The Realm Protectors

Chapter 43 - Carter

"Nile, it would be a lot easier to pack up that stuff if you took it apart, honey." Enya laughs from her spot on the couch. Nile is attempting to pack up his board of evidence while keeping all of his colorful pieces of string attached to each piece. Everyone else is having fun watching him painstakingly remove each piece of paper and tape. Faris and I are leaning against the wall. Avani and Nikolina are sitting in two chairs facing the couch, playing some type of card game. They've been there for a few hours now –Lyra started braiding Avani's hair for her into some complicated hairdo. Enya is sitting on the back of the couch, her bright red boots on the cushions. Ciana is sitting on the couch next to Enya's feet, carefully stacking Nile's papers in a box. Her eyes skim each one, causing her to frown in thought.

"I just don't get it." Ciana sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "If they want to speed up this whole 'ultimate destruction' process, why don't they just attack the gateways back-to-back?"

Enya shrugs. "Maybe they have to do more surveillance to make sure their plans will work."

"Maybe Gray has to recharge," Avani suggests. "I'm sure it must be hard work to destroy a gateway."

"It is actually not," Lyra says, her hands working crazy fast through Avani's thick locks. "Gateways are very unstable, as I have always said. It is practically a black hole in a fancy disguise. That is how our magic of tunneling works. Black holes are very much like a temperamental child. All you have to do is strike the right nerve and boom." Avani makes a bomb noise to accentuate her friend's point, laying a card down on the stack between her and Nikolina. Nik groans and throws down her hand.

"Maybe there's another motive behind it that we're not seeing," Faris suggests.

"Besides the whole 'tearing our worlds apart thing?'" I laugh. "I'm not sure there's more behind it than that."

"Everything is so precisely scheduled, though." Ciana huffs as she lays another piece of paper in the box. She scrunches up her face and Faris' eyes flick to the motion, his neck and ears going pink. I chuckle, smirking at him and bumping Faris' shoulder.

Nile turns around and hands Ciana another stack of papers to put in the box. "I think they're trying to make it seem like we can't keep up with them."

"I think you're right," Tucker says from his spot in the corner. "They're trying to make you seem like the kids you are." He's been quiet this entire week, staying around us at a distance, always keeping an eye on our backs.

"We're not kids though," Avani huffs.

"Compared to the High Arches of the past, you guys are very much kids." Tucker snorts in response. "Normally High Arches are trained for a decade before assuming the position, usually somewhere in their forties or even fifties. None of you have even graduated yet. Nile's the only one who's even eighteen."

"I turn eighteen in two months," Enya sighs. "But you're right. They're trying to make us look small and weak. We need to find some way to show everyone that we're not."

"Well, this is a start," Ciana says, looking at one of the pieces of paper Nile handed her. She reads aloud, "'Arch Stellato single-handedly saves Cielo.' Where did you get this, Nile?"

"It was in the paper this morning." Nile shrugs. "If it was published here, I'm sure it's not long before the news spreads everywhere else. Elementals aren't normally strong enough to carry the weight of an entire city by themselves." He nods proudly at Faris, who smiles in response.

"Just keep doing what you're doing kids." Tucker sighs, leaning back against the wall. "But just be careful, because I'm sure it won't be long before the other shoe drops."