Read The Guardian's Protector: The Chamber of Souls Online
Authors: Debbie Kowalczyk
She pushed away from him to meet his eyes. ‘It was you that night in the alley.’
‘Yes,’ he admitted.
‘Are you always going to be around to save the day?’ she asked, runny-nosed and grateful.
‘Of course,’ he replied, wiping a tear from her eye. ‘Especially now you’ll be living at mine too,’ he added, looking up at the burning maisonette.
‘Wow,’ Tom murmured as the flames grew. ‘This
is
the best birthday ever!’ Mark smiled and ruffled the burnt cinders from Tom’s hair.
CHAPTER 16
THE MOVE
‘All Tom’s birthday presents!’ Amy wept as she took in the burning home before her. Looking up at the flames, eating away at all they owned, she became stricken with loss.
‘I’ll replace them,’ Mark said, patting her shoulder. ‘Everything he had.’
‘I can’t let…’ she began, her eyes locking with his.
‘Don’t be silly. My money is to make people happy.’
Amy turned as flashing lights and sirens came up behind them. As fire fighters began putting out the flames, the paramedic, considering the state of Mark’s clothes, rushed to him and asked if he needed any help and, after taking another look, was confused that he didn’t. He then checked Tom.
As if the sirens and lights woke Amy from her trauma, Amy’s eyebrows furrowed. A flash of reality hit. In a split second she went from feeling grateful and loving towards Mark, to feeling betrayed. Her eyes flaring with rage and upset, she pushed herself from his arms. He wasn’t
her
Mark anymore and, as if he noted the change, Mark grabbed her hand and tried to pull her back towards him.
‘No,’ she said, yanking herself free, ‘you
lied
to me!’ She looked at him like he was from another planet. A feeling of overwhelming loss washed over her as she sat back to look at him with new eyes.
No wonder he looked at her like it was the last time he would see her. No wonder he asked her about lying. All along, he must have seen her turning white near him, just like Tom. She was embarrassed. Distraught. It wasn’t just her home—it was as if her whole world was tumbling down beside her.
‘You’re white all the time!’ Amy said, tears in her eyes. Tom said he was white and she stupidly presumed it was because he loved her.
‘Pardon?’
‘I’ve been so foolish,’ she said, remembering Adaizi telling her that Guardians don’t have relationships. He was an older version of Tom, a magical being who had come to serve Earth. With the realisation he didn’t love her like she loved him,
couldn’t
love her the way she wanted, she broke down.
‘Amy,’ Mark started, up on his knees, grabbing for her hand again, ‘it doesn’t change anything between us. I’m still the same pers—’
‘It changes everything!’ she yelled, yanking her hand from him, her eyes filled with a mixture of pain and hatred.
In response, to her utter dismay, Mark’s beautiful eyes filled with distress and hurt, and welled with tears. He stared intently at her with every inch of his love for her, although a Guardian’s love was somehow not the same.
‘You
really
fooled me!’ she hissed. ‘No wonder you love Tom. No wonder you weren’t freaked out by him. You’re not a super nice person who loved him for what he was! You’re the same as him!’
‘The last thing I wanted was to fool you,’ he said, looking like she’d shot him. ‘I tried to show you. I kept bringing all those books, hoping you’d click I was the teacher in the Order. When I mentioned the classroom, I thought you’d realised…’
‘Oh yeah, that would make me think, “This man is a divine being and that’s why he’s giving my son a load of spelling books”! You should have
told
me you were a Guardian! Why didn’t you?’ All her attachments and feelings for him crumpled and severed as she spoke.
Mark turned and gave a shy smile to the paramedic who’d turned in alarm at Amy’s outburst. ‘Because of your reaction. We thought you’d feel surrounded. Hounded, even. Like we were muscling in on you. We didn’t want you to be paranoid or feel crowded.’ The way he said ‘we’ hurt her deeply.
‘You mean I wouldn’t have
trusted
you or become as
close
to you or even let myself be around you like I have. You tricked me into wanting to be with you!’
