The Guardian's Grimoire (4 page)

When we were outside, Edward turned to me. The moonlight
behind him cast an eerie outline around him and blanketed his face in shadow.
“My last apprentice was a few years younger than you. I looked forward to
teaching him until I found he was frightfully boring and lacked the basics of
creativity. Sure, he did everything I told him and practiced his heart out, but
he couldn’t adapt. He couldn’t take one thing he learned and apply it to
something else.”

“Where is he now?”

“He’s what you would call a lawyer.” He turned away
and started walking back to the campus. “It didn’t work out. As much as I
wanted to teach him, I wasn’t able to; he never trusted me, and I soon realized
I would never trust him. He had a different way of looking at things, and
eventually decided he didn’t like the way I was teaching him. So, you should
understand that I am hesitant to take on a new apprentice. However, my other
apprentices were all chosen by my decision alone; not one as a new Guardian.”

“Well, I can’t promise you I won’t be dull, and I’m
about as lazy as they come. I’m also sarcastic, irritable in the mornings, and
I’m pretty much an accident waiting to happen. But, I’m not gonna go all Darth
Vader on you. At least I don’t think I will. Power corrupts absolutely, which
is bad if you’re absolutely powerless.”

Edward stopped dead, suddenly rigid, and I realized
that we were completely alone; nobody and no cars were in sight. In Houston,
there was always someone around. The only noise was the wind and a distant car
alarm. “We need to leave.” His voice was very low.

“They’re here, aren’t they?” I asked quietly.

He nodded. “They’re already hunting down the scent.”

“The people who’ve been around me? Like…” My blood
ran cold. Vivian. “My girlfriend. They’ll kill her.”

“Yes.” He was pulling out my book and I stepped back.
“There’s no more time to decide. Write your name or I’ll leave,” he warned,
clearly annoyed by my lack of cooperation.

“I will accept it.” My voice was softer and shakier
than I was comfortable with. He held out the book, but I didn’t take it. “When
my girlfriend is safe. I accept it and it chose me, so you can’t take it. You
have to help me by helping Vivian.”

His growl made me shiver. “You would be endangering
the book.”

“I would be saving Vivian!”

“It is the sacrifice of a few humans for the lives of
billions.”

“It would be the sacrifice of innocent humans who
didn’t deserve to be endangered in the first place! Life involves risks.
Sometimes the safe way is the wrong way. Got to stick up for the little guy.
Any of this getting through to you?!” I thought he was going to melt me with
his glare, but when he shoved the book back into his bag, I saw a hint of humor
hidden deep in his cold eyes.

“You’re going to be a stubborn pain, aren’t you? If
we go to your girlfriend, and they come, they can see us leave. Maybe they
wouldn’t see where we go. They would have no reason to kill your girlfriend.”

“No reason? That doesn’t mean they won’t!” I said. He
sighed but didn’t deny it. “I’m not signing the book before she’s safe. There’d
be nothing to stop you from dragging me off without making sure Vi’s safe.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“I have no reason to,” I said. He didn’t look angry
or amused, he simply looked thoughtful. “Maybe I will someday, and I can see
how that would make it difficult for me to be your apprentice, but I can’t just
blindly trust you when I only met you a few hours ago.”

“Fine. Then how do you suggest we save your
girlfriend?”

“We fight them. As soon as they’re done in, we take
off to your planet. By the time the big bad god sends more goons to hunt the
book, Vivian wouldn’t smell like me. But… If the bad guy is a god, why does he
even need to send his servants to get us? Shouldn’t he know what we’re going to
do already?”

“The books are protected from him by the other gods.
He can’t see where the books are or who they’re with. My guess is that whatever
god-evading power that allows the servants to cross the worlds, doesn’t work
for someone so powerful.”

Suddenly, I realized what had been bugging my
subconscious.

“Wait, if the book I sign is the one from Earth, and
the book is a portal to Earth, wouldn’t that… like… do nothing?” I asked. He
grinned at me, seemingly proud. “You knew that, you just wanted to see if I
could figure it out.”

“You will also have to sign my book. You are quick at
spotting holes in my information. That is a very good quality to have as a
Guardian.”

“So, are you testing me?” I asked, sounding more
shocked than I was. We were off to a great start; mistrust and deception.
Oh,
hell, I’m recreating the relationship I had with Mother
.

“I need to know as much as I can about how you think
as well as all your talents and faults. As your mentor, I will always be
testing you.”

