The Hidden Link

Chapter 1

“Hey girlie.” I said, walking up to Harleigh. “I haven’t seen you in a while. Where’ve you been?”

    “I’ve been here all day.” She said, still scrolling through Grooveshark on her iPod. She looked different today, wearing a flowing dress, and she has never, ever worn a dress in all the time I’ve been with her. The only time I have ever seen her wear a dress is for homecoming, snowcoming, and prom. It was an electric blue, with spaghetti straps, and it fell to her knees. The dress draped around her thin body perfectly, falling in waves, looking like the summer sky was wrapped around her. This is just not her style, wearing dresses and all that. Her daily wardrobe consists of a black sweatshirt, on top of a dark tee, with a skirt and tights. Her shoes are either heels or platforms, all black.

    So I thought to myself, how can this get any weirder? I was in for a very bumpy ride.

~

    “Hey, you wanna hang out later?” I asked later that day. “I’m kinda getting bored hanging around my house all the time.”

    “No, I can’t hang out tonight. Sorry.”

    “Well ok then. I guess I’ll just spend another boring day at home just like every other day.” I said it like that because it always makes her change her mind. Every time.

“No, I told you that I can’t hang out tonight.” She looked at me, and I saw underneath her face, a dark, mangled, broken, rotted face, with hideous bulging white eyes. I only saw it for less than a second, but it was enough to scare me.

O My God, I thought, What is going on here. What is this...this thing, this creature that I saw staring out at me from beneath my best friends face?

My innate curiosity kept me up that night, so I knew that I needed to do something to satisfy my curiosity. That morning I started by acting like everything was absolutely normal and played like I suspected nothing.

I was talking to her when I felt something probing my mind. At first it felt like something was cracking my skull open, and then old memories started to resurface, things that I buried deeply for a reason. I collapsed, or really, more like fainted, in front of the guy I like. Literally in front of him. He caught me, sitting me on the floor so I didn’t have much farther to fall.

I could hear clearly everything that was going on and being said.

“OMiGod, what's going on?”

“What’s happening to her?”

“Is she like having a seizure or something?”

“No you dork, she’s not having a seizure. If she were she would be spazzing and foaming at the mouth. My brother has them sometimes.”

What is going on? I was really starting to get irritated because whoever was getting in my head was bringing memories back to life that I meant to forget. They just kept flooding through me, memory after memory, an unrelenting waterfall of memories cascading through my body.

Memories of me as a child with too much responsibility, taking care of a baby, helping my grandma. Some good, some bad.

Then like the sun suddenly bursting through a cloud, blinding you with brightness, I saw a great light, hovering over me.

“Leave this place you doer of evil, you can not have the human race, go back to your own home with your own people.” A great voice like thunder and rain yet with a feminine quality said. “You do not belong here.”

“I will not leave. You can not make me.” Now a voice like nails on a chalkboard spoke. “I have every right to be here on Earth. You doest not have to power to rid me of this place.”

“I may not have the power now, but that doest not mean that I can not gain it. It will be more pleasant for you if you leave now.”

“Guardian, do not anger me so. I will kill her.” That voice, so familiar, yet so unfamiliar, now sounded very angry.

“You know that I am called Guardian of the Doorways for a reason. No soul or being passes through the doorways without my permission. Reaper of --”

“Yet I have passed through these doorways. I do think that your power may be fading.”

“My power is not fading. You know that. You are here because this girls friend carries the link between worlds. She does not know that she carries this power, so she does not know how to control it, and so you took advantage of her. You know that, yet you question my power. I am stronger than you shall ever be. You shall not be able to take any soul through these doorways whilst I am Guardian here.”

Why is this beautiful voice standing up for me. I she my Guardian Angel?

“No, I am not a Guardian Angel. I am a Guardian, but I am not assigned to specific beings. I guard the doorways to Heaven, Hell, and Limbo. I judge the souls and send them accordingly. I also guard the entrances to the Otherworlds.” As she spoke, her voice turned silky smooth and I instinctively knew I could trust her. “Your suspicions were correct and you acted correctly. Your best friend was not your best friend.” Then almost to herself, she said, “The Hidden Link has been found, now that we know where it is, we can deal with it. But how?”

“What do you mean, The Hidden Link? What is it? What does it do?” I asked, and surprised myself. “Can you please make everything go back to normal?”

“I can, but I do not know if in doing that I would hurt your friend. I must acquire counsel.” She placed some sort of necklace around my neck. It was beautiful,...and heavy. “This is Peridot, it will ward against evil spirits and protect you and those around you. I hope that with my protection and the pendants, you will be safe.”

In a burst of light the Guardian disappeared. I woke to a crowd of nervous people watching me.

“OMiGod, she’s awake.” One girl said, looking like she’d seen a ghost.

I looked around, and saw that my head was in someone's lap, so I looked straight up, and saw him. Big blue eyes, short light brown hair. “Hey.” I said. “How long have I been out?”

“Only about an hour. We had to move you into the office.” His blue eyes searched my face, finally landing on my eyes. There was a look of shock on his face, like finding a twenty dollar bill in your back pocket.

“What?” I asked. He looked like a deer caught in headlights. “What is it?”

“Your eyes, I thought they were brown.” He said slowly.

Well, that was a rather odd statement. “They are. At least, they were when I looked in the mirror this morning. Why?”

“Well they’re not now. They’re green.”

“What do you mean, they’re green!? I’m one hundred ten percent positive that they’re brown.” I was a little worried. “Help me up.” As I stood, I felt this heavy weight against my throat. That’s odd, I thought, my marcasite necklace isn’t that heavy.

As I got to the mirror, I was afraid to look, afraid I would look hideous. I gathered my courage and looked. My face looked flawless, which was odd because I didn’t put any makeup on today. My hair shimmered, so I reached up and pulled my hair loose. It cascaded down my back, past my butt, in white bouncing curls, and not the white that said that you were old, but a white like you would dye your hair, only it was completely natural.

I heard gasps behind me, but I didn’t turn around. I wasn’t done looking yet. The next thing I turned to was my body, which was perfect, everything perfectly proportioned. I looked like a celebrity. I saved my eyes for last, and when I looked, I almost passed out from shock. They were green, but not and everyday green, they were a brilliant emerald green, and shone brightly.

I looked down and saw in the hollow of my throat, the Peridot pendant. It was beautiful, worthy of being worn by a queen.

Her voice came back through my head, “You are now well equipped for the Rising of the Otherworlds. Be prepared to fight.”

That was all the voice said, leaving my head, but yet her presence was still there. Here we go, I thought. I turned around, walked out the door, and prepared myself for a fight.