The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga (8 page)

“Are you insane?!” Avery shouted into Gumptin’s face.
She was breathing heavy, more from the shock of being attacked with
a knife than from exertion. “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted some
creepy fantasy creature! You tried to kill me!”

Gumptin lay on the ground calmly, not trying to
struggle away from Avery or the knife she was holding at his
throat.

“I was not trying to kill you.” He told her, “I
simply wanted to show you what you are capable of.”

Avery looked down at Gumptin, puzzled, minutely
easing the knife away from his throat.

“I wanted to show you that you are truly a
Protector.” Gumptin continued, “All of the powers and abilities
that the Protectors possess are inside of you, a little dormant
perhaps, but they are there. I knew that in a fight or flight
situation you will always choose fight, it is who you are, and
instinctually you would use your skills.”

What Gumptin was saying wasn’t making Avery feel much
better, “So, you’re saying you were testing me…with a
knife
!”

“Oh, for Wizarding sake, girl,” now Gumptin did
struggle a little to free himself, but Avery kept him firmly
cemented to the ground, “I was not testing you, I was showing you!
Look at what you did! In just a few seconds you were able to disarm
me, throw me to the ground, and take advantage of the situation.
Now, get off of me!”

It was then that everything that had just transpired
hit Avery like a lightning bolt. She had no idea how she had done
what she did. She didn’t even really remember seeing Gumptin come
at her with the knife; her body had just reacted. Avery had to
admit to herself that being able to whip Gumptin’s little ass was
pretty cool.

“Get off!” Gumptin huffed for the second time, below
her.

Avery obeyed and released him, but as he stuck his
hand out for her to give him his knife back, Avery threw it to the
ground. Gumptin may have just been trying to show Avery she had
warrior instincts, but he had still lunged at her with a knife, and
that wasn’t something she was entirely grateful for.

Avery sat back down on the bench; thinking about her
newly discovered fighting skills. Gumptin picked up his knife from
the ground, placed it back into his belt, and walked over to
her.

He placed his little hand on her shoulder, “You are
the leader of the Protectors Avery. The Protectors are five beings
created by the Elementals, a powerful group of sorcerers. You were
created to keep the balance between good and evil. Before you and
the others were born, darkness was taking over, becoming too strong
for most of us to fight back. Demons, trolls, harpies, were beasts,
and other horrendous creatures began to roam this world
unchallenged, but then the Protectors were born and things
changed.”

Avery placed her head in her hands. Gumptin talking
about Demons and trolls made her want to go back home to Earth and
sleep away this whole experience.

Gumptin sat down beside her, his hand still resting
on her shoulder, trying to comfort her, “The Protectors have the
power of the elements. You have the power of energy, another has
water, another earth, one fire, and one wind. You can harness the
power of your energy and use it as a weapon.”

Avery looked up at Gumptin, “You mean I actually have
power
, power, not just strength and all that fighting
stuff.”

Gumptin shook his head, “Well, that fighting
stuff
is important,” he scowled, “but yes, you do actually
have powers. Of course, none of you ever really learned to use them
very well, just tiny things. I am afraid they will likely remain
dormant until the day you die.” Gumptin caught himself, “Well, you
know, die…again.”

Avery thought that was one of the dumbest things
she’d ever heard, “What’s the point in having powers if you can’t
even use them!” She asked.

“Avery, you are just a human, remember.” Gumptin told
her, “None but the Elementals fully comprehend the complexities of
your powers, but from what I understand; it takes complete mastery
of one’s own body, mind, and emotions to even begin to know how to
use a power like yours.” He paused for a moment, as if thinking
about something, and then said, “If it makes you feel any better, I
once saw you zap a troll with a small bolt of electricity, and it
left a very nasty burn mark on his face.”

Avery stared at Gumptin like he had just eaten a fly.
She couldn’t believe he was so remarkably bad at making a person
feel better.

“Anyway,” Gumptin went on, not seeming to notice
Avery’s dissatisfaction, “this world needs the Protectors. The
Elementals know that; that is why they brought you back after the
Emperor killed you all.”

