Divine Mortals (30 page)

“Something like that.” I mumbled.

Suddenly this conversation had taken me far deeper into the unknown then I had expected, I was beginning to wish I hadn’t asked, perhaps it was better to remain ignorant to all of this. Robert sat back scrutinizing my reaction, his eyes full of worry. I didn’t want him to stop talking so I forced myself to take a deep breath and remain composed.

“You’re going to have to elaborate,” I sighed, my mind in a knot of thoughts,

“You told me you were Guardians. How many more of you are out there and why did she come to check, what business is this of hers anyway. Oh god don’t tell me you have some sort of weird arranged Guardian marriage.”

Robert chuckled, then seeing that I was serious stopped himself.

“When we turn twenty one we are sent to study, as you know, to grow our skills, we are born with more potential then we display, but most of the things we are capable of need to be learned.”

I thought about this for a moment.

“So you get to twenty one and then just disappear?” I sounded bitter, although I wondered if he had actually heard me at all over top of his own thoughts.

“Normally…”

“Nothing normal about it,” I muttered, interrupting him,

“Are you going to let me finish?”

I gestured for him to continue, all I could focus on was the fact that he would go away in just over a year. Was that all the time we would have?

“Normally,” he paused briefly, looking to see if I would interrupt further, before continuing,

“One of the elders will send someone for us when it is time to begin our study, until that time we have no idea where we go or what it is we actually learn.

Allison will be the person to fetch me, however the elders saw that I was getting close to someone and they sent her to investigate and report back.” His shoulders were tight, his expression grim, “It was fairly obvious how she feels about us.” He sighed.

I shuddered involuntarily, remembering her dark stare and snide remarks.

“She won’t hurt you.” it was a promise, his face tightened in determination as he spoke.

My eyes searched his, and his hands found mine as he continued,

“There was a law created by the elders years ago, banning us from relationships of any kind with normal humans, they agreed that relationships outside of our own end badly and so we are only to have partners within our own race, we are never to expose ourselves as anything other than human to, well… the humans.”

“So what happens now?”

“I’m not sure,” his expression was torn, “Allison will report back to them and I guess I will find out soon enough. I imagine I’ll be hearing from the elders
before
my twenty first birthday.” his voice was scathing.

I took a long breath, phrasing my question carefully,

“That first night on the porch you said that Guardians protect humans from the ‘Unseen’. Unseen what?”

Robert tensed, turning suddenly to stone.

“What don’t we see.” I pressed.

“Evil.” His voice was a whisper, and I felt the tiny hairs of my arms rise at his tone.

“I sound crazy.” He sighed, his dark eyes taking in my shocked expression.

“Evil spirits?” I whispered. “Devils, Demons, what in hell do you mean? Excuse the pun, but dammit, Evil?” He was right it did sound crazy.

“Yes.” He spoke matter of factly. “Shit I can’t get in any more trouble than I probably already am. There is good and evil. Magic and power that exists outside of the human population.”

“So you’re saying you fight the devil?” I frowned trying to make this sound sane in my head.

“Yes. In a way, we fight his influence here amongst humans.”

“So you are what… angels.”

I chewed my bottom lip, cringing when I bit too hard.

Guardians, Angels, Guardian Angels who fight demons and devils?

“No.” He sighed, his expression sad. “Like I said I don’t know a lot about what we are or what we learn until I learn it. But yes, whatever good there is, I know that is what we are here for, or at least that’s all I’ve been told.”

“You must know what you
are
.” I challenged. He had already provided more tonight than I even realized he knew.

“We are a hybrid, I guess.” His tone cautious, “we are a mix of the divine and the mortal. We have the attributes of both.”

“Shit.” I breathed, feeling chilled, I tore my eyes from his and then my hands. I felt light headed as I made my way to the window where I gazed out into the night beyond.

“Ava.” His voice was pleading, afraid he had given to much.

Staring at the stars I felt very small. Everything that I thought existed, that I thought I
knew
was wrong. There was more, more that we didn’t even see.

