George Brown and the Protector (14 page)

Who else was left? Any why would they betray
him? George got up and began to pace again. An uncomfortable
thought had been bubbling up inside him, and now was screaming to
be released and recognized. Who was the person who seemed to know
everything about the Grak? Who else knew about the rock he had
found, the fallen star, and the Ziphon’s warnings? Who was he
trusting most these days, and spending most of his time with?
Indeed, who else could the person he least suspected be, other
than—

—the protector himself!

CHAPTER 20: Suspicion

The enormity of
the realization made George sit down hard on his bed, as if thrown
there by an invisible hand. The protector?! It was the protector
who would betray him? How could that be? And why?

George had come to rely on the protector more
than he had realized until that moment. He felt as if the floor he
had been standing on, sure that it would never move, had suddenly
been ripped from under his feet. How could the protector betray
him? How? The Ziphon had told him to seek out the protector in the
first place. Why would he now tell him that this person he had
sought out was not to be trusted after all?

Unless, of course, there was another reason
for him to seek out and come to know the protector. The Ziphon had
never said the protector was going to help him—he had only told
George to seek him out ‘to better see what you must do.’ Perhaps he
needed to come to know the protector in order to learn about the
Grak. Perhaps the protector was in league with the Grak and had
been sent to lure George into a false sense of security, saying
that he was an enemy of the Grak, only to betray him to them in the
end. George trusted the protector so much that when it came to the
Grak, he would do anything the protector said to do. Who could make
sure their plan worked better than him?

But what if he were wrong? What if the Ziphon
had meant someone else? How could he afford to mistrust the
protector if he were really a friend? How on earth was he to know
for sure?

He needed to talk with someone. He needed it
desperately. But there was no one. He didn’t dare tell his mother
since she would confine him to his room for the rest of his life.
Telling his sister Janet would do no good since she would just go
and gleefully spill the beans to his mother. And he obviously
couldn’t tell the protector. Who else was there?

George felt a sudden pain in his finger. In
alarm he stared stupidly at the ring he had received from the
protector. It tightened painfully on his finger three times!
Someone was calling him! Was it the protector? Or Jiu Na?

George quickly removed the ring and slipped
it in his ear. He felt a bit silly having a ring in his ear and
talking into thin air. Tentatively he said in a half whisper,
“hello?”

“George?” came a girl’s voice into his ear.
“Is that you? This is Jiu Na. I need to talk to you!”

“Sure,” said George quietly, so his sister
wouldn’t hear him from her room next door. “What’s wrong?”

“I just had a visit from one of those strange
creatures the protector told us about,” came Jiu Na’s voice. “I
don’t remember now what it’s called.”

“A Ziphon,” said George automatically. “And I
just had a visit from one too.”

“You did?” cried Jiu Na excitedly. “What did
he say to you?”

George hesitated, unsure what to say. Could
Jiu Na be the person the Ziphon had warned him about? But he hardly
knew her. And how could she betray him from China?

“He told me something scary,” said Jiu Na,
not waiting for his answer. “He said the time was short for me to
decide, and to beware the person I least suspected, that they may
betray me!”

“That’s exactly what he told me!” cried
George. Now he knew Jiu Na could not be the person the Ziphon had
warned him about, or she would not have received the same
message—or told him about it.

“It’s awful, isn’t it?” came Jiu Na’s voice.
“Because I’ve thought and thought, and the only person I least
suspect is the protector! I don’t want it to be him, but who else
could it be?”

“That’s what I decided, too,” replied George
slowly.

“What are we to do?” cried Jiu Na. “We need
help. I thought the protector was helping us, but it looks like
he’s not. He must be in league with the Grak, and fooling us. We’re
just two kids half a world apart. What can we do?”

“I don’t know,” said George, his head
starting to ache. “It was hard enough to figure out before. I could
never understand how I was supposed to prevent the Grak from doing
whatever they’ve got cooked up. Now it seems impossible.”

There was silence for a moment, as both were
lost in their own thoughts.

