I got back to headquarters and went straight to my bedroom.
Any other time I would have been able to take it but lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Luca and it just really affected me when Connor mentioned him.
I think I just needed some more time. I wasn’t ready to be responsible for somebody else’s life when I wasn’t even in control of my own.
I decided to speak with Elder the next day. He was a reasonable guardian. I was sure I could get him to assign Connor to another guardian – maybe Casey.
Maybe I would take the time to get some counseling. Because even though I believed I wasn’t ready to be Connor’s guardian, I did want to be a guardian again.
Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.
* * * * *
The next morning, I got up early.
I headed downstairs to the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee.
Casey came downstairs soon after my coffee was brewed. She poured herself a cup and sat down across from me.
“So how did things go last night? Is Connor safe?” Casey asked.
“Yeah, he’s safe, but I’m asking Elder if Connor can be reassigned.”
“Why? What happened?” Casey asked.
“Connor just said something that made me realize I need to work on myself before helping a new charge,” I answered.
“What did he say?” Casey asked.
“He just made a comment about Luca,” I replied.
“Goodness, what is wrong with this guy?” Casey asked. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I just realized that if mentioning Luca still affects me this much after almost 60 years, than I need to work on myself before I can protect another person. And maybe I’ll be a better guardian because of it,” I said. I took the last sip of my coffee and stood up. “Do you want to go shopping?”
“Uh, sure,” Casey replied.
“Excellent,” I said. “I’m just going to get dressed then we can go. I’ll meet you down here in thirty minutes.”
“Okay,” Casey said. She was looking at me with a concerned look on her face.
I went up to my room to get changed. I straightened my brunette hair and applied some makeup. I put on a pair of black jeans and a long sleeved purple top. I slipped on black heels and went downstairs to the main part of the headquarters.
Casey was sitting in a chair. She stood up when she saw me.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked.
“Yes,” Casey replied. “So are you sure you’re okay?”
“Of course I am,” I answered. I lifted my arm to hail a taxi. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because of everything you just told me,” She replied.
“Oh, that, yes I’m fine,” I said. “I promise.” I added once I saw the look on her face.
We got into a taxi and headed down to Fifth Avenue. As guardians, we could afford whatever we wanted because there was basically an unlimited amount of money available to us. I had no idea how Elder got it but each month there was a deposit of $50,000 into every guardians bank account.
“Where do you want to go first?” I asked Casey.
Casey looked down the seemingly endless stores. “Gucci.”
“Fantastic choice,” I smiled. “Gucci it is.”
I paid the taxi driver and hopped out of the taxi behind Casey. I eyed the Gucci store and walked towards it with fierce determination. I was going to drown out my problems with a girl’s best friend, shopping. Or maybe that was diamonds. Oh well, I was going to spend loads of money.
“Are you coming, Sarah?” Casey asked. She was a few feet ahead of me and had turned back. I realized that I had stopped to think.
I smiled. “Of course. Let’s get spending.” I followed Casey into the store.
Eight hours later, Casey and I returned to headquarters with enough bags to make any hardcore shopper gawk. We collapsed on the chairs on the main floor.
“We sure got a lot of stuff,” I commented, looking at my nine bags.
Casey looked at her seven large bags and one Tiffany & Co. blue bag. She had bought herself a diamond necklace. It was gorgeous.
“Can I see the necklace again?” I asked Casey.
“Sure,” She smiled and began pulling it out of its bag. She stopped and looked to her left. “Sarah, Elder’s here.” She nodded towards the oldest guardian who had just walked into the foyer. He was talking to another guardian, Blake.
“Okay,” I stood up and took a deep breath. I walked over to where Elder was standing. When he saw me, he ended his conversation with Blake.
“Sarah, how are you?” Elder asked.
“I’m doing all right,” I answered.
“How is your assignment?” Elder asked.
“That’s actually what I came here to speak with you about,” I replied.
“What’s the problem?” Elder asked.
“I know this is asking a lot, but I’d like to have Connor Duncan reassigned. We just really aren’t a good fit,” I replied.
