Destiny Rising

Chapter 15

I was lying on something soft. I tried to open my eyes, but they didn’t seem to want to respond. I heard whispers, but I couldn’t understand them. Something light touched my arm, it was deliciously warm against my chilled skin. The world went black again. I heard voices again. This time I could understand them.

“Why isn’t she waking up?” A male said. I recognized the voice. It was Michael.

“Dude, give her time. She’s human and lost a lot of blood.” Another male voice sneered.

“Shut up Nathanial,” Michael growled,

“What? I’m just stating the facts. Humans are weak, and I don’t even understand your attraction to her.” Nathanial snorted.

“You know who you’re supposed to be a guardian to. So why don’t you go and help her and stop bugging me.” Michael hissed as he picked up my hand and rubbed it

“Whatever,” Nathanial mumbled and slammed a door. Silence fell and all I could hear was Michael’s steady breathing and the feel of him holding my hand.

“Please wake up.” He whispered, and I felt a light kiss on my forehead. I tried to open my eyes. I did. But they were just too heavy and refused to open. Then the world faded away into nothingness again. This time when I surfaced again, my eyes blinked open to a blinding whiteness.

“Grandma?” I whispered at the figure of her standing at the foot of the bed. She looked healthy and happy and … transparent. Her shimmering form smiled at me then faded away. “Grandma!” I managed to say hoarsely “No, come back. Please.”

“Sapphire.” I heard Michael’s alarmed voice “What’s wrong? Nobody else is here.”

I turned my head and focused my gaze on Michael’s face, which had stress and worry lines etched in it.

“She was here, my Grandmother was here. She’s been dead for 3 years, but she was standing right there!” I pointed to the spot at the end of the bed.

“Calm down Sapphire, there’s nobody there. You’re just seeing things due to the ordeal you’ve been through.” He said gently.

“I am not seeing things. She was there, I swear she was.”

“I know.” A voice said from the doorway.

“What are you talking about, Aunt Gloria?” Michael asked, turning towards his Aunt.

“Sapphire can see and speak with those of the spirit realm. It’s the gift of water, so she is the only one capable of such tasks. It would at first manifest itself in dream form, then as her powers grow, so does the gift. It’ll grow until she can see them in her waken state.” Gloria explained.

“Oh,” Michael simply replied.

“How do you know so much about all this and my powers, Mrs. Dyan?” I asked as I tried to sit up and winced at the pull of the stitches on my left arm.

“Careful child.” She chided me “And please, call me Gloria. I am the Guardian of the Earth gate. Just don’t ask me about my age.”

“The Earth gate?” I murmured.

“Yes, there are the 4 basic elemental guardians and 2 spirituals. Each direct guardian of the elements, like you, has a guide, sort of like a guardian angel, that helps them. As you know, the 4 basic elements are Water, Fire, Earth or Nature, and Air.” She said.

“Myself, Kiara, Jasmine, and Bianca,” I replied.

“Correct.”

“So, are you Jasmine’s guardian?”

“No, I’m not. I’m the guardian of the Earth's gate, yes. But not the threshold. I was the guardian who helped the previous guardian of the elements open the gate between her dimension and Earth.”

“Oh. Who are the 2 spiritual guardians that you talked about?”

“The 2 spiritual elements are light and dark. At present, we are unsure who or even where the guardians reside. We are looking into the situation of locating them very seriously.” She answered.

“Who’s Nathanial?” I asked randomly.

“How do you know about him?” Michael asked, looking at me.

“I heard you mention his name while I was lying here, and you were talking to him,” I replied, leaning back against the headboard and looking around the room. It was small and only contained a bed, desk, and dresser as furnishing. The walls were white, and the bedding was dark blue. The only decoration I could see was a framed photo on the desk, but it was turned away, so I couldn’t see what was in the frame.

“Nathanial is the guardian of the fire threshold.” He said

“Kiara’s guardian,” I said as I looked down at the comforter and smoothed my hands over the plaid design on it.

“Yes.” He nodded.

“Where am I? What happened?” I asked.

“You’re in my bedroom at Aunt Gloria’s house.” Michael replied, “What was the last thing you remember?”

“I remember standing at the window of the upstairs hallway in my house. The rain, the shadow crossing the window before it shattered. Then the man, Dante Flame, and his crystal sword.” I winced and touched the bandage around my upper arm. “Then you were there and managed to get me out of there. The last thing I can recall was a black figure bursting out through an upstairs window as you pulled my car out onto the street.”