Avery wished Gumptin would stop bringing up the being
killed thing; especially if he was trying to set her at ease,
because that wasn’t going to work.

Taking another tactic, Gumptin said to Avery, “The
Elementals sent your parents to Earth with your souls so that you
could be re-born. They were given jobs and a place to live, unable
to age until they could come home to Orcatia. They were forced to
live sixteen years on a planet that was not their home, keeping
their secret, especially from you, just so that you could be kept
safe and alive.”

Up until this point, Avery had never even thought
about her parents; which, looking back, she actually found rather
dumb. She couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that her parents
had known about the whole Protector, being from another planet,
thing for her entire life and said absolutely nothing. Her parents
had never really talked about their past, but Avery had just always
figured it was because it wasn’t very interesting, how wrong she
was. She had never even questioned the fact that they looked the
same now as they did in old baby pictures with her. All of a
sudden, Avery felt very blind and stupid.

“Gumptin, if my parent’s didn’t age on Earth and I
did, does that mean that I won’t age on Orcatia?” Avery had this
image of her looking like she was sixteen forever, and she wasn’t
quite sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“No, you were born on Earth, so you are part
Earthling now. Earthlings age and die no matter what planet they
are on. You shall age at a normal rate on both Orcatia and Earth.”
Gumptin told her.

Typical Gumptin answer, Avery thought, full of
certain death. Then, another thought popped into her mind,
“Gumptin, what about my sister?”

Gumptin looked surprised, “You have a sister?” He
asked.

Avery nodded her head, “Yeah, and she’s younger than
me, which means she was never even born on Orcatia…
ever
.
What does that mean for her?”

“Nothing,” Gumptin said, still looking surprised by
the knowledge that Avery had a younger sister, “like I said
Earthlings age wherever they are. She will have the same manner of
life here as she does there.”

Avery snorted; she knew that wasn’t even remotely
possible.

“I can’t believe my parents never said anything to
me.” Avery grumbled as she ran her fingers through her long hair,
attempting to collect herself and her thoughts.

“You know they could not.” Gumptin told her softly,
“They could not risk anyone or anything finding out. Plus,” he
added, almost absentmindedly, “you truly needed to be given a
normal life.”

That was one of the problems Avery was struggling
with; all she knew was a normal life, and it wasn’t a bad life.
Now, here was Gumptin, the Wizard gnome, telling her that she’d
have to leave everything she knew, to become the warrior she didn’t
remember being, to fight the thing that had apparently already
killed her once before. She wished her parents could have at least
prepared her to accept the fact that her cozy little life was just
temporary.

Avery wiped at her eyes, making sure to stop the
tears before they had a chance to spring out. She didn’t know
Gumptin well enough yet to allow herself to cry in front of
him,

“Gumptin,” Avery said, her voice slightly strained,
“I don’t remember
anything
.”

“I really do not believe you shall ever get your
memory back.” Gumptin shook his head, “It was one of the prices for
bringing you back to life.”

Even though, Avery was acutely aware Gumptin said
one
of the prices, she decided it was best not to bring that
up at the moment. She decided to ask him about it later when her
head stopped spinning.

“But, now,” Gumptin said, standing up, “we must go
back to Earth and fetch the other Protectors.”

Gumptin walked through the village entrance and back
onto the main road, headed back towards the Gateway.

“Wait a second!” Avery shouted, running to catch up
with him, “You still haven’t told me who the other Protectors
are.”

Gumptin stopped mid-stride, “Have I not?” He asked
Avery, and she shook her head, no.

“Well, that is because I figured you would have
already guessed it.” He told her, “They are Jade Kai, Skylar Bavol,
Sasha Seraphina, and Bunny Claiborne.”

Of course, Avery thought as realization hit her like
a lightning bolt. That was why their parents were always forcing
them together, always making sure they did things as a group. From
before they could speak, their parents had been preparing them to
be a unit.

