-Oliver-
"The official story is that you stayed with us this entire time."
"Hmmh..."
"So if an outsider asks, just tell them you weren't able to study with the kids making so much noise all the time."
"...Sure."
"And then the moon fell off the sky and cows learned to fly."
"Yeah... Wait, what?" I turned to look at Natalie, who smirked at me.
"I'm guessing you didn't hear a word I said," she said, turning her attention back to the road. "I understand. I know you miss him already."
I took a deep breath and looked out the window. We were far away from Blue Moon territory, and every new mile between me and Jaden made me regret my decision to leave with Natalie even more.
"I can still feel his sadness," I muttered. "His Echo in me is miserable... I'm miserable..."
Natalie gave me a sympathetic look. "We will find ways to keep you two together, okay? I promise. We just need to get the big bosses off our backs..."
"I get it," I sighed. "I still get to see him at school..."
I'd been repeating that a lot that day, but the truth was that I felt cold and unsafe without him close to me. When the town came into our view, it looked more like a deathtrap instead of my home. My bravery was vanishing really fast, and even the Echo of Hades didn't give me comfort.
Hell, I was getting scared of it, too.
"I thought it would do me good to have more space," I told her. "That was a big, fat lie..."
She gave me a smile. "Everything will work out just fine, I promise."
"Sure," I murmured, taking another deep breath. "What were you trying to say about the official story?"
"You had to stay with me and Mike so you could catch up with your studies," she told me. "Kids wouldn't let you focus, you see."
"Right," I nodded.
Simple enough, but I sure hated this. I hated lying and keeping secrets. I now understood perfectly why the werewolves avoided humans. It was so much easier to stay away from those who had no idea about the supernatural world than to keep up with the lies. Natalie had already told me who I could trust in the group home, and who had no idea what was going on. I was already planning on avoiding the latter group by any means necessary.
I just wanted to go back...
Soon, we reached the group home. While Natalie parked the car, I stared at the yellow walls in silence, trying to stay optimistic. I was failing at it. No matter what I told myself, no matter how many times I'd see Jaden and the others, it wouldn't be enough. But I guess that feeling was normal who really liked his... boyfriend.
That word brought a small smile on my lips, and I finally followed Natalie out of the car. I checked the sky almost out of pure instinct, but there were no shadows here. I stopped and frowned, trying to detect the enemy somewhere, but I couldn't.
What I did feel was a funny-looking statue at the corner of the yard. It was new. It was so new that the surrounding footprints were still visible in the snow. I took a few steps closer to it to see the details, but I couldn't recognize much. The dark wood had a woman's face carved on it, and it was decorated with dried flowers, feathers and small bones, among other things.
I hadn't seen a ward before, but I knew right away this was meant to keep the shadows at bay.
"We've been busy filling the city with warding totems," Natalie spoke quietly after she noticed what I was staring at. "We're building more every day."
"Can I help?" I asked. "I'd really like to know how to make one."
"Of course," she smiled, nudging my elbow to make me to follow her. "The most important part is the core. You can't see it, but there's a talisman inside. It draws power from the spirit realm, turning it into a shield the shadows can't get through easily. Lonely ward is weak, but if you make two, they protect each other. A hundred of them are practically indestructible. The only reason why they got past the wards a week ago was because they were smart enough to attack them one by one with full force, and we didn't have enough of them."
"I'm guessing we have enough of them now?"
"No, not yet," she said grimly as we stopped by the front door. "Not yet."
"So... Are we really safe here?" I asked.
Natalie looked over her shoulder. "Safer than a week ago."
I had the feeling she was referring to the gods and the army of spirits I let into our realm when I tore the hole between our worlds. I still was too afraid to ask if I was in trouble because of it. No one had mentioned it, but... I couldn't stop thinking what I was told about the spirits, that it would be cruel to pull them back into our world, and I did that to hundreds of them.
When Natalie opened the door, I was immediately greeted by familiar voices and smells, and even though this place had never felt like home to me, I at least felt welcomed.
Stepping in was like stepping back into the life I no longer had. The kids swarmed to say hello to me, all eagerly trying to tell me everything they'd been up to at the same time. It was a little overwhelming, but nice. These kids had been my family for a long time now, and I had missed them.
But at the same time, I felt detached. As the evening went on, I stayed in the living room to play with the kids, but my mind was elsewhere. I tried to give them all as much attention as I could, but it was a struggle to keep up with all of them.
"Mouse! Look!"
"Mouse watch this!"
"Mouseeee you promised to paint with me!"
I suddenly missed the quiet safe-house.
