[A/N: Everybody remember Face to Face? Here's your sequel, by popular
demand.
If you haven't read Face to Face, this won't make any sense to you, so click on my author name and read up. =) Feedback is appreciated, nay, demanded. So review this very short tidbit/prologue, and I'll get to work on the rest.
Guardian will be in Jake and Rachel's POV, indicated as usual by the R or J next to the chapter name above.]
I watched her disappear between the trees. Her blonde hair soared behind her like the faint lines cartoon characters left in their wakes. But we weren't up against Wile E. Coyote, and Rachel wasn't the Roadrunner. They were going to catch her and if we weren't far enough away, they'd catch us too.
"Run like hell," I ordered.
Cassie took off, morphing as she went. She fell onto arms and legs that rapidly adjusted, carrying her along with amazing speed when she should have been the slowest. Tobias rose as far as he could without being seen and swung into a dive with a desperate cry inside our skulls. And Marco – Marco waited a moment, looking at me. Neither of us had moved. Cassie and Tobias had been her closest friends, but we were the ones waiting.
"They'd better not touch her." Marco said it almost nonchalantly, like he was warning someone not to take the last can of Coke at a pool party. Marco's dangerous when he's quiet.
"Yeah." I nodded. I didn't want to move. I felt like I was abandoning her. "But we need to go."
"Guess we do." Waves of gray crawled up his body. "Jake?"
I looked at him silently, my neck stretching and thickening into a wolf throat.
"We're going to get her back soon. Ax, too. As soon as we can."
{Of course we are.}
"I don't like this." He mangled the last word, wolf teeth cutting into his gums.
{Yeah. Hurry up.} I started running as well as I could. Marco wasn't far behind. His head was still mostly human, but his legs were wolf, and he was fast enough.
"Let's do this," he said fiercely, still with a human mouth and still with human eyes, but running past me with inhuman speed. The wolf took over his face. It took over my legs. We ran.
Cassie and Tobias were far ahead by then. I wasn't thinking about them. I was thinking about my cousin. I was thinking about sacrificing her for them. I was thinking that I had failed her.
My name is Jake. I am the guardian.
Strange sentiment, isn't it? Guardian. Everything that word entails. Taking care of people. Protecting them. Defending them against threats. Very simple things, really. Unless you have to do it.
I leaped over a fallen tree and left Marco far behind. I'd just gotten back from spending quality time with the Yeerk wrapped around my brain. I owed that to Rachel.
I was going to pay my debt.
If you haven't read Face to Face, this won't make any sense to you, so click on my author name and read up. =) Feedback is appreciated, nay, demanded. So review this very short tidbit/prologue, and I'll get to work on the rest.
Guardian will be in Jake and Rachel's POV, indicated as usual by the R or J next to the chapter name above.]
I watched her disappear between the trees. Her blonde hair soared behind her like the faint lines cartoon characters left in their wakes. But we weren't up against Wile E. Coyote, and Rachel wasn't the Roadrunner. They were going to catch her and if we weren't far enough away, they'd catch us too.
"Run like hell," I ordered.
Cassie took off, morphing as she went. She fell onto arms and legs that rapidly adjusted, carrying her along with amazing speed when she should have been the slowest. Tobias rose as far as he could without being seen and swung into a dive with a desperate cry inside our skulls. And Marco – Marco waited a moment, looking at me. Neither of us had moved. Cassie and Tobias had been her closest friends, but we were the ones waiting.
"They'd better not touch her." Marco said it almost nonchalantly, like he was warning someone not to take the last can of Coke at a pool party. Marco's dangerous when he's quiet.
"Yeah." I nodded. I didn't want to move. I felt like I was abandoning her. "But we need to go."
"Guess we do." Waves of gray crawled up his body. "Jake?"
I looked at him silently, my neck stretching and thickening into a wolf throat.
"We're going to get her back soon. Ax, too. As soon as we can."
{Of course we are.}
"I don't like this." He mangled the last word, wolf teeth cutting into his gums.
{Yeah. Hurry up.} I started running as well as I could. Marco wasn't far behind. His head was still mostly human, but his legs were wolf, and he was fast enough.
"Let's do this," he said fiercely, still with a human mouth and still with human eyes, but running past me with inhuman speed. The wolf took over his face. It took over my legs. We ran.
Cassie and Tobias were far ahead by then. I wasn't thinking about them. I was thinking about my cousin. I was thinking about sacrificing her for them. I was thinking that I had failed her.
My name is Jake. I am the guardian.
Strange sentiment, isn't it? Guardian. Everything that word entails. Taking care of people. Protecting them. Defending them against threats. Very simple things, really. Unless you have to do it.
I leaped over a fallen tree and left Marco far behind. I'd just gotten back from spending quality time with the Yeerk wrapped around my brain. I owed that to Rachel.
I was going to pay my debt.