The Guardian's Protector: The Chamber of Souls (13 page)

‘Get lost!’ he said, shaking his head.

‘I did!’

Jack turned her head to check the bleeding and gave her a sad smile. ‘I know you, Amy. What are you hiding from me?’

Amy blushed. She hated lying to her most trusted friend, but she knew what Adaizi would do. ‘Nothing!’

He took a deep breath. ‘Keep that door locked and chained. I’ll change your locks tomorrow!’

‘Okay,’ Amy said with conviction. ‘Thanks for coming over.’

As she closed the door behind him, she broke into floods of tears. Amy
would
remember this particular Christmas for the rest of her life. It was etched into her brain and her mind’s eye forever.

                       CHAPTER 9

THE LECTURE

Amy woke with a shooting pain in her stomach, reminding her last night had been real. She turned to her bedside table and switched off the whirring sound of Adaizi’s CD, unable to believe it had lulled her to sleep.

‘Ouch, Mummy,’ Tom said as he opened his eyes.

‘What’s the matter, Tom?’ Amy asked, sitting to his attention, another pain ripping through her.

‘Ouch,
Mummy
!’ he said, opening and closing his hands to be taken from his cot. As she stood, the pain dug in harder. She groaned in agony as she lifted his weight over the bars.

‘Oh dear, Mummy needs to lie back down,’ she said, placing him by her side.

‘Tom do Mummy’s ouch,’ he said, lifting her pyjama top and placing a freezing cold hand on the huge, painful bruise she’d acquired. As Amy felt the soothing sensation, she grabbed his palm, which tingled in hers, and turned it to see the sparkling, white light running under the surface. She studied his concentrated expression then looked down at her stomach.

Her huge, purple bruise had a tiny white handprint inside it. She pulled at her skin to look at it properly, mesmerised. Tom stared into her eyes and waited. Never once taking her stunned eyes off him, she slowly laid back down and released his hand.

Placing the icy palm back on her stomach, Tom swirled his hand over the bruised area like a professional masseur. Every so often, he lifted his sparkling eyes to hers, his expression clear; he wanted her to feel better. She took another look at the bruise, which faded before her eyes.

Pain gave way to a soothing sensation and her tense muscles relaxed. She wanted to close her eyes to savour the overwhelming relief, but she was captivated by his wondrous gaze. After only a minute, all her pain vanished.

He took his hands away and, losing the concentrated expression, clapped his hands like a giddy toddler. The light glowed immensely and, after dancing under his skin, sank back under the surface, just like the glitter inside his eyes.

Taking another look and seeing nothing left of her bruise, she stared inquisitively at him for a moment, not sure how to react. The fact that he knew of his healing powers frightened her but, with Tom smiling at her like he was proud of himself, all she could do was smile back. She suddenly felt more protective towards him. The thought that others may react to him with consternation tugged on her heart.

‘Tom clever?’ he asked, as if wondering why she hadn’t said anything to this new achievement.

‘Yes, Tom’s
very
clever,’ she answered, wiping a tear from her eye.

After breakfast, Amy heard a knock at the door and her heart took a dive. She crept cautiously into the hallway, trying not to be seen through the window, and peeped through the spy hole. Her heart dropped again; Adaizi stood with a pleasant look on her face.

Amy stared for a moment, not knowing what to do. Adaizi’s eyes gave a quick, knowing glance to the peephole and Amy felt her heart pick up pace. Feeling ridiculous for hiding behind it, Amy opened the door.

‘May I come in, beautiful?’ Adaizi raised one eyebrow and smiled. She did, however, have an apologetic look in her eye, showing Amy she remained aware of her promise to keep away.

Amy didn’t know what to say. She stood, wondering how to refuse without hurting her feelings and without making herself feel guilty. The next moment, Tom brushed in front of Amy’s legs and, before she could react, he’d pulled the door wide and screamed with more enthusiasm and excitement than any of his presents had caused him. He made to run out towards her, but Amy held him back in panic, like Adaizi would harm him.

