracelet on because that’s what’s expected of me. But when the time is right, I want
you
to ask me to be your bride, properly too. Like a normal person as well, if I say “no” then you have to let me leave. Until that day comes considering I have nowhere to go I’ll stick around, I guess.’
Leo smiles at me. ‘That sounds fair. Since you are staying in the Tower for a little longer… could I interest you in another round of Lippy & Loopy and the Haunted Treasure Cove sometime?’
‘I’d love to,’ I say with a smile.
As I stare at the blue eyed Successor, the image of him as a monster, as this cruel guy who only wanted to hurt me, fades away completely.
He’s not a monster. He’s a young man named Leo.
And I really like you, Leo.
Chapter Fourty-One
Five days after the attack, the people of Selestia demand that their questions about the MECHs, the tornado and anything else are answered. They want to know if their lives are in danger. They want to know what comes next.
The Guardians respond by tap dancing around the issue, trying to keep people calm. They say that there is nothing to worry about, that the situation is under control. I only wish I was as good at lying as they are.
I stand in the shooting range housed in the third pillar. The target before me has been shot several times by my pistol. The shots are close to the middle, but none have hit directly. I put the gun down and take out my ear plugs. I shove the gun back into the storage cupboard and shut the doors. I’ve been in here a lot in the last five days. I’m trying to focus on my training, taking each day and moment at time. But it’s hard to do anything, eat and sleep even shoot targets without thinking about my father and mother.
I cross the red carpet covered foyer and stop at the sound of a calling voice. ‘Mellea,’ Anrella says to me, ‘do you think you could go to the Poridos Sentry office and pick up today’s reports? The people out the front are going crazy.’
‘Not a problem,’ I reply. She hands me a dark blue jumper with a hood and I slide it on. This isn’t the first time the Guardians have used me as a message collector. In fact, it’s become my main occupation. The public haven’t been officially shown what
Leo’s new bride
looks like, and so I can still move around without questions.
I head back through the third pillar and down the unmarked door to the underground cells. There is an entrance that leads me down a dark tunnel. I always run through it, feeling instantly closed-in and sick. Eventually I reach a dead end with a metal ladder leading upwards. I climb up and pop out in a tree covered area a short distance from the Tower.
I close the trap door down and push the dirt back over. The hatch is one-sided, which means I will have to shimmy my way back through the people at the front gates to get back in, hence why I was given the hooded jacket by Anrella.
I begin to make my way down into the city, keeping to the backstreets as much as possible. I get close to the building where Sentry is secretly hidden amongst other business offices. A few people enter the lift, but past level three all are gone except an older woman. Unexpectedly she touches a button and the lift stops.
I stare at her.
‘I’m sorry to interrupt your mission, Mellea. But I’ve been sent to collect you.’
I scramble back as far as I can away from her. My heart is pounding. I don’t know who she is, but any stranger who knows my name instantly rings of danger. However, as I stare at this woman, I can’t help but feel like I’ve maybe seen her somewhere before. She has a familiar feel about her. I’m nervous, but I’m not afraid.
The woman puts her hand forward and her index finger turns into a needle. ‘This will only sting for a moment.’
She’s a MECH!
The woman reaches at me and I cringe. My Guardian stone activates for the first time, a blue bubble shield popping up around my body.
The woman smiles with gentleness about her. ‘That’s a nice try. But sadly that won’t work on me.’ The woman moves her hand out and her finger slides with ease through the shield. My heart is racing.
She puts her hand on the side of my neck. I duck out of the way, my shield dissipating. The woman grabs me with her opposite hand. ‘You’re a fighter. I’m glad. I would expect nothing more from my grandson’s bride.’
Grandson? I stare into her eyes as a pain shoots through my neck. Things become blurry. I drop to my knees and the woman catches me. I think I can feel the elevator moving again. The doors open and I see someone’s feet. It’s a man. Do I know those feet?
The woman holds me up. His face is blurry. But I know who this is.
She says, ‘We must hurry. Take your daughter, Noran.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M.J. Stevens is a young writer from Brisbane, Australia. No matter what path she takes through life, telling stories has remains her one true passion.
"I wish I could say that I was one of those kids that read insane amounts of books in my youth and that's why I was inspired to write, like a lot of fiction authors. But I simply enjoy creating stories and characters. I decided to write my debut novel because my inner-child wanted nothing more than to tell the world a story. And believe me; she has many more she’d like to tell."
M.J. Stevens
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