Disclaimer: I don't own or profit from anything related to Guardians of Time (aka this story).

A/N: Read and review, please!

Isabel

I wake up to the intense sunshine burning through my window and the smell of biscuits wafting under my door. Mum must be baking again! I think if she bakes like this for the rest of my life I might die. Or at least gain some weight.

When Matt and I came back from the final battle tired and scarred our mother decided that she's been bad to us all these years and, just in the last two months, she's become unbearably domestic and protective. Not one weekend has passed by that she hasn't cooked and baked and demanded family time.

Family time was fine until I realized that she won't let me or Matt out of her sight! It's stifling. I can't leave the house without being questioned and these days I barely see Arkarian. He's busy cleaning up the Citadel's rubble anyway but I can't come up with an excuse good enough to get out of the house long enough to see him or help him. It doesn't help that I'm always at home with my baker of a mother.

As if to mock me, Mum suddenly yells, "Isabel! It's time for breakfast!"

I sigh exasperatedly and almost roll off the bed in my tired daze. I pull a pair of sweatpants on under my gym t-shirt and run down the stairs excitedly because whatever mum's baking does smell pretty good. Just as I'm turning the last corner and wondering what we're eating, my mother steps out and waves her spatula at my clothes. I haven't even made it into the kitchen.

"Isabel! You can't come down like that. We have company," she hisses at me. I'm confused and just want to eat. Who could possibly be here on a Wednesday morning?

"What company?"

She laughs happily and says, "You just wait and see. Now go get dressed. Appropriately, mind you!"

I roll my eyes and run back up the stairs knowing that arguing will not get food into my stomach. Upstairs I hop into the shower and take one of the fastest baths I've ever taken and then walk back to my room while I towel dry my hair. I'm not sure what mum means by "appropriately" but I'm sure we're thinking of different things, so I pull on some blue jeans and a maroon sweatshirt and toss the wet hair towel onto my desk.

I run back down the stairs at super-speed because now I really am hungry enough to eat a cow. Finally rounding that last corner I slide into the kitchen and walk straight toward the food but my mother calls my name from the table. At this, I swear she must have some sort of super power. How does she always know exactly where I am?

"Breakfast is in here, Isabel," she calls.

I follow her voice and as soon as I walk into the bright room I notice three things. Mum is trying to catch my eye and has raised her brow in disapproval of my clothing – I immediately shrug off this scrutiny. Matt looks slightly worried and is sending me warning looks. At the same time, the stranger at the breakfast table is staring at me unblinkingly.

I glance at all three of them quickly but my eyes stop moving when they catch the stranger's gaze. I can't pull my eyes away from his. He is beautiful. There is something so familiar about his face but I can't place him. His hair is thick and wavy brown and almost blocks his eyes from mine, but I can still see him perfectly. His lean frame and broad shoulders push against the back of the chair and his hands clench around the cutlery he is holding as I scrutinize him but it's his eyes that hold me where I stand. They are deep blue, darker than the sea, almost violet, and locked onto mine.

Before I can say anything, my mother coughs uncomfortably and all the sounds of the world come rushing back. I can feel my face burning. My first reaction is to run straight up the mountain to Arkarian, but before I can even move my legs I feel Matt's eyes boring into mine. His mind screams, 'Stay calm!"

But I've already started to panic. There's no such thing as a familiar stranger!

'Isabel, act normal. I've brought him here,' Matt projects to me. I hear him and understand him, but it's all too weird. Finally, after the stranger lifts an eyebrow in question, I throw myself into the free chair.

Mum glances at all three of us strangely, seems to let go of her questions, and says, "Isabel, this is Conor. He and Matt are school-friends." She's far too happy.

I look at Mum's overly delighted face and, like a proper little girl, extend my hand in Conor's direction. As soon as we connect I realize my mistake. I rip my hand away but it burns where his skin touched mine.

My wild eyes connect with Matt's. He and Mum are looking at me like I've gone crazy. I can tell from Matt's expression that he feels my shock and the realization I've come to, but he can't do anything but project his thoughts. I get it, I understand, I know what he wants me to know, but there's no way I can even begin to calm down. My temples have started to throb, my mind racing, hunting, scraping for knowledge I have no way of understanding. My heart is bursting, my body is charged.

I see that Mum has noticed the strange atmosphere throughout the breakfast but hasn't said anything about it to any of us. I am grateful, again, that she doesn't know about the Guard, but when she calmly handles situations like this I feel like she's not as clueless as we all think.

I see that Mum has noticed the atmosphere throughout breakfast but hasn't said a word - I'm grateful that she doesn't know about the Guard, but she's too calm. I feel like she's not as clueless as we all think. And that makes my head throb harder, like my skull's cracked in two and everything's gushing out.

