Jane and the Guardians: Sword of the Lady

Chapter 7

"Very good, now push," Marie instructs Jane.

Okay stone, go! Jane thinks to herself and she waves her hands as if to shush the rock away from her. The suspended rock wavers slightly and then falls straight down to the ground. "Ugh, I'm never going to get this!" she exclaims in exasperation. Her voice echoes into the depths of the cave. They've been camping out in the wilderness, trying to stay out of sight from John's legion of minions. Not one to complain, but roughing it on top of the hiding has been a grind on Jane's patience.

"You just started a couple of days ago. You are making exceptional progress," Marie gently comforts and encourages the frustrated girl. With no prior training, Jane's progress has been slow and especially trying because of the expectation. Everyone knows the tremendous power she has within her, including Jane. But getting that power to manifest itself proved more difficult than anyone has anticipated. At this rate, it might be decades before she fully grasps her power, as John said.

"With all due respect, no I'm not. I might not have training like you two, but I know enough to see that I am too weak to even stop you or Donnie, much less John, whatever he is up to. On top of that, we have been constantly on the run to avoid his thugs from catching us." Jane hugs her knees in silence after the tirade. The sudden pressure and hardship placed on her is testing her mettle and she knows she just reacted poorly.

Marie walks up to Jane and puts her hands on her shoulder, "Let's take a break. You haven't stopped since this morning."

The tension in Jane releases and she follows Marie in joining Donnie by the fire. "So we are camping here again tonight?"

"Well, seeing how Donnie built a nice fire and all," Marie answers with a bit of whimsy.

"He waved his arms and manipulated the wood. He probably could have created a three story mansion for us if he wanted to," Jane retorts sharply, still angry at the ease with which Donnie can manipulate objects and she can't.

"I studied under the Lady for decades. You have us and a couple of scrolls for the last couple of days. You are also dividing your attention covering up your energy." Donnie s says flatly. "Nobody could have come as far as you under these conditions." Knowing Donnie is not one to exaggerate, Jane finds his matter-of-fact statement surprisingly comforting. Still not pleased with her progress, but at least no longer beating herself over it.

"I know you are anxious," says Marie sympathetically. "But rushing is not going to make it come any easier."

"But I'm the Lady, this should be easy," Jane says still feeling a bit defeated. "How long did it take Mrs. Smith to learn this?"

"We don't know," Marie replies. "No one knows how the Ladies were trained. All we know is that the power gets passed from one Lady to the next. The new Lady takes over the next day and everything continues as usual. Of course, no one has ever challenged the Lady like John, but the transitions were usually so smooth, sometimes we don't even notice a new Lady has taken the reigns."

"Everybody noticed now," Jane says.

"John made sure of that," Marie continues the thought. "He is planning something big so he doesn't want anyone in his way."

"Big, like what? I still don't know what exactly he means with all this balance toward good stuff."

"Only John knows. But it has been made clear it's something dramatic that will scare every human into not doing evil." Marie sounds upbeat with the bad news and lightens the mood.