Anita

“No,” Meriam breathed, horror etching every inch of her body as the guards dragged a silent, paralyzed Anita back to her cell. No. No. No no no.

She had seen the decision on the jurors faces as Teagan testified, they had seen him as a monster, had seen that Anita had been right to defend herself.

And they voted to kill her anyway?

Meriam stormed out of the courtroom, got into her car and drove straight to Samuel Demau’s office. She didn’t knock, didn’t wait to be acknowledged, she slammed the door open so hard the walls shook. “You set her up,” Meriam snarled. “That trial was a joke.”

Mr. Demau slowly tore his gaze from his computer screen, leaning back in his desk chair. “Why hello Mrs Hayes. It is so saddening to hear about your wife’s predicament, truly terrible.”

Meriam snarled with rage. “Cut the bullshit. I saw that jury, they weren’t going to convict her, let alone sentence her to death.”

“People make choices we don’t always understand,” he said, utterly calm. “Like storming into someone’s office without an appointment, throwing accusations, when it’s already up in the air on if their son should be in such an … inappropriate household.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “How did you even get in here?”

“My father works next door, I have a keycard.”

“Oh that’s not a security risk at all,” he replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Meriam bristled, but forced herself to speak calmly. “What do you want?” She spoke through clenched teeth.

“You already know.”

Meriam shook her head. “You can’t ask me to choose between my wife’s life and my son’s freedom. You can’t.” Her voice cracked. Meriam hastily wiped her eyes.

“Would your son choose to be the reason his mother died?”

“No child should ever have to make that choice,” Meriam snapped.

“And yet, here we are.” He smiled slowly. “Of course, if Anita is committed for murder, that does lead to some questions about your aiding and abetting a murderer.”

“He is a child,” Meriam snarled. “He rides horses, and draws pictures and watches the same movies on repeat. He can’t sleep without being told a story at night and he collects shiny rocks. What part of that paints him as a threat?”

“The part where we don’t know what he’s capable of. No other Guardian has control of multiple elements, we don’t know that the precautions in place to protect humans from their magic are still in place. A couple blood tests once a month don’t cut it. And he’s being raised with a homicidal Guardian as a mother.”

“Anita has never hurt anyone since being free of that place,” Meriam replied. “Even though she still has nightmares about what they did to her. And she willingly fights the Herects whenever she can, risking her life to protect everyone.” Meriam paced back and forth in the small office. “Why are our only options to lose our lives or our son? We are fully capable of compromising for the safety of everyone.”

Demau shrugged. “Are you going to let them collect tissue samples? Spinal fluid? Watch his regenerative abilities? See if he reacts the same way as other Guardians when exposed to herects? See how the corruption touches him?”

Dangerous, painful tests. At her silence he said, “I thought not. We’re done here, Mrs. Hayes. Your time is better spent saying goodbye to your wife.” He smiled. “I’ll ensure you have clearance to do so. I’m not heartless after all.”

Meriam curbed her tongue and stomped out of his office. She would not cry here. She could not. Tears wouldn’t save her family. Meriam channeled her tears into rage. She slammed the entrance doors open.

And walked into chaos.

Guardians were everywhere. Red, blue, yellow and green crystals glistening in the sunlight. Pillars of stone and ice blocked traffic on either side of their assembly. They were shouting, waving signs she couldn’t read from where she stood, and Cassius stood in the center.

Meriam approached him. “What is going on?” she asked, reaching out a hand to touch Cassius’ shoulder.

He turned to her, smiling when he realized who it was. “We’re protesting. They can’t just execute our Guardian liaison. After a bullshit trial like that. Even some humans joined us.” He waved at the crowd. Meriam noticed a few non-crystalled people in the group.

“What about the Herects?” Large groups of Guardians tended to lure them like flies to a barn.

Cassius shrugged. “If they show up there’s more than enough of us to deal with it, but since we don’t have to limit our power for the Keepers anymore, we’ve done a damn good job of wiping out the ones nearby.” He nodded at the building. “What did he say?”

Meriam growled under her breath. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

His gaze softened at the look on her face. “Go to her, Meriam. We’ll do our best to cause some problems here, but Anita needs you.”

“Don’t hurt anyone,” Meriam cautioned. “They’re out for blood.”

Cassius rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry.”

~

Anita smiled sadly as Meriam approached. “Hey, Love.”

Meriam held the bars of her cell, leaning against the cold steel. “Are you okay?” Her breath left little clouds in the air and Meriam frowned, Anita was radiating cold.

Anita shrugged. “As well as I can be. What’s the situation?”

