Protecting Peyton

Chapter Five

Will

"Are you coming to dinner tonight?" My mother asks through the phone.

"I plan on it, but you know how that goes..." I reply.

"Your father and I miss you, not to mention your little brother. He got stuck in a wall again this morning," Mom sighs.

"Jack is still getting stuck in walls? I just practiced with him and he was doing well," I say, worrying that Jack's abilities are still not progressing.

"I thought we agreed you'd keep him out of the war?" Mom says with an edge in her voice. I can practically hear her glare through the phone.
"I am, Mom. It's just in case something were to happen, I'm only keeping him safe. Do you want him kept out of the war or out of a grave?"

"I know, I just wish it wasn't our family, our friends, fighting a war that's no longer our own. I wish it would have stayed on Hetaniku." Mom voices for what may be the millionth time since we moved to Earth.

"I know mom, but it didn't and I can't help but feel it's partially our fault. Those of us that fled brought the war here..."

"I know, we'll keep doing what we have to. I love you," Mom says. We both know this conversation never ends happily. It's best to end it now.

"I love you too, see you soon," I say, then end the call.

Our homeworld of Hetaniku has been plagued by war for over a decade. In recent years, the violence has settled down slightly, but rebel groups have continued their attacks in less affluent areas heavily affected by the war already. Many Empazods fled when the violence began- my parents included- but now there is little hope of reprieve. All shuttle systems were destroyed in the first months of the war. Anyone still on Hentaniku will likely never live to see anything else.

The Guardians- our rulers- were assassinated by rebel groups hoping to gain an economic and political advantage when new guardians ascended. Our world was experiencing a small recession and these rebel groups targeted those most affected by the economic drop and recruited them for their war. No one realized that because the guardians were not meant to lose power when they did, new guardians would not ascend for a long time. It has been 18 long years, and still, there is little hope of finding new guardians.

I had seen the war first hand. I was seven when my parents had gathered up just what we needed to survive the trip to Earth and fled from inevitable demise. Our mother was pregnant with Lexi. The doctors said it was dangerous for Mom and her unborn child to engage in space travel, but my mother knew it was more dangerous to stay on a planet mangled by war. The rebel groups were merciless, callous and cold. They were relentless. They would stop at nothing to get what they wanted.

There is a prophecy that states a baby will bring peace to our world, but I don't have the whole prophecy and what I do have has not been confirmed by any reliable sources.

I stare at my whiteboard then glance back to my corkboard. Strings connect pins that hold up small pieces of paper. The paper describes battles and key members of gangs and armies. My sister, Lexi has helped me put most of this together. She comes into our magical hideout inside my bakery as often as she can. I am fiercely protective of her, meaning I am mostly against her fighting in this war, but she is a fantastic fighter and an even better strategist. This war has taught me and my family the importance of necessary evils. It'd be stupid to forbid Lexi from fighting, not only because she'd do it anyway, but because she was damn good at it. Letting Lexi fight scared me more than anything. I hated that she had to give up being a teenage girl to fight this war. But she'd proven just how much of an asset she could be the first time she battled.

Lexi and I were in the hideout when I got a text. I told her to stay put, but she refused. We rushed to the scene and Lexi was out of the van before I was, snapping necks and throwing enemies' bodies using her abilities. I kept a close eye on her, but she was perfectly fine. She was only sixteen at the time, and I told her that would never happen again, but it seemed that wasn't in the cards. This war had become the family business.

I continue to stare until my vision blurs. This is maddening work. I walk out of the hideout and into the bakery. Macie greets me when I walk through the door into the back room.

"Hey, Macie. How are things?" I ask. She tells me we are out of cinnamon rolls and sugar cookies and she's already baked an extra batch of both. I tell her I'm leaving a little early and remind her where the keys are so that she can lock up at closing time. I grab my jacket, phone, wallet, and keys before heading out to my black conversion van. I have some shopping to do before going to dinner back home.

I made a list earlier of all the things I needed for the week. I prep everything one day in the week when I have time, then I have everything ready when I get home and have no time to mess with the shit. I get in and out of the store quickly. I head home and put everything in the fridge. I turn on my music and set to work. I get out the ingredients for Monday and begin to mix everything together. I'll admit I dance along to the song as I prepare my chicken and veggies. I place everything in the fridge before getting out Tuesday's food. I get a feeling in the pit of my stomach that something isn't right. It's been too quiet lately. I finish all my meal prep before cleaning up to go to Mom and Dad's house.

It looks like Lexi is just getting into the driveway as I pull up to my childhood home. I park my conversion van behind her blue malibu and get out. Lexi immediately comes to give me a hug.

"Hey, kid, where were you?" I inquire.

"I'll tell you everything later; I don't want to scare Mom and Dad." Lexi sighs.

"Let's head in before they worry. How's Jack?" I converse as I walk to the door.

"Getting better. He hasn't lost control of his mind reading in a while." Lexi smiles.

"That's great! I remember those headaches..." I trail off.

"Me too. Gosh, those were so bad. All those voices going off in your head..." We reach the door and Lexi opens it with her abilities. Jack is at the door in a flash to wrap me in an embrace. They act like I've been gone for months instead of a week. I guess they have every right to worry when I go out to battle all the damn time. I've been very lucky to come back home with nothing more than scratches and small bruises every time I've battled so far. At any time that could change.

"Hey, kiddo!" I ruffle Jack's hair.

"Hey, Will! Guess what?" Jack says excitedly.

"What?"

"I moved the couch all by myself today!" Jack proclaims proudly. "It only took me two seconds to move it ten feet!"

"That's great, buddy!" I say happily. Jack is in the ninth grade, but he has some difficulty when it came to his powers. Lexi and I had great handles on our abilities before we were in middle school, but Jack has had to work a little harder to grasp his abilities. He's getting a lot better now, learning faster and controlling his abilities better. He's matured a lot in the last year. I think the gravity of the war is getting to him.

"Kids! Come eat!" Mom shouts. She hugs me the second I get into the dining room, quickly followed by Dad. We sit down and enjoy our meal. Conversation is easy. How school is going, the bakery, work and the weather. The war is never mentioned. We don't even talk about our abilities or the fact that we're not even human. For now, we're the perfect little family. We try to keep it that way at the dinner table. It's our time for solace and peace. We get those things so rarely these days. 

This one is one of my longest chapters so far, but don't get used to it. My classes start back up again tomorrow, and I have no idea how I'm gonna adjust.  I promise I'll do my best to keep writing. And I promise one day this story will be finished! It's been kinda difficult coming back to this story cause there are things that I forgot and I never wrote them down. So I have to go back and reread all the time to figure out what's going on. There's a point where I know Will is foreshadowing something, but I don't remember what it's supposed to be lol. That being said, if you guys are confused by anything or you notice plot holes, LET ME KNOW! I wanna give you guys the best story possible, and the only way I can do that is if you tell me what you think. 

Thanks for reading. Catch ya later!