A True Soul

We sat on the hood of my jeep. We were eating sandwiches and a bag of potato chips we’d gotten inside the gas station.

“So, Cain wants to kill you because you’re my guardian?” I asked him.

“Partly, but mostly it’s because I killed his mother, my aunt,” he said this nonchalantly as if he was telling me the sky was blue. “He wants to kill you because he hates True Souls, he blames your existence for the all the shit that’s happened to him, for corrupting Lonna, and for all the wars that have been fought. But none of that is your fault.”

“Wait, you killed your aunt?” I paused from my eating. I didn’t think anything could faze me at that point. “ I blame myself for so much already, but it’s not my fault he thinks his life sucked.”

“Yes, you’re right, it’s not your fault. I told you I killed the person who murdered your mother…” He told me. “I saw them fighting. Chloe had just walked away after she told Lonna to kill her. Chloe said that your mother was the one who killed Aisim.” He saw how big my eyes had gotten, and he continued, “She didn’t kill him.”

“Who did? Who really did kill Aisim and Hasani?’ I asked him.

“Along with the whole Natural Born s against True Souls, there were also some chaotic family situations going on. My aunt and uncle didn’t have the greatest marriage.” He paused, “Now this is where things get really strange, they were both cheating on each other. My mom was cheating on my dad with his brother, Russ, Cain’s father. Lonna was cheating on her husband with Aisim. So when my uncle found out, he killed Aisim. Hasani then stabbed, Russ.

“That is really screwed up actually…” I started eating again, but hadn’t been feeling like it after Dax told me happened.

“Yeah my family is messed up, well, was messed up… I’d damaged goods, girly…”

“No family’s perfect, to put it midly. We all have our skeletons. You know more about my family than I do… And you might be damaged, but you’re not broken. Not by a long shot.”

He smirked and looked at me out of the corner of his eyes, “If that’s what you want to believe, girly, I’ll take it. After everything, you’re faith in me is more than I deserve.” He placed his hand lightly over mine. I wanted to hold onto that moment forever; to seal it away so it would never be stolen from me.

Christmas dinner that night was one I’d remember for a long time. Even though we were missing close friends, there were still many people who meant so much to me there.

Blair sat that the head of the table, with me on her right side. Dax only got snippy a few times with the people around us. My father and Freddie stayed were in a thought provoking discussions. Jack chimed him with tid-bits from his experiences. I stuffed my face way more than I should had and had seconds on the stuffing and the creamed corn. Blair was extremely delighted and smiled the whole night. I could tell how stress free she was for once, which especially made it a wonderful night.

Even though Blair said that Christmas wasn’t as widely celebrated here as it was in America, there was still three Christmas trees arranged in the dining hall. To medium size ones on either side of the entrance doors and a large one that sat a decent ways behind Blair’s chair at the far end of the table. The trees were completely consumed with decoration, no bare spots to be seem. For the first time in a while I finally felt like I belonged.

“Good night, Dax,” I called to him as I made my way out of the dining hall. My father had already left for his cabin.

“Get some sleep, girly. I’ll see you in the morning.” He gave my hair a quick twirl before walking in the opposite direction to is room.

On my way back to my room I saw Jack in the library. He’d left dinner early, and I hadn’t got a chance to actually talk to him. “Hey Jack, did you have a good Christmas?” I walked in and stood next to him.

“Uh?” He said and turned his gaze away from the books he was staring at. “Just looking for something good to read, there are so many books to choose from.” He grabbed one, “this one is about Tibetan monks, maybe I’ll learn something I don’t know,” he laughed. “But to answer your question, Christmas is always a sad day for me, but I suppose as far as Christmases goes, this has been the best one in a long time.

“Can I ask why it’s a sad day?”

“Let me show you something,” I followed Jack to the back of the library. There were two swinging wooden doors that I’d never bothered to look through before; they almost looked like part of the wall itself. Jack pushed opened the swinging doors.