“Maybe we’re wrong,” said Jiu Na at last.
“Maybe it’s not the protector. Could it be Emberly instead?”

Emberly? In league with the Grak? The thought
was impossible. “I don’t think so,” said George. “She saved me from
the Grak when we got back from China. They attacked us.” Quickly
George told of the Grak that had attacked him and Emberly, and how
her song had saved them.

“That’s horrible,” said Jiu Na when he had
finished. “I agree it couldn’t be Emberly. But how about the
protector? He saved you too, didn’t he?”

“He wasn’t there until the Grak were already
pulling back,” said George. “Maybe his 'light bomb' wasn't what
really scared them away after all! He told me later that our
singing would not have stopped the Grak, that they were only
temporarily pushed back. But maybe he was trying to hide the fact
that the songs are the way to overcome them. If he’s in league with
the Grak, he wouldn’t want us to know of a weapon that will truly
stop them.”

“What are we to do, George?” asked Jiu Na
plaintively. “We need help. We can’t do this alone.”

“I feel the same way,” said George
helplessly. “But the Ziphon’s message must have been given to us
for a reason. Hasn’t he told us that we can somehow make a
difference? We just have to keep trying, and maybe something will
open up for us. Maybe we can do more than we realize.”

“But what about the protector?” asked Jiu Na.
“What do we do about him now?”

“We’ve got to keep our eye on him,” said
George with sudden resolution. “There’s no better way to prepare
for whatever is coming than to keep playing along with him, make
him think we don’t know about him, but watch him close at the same
time.”

“That sounds dangerous,” said Jiu Na. “If
he’s in league with the Grak, he could betray us anytime. Isn’t it
safer just to stop having anything to do with him?”

“That will make him too suspicious,” replied
George. “No, we’ve got to keep going along with him, for now at
least. He wanted me to meet him this morning, so I will. I’ll play
along and act like everything is normal.” George could see through
his window a faint light beginning to spread across the eastern
horizon. It would soon be morning.

“Well, be careful,” said Jiu Na. “And call me
as soon as you’ve met with him, and let me know what’s going
on.”

“All right,” said George. After that, there
wasn’t much to say. They finally said their good-byes and George
put the ring back on his finger.

He sat on the edge of his bed for a long
time, pondering every word of what the Ziphon had said, and trying
to remember everything the protector had done and said. It still
seemed impossible that the protector could be their enemy, but the
Ziphon’s warning was clear. The person he least suspected may
betray him, and there was no one he had suspected less than the
protector. Indeed, now that he thought about it, why hadn’t the
protector given him one of the light bombs if they were supposedly
so effective against the Grak? Why hadn’t the protector told him
earlier that singing would drive the Grak away? Surely he must have
realized the Grak could attack George at any time, especially since
they had already captured his father!

George sat motionless for over an hour, going
over everything the protector had said and done in his mind, and
looking at it all in a new light. It wasn’t pleasant, but he knew
it had to be done. The Ziphon wouldn’t have given his warning for
no reason. It was up to him to make use of it.

George finally dropped into a fitful, uneasy
sleep just as the sun was peeking over the horizon.

A few hours later George was sitting on the
curb in front of his house, waiting for the protector. The Ziphon’s
visit and the call from Jiu Na now all seemed like a bad dream.
With the sun shining so brightly and the day so beautiful, it was
hard to think that he was facing great danger, and that the
protector was not to be trusted. He had come to look at the
protector in almost the same way as own father. His heart ached to
trust him again, and yearned for the simple, innocent acceptance of
the protector that he had felt only yesterday. But he could not
ignore the Ziphon’s warning.

Time passed. There was no one in sight except
Mr. Macalister down the street mowing his lawn. A flower sticking
out of the grass nearby waved in the breeze. There was no dog or
bird or butterfly in sight. What would the protector be today?

Until now, George had enjoyed trying to
figure out what different shapes the protector could take. Now his
ability to appear as something else seemed sinister and
frightening. He could just as easily turn himself into a Grak, as
anything else.

