Inbetween - Book 1 of the Guardian series

Chapter 9- Creating Foundations- Hearken to the sound of calling

This chapter is influanced by three songs this time. :)

Bobby McFerrin's 'Ladeo'  http://youtu.be/b__9YQLJSZo

Concerning Hobbits by sedibluebird on youtube

And Siren by nightwish :) 

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She was a whore.

"You're not a whore." Artemis said softly. 

Amelia's head looked up. "You heard my mind?"

"I read your face and saw your memory. You love someone and you do everything to try and make them see it too." Artemis said quietly. She stroked Amelia's back, slowly, as she knelt there on the hot ground, and slid a cloak over her naked back. She'd seen it all, felt it all, and she wanted to hunt the man down too. Bastard. Didn't even try and get the girl to feel something. Men were idiots when they were drunk, completely insensitive. So were women. Alcohol could bring out the best or the worst in a person. 

"He just-" Amelia wanted to defend him. "We used to make each other feel good. It was the first time it didn't feel good."  Her eyes went to the dead plants, suddenly, shocked. "What happened to my plants?"

"He used you and you let him. We make mistakes when we're in love. You need to forgive yourself for that." Artemis said softly. "Your body was in shock and your world couldn't cope."

"I did this?"

"Everything in this place is about you." Artemis' amber eyes went across the old land, the dry land, like it had been farmed and used and abused too much. Drained of anything that could be used to grow something new.  

Her plants were dead.

Amelia gazed sideways at the place, the gash in the dry landscape, where her little collection of green things had grown. Now it was brown, dead, all of it. They'd just died. The vine was gone. She felt sad at that. Maybe this wasn't a real place, maybe they were just there to comfort her, but she felt responsible for them. Like they were alive and they wanted her to be happy so they could be. 

"I didn't meant to kill them." Amelia muttered.

Artemis offered her something to wear. More modern clothing this time, panties, pants, a peasant shirt, lightweight and easy to slip on. She didn't look away as Amelia dressed, refusing to act as if the female body was something to avoid looking at, and when Amelia was dressed Artemis reached up with her fingers to stroke Amelia's long pale brown hair into some kind of loose ponytail.

"So wake them up. Let them know you're okay now." 

"How?" Amelia flushed as Artemis' hands stroked her scalp, gentle, affectionate, gathering the hair back.  Something clipped into the back, the scent of lilac filling Amelia's nostrils. Artemis had clipped it there with a lilac scented wooden clip, painted a soft purple. 

"How did you do it originally?" 

Amelia hesitated. She felt older somehow, tired, and stood up to get the harp. 

"What about the people that hurt me?" 

"What does your mind say about that? About letting your guard down in a living world where you can be injured?" There was no judgement in Artemis' face, nothing except the faint hint at what Amelia's mind was already coming to terms with.

"That was stupid." Amelia breathed out. Slowly. Of course she had to be aware. Apollo had said Guardians guarded the humans from the other parallel places, right? Guarded meant that something dangerous was there. Amelia just had to think more about where she relaxed. Relaxing in the living world, as he called it, was probably a very stupid thing. Lesson learnt. She had to put a handful of sand in a pocket so she could use it for a weapon, at least till she had one of her own.  "I should have paid attention more to what was going on."