Jack pushed open one of the doors. The room was octagon shaped. There was a modern looking chandelier hanging from the ceiling that lit the room. The floors were a golden wood. The walls were intriguing, they were covered from top to bottom in bronze metal plates that had names etched on them. There were hinges on the top of each plate. On the back wall was a sign that read, ‘Gone, but Never Forgotten.’

He walked towards one of the diagonals walls and pointed to two plates on the middle row in the fourth and fifth columns. “Come over here, Angie.”

I walked over to him. He tapped the metals plates, the names Annabelle Bowen and Marquin Bowen were engraved on them.

“Anna was my daughter, and Marquin was my son.” Jack lifted the name plates from the bottom. Under Annabelle’s plate were the dates 1/1/1941-12/23/1969, and under Marquin’s were 5/22/1939-12/23/1969. “Mubaka’s mother had them killed shortly after she became queen, because I wouldn’t do as she asked.” He whipped away tears from his eyes. “It’s been 44 years since I’ve seen my children….” Jack sucked in his breath, “and it’s been 41 years since I’ve seen my wife, Marguerite.” He pointed to a name plate a few rows below his children. It read Marguerite Bowen; the dates behind the plates were 3/14/1894-11/7/1972.

“She was so lovely. Marge died of a broken heart; she just missed them so much. After they took my children I did whatever they asked so I wouldn’t have to lose her too, and once I did I was a broken man.”

“Oh my god Jack I’m so sorry… I didn’t know…” I looked away, I wasn’t able to look into his eyes and see all that sadness.

“I was furious when I saw their names in here. How dare she do this. It was to mock me. Important people to the kingdom get their names placed on these walls when they die, or those who have died in honor. My family’s death weren’t honorable…” He paused, and pointed to the other end of the room. “But your mother, her death was honorable, she was defending her family.”

We walked towards the front part of the room. “All the names of the people who died on August 10 1999, their names are on here. You’re mothers and Eve’s.” He pointed towards the top row. “Cain’s parents, Russell and Lonna LeSage; and Dax’s parents, Atticus and Charsie LeSage.”

“They lost their parents too that night… Both boys’ orphaned. It’s so unfair. Things would have been so different if that night had never happened. I’d never thought about it until now but Blair, Cain, Dax and I all lost parents that night. In so many ways we’re the same. But I still have my dad; I honestly had no idea what I’d do without him.”

“You’ve grown into an amazing young women. Don’t ever doubt that child.” Jack had a sadden expression as he continued, “Blair’s father’s name isn’t in this room. Eve asked that it be put in here, but Mubaka said that it wasn’t necessary, that his death wasn’t of more importance than anyone else.”

“Who was Blair’s father? She’s never talked about him,” I told Jack.

“He was a man named Charles Whitman. He died, I believe… Well I believe it’s was 17 years ago yesterday, Christmas Eve of 1996. If I’m right, he died of the same thing that Faux’s father has become infected with.”

“Blair never mentioned anything. She doesn’t even have his last name.”

“Eve wanted to keep her maiden name. As for Blair, she’s never mentioned a word about her father since she was a very small girl. It’s probably still too painful for her,” Jack explained.

“I’m so glad I still have my father, I used to take him for granted. After hearing and seeing how others have lost so much, it makes me appreciate all that I still have. I have so many friends now that make up my family and I’m truly grateful.”

“It is the season,” Jack smiled. “Thank you and your family for making this the best Christmas in 44 years.” He patted my back and I smiled at him.

After I left the library I went back to my room. When I walked back into the bedroom I slipped off my shoes and switched on the light. There was an old leather brown and red book lying on my bed with a note on top of it.

Dear Angie, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Here’s my gift to you.

It’s our very detailed family tree,

It has both the O’Brian and Knox family line.

Hope you enjoy!

All my love, Blair.

O’Brian? Who was the O’Brian’s? I unwound the leather strap that wrapped around the book. I ran my hand over the ridged red lion design on the cover before opening the book.

