Guardians

⊲ Chapter 2.2 ⊳

"Emily!" my mom said, running towards me. She embraced me tightly. I did the same in return. "I thought I was going to lose you," she said quietly. From the relief in her voice, I could feel how frightened she had been.

"I'm so glad you're safe Mom," I said, tears welling in my eyes as I held her tighter.

"How about we go inside," Kirya said.

We started walking up the steps of this bright blue, ornate house. The home was thin and reached what seemed to be three stories tall. Yellow stripes of color lined the window sills.

Kirya and the other two, who seemed to be part of a team, walked up the steps and went inside. My mom and I followed behind. When I tried walking through the front door, I ran into an invisible wall. The wall hissed and stung the skin of my face and hand. I jumped back holding my hand.

"Emily! Are you alright?" my mom said in surprise.

I watched the red area on my hand slowly return to its normal color. "Yeah, I think so."

"Sorry, it's a barrier meant to keep out demons," Kirya stated. "It probably detected some residual magic on you from the demons earlier today." She said this calmly, but when I looked up at her face, I thought I caught a glimmer of an odd expression. Suspicion? It wasn't a look I would want to be on the receiving end of but her casual smile flitted back so fast, it left me to wonder what I'd really seen or if my brain was just glitching out on me. I decided to go with the latter.

Kirya waved her hand in the space of the door frame and energy crackled. "There. Should be disabled now. Come on in."

Inside was far more spartan than one would have imagined when looking at the intricate exterior. The living room was small and had only one lumpy brown couch and a couple of dusty old Victorian chairs. A fold-out table stood by a wall in the area between the living room and the kitchen and held on its surface a panoply of weapons such as knives and some shorter swords.

"You guys have swords like that just lying around?" I asked Jake, surprised. Kirya and the one called Alex walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, is that weird?" Jake answered.

"No, no. It's totally normal. Everyone keeps their weapons on tables in the middle of their living rooms," I jested, tone heavy with sarcasm.

Jake crossed his arms. "Well if this is so weird then where do you keep your weapons?"

I stared, at a loss for words. "I don't have any weapons," I said slowly.

"No weapons?" Jake furrowed his brow. "Well that just doesn't seem smart."

Before I could think of a way to somehow explain to this weirdo that normal people don't have need for a genuine broadsword or throwing knives, Kirya called Jake into the kitchen. What kind of world has he been living in? I wondered, exasperated.

After dinner Kirya stood. "Alrighty, I think it's time for sleep. I'd like to talk about everything but it's late and you must be tired," she said, directed at me. I wanted to say no, that I wanted an explanation for all the craziness that happened, but I truly was tired. The strain from whatever magic I'd supposedly used seemed to be catching up to me, sleep tugging on my eyelids. It was already midnight. "You both can stay here tonight. There are empty rooms at the end of the hall." Kirya points to the hall extending off the left of the kitchen.

I got up, starting to carry my plate to the kitchen. Jake stood and took the plate from me. "We got this," he said, "rest." I nodded drowsily.

My mom and I walked down the hall to the last two rooms, passing two doors on the left and two on the right. My tired mind vaguely wondered if the interior of this house made any sense with the exterior. Mom took the room at the end of the hall and I took the one to the left of it, the third door on the left.