I’m sorry if I have to go,
Leave you all alone
Keep your mother and sister close
Protect the ones you love most
Don’t worry now, and have no fear
Know I always will be near
Close your eyes, rest your head on your pillow
If you listen, you can hear
The song of the silent willow”
James breathed in deeply as he began to sing a little louder as he got to the chorus.
“Hidden away, deep in the meadow, stands a silent willow
Birds land there to sing their song all day
Now it’s time for me to say
You can find me there,
Anytime, anywhere
Just me and you,
Listening to the song of the silent willow”
James lowered the volume of his voice again a little, afraid anyone might have heard his singing, but he decided to continue with the second verse anyway.
“Don’t you worry now, and have no fear
Know I always will be near
Just look up, at the moon
And know I’ll be looking too
And I promise you,
I will be back soon
Until then, just close your eyes...
Hidden away, deep in the meadow
stands a silent willow
Birds land there to sing their song all day
Now it’s time for me to say
You can find me there,
Anytime, anywhere
Just me and you,
Listening to the song of the silent willow”
The song was almost over now. James’s father had added an extra verse when he left for the final time – although he’d spoken it more rather than he’d sung it. He thought he’d return soon, even though he wasn’t sure.
“Now listen, my son,
As long as that willow is still singing silently in your heart,
I’ll never be too far away”
The final verse had always been the verse that had brought tears to James’s eyes ever since. But the song also comforted him, reminding him that his father had a special little place in his heart.
James had always wondered what had happened to Clarissa, Thomas’s mother – she had to flee the country short after James’s father had died, but came back a few years later. He also had believed that Thomas wondered the same about Martin, James’s own father. Even James didn’t know the full story.
And he probably never would, either.
James was surprised to hear someone humming the same song as he’d just sung. It was a little girl, with big brown puppy-like eyes and short, frizzy brown hair. She was adorable; she smiled as soon as she saw James, revealing that one of her front teeth was missing.
“Finally, you’re here!” she squealed. “It’s such an honour to meet you, Guardian! That was a beautiful song you just sang.”
“Thank you,” James replied, a little startled by seeing the little girl at the end of the tunnel, who had apparently waited there for him.
How long had she been standing there? Had she even eaten? She didn’t look underfed, but by the looks of her bare little feet – James was a little worried.
The little girl took him by the hand and pulled him up a second pair of stairs. When James was above ground, the path stopped glowing instantly.
“We saw the stairs appear and immediately knew someone was coming,” the little girl said, still pulling on James’s hand. James had to bend over to be able to walk along with her. “Sabrina showed up too, and she said it was really a Guardian who was visiting us!”
“Oh,” James mumbled. “Sabrina.”
He still wasn’t sure what to think about the girl with the blonde hair. She looked really nice at first, but then- then she just got really creepy all of a sudden.
The little girl lead him to something that seemed to be the town square, where seemingly a hundred people were waiting for him- perhaps even more. Sabrina was standing in the middle of the half circle the people formed.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the five brave men and women who are going to save your town and world!”
The townspeople started to cheer and clap for James, as Sabrina walked closer to him. She wanted to grab his arm, but James shook her off.
“Don’t touch me,” he hissed at her, before directing his attention toward the townspeople. “So- um- yeah,” James said. “Hello. My name is James Riverdale, and I am the Guardian of Innocence.”
The people started to clap again. James chuckled.
“Please,” he said. “No need to clap. It’s a huge honour to be here with you today. And Sabrina- she’s right.”
“Really?” the little girl, who had joined her mother, father and baby brother in the circle, said. “Are you going to help us, James? Are you here to fight with us, to free us?”
James looked at her. And at the woman, who held her daughter close to her side. She smiled at James. A face of hope. James and his friends were a bulb of hope for them.
“Yes,” he then said, with a surprising amount of determinedness in his voice. “I am.”
The people started to cheer even louder. Several women and children walked toward him to hug him, men shook hands with him.
After a while, the eldest of the town walked forward. A tall woman, seemingly still strong, despite of her age.
“Young Guardian,” she said. “Can I have a word with you?”
“Why, yes, madam,” he said.
The woman lead him away from the crowd, to a silent corner of a sandy street.
“Very well,” she said. “I want to tell you a little something about our village. Sabrina asked me to.”