On the top of the pages in bold lettering was the word Knox with the dates 1350-1400. Under the bolded dates was where the family tree started. There were squares representing the males and circular symbols representing the females, these symbols were connected by soiled and dashed lines. Each name had a birth and death date. Under some of the names was a brief description about the person, how they died, or what they did for a living. Every page was 50 years’ worth of names and dates. On 1500-1550 page was a large painting of a male lion. He had brownish golden eyes and dark main. Edmund Francis Knox 1503-1626: Advisor to King Charles Julius Roman.

Edmund Knox had one son with his wife Mary. His son had three sons of his own, but only two of them had any children. The youngest had two daughters and the middle son and one son of his own in 1567.

I flipped through the pages; there were more paintings of lions and people, and actual photographs in the later dated pages book.

This was my family, a family until now I’d known very little about because my father had no way to know any of this. My father’s parents had died when he was very little. Julian up in foster homes after that.

I got to the last page of the Knox’s 1850-1900, the list ended with my great grandparents, whose names were Normindan (1884-1992) and Cecilia Knox (1889-1997). They had a son named Sheldon in 1929, who I believe I remembered being told was my grandfather.

I flipped over another painting of a lion with bright reddish colored main and green eyes; this was the beginning of the O’Brian line. I figured out that this was my grandmother’s side of the family. There were just as many pictures and dates on this side as there was from the Knox side. The O’Brian side ended with names Patrick (1877- 1995) and Mari O’Brian (1873- 1996). They had two daughters, Edith (1926-1926) stillborn and Lenora Marie O’Brian in 1930.

On the last page of the book began with Sheldon (1929-1998) and Lenora Knox (1930-???). In their description it said they felt proud and privileged to be Natural Born s, and once their daughters were old enough to care for themselves they chose to completely embrace the animalist life style, choosing to live in the wild. This was not a fortunate decision for Sheldon as he was killed by poachers in 1998. In 1999 after the death of her two daughters and her husband Lenora went missing.

Beneath Sheldon and Lenora’s name was Ember Knox-Silverwood (1962-1999) and Evelyn (Eve) Knox (1962-1999). Attached to my mother’s name was my father’s and mine underneath. Next to Eve’s name was Charles’s, with a line showing that Blair was their daughter.

The Knox family ended with me and Blair, well technically with Blair. She was the last one left with the Knox name.

I loved my Christmas present. It gave me a feeling about my family I never had. Maybe this whole Natural Born /True Soul thing wasn’t so bad after all. I closed the book, and placed it in my dresser.

I stared out my window, there were stars everywhere. I saw Dax sitting against a tree out by the lake. Just the sight of him made my body warm. I smiled to myself. I’ve never admitted out loud or even to myself how strong my feelings for Dax were. I was frustrated with myself; there was no logical reason or me to feel this way. But logical had little to with what my heart longed for.

When I’d laid my head down that night and my last thoughts were of Dax.

The next morning I starred at myself in the bathroom mirror. My dark red hair was more poofy than normal. I grunted. I took a quick bath before taking a blow dryer to my hair. That made it little better. At least now it was wavy and manageable, maybe even a little cute.

I threw on a t shirt and some capris with my flip flops. When I opened the doors, as always there were two guards standing outside. “You guys should take a day off.”

“Can’t do that ma’am. It’s our job to protect you.” The one on the right said. I believe his name was Devon.

“Well, have a good day.” I called out to them.

“You too, ma’am,” the guard on the left, Tracy said.

No one else was around; the halls were really empty for a Thursday. When I got to the dining hall I heard voices.

“Do you have any idea how irresponsible that was?! I asked you, and you specifically to bring her back when the time was right!” Blair was screaming. My heart quickened.

“Do you not think I know this?!” This time it was Dax who was screaming back.

I ran toward the archway that separated the dining hall from the throne room. Blair’s main guard, the tall one with dreadlocks, with skin the color of dark caramel, stopped me.

“Rhett,” I said sternly to him. “Rhett, I really need in there.”

“Angela that’s not a good idea, the Queen isn’t pleased.” Rhett held his hand out to stop me.