Elder looked at me for a few minutes. My heart rate sped up with each passing moment.
“Okay,” He finally said.
“Okay?” I asked surprised.
“Yes, if this is what you really want, then okay,” Elder replied. “I’ll have him reassigned. I’ll find him for you later and then you can go and tell him.”
“All right, thank you,” I replied.
“I’ll find you later once I’ve tracked him down,” Elder replied. “Have a good day, Sarah.”
“You too, Elder,” I replied.
I walked back towards Casey, who was rummaging through her shopping bags. She pulled out an Alexander McQueen scarf.
“Beautiful,” I smiled when I reached her.
“Merci,” She twirled the scarf around her slender neck. “So how did everything go?”
“Good,” I replied. “Elder’s going to track him down for me and I’m going to tell him tonight that he’s going to be reassigned.”
“Don’t you feel anything?” Casey asked.
“Not really,” I admitted. “I’m happy to be taken off his case and I’m sure he’ll be thrilled. I don’t really think he liked me very much.”
“Well if it’s what you want,” Casey replied.
“It is,” I said. I looked at my watch. “But I have to start go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sure,” Casey stood up. “Good luck tonight.”
“Thanks,” I smiled, picked up my bags and walked towards the dorms.
When I reached my bedroom, I tossed my bags on my bed and started putting all the news clothes I had bought today into their new homes. It took me almost forty-five minutes to do it. When I was finished, it was after 7:30pm. I sat down on my bed. It had been a long day. There was a knock at my door.
“Hello,” I called.
“Hi,” A vaguely familiar voice called from the other side.
I opened the door. Jasmine, another guardian was standing there. She was a newer guardian, she was still in training.
“Hey, Jasmine, how are you?” I asked.
“I’m good, thanks,” She smiled timidly. “Elder asked me to give you this.” She handed me a slip of paper. I looked at it briefly. It had an address on it.
“Thanks,” I replied. “I really appreciate you bringing this to me.”
“Oh no problem,” She said. “I’ll see you around.” She waved and began walking back down the hall.
I pocketed the slip of paper and started getting changed. I recognized that address. It was a club in Manhattan. I walked over to my closet and opened it. It was nearly overflowing with all the clothes I had acquired. I pulled out a cobalt blue, off one shoulder dress and a pair of matching heels. I changed into them. I headed into my bathroom and curled my hair. I fixed up my makeup and headed out the door. I didn’t especially feel like dressing up, but the first rule we learned in guardian training was to never look out of place. Since I hadn’t been to a club since the summer, I didn’t really know what to wear in the fall.
I left headquarters and hailed a taxi. I wasn’t planning on taking the subway in this dress. It was nearly $4000. It took me nearly fifteen minutes to get a taxi and I wasn’t wearing a very thick jacket. I rubbed my hands together when I got into the taxi and told the taxi driver where to go. Once we were on our way, I tucked the slip of paper with the address on it back into my sparkly blue clutch.
It only took twenty minutes to get to the club. By that time, it was almost pitch-black out. The New York City streets were lit up with street lights that peppered the streets. I paid the taxi driver and hopped out of the taxi. I was standing in front of Manhattan’s hottest club of the moment. I walked up to the bouncer. He looked at me and waved me ahead of everyone else in the seemingly endless line.
When I got inside the music was blasting and there were people dancing everywhere. It was hard to see Connor. But finally after nearly ten minutes of searching, I saw him in the back of the club dancing with two girls who looked to be about twenty-one years old. I made my way through the throng of people, pushing some sleaze balls out of the way every few feet. I finally reached him. When he saw me he waved away his lady-friends.
“Sarah, what are you doing here? I’m not in any trouble, nor was I,” Connor replied. “How did you find me?”
“It doesn’t matter how I found you, but I’m here to tell you that you’re being reassigned,” I answered.
“What?” Connor asked. He clearly wasn’t expecting this to come out of my mouth.
“I just don’t think that either of us are happy with the current situation,” I replied.
“I thought once you were assigned to someone that was it,” Connor replied. I was surprised that he wasn’t jumping for joy.
