Shayla woke and saw white consume her eyes. She quickly covered them with her arm to try and see the world around her. Shayla sat up real fast when she remembered what had happened only a few hours prior to her being knocked out by whatever Legolas had done to her.

When Shayla’s eyes adjusted, she noticed that it was afternoon time. She was so intrigued by the scene outside as the sun cast orange and gold everywhere and Shayla thought of all those movies. This would’ve been perfect if she’d only had a boyfriend to share it with.

Shayla suddenly slapped herself. This was silly! The sunset didn’t matter! It never did, and she shouldn’t freak out because it was nice and shouldn’t be thinking of men at a time like this.

Shayla suddenly heard the door open and she looked around to see that the room was plain, save for on door and one bed. The windows were tall and had sweet vanilla colored curtains that light was let in from. The window that let her see the outside was parted like it was meant to be that way and it was held back by two violet colored ropes with blue threads on the end. The bed was a four-poster bed with cobalt colored curtains that were only open at the foot of the bed. The wood it was made from was a rich, dark, mahogany that accented everything lovingly on her new bed.

The curtains that opened to her left were the cobalt ones, but a lighter, thinner sheet of mesh that she could see out of was between her and the closed window. Slowly, Shayla began to form an idea as to where she was.

She saw Casey step in. Gasping, Shayla clenched a fist in the maroon comforters as he came closer. Shayla hadn’t even thought of Casey in the last few days. He’d not come to school to assist students in need and he’d been away from home for a long time.

He was handsome now, though. His brown hair was free-flowing around his face and his sterling silver-blue eyes kept flashing with something unknown to Shayla, but he still showed nothing but a smile to her.

Slowly, he crawled onto the bed, letting the cobalt curtains fall closed behind him and to her left. Shayla didn’t understand and gasped before Casey held out a hand and touched her cheek. “Good morning.”

Shayla swallowed all her guilt of not knowing where he was and gave him a kind and gentle smile. “You should say ‘good afternoon’, actually.” Shayla reached up and ran a hand through his hair. This felt like it was great and she wouldn’t have to cry anymore, but something inside of her was breaking.

He had a girlfriend. Why would he want Shayla?

Casey maneuvered and sat beside her, wrapping his arms around her. “Come, they made you dinner.” His breath came out close to her ear and Shayla struggled not to curl up or make any noise as his free hand came down and touched her knee. Shayla’s eyes were fixated on his hand as he moved it down to her ankle and then back to her knee and close to the end of her skirt before he reached up and touched her stomach.

“C-Casey!” she stammered looking up at him. He just smiled and captured her lips in a kiss that she didn’t fight. Casey’s hand returned to her leg and he slowly moved the comforter out of the way as he came in front of her. Shayla finally managed to push him back when he rested on her, pulling the sheets up to cover both of them. “Casey!”

“What?” He smiled. “You looked lonely and cold.” He rolled under the comforters and right off the bed. “Besides, I felt like it.”

Shayla heard him hit his head and she sat up, pulling the curtains aside to see he’d just hit the floor again. Shayla suddenly gave him an evil look. “Don’t scare me like that, Casey!” She pushed the curtains shut before rolling over and facing the cloth wall of the bed.

“Shayla?”

She didn’t say anything, but lay perfectly still.

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help myself.” He moved closer, opening the curtains that were separating them. “I fell in love with you. When I heard that you and Marshall were a couple, I was jealous. I’m sorry. I should’ve seen that you were still hurt.” The bed came down slightly and his voice was close to her ear. “I was so glad you were single, I didn’t even think of you. I didn’t mean to.”

Shayla sighed and rolled over. “It’s okay. I’m hurt, but I’ll be okay. Besides,” she smiled brightly, “I have the Guardians. They’re my family of friends. My extended family or pieces of a family. I don’t need to dwell on all that’s happened. I take a look at any one of them and I feel like I don’t need to know. I look at you and I know I can push forward, even if it’s just this.” Shayla touched the scar on her body. Sitting up, Shayla took the silver ring from around her neck and offered Casey the trinket. “Hold this. It won’t hurt, I promise.”

Casey slowly closed a fist around the trinket. Shayla watched as his eyes glazed over and she smiled when she saw a silver orb forming in front of him. She had to make it easier to contact anyone of them when they need to. She was mesmerized by the moving silver within the small globe and her green orb came out and it was reacting to the silver, reaching out to it.

Shayla pulled and Casey’s grip faltered on the ring and he was falling forward. With quick reflexes, Shayla snatched the globe and caught Casey, holding onto him as he tried to catch his breath.

“What was that?!”