‘No, it was never like that. Please believe me. I wanted you to know I’m your friend more than anything. I didn’t want you to feel spied upon.’
‘What?’ she yelled. ‘You’ve followed me and been watching me, not because you’re my friend, but because I’m the Protector!’
‘I was looking out for you! That’s what friends do as well, you know.’
‘Friends tell each other everything!’ she screeched, becoming more furious.
‘Friends are honest, yes, that’s why I couldn’t kiss you that day…I wanted you to know…’
‘I know why! I bet you had a right laugh! Amy trusts Mark…oh and look…now she loves him, ha ha?’ Amy felt like her heart was breaking in two.
Mark looked distraught by her pain. ‘Guardians don’t lie and cheat or
laugh
at people!’
‘No
,
they just use deceit.’
‘Amy, please,’ Mark cried, his eyes begging and desperate. ‘It doesn’t change what we have.’
‘We
have
nothing!’ she said sternly. Before Mark could react, the paramedic interrupted.
‘The boy seems fine, but are you sure
you’re
okay, sir?’ he asked Mark.
‘He doesn’t need to be taken to hospital,’ Amy interrupted whilst laughing. ‘Can’t you tell he’s a magical being?’ The paramedic stared at her for a moment, not knowing how to react. ‘You
can’t
tell?’ she asked again. ‘Here I was thinking it was just me.’
The man grimaced at her like she was crazy, and then looked back to Mark.
‘We’re fine, thank you,’ Mark said, his face as pleasant as ever.
With the fire extinguished, there left only a cold silence. As the fire fighters made their way back to their engine, their faces filled with sympathy at Amy’s upset.
‘Can I at least give you a lift somewhere?’ the paramedic asked, not wanting to leave them in the middle of the pavement, looking lost.
‘We’re fine,’ Mark confirmed.
‘We are,’ Amy added, looking completely deranged. ‘We’ll probably be travelling in a big bubble of light!’
As the man walked away, giving Mark a good-luck-with-your-handful expression, Tom’s eyes lit up.
‘Are we really travelling in a big bubble of light?’ he said as if he was going to an amusement park. Amy sighed.
‘Amy…’ Mark began, trying to grab her hand again.
Amy pulled her hand away, stood, brushed herself down and stared coldly at him. ‘What happens now?’
Mark stood. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I made a promise. I keep my word! Tom was in danger so I will invoke the light!’
‘Oh,’ Mark said, realising the conversation had turned professional.
‘I will invoke it and then kill the bastard myself!’ she added.
Tom turned and looked up at her, shocked.
‘Sorry.’ Her face relaxed as if suddenly aware he was there.
‘You can’t do that!’ Mark said. ‘Not until he’s seven, that is.’
‘Why not?’
‘It’s unfair!’
‘Of course it is!’ Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him.
‘We have to give him a fighting chance. We have to make sure he will actually use the full powers he’ll gain for evil. And we have to wait until after his first term.’
‘We?’ she said. ‘I’m not a Guardian. I’m the Protector. I can do whatever I like. I’m not governed by your divine laws—’
‘There are still consequences for
you
! If you break these rules you will no longer be classed as Awake. You will have to take the Test.’
‘So what…at least he’ll be stopped and Tom saved from…’
‘Amy,’ Mark stressed, his voice authoritative, ‘if you have to take the Test, you may not come out of the Chamber again for a few thousand years. You will not be with Tom in the afterlife.’
For a second she was struck dumb. She knew she didn’t fully understand the rules but she certainly understood the look on his face; she knew it wasn’t a good idea. ‘Okay, then, I will invoke the light, train with it, and when he’s seven
then
I’ll kill him! I want Tom out of it!’ She scowled at Mark, daring him to contradict her.
‘If you could do that, I’d help you,’ he offered supportively. ‘I don’t want Tom to have to go through pain either.’