“Well usually that’s the case, but I spoke with Elder, the oldest guardian, and he agreed to have you reassigned due to certain circumstances,” I answered. “So you’re free until you can be assigned another guardian.”
“Oh okay,” Connor replied. “But why are you being asked to be reassigned?”
“It’s just not working out between us,” I said. I suddenly felt like I was breaking up with him.
“Is it because of what I said?” Connor asked abruptly.
“What?” I asked.
“You know, last night I mentioned something about your fiancé and you left without saying another word,” Connor answered. “So I was just wondering if that had anything to do with your decision.”
“To be honest, yes,” I said.
“Oh, well I’m sorry,” Connor said. He actually seemed like he regretted it.
“That’s okay,” I replied. “It’s not entirely your fault.”
“Thanks, I guess,” He replied.
“I guess I’ll be off then,” I said, looking at my watch. “I’ll let you get back your dates.” I nodded towards the two blondes Connor was dancing with a few minutes earlier. I noticed that they were glaring at me. “Your groupies are getting jealous.”
Connor smiled. “Okay, well it was nice to meet you.”
He stuck out his right hand for a handshake. I smiled and returned the gesture. “It was interesting to meet you.”
“Bye,” Connor waved at me. He walked back over to the two blondes and started dancing with them again.
I saw the door and had just passed the bouncer on the other side when I was approached by three men. They were obviously drunk and when they saw me their eyes lit up.
“Hey gorgeous,” The one who was obviously the leader said. He stopped so that he blocked my path and his friends stood beside him. “I’m Joshua. What’s your name?”
“Leave me alone, please,” I tried to walk around him but he moved sideways so I couldn’t walk past him.
“Come on love, why are you being so rude?” Joshua asked me. He touched my arm and it took everything I had not to cringe. His hand was ice cold and sweaty. He reeked of alcohol.
“I’m late for a previous commitment,” I lied. I knew these guys were bad news and I just wanted to get away from them as quickly as possible.
“We just want to talk,” One of Joshua’s friends said.
“Be that as it may, but I’m still late,” I said. I tried to move to my left but they once again blocked my path.
“Hey, we’re trying to be nice here,” Joshua replied. “And you’re being a bitch.” He grabbed my arm so tightly I thought it was going to snap into two.
“Let go of me!” I yelled. I reached for his hand to try and pry it off of my wrist but Joshua’s friends grabbed my shoulders and covered my mouth. I couldn’t use my powers to knock them out of the way because Joshua’s friends were holding them.
“Hey, leave her alone!” A male voice yelled from behind me.
I turned my head and Connor was running towards us. He stopped in front of Joshua and punched him in the face. Joshua staggered backwards and when he had got a hold of himself he and his friends ran away. I put my hands on my legs and bent forwards. My heart was beating a million miles a minute. I knew what those men were planning on doing to me.
“Are you okay?” Connor asked. I looked at him. He had a concerned look on his face.
“I’m fine. Thanks for saving me back there,” I answered. I wasn’t completely sure that I was fine, but I definitely wasn’t going to admit that to Connor. “What are you doing here?
“It was no problem and you dropped your purse,” Connor said. He lifted my clutch. “By the time I noticed you had dropped it you were already gone. I figured you hadn’t gone far plus I knew I probably wouldn’t see you again, so I ran after you. When I got outside, I saw you being attacked.”
Oh, well again, thanks. I really appreciate it,” I said. “I couldn’t use my power because they had grabbed my hands. But you can go back inside; I’ll be fine getting home.”
“Are you kidding me?” Connor asked. “I’m not letting you walk home alone after what just happened to you.”
“But what about your dates?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about them,” Connor said. “I’d rather walk you home.”
“Connor,” I began to protest.
“Sarah, I’m not hearing it, I’m walking you home,” Connor replied. “You’ve been a pain in my butt for the past week, so now it’s my turn.” He laughed when he saw my expression. “I’m just joking. Now let’s get going.”
He gave me his jacket and placed his arm on my shoulder and we started walking away from the club.