The Awakened Ones

A new girl walked into my English class today and she had a weird presence about her. Not only was she one of those preppy girls, who automatically have friends, but she was one of those girls who right away was giving me the evil eye. She was told to sit next to me, which meant the only girl who I was friendly with in the class was moved. The air was kind of tight with her around me too. We worked on papers during the class then when the bell rang, I headed across the hall to my math class. The new girl, Dee, followed me and flashed her schedule at me, like I was supposed to actually see what it said, and asked me if this was the right class. I answered that it was and followed her in.

After the world’s most boring class, next to English and History, it was finally time to walk with Quint to AIS. I stood outside my math class and waited for him. As he headed down the hallway, he stared off in the distance at someone. It was Dee and I can honestly say, I became jealous.

“What is she doing here?” he asked, walking up to me.

“What?” I asked, looking over at him.

“N- Nothing,” he answered, looking back at me, “Ready?”

We headed down the stairwell, being followed by Dee. I knew Quint knew she was behind us, because he was a little jittery, constantly looking to the corner of his eye. Halfway to AIS, she pulled out her schedule, asking if we were going to the classroom listed on the piece of paper. I noticed she had every class but two with me. I let out a heavy sigh and answered that we were.

When we sat in class, Dee sat close to Quint’s table and at first he ignored it, but half way through the class, he was making his way to sit with me. I could feel her glare on us every five minutes once Quint moved. Quint’s eyes were glued on his magazine the entire class. I let him be and did my homework. After class, he stopped me before the next class – but that was after he waited for Dee to walk away.

“Listen, if you feel any pulling on your soul, put a block on it. It’s like that aura trick I taught you the other day, but not with so much power.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, okay? I can’t explain right now,” he said. I looked up at him for a second then told him okay. He then tapped my arm, “I’ll see you a little later.” He smiled at me, then walked down the hall to the stairs.

I crossed my arms and watched him walk down the hall. I eventually left and went to Spanish, where I told Sarah about Dee – who sat in the back of our class. The entire time while we were taught on how to have a fluent conversation in our second language, Dee drilled holes into the back of our heads with her piercing stare. Even Sarah said she felt it. She wrote me a note during class, asking if that was Dee. I told her yes and then wrote back that I wanted to pull out some old tricks after class. When the bell rang, we walked slowly behind Dee and went to check out her aura, but it failed. It was like she had a block up – neither of us could see anything.

The first week was Dee staring holes into our heads. The second week was her backing off a little. Maybe she was getting bored with our heads? I could tell she was still interested in us though. She’s almost like Xavier, always watching… but to say she’s with Xi is too soon I guess. Maybe she’s on her own with this one? Maybe she’s one of those other dark souls looking for our powers. I don’t know. But I do know that since last week, Sarah’s been acting weird. She talks to me during school, but after school, it’s like she’s too busy. Today was actually the first day that she invited me to sit with her and Nick in the cafeteria after school. I was mostly there to keep Sarah company while Nick chatted with his fellow drama club members. She rarely spoke to me though, she was in on the conversations with everyone else, which left me to listen to my iPod and zone out.

While I listened to my music, I was surprised to see Quint.

“Thought that was you guys coming in here,” he said, sitting next to me.

“What are you staying after for?” I asked, dropping my headphones from my ear.

“Detention. How about you?”

“Nick got together with his drama buddies and Sarah wanted me here for her.”

His eyebrow rose, noticing she wasn’t even acknowledging me. Quint and I talked until Nick and Sarah turned back to us and said the buses were arriving soon. The boys took the lead, while Sarah and I walked behind them. Sarah was going off about something her and Nick did during the weekend, but stopped halfway through it.

“Then what?” I asked, urging for her to continue, “Sarah?”

Her eyes went wide, then she called out, “Dru!!” She began to run to the sidewalk.

My eyes searched hopelessly for Dru’s figure.

“It’s a trick!” Quint yelled, stepping forward then stopping.

Sarah ran right into Xi’s hand. He lifted her off the ground by her neck. Nick went to go towards her, but stopped. Sarah’s school uniform transformed into a maroon dress as Xi absorbed her powers. Xi was grinning from ear to ear as Sarah struggled to be freed.

“Let go of her!” I yelled.

Xi’s gaze fell on me. He then threw Sarah to the wall, Nick ran to her. I watched them for a second, then looked back at Xi. He raised his hand to me and shattered my guardian stone. As his hand rose higher, I rose off the ground, feeling like I was now in his choke hold. He used his other hand to pull something towards him then shot his hand out in front of him. A strong gust of wind hit me, knocking my uniform into the same dress that Sarah wore – only mine was lavender. When my feet were placed back on the ground, I knew exactly what happened. I was awakened and so was Sarah. Xi grinned and began to wave my soul to him, but stopped once Quint stepped in front of me. His shield present on his arm.

