Guardian: Protectors of Light (26 page)

“
James, I
hope you can hear me,” Samira whispered. “I- I know you can. And
even if you can’t, I just need you to know that I am sorry for
everything that’s happened... If I’d never told you about the
Legend of the Guardians, you never would’ve begged Dad to tell it
to you. I always thought it was a fairytale.

Of course, all of us
did.” She paused for a second, hesitating if she should go on.
“I... I didn’t believe in fairy tales, because I didn’t believe in
Magic. I thought it was nonsense... But this adventure, all of
this, is making me realise that I was wrong.

Everything we’ve been
through- together- I- I don’t think-” her voice
faltered.

“
I- I-
remember you said- when we were young- that- we’d always be
together, but now it just looks like this world is doing everything
to tear us apart, and I don’t think I could ever go back home if
you’re not there to go with me.”

Samira turned her face to
the ceiling and pressed her lips and eyelids together not to burst
out in tears.
“Good night, Jamey,” she said, and gave her brother a kiss on the
forehead before leaving the room, determined not to return before
morning. Because if she would, she knew she wouldn’t be able to get
herself to leave.

*

“
I wanted to
be there for him.”

Morning had
come, and all Samira had done since she’d woken up, was sit inside
the infirmary, waiting for Queen Eloine’s confirmation that she
could continue healing him. Thomas had joined her after a while,
unknowing whether or not she would lose it if she was left waiting
too long.

“
You 
are
 there for
him, Samira,” Thomas said. “Like you always have been. He knows you
are.”
“No, I wasn’t there for him to prevent him from getting hit,”
Samira replied. “I... This curse was meant for
me. I
should be the one lying in this bed.” her voice started to
falter, and she stopped talking to prevent the tears from streaming
down her cheeks.

“
It wasn’t your fault,” Thomas said. “If it was anyone’s
fault, it was mine. I caused the curse to get sent in another
direction.” He paused for a second, but then was reminded of
something. “And by the way, you know you would’ve
died
almost instantly if you would’ve been cursed,
right?”

“
Does it make a difference?” Samira said and looked at
Thomas. She looked as if she was about to cry. “Now
he’s
dying.”

“
He’s already
looking better than last night. I think he’s recovering,” Thomas
said. “I mean – the marks are already fading.”

“
Thinking, assuming, it’s still no
assurance 
that
 he’ll ever
recover, Thom,” Samira sighed in desperation. “I- I just can’t
accept that one of us won’t make it out of here alive! It’s not
fair! Not towards him, not towards any of us! We
never 
chose
 to be
here! I- I want to go home! I want to forget all of this and
pretend like it’s never happened!

I want to wake up from
this terrible nightmare!”

To finally tell her
troubles and speak from her heart was hard for Samira, because it
made her finally realise that she was feeling just as scared as
James had been in the past few days. It was hard for Samira to
accept that she was scared, but it was the truth.

And – she wasn’t alone.
Thomas admitted to her was more scared than he had ever been in his
entire life. In barely a week, they had nearly been killed over
four times – and now James was at the brink of death. But this was
different – he was there on his own, with no one else to share the
pain with.

And it was serious
pain.

“
Thomas,
yesterday you said you  trusted me. That I could do it. That I
could succeed in healing him. You said you trusted Queen Eloine and
Violina. So please trust me now when I say that you’re not the one
to blame. James wouldn’t want you to blame yourself.”
Thomas looked at Samira, and Samira looked at Thomas.

“
He wouldn’t
want you to blame yourself, either,” Thomas simply said. “He
would’ve done the same for you.”

“
You’re...
you’re right.” Samira smiled weakly. “Can you smile for me,
Thomas?” she asked.
“Maybe,” Thomas replied, but did smile at her
eventually.

He’s so gorgeous when he smiles
, Samira suddenly thought.
I never noticed before.

She didn’t have more time
to think about Thomas’ smile though, because Queen Eloine and
Violina walked into the room. They looked exactly the same as the
day before, like they’d never gone to sleep at all.

“
I understand
the way you must be feeling about this,” Violina said, as she
approached the duo.

“
I understand
that you’re fearing for the life of you and your friends,” Queen
Eloine said, as she joined her sister.

“
But both of
you; keep holding on to faith. Keep holding on to hope and you’ll
find out everything will be all right in the end. And if it’s not,
then it’s not the end,” Violina continued.

“
If one of us
dies, it’s the end, and then it’s not okay,” Thomas answered the
Queen and the Princess – if she was one.

“
Death
doesn’t have to be the end of the line, Thomas,” Violina said.
“What that means, you will learn on your journey.”

Thomas threw her an
uncomprehending look for a few seconds, but then his attention went
back to the Queen.

“
I’m assuming
you want to continue healing him?” he asked. Queen Eloine
nodded.

“
I know what
you are trying to ask, Thomas. But no matter how bas you want to
stay with him, to watch over him, you won’t help him by staying
here and exhausting yourself by worrying and not sleeping. I want
you to go take some rest.”
Thomas stared at Queen Eloine.

“
I-” he
mumbled. “I- All right.”

He stood up, and Samira
joined him. But in order to do so, she had to let go of James’s
hand. As soon as James had lost the touch of his sister’s hand, he
started to wince.

Without opening his eyes,
James attempted to lift up the hand Samira’s hand had just let go
of, seeking to get her back.
“Samira... don’t go!” he wheezed, and at that exact moment, the
marks on James’s hands and face that had once been fading, now
turned pitch black and because dark as they had been before the
first healing.

“
Q-Queen
Eloine? What’s going on? What’s happening to him?” Samira shouted
in shock.