"All right, kids, time to go to bed," Natalie stepped in, and the arguments ensued.
I watched the caretakers struggle to get the kids out of the living room, and when they finally vanished upstairs, I let out a deep sigh and dropped my smile. I turned to look out the window, not really seeing anything since it was dark outside. I was exhausted.
No matter how much it saddened me, I already knew this was not my place anymore. I didn't belong here. I didn't belong with humans. I was carrying a powerful weapon in my soul, and everyone around me was in danger. Not only because of our enemy, but because of me.
I was dangerous too.
Nasty shivers ran down my spine. The Echo was silent inside me, but it still scared me. I could easily lose control over it, and no one would be able to stop me. I had hazy memories of the battle, but I could still see how easily I destroyed all those shadows. I could still feel the anger I had felt inside me...
My thoughts were interrupted when Natalie stepped back into the living room. She stopped to stare at me for a moment, but then gave me a smile and came to sit down on the couch.
"You should try to sleep as well," she told me gently.
"It's eight in the evening," I muttered.
"You look tired," she noted.
"I guess..."
Her smile turned sad, and she tilted her head. "Should I make a cup of hot chocolate?"
I shrugged, and she took it as a yes. She got up and walked into the kitchen, leaving me alone with my thoughts for a few minutes. I used that time to think about Jaden. He was sad and worried. I tried to send him good thoughts, but I doubted it worked since his mood didn't change. Even with our bond, he couldn't feel my soul like I felt his.
Natalie came back with two big cups and gave me one before sitting down. It was too hot to drink right away, so I just stared at it. I guess I was being too depressing to look at since Natalie placed her hand on my arm and gave me a smile when I looked up at her.
"This is just temporary," she said quietly.
"I know..."
"You'll see him on Monday," she continued.
"Yeah... But he's a senior. We don't share any classes..."
"Oh, honey, you're breaking my heart," she said, patting my arm gently. "I know you want to go back, but right now... Just... Everything will work out just fine, okay? I promise."
I nodded and tried to smile. She was doing the best she could, so I didn't want to make her feel bad. This wasn't her fault. Nothing had ever been her fault, and still she seemed to blame herself for a lot of things.
"At least I have you here," I told her, and my smile became genuine.
"Now you're making me cry," she chuckled, clearly feeling emotional all of a sudden. "I will always be there for you, no matter what."
"I know," I whispered, and hugged her with one arm, trying not to spill the hot chocolate.
"You are special, Oliver," she whispered in my ear. "And I love you so much."
And now it was I who was almost in tears. For a short moment, I was unable to speak. I was not used to those words. I never heard them growing up. I never thought those words could mean something to me, but they did. They meant a lot.
"I love you too," I said, meaning every shaky word.
When she pulled back, she was in tears, but she smiled widely. She brushed hair out of my face and just stared at me for a moment in a way even my own mother never did. Only Jaden had ever looked at me like that, eyes filled with warmth that reached all the way in my soul.
"I will make everything be all right," she told me with a strong voice, wiping her cheeks dry. "You deserve the world."
I didn't know what to say, so I just hugged her again.
After we both calmed down, we tried to talk about mundane things like school and the oncoming spring, but little by little, our conversation became more... supernatural. Talking about school seemed pointless anyway, so I was more than happy to change the subject.
But then I felt something odd, and so did Natalie, since she snapped her mouth shut midsentence, and turned to look out the window.
Then, only a second later, she turned to look at me again with excitement on her face. "Do you feel that?"
I nodded. What I felt was best described as a beacon in the distance, a soul so bright I was stunned I hadn't felt it before.
"Is it him?" I asked, looking out the window, but of course I couldn't see him.
"Yes, that's him," she said, trying to keep her voice down. "He's sending out a reminder."
"To whom?"
"To everyone. 'I'm still here – don't try anything stupid.'"
I felt shivers run down my spine. The beacon vanished, leaving the world around me feel much darker place.
"They're so cool," she sighed, leaning against the backrest. "I wish I could meet him..."
I took a sip of my drink, keeping my eyes on her. "So you're going to just tease me and not tell anything about him?"
She peered at me carefully, biting her lower lip. She had an expression that told me she would just love to talk about him. Fangirl.
"Come on, I know you want to tell me," I chuckled, taking a better position in my seat.
"Well..." she uttered slowly, looking outside again. "You kids are so smart that you'll probably figure it out sooner or later..."
"Arch is the brainiac," I reminded her. "He figured out what I was. He's probably already figuring out this beacon guy."
