(Content/trigger warnings for this chapter: anxiety, depression-like thing)
**Isabelle**
I stood in Zo's room. The butterflies had left for now. The air was cool, and five people, mostly girls, had spread out in the large, dark space. Zo slept in their bed with a sixth grader named Brooklyn. She was nearly falling off, while Zo's face was pressed against a wall the same shade of black as their hair. At the opposite end of the room, an open laptop glowing and whirring softly on a desk lit the faces of Cathey and an Asian girl named Paula, both sprawled on the floor. Cathey's blond curls were tangled, and she kicked in her sleep. I didn't know who the final girl was, for blue blankets completely covered her except for long red hair, but her sleep-mumbling sounded like a girl's voice.
In the center of the room was a space I could've gone, had I not been too scared to sleep with the light off. And had I not been a spirit.
"Guys," I said as loudly as I could, my voice raspy and whispering. "Zo? Cathey?" Yet, as I'd expected, no one woke up. I stepped across the room and tried to nudge Zo, but my fingers passed through them. When I tried Cathey, the same. They didn't believe in spirit-me. Mom had tried to call them and explain what had happened, but neither believed her. It was strange; if they could believe I had powers and a Guardian Angel, why couldn't they believe this? It had to be the soother. Yet, it didn't make it any less painful.
"I'm sorry," Jack said beside me.
My heart ached, and I sniffled. Memories of Zo's jokes and playing soccer with Cathey flitted through my mind. Zo trying to teach me about Minecraft redstone, and Cathey saying she'd fight a dangerous supernatural being for me. All of us laughing together at lunch on my good days.
If my anxiety hadn't been so bad, this never would have happened. I could have defeated Pitch without turning into a spirit, perhaps. I was worthless to myself and others, to my friends and the people who died from the Terror Storms. If my anxiety really wasn't my fault... No, I couldn't believe that.
Ranya got to go back to school. Since she would no longer be ostracizing people, she could make friends now, she had said. The Guardians had captured Caelum, so the school was safe. They didn't yet know how to remove the powers the Watcher had given her, but felt imprisoning her asleep on Sandy's Dreamsand island was safe for now.
Ranya got a second chance. I didn't.
"It's hard," Jack continued. "I know. I lost all my friends and family when becoming a spirit."
"But you could at least leave Burgess. I can't leave Windshallow." My powers had gone wild outside my town's borders. They had never done that before, but I had never used them there. Once Ranya had teleported me back home, the Echoes vanished. Dakota had joined us when we arrived, and said I likely had a similar curse to hers.
"I could always bring you people to make friends with. But this is hard. I'll give you time."
I looked away and watched sleeping chests rise and fall. The house creaked in the harsh wind, and the heater kicked in with its drone. The girl under all the blankets slipped farther under her covers.
"Do you think I could email them?" I asked.
"I tried before I became a Guardian; they can't see what we write," Jack said. Paula turned in her sleep. "But maybe... we could find Lotus. They're probably immortal, if they've been around for so long. That vision you told us about, I think that happened many years ago. You get along with Lotus, right?"
I thought about what I had seen back in the woods, the time out of balance. I'd sensed Lotus there. Where were they? "I'd have no idea where to begin."
"That would be the hard part. But they seem to know things about this fight that we don't—we need to find them." Jack tapped his staff. "What did they call you? A past-traveler?"
"Yes. I think they made that term up, though. Other things to do with my powers, I know what they are without anyone telling me. Like 'Echo.'"
Elsewhere in the house, feet thumped down the hall. Jack sighed. "I know this probably doesn't help, but I think Sophie might let you keep that dress if you ask nicely." He gave me a small smile. Jamie and Sophie had survived the storm.
My cheeks warmed a little at that suggestion. I looked down at my clothes, however. Mud splattered across the outfit. My chest twinged. Hopefully Mom could wash it out. "Perhaps."
"Maybe she could be your friend. She's around your age. I could always bring her to Windshallow to visit."
The wind outside calmed, and the heater shut off, and we were left in complete silence aside from the laptop's whirring.
I hadn't had any time alone since the Guardians first arrived, and it weighted my shoulders and chest. The silence here spoke of pretend solitude. But I wouldn't be able to really be alone for a while if I wanted to stay safe.
I glanced around the room once more. "I'm ready to leave." At least most spirits didn't need sleep, so I didn't have to worry about any dangerous supernatural beings creeping up on me while I was unconscious. No more waking up terrified in the night.
Jack walked toward the window next to Zo's bed. As a spirit, I could go through them now as well. I shuffled toward him.
Jack turned to me and opened his mouth, but no sound emerged. The hum of the laptop vanished. The sensation of the solid floor beneath my feet disappeared. The world darkened.
The scene that formed in its place was Ranya's room. Dark. She slept in her bed under the window; she was curled up toward the wall. And though I couldn't see her face, the plants filling her room were the ones she had now, so I guessed this was near the present. The slow unsynced breaths of my other family members elsewhere sounded like discordant music.
