The Guardians

Chapter 4

Abbie's POV
I'm going to die.

Laurance sped out of the exit into a sleepy little town. The black van followed. Laurance turned over tons of side streets, to no avail. The black van remained closely behind us, like a dog following it's master. Laurance groaned.

"We need to jump." Harry stated confidently, undoing his seat belt. Everyone else undid their seat belt as well, and prepared to jump out of the moving car.

"Jump? Are you guys nuts?? One of us could break a leg and then what would our options be?" I protested, but unbuckling my seat belt nonetheless. Nobody answered.

"Abbie, come back here." Percy said sternly, and I, somewhat reluctantly, did as I was told. I clambered into the back, as Laurance began messing with the gas pedal to keep it going even when we jumped. Laurance turned a corner, sped up, and jumped out the passenger's side door. Harry slid open the door, and did a roll onto the ground. Percy yelled,

"JUMP!"

Not the most inspiring call to battle, but we jumped. I landed somewhat awkwardly, but mostly unharmed. Before I could do anything, Laurance grabbed my arm, and pulled me into an abandoned building covered with vibrantly green ivy that looked like it used to be a house. Harry was already in the building, peering out the dirty, broken windows, leaning against the windowsill.

"Well, I think they're gone now." Annabeth said, not sounding very confident, sliding down a nearby wall and opening up her backpack.

"Wrong." Sherlock said quietly, looking outside the front window. Annabeth jumped to her feet, and practically sprinted to the window where Sherlock was. Percy put his hands on her shoulders in a reassuring way as I made my way over to the window, limping from my landing. I looked out as well, and peered down the street. A few houses down, the black van had opened up, and these things came surging from it, like water in a river. They looked horrifying, with their bodies looking vaguely humanoid until you noticed the four extra hairy arms and dog-like snout. They were all wearing black suits, and had guns strapped to their backs, like really freaky secret agents that you see in films. I gasped loudly, and Laurance slapped his hand firmly over my mouth. I was too scared to register the pain. He backed us a little away from the window.

The creatures turned, and began sniffing in the direction of the house from the noise. My eyes got huge, and I flicked my gaze over to the group, hoping they'd figure out an answer. Harry had whipped out his wand, Annabeth and Percy had taken our their weapons, and Sherlock took out a gun and wiped it with the end of his coat. Laurance's other hand was inching towards the sheath on his back, until I heard Harry murmur something, and flick his wand out the window. The creatures turned around, and piled in the car. They drove away. There was a sudden relief in the air, and everyone's shoulders relaxed. Laurance had apparently forgot that he was still holding me, and I had to push him off to get away. I gave him an annoyed glare, and he ruffled his hair, grinning.

"Sorry 'bout that." Laurance apologized, sitting down on the floor, cross-legged.

"Thanks Harry." Annabeth said gratefully, hugging him. Percy growled, being slightly more protective than necessary. Bashfully, Harry turned away.

"No problem."

"What were those things?" I asked, my voice quavering. Everyone turned towards me, and gave each other a look and a nod, as if agreeing on something.

"Abbie," Percy started out slowly, flicking his eyes over to the others for permission to continue. Laurance nodded, his piercing blue gaze still stuck on me. "Those were Aio's... soldiers. They're trying to... find you."

"Who's... Eye-oh?" I said slowly, looking at them, trying to get them to look at me. No one but Laurance met my gaze.

"He's... a demon lord." Percy continued tentatively, as if trying to phrase this the correct way so I wouldn't Hulk smash anything, or anyone, in the room, "He had been planning to take over the world and all the dimensions and remake them in his own image for years. At the peak of his power, your parents defeated him and sealed him away in a dimension where he couldn't do any harm to anyone; kind of like a black hole. After that, your parents lost their powers. Once you came of age, a few months ago, and created portals of your own, Aio's minions knew that you had the gift too. They've been trying to kidnap you to open the dimension and let Aio out, to continue his work." I backed up to a wall, and slid down it. Everyone was staring at me as I looked at my knees. Laurance scooted over to me.

"I did that. I put my family in danger. I'm the reason my house got attacked and my family are all in comas, and..." I trailed off, dropping my head in shame. I couldn't believe I could be so destructive. "I need to go." I stood up, and brushed off my knees, and began walking quickly towards the door, or as quickly as you can with a limp. You can't blame me for trying.

"Wait!" Harry yelled, beginning to run towards me. Laurance beat him, and stood in front of me, blocking my exit. I crossed my arms stubbornly, and looked at him with absolute fury turning the edges of my vision blood red. How dare he try to stop me! I was doing this for my own good, for everyone's safety... How did he not understand that? I huffed.

"Go away Laurance. I've done enough. I don't want to put you guys in danger." I pushed him as hard as I could, and tried to storm around him, but Laurance put his arms out on my shoulders and stopped me in my tracks. He pulled me in for a hug. He was a ton of a lot stronger than I was, and I knew that, so I stayed in place, m crossed arms the only thing keeping us from touching. I looked at the floor, angry tears streaming down my cheeks. "Laurance. Let. Me. Go. Now."

"Hey, Abbie." I continued staring at the dusty floor. Everyone else was silent. "Abbie, look at me." Laurance lifted my chin with the soft tips of his fingers, and made my dark eyes look into his bright ones. One of his hands still remained securely on my waist to stop any escape. "We're going to keep you safe. We can't let Aio escape, and right now, you're what's keeping this world intact." He looked so concerned, and brushed away a stray lock of hair from my eye softly. I just stared at him, watching the way his light brown hair caught the light in its waves, and wondering how I completely trusted him already, even though I'd only known him for a few hours.

"Besides," he smirked at me, "you wouldn't make it too far with that ankle." I glared at him, but my frown evaporated quickly when he gently put his hand on the side of my face. It definitely did not help that everyone else had gone silent. I didn't say anything for a while, and neither did he, until he cleared his throat.

"Don't tell me you're falling for my looks." He said teasingly, still looking into my eyes. My eyes got huge, my cheeks burned scarlet and I shook my head frantically, pulling away from him and crossing my arms over my chest, breaking eye contact with him. I hadn't even realized that I had dropped my arms to my sides.

"NO! I mean, no, it's not that. I just... I appreciate it Laurance. Thank you. Thank you all." I said quietly, looking up at my fictional guardians. Harry cleared his throat.

"On that happy note, how about some dinner?" Harry said brightly, reaching down into his backpack and pulling out some sandwiches wrapped tightly in plastic.

A/N: THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER I'M GOING TO BE POSTING FOR ABOUT A MONTH!! I'm trying to get better at characters and writing their thoughts at the moment, so bear with me! Also keep in mind that none of these are reaaalllyy edited, so it's kind of a rough draft. Thank you for your patience!! Potato. Out.