As promised, here is the rest of Chapter 1...I hope you all enjoy! A family emergency has delayed some of the editing for the 4th book in The Protectors Saga, but I'm still hoping to have it out
by the end of summer *fingers crossed*
That’s exactly where Avery wanted
to be…out of this conversation. She dismissively waved her hand at Jade and
turned to continue back to the village. They weren’t that far out into the
woods, only a ten minute walk back to Havyn, but having to listen to Jade
continue spouting on about the recklessness of attempting to use their powers
made the walk seem like hours to Avery. As they entered into the village with
Jade still lecturing on, Avery couldn’t take it anymore.
“Alright,
enough!” Avery shouted, lifting her hands up to her ears, “Your voice is
seriously becoming a cheese grater on my brain!”
Jade
opened up her up her mouth in a tiny half smile, as if Avery’s aggravation
amused her.
“You
want me safe, I get it.” Avery said, and she did get it. In truth, she knew
that Jade wanted to find out if the Emperor was telling the truth or not, maybe
even more so than Avery did, but there was no way she was going to agree to do
anything that would put Avery in danger, and after the Emperor and the battle
at Blackmore, where Avery had to use her power to help stop the Emperor’s army
from sacking the kingdom, an action that left Avery unconscious for days, Jade
viewed their powers as a kind of dangerous parasite they were stuck with,
especially Avery and her power of energy. Avery understood where Jade was
coming from, but sometimes her overprotective nature was a real pain in the
ass.
Skylar
laughed uncomfortably, “How about a group hug to break up all this tension.”
Both
Avery and Jade looked at Skylar like she had gone nuts, as Bunny tried to
suppress a giggle.
Avery
took a breath and shook her head, composing herself, “I’ll see you two tomorrow
at training.” She told Skylar and Bunny before they had a chance to annoy her
further.
The
two girls got the hint and said their goodbyes, taking off towards their homes.
Once
they were gone, Avery calmly said to Jade, “I don’t want to fight about this
anymore. I still think we need to talk about
it,” she made clear, “but I’m just too tired to keep fighting with you.”
Jade
appeared like she could definitely keep arguing, but she nodded her head and
bit down on her lips, agreeing with Avery.
“Look,”
Avery said, feeling better now that Jade had agreed to stop arguing, “let’s
just forget about this whole Emperor thing for a day or two.” Jade smiled,
liking that idea, “Besides,” Avery added, “it’s probably the last thing my
parents want discussed at the dinner table.”
Jade
grimaced, taking in a sharp intake of breath, “Yeah, about dinner,” Avery knew
what Jade was going to say before she even said it, “I’m not gonna be able to
make it tonight.”
Avery
also knew the reason she would be missing dinner, but decided to ask anyway, if
only to put Jade on the spot, “Why?”
Jade
looked as uncomfortable as Avery had wanted her to feel, “I’ve got…um, I’ve
just,” she scratched at the back of her head, “I’ve got things to do.”
Avery
knew full well the only thing Jade was going to be doing later was Prince Eryk.
Jade and the Fairy Prince had been having a not so secret affair ever since
Avery had made the decision to stay on Orcatia. Jade didn’t talk about Eryk
much, mainly due to the fact that she knew how much Avery disapproved of their
relationship. It wasn’t that Avery didn’t like Eryk, she could easily see how
much the Prince loved Jade, it was more that Avery didn’t want the King and
Queen of the Fairies pissed at the Protectors, but Avery had promised Jade that
she only had to stay away from Eryk till the Emperor was defeated, and Avery
had stayed true to her word, although it caused her constant anxiety.
“There’s
no point in trying to come up with a lie.” Avery sighed, “I know you’re
skipping dinner to meet up with your winged boyfriend.”
Jade
tilted her head, like a little kid who had just been scolded, “We’re being
discreet.”
Avery
snorted. Jade never had any talent for being discreet, and her rendezvous with
Prince Eryk were no different. Her relationship with him was whispered about
all throughout the village, and Avery suspected the kingdom, as well. She had
not received any threatening letters from King Audwode or Queen Vaniana as of
yet, but she thought it impossible that they couldn’t know.
“My
own mother doesn’t concern herself with my love life as much as you.” Jade
joked, “Stop worrying. Everything is going to be fine.” Jade tried to assure
her, picking up Avery’s hand in her own and giving it a squeeze.
Taking
her hand back from Jade, Avery couldn’t help but think back to when they were
ten years old and Jade had gotten her hands on some fireworks. When Avery had
brought up that they maybe shouldn’t light them without any adult supervision
around, Jade had told her, ‘Relax, everything’s going to be fine’. They had
ended up not only lighting Avery’s favorite jacket on fire, but also burning
down a good portion of the cacti in the field where they lit the fireworks off.
When Avery’s parents had found out, they made Avery volunteer for the park
service that entire summer. While she picked up trash in the hundred degree
heat, Jade, whose parents didn’t take quite as much of a disciplinary interest
in their daughter as Avery’s parents did, ran around town all summer on her
skateboard, annoying the local residents. Then there was that time in the
eighth grade, when Jade had talked her into skipping school for the first time.
‘Everything’s gonna be fine,’ is what Jade had said to her right before Avery’s
father had caught them walking down the street in the middle of the school day.
Avery had been grounded for a week, while Jade’s parents were so used to Jade
ditching they didn’t even bother to bring up the incident. Then, just a few
months before they had come to Orcatia, Jade had started fooling around with
the boyfriend of Avery’s biology lab partner, Crystal Simms. When Avery had
pleaded with Jade to stop messing around with the boy, Jade had told her,
‘Chill out, Captain Love, everything’s going to be fine’. Of course, as usual,
nothing was fine. Crystal found Jade and her boyfriend friskily going at each other
in the biology closet and was so pissed at Avery for not telling her about it
that she purposely blew her half of their lab grade, leaving Avery with the
first D of her life. Jade, who Crystal was understandably too scared of to do
anything to, got away clean, moving on to a new guy to string along.
