Six Guardians of the Underworld

Chapter 15

I turned around and walked outside the circle, moving as fast as my short legs would take me. "Just bring me to him, and I'll work on the details from there."

I don't know what the other witches did because I didn't see them after that, but my crew that included Sam headed back to the compound. I imagined the pentagram symbol in my mind, and the door appeared at the edge of the forest. Once inside, I addressed my friends. "Take me to him. To Brad." They all marched off in the same direction, and I had a very strong feeling we were headed toward the clinic.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

BRAD WAS LYING on the bed looking very gray. He was not alone in the clinic, but he was the only one who looked like a serious case. I sat down next to him in a metal chair and took his hand in mine. When he felt the contact, his eyes opened a little bit. He seemed disoriented and confused.

"Hey there, dude. Remember me?"

His hand pulled from mine but reached up toward my head. He was scowling.

I leaned forward, and he placed his palm on my scalp. I could feel his cold, clammy skin against mine.

"What happened? Ugly," he said. Apparently, he'd forgotten about my little hair accident.

I leaned back and laughed, letting his hand drop to the edge of the bed before taking it again. "Thanks. You're looking pretty shitty yourself."

He smiled just the slightest bit before his eyes closed. "Feel like s**t," he whispered.

"Well, that sucks. Because I came here to ask you to take me into the Gray, but I'm thinking that might not be such a good idea right now." I looked up at my friends, some of whom were sadly nodding. Becky was shaking her head as a tear escaped.

His breathing was raspy. "Tried. Did my best."

I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek and then I squished his face between my two hands. "I know you did. I'm so proud of you. You used to be such a d**k, but you've turned out to be a pretty cool guy."

He tried to smile but I was squishing his face too hard. I let it go and patted him on the forehead instead.

"I'm sorry…," he said. He didn't get anything more out, although I could've guessed what he wanted to say. We wasted a lot of time hating each other and trading barbs. I hated to imagine what we could've accomplished as friends. What a total waste. A lump rose in my throat. He seriously looked awful. I prayed it didn't mean that he was going to die.

"You better not kick the bucket on me, you jackass," I said, trying to toughen both of us up.

"Too mean to die," he said.

I try to laugh again, but I choked on tears instead. I had to turn around and wipe my face off just in case he opened his eyes. I didn't want him to catch me feeling sorry for him. I turned back around and reached over to grab his other hand, holding them both as I stood over him. "I'm going to try to help you if I can."

"Do your worst," he said, smiling again. "I probably won't even feel it."

I took a couple deep breaths in and out. Sam's voice came from behind me.

"Be careful, Jayne. You don't know how to control your elements very well, and we can't have you disappearing again."

"You think I don't know that?" I shot her a look over my shoulder. "I'm going to be careful."

"Maybe we should just let the healers work on this one," Finn said.

I rolled my eyes at them and turned around to face Brad. "What is the point of having all these powers if I can never use them?"

"We're not sayin' you can't use 'em, we're jus' sayin' maybe you should be a little extra careful," said Finn. "There's a lot riding on stuff these days."

He was right, but Brad needed help, and it didn't take a medical degree to know that this guy was walking up to death's doorstep and getting ready to knock on that door really hard. The Grim Reaper would surely come to let him in very soon too, if somebody didn't do something. The healers had done everything they could, and now it was my turn to try.

I closed my eyes so I could concentrate better. I imagined the Ben-dragon talking to me in his soothingly wise voice. And I thought of something else—I thought of Spirit. It was the one element that wasn't really an element that I had no control over. It seemed to enter the picture whenever it was convenient, not necessarily when I wanted it there. But knowing what I did about the elements told me that we were all connected and that Spirit was at the center of it. So I spoke to Spirit like I would to God if I were sitting in a church. I figured they were probably one and the same.

Spirit, I know you're out there. You know everything and you see everything, so you must be aware that this guy Brad was finally given his chance to realize his true potential and now he's being snatched from this realm and being sent away. Maybe he's already seen everything he needs to see, and maybe his time on earth is complete, but I would like to ask you that if it's not, and if he's going to be someone who helps all the creatures on this earth come together, if he's going to be part of this epic journey, I ask that you allow my elements to heal him now. And if it's wrong for me to ask for this, if the cost will be paid by anyone other than me, just pretend you never heard my voice.

