The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga (15 page)

After she was done packing her backpack, Avery
joyfully took off her disheveled clothes and threw them in the
hamper of dirty clothes that would never be washed. She threw on a
pair of black skinny jeans, lacing her boots up over her jeans, and
a black plaid flannel shirt. Avery reached into her closet and
pulled out her black duffel bag and began filling it with jean,
shirts, undergarments, socks, and jackets. She figured she probably
had clothes back on Orcatia, but if her style had been anything
like what she saw the other villagers wearing, she was definitely
bringing her own Earth clothes with her.

Before Avery tried to pack everything she owned into
her bags she decided it was time to leave. She threw her backpack
on, grabbed her duffel and hurried out of her room. Avery was out
the door with the lights turned off in a matter of seconds, making
sure she didn’t turn around and take a final look. She wasn’t sure
she would be able to leave it if she did. Luckily, her phone going
off in her right back pocket gave her a reason not to think about
it.

“Hello?” Avery answered her phone.

“Hey, it’s Skylar.” The voice on the other end
said.

“You’re back!” Avery said excitedly, curious as to
how Skylar and the others had taken the trip to Orcatia, “How are
you? How did everything go?”

Skylar took a long sigh, “Well, when you told us you
had a surprise for us, you really weren’t kidding.”

Avery couldn’t think of anything to say to that, so
when she didn’t, Skylar continued, “Basically, Sasha argued and
bitched until Gumptin told her if she didn’t come back and help
he’d have the Elementals undo the whole life spell on her.”

Avery wasn’t really sure if Gumptin would or even
could do that, but she thought it a brilliant strategy for handling
Sasha.

“Of course,” Skylar said, “Sasha started to feel a
little bit better about the whole thing when I told her she’d
definitely be the hottest chick on Orcatia…total lie by the way.
Plus,” a lightness entered Skylar’s voice, “being a Protector is
kind of like winning a huge popularity contest. Bunny was basically
quiet the whole time. You know her, introverted.”

Listening to Skylar, Avery thanked her lucky stars
that she didn’t have to be there to deal with all of that.

“Skylar,” Avery said, “you’re awesome.”

Skylar laughed, “I know, but you’re not so bad
yourself. Anyway, I just called to tell you we’re all back and
should, I repeat
should
, be ready to leave in an hour.
Gumptin told us to go on through and he‘ll be waiting for us on the
other side.”

That surprised Avery, “Wow, he’s actually throwing a
little trust our way.”

Skylar grunted, “I think it more had to do with him
being sick of dealing with Sasha than actually trusting us.”

That caused Avery to laugh, thinking it was most
likely true, “I’ll see you in an hour.” Avery told Skylar.

“I’ll be ready for one wild ride.” Skylar said, “See
ya then.”

Avery hung up and pocketed her phone, knowing that
she wouldn’t be able to use it where she was going, but wanting to
keep it anyway as a sort of security blanket.

When Avery walked outside she saw that her parents
had already loaded up most of their stuff into the family’s red
van. Just as Avery had suspected, Cinder was going on about how it
was impossible for her to be expected to load her life’s
collectibles into one small bag.

Walking to the back of the van to pack her luggage,
Avery saw Justice, King, and Bailey already loaded into the back
seat next to Cinder’s crated white Persian cat Romeo. Avery loaded
her bags around the menagerie of pets and hoped that nothing would
get crushed or destroyed by furry butts and paws.

The drive to the park was a silent one, with each
member of the Kimball family lost in their own thoughts. All except
for dogs and cat whose barks, whines, and meows provided Avery with
a much wanted distraction.

As Avery’s dad parked their van up against the curb
at the park, Avery saw that Jade and her family had already
arrived. They were standing in silence over by the Ora Gateway. It
wasn’t uncommon for the Kai’s to not talk to each other. Their
trailer had seen a lot of silent nights. Of course, there were just
as many nights yelling at each other. The fact was that Jade’s
parents just didn’t know how to deal with their daughter’s wild
ways. Now that the truth was known about who they really were,
Avery figured Jade’s parents probably saw their daughter heading
down the same dangerous and reckless path that led to her death,
even if she was on a different planet.

