The Sentinel (5 page)

My heart was galloping, my mouth was dry.

‘The Putarians have put a bounty on your head and there are many that don’t believe in the end of the world that would be more than happy to collect that bounty.’ He breathed out deeply. ‘And then there are the Reapers, they do living autopsies on anyone with powers. They want to take you apart, see what you’re made of, see what makes you so special. They would do experiments on you, take out your heart, test your brain, all whilst you were still alive. We’ve seen what they’ve done to some of the Donum and the Zeki and…’ He swallowed with a look of sheer disgust. ‘It’s horrific. The thought of them doing that to you makes me sick.’

I could understand, I was feeling sick right now as well. The safe world I had been led to believe in was looking more and more terrifying. Especially as I was now charged with looking after it.

‘Eve, you have to promise me you won’t try to shut us out, we have to protect you. Aside from all the saving the world stuff, aside from how important you are to mankind, you’re far more important to me. I can’t stand the thought of you being harmed in any way.’

I stopped pacing for a moment and looked down at Seth. He looked so vulnerable as he sat there begging me to look after my life, not because of some prophecy but because he couldn’t bear to lose me. I knew I would feel the same about him. I nodded. Now I realised what the Guardians were there for, what would happen to me if they weren’t, I could hardly try to shake them off. I realised how stupid I had been that night. Eli had blatantly saved me from the fire and then I had run from him. I started pacing again. It was so much to get my head around. My brain felt like it was racing with all this new information, like it couldn’t actually keep up. My heart was going so fast now it seemed like one continual buzz rather than separate beats. I took a deep breath to steady myself.

‘So… the Oraculum, what else do they foresee, what kind of things do they predict?’

‘Well lots of things, Eve are you ok?’ He stood up.

I knew I just had to keep walking, just keep asking questions, the more I knew the more I could understand. Right now I hadn’t had a chance to process everything. I was in charge of saving the world. There were lots of people that wanted to kill me. It couldn’t get any worse. Could it?

‘Like what, give me some examples?’ I insisted, my voice high with anxiety.

‘Well I only know of two, the Oraculum don’t actually make their prophecies widely known. I know that you are destined to save the world and at some point I’m going to die to save you.’

He said it so calmly, that it didn’t even register for a second. But my body seemed to catch on before my brain did. All my breath left my lungs and I sat down heavily on the sofa. A wave of cold numbness hit me and my vision closed in as if I was suddenly in a long tunnel.

It had just got a whole lot worse.

5. My Personal Guard

I don’t know how long I had been staring at the floor, trapped in the numb shell of my body, I wasn’t aware of anything. But as my lungs screamed in protest at the lack of oxygen, I took a deep shuddering breath and the outside world came snapping back into focus. I was suddenly aware of the sheer number of angry, loud voices.

‘What the hell were you thinking Seth?’

‘When the Oraculum hear of this you’re going to get in so much trouble.’

‘You had no right.’

‘The secret has been preserved for seventeen years, and you just take it on yourself to break it.’

‘She should have been told ages ago or at least introduced to her personal guard. She didn’t know who Eli was, that was why she ran,’ said Seth.

‘There was hardly time for me to say, ‘Hi, I’m Eli, I’m in charge of your protection, there are people that want to kill you, you need to come with me now.’ I just had to get her out.’

‘And then what? Cover it up with, ‘Oh you banged your head again dear’. She already knew something wasn’t right, Eve’s a smart girl,’ said Seth, angry and defensive.

‘She’s too young.’ That voice was definitely female.

‘She can cope, she’s stronger than you think,’ said Seth.

‘Clearly not, if she’s just gone into shock with the onslaught of too much information.’

Was that what it was? I looked around to see Seth standing in the doorway, with several shadowy figures beyond him outside. How long my Guardians had been there was unclear, but long enough for them to find out what Seth had done.

‘I know it’s a lot for her to take in, but now she understands, she’s better equipped to face her future,’ said Seth. ‘She needed to understand the Guardians, we can’t have her running away from them again, it’s too risky.’