I waited, but nothing bad happened, so I figured that was my go-signal. I called to the Green first and then Fire. Hot and cool wrapped around both of us. I pictured the elements like living ribbons, alive and running across his body, around his arms and legs, encircling his torso, his neck, and his face, slowly sliding like silk across his skin. Then Wind and Water came, changing the intensity, the direction, and the temperature contained in those ribbons. Every color of the rainbow was there. There were intense feelings of love and of hate wrapped together so tightly that I couldn't tell the difference between them anymore.

frustrations in our lives—with our schools, our parents, and our so-called friends. Nothing was as it should have been for us, and we fought against that unfairness with everything we had. We did what we could to make people believe we were trying, but it was never good enough. And yet, even when it seemed like everyone was against us, we rose above it all and we changed. We gave everything we had to this fae community and to the humans that lived beyond it. We wanted to be better, and we were genuine. We were part of something bigger than ourselves, and we just wanted to be given the chance to show what we were capable of. Brad deserved that. He deserved it as much as anybody else did. I wanted it so much for him, I could feel it in my bones.

I heard somebody gasp behind me, but I ignored it. I leaned down until my forehead was touching his. His formerly cold, clammy skin had started to warm. "I know who you are, Brad," I said quietly. "I know who you want to be. You are strong, you are kind, and you are tough. You can pull through. This life is worth living. Do not give up. We need you. Everybody in the entire world needs you, believe it or not."

He whispered back. "Sometimes I think dying would be easier than living."

I nodded, causing our sweaty heads to slide against one another. "I know that. I get that. But there is no reward in death without struggle in life. If you try to take the easy way out, you're just going to get sent right back to start all over again. We need you here now. Please don't start over. Please come back to us and keep going. Keep fighting with us." I sensed a long breath escape his body as it hit my face.

I pulled away for two reasons: first, they obviously did not brush the teeth of the patients who were laying there in the clinic, and second, because I knew I had done everything that I could. When I opened my eyes and released his hands, I noted that his skin didn't look quite as gray, but he seemed to have fallen into a state of unconsciousness.

A doctor who had been witnessing what was going on rushed over with a stethoscope and placed it against his chest. I heard Becky crying behind me and backed away. Brad's skin look better color-wise, but he didn't look like he was breathing anymore. Had I just laid the kiss of death on him? I sure hoped not.

After a few tense seconds, the doctor looked up at us. "He's still alive."

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and turned around to

go walk away, but I tripped. My legs weren't as strong as I thought they were. Scrum caught me and held me in his arms until I was able to get my feet under me again.

"You need to go to sleep," he said.

I shook my head hard to wake myself up out of my stupor. "I need to find the wyvern first. Then sleep."

Tim came flying over and landed on my shoulder, grabbing hold of my ear. "Good job, Lellemental. That'll do, pig. That'll do."

I didn't even have the energy to laugh at his Babe reference.

"I think I know where that little dragon is," he said.

I stopped and twisted my head to try to look at him. "You do? Where?"

"What's he saying?" Becky asked.

"He's telling me he knows where the wyvern is."

"That would've been nice to know earlier," Sam said sarcastically.

"Hey, nobody thought to ask me about the wyvern, so I wasn't about to volunteer any information. Nobody respects the pixie."

"I respect the pixie. Please tell me where the wyvern is." I was practically begging. I needed a nap so bad I could taste it. And if you've never tasted a nap, you're seriously missing out.

"She's in the garden, of course."

We started walking toward the door of the clinic. "Which garden?" I asked. There were only about a hundred of them around the fae compound, and that didn't even include the forested areas.

"My garden of course. What other garden would you choose if you were a wyvern? Obviously the only wyvern in the entire fae community would choose the best garden there is, and that would be the one cultivated by my amazing wife Abby, naturally."

"Of course it is." I was glad life was finally going my way. The wyvern was located just steps away from my bed and my next nap. Perfect. "Okay, let's go get her."

"You're acting like that's going to be easy," Sam said, walking next to me as we left the clinic and headed down the hallway.

"She's hanging out in Tim's garden. How hard could it be?"

Tim flew out ahead but answered me over his shoulder. "So naïve, so innocent, so clueless…"

I followed behind, knowing that it was fruitless to try and guess what he meant by that. Apparently, wyverns weren't one of the easiest things in the world to trap, but our garden wasn't that big either, so I didn't see how it could be such a big deal. Besides, I had a pixie, a witch, a green elf, a daemon, and a water sprite with me. How difficult could it be with the team like that at my side?

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE ANSWER TO my question 'how difficult could it be?' was provided about five seconds after we entered the garden attached to my living room. Abby flew up to meet us with her hands held out in front of her. "I hope you don't think you're going to go in there and disturb that wyvern."

I stopped, my friends halting behind me in a row. "That was the plan, yes.