Meriam shook her head. “Do you want positivity or honesty?”

“It’s not good then.” Anita replied wryly, forcing a smile for Meriam’s sake. “Well, you can’t win them all.”

“Cassius is leading a Guardian protest,” Meriam said, sitting on the floor outside the cell. She was going to be there for a while, so she might as well be comfortable.

“Oh, lovely,” Anita groaned. “Hopefully they don’t set fire to the city,” she muttered.

Meriam laughed. “They’re being peaceful as far as I could tell, though they did block traffic to city hall. So they might have some angry commuters to contend with.”

“Cassius will just fly them into the air until they surrender.” Anita grinned. She wouldn’t put it past the winged Guardian to do just that.

“How do we always end up like this?” Meriam asked after a long moment of silence. “You in custody and me having no god damned idea how to fix it?”

“Change requires sacrifice.” Anita shrugged again. “And you did pretty dang good last time,” she pointed out.

“Not good enough if we’re back here,” the human growled.

The silence dragged on for what seemed like hours, neither of them knew what to say. What could you say? They were running out of time, out of ideas and left at the mercy of people who cared not a whiff.

“Do you want me to bring Diaxel?” Meriam’s tense whisper broke the silence at last.

Anita clenched her fists and ice spread out from her, coating the entire cell and leaving icicles dripping from the bars. It stopped spreading when it reached Meriam, the magic fading when it grazed her skin. Guardians couldn’t hurt humans with their magic.

Meriam traced circles in the ice, watching it melt under her fingers. “I’ll take that as a no.”

Anita heaved one wrenching sob. “I can’t just not say goodbye to him, but how do I make him understand?”

Meriam shook her head, muttering, “I don’t know,” again and again.

~

Meriam brought Diaxel. Their son squealed with delight when he saw Anita, yelling “Mum, Mum.” He didn’t falter at the bars to her cell, he reached out with his hands and they parted for him, metal screeching. Anita shot Meriam a concerned glance as Diaxel crawled into her lap, but the guards either hadn’t heard, or just weren’t paying attention to her anymore, now that her fate was sealed.

“Mum, where have you been? Why are you in here? What’s going on? Why won’t you come home? I missed your stories, Ma-ma tried to read them to me but she doesn’t do the spooky voice right. I want to go home.” Diaxel carried on with the carefree excitement only children could manage.

“Hun,” Anita started, wrapping her arms tight around him. “Mum … won’t be able to come home with you. I’m going to have to stay here.”

Diaxel looked straight up at her. “What do you mean? You have to come home, that’s where you sleep!” he said, intently serious. “You can’t go without sleeping Mum, it’s very important.”

Anita gave Meriam a pleading glance. She couldn’t do this. Didn’t know how to say goodbye. Meriam turned away, she didn’t have the words either.

Swallowing thickly, Anita tried again, turning Diaxel around in her arms so she could look at his face. “You know I love you more than anything, right?”

“I love you too, Mum.” Diaxel planted a wet sticky kiss to her nose.

Anita laughed, then sobered. “Mum did a … bad thing, a while ago. I hurt someone. And when you hurt someone, you go to places like this,” she gestured around her cell. “You can’t always go home.”

Diaxel frowned. “Why not?”

“You just can’t, hun. You’ll understand when you’re older. I need you to be strong for Ma-ma, and don’t give her too much trouble about the stories okay? She tries her best, and you know your best is always good enough.” Anita blinked rapidly, attempting, and failing. to hold back tears. “Okay?”

Diaxel brushed a tear from her cheek. “Why are you sad Mum?”

Anita kissed his tiny hands. “I’m gonna miss you, but no matter what, I love you.”

“You can’t miss me, I’m right here,” he said.

“You can’t stay here hun, you have to live and grow up and have the best life you can have. You have to be strong for Ma-ma when I’m … gone.”

“No,” Daixel shouted, wrenching out of her arms and stomping his feet. “You’re not leaving me!”

The cell shook under the weight of his magic, the bars of her cell twisting and crumpling to the ground. Anita’s eyes widened in shock and she dove at him, covering him with her body as the ceiling cracked and debris rained down. Anita threw a wall of ice up and around Meriam, protecting her from the wreckage, before covering herself.

The guards, finally paying attention, stormed over on unsteady feet as the ground continued to rumble. “What the hell?” they shouted.

Safely protected by the ice, Anita uncurled from around Diaxel and looked into his eyes. “Bunbun, take a deep breath, everything is okay.” Diaxel’s eyes burned with anger and tears, but he listened, taking one deep, heaving breath.