At that moment, Sabrina appeared. “Hi, James, I told you you’d make it!” she said.
“Yeah, sure,” James mumbled in response.
“I assume you two have met before,” the woman said.
“We sure have,” Sabrina grinned.
“Let me introduce myself to you, James,” the old lady said. “I am Aubry, and I am this village’s elder. I have been their leader for about fifty years now.”
“You must’ve been very young when they chose you,” James said. “How did you become village elder that young?”
“The cause began about fifty years ago,” Aubry said, knowing that question would come. “There was an uprising amongst all the villages. There were many more beside ours,” Aubry said. “The Master did not like the unrest in the realms. And that’s why he destroyed over fifty villages. As a warning for the remaining ones.”
“What!?” James exclaimed. Aubry nodded.
“We were one of the targets. And luckily, I knew about that. I did what was necessary to save my village.” She paused for a second, and lowered her eyes.
“What did you do?” James said, eager to know more.
“I temporarily managed to stop the time inside the village,” she said. “I used Magic to create an invisible shield around our village. When he’d blast our homes to pieces from the sky, it’d look like our village was destroyed to him. But we’d be able to live on underneath that fake layer of destruction. We do have to be careful during the day, however, since there appear to be Shadow Creatures that can look straight through the shield. It’s happened before.”
Then, Sabrina came into the conversation. “See, James? This is what I wanted to show you. To know this, is crucial for your trip. You need to know that these people, normal people, defenceless against the Master’s evildoings, depend on you! You need to help them.”
“I- I’ll try,” James said. “I’ll try whatever it takes to finish this quest and bring the Master to a stop. I promise, Aubry.”
Aubry and Sabrina exchanged a short look. “But... there’s something about this Ritual the Spirits require you to do, my boy,” Aubry said. “What I’m going to tell you now, is something you need to keep in mind.”
James fell silent, worriedly anticipating what Aubry would say next. Had
the Master been telling the truth?
“It is possible,” Aubry said carefully, “that you die after having performed the Ritual. But this happens only under very specific circumstances.
Guardian, I beg you, tread carefully. Be careful who to trust.”
James swallowed and nodded. “I will.” The Master had been telling the truth.
He was distracted just long enough to miss Sabrina snapping her fingers. A few moments later, a young woman screamed. James instinctively turned around and ran toward the place where the scream had come from. Sabrina grinned.
“HELP!” the woman screamed. Other townspeople were screaming as well; one of the houses had been set on fire.
But James wasn’t the only one who had heard the scream.
Thomas and the others were running through the neighbouring village of the village where James was, and they were just close enough to be able to hear the scream. The next thing Thomas heard, was James’s voice shouting as well.
“What-!?” Thomas shouted, as he scanned the ruins of the destroyed houses. “JAMES!?”
The screaming continued. Thomas started to run into the direction he thought the sound was coming from.
He ended up at a village wall. The village seemed to be completely destroyed, but when he climbed over the “destroyed” outside wall...
A hidden village! And James was here!
“Come on!” he shouted toward the others, who followed him quickly. They were going to be reunited at last.
But what had actually happened in the village?
“HELP!” the woman screamed, as James ran toward one of the houses. The screaming woman was the mother of the little girl who had lead James into the village.
“My house! It’s on fire!” the woman shouted, grabbing James by the shoulders. “And suddenly, as if there was sorcery going on, the water in the well evaporated while I was filling my bucket! It just disappeared! And my daughter and son are still in there! My husband’s gone to get them! Please help my babies!”
James looked at the crying woman. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll help.”
He concentrated on the house, keeping a well in mind. “Water,” he whispered. “Water is what I need. Lots of water.”
The woman stared into the well; nothing happened.
“Water,” James hissed, while pushing harder, still unaware of the very pale colour of the stones around his neck.
“WATER!” James shouted, as a thick stream of water shot up out of the nearest well, blasting the house.
James tried to stay focused, even though he was tired. He kept sending water toward the house, until the fire had been extinguished completely.
“JAMES!” Thomas, Samira, Bella and Antonio shouted.
James turned around, and grinned at them. “Hey, guys! Took you so long?”
