The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga (5 page)

“I’ll see you Monday, Ming.” Avery shouted her
goodbye.

Phoenix Mountain High School was located right next
to a large park, filled with dozens of bulky trees and green bushes
overflowing with petite white flowers that extracted a spicy sent
into the air.

It was by the curb at the far side of the park that
Avery always parked her car. In the far distance, she could see the
sun glinting off the hood of her beloved Dodge Challenger. She
didn’t care that it was over thirty years old, with a peeling dark
blue paint job, missing windshield wipers, a sticky gear shift, and
sun visors that randomly decided to fall off. Avery didn’t even
care that she had ended up putting more money into it than what she
had initially paid for it. That car was her baby. It was the first
thing she had bought with her money earned from working at her
Mom’s flower shop, and more importantly, at this moment, it was her
ride to home. Of course, she had to make it to the car first.

Avery would have inhaled to take in a deep breath of
that delicious scent of the tiny white flowers, but first she had
to cross the car packed student parking lot blocking her way to the
park. There was nothing that she hated more about school than the
student parking lot, with its smoldering black top, insane teenage
drivers, and asphyxiating exhaust clouds. Avery glanced over
longingly at the green oasis that was Cactus Wren Park.

That was something that always astounded Avery about
Redemption, how green they were able to keep their parks in the
middle of the desert.

Avery had been born and raised in the town of
Redemption, Arizona. It was a town of about five thousand people,
located in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, the kind of town with
one local theater and a good thirty minute drive to the nearest
mall. It was home to farmers, cowboys, and your average citizen
looking to get away from the large over-populated cities. Avery
always figured her parents fell into the latter category. Although,
they never talked much about their past, she knew her parents
hadn’t been born there. She figured they had moved from some big
city to Redemption, so that her Mom could open up a small flower
shop, while her Dad worked at the local bank. It didn’t matter to
Avery why exactly they had moved to Redemption; she was just
grateful they had. She loved everything about living in the town,
the desert lightning storms, the friends she had made, the dry
weather, working part time at her mom’s flower shop, even going to
her out of date and poorly funded high school.

Car horns began honking as cars raced to get out of
the parking lot. Avery stepped down off of the curb and onto the
blacktop. She had made it half way to sanctuary when she heard
someone from behind her shout, “Avy!”

There was only one person who called her by that, and
Avery really did not want to have to deal with her right now. Avery
steeled herself, fighting every instinct that told her to ignore
the voice, knowing that if she just kept walking she would be given
an earful about it tomorrow morning. So, she put on her politest
smile and turned around to see Sasha Seraphina and one of her many
male admirers strolling up to her.

Sasha was the kind of girl that every boy wanted and
every girl wanted to be. She was tall, a good six inches taller
than Avery, and pretty much all legs. Her olive skin was kept baby
soft with expensive moisturizers whose names Avery couldn’t even
pronounce. Sasha’s dyed copper hair was always professionally
clipped and styled into a perfect pixie cut. She had chestnut eyes
and brows that were sculpted into perfect arches. To complete her
look, she always wore the most fashionable name-brand outfits that
detailed every curve of her long body.

“Hey.” Avery replied, as Sasha and her male friend,
who Avery now recognized to be Toby Burke, a Varsity wrestler,
reached her.

“Hey.” Sasha said, stepping up to Avery closer than
she needed to, invading Avery’s personal space so that she was now
looming over her.

Avery just sighed and glanced up at Sasha with her
eyes, refusing to raise her head. She knew what Sasha was doing.
Avery knew she could be a pretty enough girl. She had thick, long,
auburn hair that fell in unruly waves down to the small of her back
and could either make Avery look like a princess when behaving
itself, or a hot mess when it wasn’t. Her ivory skin gave her an
ethereal glow, even though it meant she could never leave her house
without applying sun-block, unless she wanted the Arizona sun to
turn her redder than a cooked lobster. She had curves enough of her
own, but her favorite form of attire, a pair of warn jeans and a
flannel shirt didn’t exactly emphasize anything but her laid back
attitude. Her deep emerald eyes were framed by dark lashes that
sparkled particularly bright when she flashed her wide smile, which
was often.

