Celestial Guardians: Uniting Dimensions (Celestial Guardians Series, #1)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Nel's POV

I walked ahead of Kevin and Jamaica, my mind whirring like a machine on overdrive. Damien's cryptic warning looped in my head, each word chiseling into my thoughts.

The Destroyer knows you've awakened, Jamaica!

A shiver prickled down my spine. Damien was irritating, sure, but he didn't seem like the lying type—at least not about something this serious.

As we rounded the corner to the courtyard, Kevin caught up, his face hard with frustration. "I don't trust him," he muttered.

"Join the club," I replied, keeping my eyes on the path ahead.

"But he's right about one thing," Jamaica said, her voice quieter than usual. "We can't pretend this isn't happening. If the Destroyer is targeting more people, we need to act."

Her words hit me harder than I expected. I slowed my pace, letting Kevin and Jamaica move ahead. It wasn't like me to hesitate, but this time felt different.

The weight of responsibility pressed down on my shoulders, heavier than I was used to. Protecting Jamaica wasn't just some duty I'd been born into—it was personal now. She wasn't just the savior of humanity; she was my friend.

And maybe more than that, a voice in my head whispered.

I shook the thought away. Now wasn't the time for distractions.

The courtyard was bustling with students, their laughter and chatter contrasting with the turmoil boiling inside me. I scanned the crowd, my gaze snagging on a familiar figure near the fountain.

Maggie.

She stood out in a sea of faces, her auburn hair catching the sunlight like flames. She was smiling, talking animatedly to a group of students, utterly oblivious to the storm brewing just a few steps away.

A pang of guilt tugged at my chest. I hadn't told her anything about what was going on—not about Jamaica, Kevin, or the Destroyer. She didn't deserve to be dragged into this mess.

But keeping her in the dark felt just as wrong.

Before I could wrestle with the thought any longer, Jamaica's voice pulled me back to the present. "Nel?"

I blinked, realizing she and Kevin had stopped a few steps ahead, watching me with concern.

"You okay?" Kevin asked, his tone softer than usual.

"Yeah," I said quickly, forcing a small smile. "Just... thinking."

Jamaica didn't look convinced, but she let it slide. "We need to figure out our next move," she said, glancing around the courtyard as if expecting Damien to materialize out of thin air.

"First move is obvious," Kevin said, crossing his arms. "We find out more about this Destroyer guy. If he's targeting people close to us, we must know who's at risk."

"And how do you propose we do that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's not like he will hand us a list."

Kevin smirked, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Leave that part to me."

Jamaica looked between us, her expression unreadable. Then she nodded, her shoulders squaring with determination. "Fine. But whatever we do, we stick together. No more going off on our own."

I opened my mouth to argue but stopped myself. She was right. We couldn't afford to be reckless—not anymore.

"Agreed," I said finally.

Kevin nodded as well, though his jaw tightened slightly. He wasn't used to taking orders, least of all from Jamaica.

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. The courtyard erupted into motion, students scattering like leaves in the wind.

As we headed back inside, I couldn't shake the feeling that Damien's warning was only the tip of the iceberg. The Destroyer was out there, watching, waiting. And if we weren't ready, he wouldn't just destroy us—he'd ruin everything we cared about.

But if he thought we were going down without a fight, he had another thing coming.

The hallways were crowded, a stream of chatter and footsteps echoing off the walls. I kept my head down, letting the flow of students carry me toward class. Jamaica and Kevin were just ahead, but I lagged, my thoughts stuck in a loop.

Damien's words. The Destroyer's reach. The lives we were meant to protect.

"Hey, Nel."

I jumped at the voice, startled out of my reverie. Maggie had fallen into step beside me, her usual confident smile tugging at her lips. She clutched a stack of books to her chest, her hair shimmering like molten copper under the fluorescent lights.

"Hey," I said, trying to sound typical, though my mind was still a tangle of worry.

"You looked like you were a million miles away," she teased, nudging me with her elbow. "Care to share with the class?"

I hesitated. The words balanced on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them down. What was I supposed to say? That I was a celestial guardian tasked with protecting the savior of humanity from an interdimensional villain? She knew that already. But she didn't know what we were currently facing.

"Just... thinking about philosophy," I lied, gesturing to the book under my arm.

Maggie raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. "Right. Because you've always been so philosophical."

"Hey, I can be deep when I want to be," I shot back, forcing a grin.

Her laughter was light and effortless. For a moment, it cut through the storm in my head, anchoring me to the here and now.

But the moment didn't last.

As we turned the corner toward class, the hairs on my neck stood on end. It was initially subtle—a prickle of unease, like a shadow moving just out of sight. I glanced over my shoulder, my eyes scanning the crowd.

Nothing.

Yet the feeling lingered, heavy and oppressive.

Maggie noticed my hesitation. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I said quickly, but my voice lacked conviction.

Her gaze lingered on me, skeptical, but she didn't press. "Well, if you plan to skip class, let me know. I could use the excuse."

She slipped into the classroom with a wink, leaving me alone in the hallway.

I hesitated, torn between following her and chasing the nagging sense of wrongness clawing at my gut.

And then I saw him.

A figure at the far end of the hall, half-hidden in the shadows. He stood still, his face obscured, but something about him was off. He didn't move like a student and didn't belong among the sea of uniforms and backpacks.

My heart kicked into overdrive.

I stepped forward, but the figure melted into the crowd, vanishing as if he'd never been there.

"Nel!" Jamaica's voice snapped me out of it. She was standing at the classroom door, waving me over.

"Coming," I called back, forcing myself to move.

But as I joined her and Kevin inside, I couldn't shake the image of the figure from my mind. Who was he? What was he doing here?

I sank into my seat, my pulse still racing. Damien's warning echoed in my head like a bad omen.

The Destroyer knows you've awakened.

If that was true, then we weren't safe—not here, not anywhere.

I glanced at Jamaica and Kevin. They were whispering, oblivious to the danger lurking just beyond our sight.

For their sake, I'd stay alert. For their sake, I'd fight.

Because if the Destroyer thought he could pick us off one by one, he was in for a rude awakening.

End of Chapter Twenty