Shayla held up the silver orb that was reacting to the green one around her neck and she smiled again. “It’s a new form of communication. It’s much easier.” Shayla reached down and touched his scar. “I’m not proud, either, Casey. I’d forgotten about you. I feel guilty for not contacting you. I know I should have, but something said no. I think it was the part of me that clung to Marshall. But now, when I’m sure that he’s not coming back, I….” Shayla kept a smile as she let the tears come now. With Casey here, she felt like she could be invincible if she really wanted to be and her weakness wasn’t a bad thing, it was what made her stronger around him. “I was so selfish. I didn’t want to know. I just took what I wanted. I didn’t care about anybody else. But now that you’re really here, I’m so happy. I feel like I can do anything. I should be the one who’s sorry.” Shayla pulled away and curled up.

‘Why should I cry? I don’t know. But I think what’s most precious to me is changing right under my nose. I don’t know anymore! I wish I did.’ Shayla felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at Casey, who smiled at her with a kindness Shayla had long forgotten in her father.

“It’s okay. Besides, we’re all human, what’s the difference?” He gently patted her on the head. “Somebody told me that once upon a time. She was a kind person, but now, I see a much different person in her.” He gently kissed Shayla’s forehead and he quietly slipped off the end of the bed and stood up. “So, let’s go eat.”

Shayla didn’t budge and Casey stared at her. “Um, can that wait a bit?”

Casey sighed in exasperation. “What now? You wanna make them wait a whole millennium for you?”

Shayla lifted the comforter and showed him that her cloths were dirty from the night before and that it was still her school uniform. She didn’t realize, at first, that the front of her shirt was unbuttoned slightly and exposed a bit farther down than was necessary.

Casey suddenly closed the curtains and Shayla freaked out. “Hey, wait! Wha--?”

“I’ll go on ahead, you change….”

Shayla looked down and noticed that her shirt was open. “Right…. I’ll do that. Go and, um, do something….” Shayla waited until the door was closed and stumbled out of bed, making sure to not make a whole lot of noise.



When Shayla reached the dinning area of this strange place she could hear them setting the table and talking.

“I’m not going to, even if you want me to,” Glenn said.

“Well, who says you have to go it alone?” came Lucifer’s voice and the creek of cabinets.

“I’m just saying.”

“Well, if you need help, I can help.” Megan sounded chipper.

“Either way, you guys have got a long road ahead of you. I don’t mean to be critical about it,” Matt said as he moved passed the door.

Shayla remained where she was. What were they talking about? It wasn’t about her, was it?

“Well, it’s not like I said it’d be easy to find Shayla’s father.”

“Glenn!”

“What?! I want to help her a little bit at least.”

“You could help by not talking about this.” Sean sounded like he really would rather they talk of something more simple. “She might hear you and tell you ‘no, don’t go, I’ll do it myself’, or something like that. She’s determined, that’s for sure.”

“And this is coming from the guy who saved her when he hardly knew her,” said Christian, who sounded like he was doing his “failed attempt at scolding”.

“What should we do about Marshall? He’s way stronger than us.”

There was silence and Shayla closed her eyes. She knew what they were thinking and what they didn’t want to say. Marshall was the enemy, but they knew that they’d have to kill him if he even tried to kill her. Shayla decided now would be a good time to stop this conversation.

But Casey stopped her. “Well, if Marshall is stronger than two of us, we just have to gang up and try and take him down. If worse comes to worse, then we real easily throw off the balance in battle. Shayla knew that. That’s probably why she’s all tattooed now. I think it’s her way of stopping her overflow. If it comes to that, we have to be ready to take him down. Death is an option, but let’s not kill him.”

“Casey’s right.” Christian sounded confident and was probably smiling at them. “I think we should form a plan, should Marshall show up. It’ll be easy once we get that part down.”

“Marshall is one problem, but what about Mikahle?” Casey asked, thoughtful as he spoke up.

Glenn spoke up, along with the twins. They spoke in unison. “Same thing. We take him out without a second thought.”

Casey gave a laugh. “I’m sorry. I’ve just never heard you guys talk in sync. That was cool.”

Shayla let her head fall to her chest and closed her eyes again. Her hands had a good hold on each other and she let it stay behind her as she leaned against the wall. Shayla felt safe with Casey on her side and when she could hear him, she felt quite good about it, now that she knew he was going to stay at her side.

Shayla sensed somebody lean on the wall beside her and she looked up at Legolas who was looking out the windows before the duo. He smiled when he knew she had her eyes on him. “It’s nice, really, when people care about you.”

“You loved a mortal, didn’t you?” Shayla turned to face the windows when she saw his eyes widen and he looked down at her. “She was beautiful. But you couldn’t hold on to a mortal forever. The Gray Haven was too far away for her.”

Legolas gave a soft laugh. “Yes.”

In the silence, Shayla heard no noises other than the setting of the table. She closed her eyes and suddenly heard the conversations start up again.

“What should we do if we ask her to come with us?”