Amy’s expression softened as she realised he meant it. ‘Will you help me protect Tom from his fate?’ All her stubbornness and angst gone, she suddenly looked like a lost puppy.
‘You know I will,’ he promised. ‘With every fibre of my being! I would die for him!’ His beautiful and trusting eyes were more adamant than anything she’d ever seen. A rush of love washing over her, she felt angry again for her loss.
‘
Are
we travelling in a bubble?’ Tom said in an excited manner.
‘It’s called a Light-Void,’ Mark corrected, then looked at Amy for her response.
‘Can it take all of us?’ she asked, again cold and professional.
‘Yes,’ he said sheepishly.
‘Let’s go then.’
‘Are you sure?’ Mark asked, with a worried look. ‘A Light-Void can feel a bit weird the first time you trav—’
‘
Let’s go
!’ she ordered.
Mark stood, brushed himself down and held out both his hands. Tom grabbed one of them and then reached for David’s collar, then looked up at Amy.
Mark nodded at his hand. Amy knew taking it and David’s collar, forming a circle, would initiate the Void. Her stomach turned as she grabbed David’s collar with one hand and then raised her arm slowly towards Mark.
No sooner had their hands connected, she felt the air warp away from her as a blinding bubble of light pushed out the space around them, which instantly retracted again.
In that split second she felt like her body had been taken and then given back to her. Feeling heavy one second and light the next. Whatever happened, she was outside her maisonette one moment, and stood on the clover-covered hill in front of Mark’s home the next. David let out a confused whine.
‘Wow,’ Tom said, elated. ‘Can
I
do that?’ he looked at Mark for his answer.
‘Not yet,’ Mark stated.
Amy shot Mark a look. ‘I don’t want him to be told anything!’ she said. ‘Obviously I don’t expect you to lie if he asks things but…well…do you understand?’
‘Yes,’ Mark said, the smile wiped from his face. ‘I trust your way, Amy,’ he said, his voice deep with sorrow, desperation written all over his face.
‘Don’t we have a mission to see about?’ she said, her eyes begging him to let it go.
His body deflated. ‘Yes,’ he said in understanding.
‘You better call Adaizi, tell her I’m ready,’ Amy added.
‘You can only open a channel on your birthday,’ Mark stated.
Amy stared at him with a mixture of relief and curiosity. ‘But my birthday’s not until the twenty-sixth of July.’
‘I know. So relax. You have three months,’ he confirmed. ‘Adaizi can come and speak to you tomorrow. For now, let’s get you sorted.’
Amy turned to look at the orphanage. She couldn’t believe that she’d now be living at the home. Under the pale illumination of the moonlight, amongst the deep star-dotted sky, it stood, Gothic and full of secrets. A flock of blue-grey clouds rushed overhead, darkening the moon every few seconds. Amy gazed at them, wishing they’d carry her away.
David had already reached the doors and was scratching at them as if afraid to be outside, afraid of any more travelling.
Mark walked forward, sadness overwhelming his face, and for a second Amy felt a pang of guilt. No sooner had she felt the guilt, reminding her she cared for him, she felt the immense anger again. As Tom skipped happily alongside him, asking many questions about how the Light-Void could surpass the laws of physics, she followed behind with an irate look.
‘Oh my god!’ Jack shouted, running from the kitchen as they all walked in. ‘What happened?’
Winston came running from the TV room. ‘What on Earth?’ he said, taking sight of them.
‘Ethan again,’ Amy stated. ‘We’re your new lodgers.’
‘I don’t know whether to be happy or sad,’ Jack said, giving her a hug.
‘How bad is the damage?’ Winston asked Mark.
‘Bad,’ Mark answered, taking him to one side. ‘They’re not going back there anyway.’ As they spoke, Amy realised Winston knew exactly who Mark was all along and never told her. Her anger increased.
‘He
does
want to kill me, doesn’t he, Mum?’ Tom asked. Amy just looked at him with sympathy, letting Mark know how
she
avoided his questions.