“I’m not taking no for an answer. You can’t hurt me, so please don’t make me hurt you.” I put as much force as I could behind my voice. I didn’t know if I could have really hurt him, probably not. Either way it didn’t mattered, I had to get to Dax and Rhett wouldn’t stop me.

He hesitated before he moved out of my why. Rett hadn’t pulled back the curtain but he had not tried to stop me either. I pushed back the curtain. Blair was in a golden shimmer robe with her hair pulled into a braided bun.

“SHE COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!” Blair screamed I’d never heard her so pissed. I couldn’t see her, but I saw Dax fall to his knees, his whole body frozen.

“Dax!” I ran to him. His eyes found mine and locked on. I turned to look at Blair. Her face was in total shock. Her eyes were huge and her arms were just hanging limp from her body. I dropped to my knees in front of Dax and grabbed onto him. “Blair whatever it is you’re doing stop! You have to stop!”

“I…I…” Blair stood their bewildered as if she didn’t know what was going on.

I could see Dax still breathing. “Re...Relax...” He managed for that word to escape from his mouth. Blair took a deep breath and whatever had caused her to freeze Dax released him.

“I’m fine Angie,” Dax said as he stood and helped me up as well.

“Dax I didn’t know… I don’t know what I did.” Blair looked so unsure of herself.

“It’s part of your powers as Queen. You’ve never been so pissed off at someone you froze them, girly. It goes with the pull you have others,” Dax told her.

“How’d you know?” She asked him.

“I’m pretty good at pissing people off, Chloe was no exception.”

She placed her hand over her heart. It must have still been beating pretty fast. “Point still remains.” Her sturdiness was back. She turned around and sat on her throne. “Point still remains. You’re her guardian. You were the one chosen to protect her. No one can change that now. You asked me for a pardon all those years ago before I was Queen. I gave you one on the condition that you never left your post again! AND WHAT DID YOU DO?!” She screamed again. Blair was sitting on the edge of her seat.

“I DIDN’T ABANDON HER!” Dax screamed back. “Damn it!” He turned and grabbed my arms. “I didn’t abandoned you, girly. When your plane took off from the airport I was standing outside in the rain, watching you fly away, already regretting what had happened between us.

“ As much as it fucking drove me crazy I knew I couldn’t protect you there anymore. You needed to be here. And I wasn’t ready to talk about what happened back at the house.” He shook me a little. “Girly, you have to believe me. I went after Cain when you left. I went after him to kill him. And after what I told you, it’s a fucking good thing I did too!” He turned and pointed at Blair.

Blair rubbed her hand against her forehead. “One, I know you didn’t abandon her, those were never my words. I said you left Angela, which you did! Two, you deliberately disobeyed me. You were supposed to be with her! But I could feel your pull, I could feel what you were doing.”

“So by your own words you should forgive me for what happen. I shouldn’t be banished…”

I cut him off, “Banished! You can’t banish Dax!”

“Angela, I’m not banishing him. He’s over reacting. I know he didn’t just leave you.” She sounded highly annoyed.

“This conversation is a waste of air! You know I to leave, I have to find Cain before he gets here!”

“Wait, you can’t leave! You just got here.” I gapped at Dax. He was leaving again and I wouldn’t be able to stop him. “Cain won’t find me here.”

“But he will, girly. He knows you’re here. I don’t know how, but he does,” Dax said to me. “When I found his hide out and tore through the house, everyone was dead. Cain had killed all of Natural Born s that he was controlling, all of them except one. The only reason Cain left one shit faced lackey of his still breathing was to give me a message that he was on his way to kill you.”

“No. No. All the more reason you can’t leave.” I grabbed on to his shirt. “Please don’t go. I can’t lose you.”

“I have to find Cain again before he gets here. I have to kill him, I have to end this.” Dax had so much hatred and anger that seethed through him.

“Dax you can’t go alone. Some of the castle guardians will accompany you. I don’t want to scatter anymore ashes,” Blair told him. Her hands gripped the side of her throne, her expression was stern.