“Is there a heaven?” I whispered, my fingers digging into the window sill.

His voice tickled my ear, “I may not know what I really am or my purpose but yes, I believe there is a heaven.”

I turned into his arms, my face only inches from his.

“You don’t seem very interested in this whole training, harnessing power thing?”

“I’m not.” his voice matter-a-fact, “All I want is to be normal, to fit in, to be what you are, to be with you. I don’t want to be different, I don’t want to leave.”

I circled him with my arms, resting my cheek against his chest.

“The problem is,” my voice broke and he hugged me hard, “This is what you are meant for, you can’t escape it, they will find you, Allison made that clear.” I closed my eyes keeping the tears at bay.

“I
will
escape it,” he vowed, “They can’t take me against my will, not now I’ve found you.” his lips pressed hard into my hair, sealing his statement.

“I told you I’ll be here whenever you need me Ava and I won’t break that promise, I’m not going anywhere.”

I couldn’t speak, all I could do was cling to him and hope it was the truth.

I
woke slowly the next morning, feeling every step from sleep to consciousness, remembering snippets of our conversation from the night before as I climbed towards the point of opening my eyes.

“Bad dream?” his silky voice hid a smile, I opened one eye and then the other making sure he was really there.

He was on his knees next to my bed, his face only inches from my own. I couldn’t help but smile, he leaned forward closing the gap between us and kissing me gently on the forehead. Behind him my bedroom door hung wide open, I shot up like a startled horse.

“Where’s Nan and Pop?” I hissed, I couldn’t have them catching Robert in my room. His loud laugh made me jump.

“Huntington for groceries.”

“Oh.” my blood pressure started returning to normal and I leant back against my pillow propping myself up on one elbow.

He cocked his head to one side, looking intently to the distance, I knew this expression well enough by now to know he was listening to someone.

“I just wanted to say good morning,” He said, standing quickly, “and now I better get going before Shawn realizes I’m not getting the horses in like he thinks I am.” he flashed his heart stopping smile at me and before I could speak he disappeared from my room in a flash of color, too fast for my eyes to follow, especially when I had just woken up. I sunk back into my pillow thankful I had nothing to rush out of bed for; I still had a few things to ponder about last night.

Robert didn’t know exactly what he was, he had made that clear, but there was something else he was meant for, and that something included others like him, others like Allison. Thinking of her glares made me huddle further under the quilts, it was clear she didn’t want me anywhere near Robert and who knew what information she would take back to the mysterious ‘elders’.

The thought of him leaving made me feel hollow, the thought of him being meant for someone else, for
anything
else, hurt so much I could barely think of it.

He told me that he wouldn’t go and I believed he meant it. Yet I also believed there were forces much bigger than him at play. He wouldn’t have a choice.

Like every other day since I had arrived I didn’t really have a lot to do and the morning passed quickly in a lazy haze of reading and chatting to Joel on the phone, all the while focusing on not thinking about Roberts future or the evil ‘Unseen’.

It was a typical sweltering day in Huntington, the sun streamed onto the porch warming me where I sat flicking through a magazine, unable to focus on the pages.

There was nothing quite like the silence that comes with a farm, putting it down I stretched my arms out, enjoying the feeling as my muscles pulled and stretched. I was feeling a little wiped out from my late night, both physically and emotionally.

I wondered briefly where Nan and Pop had got too, my grumbling stomach told me it must be past the normal lunching hour and Pop wasn’t one that liked to eat late, he was a creature of habit, having his meals served up at the same time every day. Leaning back in my chair I admired the deep blue cloudless sky, it was the most amazing color, my favorite color, I smirked with an idea.

“What’s my favorite color?” I spoke so quietly I could barely hear myself, and felt more than a little stupid.

I didn’t have to wait long, within five seconds my mobile began to vibrate against the table.

I answered without a greeting,

“I have no idea,” his voice was soft and smooth today, “but now that you ask what is it?”

“Blue,” I couldn’t hide the smile from my voice, “What’s yours?”