“You saved our children,” the man said, as he stumbled toward James and his crying wife, this time crying tears of joy. He was carrying the little boy in his arms and the girl was holding her father’s hand.
“Thank you, James!” she shouted, ran toward him and hugged him.
James knelt down in front of her. “Here,” he said, as he picked a poppy bud from the grass field and let it bloom with a wave of his hand, giving it to her. The next moment, he would’ve wished he would’ve never done that.
Because that was the last drip, the last drip of Magic to make the stones turn completely white.
James staggered and fell backwards in the grass.
People gasped in shock, as Aubry and Sabrina neared the fainted boy.
“No!” Thomas said. “Not- not again!”
“Don’t worry, kid,” Aubry said, laying a hand on James’s chest and examining the white stones. “It’s his Magic. He has used every single drop of it. He’s completely exhausted, that’s all. Let him sleep, and he’ll be fine.”
Thomas let out a sigh of relief. “Finally, he’s not at Death’s door for once,” he mumbled. “I think it’s best if we let him sleep and we went to sleep as well. It’s near sunrise.
“You can stay here for the night,” Aubry said. “I have plenty of spare beds. Come along, and take your friend with you.”
“Sure,” Thomas said, as he knelt down to pick James up.
As he knelt down, he noticed Sabrina, hidden away in the shadows. Thomas threw her a dangerous squint. He knew what she’d been up to, and luckily for James, his friends had arrived just in time to prevent it from happening.
Take Care
Late in the afternoon, after school, teenager Lucy Flynn decided she had to go visit her aunt. With all the recent events that’d terrorised the family, she felt like it was the right thing to do.
Of course she’d been hurt by the news that her two cousins had disappeared, it hurt their mother even more. David, her godfather, had been briefing in on Cheyenne’s situation to her by mentioning the woman every once in a while, and after nine days had passed since the disappearance, Lucy had decided to drop by herself for once.
Lucy and Cheyenne always had a close bond; the redhead had always loved to come by the house and play with her favourite cousins. She knew that Cheyenne cared.
Cheyenne cared so much.
And now her son and daughter had been taken away from her, out of her reach, leaving her unable to protect them from whatever kind of danger they would be up against.
Lucy understood how hard that was on her; Nathaly, her mother, had always felt the same way whenever Angelo (her husband) had to leave home.
It got even harder the night he never came home.
Lucy walked through the backyard to the back door; she owned a key to that door, knowing she was always allowed to use it whenever she needed to.
And right now, she felt like she did.
She entered the house, walking through the kitchen; the dishes had been done, and the house had been cleaned. Cheyenne was slowly getting herself together again.
“Aunt Chey?” Lucy said. “Are you there?”
And she was; Cheyenne looked up from her book, and smiled as soon as she saw Lucy standing in the living room. “Lucy,” she said. “It’s good to see you.”
Cheyenne stood up to greet Lucy with a hug. “How have you been?” Cheyenne asked the fifteen-year-old.
“Fine, I guess,” Lucy replied. “I kind of came here to check and see if you were doing okay. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Cheyenne smiled at Lucy. “That is so sweet of you,” she said. “I’m doing better than I was before, thank you. David’s been helping me to put everything back together... although it’s been nearly two weeks.”
“Just have patience, aunt,” Lucy said. “They’ll be back, right?”
Cheyenne nodded. “Yes,” she said, “they will. I saw James in a dream a few days ago; it seemed as if they were still doing fine, which gave me a bit more hope that they would be coming home okay.”
“Then make sure you hold on to that spark of hope,” Lucy said. “We’re all cut from the same wood in this family, after all.” She chuckled; she and James had always been the more active side of the family, while Samira and Cheyenne only showed their truly mean sides when they had to.
“Do you remember what it used to be like around here when you were kids?” Cheyenne said. “This house always used to be one big party.”
Lucy chuckled. “It still can be,” she said. “We could hang out here again. Every day.”
“But it’d still be different,” Cheyenne said. “You kids have grown up, after all. You’re not running around in pink frilly dresses anymore...”
Lucy shrugged. “That’s right,” she said. “We don’t. To be honest, I’d prefer to go back to the time when we were like that as well,” she said. “Things were so much easier back then. No worries, no school...”
“Life goes on, huh?” Cheyenne said. “Welcome to adulthood. In ten years, you’ll be having kids of your own.”
