The Guardian's Protector: The Chamber of Souls (42 page)

‘Amy…’ he began, moving closer to gain eye contact. She looked away. ‘Think about the
reason
behind your decision,’ he said sympathetically. ‘Accepting it doesn’t mean you will lose the pain, but it will help you from this Sleep.’

Shut up!
she thought, fresh pain brewing inside her and striking her heart like a hot iron rod, anger replacing the depression. There was no way she could accept it. All she felt was pain. Hurt. Upset. Trauma. And now, thanks to Mark, anger!

As Mark left her room, she broke down into floods of tears once again. All these new thoughts, swarming through the cloudiness of her mind, began to torture her more, letting her know there was no way out of her psychological descent. Mark putting it so simply, making her feel like she could just come out of this Sleep by thinking differently, as easy as that, made her feel furious. Worse still, she began to analyse that he knew exactly what he was doing. Whether the new thoughts caused her pain or not, he had shifted her emotional level to anger, and anger felt better than depression.

It was an hour later when she stopped crying and, appropriately, an hour later when Tom knocked on the door and sat by her side.

‘Mark taught me how to let down my guard,’ he said. ‘I’ve been trying for weeks because I miss you so much.’ When she didn’t respond he looked hurt for a moment, but she could tell he understood. Looking at him made her feel some kind of love for him, but she didn’t even care if his fifth birthday had come and gone.

She knew she should feel bad for not being there for him, but she didn’t have any urge to get up and be his mother. She also knew she could stay like this for as long as she wanted and, not only would they understand, but Mark, Adaizi and the rest of the regulars would take care good of him.

As he sat patiently by her side, his expression could have been read in a hundred different ways. She studied him with mild curiosity and sighed. Even if she didn’t want to be his mother, she didn’t want him to suffer.
I miss you too,
she thought, hoping he could read her like Mark.

He smiled, which brightened his eyes, but then as if frightened his shade would come back, he frowned. ‘Don’t you want to feel better?’

How can I?
she thought.

‘By knowing it was for the best,’ he said as if she had spoken. ‘By knowing you’ve saved them all. By taking something positive from it. I’m learning to be myself because of what they said to
me
! They said
you
were special. Why don’t you concentrate on being special?’

Amy looked into his large, stunning eyes and wondered how a five-year-old could be so wise. Then it hit her why: who Tom was and why he was here and the reason she was suffering in the first place. This time, it struck an old nerve; a nerve she thought she had lost forever. 
I will! I’m going to learn how to be more like you, then you can always be yourself!
she thought, her protective instinct shining through above anything else she felt.

‘Oh, Mum,’ he said, throwing his arms around her. Even though she couldn’t move, she imagined her arms responding. Imagined how good it would feel to hug him back. She felt a flicker of hope. If she could focus again, if she could feel something instead of nothing, she knew she may one day leave this room. The hug, as painful as it was to her weak back, began to clear some of the heaviness she felt inside as if his love was the medicine she needed to heal.

As he sat and smiled at her she knew, even if he could read her mind, he didn’t fully understand what her words meant. She knew all the bits of information he’d collected over the years would all come together and make sense to him at age seven. Then there would be nothing she could do about him knowing, but for now she still wanted him protected and he seemed patient enough not to question.

As he left, a sudden spark of worry rushed through her. She wondered whether, now being himself, if he’d asked Mark or Adaizi for information, but knew she’d deal with it when she recovered. Then the thought occurred to her that she
would
eventually recover.

Tom’s few words had aroused some part of her that she thought had disappeared forever. Her mind, now having something to attach to again, began to race with concern for Tom. For the mission. For his safety. For the normal life she wanted for him. For the fact that she didn’t want him to have to kill, or go through
any
pain. She began to think about why she had done what she did. In the recesses of her mind, Nevaeh was waiting.

Mark came back later that evening and, even though her eyes were blood red, her hair greasy and matted, looked at her like she was some precious jewel he’d just found.

He grabbed her hand and, even though he had no shade, his divine light totally gone, the electric, sublime feeling she always received from his touch ran through her arm and straight to her heart. ‘I want to hold you.’

She couldn’t pull her hand away. Tom had stirred something in her, but it still wasn’t enough to bring her out of the Sleep.  She sighed, allowing his warmth to seep into her. She needed this understanding; someone to share her pain. He’d lost his parents too, in a much more horrendous way than she did.

Knowing she was willing, he lay down beside her and gently turned her towards him, the pair of them now staring deep into each other’s sad eyes. In that moment, both stripped of their powers, they were just two normal human beings who loved each other. This closeness was about bringing comfort to one another.

The feeling was so natural and painless, and she wanted to stay wrapped in his warmth forever. As if he knew, he moved closer, pressing her head into his chest with one hand and her body into his with his other. They couldn’t have gotten any closer if they tried.

His whole body, smelling ocean fresh with hints of jasmine, amber and white lotus, had her wrapped in a tight cocoon. It felt like he
was
healing her. It may not have been with light, but it felt magical.

After a while, he leant back and stroked her matted hair from her face, causing her to lean into his hand. This was the first movement she’d made in weeks but it wasn’t a conscious movement; it was as if her body longed to be next to him so much that it couldn’t help but try to be as close to him as possible. Like he had a magnetic pull, her body naturally moved towards him. As he kissed the top of her head, the warmth from his mouth seemed to sink into her scalp, relieving her from the migraine she’d had for weeks.

‘Come back to me,’ he whispered. As he spoke the words, icy shivers began to erupt throughout her body. The rest of the home disappeared: it was just them. Her whole world, and the details it contained, faded into the background as her sleepy state began to dissolve. ‘You have a unique power.
You
can recover from this!’