“No, that still isn’t good enough. I don’t care how many guardians go with you. It’s not enough to make sure you won’t get killed,” I pleaded.

He gently put his hands on my face. “Angie, I know you have feelings for me,” he said very softly, “I have feelings for you too, girly.” I felt my face turn bright red.

I opened my mouth and shut it before I had been actually able to speak, “All the more reason why you shouldn’t go now. Your feelings for me will get in the way and get you killed.”

“Oh, girly, girly, girly. It’s my job. As your guardian it’s my duty to protect you. I swore this when I was chosen. I wavered one time, ten years ago, but I overcame that. I have chosen to protect you, and I will defend you with my life. Just as I would if I was any other person’s guardian.” He rubbed his thumb against my cheek. “I’ll come back.”

“What he says is true Angie; it is his duty to protect your well-being.” Blair told me.

I turned from the Queen to Dax. “You can protect my well-being here. Send someone else. Were you even going to tell me you were leaving?” I asked him in a quietly. I could feel my voice crack when I spoke.

“Yes, of course, girly. I was going to tell you. I just hadn’t figured out how to say goodbye yet.” His dark eyes were captivating.

“So, don’t. Don’t say goodbye at all.”

Dax placed one hand on the back of my head and the one other between my shoulder blades as he pulled me close to him. He put his lips on mine, and completely blew me away. I had ever let myself imagine being in this situation with Dax. It was one of those moments that wipe your mind blank. It’s a passionate, magical moment that I never want to end. It was a moment that felt so familiar, and yet so different. Dax made me feel like he wanted me. He had the ability to shock me to my core, and leave a tingling sensation through my body. What was worse, he made me need him even more.

His lips were softer than I had thought. Dax hesitated as he pulled away. “What makes you think I can let you go now?” I asked him.

“Because you have to, girly.” He said softness I didn’t know he was capable of.

Blair coughed. And we turned to look at her. I felt my face flush, I’d forgotten she was watching. “So, that’s the way it’s gonna be now guys?” She halfway smiled at us.

“Only if she wants it to be.” He turned to me.

“Only if you come back to me. I won’t give you an answer yet, so you have a reason to come back.”

“Angie, you are more than enough of a reason for me to come back,” he reassured me.

“When are you leaving?” I buried my face in his chest.

“In an hour.”

“So soon?” I buried my face in his chest.

“Your dad is staying with you through the holidays. You’ll have him with you here.”

Blair stood and walked towards us. “I’ll give you two a minute to say goodbye. Dax I’ll get some of the guardian’s ready.” She placed her hand on me. “Dax’ll be back.” She pulled back the curtain and walked out of the room.

Dax held me close, not letting go. He slowly kissed the top of my head. “I’ll be back, girly. That’s a promise.”

The rest of the holidays were quiet. I spent the majority of the time with my father. I showed him the shrine in honor of Ember and Eve. He talked about mom more now than I had ever remembered.

One morning when it was just my father and I out by the lake I asked, “Why did you never remarry after mom? Was it my fault, because of what I am?”

“No, Angie, what would ever make you think that?”

“It’s probably my fault, because I’m a True Soul. I mean how can you tell someone that?” I picked at some grass.

“Honey, Angie, that’s not it at all. That’s crazy talk. I’ve just never found the right person I guess. I knew I could never replace your mother. What we had was something that only happens once in a life time. And maybe it’s because I’d never got to say good bye,” my father explained to me.

It was hard to hear this from my father. I had never thought about it before. “I’m sure she wouldn’t care if you met someone, she would want you to be happy. She’d want you to find closure.”

“I know, she would want you to be happy too.” He squeezed my hand. “Life would be much easier for you if Ember was still here. She’d be able to help you more with this than I would.”

The day my father left was the same day Faux returned with her father. But this time they came in style, on a small private jet that landed in front of the palace.

A guardian in a black jumpsuit, with leather boots, and a hooded jacket stepped out of the, he was followed by a woman guardian with short straight hair.