‘Seth is right about that, we came so close tonight, with that policeman. Eli and I both thought he was one of us, we could sense him, we had no idea he was one of the Putarians. It wasn’t until he tried to run her off the road that we realised something was very wrong. We tried to communicate with him, but he closed his mind and then we knew. When the cars stopped by the river, he was in the woods after Eve so fast. Luckily Eli was faster. Ha, by the time I got into the woods, there was just body parts left and Eli was already tearing through the woods after Eve. If she knew what we are trying to do, she wouldn’t have run, we wouldn’t have got so close.’ That voice sounded quite young and very enthusiastic about the killing.

I stood shakily and walked towards them.

‘Exactly, I told her about the Putarians and the Reapers, she understands now. She was ok about it actually. I mean a bit stressed that she was on the most wanted list of so many people but she coped with it. She even took the whole saviour thing in her stride too. I’m telling you Eve’s strong. I know we thought that she wouldn’t be ready for another few years but I think she’s ready now.’

‘You think, you think? I didn’t realise you were in charge, you filthy hybrid.’

A surge of anger swam through me and the lights dimmed, momentarily, silencing the voices outside. As one they all turned to look at me.

‘Hey, you ok?’ Seth reached for my hand and pulled me into his side. I nodded as I looked around at my Guardians. Five of them, four men and one woman. All of them, angry, tense and seemingly poised ready to attack. My eyes settled on the man that had saved me from the fire.

‘Eli?’ I asked, searching his face for anything I remembered from the boy I had last seen ten years ago. His brown hair was longer now, like his hairstyle wasn’t a priority, though according to the magazines the girls in my class read, this ‘not bothered’ hairstyle was very in at the moment. There was something very familiar about him and this pleased me. But his face was harder now. He was so much bigger than I remembered. He towered over me, and everything about him screamed muscles, even his face was muscular. I was relieved though to see a familiar face amongst the other four angry ones.

‘Yeah hi Eve,’ his voice was so soft, not what I had expected from someone so huge.

I turned to face the other Guardians. They all looked so young, maybe a few years older than me, but the way they carried themselves with such poise and wisdom, they seemed so much older than their years. Maybe they were, Seth had said the Guardians stop aging once they reached their strongest, they could be twice my age. It seemed so surreal that these people, these beings, were in charge of my protection. Even more surreal was that I was in charge of theirs too, theirs and the whole world. Surely with such a close bond between us I should be on first name terms with them. But it seemed silly to introduce myself to them; they already knew who I was.

As if reading my mind the woman came up to me. ‘I’m Alexandria, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.’ She shook my hand warmly. She was tall, dark, and carried the willowy look, that I had never managed, perfectly. Her green eyes had a strange feline look to them. She was incredibly beautiful.

One of the other men was suddenly by my side. He was tall as well. The muscles seemed to be a uniform of the Guardians, well the male ones at least. He had blond hair, curly, which was swept back from his face and gathered at his neck, a tanned complexion and the grass green intense eyes that they all seemed to share. ‘I’m Caleb.’

‘Why don’t we just make this situation even worse, so are we just going to go along with this madness now, she shouldn’t know any of this,’ said one of the unnamed men, pacing up and down. I recognised the voice of the man who had called Seth a filthy hybrid. I looked at him with narrowed eyes. He had long waist length dark hair, tied back in a ponytail. He seemed very well dressed. They all did actually. Though I couldn’t help noticing the large sharp knives they all wore at their belts.

‘She knows now Mason, we can’t take it back,’ Caleb said.

‘I’m Lucas,’ the last unnamed man said, he looked younger than the others, he had scruffy blond spiky hair, and seemed very excitable. ‘Just ignore Mason, his allegiance is to the Oraculum,’ he said this so disparagingly but I didn’t understand.

Mason did though; he turned and snarled at Lucas as if he had insulted him. ‘That’s how it should be.’

‘Mason!’ Eli said, a warning edge to his voice. Mason resumed his pacing. Lucas seemed almost amused by him.

I looked around at the Guardians. ‘So… what happened tonight with the fire? What happened to my family, did they get out ok?’

Eli’s eyes flicked to Seth for a second before he spoke. ‘The Putarians, the ones that want you dead, they somehow found out where you live. They attacked your home and started the fire. The Guardians posing as your family are dead.’