“You can do it,” Anita encouraged. “One more. Again. I know you’re a little overwhelmed right now, and it’s okay. Just breathe.” She stroked his back and hummed a song he liked.

Steadily the earth stopped rumbling, debris no longer falling. Anita waited a few minutes more before letting her ice melt. She looked over Diaxel’s shoulder at Meriam. “What was that?” she mouthed. Meriam shook her head, eyes wide.

The guards started yelling as they regained their footing, demanding to know what happened.

The holding cells were a wreckage around them, the walls were cracked, the ceiling had gaping holes where bits had fallen, but the structure was still mostly standing. No one was hurt.

There was a long moment where no one knew what to do, and dozens of armed guards surrounded them.

~

“He destroyed a building!” Demau didn’t keep his cool this time as he shouted at Anita and Meriam. Diaxel was safely sequestered away next door where he wouldn’t over hear them. “This is exactly why he can’t stay here! He’s a menace.”

“He lost control, because we had to tell him he was going to lose one of his parents,” Anita snarled. “This is your fault. My son has never ever reacted like this before. Not when he was bullied at school, not when he fell off his horse, not when he found out his biological parents had passed before he was born. Never.”

“He’s been too sheltered,” Demau snarled back. “He never should have gone home with you in the first place, he’s unstable.”

“He’s 10 years old for fuck’s sake! He’s done a hell of a lot better than most 10 year olds at controlling his temper.” Anita slammed her hands on his desk, ice crackling from her hands.

“You can’t even control your power,” he growled, gesturing at the rapidly melting ice.

“If I couldn’t control it, your house would be the arctic,” Anita hissed. “I was turned into this, so yeah, a little of it leaks out when I’m fucking furious at some asshole trying to take my son, and kill me to do it. Diaxel was born with his magic, he can control it. He just needs time, and kindness and to know he has a safe place to be, so he doesn’t bundle up emotions until he explodes. If you had raised him,” Anita snarled, “that building would be dust in the wind.”

Meriam put a hand on her shoulder and Anita backed up, muttering under her breath. “What Anita is trying to say,” Meriam said calmly, “is that Diaxel needs a stable home environment. Anita calmed him down in seconds because he feels safe with us. If you put him in a lab, nothing you make will be able to calm him or contain him. His current situation works because he is willing and trusts that no harm will come to him. You lock him up and isolate him from his family, and who knows what he will turn out to be. He’s a wonderful child, and you will turn him into a monster.” Anita nodded in agreement.

“And the other children?” Demau challenged. “Who won’t be born into such a ‘stable home environment,’” he said, making air quotes with his fingers.

Anita shrugged. “I can work with them too.”

An idea sparked in Meriam’s mind. “What about a school?” she suggested. “For Guardian children. Anita and Cassius and some of the other Guardians can work with them every week. Have some Earth Guardians build it, so if some kid loses their temper there’s no tax dollars in rebuilding it, just a few minutes of Guardian magic. Have a couple on hand for emergencies, so they can protect other students if needed and boom.”

“Also saves them from prejudiced human children,” Anita muttered.

Meriam smiled at her and kept talking. “It gives Guardians struggling to find work a place to go as well, kill multiple birds with one stone.”

“And the other tests we need done?” Demau interrupted.

“They can wait until they’re 18,” Meriam snapped. “They can volunteer or not.”

“Take what you can get Mr. Demau,” Anita put in. “Make these children feel like a part of the community, and they will be willing to serve it. Don’t isolate and torment them so they turn on you the second they can.”

He glared at them for a moment then sighed. “Let me call my superiors.”

It wasn’t quick. The bureaucratic juggling took months to finish, but the final result was pretty amazing.

Meriam agreed to pay for the land, and she did not disappoint. There were acres and acres of land for them. Courts and fields for sports. A section of woods to explore and learn about the local wildlife. The Guardians worked together to make an outdoor pool that looked almost natural. Diaxel insisted that they make a horse stable and none of them was willing to deny him.

And for the school itself? They made the entire building with Guardian magic, earth for the exterior, fire for temperature control and lighting, water for plumbing, and air for power.

The Guardians taught each other, so if any of them were unavailable, any of them could fix the problem. It was an exciting development, to create an entire self-sustaining building in mere days. It sparked hundreds of inquiries about a Guardian construction company, but that would need to wait.

It had been made clear that the world wasn’t quite ready for Guardians yet. Too much fear and prejudice still existed and they had tried to move too fast. So they would go back. Start smaller. And then?

Well, who knows?

The End