“Okay, you remember right up to when you passed out.” He said.

“I passed out!?! For how long?” I panicked, glancing between Michael and Gloria.

“You were unconscious for just over 3 days.” Gloria replied soothingly “Michael brought you here, and I tended to your multiple wounds, which, as you probably know, your arm had required stitches. Thankfully, you were already unconscious when we had to pop your right shoulder back in.”

“3 days! I was out for 3 days. What about school? Oh god, my parents are going to kill me when they find me.” I groaned just as the door burst open and a boy around Michael’s age came storming in. He was tall, but not quite as tall as Michael, with jaw-length black hair. He had a medium skin tone and was dressed in black leather pants and black biker boots.

“You need to come see this.” The boy said with a scowl and a slight Russian accent.

“What is it, Nathanial?” Gloria asked calmly.

“CTV London News is running a story on the k********g of her.” He replied and jabbed a finger in my direction.

“My k********g? Great, just great.” I mumbled and burrowed my face into a pillow that was beside me

“Nathanial.” Michael hissed “Get out.” Then he turned to me and placed his arm gently around me. “It’s alright, they are just jumping to conclusions about the way your hallway looked.”

“I need to get home now,” I said, raising my head and pushing my hair out of the way.

“Sapphire…” He started to say.

“I’m fine.” I cut him off and, taking a deep breath, shoved the blanket aside, so I could swing my legs over the edge of the bed. Looking down, I saw I was still in the same clothes, except they appeared to have been laundered at some point in the past 3 days. Little cuts crisscrossed the backs of my legs from where I had scrambled backward over the broken glass. I also had a few cuts on my palms and arms, as well as a gash on my left bicep. My right arm had a makeshift sling from what they said had been another dislocated shoulder.

“Are you sure?” He asked gently while Nathanial was ushered out by Gloria and she followed.

“I’m positive,” I replied, standing gently.

“Alright, I’ll drive you home.” He said, moving to my side. The drive home was quiet, we didn’t even bother with the radio. When Michael pulled my car up to the house, it was immediately swarmed by reporters with cameras. St. Thomas Police had to wade in to help me out of the car and into the house. I looked around for Michael, but he was already gone. Once I was safely in the house, I was ushered into the formal living room where my parents were sitting in the wingback chairs on either side of the fireplace. Jayde, Crystal, and Josh were still there and seated on the couch. I could see that Crystal clutched Josh’s hand tighter as I took a seat on the loveseat.

“Where have you been?” My mother demanded in a shrill voice as my butt hit the cushions.

“I’m fine,” I said, ignoring my mom. “Just tired.”

“You certainly do not look fine young lady.” My dad stated “Missing 3 days, no note or phone call. The upstairs hallway was a mess, your car was gone, and the alarm was blaring. Add in the cuts, bruises, and sling on your right side, and that tells us you are a long way from fine.”

“Mr. Tallulah,” the police officer said patently, “Please allow me to question your daughter on this matter.”

“Right, of course.” He grumbled.

“Now, Miss Tallulah. I am Officer Shaw. Can you please explain what happened this past Sunday, May 18th?” He asked gently.

“I’m not sure, Officer. One moment I was standing at the window and the next I was lying on the floor with glass around me.” I replied carefully.

“And there was nobody else in the house?” He inquired.

“No, I was alone.”

“What did you do after the window blew in?”

“I was disoriented. I remember trying to scramble backwards, away from the broken window and glass. My one flat fell off, then I tried to stand and run.” I lied, leaving Michael and Dante out of this issue.

“Can you explain the large pool of blood?”

“I must have cut myself on a large piece of glass,” I replied and touched the bandage on my left arm.

“Where did you go?”

“I got in my car, fully intending to drive to the hospital.”

“But you didn’t.” He stated while he scribbled away on a notepad “So what happened?”

“I don’t know. I can’t remember.” I replied as I cradled my arm in the sling, to my chest.

“How did you get medical care then? Who gave it to you? Where were you when you awoke?” He pressed on.

“I don’t know, and in some room. There wasn’t anything personal in it to say whose it was.” I replied, only giving half the truth.

“Miss Tallulah, you need to answer these questions.”

“And I am, but it’s not my fault. I can’t remember,” I grumbled, and slouched down on the loveseat.