In this moment she didn’t care about the pact she’d made. She didn’t feel like she was doing wrong. What was happening was beautiful.
I love you,
she thought.

‘I love you more.’ He gently kissed her neck and shivers of warmth coursed through her skin and into the lump in her throat, dispelling it at once. His lips were so light, hardly on her at all, yet the power was immense. He moved slowly and gently up to her chin and then his lips were right in front of her mouth. As she opened her eyes, he was waiting for her to move. If only she could.

It was a commotion outside in the hall that made Mark jump from the bed abruptly.

‘Please, Amy,’ Mark said, ‘you must wake now!’ He pushed himself against the door as if barricading someone from entering, and then she heard Tom scream. The door flew open and Mark landed hard on the floor next to Amy, smashing her bedside unit, as Ethan and his three main men strolled in.

‘Shall I kill this thing first?’ Ethan said, dragging Tom inside by his curls. ‘Or shall I kill that?’ he added, pointing to Amy. His men snarled in anticipation. ‘Actually, I’ll kill her after I’ve killed him. Or shall I leave her like that because I want her to suffer? One can’t work without the other, can they, even if she did ever wake?’

A sudden burning rushed through Amy’s veins and, as every thought she had in her mind cleared, she heard the Bright One distantly telling Nevaeh to use her unique power. She focussed on his voice and it became louder, as if he were whispering directly in her ear. ‘If you believe you can do something,’ he began, ‘then you can!’ His words confirmed it; she knew she could wake if she just believed. She knew everything she’d ever been through once more.

‘Mark,’ Adaizi said, her eyes begging as she rushed inside.

‘No.’

‘Oh look,’ Ethan said, ‘What did I tell you? They won’t dare Void or put up their guards because it would kill her. So noble. But what a dilemma! Will Tom use his light on me in front of his mother, knowing if he does it will kill her?’ he said, ragging him back and forth by his hair. ‘Then again, I would consider the easy, gentle way to have her pass over a better alternative to what I’m about to do. And look at Mark, as stubborn as ever, always living in hope. You should be worthy of pity!’ he spat to Mark.

None of them stood a chance without their light. Ethan could kill all three right now and he knew it. As Ethan turned to Tom, conjuring a dark ball of energy in his palm, a shocking coldness surged through Amy’s body and, like some force had dragged her up from the bed, she sat bolt upright, her eyes tingling, light bursting from her palms and, with lightening swiftness, struck out at Ethan with her open, lit hands, a blow to his chest that sent him flying across the room gasping for breath.

The light burning into his skin, Ethan writhed in pain, his men rushing to his aid. With shocked expressions, Adaizi, Mark and Tom became bright. Amy was on her feet, her tubes pinging from her body, when one of the men turned and hissed, ‘You’re not allowed to use your power. You could have killed him!’

‘I think you’re forgetting who I am,’ Amy seethed, her hands charging with another mound of sizzling light, her eyes sparkling with glitter. ‘I’m the Protector! I will do anything, including being stuck in the Chamber for aeons, to protect my son—do you understand?’ She threw out another blast, but the man covered Ethan, taking the pain of the light himself.

‘Let’s go,’ she heard Ethan cry from underneath them, and, in a dark whirl of smoke, they vanished.

Adaizi and Mark looked shell shocked, neither of them knowing what to say. It took a minute, allowing Tom to run to Amy and hold her in a tight embrace, but it was Adaizi who spoke first.

‘That was risky,’ she said, but it was obvious she was relieved.

‘That was
brave
!’ Mark corrected.

Adaizi gave him a reproachful look.

‘It was neither,’ Amy interjected. ‘I used my power.’

‘What do you mean?’ Adaizi asked.

‘I can protect with my power. If I think of what I don’t want, it works. Not that Ethan or you could tell but, as I blasted him, I wished he wouldn’t die.’

‘Then in that case, Mark is right,’ Adaizi said. ‘That was very clever!’

‘Brilliant!’ Mark seconded. ‘He won’t be back until he gets his full powers now for sure.’

‘Which means we only have two years left to train,’ Amy added, cursing herself for leaving it so long.

‘You have protected Tom,’ Adaizi said. ‘He is safe for now, as are we all, because of you. I didn’t think you had it in you but…I believe in you, Amy.’

‘I never doubted you,’ Mark said.

Amy smiled at them both. ‘Can you leave us?’ Amy asked them, healing the bleeding vein in her arm as she spoke.

‘Sure, beautiful,’ Adaizi said, bowing her head in respect.

‘Glad to have you back,’ Mark added, giving Adaizi a knowing smile as they walked to her door.

After they left, Amy held Tom tight enough to cut off his circulation. ‘We’re safe now, aren’t we, Mum?’ he asked.

‘For now,’ she replied, allowing him some piece of truth, which she now felt she owed him.

‘I knew you would come back to me,’ he said. ‘I hope one day I’m as powerful as you. Then I can protect you.’

‘It’s my job to protect you, Tom,’ she said, holding him close. ‘So I intend for that never to be necessary!’

The picture of Ethan in her mind, fear written all over his face, gave her the confidence that she could in fact save Tom. She knew she couldn’t keep the knowledge of who he was and his reason for being forever. She knew at age seven he’d know it all, but for now he was safe, protected, out of harm’s way. She may only have two years left to train, but she was determined to be powerful enough that when Ethan did return, she would be ready. 

THE END

About the Author

    Throughout her life Debbie has been creative in one way or another, from gaining qualifications in art and design and hairdressing, to securing publishing deals in song writing. She has also always been fascinated by anything out of the ordinary, loving all things fantasy and sci-fi, especially anything to do with the notion of an afterlife. She appreciates science, she’s very spiritual and, believing thoughts create our reality, classes herself a Buddhist.