Sasha also knew that Avery could be a pretty enough
girl, a fact that Sasha didn’t like. That was why every time they
spoke Sasha always did her best to make sure the only real things
Avery felt self-conscious about was in the spotlight…her height.
Avery had been petite her whole life, always shorter than most of
her friends, but she had continued to hold out hope for a much
wanted growing spurt. However, at sixteen years of age, Avery was
faced with the hard truth that she was most likely going to be
stuck with her current five-foot-one height for the rest of her
life. Often times, Avery wondered if she would actually be alright
with her shortness, if not for friends like Sasha.

Avery pushed that thought aside and addressed the
insecurity pusher, herself, “What’s up, Sash?”

Sasha stared down at her, “What are you in such a
rush for?”

Had she not heard the final bell ring, Avery thought
sarcastically, before saying, “I’m just in a rush to get home. You
know, to food, nap, homework, and then more napping…probably in
that order.” All things which you are keeping me from, Avery had to
bite her tongue to stop herself from saying.

Sasha smirked, “What an exciting life you lead,
Avery.”

Sasha meant it as a joke, but only partly. It had the
appropriate amount of Sasha sting connected to it that Avery knew,
loathed, and tolerated.

Avery raised her eyebrows and smiled back, wondering
how she and Sasha had ever become friends. In fact, she knew
exactly how, and it was more by force than choice. Since before
Avery could walk, Avery’s parents along with Sasha, Jade Kai, Bunny
Claiborne, and Skylar Bavol’s parents had gotten together and
organized a play group for their children. Even now, they still did
family activities, like picnics and softball matches together. They
had all been forced to grow up together, and despite their strong
personality differences, a strong bond had been formed between the
five of them.

Sasha was really the only one Avery ever had any
problems with. Since she could remember, Sasha had always loved to
give her a hard time, always questioning her, poking fun, and
generally agitating her. Of course, Sasha did that to almost
everyone, so Avery couldn’t really complain much. Avery loved
Sasha, but most of the time she just wanted to punch her in the
face.

Avery decided to give it one more go before turning
around to leave, “What did you want, Sasha?”

Sasha shrugged, getting to her reason for stopping
Avery in a slow pristine fashion, “I just wanted to know if you and
the girls were going to the party tonight?”

Avery stared; she had been allowing the heat off of
the blacktop to slowly cook her alive just to be asked about the
stupid party again, “Well, I’m not going, and I’m pretty sure
there’s no way in hell Jade’s going, but you’ll just have to ask
the others yourself, because I have no idea.”

Sasha looked at Avery the way Avery looked at one of
her dogs when it deliberately disobeyed a command.

“Fine,” Sasha sighed, “go live your exciting life at
home. I’ll see you later.”

With a dismissive hand wave goodbye, Sasha turned to
go. Toby gave Avery a toothy smiled and winked at her before
following Sasha.

Avery shook her head. That had just sealed it. This
had been the absolute worst few minutes of her day. It could only
go up from here.

Avery watched as Sasha and Toby piled into Sasha’s
blue two-door convertible that her dad had bought her for her
birthday. Those were the kind of presents you got when your dad was
one of only two lawyers in the town, especially, the only one of
the two who was actually any good.

Avery waved good-bye as Sasha attempted to speed out
of the parking lot. Now that that interaction was thankfully over
with, Avery turned around and continued to make her way out of the
parking lot.

As she stepped onto the grass of the park, she was
finally able to take a breath of that longed for spicy flower
scent. Avery had made it, she was free, it was Friday, and she had
effectively avoided Sasha peer-pressuring her into attending a
party she hadn’t wanted to. Avery slipped her backpack off of her
shoulder and grasped it in her right hand as she started spinning
in several whirling twirls of joy, not even caring who might see
her.

Teetering and almost losing her balance, Avery
decided it might be a good idea to stop spinning. She had resumed
walking in a straight line towards her car when something out of
the corner of her eye caught her attention.

