To Survive without the Guardians

Chapter 17: The Disruptor

Over the next month, there were practically no Fearling attacks, strangely enough. However, Matt kept on having to remake his poor retractable daggers since they almost broke during each battle. Only a few Fearlings at a time would come attack for some reason, although they always singled one member out, even Duran and Garvit at times, the latter insisting on taking materials from the cave to work on a "project."

Matt was actually working on a project himself. He was trying to make much better weapons: full-length retractable swords that he was spending quite a bit more time on, so they had slightly fewer imperfections and would supposedly stay sharp longer, not that his daggers stayed intact long enough to dull. Sometimes, however, he wasn't even sure if he was getting better or not.

And while Haven was also working on her "project" of the Fearling cure, from what Matt could see, she was achieving essentially no progress on it whatsoever, no matter how much she claimed she was.

A few weeks before the end of the first semester, Angelia asked for all of their shirt sizes, probably working on a project of her own, and Garvit told everyone that the Indicator was moving ever so slowly into the golden orange section, having taken it a few days after Haven announced her plans for the cure. Matt didn't feel like it would be worth it to try to get it back anymore, as long as Garvit was responsible with it.

And the day before the last day of school for the year, when they all showed up with class materials to study for the rest of their finals, Angelia invited them to a Christmas party at her house the next afternoon. Matt decided that was when he would hand out his better weapons.

The next day, when he was relieved from finals, he took three of the four retracted swords (Angelia had the scythe, so he hadn't made her one) and put them in a dark plastic bag to take with. The fourth he put in his pocket, although he had to pull his shirt down over its top end since it didn't fit perfectly.

Angelia soon showed up to take him to her house. Haven, Duran, and Garvit were already there, she explained, and her parents were off at a Christmas party themselves.

When Matt got there, he found the place decorated for the occasion. A sparkling Christmas tree topped with a gold star sat in the corner with four presents under it. Red, green, and white streamers hung on the wall, and he could smell the fireplace going, mixing with the scent of the snowflake-shaped frosted sugar cookies Haven and Garvit were eyeing on the table. The latter had brought his red bookbag with him and set it down under his chair, and the former was softly humming to "Jingle Bell Rock" playing in the background, also sitting. Duran was standing nearby, holding a bag of candy canes.

"Hey!" Haven waved at Matt and Angelia, but mostly the former. "What do you have in that bag? Presents?"

Matt gave a little shrug and smiled. "I guess you could call it that."

"That would leave Haven as the only person who didn't bring anything," Garvit said.

Haven glared at him. "Says you. I brought myself. Angelia never said we had to bring anything else."

"It's just something I was working on, Garvit," Matt said with a sigh. "I decided that I might as well bring it today since it's a party and all."

Angelia stepped forward and held out her hands before Duran could do anything. "Come on, guys! Christmas is in, like, four days, so let's try not to fight each other." Matt, Haven, and Garvit gave her looks of slightly reluctant obedience. "Good. And I'm getting pizza and bringing out more desserts later, so don't stuff yourselves with those cookies." Haven put one of the two she had just taken back on the plate. "What do you guys want to start with? We could watch Christmas movies, do some Christmas Mad Libs, exchange presents, whatever you want to do."