The thought of Sasha flashed into Avery’s mind, and
the idea of being the leader didn’t seem so daunting anymore;
because, if there was one thing Avery had longed to do all her
life, it was to boss around Sasha Seraphina.

Avery’s mind then began to drift towards another
girl, “Hey, Gumptin,” She told him, “when we get back to Earth I
know who we’re going to go tell first.”

“No!” Was all Gumptin said, and he picked up his
pace.

“What?!” Avery asked, wondering why she had been so
easily shot down, “Why?”

“Because I know who you are referring to,” Gumptin
told Avery, “and I am not going to deal with her until the very
last moment that I have to.”

Avery raised her arms in frustration, “How could you
possibly know who I’m referring to?! I’m just telling you that I
know which Protector I want to tell first.”

“And I am telling you no, no, no, no!” Gumptin picked
up his pace even more so that he was almost at a run.

Avery watched him scurrying away down the road and
let a huge smile break out on her face. She would let Gumptin
protest as much as he wanted and act as childish as he wanted. All
the while, she would revel in the knowledge that she and her car
were going to be Gumptin’s only mode of transportation back on
Earth.

3.

Jade Kai lived in the Rebel Moon Trailer Park,
located on the far outskirts of town. It was a short fifteen minute
drive through desert landscape down a two lane highway before Avery
and Gumptin would reach the turn-off for the trailer park, marked
by its old beat up blue and yellow sign, which hadn’t been updated
since the sixties, standing large and tall, guiding people to the
entrance.

Avery rolled down the window of her old Challenger to
let the desert wind blow warm on her face. Going through the Ora
Gateway was bad enough once, but going through twice had left
Avery’s stomach flip-flopping and her head thumping painfully.

It hadn’t taken Avery too much convincing to get
Gumptin to agree to go see Jade first. He had caught on quickly to
what Avery had already known; that if Gumptin was going to go
anywhere it was going to be in Avery’s car with her driving.

Gumptin sat in the passenger seat, staring out the
window the whole way to Jade’s place. Avery could tell he was
fascinated with the scenery, the flat desert, the cacti, the craggy
looming mountains in the background.

“The deserts on Orcatia are not like the deserts
here. They are really quite lovely.” Gumptin told Avery, still
looking out his window, and a pang of remorse sliced through
Avery’s heart. She didn’t want to have to think about leaving
Redemption.

“We’re here.” Avery said, turning into the dusty
entrance of the trailer park, thankful to be able to put her mind
on something else.

Jade’s dad worked as a mechanic at the only auto
repair shop in town and her mom as a clerk at the twenty-four hour
grocery store. They both worked long hours, which meant Jade was
alone most of the time. That time she spent either restoring
motorcycles, listening to classic rock, or hanging out with Avery
and her family. In fact, Jade spent more time over at Avery’s house
than she did at her own. It had been that way ever since they were
first forced together as children. They had become inseparable,
seeing each other almost every day for the past sixteen years. They
considered each other, not only as best friends, but also
sisters.

Avery knew the one person that she could count on was
Jade. Jade had looked out for Avery her whole life. When they were
little, she had beat down any bully who had ever tried to start
anything with Avery. In second grade, Jade had given Alex Marquez a
bloody nose for stealing Avery’s lunch box. Then, in the sixth
grade she ended up giving Megan Dominguez a black eye for creaming
Avery in the face with a dodge ball during gym class. This was a
habit that had continued throughout their entire school years. The
latest victim was Camilla Roberts who Jade had caught kissing
Avery’s ex-boyfriend before he was officially ex. As for the
ex-boyfriend, Alex Marquez, he ended up with another, much worse,
bloody nose.

They were protective of each other, but Jade had a
tendency to get over-protective. This was the reason, as Avery
stopped her car in front of Jade’s rusty blue trailer that her
nerves began to dance inside her stomach. Avery knew she had to
tell Jade everything, but she wasn’t quite sure how Jade was going
to react when she found out Avery had followed a magical gnome to
another planet without even talking it over with her first.