What fun. “You gave me fair warning that the book is
dangerous, so I’m telling you now to think hard about this. I have terrible
luck. I’m very sarcastic and I get bored easily. Mistakes happen when I get
bored. If you don’t want me as your apprentice, I won’t accept the book. You
can find a different Guardian, but help my girlfriend while you decide. How do
we kill these things? Magic?”

“It will take more than magic to kill them. We need
weapons and a plan. And I’m limited with my magic on this world. Every
practitioner has a world or two that is not suitable to their magic needs. This
world just doesn’t fit right for me. Its magical energy is too… thin and
delicate. The beasts are very strong, but I can probably destroy one even on
this world in a fair fight.”

“You don’t sound so sure.”

“Overconfidence is not a virtue.”

“So your magic is not as strong as it usually is, you
think you might possibly be able to take out
one
, and we must fight
three
?
Well, then, there’s nothing to worry about.” I wondered if he understood my
sarcasm, but his expression was unreadable. “Do they have any weaknesses?”

“In the time that I hunted them, they fought nothing,
so I don’t know. If there was a storm, I could draw lightning. Most beasts of
magic are weak to lightning.”

I gazed up at the clear night sky. “Any minute now,”
I said. When standing next to an alien, anything is possible.

Edward looked up. “Whatever we do, we must do it
now.”

Vivian lived with her father, three sisters, and two brothers in a big
house near the university. Her father wasn’t “emotionally stable” enough to
continue working after his third wife, the mother of Vivian’s twin sisters,
died. Unfortunately, his disability check didn’t take care of the bills, so as
the oldest, Vivian had to work and help him take care of her siblings.

Vivian’s house was two stories and made of brick, but
it still managed to look like it was coming down any day. In her driveway there
was an old, blotched pink Thunderbird that was once rose red.

“Why are we hiding here?” Edward asked me. He was
very good at whispering so his voice didn’t carry. We were hiding in the bushes
next to her house. I wasn’t worried about getting caught, because anyone who
saw us would just assume us to be perverts.

“I don’t want to come in contact with her or draw
them closer to her, but I need to see that she’s safe.”

“There is no scent of blood,” Edward assured me.

Stupid vampire alien; all knowing alien with your
books and magic.
“Just hold your horses.” The porch light came on and
Cooper, the oldest brother at thirteen, pulled a black plastic trash bag out to
the dumpster on the street corner. Clearly, they hadn’t met any evil monsters
from another world. When Cooper went back into the house, I stood.

“Would it be dangerous to see her again, with the
monsters so close?”

“Yes.”

“What about after they’re dead?”

“Any contact would reinforce your scent on her, so
yes. If you want her to be safe, you mustn’t come in contact with her again,
just in case more of these beasts are sent to find the book. I also suggest
that we leave this place now. Wherever we go, we’re drawing them to us; they
can smell both your book and mine,” he said.

I nodded and started back down the street. “How long
before they find us?”

“That depends on how much we confuse our tracks. If
we walk aimlessly around, it’ll be more difficult for them.”

“And if we just stay in one place? Say, if we stop
right here?”

“Then it’ll be an hour at the most.”

“Okay. There’s a skateboard park down this street. If
we draw them there, people won’t get in the way. We can think of a plan and
hope to the gods it rains. Wait, can we ask the gods to make it storm?”

A sour look appeared on Edward’s face. “We must never
ask for favors, only receive them gratefully when provided,” he said. I rolled
my eyes. Typical god. “If the god of this world wants it to storm, it will. I
could make it storm myself on my world, but the weather is more stable here and
I am not so…”

“I get it.” We walked for a moment in silence while
we both wondered what we would do.

“I would like you to reconsider signing your book
now.”

I grimaced. “We’ve already talked about this. Vivian
first.”

“Yes, I understand that you want your girlfriend to
be safe before you leave, but you’ve already realized that if you sign your
book, you still can’t leave. On the other hand, you will become the Guardian
and your power will become much stronger. Would you, for the sake of having the
power to fight them, sign your book now, and my book afterwards?”

I thought quickly. “I don’t know any magic, so it
wouldn’t do any good.”

“Not correct. You may not know how to control magic,
but it responds to your emotions and strong will,” he said.