“We can’t, Casey. If we ask her to come and get her dad, she’ll get hurt. We can’t afford that.”

“You mean you can’t afford that, Matt.”

Shayla’s eyes flared open and tears welled up in her eyes.

“She’s part of your great big plan, isn’t she? You want to achieve the highest rank to take away everything she’s working for. I can tell, Matt. I’m not going to let you.”

“Yes, it’s true. I’m using her. I want to bring somebody back. I’m going to cross into God’s territory, as it were. I don’t care how long that takes. Even if I have to kill her, I want what I want. Nobody’s going to stop me.”

There was a loud crash and Legolas turned his face away and Shayla looked to the door as she heard dead silence.

“Then you’ll have to kill me, Matt. I don’t want you to use her like this! She’s just as human as me or you! Don’t do this to her! She deserves much better!”

“Says you!” Matt yelled back.

“She’s not your play thing! Don’t treat her like that!”

“I can treat her how I please! She’s not a real friend to me! I’m not going to change my mind, Casey! You’re too close and too soft with her!”

Shayla stood in the doorway and watched as the Guardians were split right down the middle. On Matt’s side was Bill, Lukas, Sean, and Freyja. On Casey’s side was Boris, Glenn, Christian, and Megan. Lucifer was on Casey’s side and Lucia was on Matt’s side and Maht was just sitting there, trying not to cry out loud.

Shayla clenched a fist and listened to them arguing about what to do with her. Maht was being comforted by Legolas, who’d slipped in and was gently rocking the boy back and forth. Shayla’s head snapped up and she took a deep breath.

“STOP!” Shayla screamed. She felt tears sting her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall, she stared down the Guardians she’d come to trust. They were frozen with fear at the sight of her anger that stung her eyes clear as day. “You have something to say to me, say it to my face. You want my attention, here I am!” She threw her arms up, as if to expose her soul to them. Her long black jacket flew up lightly and the ripped shoulders fluttered slightly. Her black shirt and loose-fitting jeans fluttered as well. Her hair was flung back to expose her neck and her eyes were glaring down each of them.

“Shayla, it’s not like that!” Casey begged.

“Excuses!” Shayla spat. She felt betrayed by they way they talked about her, about how they seemed to fear talking to her. “I trusted you, all of you. How nice you are to return the favor. Thank you oh, so much.” She turned her back to them. “I see that I’m just a burden here. I guess I’ll just have to find somewhere else to live.” Shayla let her tears fall where nobody could see them, and she turned her foot slightly and used all her speed and left nothing but upturned leaves that littered the walk-ways. She didn’t want to stay here.

Shayla suddenly heard somebody hot on her tail and she turned around to see Casey and Christian chasing her. She skidded to a halt on a flat ledge and watched as they came to a halt before her, breathing heavily.

“Can I help you?” she asked in a lofty tone that was her anger. They flinched when Shayla waved her hand in front of her face, as if shooing away an annoying smell.

“Shayla, please, don’t go.” Christian stepped forward and tried not to pull away when she crossed her arms, but he started to shake in his shoes. “I’m sure that it’s all going to be okay, Shayla. Come back. Perhaps we can get Matt to change his mind?”

“Right. I don’t believe you.” Shayla turned away and stared out at the lush land before her and at the river and waterfall that were close to that kindly place. Shayla was rightful reminded of how much she missed her life down in her old home, when she was close to her family and nobody was far away. It wasn’t like she had that many memories to look back on, but she certainly had life to look back on and see what she’d learned. It was probably just her imagination, but maybe Casey and Christian really did want her back, but what about the others?

Shayla turned on them when she saw the other Guardians appearing. She clenched her fist and pointed the accusing finger at the two men who stood before her, rage filling her every word. “You liars! You wanted to stall for time so Matt can lecture me! You stalled me so you could watch me crumble! I’m so sick of you guys treating me like trash, you scum!” Shayla made a fist again and threw it forward and a blast of wind sent the two males flying over the edge of the cliff and into Glenn and Boris. The other Guardians kept coming and when they were a few feet away, Shayla saw Legolas streak passed them and right up to her.

“Stop. Don’t kill them.” He reached up and touched her raised hand that she was going to use to send an avalanche of rocks at them. “I spoke to them. I told them that is this what they really want? To do things by themselves. They said they couldn’t. I told them that that’s what they were doing to you. Please, give them a second chance.” He released her hand and she sighed.

Using both hands, she clenched her left as a fist and spread her fingers on the right hand. Without much effort, she had made a platform of pure silver and raised them up so they were eyelevel with her. “You want me to do things by myself, that’s fine. I’ll just do it my way. I don’t care anymore. I never did, actually. I just wanted to make a difference in this world. Maybe you can do better without me. Good luck.” She gently placed them on the flat before Shayla used the wind and rocketed into the air, her bare feet slightly cold from the wind. “But I’ll still watch over you. You’re my family now. I may not be related to you, but I’m sure that you’ll be better than me.” Shayla tucked her legs under her and watched them.