Blood pounded in my ears. Would this night ever end? My body trembled with sudden grief.

‘Don’t sugar coat it will you,’ said Seth, wrapping his arm round my shoulders.

‘My family… My Mum and Dad, they weren’t really my parents?’

‘No. They were Guardians.’

This explained so much about my parents. I had never really had an affectionate relationship with them. My Dad, David had been fiercely strict, there had never been any tenderness from him at all. If I was hurt, especially in my training, I was told to toughen up. My Mum, Marie, had tried to give me a loving upbringing, but it never seemed sincere. I would hold her hand and she would let me. When I had nightmares as a child, I would crawl into her bed and cuddle up to her and she wouldn’t send me away. She stuck up for me against my Dad when he was being too strict and that I decided was love. I had decided as a teenager that she must never have been loved growing up which is why she struggled with the concept herself. Being an emotionless Guardian made much more sense. Aunt Jada and Uncle Silas hadn’t been any different.

But this lack of emotion from any of my family didn’t make their deaths any easier to take. They might have been cold, emotionless Guardians, but they were the only family I had ever known. I felt tears fill my eyes.

‘Oh great, now she’s crying,’ snarled Mason.

‘Mason. You can go. You can meet us at the safe house tomorrow. This is a lot for her to take in and you’re not making this any easier,’ Eli commanded.

Mason looked like he was going to argue but at a glare from Eli he marched off down the hill, disappearing through the trees. Eli watched him go then turned back to me.

‘I’m sorry, Eve.’ Eli’s voice was gentle. ‘I know humans have emotional attachments to their family. It’s not something we Guardians are familiar with. If it’s any consolation they died fighting to protect you.’

This was no consolation to me at all. I didn’t want anyone to die for me. Though Mason’s reaction to my tears had dried them up. I wasn’t going to cry here in front of my Guardians, I would wait till I was alone to grieve for my family.

There was silence as Seth stroked my back comfortingly.

‘You were never supposed to find out like this.’ Eli glared at Seth for a moment. ‘However, maybe your best friend telling you is better than a member of the Oraculum who you’ve never met. Maybe Cain thought so to, that’s why he gave Seth use of his house tonight. I’m sure you have loads more questions. For now, we have a safe house we can take you to. It’ll be your new home. We can’t stay here as we aren’t allowed to enter the house and we need to keep you safe now the Putarians are choosing to attack. There will be Guardians outside, front and back and your personal guard will stay in the house with you.’ He gestured to the other Guardians standing with him. ‘Quinn will also be there. I know he wants to talk to you when you get back, but maybe we’ll save that for tomorrow as well.’

Quinn. A shape shifter. I shuddered at the thought of this strange man sleeping on my bed.

‘Quinn loves you,’ Seth said softly. ‘He has spent every night for the past seventeen years watching over you, watching you grow. You know he would never hurt you. He’s the only family you have now.’

I conceded this, reluctantly. Seth was right, as weird as it was that my dog was a man, he had never done anything to hurt me.

‘The car is just on the other side of the trees. Are you ok to walk?’ asked Eli.

I straightened defiantly. I wasn’t going to be carried.

‘Very well then.’

He started walking and I fell in by his side. The other Guardians fell in around me, forming a loose diamond as we walked. Seth grabbed his bike and walked at my other side.

I glanced back at the house as the lights turned off and the door slammed shut. I looked at Seth. ‘Sensors?’

He grinned. ‘Cain has powers too.’

As Seth started his engine, I automatically climbed on behind him. I could see Eli was not happy with this arrangement but he didn’t say anything.

The Guardians got in the car and Seth took off with them following close behind.

‘Are you trying to give Eli a heart attack,’ Seth said. ‘It was a big operation tonight from the Putarians, it wasn’t just a random attack. It was planned. That policeman was in the area because they knew you would have to flee from the house. Eli thinks that the fire wasn’t meant to kill you but to draw you out in the open. There may be more of them.’

I wrapped my arms around him tighter and felt his heart quicken in response. ‘I’m safe with you.’

‘Yes you are, I won’t ever let anything happen to you.’