We arrived at the park, where a ten-foot-tall fence
blocked our path. The huge park was broken into four sections; the walking
trails, the public pool, sports activities, and the junior center. The city was
in the process of building ramps and half pipes for the daring, idiotic boys
who wanted to show their friends how much they could do before they busted
their skulls in. The fenced in sports section had been locked down for several
months due to construction on the tennis court and the skateboard ramp, so I
didn’t bother to go to the gate. While it was only mildly bothersome, I hoped
it would give us the space and privacy we needed.

I started to climb and didn’t pay Edward any
attention until I dropped to the other side. He hadn’t started climbing. “This
is the park. You have to go over this fence. You know, to get over here.”

He crouched slightly and then jumped. He only touched
the gate once going up and landed on his feet beside me.

I gaped at him and he grinned. “You’re just showing
off.”

“If I were, you would not have seen me jump. Consider
signing your book.”

“When I do, you won’t have any more time to decide if
you really want me as your apprentice. Are you so adamant about me signing that
book because you think it’ll help me fight, or because you don’t trust me? If I
sign my name, I’m committed to it and I can’t back out of it when Vivian is
safe.”

His expression was hard. “That has crossed my mind,
but if you were to stay, Vretial would send more beasts or servants and,
chances are, you will still smell a little like the book. That means you would
still be in danger. If anything, it would help to draw them away from the
books. No, the reason I want you to sign the book is because you are
unconsciously holding back a lot of power and with the powers of a Guardian,
even an untrained one, you could be a great asset in fighting.”

“Would I be immortal?”

“Yes,” he said.

I nodded to myself. Immortality. Eternal life. So
far, I’d lived through three things: my mother, school, and the fast-food
industry. Mother took my soul, school took my childhood, and french-fries took
my hope for a better future.
That’s what life is. Do I want
eternal
life?
I peered up at the clear sky. The full moon lit up the concrete and
there were several stars visible despite the town lights. “What about Vivian?
Will I ever be able to see her again?”

Edward gave me a cold expression, but I could see in
the moonlight that it was masking sympathy. Or maybe even empathy.

“I doubt it, and I doubt more that it would be a good
idea.” He was not sugarcoating anything.

I gave him a sour frown, sat on a metal rail, and
waited for the hungry beasts to find me, and my little book, too. Edward sat
next to me without the frustrated sigh I had expected. I figured it had to be
hard on him, helping me save a woman he didn’t know. I was putting him and both
books in danger, and by doing so, both his world and Earth.

“Can the monsters get over the fence?”

“If that fence can stop a creature sent by a god,
he’s not even trying. As far as I know, the beast can fly.”

“Why did they send you?” I asked. “Knowing that your
powers are faulty here, why did they send you and not a different Guardian?”

“I asked them to send me. Like I said before, I knew
the previous Guardian of Earth, Ronez, very well,” he said. I didn’t speak, and
after a few minutes, he went on. “The idea of Guardians was not popular, and
there were many hundreds of years of experimentation. Ronez and I were not born
to be Guardians like the others; we were experimental. We are twin brothers. I
asked to come because it was possible I would find the ones who killed him.”

There was silence for a few minutes as I thought what
he must be feeling. I was his brother’s replacement. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

He nodded.

“Did you find the people who killed him?”

He shook his head.

More silence.

I shyly looked at the bag and he pulled out my book
without being asked. I took it and searched through the thick pages. There were
many names, though some were difficult to determine if they were one name or
several clustered together. Some I could recognize were clearly human, but most
were not. There was one that was just three parallel lines. One was a symbol
around a pentagram.

“Which one is your name?” I asked. He tensed and I
gave him my most innocent smile. “I won’t erase yours if you won’t erase mine.”
He reached over and turned the page a few back, then pointed to a small,
elegant signature that I was sure before was Japanese or Chinese. “That’s how
you write Edward in your language?”

He chuckled. “My name is not really Edward. I simply
needed a name you would find plausible,” he said. I laughed. “What?”

“Nobody has that name anymore. It’s like Frank or
Albert. I think that was the name of Vivian’s grandfather, and twenty other
grandfathers I know. I think that name is some universal old peoples’ name.”

“You’re very disrespectful to your elders,” he said
with mock scorn.

“What is your name then?”

“Kiro Yatunus,” he answered.

I blinked. I expected it to be something I couldn’t
pronounce, but instead, it sounded to me like something between Japanese and
Latin. The three islands he had mentioned had sounded Japanese to me, and his
name even looked it. I started examining the other names closely.

“What is it you are looking for?”

“Other Shomodians.”

