The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga (13 page)

Skylar’s mother was a tall woman with shoulder length
blond hair that stuck out in every which direction. Ms. Bavol made
a living by reading people’s palms, tea leaves, and tarot cards. In
the sixth grade, she had read Avery’s palm and predicted that she
would be a strong leader for good one day. At the time, Avery had
thought it had been a cool prediction, but knowing what she did
now, she realized it had been less of a prediction than actual
knowledge…sneaky woman. Most of the town thought Ms. Bavol a bit of
a nutter, considering she went around town passing out chakra
beads, hugging trees, and organizing solstice parties. Despite all
this, Avery found her completely likeable. Granted, Avery thought
she might have been certifiably crazy, but she was a genuinely good
person with something nice to say about everyone, and Avery admired
that, just so long as she stayed away from her palms.

“Avery, my dear girl,” Ms. Bavol exclaimed, wrapping
her wispy arms tightly around Avery, “I just knew you’d be here
soon. You have seen your true path laid out beneath your feet and
now you walk it. Destiny waits for no one.”

Avery pulled back and stared up at Ms. Bavol. For a
moment Avery thought she was just spouting out some of her new-age
self help jive, but then Avery realized she was actually talking
about being a Protector. She knew their parents had all their
memories from living on Orcatia, but she wondered why Ms. Bavol
would bring it up now.

“How did you know that I know?’ Avery asked.

“Oh, silly little lark,” Ms. Bavol said, bopping
Avery on the nose with her finger, “the Ora Gateway has been used.
Your parents and I, true Orcatians, felt it inside.” She pounded
her fist to her chest, “Like a string pulling us to home.

“Alright,” Avery smiled politely, not really sure
what Ms. Bavol was telling her and not really wanting to hear any
more of it, “is Skylar here?”

Ms. Bavol swooshed her arms back and forth inside the
door jam, imitating a breezy dance, “My daughter of the wind is
partaking in her other calling at dance practice.”

Avery scolded herself for not trying to reach Skylar
at dance practice first. Skylar was at dance practice more often
than she was at her own home; if Avery would have thought of that
she could have avoided Ms. Bavol’s awkward insights into her
life.

Avery thanked Ms. Bavol and made her way back to her
car. When she reached her car she found Bunny beginning to doze off
in the passenger seat, her open book lying on her lap.

When Avery sat down she closed her car door hard
enough to wake Bunny up.

“Where’s Skylar?” Bunny asked, rubbing the fresh
sleep out of her eyes.

“Where do you think?” Avery answered, starting the
car.

“Her precious practice.” Bunny mumbled, “Next time,”
she yawned, “don’t wake me up unless you need me.”

Avery pulled up in front of Saguaro Dance Hall, a
large red brick building with two purple and green awnings over the
arched entrance way and a bright pink neon sign flashing the
studio’s name. The building not only served as a dance studio for
many of the girls, and two or three boys from the town, but it also
served as a bingo hall every Thursday night, and a senior citizens
line-dancing club every Friday.

Leaving Bunny in the car, Avery opened up the
building’s front doors and walked through the over-plush sitting
area, filled with crimson colored cushioned chairs and couches, and
deep purple wallpaper with tacky velvet paisley lining.

She walked into the main wood-floored dance hall, and
the first thing Avery noticed was an image of herself on the
mirror-lined wall opposite her.

“Oh, my, God!” Avery said aloud, momentarily
forgetting everything except the image in front of her “I look
vomit worthy!”

Her hair was completely untamed, even more so than
usual, with auburn curls sticking out in every direction. To make
matters even worse, as she turned her head a bit, she saw she had a
small twig caught up in one of her misbehaving curls. Avery cursed
everyone she had seen that day who had failed to mention the
offending twig. Her jeans were covered in grass stains from falling
out of the gateway onto the ground and her purple plaid shirt had a
tear in the pocket revealing a peek at her pink bra underneath.

“Now I actually do look like I’ve come back from the
dead.” She said mournfully as she reached up and pulled the twig
out of her hair.

Avery yelled at herself to try and snap out of it.
She told herself there were more important things to do like find
Skylar and save the Universe, that what she looked like didn’t
matter, but deep down she was contemplating whether or not she had
time to go home and get changed. In mid-contemplation she spotted
Skylar pirouetting across the long wooden dance floor.