“Traitor!” Xi yelled, “Move. Now!”

“I won’t let you take her.”

Their stare on each other were both equally piercing. “I will make you move then,” Xi said, swiping his hand to the side. Apparently the shield only protected us from Xi’s view and maybe an attack coming from the front. But from the side, Quint was taken by surprise and thrown away from me. “Give me your power,” he said, looking back at me.

My soul shifted as he motioned me again.

“She’s the strongest, Xi,” Quint said, standing up and looking over at us. Sarah was helped up and being held by Nick. “You’ll never get her full powers.”

Xi stared at Quint, not saying a word, then threw his arm to Sarah and Nick. Quint yelled for Nick to put up a shield, but it was too late. The force of Sarah’s powers drifting out of Xi, pushed Nick away from her. Silver and maroon mist began to float out of Sarah’s chest and right into Xi. He seemed to stand straighter with Sarah’s powers surging through him. She stumbled backwards, thank God she wasn’t dead. I wasn’t about to lose another friend – even if we weren’t as close as we used to be. Xi turned back to me after that, his eyes smiling. He held his hand out to me again and my soul shifted, but nothing like my soul came out, it was more like what left Sarah. A piece of my aura was drawn to him.

“No!” Quint yelled, rushing at me. But like Nick, he was thrown away.

My aura energy entered Xi and he threw back his head, laughing, like he was possessed. “Such enormous power,” he exclaimed, “I want more, give me more!” I stepped back, finally able to move. Xi’s hand went back up to zap more power out of me and my feet froze once again.

Just then a strange glowing ball was thrown through the air, but before it even got close to Xi, he shot my power into his aura and killed the power ball. It was rather funny though because he shot too much power into his aura and threw himself away from all of us which gave us the perfect chance to run.

“We need to get out of here, now,” Quint said, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the buses. “Nick, you got Sarah?”

Nick nodded and helped Sarah run after us.

Mine and Sarah’s clothes turned back to normal as we ran.

On the bus ride to Quint’s, he was quiet the entire time. I sat with him and glanced over at him. He seemed upset and I didn’t understand why. Yeah, Xi snatched some of our powers, but he knew that was going to happen sooner or later. Sarah and Nick sat together and I’m sure they were talking about everything that just happened.

When we got off the bus, that’s when Quint said something:

“Nick, when Xi comes out like that, be on guard. I’ve said it from the beginning, always be ready. And Sarah,” he said, turning to her, “When the hell did you awaken?”

“A while ago?” Sarah said, feeling a little intimidated by Quint.

“A while ago!? Do you realize what has just happened?”

“Quint, take it easy,” Nick said, defending Sarah. “I’m sure everything will be alright, just look at today-”

“That’s easy for you to say, Nick!” Quint cut him off, “Your life isn’t at stake.” And with that he turned away and continued towards his house.

I looked at the back of Quint. “You mean our lives?” I asked, talking about me and Sarah.

“No, Jillian.” He stopped walking and turned back to look at me, “All of ours, but his.” We had all stopped at his front door when we stopped for the second time. He turned back to unlock his door and Nick and Sarah went in and headed downstairs. Quint stopped before going inside and looked back at me again, I still stood outside.

“I thought you said we couldn’t die during all of this,” I let out.

“I’m not so sure anymore, Jill…” he answered. “Xi has been trying to this for a very long time… I don’t know how much patience he has anymore.”

“But what about you?” I was afraid Quint’s life was on the line too just like mine and Sarah’s and somehow I felt worse about that than about losing my life.

“Don’t worry about it, Jill. Come on.”

“But Quint-”

“Jillian, everything will be fine. Don’t worry about me,” he said, walking up to me, seeing the fear in my eyes. I could see he was afraid too and to agree with what Nick said before, I could see it hurt him. “You don’t have that guardian stone right now and Xi’s on the prowl.” He held his hand out to me and I hesitated before grabbing it and going into the house.

Quint never apologized to Nick or Sarah, but they all seemed over it. Like they expected to be scolded by Quint. Sarah checked her aura’s power level which gave me the same idea. Our auras weren’t that bad, not even a quarter of our aura level was taken. After a while, Quint asked if we wanted to all stay over until he figured out what to do with what just happened. Since it was a Friday, none of our parents minded. Quint then asked if I wanted to help him get snacks.

“You’re keeping something from me, Quint,” I said, taking down cups.

“Maybe I am.”

