Stone Guardian(18)
His jaw tightened as he considered her words. He really didn’t want to agree, she knew that like she knew her name. But this was a deal-breaker.
He must have seen that determination in her face because he exhaled deeply. “Agreed. I will share all knowledge with you. However, if we find ourselves in battle, my words are absolute. You may not question my orders, you will obey.”
“That’s fair.” Larissa rose from the couch, holding her hand out to him. “I think we have a deal then.”
He rose as well, looking at her hand like he had never seen the appendage before. “This is what humans call a ‘handshake’?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” It had been pure reflex to hold out her hand. She hadn’t considered it an unusual motion. Then again, not like she had much experience with any other race. “I wasn’t thinking…”
She started to pull her hand away, but before it moved even an inch downwards Terak engulfed her hand with his.
His skin was warm, callouses and scars marking every inch resting against her palm. Up close his claws were more like mini-curved daggers.
“This is how humans become allies?” His voice had softened, the timber dropping a few registers until it was a rough brush against her spine, and she fought the unexpected shiver, the first of the night that had nothing to do with fear.
“Yes.”
“Then make no mistake, little human. You are under my protection now, and I protect what is mine.”
Chapter Seven
The whoosh of students running past her in the hallways, the slamming of lockers, the girls talking about their hair and clothes and make-up and the boys talking about the girls – all welcome signs of normalcy to Larissa as she made her way to her first class of the morning.
The bell rang moments before she entered the door. “Okay everyone, that was the bell. Settle down and take your seats,” Larissa said as she headed toward her desk, placing her bag on the chair and taking out graded papers and lesson plans.
Juvenile grumbling, paper rustling, and feet shuffling met Larissa’s words in first period History. The mood was not a shiny happy one.
Ah yes, what senior in high school didn’t love being up this early, especially on a Monday morning with only a few weeks until vacation. It was about time to petition for hazard pay.
Larissa handed out papers and accepted homework, answered some questions and shushed Jason Evans after he let out a wolf whistle when she passed. All in all, a normal Monday, making the events of this weekend seem even more surreal.
Necromancers after her? No, no.
A gargoyle protector? What an insane notion.
“Now,” said Larissa, coming to stand in front of the room. “We are going to get into a favorite topic for most. We are going to discuss the Great Collision.”
As expected, a hush fell over the room. No student could keep up the façade of indifference when the topic of the Great Collision came up, reason numero uno she always saved it for Mondays. “Twenty-six years ago, probably the most momentous moment in history outside of the actual creation of life occurred. I’ll let your science teachers explain the theories behind why it happened, parallel dimensions and quarks and neutrons and all that good stuff. That’s not for my discussion here.”
“You trying to tell us you weren’t a science genius, Miss Miller?”
Ah, Jason Evans, star quarterback and all around smart-ass. Class would not be the same if he didn’t inject his too cool for school attitude into her lectures at least once a day. “Science is wonderful, Mr. Evans. I do admit though, I never had quite the head for it. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask Mr. Patel to go into details for you. Anyway, the Great Collision. In layman’s terms…”
“Dummy terms!” Jason interjected.
“Layman’s terms,” Larissa continued on, not bothering to waste breath to engage him. “Our universe is comprised of multiple dimensions, also sometimes called realms. How many is still a question the scientific community is grappling with, but that has no bearing here. What matters for our discussion is two of these realms collided. One realm was very similar to what you see around you every day – skyscrapers, cars, computers, cell phones – but humans were the only sentient race and no magic existed. I’m sure many of your parents have already told you stories about the good old days.”
Groans sounded then, followed by tales of parental misconduct. Larissa let it go for a few moments before bringing attention back to her. “The other realm was a realm of sword and sorcery. Elves and dwarves existed there, as well as countless other races and magical creatures. For simplicity, we have come to label these dimensions the Human Realm and the Magic Realm, though humans did exist in the Magic Realm. The difference is they weren’t the only sentient race.”