Skylar was the most talented dancer in all of
Redemption. In fact, some town members speculated in all of
Arizona. She had been dancing since she was old enough to walk, and
her one dream was to travel to New York after high school and
pursue a career as a professional dancer. Everyone expected her to
accomplish it; she was that good. Skylar had the skill, and she had
the looks. She was beautiful, incredibly tall and slender, with
long, wavy, electric blond hair and wide violet eyes highlighted by
dark lashes.

Despite Skylar’s angelic appearance and ballerina
poise, she was definitely the wildest and craziest person Avery had
ever known in her entire life. In the eighth grade, she had flashed
a bus full of choir boys in town to give a Christmas performance at
the local Catholic Church. At the end of semester dance her
freshman year, Skylar had somehow managed to take three different
boys as her dates, and even more amazing was the fact that she was
able to keep it a secret from all three of them. That is, until the
next Monday at school, when Bunny spread the truth all over campus,
and the boys got suspended for trying to kill each other in the
middle of the cafeteria.

One of the things that Avery loved about Skylar was
that she brought out Avery’s wild side. Whether it was ditching
school to drive down to Phoenix and hit the dance clubs early,
dying their hair the most ridiculous shade of pink or just skinny
dipping in Sandy Gulch Creek, Skylar was always behind it.

Even Jade was a fan of Skylar’s, although she always
got anxious about Skylar and Avery spending time alone together.
Especially, since two years ago Skylar had suggested horseback
riding through Rattlesnake canyon and Avery’s horse had spooked,
tossed Avery, and broke her wrist. Jade had been furious, but Avery
didn’t mind and two weekends later she was back hanging out with
Skylar, Dune Buggying through the desert.

“Skylar!” Avery shouted, wincing as her voice echoed
throughout the dance hall.

Skylar stopped mid-pirouette and turned to face the
disheveled looking Avery.

“Avery?” Skylar said, looking surprised at first, but
then abruptly busting out into a roar of a laugh, “Why do you look
like you just went through a garbage disposal?”

Avery reached up and tried to straighten out her
hair, to no great success. Again, she had to tell herself to ignore
Skylar’s comment and ignore her appearance.

Skylar walked over to Avery, away from the rest of
her dance class, “What’s going on?” She asked.

“Hey, Sky,” Avery said awkwardly, “I was wondering if
you could come with me right now to the park by the school?”

Skylar squealed, startling Avery, “Are the Sunshine
County Fire Fighters doing their work-out routines there again?”
Skylar lightly jumped up and down in her excitement.

“Ummm…that would be a no.” For a second Avery thought
she should have said yes. In fact, she thought that might excite
Skylar more than a gateway to another world, “Look, I promise that
what I have to show you will be just as equally interesting.”

“Alright,” Skylar agreed, always up for a surprise
and a good time, “just let me go grab my stuff.”

Avery waited for Skylar in the parking lot. Once
Skylar was changed and ready she met Avery out by her car. Avery
suggested that Skylar just drive her own car and follow Avery out
to the park. Avery was always in the mindset that the more people
with their own transportation the better. So, Skylar piled herself
and her stuff into her yellow Volkswagen Beetle and followed Avery
to the park.

When they reached the park, Avery could see Jade’s
bike parked up alongside the curb; she pulled up behind it and
Skylar behind her. She got out of the car and saw Jade leaning up
against a tree, her hands stuffed into the pockets of her fitted
leather jacket, and Sasha sitting on a picnic table nearby,
chatting away into her phone.

“Was’ up Kai!” Skylar shouted, walking up to Jade and
giving her a side hug.

Jade smiled despite herself, the way she always did
around Skylar, “Sky.” She said and then nodded towards Bunny in a
much less friendly manner, “Bunny.”

Bunny nodded back along with a small hand wave.

“So, when’s the big reveal?” Skylar asked, “What are
we all doing here,” she rubbed her hands together, “the
anticipation is killing me?”

Avery looked around for Gumptin. She wondered if he
was waiting for her to announce his presence. He had a large dose
of arrogance to him, so that’s what Avery assumed he was doing.

