The Descendants and the Missing Guardian

Chapter Three

"Sorry," Belvedere giggled. "It's a side effect to the sleeping powder. Makes the person a wee little bit groggy, or is it giddy? I can never remember which. Oh well, it only lasts for about twenty minutes. Personally, I like her better like this."

They heard the back door open, followed by footsteps running up the stairs. "Stay behind me," Belvedere warned as he jumped in front of the children.

The hallway floor creaked outside the bedroom door.

"We know you're out there!" Belvedere said. "You can't hide from me. I'm Head Guardian of the Crossroads."

"Belvedere?" Mrs. Ogle's voice called from the hallway.

"Tulia?" Belvedere replied.

"Of course it's me," Mrs. Ogle appeared in the doorway. She took off her hood which revealed the same tuft of blue hair as Belvedere. "But please, I prefer to be called Mrs. Ogle now."

"What on earth are you doing here?" he asked.

"Funny you should ask me that," she said. "Seeing as you are the one who banished me here."

"I did not banish you. You ran away."

"You abandoned me. Mother would have been very upset with you had she not shifted into a cloud and blew away all those years ago. Anyway, you're lucky I was over here. Someone needed to keep an eye on these wee ones, especially this last year.

"Whoa," Seth said. "You two know each other?"

"Knew is more accurate," Mrs. Ogle said as she rolled her eyes. "At least, I thought I knew him. What kind of brother makes his sister leave home!"

"You're siblings?" he asked.

"Barely," she said. "I didn't inherit the shape-shifting gene. Apparently that makes me less worthy of travel than my brother."

"Tulia," Belvedere said. "Please don't start. We have more important things to deal with at the moment."

"We need to wake up Jared," Seth said, still fighting off Marin's pinching fingers.

Everyone followed Seth back into his bedroom.

"Okay, Belvedere," Seth said reaching up and pulling back Jared's blanket. "Snap him out of it!"

Instead of snapping his fingers, Belvedere gasped. Marin burst into laughter.

"What's the problem?" Seth said turning back to the bed. "Just snap-"

Jared's bed was empty, except for the book he had been reading earlier.

"I thought you said you gave him that sleeping stuff?"

"I did. This is not good. No, no, no it is not good. We have to go now."

"Where are we going?" Marin asked.

"Where's my brother?" Seth demanded.

"Don't you see?" Belvedere said reaching out and grabbing Seth's shoulders. "They took him too."

"I am not going anywhere until you start giving some better answers."

"I will share everything once we are safe. The longer we stay here, the more you two are at risk. I'm sorry for this-" Belvedere said as he snapped his fingers.

"Sorry?" Seth watched as Belvedere's body stretched tall and then shot upward.

Before he could react, there was a gentle tugging at Seth's hair. His entire body felt lighter as his arms lifted from his sides. Soon his entire body pulled upward, stretching out like an elastic band. He shot up into the air catching a glimpse of the roof of his house as his vision blurred. Gravity pushed against him, pressing his chin against his chest. Within seconds, his feet touched the ground and the rest of his body slumped gently back into place.