Thomas just covered his
mouth with his hand in horror. What was happening? All Samira had
done was remove her hand.

“
Samira,
Violina, we must act now. I need the both of you to assist me,”
Queen Eloine said. There was a trace of panic in her eyes.
“Somehow, James has caused the Flu to skip two stages. His
situation is critical.”

“
But what has
caused this to happen?” Samira said , still horrified.
Queen Eloine glared at her. “You,” she said. “It happened when you
let go of his hand. Fear has triggered this, Samira.” She paused
for a second. “Fear of being alone.”

“
So...”
Thomas mumbled.

“
Samira, while we attempt to heal him with the potion, you
have to keep holding his hand. You need to tell him that you’re
still there. You have to remind him he’s not alone,” Queen Eloine
said. “That might be the only way to slow the Flu down and save
him. And no matter what you do:
don’t stop trying.
”
Samira bit her lip and nodded. She sat back down on the bed, while
the two fairies approached James from the head’s end of the bed,
carrying the bowl with the golden liquid.

It was the last flower
they had. It was James’s last hope. If this didn’t work, nothing
would.

Samira grabbed James’s
hand and started to talk desperately. “James, can you hear me?
You’re going to be okay, James. I promise. You hear me?” she
whispered.
“You’re going to be okay...” She stopped for a second and listened
to the song the fixies were singing while healing him. It was some
kind of Latin chant, but she couldn’t understand what they were
singing.

But of course, Thomas
could.

“
Power of the Spirits, we hereby summon thee

To help us
save this soul, to set the Magic inside it free

Help him,
help him

Solve his
damned fate

Reverse the
clock, turn back time

Help him,
help him,

It’s not too late
”
Samira stopped listening to the singing fixies as soon as she saw
James’s eyes moving behind his eyelids.
“Sam...ira...” the boy gasped weakly, barely audible due to
the two fixies who were trying all they could to save his
life.

“
James, I’m
so sorry I dragged you into this mess,” Samira cried. “I’m so sorry
James...”

“
Samira...”
James gasped. “You... shouldn’t... be...”

The redhead teenager let
out his breath and stopped moving, causing Samira’s heart to skip a
beat. Or two. Or many.
“JAMES!” Samira screamed. “JAMES! HOLD ON! You’re going to be okay,
you hear me? You can do this! You are strong enough! You’re going
to be all right...” Her voice slowly faded out from powerful
yelping to soft, heartbreaking throbs. “You’re going to be fine...
James... Please... Wake up!”
Suddenly, something impossible happened. A bright, golden light
quickly spread across the black marks, and caused James to float a
few centimetres above the bed.
The now brightly glowing marks separated into tiny, golden energy
bulbs with a flash before disappearing. James had been
cured.

The light extinguished as
the last energy bulbs disappeared, and James slowly sank down to
the bed.

When Samira finally had
gathered enough courage to look at James’s face, he noticed that
all the marks had disappeared, revealing how pale the boy had been
underneath them.
James’s chest raised and lowered slowly and steadily.

“
James?”
Samira whispered. Tears stung behind her eyes, but she managed to
hold herself strong enough not to let them go. She heard Thomas
behind her, approaching them carefully.

James’s eyes moved behind
his eyelids again before he managed to open his eyes a
little.
“Samira,” the sixteen-year-old uttered with a weak smile on his
face.

“
Oh, James,”
Samira let out in a sigh of relief. “You’re-”
“Tired,” James interrupted him with a broad yawn. “Tired and weak,
but alive.”

Thomas smiled at James.
“We should let you rest a little,” he said.
“It seems like they’ve completely forgotten about us two still
being here,” Violina said, but smiled when James heard her and
smiled at her.
“Oh well. He’s back in the world of the living and that’s what
matters,” Samira said; as she noticed James had managed to sit up,
she laughed and hugged him tight. James laughed as well.

Two voices, loudly
talking, were approaching the room. It wasn’t hard to identify the
two voices as Bella and Antonio, arguing as usual. “But he wasn’t
there all night, he must have-” Antonio replied to something Bella
had said as they entered the room, but he was quickly interrupted
by Bella.

“
Look,
Antonio! He’s back!”

“
James!
You’re all right!” Antonio grinned.

“
Of course I
am,” James said, slightly overconfident. He was recovering quickly,
but it was unlikely that he would be allowed to run about by Samira
straight away.

Nobody seemed to notice
that something had been going down between Violina and her sister;
they were arguing silently. “Fine,” Eloine said finally, to
conclude the argument.

“
We’ll leave
you guys alone for a minute,” Violina said, as she chased her
sister, who was stomping out of the room. “We’ll be right
back.”

“
So, James,”
Bella said, as she sat down on the bed, on the other side of James.
“How are you feeling now?”

“
Much better,
luckily,” James said; the colour had started to return to his face,
leaving a lot more of a healthy impression than he’d done a few
minutes ago. “So, Antonio, in case you want to fight me one of
these days; I’m open for business!”

But to everyone’s
surprise, Antonio wasn’t there. “Where’d he go?” Bella
said.

“
I don’t
know,” Thomas said on an irritated tone. “But I’ll find him. You
guys just wait a minute.”

Thomas checked
everywhere; the bedroom, the main room; even the bathroom stall
outside the temple. But Antonio was nowhere to be found.

As he entered the hallway
on his way back to the infirmary, Thomas noticed a door that had
been opened at a crack.

He heard Violina and
Queen Eloine discussing at the other side of the door, and it
sounded seriously.

Thomas wasn’t an eavesdropper by nature, but the way the
discussion between the two sisters sounded caused him to get
curious, so he decided to silently listen at the door for a
while.
“Violina, I am 
begging
 you to
come back.”