“Who brought you home just now?”

“I drove myself.”

“But you were seen exiting from the passenger side of your car.” He said and scribbled some more on the notepad.

“I climbed over the console, so I didn’t have to walk around the car,” I replied smoothly.

“Last question, if you drove, where are your car keys?” He asked, searching my face for something

“Still in the car.” I bluffed. “Now if we’re done here, I’d like to go lay down for a bit.”

“Yes, of course. Get better, Miss Tallulah,” Officer Shaw said, and stood to help me to my feet as well. I quickly turned and hurried out of the room and up the stairs. At the top, I turned to look down the hall where Dante had attacked me. The glass and blood had been cleaned up, but the window had yet to be replaced. So right now, it only has plastic covering the hole where the glass once sat. I blew out a breath and walked to the opposite end of the hall where my bedroom was. I stepped through the open doorway and quietly shut the door before leaning against it. The curtains were still drawn, so my room was eerily dark, despite the bright sun outside. Leaving the overhead light off, I walked across my room to the window seat. Gingerly, I lowered myself onto the seat and pulled my legs up under myself. Once I had settled in, I pulled the curtain back across. That way I was concealed between the curtain and the window. Sighing, I leaned my forehead against the window and looked out across the backyard and into the ravine that lay beyond. It was mid-afternoon, and the sun still shone brightly down on everything. The water of the pool glittered but also rippled in the gentle breeze. My right arm was constricted by the sling and was clinging to my chest. My left arm only had a white bandage wrapped around the bicep, so reaching my left hand out, I brushed my fingertips over the pane of glass. Just by doing that, I saw the water in the pool change direction to follow the path of my fingers.

“Cool,” I murmured to myself as I continued to watch the pool water move and swirl just as my fingers did on the window. “I wonder…” I mused and quickly looked down and around the backyard. Since I saw nobody out there, I lifted my hand, palm up, and concentrated hard on imagining the water lifting. Ever so slightly, I saw a little rise in the water level. I tried to lift it up and over the edge. Jaw clenched, mind focused, I tried to get it higher, but just as it was level with the edge, my bedroom door opened. I dropped my hand back into my lap and watched the water settle back down to its normal level. My eyes were still watching the backyard when the curtain was yanked back, and Crystal was standing there smiling.

“How’d you know?” I asked, taking in the sight of my eldest sister. She was the oldest, but also the shortest. Standing at only 5’3, with the same slim build as myself. She looked the most like our mom did when she was younger. Long Auburn hair and sharp green eyes behind the glasses she’d worn since high school.

“That you’d be in the window seat? You have always hid there ever since we first moved here.” She replied and gently sat beside me.

“Maybe it’s time for a new hiding spot.”

“Sapphire,” Crystal said seriously “Are you sure you’re okay? I mean, what happened over the weekend wasn’t just accidents. Was it?” She asked softly and turned to look out the window.

I instantly tensed up and looked at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I managed to squeak out

Laughing, she shook her head and grasped my hand “I know Sapphire, I’ve known for years that you’re the water guardian.”

“But, how?”

“Grandma confirmed it for me when I had been home from my last year of college right before she passed away. But, I have known since you were born that you were special.” She explained, rubbing my suddenly cold hand in hers.

“How?” I asked, confused. “How could you have known I was special?”

“A woman came to career day at school when I was 10. Mom was only 4 months pregnant with you at the time. The woman had talked about becoming a doctor and helping others. She caught me after class and told me that my little sister would be special. I honestly thought she meant Jayde. After that, she shook my hand and left. It wasn’t until after she left that I noticed a piece of paper in my hand. It simply read “Sapphire Rose”.” She shook her head at the memory “It wasn’t until months later, and you were born, that I knew what the note had meant.”

“I had no idea…” I whispered.

“How could you? I never told anyone. Grandma just knew about it somehow.” She shrugged

“Oh”. I looked down at my lap.

“Now, I have some good news to tell you.” She smiled and placed a hand on her belly. “I’m pregnant. 8–10 weeks.”

“Omg! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I asked and threw my left arm around her in a hug.

“Well, I was going to announce it Friday at supper. But you kinda ran off.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“It’s alright. I understand why you did that. You were scared.”

Tears in my eyes, I just pulled her in for another hug.

“Be careful,” Crystal whispered in my ear. She kissed my forehead before she got up and left my room.