Avery unpacked her stuff and walked over to Jade. She
nodded to Jade’s parents who nodded politely back. Avery had always
felt a slight resentment coming from Jade’s parents. She thought it
had been because they resented Jade spending so much time with
Avery and her family when she barely saw them. Now, however, Avery
thought it might have something to do with her leading their
daughter down that path to death on Orcatia. Maybe it was a
combination of the two. Either way, Avery just smiled politely and
then pulled their daughter away so that they could talk out of
earshot.

“So, how’d it go?” Avery asked Jade.

Jade shrugged, seeming agitated, “When I got home
they had already packed my stuff.”

Avery shook her head; she couldn’t see what the big
deal was.

Jade continued, exasperated that she had to explain
it any further, “Avery, my mother and I barely exchange glances,
let alone a fashion sense. I had to unpack everything, re-pack, and
all the while listen to my parents go on about how I better be more
careful this time because their hearts couldn’t take losing their
only daughter again.”

Avery let Jade act like it had irritated her, but she
knew that deep down Jade had really been touched by her parents
concern. Jade may act like she didn’t care, but Avery had been on
to her act since they were five. Secretly, all Jade wanted was
acceptance and love, and she desperately craved it from her
parents. Avery suspected that was why Jade always acted out so
much.

A car door slammed catching Avery’s attention and
signifying Skylar’s arrival. Skylar, Skylar’s mother, and their
small black Cocker Spaniel, Shalom, all piled out of Skylar’s tiny
Beetle.

Next, Sasha and her parents arrived, along with
Sasha’s younger brother Shawn. Shawn was only ten years old and in
the same position as Cinder. He had never had a life on Orcatia and
was now being forced to go there, and as far as Avery could see he
didn’t look happy about that fact at all. Oh, well, Avery had her
own sister to worry about; she would let Sasha and her parents deal
with Shawn.

Twenty minutes had passed since Sasha and her family
had arrived, and there was still no sign of Bunny and her mom.

The girls and their families had all piled around the
gateway, some sitting, some standing. Avery sat on the ground with
Jade and Skylar, listening silently to their parents talking a few
feet away. They talked mainly of superficial things, what kind of
food they had missed living on Earth, and what kind of foods they
were going to miss now that they were going back, how they would
assimilate back into their old jobs, about certain villagers they
were looking forward to seeing again, Avery recognized the name
Mrs. Bott and Thomas, but that was it. Every now and then the
parents would quiet their voices to barely a whisper and Avery
would have to strain to hear them. She missed most of it, but she
picked up the word Emperor and Elementals, and she was pretty
certain she heard Sasha’s mother say something about praying things
go differently this time.

“Do you think she skipped town?” Jade asked Avery,
pulling her away from eavesdropping any further.

Avery knew Jade was talking about Bunny, she just
didn’t know if Jade was joking or being serious.

“She’ll be here.” Avery told Jade. Jade’s opinion of
Bunny wasn’t always the best and Avery didn’t want to say or do
anything to stoke that fire.

Bunny’s mother’s blue four door sedan rounded the
curve of the park and Avery breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment
she had wondered if Bunny really had become overwhelmed and decided
to runaway.

A few of the parents walked over to help them with
their baggage. Avery noticed that although Ms. Claiborne didn’t
seem particularly overjoyed, there was a certain excited glow in
her eyes, which for her, was more emotion than Avery had ever
remembered seeing.

Ms. Claiborne volunteered Avery and Jade to assist in
carrying Bunny’s large flower printed suitcases over to the
gateway, leaving Bunny lagging behind them having to carry only her
small purse. By the time they had lugged the heavy suitcases the
few hundred feet over to the gateway, Avery was sure Jade was going
to use one of the flowered bags to beat Bunny and her mother to
death with, but she behaved herself as well as she could, instead
throwing their luggage hard onto the ground. Avery could tell she
was disappointed when it didn’t burst open scattering Bunny’s
possessions all over the dirt.

“Well, now that we’re all here,” Jade said, throwing
a sideways glance towards Bunny, “maybe we should get this parade
started.”

