Guardians: The Girl (The Guardians Series, Book 1)(4)

Ameana looks at me as if she is scanning me, as if she can see inside my body. “She’ll live,” she says dismissively—wait, can she?

Miku takes my hand. “Good, let’s all go back downstairs and talk. I’m guessing you have questions.” Um, one or two.

We all take a seat in the spotless kitchen. It has everything a cook could want, from the top of the line sub-zero refrigerator to the stainless steel eight-burner stove. It looks like no one has ever used it. If they did use it, they were obsessed about cleanliness. To stop myself from hurling all my questions out at them, I occupy myself by counting the tiny flicks of gold embedded in the black marble countertop.

“We don’t have time to play twenty questions. We only have time for one. So make it good,” Ameana instructed.

“What? I can only ask one question? Are you serious?” She looks at me and glares. “Fine” I paused. There is so much I don’t know. I have no idea where to even start. I think for a moment and ask the most important question.

“Did the man in the closet get help? Is he okay?” Miku grins as if she’s just she won the lotto. Rio shares her joy, as does Reese and Jayden. They all look at me strangely. Like I revealed something important but didn’t realize it.

“That’s what you want to know?” Ameana says incredulously.

“Well, there are lots more, but you said I could only ask one,” I say bitterly.

“He’s been taken to the hospital. He’s critical but stable. There’s a good chance he’ll make it.”

“Thank you,” I say curtly, matching her tone.

She gets up to leave the room. As she is almost out the door she says, “Fill her in. Tell her what she needs to know.” And nothing more, I think, reading between the lines. Then she walks out.

I can’t hold it anymore. “Are you angels? Who’s Lucy? Why did she send those guys after me?”

Miku gets up and pours me a glass of water. “Here, you’ll need this.”

I take it from her and drink it. I’m not thirsty, but I have a feeling she won’t take no for an answer. She sits back down and Jay prepares to addresses me. But before he can get started, Rio tells him to hold on. Then out of nowhere he says loudly, “Emmy’s cold, bring her a sweater, please.”

How did he know I was cold? I didn’t make any gestures to indicate being cold, but he’s right. I’ve been getting goose bumps for 10 minutes. I just didn’t want to stop them now that they’re finally talking.

Rio points to something next to me. I follow his gaze. I don’t see anything. He points up and there right above my head, hanging in the air is a rust colored wool sweater. It’s just hanging there in thin air. Miku nudges me to take it, and so I do.

Then she shouts towards the entry way, “Thanks Mina.”

“Wait, how did she—”

“She can move objects and people. Cool, huh?” Miku explains.

If I ever did drugs, I would stop today. But since I’ve never done them, I can’t explain what has just taken place in the past few hours.

“Miku, please! What’s going on?” I beg.

Jay comes to my rescue. His voice is steady, but he seems very far away.

“In the beginning there was the creator; the highest measure of good. Over time, this entity has been given many different names. But its original name was Omnis, which is Latin for All. Omnis created nature and with it, a law that no one element can exist without an opposing element. This is known as the law of opposites. This concept encompasses all things, except for Omnis himself.

“Omnis then created humanity. Everything had been perfect. So perfect, in fact, that humanity began to doubt the need for Omnis, and, over time, their connection to him all but disappeared.

“Omnis concluded that, like nature, humanity needed the law of opposites to keep it balanced. If humanity never felt despair, it could not seek out the hope he provided. If they never experienced sickness, they would not marvel at the grace of good health.

“And after seeing how wasteful humans were with the life he had given them, he knew that the only way for them to appreciate their own existence was to make it ephemeral. But because he loved humanity far more than anything he had ever created, it was difficult for him to be objective.

“So he created a council of impartial judges that would look at the complicated design of humanity and do what was necessary to keep it in balance. Omnis created three council members: Death, Time and Fate. Although the council honors and respects him, it operates independent of Omnis, to assure that balance is maintained.