Ranya's calm washed over my chest like soothing waves. I like trees, came her thoughts. They're so friendly. So I could still perceive thoughts and feelings in visions.
The air behind me shifted. I strained to see who or what had caused it, but couldn't move. I could only watch as someone approached with slow, quiet steps and low breaths. He soon came into view: the Watcher. My heart beat rapidly at his closeness.
I sensed no emotions from him. No thoughts, either.
He stopped a few inches from the bed and looked down at Ranya.
And the vision vanished.
By the time I returned home, the rest of my family had already gone to bed. All except Ranya.
She typed on her laptop at the dining table, a simple light fixture glowing above her. The rest of the house was dark.
"I need more plants," she said when she caught me looking. "And I thought you might want some company for a little while."
I bit my lip. "Ranya... I need to tell you about something."
She seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation and closed her laptop, her bright green eyes piercing. "What is it?"
I glanced behind me at Jack to ask him to please leave. He seemed to know what I wanted without words, for he just nodded and headed upstairs.
It was a cloudless night. The Moon shone full and purple above Windshallow, directly through the dining room window.
"Ranya..." I clutched my hands together. "Jamie said something when you left, and... tonight I had this vision... Ranya, Pitch did something to you, years ago. You can't be a Guardian."
---
--Ranya--
No. "Why?" I realized my mistake. I shouldn't have kept this information from her. "...Isabelle, there's something I need to tell you, too. I'm sorry for not telling you at the start. Six years ago, your first Guardian Angel told me I'd have to take your place as a Guardian, or you would die."
Isabelle's face grew pale, and she looked down. "Then perhaps we shouldn't trust him." She sniffled, and I couldn't tell if it was from losing her friends or thinking her first protector was actually evil.
But— "I don't think so," I said. "He led me to save Dakota, and helped me figure out that the Guardians at our house were fakes. Why would he do that if he wasn't on our side?"
"I don't know, but Pitch did something to you. If my first Guardian Angel wanted to do good, he would have chosen someone else to take my place."
"Maybe he didn't have a choice. Maybe I was the only one available. I—"
"Ranya."
Something about her made me pause. Her voice broke, and she looked at me with big, shining eyes full of belief. Isabelle wouldn't tell me something that might jeopardize her life unless she was absolutely sure it wouldn't.
"Isabelle..." I sighed. My eyes burned, and the weight threatened to drag me to the center of the earth. If my becoming a Guardian would put others in danger...
A fizzing sound emitted from the kitchen. We ran over to see the pink disc spin faster and lengthen to Lotus's size. Its surface hummed, and they appeared in the haze.
"Isabelle!" Lotus grinned. "Ranya! You're both still alive!"
"Lotus, Pitch ran away," Isabelle said, "but he's still out there somewhere, and so are the Watcher and the soothing woman."
Lotus's grin fell. The Time Rift flickered. "They didn't use the full extent of their powers, did they?"
"No," I said.
"Lotus, can we trust my first Guardian Angel?" Isabelle clutched her hands to her chest. She's scared.
Lotus tapped their fingers together and stared at them. "That is a... complicated question. The short answer is—yes. I would trust him with my life. The long answer is, he's..." Lotus frowned, and their gaze grew distant. They opened their mouth again, but the Time Rift fizzed out, folding in on itself until it vanished.
Isabelle and I stared where it had been.
"Can we trust your first Guardian Angel...?" I mumbled.
"Lotus said it was complicated, but we know for certain that Pitch did something to you. Though if what my first Guardian Angel said was correct..."
I stood straighter. "Then I'll have to figure out what Pitch did and undo it. Maybe I can get Dakota to help me again. If she thinks I'm dangerous, wouldn't she want the danger gone? Whatever it is, we have to stop it.
"And if I can, I'll take your place as a Guardian, Isabelle. I promise."
---
Lullay sweet sister
Go softly to sleep
Don't fret about the fading light
The monsters that rise up tonight
They may draw near
But I'll always be here
Protecting you through the blight
Sister, focus on the bright
Go softly to sleep
You will be all right
---
Coming soon: The Secrets We Keep, part 2 of the Guardians of Windshallow series.
(A/N: Thank you for reading! I'll have the second part to the series out as soon as I can. I'm close to finishing its outline, and then after that, I'll write and edit a section of chapters before I begin posting. Because I'll be doing this part section by section instead of writing, editing, and then posting the whole thing, updates won't be as regular, but if I completed the whole story before posting, you wouldn't see it for years. I'm also busy, and working on my other fanfiction (The Loved and the Lies and the Lost), so it will likely be some time until I get it out, but I am determined to begin posting once I can!
Follow me for regular updates on my progress toward that goal! You can also join my Discord server to get those updates, and also make friends with fellow RotG fans, talk about my fanfictions, and post and talk about your fanworks! Copy and paste this link to join: https://discord.gg/fA5Abk86)