Someone was staring at her from behind one of the
parks big Mahogany trees. At first, she mistook it for a child
because of its size, but as she looked at it more closely, she
realized it wasn’t a child at all. In fact, Avery wasn’t even sure
if it was completely human. It looked almost like some sort of elf
out of a children’s book.

In an attempt to hold onto reality, Avery blinked her
eyes hard and shook her head. When she opened her eyes a second
later, the little creature had disappeared.

She was about to walk over to the tree and look to
see if she had really seen what she thought she saw, when she
re-thought the idea.

“Avery,” she told herself, aloud, “you just thought
you saw some freaky little fantasy creature spying on you from
behind a tree…and now you want to go and look for it?! No, no, no,
no, no, no way…just go home and get some much needed sleep.”

Changing directions slightly, Avery tried to put as
much distance between her and the large Mahogany tree as she
possibly could. She had barely taken five steps, when the small
being she had seen leapt directly out at her from behind another
bulky tree.

Avery screamed at the top of her lungs and swung her
backpack around in front of her to act as a barrier between her and
the creature.

From close up, Avery was able to see that the little
being actually resembled a man, about half her height. He had long
pointy ears that somehow fit his more rounded features and a long
white beard that moved up and down with every twitch of his button
nose. His deep set eyes shone like two shiny sapphires behind bushy
gray eyebrows and seemed to contain oceans of knowledge. His
graying hair stuck out in tufts from underneath his triangular
shaped gray pointy hat. He wore an oversized brown robe that fell
just below his feet and would have been too long to allow him to
walk if it hadn’t been held up by a weathered leather belt fastened
around his waist. There were at least a dozen small pouches
attached to the leather belt, along with a very small dagger looped
through it, which is what Avery was keeping her eyes on at the
moment.

“Oh, for Great Wizarding sake!” the little man spit
out in a gravelly voice that Avery found impressively deep for such
a little body, “There is no need to cause a scene with your
screaming. I’ve been waiting for you for over an hour.”

Avery stared hard at the little man for a long while,
still holding up her backpack between them as a shield. She was
trying to regain some focus through her confusion and make sense of
what he had just said.

“Are…um…are you talking to me?” She asked in a shaky
little voice. It was the only question her mind would form at the
moment.

A look Avery could only make out as disgust flashed
across Gumptin’s face, “Of course I am talking to you,” he answered
brusquely, “do you see anyone else around?”

Even through the insanity of the situation, Avery
couldn’t help but think the little man rude, which was actually a
good thing since it helped to chase away some of her fear and
replace it with annoyance.

Swallowing hard, Avery placed her backpack back over
her shoulder, “Well, no, but I…I don’t usually have elves jump out
at me from behind trees and start talking to me.”

The man frowned as if Avery had said something
offensive, “I am not an elf; I am a gnome. There is a
big
difference.”

Avery’s mouth fell open in shock. Out of all the
necessary information she needed from him to make sense out of what
was going on, that seemed the most trivial.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Gnome,” Avery said sarcastically,
still desperately trying to understand what was going on, “my
mistake. Now, why don’t you tell me who exactly you are, what
you’re doing here, and why you’re talking to
me
?”

The small man cleared his throat, “My name is
Gumptin; I am a Wizard, a forest gnome, and a trainer of
extraordinary beings. You and I already know each other.” Gumptin
looked at Avery, a lilt of melancholy in his eyes, “Unfortunately,
you will not remember knowing me, or even who you are for that
matter.”

“Ok.” Avery’s mind seemed to have gone blank. She was
seriously starting to believe that she may have inhaled too much
car exhaust from the student parking lot and was now hallucinating,
“So, you’re saying we already know each other; I just don’t ever
remember meeting you or know myself?”

“Exactly!” Gumptin grinned and clapped his hands,
happy Avery was following him, “But, there is so much more that
needs to be explained; this just is not the place to do it. Come
with me and I will show you everything you need to know.”