“In addition to the council, Omnis decided he needed the opposite energy of himself. He is grace, forgiveness and goodness, so he wanted a force filled with rage, bitterness and evil. This force of evil would serve as an incentive for humanity to strive to be good and follow in the path that led to Omnis’ welcoming arms, or they would suffer at the hands of evil.

“He called on his favorite and most cherished angel, Atourum, and told him what he needed done. The angel readily offered to serve, but Omnis cautioned that in order to become the personification of evil, there had to be hate in one’s heart. Not just for humans but for Omnis himself. But Atourum could never imagine hating his creator.

“Omnis explained, ‘The only way for them to believe in me, Atourum, is for them to believe in you. Go, be merciless. Be savage and cruel. All the world will say your name with fear and contempt. Then, and only then, will they seek out salvation from me.’ Atourum bowed to his master and vowed to do as told.

“In order to become evil, Omnis sent Atourum to Earth several times for him to witness firsthand the flaws of man. Each trip to Earth made Atourum more and more susceptible to human influence and less connected to Omnis. The more affected Atourum was by humanity’s shortcomings, the harder it was to get back into heaven. Eventually Atourum gave in to the savage ways of man and committed murder. This caused Omnis to ban him from heaven forever.

“Atourum said to Omnis ‘I am now your opposing force, just as you wanted. Humanity will recognize your light by measuring it against my darkness. You take souls and put them in your mansion in the light. But humans will not appreciate this gift until you create an opposing space to the light. The only way to measure the beauty of your house is to measure it against the horror of mine.’ And so it was Atourum was granted Ren, meaning ‘house of fire.’

“They also came to an arrangement: Omnis would take all children and Atourum would take all the adults who had committed unspeakable acts. But they could not agree on who would get the souls that died as teenagers, souls that had yet to choose either the path of darkness or the path of light.

“They left it up to the council. The council decided to put souls that died between the ages of 13 and 19 on a bridge. The bridge is halfway between the light and the House of Fire. The souls would linger there until they choose the path to which they felt more connected. They would not know which is which. They would only follow the path that felt right to them.

“Neither side was allowed to guide the souls; they had to find their own way. It was called ‘The Walk.’ Each soul lingers for as long as it is undecided and then once it accepted either the light or the dark, it would go in that direction.

“Omnis and Atourum were each allowed to choose six souls from the bridge to be Watchers. A Watcher’s job is to keep an eye on the bridge and ensure that neither side intervenes in ‘The Walk.’

“Omnis chose six of the purist souls. He called them “The Guardians.” Atourum chose six of the darkest souls on the bridge and named them “Akon” meaning “chaos.”

“There were only two rules both sides had to abide by: neither side could tell a soul which way to go, and neither Omnis nor Atourum could know the location of the bridge.

“Centuries passed, the bridge would fill up, and the souls would take ‘The Walk’ and go on into the light or the darkness. Each time the bridge was empty, The Guardians and Akons would go to the light or to Ren and be promoted.

“On the first cycle of the bridge, the soul chosen to be first Guardian was a soul named Julian. He watched vigilantly and made sure that nothing interfered with ‘The Walk.’ All the souls were left to choose their own path.

“One day he took notice of a soul on the bridge that seemed to be having more trouble than the rest. It seems this soul wanted to follow the light but was drawn to the darkness. Julian watched it waver back and forth. It couldn’t decide which path to follow.

“Julian talked to the soul. Her name was Femi. She lived in a small village in Nigeria. Her whole family was killed when her village was raided. She was subsequently beaten to death for standing up to the men who did it.

“She told him that she was drawn to the darkness because of what it offered her: power, strength, and control. Since her life on Earth had lacked those things, she ached to have them. The other side offered her peace, happiness and hope, but she had seen those things on Earth and they were easily taken away.

“When Julian was on the bridge just as a soul, it never appealed to him to follow any direction but the light. But as he talked to Femi, he began to understand her and sympathize with her dilemma.