Before Avery did officially announce Gumptin’s
presence, she noticed that Sasha was still talking on her phone,
“Hey, Sasha, could you get off the phone?”

Sasha either didn’t hear her or completely ignored
her, so Avery got right in front of Sasha’s face, “Sasha,” she
said, hand gesturing for her to hang up the phone, “get off the
phone.”

Sasha held up her finger, giving Avery the ‘one
minute’ sign. Before Avery had a chance to ask Sasha to hang up
again, Jade came over, grabbed the phone away from Sasha, and shut
it closed.

“Rude, Jade!” Sasha shouted, grabbing her phone back,
“I’m only here because you threatened to mess up my face for
tonight’s party. I have a lot of stuff I still have to do before
tonight!”

Well, Avery could think of no better time to let
Gumptin handle things than right now.

“Girls!” Avery shouted loudly, getting everyone’s
attention, “Jade and I brought you here to meet somebody who’s
pretty much going to explain things to you that’ll turn your world
upside down.” Avery looked to the tree she saw Gumptin sneak behind
before they had left to get the others, “Gumptin, come on out!”
Avery yelled loudly and waited for him to pop out from behind the
tree, just like he had done to her, but after a few beats nothing
had happened.

“Gumptin sounds like a fungus.” Sasha told her
sarcastically.

“If he’s a guy, I hope he’s hot!” Skylar gushed,
taking a seat on the bench next to Sasha.

“Gumptin get out here now!” Avery continued to yell,
but nothing happened. She looked to Jade and Jade rolled her eyes,
letting Avery know she wasn’t surprised by him not showing.

Avery walked over to the tree she had seen Gumptin
scurry behind before she left, looked around it, and saw him curled
in a small ball next to a large root, sleeping. She reached over
and picked him up by the collar of his tunic, shaking him out of
his sleep.

“How could you have fallen asleep?” Avery huffed,
continuing to shake him, “You’re making me look like an idiot, Get
up!”

Gumptin smacked his lips together and rubbed his
eyes, “I have not had a decent sleep since the five of you were
killed. It is exhausting being your guardian.”

Avery didn’t want to hear it; she waved her hands in
the air, “They’re all over there waiting, go do to them what you
did to me.”

Gumptin straightened his wardrobe and ran his fingers
through his beard, attempting to brush out all the dirt and debris
he had collected while napping under the tree; it was only about
half successful. As he walked off to go confront the girls, Avery
stayed behind the tree, leaning her back and head against the
strong wood. She took a deep breath and decided to stay where she
was until after Gumptin had made his introductions, not wanting any
more questions thrown her way.

Avery heard a collective gasp from the girls and a
small squeal from Bunny, so she assumed they had now all seen
Gumptin.

She heard Sasha screech, “Oh, my, God! What are you?”
And she heard Skylar mumble, “Well, he’s definitely not hot.”

Gumptin was in the middle of listing off the girls
names and how he knew them when Jade appeared in front of Avery’s
face, “Wanna take a walk?” She asked, and Avery agreed, grateful to
take a breather away from all the craziness.

Jade and Avery walked over to the picnic bench they
had sat on together after Jade had been shown the Ora Gateway. It
was out of earshot of Gumptin and the girls, so they could just sit
there in silence listening to the distant cars pass by, the birds
in the trees calling out to each other, and neighborhood dogs
barking. It was a peace they both appreciated, knowing that they
wouldn’t have too many peaceful moments in the near future.

Avery wasn’t able to hear what Gumptin and the girls
were saying, but she could still see them. She saw emotional Bunny
with her hands over her eyes just rocking back and forth. True to
fashion, Sasha was up in Gumptin’s face arguing, and Skylar just
sat on the bench smiling, not giving any emotion away by just
looking at her. The conversation only continued for a little bit
longer before Gumptin motioned for them to follow him.

“Ooh,” Avery said excitedly, “he’s taking them over
to the gateway!”

Jade, who had been leaning back looking at the sky,
turned herself around, “Well, this I’ve got to see.”

They watched as Gumptin said the words, and then
watched each of the girls’ reaction as the Ora Gateway appeared
before them. Bunny began to get teary eyed, which Avery could have
predicted. Sasha shut up for the first time since Gumptin had
emerged in front of her, and Skylar began laughing so hard that she
doubled herself over.