“There is no citizenship, and there are only three
languages: Modo, Vido, and Sudo. My name is written in Sudo, which is most
standard. Everyone needs to know Sudo if they ever want to do any traveling or
marketing. You would have to learn. Sudo is more formally called Tzoku. Tzoku,
which loosely translates to ‘common’, is the universal language; every world
has at least one dialect version of it, though the dialect is often too adverse
to really communicate.”

“Where is Ronez’s name?” I asked. I feared that the
question would upset him, but he seemed indifferent as he turned to the next
page and pointed to a signature in the middle of the page that was similar to
Edward’s. Ronez; my predecessor. “If the wizards are the descendants of
Guardians, and if I am a wizard as you believe, doesn’t that mean he was my
ancestor?”

“Not necessarily, for other Guardians have visited
Earth. Since you’re a wizard, you are a descendent of
a
Guardian, but
possibly one other than Ronez. He is most likely to be your ancestor, though,
since he has had many children. I can honestly that all of his children were
very gifted; however, they tended to be impertinent and loved to cause
trouble.”

Good thing I’m not like that.
“What is the
name of your planet?”

“Duran. The people are called sago.”

I had to struggle to keep from laughing. “Seriously?”
He stared at me, confused and annoyed. “Duran Duran was a hugely popular
eighty’s band.” I didn’t feel the need to admit that I had a CD with “Hungry
Like the Wolf” on my coffee table any more than I felt the need to admit that I
still used CDs. I couldn’t afford an iPad or smartphone.

“Yes, Ronez informed me about them.” He observed my
book as spoke. “You know, I’ve not met you but a few hours ago and already I’m
doing foolish things for you. I doubt our time will ever really be boring. It
may sometimes even be fun. I can’t say that I will enjoy being your mentor in
magic.” He looked at me. “But I do know that I’ll come to regret not giving you
a chance if I don’t.”

He reached into the bottom of the bag and pulled out
what looked like plain wood carved into a pencil shape. There was no eraser and
the pointed tip had no lead in it. I gave Edward a questioning stare and he
nodded. I took the pencil and he stopped my hand.

“You have to be sure. This is not something you can
ever go back on. If you sign it, you will forever be responsible for the safety
of this world. Your life will revolve around it forever.”

I studied at the odd pencil in my hand, just an inch
away from the paper.

All my life, I tried desperately to overcome the hand
I had been dealt, and I wasn’t exactly successful at it. I hated my job, but I
dreaded graduating. I was working on a degree in psychology because I liked
psychology, not because I wanted a career in it. Honestly, I preferred taking
the classes and working at a fast food joint. There was nothing that ever felt
right, no career that I could look forward to. No calling.

Of course I worried about the unknown; adventure was
dangerous and so was being a Guardian, obviously. But living this life was easy
and safe, and that was never my thing. I had a chance and I would take it.
Responsibility never frightened me. I would give it everything I had to protect
this world, whether the book made a mistake in choosing me or not. Maybe Edward
was wrong and the book fell to me on accident.

Right below his name, I signed my own. My name
appeared.

Edward took me by surprise when he yanked the book
away and shoved it back into his bag. As I opened my mouth to speak, I fell
forward. Edward put his hand on my gut to keep me from pitching forward and his
other hand on my back to keep me from falling back. I couldn’t breathe. It was
like all my organs had been paralyzed except for my heart, which grew very loud
and frantic.

Then a hole in my chest split open and let frigid air
in. The cold became a ball of ice in my chest that grew larger with every beat
of my heart. I felt like my stomach should have been heaving, but it was
paralyzed along with my other organs. I couldn’t scream.

“Don’t fight it,” Edward advised.

Yeah, easy for him to say. Not me, though; I couldn’t
breathe.

The thought popped into my head of vampires having to
die to be reborn, even though that was buried under the thought,
I’m dying!
Oh… crap
, which my body seemed to agree with. Somewhere deep inside, I was
sure I was going to die and become an undead. I would be an undead outcast,
forced to life on Shomodii locked in Edward’s shed like a leper. My head was
spinning and, though my organs seemed unable to move, my hands were clawing at
my chest, as if trying to force a path of oxygen to my lungs.

Then the biting, clawing cold started to retreat back
to that stinging part of my chest. When it once again felt like a small patch
of ice, it dulled to numbness. My internal body parts started doing their jobs
and I sucked in air for dear life. I tried to stand but Edward’s hand was as
steady as a brick wall. I was able to twist around to the grass to let my
flipping stomach do its job. I lost the hamburger I didn’t know I still had.