Faux came out with who I assumed was her mother, in between them was her father. Both girls were holding onto Bill to keep him upright. His skin was ashen, and his eyes looked sunken in his skull.

Faux was as tall as her father, just slightly taller than her mother. She was wearing hiking boots, shorts and a pale camisole. She looked so much like her mother, except the blonde hair, she got that from her dad. Her mother had ringlet curls, but was dark with random highlights throughout her hair. Her father eyes were orange, and her mother’s blue with a green circle around the pupil.

Blair came out here to meet them as well. She summoned some nurses with her. “Candice, Bill’s in good hands,” she said as nurses took Bill from Faux and Candice’s arms.

“I’ll be fine girls,” Bill said to his family. He nodded in my father’s directions, but I could tell he was too weak to do much else.

Faux crossed her arms and followed her father.

“Juniper,” Candice called out. Who was Juniper?

Faux paused, but she didn’t turn around.

“Faux,” Candice said strained. Juniper was Faux? “Everything will be ok.” There were tears in Faux’s eyes when she turned around, nodded and quickly walked back into the castle.

After Faux walked about into the castle Blair addressed Candice, “How bad is he?”

Candice hadn’t looked at us, she just turned her head and wiped away tears. “Not well.”

Blair closed her eyes, took in a breath and nodded. “I see. Bill’s in good hands here. We’ll make sure he stays comfortable.”

“I know. It’s just I don’t want to leave him like this. It’s so hard.” She tried not to choke on her tears.

“You can stay as long as you need. There is no need to find Dominique right away,” Blair said as gently as she could.

“No, he needs the chance to say good bye as well. Heaven only knows where he’s gone to.” Candice regained her composure. She walked to me. “It’s been a long time, I know you don’t remember me, but I will never forget your birth. I was your mothers midwife. I delivered you.”

“She’s one hell of midwife too. She knows her stuff.” My father said and smiled. “You were a very good friend, still are. Candice was so good at helping your mother with her pregnancy.”

“That’s a birth I could never forget. Your mother was in labor for 26 hours, and refused an epidural. She was one touch woman.” She placed her hands on my face. “You look so much like your father, but I see your mother in you too. Your hair, your lips, that determined look in your eyes. That’s all her.” She smiled at me.

“Thank you. That really means a lot to me to know that a part of her is still in me.” I told her.

“I should be going now.” Candice said.

“Lola, and Trevette will drop Julian home first, then they’ll accompany you to London. There you’ll meet up with Dax. I’d look first at G. B. N. A. I felt him close by there, maybe he’s helping with our sister guardian program. Amelia might be able to help you as well. Spencer and Sadie are with her too.”

The guardian and Candice bowed slightly. “Yes, my Queen.”

“I’ll see you soon Angie.” My dad gave me a quick hug before he got on the plane.

Jack found me later at dinner; he came and sat beside me. Blair wasn’t here this evening, and Faux had still been with her father in the medical center. So I had been all alone.

“Tomorrow we’ll continue with your True Soul lessons.”

“That suits me just fine, I could use the distractions. It’ll keep me from feeling so alone,” I told him.

“They’ll be back. Faux will be okay. But for now I’ll leave to you to your dinner,” he stood and turned to leave.

“No, please stay…I could use the company, it’s better than leaving me to my pessimistic thoughts.”

“Aw, but child, there is no need for pessimism. Have faith in our guardians, in Dax. His stubbornness is what makes him one of the best guardians we have, despite his unusual tactics.”

I forced a laughed, “Yes, that’s true. He is very stubborn, and Blair hand-picked the guardians that went with him.”

“My advice would be to read the guardian folder first. I pieced it together myself, maybe you’ll be able to learn a thing or too that would help not only you, but others,” Jack said, changing the subject away from Dax.

“What do you mean? What can I find that you haven’t already?” I asked him.

“You offer a new perspective, you might be able to see something I haven’t yet. And you’ll get some answer I know you’ve been wanting. Sometimes it’s easier to learn things on your own.”

“I want to help, in any way I can. So, I promise you I’ll do my best. You can count on it.” I attempted a smile, but it didn’t feel genuine.

