The Unusual Guardian

Chapter 3: Zelda's Game

I stare at her and she stares at me. I can hear my friends shuffle nervously behind me.

"H-hey," shouts Sam, doing her best to regain her bravado. "Grandma, what do you want?"

She remains silent, and that quiets us all, even the din that surrounds us is muted. Her mismatched eyes continue to stare at me playfully. A dull ringing begins to echo in my ears.

Someone nudges me from behind, urging me to say something, or maybe they were trying to pull me away from her. I can't say which. "Umm, can I help you?

Slowly her mouth opens. Bits of dried drool stick to the outer edge of her lips. "I saw you," she rasps. Her voice is like gravel.

"Sorry?"

"I saw you...with that thing. 'The rebirth.' I saw how you reacted." She licks her lips; the dried bits of drool roll up into small balls. "You reacted with compassion." She vehemently shakes her head. Something jingles, and for the first time since I've seen her, I notice what she's wearing. There are beads on the upper layer of her shirt. What she's wearing reminds me of what gypsies used to wear. "People don't act with compassion these days. They're selfish," she spits. Her blue eye gleams icily.

Internally I agree, but I don't wish my friends to know that. I look back and nearly cringe. Tiffany is brushing her hair, Sam is examining her nails, Rick is looking into a mirror he found and patting his hair, and Lee...well, she is just being Lee.

The lady wags a finger at me, it's not criticising, just analytical. "But you...you're different."

I blush. Ever since I was a girl I remember feeling out of place, like I was a little old for this world. Sometimes I feel like I belong in the time where cars were carriages and books and theatre were your television.

"I guess," I reply.

"Don't be modest, Crystal," hisses she. Her eyes narrow as they ping-pong between me and my friends. "Come. Come! All of you follow me." The lady turns swiftly around, waddling away in the direction we were heading.

"Crystal." Tiffany creeps behind me. I hear teeth chewing on what sounds like plastic. I don't need to look to know that she is biting her nails. A nervous habit. "H-how did she know your name?"

I shrug. "I-I don't know. I don't think I said anything."

"Well? What should we do?"

"What do you mean 'what should we do'?" scoffs Sam, her voice agitated. "Go running for security, that's what!"

Lee's voice is the only one who sounds serene. "I think we should follow her."

Sam hiccoughs, her voice venomous. "Oh, you hippie, you! You are insane!"

"I don't know. I kind of agree with Lee," Rick announces, staring at the old lady's retreating form which is creeping farther and farther into the darkness.

She isn't waiting for us. She hasn't even checked to see if we are following her. She expects us to follow her, I realize.

Sam and Tiffany are dumbstruck. "What?"

He shrugs. "I think it'll be interesting. Besides," he smirks, "you guys have me to protect you."

It takes everything I have to not roll my eyes.

Rick's feet crunch the hay beneath him as he walk past us. He pauses. "Come on, you guys. Let's go." Lee skips behind him, humming gleefully.

Sam groans, but follows. "This is something stupid teenagers do when they are drunk or sexing it up in horror films!"