They all agreed, although reluctantly. It seemed as
if no one was especially ecstatic about going back. The Protectors
were enlisting into a life of duty they had no memory of, and their
parents were going back to a planet where their children risked
their lives every single day. Still, they all knew it had to be
done.

Avery nervously stepped up to the gateway. She had
only ever seen Gumptin open the gateway before and had never
actually tried it herself. Avery had to admit, she was excited. It
wasn’t every day a person got to open up an intergalactic
gateway.

“Ora Gateway!” Avery shouted louder than she probably
needed to, just to be sure. It earned her a snigger from Sasha that
she quickly ignored.

Just as it had for Gumptin, the Ora Gateway swirled
and opened for Avery. Avery knew it wouldn’t have mattered who said
it, but she felt a great sense of accomplishment, none the
less.

Family by family, they took their turns going through
the gateway. The animals posed a small problem, but after some
coaxing and a lot of pushing the dogs went through. Cinder insisted
jumping in carrying her crated cat Romeo, and Avery just hoped the
gateway was smart enough to make sure her sister landed on Orcatia
intact, without any new cat parts.

Finally, it was just Avery, her father, and Jade left
standing on Earth. Jade had stayed back when her parents went
through, wanting to wait for Avery.

“You go ahead dad. We’ll be right behind you.” Avery
told her father, knowing he had intended to be the last person
through, just to make sure everyone went in safely, but Avery
wanted a moment alone to say goodbye to Redemption, “It’ll be
fine.”

“Alright, but you two hurry up.” He told Avery and
Jade before jumping into the gateway himself.

Avery grabbed a hold of Jade’s hand and smiled up at
her. She was so glad it was the two of them standing alone together
on Earth for the last time, in Avery had no idea how long. There
were so many things she wanted to say to Jade. She wanted to thank
her for always being there for her and looking out for her. She
wanted to tell her that knowing Jade was going to Orcatia with her
made everything less painful, but all she could manage to say, was,
“You go on now, too. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Fine,” Jade sighed, sensing Avery wanted to be alone
before she hopped in, “but don’t bum around, because I’m not going
to wait for you.”

Avery laughed at the ridiculousness of Jade saying
something like that to her, “Yes, you will.” She said.

Jade sighed harder, “You’re right, so don’t dawdle.
You know how much I hate waiting.”

Just before Jade stepped her foot into the liquid,
she stopped and turned around, “Avery,” she said, becoming serious
all of a sudden, “for what it’s worth…this world was only ever
temporary. Maybe if you think of it like that, it won’t hurt so
much.”

Avery pursed her lips and looked away, again fighting
back the tears that had been so dangerously close to escaping. She
put on her best fake smile and motioned for Jade to hurry up and
get going. Avery watched Jade go into the watery gateway. She knew
she couldn’t take too long, everyone was waiting for her back on
Orcatia.

To the west the sun was setting, causing the sky to
dance in flames of oranges and cool purples, casting a husky glow
on everything around her. Avery tried to take a mental picture of
the place she considered home. She gazed across the park to Main
Street, to the subdivision of houses beyond that, and then to her
beloved desert which seemed to stretch out forever beyond the
borders of the town. Her eyes took in everything, the fiery sky,
the vast mountains, and the lush park. Avery shut her eyes and
reveled in the fact that she could still see the images burned
inside her mind.

As Avery said her silent goodbye’s to Earth, all the
emotions that had been racing around inside of her throughout the
day, everything that she had kept pushing down, and the feelings
she had pushed away, came rushing to the surface. For the first
time that day, after everything she had been through, she began to
cry. Avery wiped at the salty tears streaming down her cheeks; she
would be damned if she landed on Orcatia with a blotchy face and
bloodshot eyes and everyone staring at her. Once she was sure her
face was sufficiently dry and semi blotch free, Avery turned to
step into the gateway.

When she approached closer to the gateway, Avery saw
something that seemed to be floating inside the liquid, but she
couldn’t quite make out what it was. All she could see was a small
red glow. Avery moved closer to the gateway until her nose was
almost touching the swirling substance. She stared intently as the
red glow started to take shape, becoming clearer and darker, until
the red had turned into an almost black color. Finally, she saw
what it was, clear and unmistakable, two black snake-like eyes
looking directly at her.