Blooming and Wilting
"Eric!" Eric grinned as Hay Lin waved to him. "When did you start hanging out with Martin?"
"Since We wound up getting stuck in the same spot during yesterday's storm." Eric shifted his bag. "He's kinda cool, in a geeky way." Hay Lin giggled. "Besides, even if he's not popular, he's a good person."
"I know." Her pigtails went over her shoulder. "Oh, look what I drew!" He blinked as she held a picture of him, in the same clothes he wore as a sentinel. "I had this strange dream the other night, and I came up with completely great story for it!" Eric's mind had shortcircuited for a moment. "Eric, is something wrong?"
"Huh, oh no!" He shook himself. "I just look a little more muscular than I should."
"Yeah, but with that outfit, I think you'd have to be."
"So what's the story?"
"Well . . . I actually haven't gotten that far with it, but I'm thinking it's going to be about a ninja that falls in love with a wind spirit . . ." As Eric mentally breathed a sigh of relief, he wondered what the other boys were going through. He'd almost spilled to Hay Lin several times during the course of that conversation.
"Hey, Nigel, what's wrong?" Taranee looked concerned at her boyfriend.
"Nothing, slight headache." Nigel rubbed his temples. As he did, the compass fell out of his jacket pocket.
"What's this?" Taranee reached for it. Without thinking, Nigel snatched it up. "Nigel?"
"Sorry, it was my great grandfathers . . . dad's gonna kill me if he finds out I brought it to school." Internally, he winced, it was a lame cover up for such a situation that shouldn't be a big deal.
"Oh, okay." He could tell she was still hurt from his reaction. But he couldn't tell her it was magic, and he wasn't sure what it would do. "So what did you get for number five?" She changed the topic quickly, but Nigel knew he had hurt her. And there was nothing he could do about it. Well, almost nothing.
Martin, surprisingly, was the only one who made through the day with out having to outright lie, but he didn't really have a girlfriend or anyone at school he was likely to blab too. However, he did have to fight the temptation to come to school as his powered up self to win over Irma . . .
If there was one thing the boys soon found out, it was that lying took a toll. Especially when odd things started to happen. At the spring dance, Eric turned into a shadow. Nigel discovered one day in gym class that he could hear people's thoughts and that had been a mess to cover. Luckily, Matt had stepped up to help.
"Nigel, is something wrong?" Even though he did corner him after gym ended.
"Just a headache . . . thanks for the cover."
"No problem." Matt smiled. "You've done the same for me." The smile vanished a minute. "You know, you once offered to listen to me if I ever had a problem . . . that's a two way door, if you ever need it." 'Like Nigel would ever get himself into the same trouble I do, but it did help when I was Shagon . . .' Nigel blinked, and shook his head.
"It's okay, Matt . . . I'll take you up on your offer some other time." Nigel smiled and quickly headed away. He caught one last thought.
'Need to talk to Will about this . . . Something's not right . . .' Nigel groaned, worried that his friend would try something rash.
Study hall was the last class and Nigel was lucky to get a computer. The new computer Teacher Sylla, was pretty cool about using the computers, heck, he was pretty much a genius when it came to them. Absently, he typed in the word he had heard from Matt.
"H-" He stopped himself from saying anything. Shagon was an ancient God of hate. He specialized in breaking lover's apart, thought he was defeated when two people's love was proven stronger than any pain he could tear them apart with. Nigel glanced over his shoulder to see Will and Matt disapear behind a book case, both with rather mushy expressions. Well, maybe Matt was just really up to date with mythology. He absently deleted the search, after he printed it. He had a bad feeling about Matt suddenly. Though to be safe, he was going to talk to Martin and Eric first thing after they got to his place.
"What does this guy have to do with anything?" Martin looked at the papers. "Other than he dosen't sound good."
"I've been hearing people's thoughts all day. I finally got things to settle, but . . . the last thought I heard was Matt's, and it was about him being this Shagon." Nigel sighed. "And you both remember when he went bad for a bit? What if he was possesed?"
'It's possible.' Alectra looked at the paper. 'Watch it, Bird brain!' Aesop had almost landed on her. 'but your friend wouldn't have recovered. Perhaps this Will girl helped with the legend, and broguht him back.'
"Yeah, but . . ." Nigel stared at the paper. "I don't know, there's something about Matt that just feels wrong now. Like a string on a guitar out of tune."
"I'm tone deaf, so I haven't a clue about what you mean." Martin looked at Nigel.
"He's saying that Matt's got a bad vibe." Eric sighed. "What are you doing with that book?"
"Oh, reading it." Martin held it up. "It's Alectra and Aesop's story! Including three warriors that come to help save Alectra."
"Really?" Aesop hopped onto his shoulder.
"Yes, Though the begining, has a girl named T.W. as the heroine. She seals part of the vilain, called Nyx, into a knife, while her lover sealed Nyx's body into a world called 'Eclipse', and together they also seal the entire world of Arcgen into a book . . . this book!" Martin grinned. "Nyx the blade is actually his conscious mind/soul and it manipulates a man to corrupt Aesop and so he can take over Aesop . . . but after the three warriors from another world, us, stop him . . . the rest of the book is blank." Martin closed his eyes. "We're called Shield, Mace and Quinn, in the book."
"Right . . ." Nigel blinked at the picture of the three of them powered up. "So we're part of a story?"
"It appears that only what happens in Arcgen is written." Aesop blinked. "I can't believe . . ."
'What, that you were that easily taken over?' Alectra flicked her tongue at him.
"No, that our entire world fits in a book." He puffed out his chest. "You're never going to forgive me, are you?"
'After what I went through! You're lucky I don't have hands, I'd be throttling you right now!'
"We're called the Sentinels of Arcgen. To protect the sleeping world, and their own, from the evil of Nyx. . . oh no!" Eric gasped.
"What?"
"We didn't beat Nyx, look!" He pointed to a picture. A shadowy figure looked like it was fleeing the dragon's body. "He escaped!"
" . . ." Everyone looked at each other, then at Nigel.
"Great . . ." Nigel bowed his head. "Here I thought I would just be making sure the heart of Arcgen didn't attract any thing that wanted it . . ."
'I'm Sorry, Sentinels, I had no idea this would happen . . .' Alectra apologized.
"It's okay, we'll figure it out." More and more, Nigel was starting to get the feeling that he was being dragged by a rather strong current, to a destination he wasn't so sure he wanted to go. "Right now, we just need to keep our eyes open, and on alert. And try not to use our powers in school."
"Easier said than done." Eric muttered. "Any time I feel curious about something, I go all shadowy."
"At least you guys have special powers, I've got nothing!" Martin sighed.
"Funny, we think you're the lucky one. You don't have to worry about doing something wrong." Eric gave a half smile. "Trust me, Martin, it's not all it's cracked up to be."
"Still want them." Martin mumbled.
'Martin, I wouldn't worry, from what I can tell, their powers are stemming from the fact they had magical potential to begin with. You might not, so any other powers you develop might not be as strong or as obvious.'
"On Arcgen, we had a saying, 'he who blooms last, blooms best.'" Aesop clacked his beak. "You might have a stronger power than they do, and so it will take more time to manifest. Alectra was a late bloomer herself, and she wound up holding the heart."
"I guess so." Martin gave a falsely cheerful smile. But inside, he ached.
