Chapter Six

We played for several hours before I got curious as to why Alexon hadn’t come to find us yet. Ambrosia would have come after us not ten minutes after she’d told us to converge in the cabin.

            Sneaking toward the same boulder I hid behind before, I glanced around to see if the portal was open. This time it wasn’t, but I stayed there anyway, my feet carrying me to where I last saw the opening that lead to the bar.

            A breeze rustled the trees overhead and I slinked deeper into the undergrowth in hopes of hiding myself long enough to see if Alexon would come through. Gale landed beside me anyway, stirring the foliage with a strong gust of wind. His hand squeezed my shoulder like he thought I hadn’t realized he’d arrived.

            Turning to him, I pressed a finger to my lips and shushed him. “This is where the portal to the human world is,” I whispered, my voice masked by the sound of the creek. “Alexon left it open yesterday.”

            He stared at me, his face a mask of horror. “You didn’t…” he began, voice trailing off as he glanced between me and the part of the forest I indicated.

            Shaking my head wildly, I started to answer when the portal opened and Alexon slipped through. Pulling back into the underbrush, we watched as he looked around him and walked through the portal. It closed behind him too quickly for me to get a glimpse of what was on the other side, but I had no doubts that he was at the bar again, talking to those scary looking friends of his.

            Our new guardian looked troubled as he glanced over his shoulder at where the portal was seconds ago.

            “S**t!” he growled, stomping to the boulder next to the creek. Gale and I looked at each other, brows raised in shock and curiosity. Creeping closer, we peered at him through the foliage while he sat, head bent and rested in his hands. “What am I supposed to do now?”

            My eyes darted to my brother and I knew he knew I was going to go comfort Alexon. Gale held up a finger, telling me to wait a moment. He took off, sweeping off into a gust of wind that blew the smaller of the trees so their tops bent and twisted. Alexon looked in the direction of the wind and stared, his eyes riveted to that spot. I slinked down, holding my breath in hopes that would keep me from being noticed. Stealth wasn’t exactly my forte.

            A few minutes later, he went back to talking to the creek like it was an old friend about some kind of files that he’d handed over to someone. It was hard to understand what he was talking about because I was never told what a file was or what it was used for. It wasn’t an animal. I knew all about animals.

            Riveted on Alexon as I thought about how endearing it was that he was talking to my element, I almost missed it when Gale showed up, the cute grey bunny held in his arms. Reaching out, I took him from my brother’s hands and smiled. It was just like him to have good ideas that would keep me out of trouble. Mouthing the words thank you, I walked out of the foliage, being certain to rustle a couple of bushes to get his attention. Not that my hair wouldn’t do the job if he listened close enough.

            His head turned toward me and I smiled, cuddling the rabbit close. “Are you alright?” I wondered aloud, seeing his eyes stray from my face to the little animal against my chest. A frown settled on his face, but he didn’t answer, just turned his head away from me and looked down at the little fish swimming in the creek.

            Sitting down beside him, I situated the bunny in my lap and looked at the fish as well. “They’re minnows,” I told him gently, my eyes moving over to take in his face. He looked at me wordlessly out of the corner of his dark eyes. “They only get that big,” I added, nodding at the little fish that weren’t even the length of my finger.

            When he still didn’t speak, I took one of his hands and moved it so I could deposit the rabbit in his lap. Pulling his legs together so it wouldn’t fall through and land in the creek, he looked from me to the rabbit and back. Offering an encouraging smile, I reached over and scratched my index finger between the bunny’s ears.

            Letting out a humorless chuckle, Alexon asked, “How do you do it?”

            I cocked my head to the side in confusion. “Do what?”

            “Show up everywhere.” He shook his head, a grim smile on his face. “Especially when I don’t want anyone to be around,” he mumbled, obviously not expecting me to hear him.

            One of his calloused hands grabbed my wrist, gently pulling it away from the bunny. Giving him a puzzled look, I complied with the movement. My eyes met with his, confusion written all over my face as I searched his for answers. His other hand reached up, the pad of his thumb stroking over my cheekbone. “You’re far too nice, especially to me. I will do nothing but hurt you.” Looking at him, I knew he was more than capable of it, but he was our guardian, his job was to protect us.

            Looking into his soft eyes that were filled with regret, I said, “You wouldn’t hurt me, you were chosen by the forest’s overseers to be our guardian.” My voice was strong and certain, but something in his eyes made me feel like I was wrong.

            He let out a loud sigh and pulled his hand away from my face, running it through his hair instead. The bunny hopped away into the woods once it realized that there weren’t any carrots left. Its little feet carried it swiftly and silently into the underbrush and off toward the southern clearing where the rest of its family was.

            “I had a little sister once,” he told me suddenly, looking out at the creek again. “She was really young. You remind me of her.” Frowning, I thought about his words for a moment until he continued. “I didn’t protect her and I won’t be able to protect you.”

            He won’t be able to protect us?

            Scared and confused, I asked, “Then why are you here?”

            He looked into my eyes for a moment with the most pained expression I had ever seen. “I never thought you would act like people. I thought you were just…things.” His words hurt me even though I didn’t understand them. “I am so sorry, River,” he said earnestly, staring into my eyes.

            A reassuring smile spread across my lips. “It’s fine, Alexon. You know we’re people now.”

            He groaned. “That does nothing to help me.”

            “Why not?”              

            “I’ve betrayed you.”  

            The portal opened next to us just as he finished speaking. I turned to look at it with wide eyes, wondering what he was doing. Grabbing my hand, he pulled me to my feet. The three ruffians he was talking to the other day pushed through the portal, their eyes taking in the land surrounding them before coming to a halt on me. The smiles adorning their faces were maliciously delighted.

            “Run,” Alexon growled at me, releasing my hand and moving so he was shielding half my body with his own. I took a few steps toward the creek. The men rushed forward, something green in one of their hands caught my attention for a second before I liquefied myself, but it was too late. One of them held the green thing underneath me whilst another held something with a wide upper part that tapered down over top of it.

            Without the help of Gale’s wind, I couldn’t move myself midair unless I was jumping before I liquefied or I had enough water in contact with me that I could create a geyser…which usually didn’t turn out to my advantage anyway.

            Having neither, I was doomed to fall into the thing with a splash. I sloshed up the sides since I nearly filled the container, but there was nothing I could do as I caught sight of the backwards word from the inside: ETIRPS…Sprite…

            A lid closed down over top of me and one of the men screwed it on tight, that malicious grin still plastered to his lips.