I need to get out of here. I need to get out! I spring up from the table and toward the door. I can tell from Mum's shocked face that I'm getting a chat later but I'm through the hall and out the front door before anybody can stop me.

I turn toward the lane that leads past Ethan's house and up to the mountain. I walk as slowly as I can in case Matt and Mum are looking out the window and switch to a full blown sprint as soon as I turn the corner. I'm running so impossibly fast that I miss Ethan's house altogether and I don't know if it's fear or anxiety or just pure adrenaline but I feel like I could run like this forever.

My legs haven't even begun to ache by the time I see Arkarian's door, but my head and chest and heart is about to burst. I have to stop before I get there because the pain has gotten so bad that I can't breathe at all. I stand there, hunched over and wheezing for breath in a panic. What can I do? I'm a healer but I can't do anything about uninjured tissue! I just can't draw in enough air. I gasp and sputter and punch my sternum until finally I swallow a breath, but it's so icy going down that my lungs burst into flames and my ribs crush in on me.

I've never felt pain like this before and I can't tell if it's from the run or the panic but all of a sudden I can't take any of it and have to crouch to keep from falling over. My chest feels like it's bursting! I scream angrily at the ground just to let it all out but, suddenly, my heart drops into my stomach with an unfamiliar tinge of panic. It's not mine and my head immediately snaps up toward the door up the mountain. I must've stopped blocking my thoughts.

Knowing that Arkarian's near makes it easier for me to breathe and I pick myself up from the ground. The mountain, the trees, the door, everything's a blur until I'm sprinting through the long corridor and bursting into the octagonal room. I see Arkarian already moving toward me from the other end of the room and when I clamber through the door he stops in his tracks.

I run straight toward him and slam into his frame, hard. He has to step back to brace himself, but his arms go around me immediately and he pulls me close into his chest. I gasp for breath again and his arms tense around me.

"What's going on Isabel? What's wrong?" His voice is tight. "Matt won't tell me anything."

I pull my face away from his chest for a minute and look at his eyes. They are a deep violet color that must have been dark blue a long time ago. I pull further away and put my hands to his face. It's icy hot, his skin burning mine like it always does, but my hands come away with a shiver instead of scorch marks, and I finally believe what my heart has been telling me all along.

"Arkarian." My hands fall to his shoulders. "A-Arkarian," I say in a small voice. My heart constricts and I swallow thickly. "It's you."

His brow creases in confusion and he glances at something above my shoulder. When I turn to look, I realize that Shaun and Jimmy are in the room with us and I reflexively pull away because I don't want to make them uncomfortable, but Arkarian's grip on my waist tightens and he doesn't let me go.

Shaun moves closer to us. "What do you mean, Isabel? Did you have a vision?" He glances at Jimmy worriedly. "Is something going to happen to Arkarian?"

He's worried that the Guard's best is in danger. I understand his fear immediately and remember the other times when Arkarian's been in trouble. I would never want anybody to panic like that. I don't want anyone to feel what I feel every time he's on a mission. I look at Shaun and shake my head, and he visibly relaxes.

Arkarian hears my thoughts and slides his hands up and around my back protectively. I realize he's more worried for me than he is for himself, and suddenly my arms are around his torso and, not caring who's in the room, I squeeze as close to him as I can. He holds me tightly and glances worriedly at Shaun. They're still waiting for an explanation. I squeeze his waist tighter.

"Isabel, honey, what's the matter?" It's Jimmy. "What's–"

But before he can finish Arkarian takes a sharp breath. My eyes fly to his and Shaun and Jimmy turn to him in alarm. He's suddenly tense. His arms fall from around me and he spins away to the door. "What is it?" Jimmy calls. He and Shaun rush after him.

Arkarian's usually calm face is taut with incredible, dangerous fury and he doesn't acknowledge a single one of us as he strides across the room. I've never seen him this way! His lips are in a tight line, like a jagged white scar on his face.

I don't screen any of my thoughts but he doesn't look my way. It must be worse than I thought. Matt must've brought the stranger here! For the first time, I'm scared to see the fight Arkarian and my brother are about to have.

I run after Arkarian as fast as I can and see him walking mechanically to the mountain door. It slides open seconds later and my brother walks in with the stranger.

All at once, Matt is talking and Shaun's shoes are squeaking and Jimmy is shouting out questions, but all the sound is sucked out of the room when Arkarian's eyes connect with the stranger's. I think to pull his hand into mine but, suddenly, he's not standing next to me. Across the hall, he crashes into Conor, rams him into the wall, and pins him up by the throat with a pulsing, blue hand. Matt makes to stop him but Arkarian's eyes flare horribly, proving he is the Immortal's son. "Don't," he hisses. "You will regret it."