To Ally with the Guardians

Chapter 19: Barriers

The other four moved, Matt and Angelia to one side and Bunny and Whisper to the other. Duran brought his arms down as Angelia and the Prophecy Person took out their own curing orbs, the latter from a pocket in her pants. Matt didn't know where Whisper had gotten them from, but he was still glad that she had them.

"Alright," Duran said. "Three...two...one." He took a step back and charged, ramming his side into the wood. It didn't damage much, but there were a few gaps in the barrier now. He did it again. More gaps. Again.

Duran shook out his arm and massaged his shoulder, grunting and grimacing. About five shadows drifted through the decent-sized holes in the blockage. Duran backed up, joining the other two L.E.R. members on their side of the tunnel.

One of the Fearling's appearances shifted, forming Haven's figure out of darkness, then landed on the ground, holding a sword like the others. Angelia gasped and brought her hand to her mouth.

"It's you!" Her wide light brown eyes moved back and forth over Haven. Angelia removed her hand. "Or...is it really?"

Haven nodded, looking at each of them, a strange expression written across her face. Her lips were pressed into a line, and her eyes were glazed over, as if she wasn't really taking in what she was seeing. To add to that, her whole body appeared stiff, her arms straight at her sides and her legs squeezed together.

Matt threw an orb at her, but she caught it again, breaking from her rigid form to hold a new one, still as unyielding as the last. It felt like an old wound had reopened in Matt's chest, and he fought the urge to bend over and cry. His face twitched in internal, emotional pain. When would Mallory be done with his new cure? Matt had to save Haven!

No one moved. At first, the idea occurred to Matt that they should be saving the other Fearlings, but no one was for whatever reason. He wasn't because he feared Haven would almost take offense to him saving the others but not her. It soon came to him why no one else was, however: doing so would get the attention of the other Guardians, the Yetis, and the egg statues and put Haven in danger. He didn't know what they would do if they saw her. In that moment, he had great respect for Bunny and Whisper, who were waiting to possibly save people they loved for Haven's safety.

"What are you doing here?" Duran asked, not unkindly. Haven looked down at the orb in her hand, then curled her fingers tightly around it before returning her arm to her side, a pole once more. She didn't answer her friend's question.

"Haven?" Matt said.

She lunged forward with her blade, and his body jerked backward before his mind could comprehend what was going on, his heart pounding. She stopped a centimeter in front of his face. Duran's hand was around her arm, though it didn't look like it was doing anything. Angelia looked like she was about to scream. And Bunny and Whisper stood as rigid as Haven had just a moment before, their eyes large and terrified-looking.

"I'm sorry," Haven whimpered, using a strained voice Matt had never heard before. Her eyes matched her tone, bright and frightened and guilty. She appeared frozen again, unmoving, as if motion would make the situation worse. Who was she right now, more Fearling or Haven?

Whisper grabbed the Haven's arms, and Duran forced the weapon from her hands. The other Fearlings began darting back into the tunnel, breaking Bunny out of his stupor enough that he managed to cure a few.

In an instant, Haven's eyebrows lowered over angry eyes, and she flung her fists at Whisper's face. "Let go of me!" she said, her normal human voice mixed with a Fearling's. The Prophecy Person tried to pin Fearling-Haven's arms behind her back amidst the striking.

"Haven!" Matt cried. "Haven, stay here! We're gonna find a way to cure you!"

"Let go of her!" Duran shouted, and it took Matt a moment to realize that he was talking to the corruption, not Whisper. The brown-haired teen pointed the blade at Haven's chest. "Let her go!" His mouth was curled into a snarl, and all the muscles in his face and arms were taut.