“Then tell me.”

“I can’t,” he glanced over at me from the chips. “Not yet at least, not until I know what the hell is going on.” I stared at him with crossed arms and tears forming in my eyes. He glanced over at me again then stopped what he was doing, “Jillian, what’s wrong?”

“Did you see how easy it was for Xi to just take Sarah’s powers then attack me?”

“That wasn’t your full powers,” he answered, walking up to me, “You were half awakened. You transformed into your soul form that’s all. If you were truly awakened, your powers would be surging so powerfully that this realm would become the soul world.” He then told me to stop worrying so much and that he would never allow us to fully awaken. While finishing getting the snacks together, he added that he’ll find a replacement for our guardian stones before we left that weekend.

With today’s events to the side, we all had a lot of fun.

When it got later, we picked where we were going to sleep. It was pretty much where we were all sitting. Sarah and Nick on the love seat, Quint and I on the larger couch, each of us claiming our own corners.

During the night, someone shook my foot which startled me awake. I picked my head off the arm of the couch and looked at who it was. My eyes focused on Quint.

“Are you awake?” he quietly asked.

“Not anymore… What’s up?” I groggily said. I sat up trying to wake myself up more. Quint moved closer to me and as he did, I saw new whip marks on his arm. They were red, irritated, and bleeding a little bit. “Quint-?” I said, becoming worried.

He shook his head, “I’m still on your side. Xi just thought he could gain control again.” He winced as he brought his arm up to look at it closer. I took his arm to look at it. “I’m not about to hurt you again.”

“How did he enter the barrier here?” I asked, slightly blushing.

“He came in through me. He can’t hurt you that way.”

Our eyes locked and I bit my lip, “Are you going to kiss me?”

“Only if you’ll let me,” he answered, leaning in towards me. He then placed his lips on mine and leaving them there.

I brought my hands to his jawbone, pulling him closer, wanting a deeper kiss. He gave me just that. He leaned in closer, putting one hand on my back and his other cupping my cheek. My back hit the arm of the couch and that’s when I did the stupidest thing ever!

I stopped him.

“We can’t do this, Quint…” I let out, pulling my open mouth away from his, “Not yet.”

I wanted to wait until this whole Xi thing was over before I decided to make out with my high school crush! Once Xi’s out of this picture, only then could Quint and I start something together.

He stared into my eyes, breathing harshly, “I know.” He pulled back, pulling his arms away from me. I could tell he felt embarrassed. “I’m sorry…” he whispered, leaning back into his corner of the couch.

I leaned back to him and whispered into his ear, “Not until this is over-” I sadly smiled at him, trying to make him feel less foolish.

I kissed his cheek and said goodnight. I fell back to my corner and put my head back on the arm, closing my eyes. He looked back over at me and whispered a quiet goodnight back.

When morning came, my eyes were the first open. Well, it was about a quarter to seven and I know everyone else’s minds were set for their weekend clocks. I looked around and found that I wasn’t the only one awake after all. Quint was up, but not in the room. I stood up and found the need to use the bathroom. I had never used the one downstairs so I went down the tiny hall, wondering if there was one there. During my search, I stopped at one door, the first one actually. I stuck my ear to the door and heard Quint’s voice talking. But to who? When he spoke, no one answered.

“I can’t keep them here forever,” I heard him say, “I need another form of protection. Something stronger.”

No one answered him, I guess, but the next thing I knew he was thanking whoever and was heading for the door. I went to move to act like I was just walking by, but it was too late. The door swung open.

“You’re up!” he said, his eyebrows raised.

I smiled at him then blurted, “Who were you talking to?”

“A friend,” he answered, smiling at me. My eyebrows scrunched in a confused manner and he pulled something out of his pocket. “Here’s the new guardian stone.” It was very pretty. It was a necklace with a small caged pendant holding the stone. “It’s stronger than the other one and will protect your powers and soul.” He then smirked and added, “And I promise, it’s not going to break with one hit from Xi.” He kept his gaze on me with a small smile in the corner of his mouth.

I looked up at him, catching his gaze. I smiled and held the necklace up, “Can you?”

“Sure,” he said, snapping out of it. He took the necklace and pulled the clasp behind me to lock it.

“So, who’s your friend?” I asked, picking my hair up, then dropping it after I felt the chain hit the back of my neck.

He smiled again at me. “You know who it is,” he said, turning to walk away from me.

I gave him a weird look then asked where the bathroom was. He pointed to the door at the end of the hall. Sarah and Nick were up after a few hours and we spent half the day at Quint’s. Sarah and I were the first to leave, Nick stayed to hang out with Quint a little longer.