Without warning, one, huge chunk of crystal shot out of the mountain and right at her. Without time to react, Shayla could only raise her hands to defend her face, but it only blocked her nose and mouth, not her forehead or eyes. The crystal impacted and the wind left her. Falling, Shayla was reminded of when she was with Marshall, but her power wasn’t depleted this time, her body was in shock.

“Shayla!” came several voices and Shayla couldn’t move to grab any of them, but she saw Legolas had drawn his hands up like he was holding a longbow when it was ready to be fired. He was aiming the invisible weapon right at the mountain. When he released his right index and middle fingers and a shot the size of the chunk that had hit her at it’s core. The momentum sent wind flying up everywhere and Legolas stood as if nothing had happened, but the wind had knocked Shayla farther out there.

With a sudden whirl, Shayla was captured in somebody’s arms. Shayla looked up to see who it was and was surprised that it was Boris. He was coming down and when he landed, he started sliding down the mountain, pain obvious in his face.

Shayla forced herself to react, despite the fact that the world was going dark and she raised her left hand, which was free, and something like feathers flew out and started to slow Boris down, enough to stop him at the bottom without falling.

Shayla thought she was going unconscious because her vision was starting to fail and everything was turning black, but she could still feel Boris’ hands on her. Shayla did close her eyes to block out the pain shooting through her veins and the throbbing pain in her head. When Shayla reached up and touched her forehead, she felt the flesh move slightly and she was grossed out. Using Boris’ sight, she saw that the gash on her head went from just below her left eye and far down her right cheek and went up and over her head. It was sickening. The skull was slightly visible and she was frightened by what she saw and she looked away from it.

Casey’s voice came to them as the wind lightly brushed aside her hair and all of the small leaves or brush that stayed. Shayla heard his boots hit the earth and the crunch of gravel and twigs under his feet as he rushed over.

It was true. She wouldn’t have to do this alone. Shayla swore she opened her eyes, but she couldn’t see anything and she reached up to her eyes. Her eyes were definitely open.

“Shayla, what’s wrong?” Casey asked kindly in her ear.

Shayla couldn’t explain it, but suddenly, she felt a hand closing her eyes and then something wrapping itself around her head. Reaching out, she touched a face and knew instantly who it was. “Legolas, what happened?”

He was quiet and she knew it was something. Shayla touched her face and realized that it was bandages that held her eyes closed now and she was crying beneath the bandages. “It’s all right. I know somebody who can help you.”

Shayla touched her eyes and curled up, crying. This was getting worse. Shayla was having a hard enough time, why did she have to go blind, too? Shayla was coming apart at the seams. This was crazy.

“Is she going to be okay?!” Casey demanded.

Shayla felt hands touch her shoulders and clung to Christian as he held her close for comfort’s sake. The Guardians gathered around to hear the news.

“No. Her eyes may be damaged beyond repair. If we could only find a way to get there faster….”

“Get where?” Glenn asked, in his calming voice.

“To the Immortals. They can perform the necessary specials to her eyes. They can restore most of her vision. I’m not sure if they can heal it all the way. But we need to get her wounds clean first.”

Shayla gasped at an ominous feeling and she suddenly screamed. “Get down! He’s coming back!”

The Guardians rushed around and Christian covered Shayla as huge boulders rolled and fell all around them. She could hear them screaming as the boulders came crashing down around them and Shayla resolved to stop them from landing so close. Standing up, she threw her hands up to the sky and turned her face that way. Lightning cracked from the clear skies and landed around them, shocking boulders away and destroying some of the largest ones into smaller stones.

“Let me help.” Freyja had spoken up and as she did, the boulders began to fly high in the air, being intercepted by lighting before continuing it’s course. Freyja’s body was in fluid unison with the falling earth. She spun around once and made a pathway for two large boulders to roll to the sides.

Shayla took the surprise from the person to turn her wrist on her left hand and made the lightning smack him down. She then used the same stance as Legolas had used for his arrow and shot a blast of white light that shot up the mountain and directed itself away from debris and straight up the side to hit the man in the chest, stunning him.

“Shayla! That was amazing!” Freyja said, gently shaking the wounded girl. “That was truly spectacular! You saved us! Oh, your so cool!” Freyja hugged Shayla and put her hand on Shayla’s head.

Which was a bad move.

“OW!!” Shayla ducked and covered her head with her jacket. “Until I get patched up, nobody touches my head.” She didn’t pay attention, however and fell back, into Glenn and her head touched his elbow and she screamed in pain again and crouched down this time. Shayla gently prodded the wound and felt it odd that she was starting to feel the pain now.