Tom looked at Amy, his face screwed up in confusion. ‘Tom’s friend!’ he said matter-of-factly. Adaizi remained where she was, trying to hold back a grin. Amy looked from Tom to Adaizi and back to Tom, sighed, rolled her eyes, and opened the door fully.

‘Thank you so much,’ Adaizi said cheerily as she crossed the threshold.

Tom threw his arms around Adaizi’s legs and smiled up at her. Adaizi took his dimpled cheeks in her hands, smiled at him with much care, then bent and kissed his forehead. As Tom took her hand and led her into the living room, Amy, tight lipped, followed.

Adaizi turned, looked at Amy through half-moon glasses and asked, ‘May I sit, my beautiful gal?’ Her warm, sparkling eyes, hard for Amy to meet, pierced into Amy’s soul.

‘Please.’ Amy gestured to the sofa begrudgingly. Adaizi smiled almost giddily, making it frustratingly hard not to like the woman. ‘Can I offer you a drink?’ Amy added, her shoulders relaxing a little.

‘That would be lovely
and
ever so kind of you. I’ll have a black coffee with no sugar ‘cause I’m sweet enough,’ she said with a wink. ‘Thank you.’

As Amy studied her for a moment, trying to figure out if she could trust her, a new realisation kicked in: She
had
seen her before the birth; she knew she recognised her! This woman, she now realised, had been following her all of her life! This woman had
saved
her life!

‘It was you!’ Amy said. Adaizi’s eyebrows raised, inviting her to continue. ‘It was you who saved me from being run over. You grabbed me and placed me on the curb and said…’

‘“You need to take good care of yourself!”’ Adaizi finished. ‘Yeah, it was me. Funnily enough, that’s the same sentence I came to repeat to you today.’ Her head tilted, a wise you-know-what-I’m-talking-about look in her eyes.

Amy stared in wonder. She’d never forgotten the day she was saved by a mysterious woman. She’d talked about it for years after the event. Everyone thought she’d exaggerated the truth when she’d said that the woman had come out of nowhere then vanished again.

‘People thought I was lying, you know.’

‘And you’d never told a lie in your life. I know, beautiful, I know.’ The calm, cool and confident manner almost burst out of Adaizi’s skin. She
knew
Amy,
really
knew her. It made her feel simultaneously at ease and uneasy.

In an attempt to escape the lecture she was about to receive, Amy turned towards the kitchen. Before she left the room, she glanced back at Tom.

‘Don’t worry,’ Adaizi said, ‘I won’t run away with him.’ It was way too early for jokes, but Amy allowed her a smile.

Trusting Adaizi, Amy left the room. No matter how unnerving it was to have Adaizi around, Amy knew she would only push as far as Amy would allow. Making the brews, she could hear Tom yapping away to Adaizi about his Christmas presents.

‘This wonderful boy did well, I see,’ Adaizi said as Amy placed the cups on the coffee table. Tom had placed seven different toys on Adaizi’s knee.

‘Yes,’ Amy said. ‘And thank you for the CD. I don’t think we’d have slept without it.’

Adaizi smiled. ‘May I take a look at your head?’ she asked, her tone now business-like.

‘How did you…? It’s fine. Tom sorted it,’ Amy said, feeling where it had bled. ‘There’s no scab or anything. He healed my bruise this morning too.’

‘Oh,’ Adaizi said, looking at Tom with surprise. ‘Then may I take a look at Tom?’

‘Err…’ Amy said, not sure what the procedure entailed. At that point Tom stood tall in front of Adaizi as if he knew what she wanted. She turned him, checking his neck and wrists and then took his head in her hands. He closed his eyes and smiled as if savouring her touch.

‘He seems fine,’ Adaizi said with a look of wonder.

‘Shouldn’t he be?’ Amy asked.

‘Oh yeah.’ She reached for her coffee. ‘Guardians can’t use powers before age seven, but he is the Bright One and, if what Rose tells me is true, he has a lot more power than we first expected.’ She looked Amy square in the face, her eyes trying to hold back hunger. ‘May I see this amulet of yours?’