“You look glum today,” said a voice out of
nowhere. George jumped, looking around wildly. The protector had
done it again. There was nothing and nobody in sight, yet he knew
the protector was there.

“I’m over here,” came the voice again. It
seemed to be coming from the edge of the lawn, somewhere around the
flower waving in the breeze. George took a step forward, his senses
alert. Suddenly he realized there was no breeze, yet the flower
kept waving.

“That’s right,” laughed the flower. “It’s me.
Today I’m a Turubian walking flower. They look very much like your
earth flowers, only of course their roots are more like feet and
they can move around.”

George stooped down to examine the flower,
and was amazed to see that it indeed had tiny legs and feet at its
base, mostly hidden in the grass.

“That’s incredible!” said George without
thinking. Then he stood up abruptly. He had to keep on his guard
and not be taken in by the protector again.

“What’s wrong?” came the voice from the
flower. “You seem tense. Did anything happen?”

George realized he was acting too worried,
letting his suspicions show. Even if he didn’t feel like it, he had
to try to act normal, to laugh and be himself.

“It’s nothing,” George said with a half
hearted laugh. “I, uh … I just don’t feel too well today.”

“That’s too bad,” said the flower. Then with
more excitement, the voice said, “but I’ve got important news! I’ve
figured out part of the Grak’s plan! I’m still not sure how you and
Jiu Na and the third person are going to stop them, but now I at
least have an idea what they are up to.”

“The third person?” asked George curiously.
“What do you mean?”

“Let’s go to my car and I’ll show you,” said
the voice as the flower abruptly stood up and started to walk on
its short, grey legs. “It’s too hard to explain without the proper
tools.”

George followed along behind the flower. It
was one of the most amazing and bizarre things he had ever seen,
walking along as if it were a person, with its petals and leafs
rising and falling at each step. George looked quickly all around.
“Aren’t you worried someone will see you?” he asked.

The voice laughed. “I’m too low to the ground
for anyone to notice,” said the protector. “And if they do see me,
you can just tell them I’m your pet walking flower. That should
satisfy them.”

“But there are no walking flowers on earth!”
said George. “No one would believe me.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said the protector
noncommittally. “There’s lots of strange creatures in this world,
like the praying mantis, or flying fish. Just tell anyone who asks
that I’m from Africa or Australia, or somewhere else with exotic,
strange creatures.”

George just shook his head not knowing what
to say.

They were nearing the corner, and George
could see the car a short distance down the street, with Ant Number
4 sitting silently in the driver’s seat. Once again his heart ached
to innocently accept and believe the protector as he had done only
yesterday. He felt as if a cloud had settled over his mind, taking
away all the fun and enjoyment he had experienced since he had come
to know the protector.

“You must be sick,” said the flower. “You
don’t seem your normal self. I hope it’s nothing catching. I
haven’t had my flu shot this year.”

George tried to laugh. “Oh, it’s nothing
serious,” he said quickly. “Just a little scratchy throat, but I’ll
be fine. How’s Emberly today?” he asked, trying to change the
subject.

“Good,” replied the protector. “She’s back to
her old self, and is very excited about our trip to Portugal.”

“Portugal?” exclaimed George, stopping in the
middle of the sidewalk to stare at the walking flower. “We’re going
to Portugal?”

“Yes,” replied the protector. “Not today of
course, because of the time difference. We’ll have to meet earlier
tomorrow, so we can go as early as possible. We want it to still be
light there, even though it will be evening. But we need to go in
order to confirm my theory about what the Grak are up to. If what I
discovered is correct, we’ll find another fallen star there, and
hopefully find someone else who found an Uth rock next to it, just
like you and Jiu Na did.”

“Wow!” said George, not knowing what else to
say. “How did you find that out?”

“Come into the car, and I’ll show you,” said
the flower, starting to walk again. George followed behind, his
mind racing with this news. Then he chided himself silently for
getting excited about the protector’s new ‘discovery.’ Of course
the protector knew what the Grak were up to, since he was in league
with them! He knew their whole plan all along. He was just
pretending to have made a new discovery, to make George think he
was on his side.