With
all of these memories going through her head, Avery asked Jade, “Why is it that
whenever you say, ‘Everything’s going to be fine’, nothing is fine?”
“That’s
so not true.” Jade shook her head, looking confused.
“Oh,
it may not be true for you,” Avery said, feeling more and more heated by her
lingering memories, “since you never seem to suffer any consequences. You get
away with everything! It’s everyone else that has to deal with fallout of
shit!”
Jade
had obviously not been expecting Avery’s anger, because she looked like someone
had just thrown a bucket of ice water in her face, “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she
said, lifting up her hands, palms facing outward, “you need to put the brakes
on your venom! Don’t take it out on me just because you’re having issues.”
Avery
scrunched up her face, “What are you talking ab…”
“I’m
talking about Draven.” Jade cut Avery off, “I’m talking about the fact that
you’re all moody and PMS-ing because Eryk and I are happy and together, and
you’ve barely spoken to your Demon creep in three months!”
Avery
took in an involuntary gasp. She couldn’t believe Jade had gone there. It was
so harsh, but what bothered her even more is that it was so right. Avery had
only seen Draven once since the Emperor was defeated, and it was a meeting
strictly about business, attended by all the Protectors, and neither Avery nor
Draven could look the other one in the eyes for more than a few seconds.
“Fine,”
Avery exhaled in a high-pitched tone, “that’s fine,” she turned around to stomp
back to her house, “go and have a good time with your fly boy, I don’t even
care anymore.”
“Avery!”
Jade called to her, but didn’t run after her, “Avery, don’t be so sensitive!
You should be glad you’ve only seen him once…he’s a dick!”
Clenching,
her fists together tightly, it took all of Avery’s strength not to turn around
and tell Jade to go screw herself.
When
Avery got home she slammed the door shut so hard that Cinder, who had been sitting
on the floor, brushing Romeo the cat, gave a startled scream and jumped. The
cat made a dash for underneath the sofa.
“Sorry,
Cin.” Avery said, not really sounding sorry.
“Is
everything alright?” Avery’s mother asked, coming out from around the kitchen.
Avery
cocked one eyebrow up at her mother, as if to say, ‘does everything look like
it’s fine?’
“Do
you want to talk about it?” Her mother pulled out one of the chairs around the
dining table and motioned for Avery to sit down.
Instead,
Avery remained standing in the entryway, staring down at Cinder trying to coax
Romeo out from under the sofa. Avery felt that if she were to talk about what
was bothering her, it would only put her in an even worse mood, and that was
something she didn’t want entering her house. This place was her sanctuary,
with Cinder, and her pets, and her parents. She still wasn’t quite sure if the
root of her problem was Jade related, or Draven related, or Protector related,
but whatever it was, she was going to keep it to herself.
“I’m
going up to my room.” She told her mother, hoping to shake off some of her
moodiness and anger before having to deal with her family, “Call me when
dinner’s ready.”
After
a nice hot shower, a good hour long nap, and a meal of roasted chicken and
vegetables, Avery’s mood had greatly improved. It helped that her family kept
all dinner conversation away from not only the day’s events, but from anything
involving the Protectors in any way. Instead, Cinder gave a fifteen minute
step-by-step tutorial on how to grow the perfect corn, something a friend’s
father had showed her that day. For her mother’s part, she talked about
spilling strawberry jam all over the kitchen floor and having it primarily
cleaned up by their three dogs. Her father talked about working on the crops in
the field and how much richer the soil seemed this year, and all the while
Avery didn’t say a thing, she just listened and smiled, happy to be in her
sanctuary.
Later
that night, after slipping on her beloved Batman pajamas, Avery stepped outside
onto her balcony. The warm May air surrounded her like a blanket. She couldn’t
help herself from thinking about what Jade had said earlier. Avery did miss
Draven. They had both made the choice that they couldn’t be together, but that
didn’t stop her from missing him, even if she told herself not to. There was
truth to what Jade said, one of the reasons Jade and Eryk’s relationship
bothered her so much was because she was jealous. Jade could be with the person
she loved and Avery couldn’t.
“Dammit”
Avery cursed under her breath, ripping at an overhanging vine leaf. She hated
that Jade was right, and she hated even more that she would probably have to
apologize to Jade.
Just
as Avery was about to turn around and go back inside, she heard a loud laugh
coming from down in the village. Avery would know that laugh anywhere. That was
Jade’s laugh; half guffaw and half chuckle, a laugh of pure happiness. Soon, it
was joined by a deeper and softer laugh, a male’s laugh. Avery leaned over her
balcony and scanned the village floor. There, in the bright moonlight she
spotted Jade and Eryk, running from the back door of Jade’s house towards the
forest. Mid-way to their destination Jade jumped on Eryk’s back, wrapping her
slender legs around his torso. He continued running, only stopping when Jade
arched herself forward, catching Eryk’s mouth in her own. He stumbled slightly
as he tried to kiss her back, causing both of them to once again break into
laughter.
“So
glad they’re being discreet.” Avery grumbled, tossing the leaf she had ripped
off of the vine in Jade and Eryk’s general direction.
As
she watched them disappear into the forest together Avery came to two
conclusions. One, although she may be jealous of their relationship, the main
problem she had with Jade and Eryk as a couple was definitely the fact that it
could seriously screw the Protectors, and two, there was no way in hell she was
going to apologize to Jade.