“Just remember that your other classes are important too. You may not have a normal human life, but that doesn’t mean school isn’t a priority.”

“Will do, it’ll be a much needed diversion from worrying about my father and Dax.”

Dust filled the room and made me cough when I dropped a thick heavy pile of folders on top of Jack’s desk. “Ok, here’s goes nothing…” I murmured to myself.

I had gone to Jack’s hidden library. He said I wouldn’t need him for my studies tonight. I

pulled out the guardian files from the drawer Jack had placed them in.

I opened the first manila file, the name displayed on the Dominique Jarvas Rivera. There was a picture paper clipped to the papers inside the folder. Dominique had odd colored haired. It was black with a shock white in the bangs that curled around in half circles around his eyebrows. His eyes were green, with blue circles around them, the exact opposite of his mothers.

Underneath the picture was some basic information that read:

Current Date: 2/08/1999

Date of Birth: 5/13/1981

Last Name: Rivera

First Name: Dominique

Middle Name: Jarvas

Animal Type: Feline

Markings: black with white chest and stomach

Height: 6’ 3’’

Weight: 186 lbs

Status: Guardian – upper level

Father: William Jarvas Rivera

Mother: Candice Rivera

Sibling (s): Juniper Faux Rivera

Nominated as a candidate for guardian of the True Soul

How outdated were these? What was I supposed to learn from them? And was Juniper and Faux the same person? I continued to read the file.

It listed his accomplishments, since graduating from the academy at the castle. He graduated early too, go figure. Dominique graduated two years early at the top of his class. He was sent to various parts of the world for the next year and a half until January of 1997, when he was relocated back to the castle.

So far I hadn’t found anything that peaked my interest too much, but I continued to flipped through the pages.

Recommendation: The Queen, Chloe Isis Mubaka, highly recommends Dominique Rivera to become the new Guardian to the True Soul, Angela May Silverwood. He is well educated and trained as a Guardian. The Queen believes he has more than proved himself qualified to be the one chosen for this task.

Over this paragraph, in large bold red letters, were the words REJECTED. Rejected? But of course I knew this. Dax was my Guardian, but how had that happened? Underneath the text, in the same type of print, was the M.I.A.

There was a note with Blair’s handwriting:

8/12/2012

Rivera’s whereabouts are currently unknown. I know that he is still alive, and some where north. His level of communication has dwindled for the past four years, ceasing all together a year and a half ago.

He has made no contact with any known family members either.

I creased my eyebrows, I was now interested. Dominique was requested by the queen to be my guardian, and yet he was rejected, but now years later he was missing. I closed his file and moved onto the next one.

This file answered my question about Faux’s name. The picture attached to this file was of a ten year old girl with ringlet blond hair, blue eyes with orange circles around her pupils. Her head was cocked to the side, with her right hand to making a peace sign. It was unmistakably a young version of Faux.

Current Date: 02/081999

Date of Birth: 11/11/1987

Last Name: Rivera

First Name: Juniper

Middle Name: Faux

Animal Type: Feline

Markings: Mostly white with orange spots

Height: 5’ 3’’

Weight: 100 lbs.

Status: Guardian in training

Father: William Jarvas Rivera

Mother: Candice Rivera

Sibling (s): Dominique Jarvas Rivera

Nominated as a candidate of guardian for the True Soul

Faux had been a candidate to be my guardian. But why wasn’t she picked? It was intriguing and frustrating, not knowing. I flipped through her file, grade cards, report slips and other random schooling information.

Towards the back of her file was a separate section of papers that were stapled together labeled medical information.

Under the direct care and supervision of Dr. Freddie Lance, a surgeon at the medical center, Juniper Rivera will undergo a procedure as instructed by the Queen. Rivera, along with six other females, will start a five week cycle of hormone inducing shots that will be given once a week. These shots will cause the precipitant to have a cycle every twenty eight days, as a human female would, thus increasing the chance of fertility later on in the female’s life.