Lucy laughed. “Aunt, please! I don’t want to be thinking that far into
the future yet. I’ve still got two years to go in high school.”
Cheyenne gasped. “Oh dear, that’s right...” she mumbled. “This is James’s last year... He’s going to miss so much just because of all of this! He’s never going to make it through his exams if he misses too much!”
Lucy crossed her arms. “He’ll be missing hardly a month,” she said. “He can catch up with that, I’m sure of it. James is smart enough to find himself a way out of it and ace his exams.”
Cheyenne rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but smile. “I know, I know...” she said. “And yet, still, I wish that he would be given a fair chance to study as much as the other students. I mean – his exams are in May, and we’re almost halfway through November. He doesn’t have that much time left to study...”
Lucy laid a hand on her aunt’s shoulder. “Just trust him, aunt,” she said. “Trust him that he’ll pass his exams like you trust him to come home safely.”
Cheyenne smiled at the redheaded fifteen-year-old in front of her. “All right,” she said. “I will.”
Lucy happily clasped her hands together. “Good!” she cheered. “Is it... okay if I bring my Mum and brother over for dinner tonight?” she asked. “Or do you have other plans?”
Cheyenne chuckled. “Of course not,” she said. “I’d love to have you guys over. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Great!” Lucy cheered, hugged her aunt and made her way to the door, eager to tell her mother they’d be eating at her aunt’s. “See you tonight, then,” she said.
Lucy was already at the door, but Cheyenne stopped her by calling her name. “Lucy?”
The teenager turned around. “Yes?”
“Don’t forget to invite David.”
Lucy’s face lit up after Cheyenne had told her to invite her godfather. “Of course not!” she said, and quickly left, while waving at her aunt.
Lunaria
Samira was awakened by a familiar sound. She hadn’t slept as well as she had now in days, which made her feel good for a split second. But the good feeling slipped away as soon as she looked aside, where the sound was coming from.
James was trashing about underneath the thin blanket, his face contorted in pain and fear, silently mumbling the same words over and over again.
When Thomas moved a little closer toward James, he could hear what he was mumbling:
“No, please. Please don’t hurt them. Please, take me instead... Don’t hurt my sister. Don’t hurt Samira. I’m sorry... I’m sorry... Sorry...”
Samira frowned and shuddered slightly. James had started to have nightmares about the future.
It gave Samira little reassurance that the stones of his cape, which lay folded up next to his bed, on top of Thomas’s cape and armour, were glowing again. There was still something else bothering her.
There was something which was triggering his nightmares, but Samira couldn’t figure out what it was. James hadn’t had a single nightmare concerning their future since the last attack in the Twilight Forest.
Then, her eyes moved up. She noticed something in the corner of her eye, someone hiding in the shadows.
Two red eyes and a red stone, which glowed just strong enough to reveal certain parts of a familiar face, glowed in the dark shortly before disappearing into thin air.
“Sabrina... She’s one of them,” Samira grunted. “I knew it. The dark energy those Spirits radiate causes James to react like this. Not a very reassuring thought, if you ask me...”
She stood up and shoved his bed closer toward James’s.
As she lay back down on her side, she laid a hand on one of James’s twitching shoulders.
“Shh,” he whispered. “It’s all right, James. You’re safe.”
“Samira...” the redheaded boy uttered, as his tensed body seemed to relax completely by his sister’s voice and touch.
“We’re going to finish this as quick as possible,” Samira whispered. “We need to get you out of here. And the quicker, the better.”
Samira wanted to remove his hand from James’s shoulder, but she could feel the muscles underneath tense up as soon as she even only moved his hand.
“If that’s what keeps you calm,” Samira mumbled and closed her eyes, without removing his hand. “Sleep well, little brother.”
Unfortunately for Samira, Sabrina hadn’t disappeared. She’d just covered the stone with her cloak and kept her eyes closed.
“So that’s what you two are up to... Foolish decision, Akilah. Two siblings getting permanently separated is even worse than two best friends separated. You’ve seen it happen before...
Just wait for it until it happens again. Then you’ll see who the ruler of these realms is.”
The red eyes glowing in the dark disappeared again, this time really disappearing.
Off to tell their master what they had discovered.