Amy pulled it out from under her nightclothes and held it towards her. Adaizi placed her coffee down and held her palm underneath it. Even though Adaizi’s eyes showed much excitement, she remained calm. She looked down at Tom respectfully but she also seemed dejected, like she wished she could have an adult conversation with him or at least tell him he was brilliant.

As if he knew, he smiled up at her and said, ‘Tom’s clever.’

‘He sure is,’ she said, stroking his cheek. He snuggled close to her and rested his head on her bosom. Adaizi then turned her attention back to a gob-smacked Amy. ‘I’m here to try and get you to see the importance of invoking the light.’

‘No,’ Amy said flatly.

‘You need to protect…’

‘I can protect Tom with this. It put a shield up when Luke came near us,’ she said, holding up the amulet. ‘Tom can protect himself anyway. So I don’t need the power of light.’

‘You need to protect
yourself
.’

‘I’m not bothered about
myself
. It’s Tom I’m protecting.’

‘You need to be able to protect him when the time comes…’

‘The time won’t come because I’m going to find a way out of this!’

‘Amy,’ Adaizi said, her eyes full of sympathy, ‘you have to accept…’

‘I’ll never accept it. I will never teach
him
to fight. And
I
will never fight!’ As Amy’s anger and frustration took hold of her, Tom left Adaizi’s embrace, climbed onto Amy’s knee and placed his hands over her eyes. As Amy felt a sudden calmness wash over her, she removed Tom’s lit hands. Amy took a breath. ‘I want him to have a
normal
life. Go to school. Make friends. Get a good job. Fall in love and get married.’

‘Amy, Guardians don’t come here for any of that. They come here for a specific purpose and, even when that’s been fulfilled, they’ll then help other Guardians with their missions.’

‘He’s too pure and gentle. There’s no way I’ll teach him to be vicious.’

‘Guardians fight with love, not hate.’

‘It’s still
against
hate. I don’t want him exposed to that.’

‘The degree in which you resist shows the strength inside your character, but it leaves us with a dilemma. Your lower self is clinging to what you know and understand, but you need to trust me. Once you open a channel, you can visit your higher self—’

‘How do you expect me to come to terms with what you’re telling me he has to face? It’s bad enough when I have to watch his little face when people treat him with
contempt
! Even if it’s just a
look
of disdain, he feels it. I
can’t even handle that!’

‘Great souls of this world have always been revered or hated. It’s humanity’s way of dealing with the higher players. Great souls either inspire others to become more or they remind them they’re not the same. The souls that count—those on higher levels themselves—will treat him with love.’

‘I think there’s more lower players about!’

Adaizi rubbed Amy’s knee lovingly. ‘You have enough love inside you for all those who can’t. You had that power in you before you were even born. You,
Nevaeh
, loved him then!’

‘Nevaeh?’ The name made Amy feel strange—like it should mean something. Then, as a vague remembrance to the dream she had come flooding back, a flash of the euphoria she felt in her vivid dream also came back.

‘Please, Amy, you must invoke the light…’

‘No, I don’t want to. Tom’s safe with me. I’m going to protect him and make sure he has a normal life. He’s going to school!’ Amy said defiantly.

Adaizi’s eyebrows furrowed. ‘He
can’t
have a normal life because he
isn’t
normal and people won’t treat him like he’s normal. He’ll stand out too much in school.’

‘No he won’t…’

‘Ethan will end up at the same school as Tom. Even when Ethan’s not trying to kill him, he’ll be hurt by the way others treat him. Teachers won’t know how to handle him. I was called a liar so many times at school I had to lie in order to be believed! That’s hard for a Guardian.’

Amy took a deep breath. ‘No one will treat my son badly! I’ll make sure of it! I’ll fight anyone who says a bad word against him!’

‘You’re fighting the wrong people! Ordinary people will act in an ordinary way to something so extraordinary. That’s normal.’

Amy’s lips tightened, her frustration returning. ‘The simple fact is that you have to send kids to school. It’s the law,’ Amy said, feeling she couldn’t argue with that.