"Okay," she said, basically jumping around to face me. "We're not absolutely sure, of course, but there's no way he's not... I mean... That soul. I've never seen anything like it, and I've heard all the tales, and–"
"What is he?" I chuckled.
She had a dramatic pause before she breathed out, "Peacekeeper."
I frowned. "Peacekeeper?"
For a second, I thought about the human peacekeepers, but she wouldn't be so madly excited over something like that, so I stayed silent and let her talk.
"They are the protectors of human race. No one knows where they came from. Even they don't know how they came to exist, but according to the tales, they're the closest thing to angels!"
I stared at her. "Angels?"
She nodded several times, practically bouncing up and down. "It is said that the creator of humans saw how weak they were against supernaturals, so he created peacekeepers to keep them safe. That makes them practically angels!"
"Whoa..." I breathed out. "How come I've never heard of them?"
'I have,' Cedric spoke inside me, and I could tell that he, too, was excited. 'There's a real peacekeeper here?'
"Yes," Natalie said with a wide smirk. "He has to be one! That soul is so bright!"
"Okay, so, what makes them so special?" I asked.
"Well, for one, there's like two hundred of them – you have to be extremely lucky to ever meet one in person. Two, they live in a magical castle that's neither here nor there. If you're not a peacekeeper, you can't get in there. It's like... It's like in a realm of its own."
'Three, they're awesome! The best fighters with magic and coolest weapons and... and...' Cedric fell silent for a moment, trying to contain himself long enough to form sentences. 'And that locket they have!'
"A locket?" I asked, amused by how excited they both were.
"Their souls are bound to their lockets. All of them have one, and that locket gives them their powers. You cannot take it from them; the locket just appears back to them. And when they die, the locket returns to their castle and it'll wait there for its owner to be born again."
"They are reborn?"
"Yes! Their souls return back to earth, and they are born as a different person every time, but they can get their old memories back if they choose to become a peacekeeper once more," Natalie explained with shining eyes. "They are so cool."
"I can tell," I chuckled. It was a bit difficult to understand everything they were saying, but I got the big picture: protectors of humans and apparently the rock stars of supernaturals. "So they are good guys?" I guessed.
"The best," Natalie smiled. "They don't have a mean bone in their body. Their spirits are pure. Like, you can't be a peacekeeper if you're not an absolute saint."
'Their job is to protect humans so obviously not a lot of supernaturals like them,' Cedric said. 'But I heard that they're very nice to supernaturals who don't want to harm humans.'
Natalie nodded. "I'm sure they knew about the Blue Moon. Their job is to collect dangerous items as well – that's why there's not many left in our world. And I wouldn't be surprised if they knew what was going on over here."
"If they knew, why didn't they stop Anthony?" I asked.
"Who knows, but they are outnumbered," Natalie reminded me. "There's only a few hundred of them, maybe even less. They can't be everywhere. They can't help everyone."
'At least they gave us one of their men, and the fact that he's still here means they are keeping an eye on us,' Cedric said.
"That also means we're still in danger," I muttered.
Natalie let out a deep sigh. "Yes."
'Well, don't know about you two, but I'll be sleeping my night better knowing there's a freaking peacekeeper in our town,' Cedric said, bringing the mood back up after I almost brought it crashing down.
"Is he that strong?" I asked, and Natalie nodded.
"He's a very unfair opponent," she chuckled. "That locket of his can do a lot of things, like teleport and heal and conjure weapons..."
'He can turn invisible too!'
"And the locket can hide his soul," Natalie sighed. "I'd love to meet him, but he's not letting us close..."
"Maybe you'll get a chance," I said. "We still have a war to win, so maybe he'll show up."
"Well, I'd rather us not have a war," Natalie said quietly.
"Agreed," I muttered, looking out of the window again.
I was impressed by this peacekeeper, although for me it wasn't as exciting as it was for these two. I was still so new to this world, and it made me sad. I wished I could share their enthusiasm, but I had missed out on all these fantastic tales and beings and never learned to get so giddy over something like that.
'Well, to be fair, you are the baddest badass in this entire planet right now,' Cedric told me with a chuckle. 'The rock star of the millennia.'
I laughed lightly at his words. "I'm not so sure about that."
"It's true," Natalie said with a proud smile.
"It's just borrowed power," I shrugged. "And it can turn against me at any moment."
"Let's not think about that right now, okay?" Natalie said with a smile.
I nodded in agreement. Then a thought occurred to me. "Jaden and the others are probably going to lose their marbles when they hear about the peacekeeper."
"Definitely," Natalie smirked.