Versus

The day was exhausting as small groups were allowed to bring food back to their designated area to not disturb the older students in Eir.

When the students weren’t eating, they took turns resting on chairs, cots that were placed throughout, or each other. Emma and Axel were already exhausted from little sleep the night before.

“You go first,” Axel insisted.

“I’m not sure that I can.”

“You were just getting your strength back when all of this happened. You need to rest. I need you to rest first. Then I’ll rest and you can keep watch and tell me if you…..” He hesitated, not sure if he wanted to say it this way.

“If I what?” She looked tired.

He nodded slowly and forced a soft smile for her, “Tell me if you see anything, hear anything that others maybe don’t see.”

Her expression looked sad, “I wish she’d come back and tell us what happened.” She longed for their Galen’s return with news or just to know that she was safe. Fear for her safety had Emma almost feeling sick to her stomach.

Telepathically, he responded, “She will when she can.”

She responded in the same way, “The not knowing is killing me.”

She was obviously distracted. Her eyes watching the door, the halls, the windows and everyone else. He knew her active mind might interfere with her exhaustion.

He pushed two of the oversized bean bag chairs closer together and sat fairly straight up on one.

She watched him as he resituated.

He looked up to her. She looked at the empty chair next to him and knew he was right.

As she made her way, she let her fingers float over her friends…touching each lightly. Their shoulders, top of a hand, side of the head. She wasn’t sure why. It just seemed to make her feel better. Like they were safe within her reach somehow. They were sound asleep.

He watched her as she laid down on the chair next to him. Facing him, she situated a pillow under her as best she could and reached out with her left arm to find his nearby. His hand already reaching towards her as well. They touched. The room was unchanged…. only students.

She felt safe.

She was soon asleep.

As the halls of the lower classman began to quiet and fall into a slumber, the upperclassman in Eir continued to practice their defenses. It was agreed that they sleep once all younger students were up and rested. The upper classman knew their responsibility and the training showed as strategized plans proceeded with little word. Large groups combed the halls and rotated with the next group. No area was absent for long. They were the best protection for the school right now.

Axel looked around at bodies of his friends, all laid about nearby. He was the last one awake and enjoyed the quiet of the room. It gave him perspective.

He reached over for his journal and pen and began writing something that began to manifest in his thoughts:

“If the quiet holds the truth

Then your heart is silent most

And mine, I know not where it is

Is it with a precious host?

I’d ask you but I can’t

I fear most the worst reply

But if in your possession

You may need it more than I

If strength is what it gives you

I’ll accept whatever fate

But if there’s more to its departure

Will I know before too late?”

He closed the journal and looked down towards her. He took a deep breath and slowly let it escape his tormented chest.

He sat as rigid as possible. He tried to focus on scanning the room often. To keep alert.

Out of the quiet, he jolted when he heard a voice calling his name.

He looked around frantically. No one was there. It was almost distant. Maybe down the hall. He couldn’t tell. He looked towards the teacher in the room. She hadn’t moved an inch in her heavy sleep. She was closest to the door and the sound didn’t wake her.

He began to wonder if he had drifted off to sleep and awoke from his dream, where the sound had actually been.

His hand was hanging towards the floor.

His fingers stretched and felt the void. He quickly reached over to touch Emma’s hand.

Their Galen was knelt in front of them.

He jolted as if shocked by an electric current. His heart felt as though he had touched an exposed live wire. He wouldn’t be surprised if his heart alone was loud enough to wake up Emma.

Their Galen held her finger to her mouth and began to speak telepathically.

“I hope not to appear insensitive but there’s little time to say this without alarming you.” She paused just enough to verify that he was indeed awake and ready for what, she could tell, he recognized as dire news….. “The DMs have Emma’s mother surrounded at her home. When we fortified the school, they sought her instead. She wasn’t as protected as we thought.”

Axel knew his heart was racing with anger. He knew he was becoming breathless by the minute.

He felt an overwhelming urge to control the fate of Emma’s mother. To do anything it took to make sure that she was safe. In a matter of seconds, his memory recalled too many horror stories that he now envisioned could be an outcome here. The stage was similar. He had to be involved. He had to do something now!

“What can I do?”

“Bring her here. The senior students haven’t returned. They are the protection that Dean McAlvey has put in place for the school.” She didn’t react to emotion the way that humans did, but something about her face showed a different emotion. Was it worry?

“Tell me what you know.” She nodded and other Galens began to fill the room.

“We will protect you at all cost,” she began.

“Just tell me how to get by them.” No fear at all in his reply.

“We can’t send you both. Her signature is too strong now. The vanquishing was too recent. She holds too much power that will be recognized from far away. Our only hope is for them to believe she isn’t involved and here for her protection. So that’s why she must not know. She would try to come. She has to remain here for this to work.”

“I agree.” He didn’t want her anywhere near this fight again.

“The Galen’s are outside of Macy’s house, but DMs are being moved there quickly. We are learning that because they weren’t successful at taking Emma here, they will try to get her through her mother.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

“We have retrieved your father.”

“I do NOT want him involved,” he argued.