“Yellow,” I detected a grin in his answer,

“That’s not the manliest color?” I teased,

“Well it was green before yesterday, until I saw you in that dress.” he laughed and the line went dead.

As I put my phone down I heard a vehicle in the distance, shortly after Pops black pickup appeared between the shed and the stables building site, marking my Grandparents return.

I rushed down the steps to help pull the grocery bags from the bed of the truck, trudging inside after Nan. I began unpacking things, placing items in their allotted cupboards.

“We’re heading into Denver next week,” Nan spoke as she began making sandwiches on the bench.

“Really?”

“It’s the farming field days, they’re held every year.” she smiled grimly,

“Your Pop never misses it, loves seeing all the new seasons machinery and feed plans.”

As if summoned by this conversation the offending farmer strode into the small kitchen.

“Need to keep up with the times Norma, can’t have us still farming like it’s the depression.” he swept two sandwiches off the chopping block and made his way into the lounge to eat.

“What do
you
do there, don’t you find it a bit boring?” I couldn’t imagine Nan putting up with two days of intense conversations about the internal workings of tractors.

“Oh not at all dear, well I do find it boring but all the wives get together and spend the whole time doing different activities in Denver so I look forward to it nearly as much as he does. Sandwich?”

I stepped forward taking one of the sandwiches on offer,

“Thanks, ahhh when exactly is it?”

“We’ll be gone early Saturday afternoon and be back Monday night.”

I felt instantly lonely at the thought of them being away for the entire weekend. I replaced this with the light that came at the prospect of spending those two days alone, but not alone, Robert would be here.

I mused for a minute, perhaps it would be a good idea to tell my Grandparents we were ‘dating’, although dating seemed like the wrong word, I felt as though we were more than that.

Perhaps I would tell them after their trip to Denver. Otherwise they may decide not to leave me alone without suitable supervision.

I grabbed my mobile, and headed towards the river, perhaps a swim would fill in time before Robert finished work and I could see him again.

The swimming hole was its normal sun filled self. Light streamed in, glinting from the water like thousands of tiny diamonds and shining through the hanging branches of the willows that lined either side, dappling the small shore line.

Stripping off quickly, I dove from the bank into the clear cool depths of the slow moving current. I swam slowly to the other side, enjoying the slight pull of the water as I kicked gently towards the opposite bank, the river wasn’t very wide and before long I was under the willows on the other side, the slender braches hanging like a curtain, closing behind me. I held myself against a rock beneath their shade, looking back out through the canopy of hanging leaves to where I had come from.

My breath caught in my throat.

Instinctively I ducked beneath the water, keeping only my nose and eyes above the surface, even though I would have been almost completely obscured by the willows hanging to the water in front of me.

My blood ran instantly cold and I felt goose bumps rise all over my body, I thought of whispering to Robert but stamped that idea out just as fast, if she was like him, as he said she was, then she would hear me too.

Allisons red hair fell thickly over her shoulder, glimmering in fiery sparks of copper and gold as the sun reflected from it.

She gently shifted my clothes with her foot, a thoughtful look on her face. She spun around in a movement so fast it left no doubt in my mind that she and Robert were one in the same. Her green eyes scanned the river bank, her expression more of curiosity then menacing. As her gaze moved slowly towards my hiding place I took a deep breath and sunk below the surface, dropping pin style with my arms and legs pointed towards the depths. My feet eventually hit the stony ground and I began counting slowly trying to keep my thoughts clear, trying to stay under as long as I could. I waited, letting my breath out a little at a time. If her eyesight was as good as Roberts could she see me beneath the water?

I prayed she couldn’t.

My throat was burning but I made myself count out another ten seconds before pushing off from the stony river bed.

Kicking gently towards the surface, my lungs screamed for air, I tried not to break the water with a splash, gulping back a deep breath, oxygen flowed in, making my head spin momentarily. Allison was gone, my things still lay where I had left them. I scanned left to right slowly taking in every detail of the river bank on either side to see if her bright hair was visible. I couldn’t see her, I couldn’t hear anything other than the gentle sound of the river and the birds that rested in its tree lined banks.