The mixture has been approved and created by Queen Chloe Mubaka, Jack Bowen, and Freddie Lance. The shots will be administered the last week of June and continue until the first week of August. After the last shot the precipitant should experience her first menstrual cycle.

The next few pages contained information about the when the shots had been administered, how her reactions to them were and if there were any changes in her behavior. It seemed that she became a bit more emotional, but other than that no important changes were recorded.

The last page of her medical papers read:

Current date: 03/21/2001

The hormone shots failed. Rivera had her first menstrual cycle on the third of august 1999, on the tenth around 1:00 a.m. she was found unconscious and was taken to the medical center in the castle. At 3:00 a.m. an ultra sound was done of her ovaries and uterus, which found that the shots had caused serve deformities and abnormalities all around this region. At 6:30 a.m. on august eleven 1999 Rivera underwent an emergency hysterectomy conducted by Dr. Freddie Lance.

Within a week all the other test participants had to have emergency surgery as well. Due to the extreme, unfortunate, results of the hormone shots, Mubaka ordered the discontinuation of the trial.

I closed Faux’s file. Was this the reason Freddie was torn inside? Did he blame himself for what happened to Faux and the other girls? This was mind blowing information. But I couldn’t figure out why Freddie, Jack, and Chloe were tied together. Why would they carrying out something so horrid? These were all questions I would ask Jack or maybe even Freddie later.

Dax’s file was next, along with the Twins. I almost felt too mentally drained to flip open Dax’s file, but I wanted to know why Dax was chosen as my guardian. With any luck my answers would be in his file.

Current Date: 2/08/1999

Date of Birth: 08/05/1987

Last Name: LeSage

First Name: Dax

Middle Name: Nathanial Atticus

Animal Type: Canine

Markings: Mostly Black, White marking on face and chest

Height: 5’ 2’’

Weight: 110 lbs.

Father: Atticus LeSage

Mother: Charsie LeSage

Status: Guardian in training

Sibling (s): None

Nominated as a candidate for guardian of the True Soul

The only thing I learned from the profile information was that Faux had been taller than Dax at the age of eleven. Instead of reading through the whole file, I flipped through the pages until I got the one that was titled ‘Training Complete’.

Current Date: 12/08/1997

LeSage, with the three guardians in training, has passed the first rounds of the guardian process. He will continue with an advantage placement along with Juniper Rivera, Spencer Pierce, and Sadie Pierce. They are the youngest, but most equip guardians of their age.

Current Date: 12/30/1997

Against Queen Mubaka’s recommendations /Dax Nathaniel Atticus LeSage has been chosen to be Angel May Silverwood’s new guardian. He was chosen due to the refusal of Dominique Rivera as Silverwood’s guardian. Ember Silverwood rejected Rivera, upon this refusal Mubaka appointed Dax as her guardian.

So it was Mubaka’s doing that Dax was my guardian. I closed Dax’s file. I was too drained to read anything else to night. Why had my mom refused Dominique? He was older and seemed more like the sensible choice. This somehow forced Dax into being my guardian. Did he know about that? Finding out he was appointed to be my guardian by Mubaka was confusing as hell.

Was there some type of plan in making Dax my guardian? I leaned my forehead against my hands. My hair fell around me in waves. I pulled out my cell phone. I had no reception of course. It’s been two weeks since I’d heard from Dax. All I had wanted at that moment was to hear his voice. I stood, pulled on the light cord and made my way up the stairs.

Once I had closed the hidden door to Jack’s room, I made my way to the garden. It was dark and for the most part I was alone. There were just a few random animals that had found their way into slumber. I sat on a bench and pushed the call button on my phone. I had no clue where Dax was or what time zone he would be in, but I needed to make sure he was ok.

The phone rang twice before I heard on operator on the line, “Sorry, but the person you are trying to call is no longer in service, please try your call again later.”

I closed my eyes and shoved my phone into my pocket. Before going to bed that night I sat in the moonlit garden consumed with my rambling thoughts. I had learned so much, yet it felt like so little.