Guardian: The Guardian Part 5

"Do you like him?" I ask her, just catching her slight nod from my sideways glance. "Then talk to him. Maybe he likes you too."

"Or maybe he doesn't, and only wants casual s.e.x with me." I choke at her words.

"Did you... Have you two... Have you had s.e.x with him?" I ask almost disbelievingly.

"Yeah, I told you we have hooked up a number of times," she chuckles at me. My face burns at my naivety.

"I guess I must have a.s.sumed you just meant making out." She laughs at my presumptions.

"I'm a virgin," I admit, and she looks at me in open disbelief. "I actually have never even been kissed." This must have been too much for her to bear.

"What?" She asks in utmost disbelief, stopping mid step.

"Yeah, it's true," I confirm, kicking at a small stone to the side before I start walking again. "Please don't tell it to anyone, It is my deepest secret."

"Of course, my lips are sealed," she says, drawing closed an imaginary zipper along her lips. I laugh shyly at her.

"But this weekend, at the Friday party, you are getting kissed," she says with a determined look on her face. In the single day I have known her, I know that look. I am definitely getting kissed this Friday, and the thought gives me a thrill.

"There is a party this Friday?" I ask.

"There is almost always a party on Fridays after school."

"Oh, where?"

"In the main auditorium in school."

"Really? We are allowed to hold parties every Friday in school? This is so cool!"

"Yeah, the entertainment committee, of which yours truly is a member, is in charge of organising and hosting the parties."

"Wow, high schooling in Denmark is surprisingly much cooler than I thought."

"And, we have alcohol!" She adds excitedly.

"Really?" I laugh out loud. "How do you sneak it in? Aren't there teachers or parents to chaperone the parties?"

"Little innocent Caroline from the great apple, you are so young and naive," she says in a mock condescending tone. "You do know that there is no drinking age limit in Denmark, right? I mean, we cannot buy beer or wine until we are sixteen, but we may drink from whatever age we want!"

"Oh, I read that somewhere, but I didn't think much about it. Wow! I have to say, I am experiencing some form of culture shock right now." We both burst into a fit of girly laughter, having arrived at the bus stop.

I stop in place, shocked, when I notice my two angelic princes standing by the bus stop.

Chapter 9.

They stand calmly next to an elderly woman, looking very human indeed. I must have been overly engulfed in our girly banter, not to have noticed the unusual warmth in the air that precedes their presence. They are both dressed in casual summer shorts and light t-shirts, with sungla.s.ses propped on their noses. Their wings are nowhere to be seen, and neither are their swords.

I then notice that there's no grey haze around them, which lets me know that they are now visible to all.

I immediately pull my gaze away from them and turn my attention back to my new friend, who is actually eyeballing them from the corners of her eyes, a cheeky smile playing at her lips. I do not blame her, they are both very good looking indeed. But what do they want now?

I see the bus rounding the corner just ahead, before I can have more time to come up with a plan on what to do.

"Thank you so much for today. I really had an awesome first day at school," I say to her, as I pull her into a tight hug.

"Selv tak," she says in Danish, an expression that roughly means you are welcomed. "You saved my life from eternal boredom here." she whispers against my thick curls, squeezing me back. Her words warm my heart, and I know right then that I could belong here, despite my earlier fears.

"See you tomorrow," I call out as I follow the older woman into the bus.

I hear the two princes' footsteps follow behind me, as I buy my ticket. I fight every nerve in my body screaming at me to turn, and I instead walk stiffly to the back of the bus. When I sit down, I keep my gaze to the floor. I can feel them walking over to me, though, the warmth they radiate increasing with every step they take towards me.

Please leave me alone, I think to myself over and over again. The man upstairs must not be listening to me, or probably doesn't exist, because Sun-prince and Viking-prince sit on the seats in front of mine.

Just as the bus begins to pull away, they simultaneously turn to face me. I keep staring at my feet even then, still trying to ignore them.

A hand then juts out in lightning speed and touches my face before I can think to move away. I jerk in surprise, but I am unable to turn away because of the strength in those fingers. The hand forces my chin up to face them.

"What do you want?" I ask apprehensively, choosing to look into the comforting brown eyes, rather than the other harsher colder pair.

"Grant us the gift of tongues," he answers me quietly in his foreign language.

"The what?"

"The gift of tongues. We want to understand man when spoken to."

"You want me to teach you English? You already understand me, because I am speaking it now and you seem to be understanding me very well. And if it is Danish you want to learn, I would be a terrible teacher, because I am not very good at it..." I ramble on nervously.

He/it waits patiently for my rambling to end, and only starts speaking again when he/it realizes that I am done.

"We only understand it when we touch you. That is how you made it..."

"I made no such thing..."

"Yes you did. Now we need you to..."

"Please believe me when I say, I made no such thing. I am just a seventeen year old..."

"We know what you are!" My whole body freezes in fear at the sound of the blue-eyed's words, who then speaks up instead of the Sun-prince, delivered in the most threatening voice of dripping ice.

"Now listen, guardian. We need you to revise the conditions attached to this gift of tongues you granted us before. It is unacceptable. Grant us free usage of the gift, and with all languages on earth."

"I... I don't understand," I whimper, desperately wanting to give them what they want, so that I can save my life, but having no idea how to do it. I am absolutely sure that they have mistaken my ident.i.ty with somebody else, for I'm most definitely not a guardian.

"You do not need to understand," the Sun-prince now puts in with his warm smile and comforting eyes. I turn to look at him instead, for I feel safer with him.

"Just... Think it. Exactly like you did before..." I chuckle. I actually chuckle at his words, interrupting him. I must have a death wish or something, but my frustration and tension need to be vented out one way or another.

He continues looking at me patiently, though the Viking-prince beside him hardens his face and narrows his eyes at me. Him I choose to ignore.

"So you are saying that I made it possible for you to understand me?" I ask in puzzlement. The Sun-prince nods with a smile.

"Can I undo it?" I venture to ask. Somehow, my fear seems to be translating into brazened outbursts. "Because I don't like talking to you. I do not want you understanding me anymore," I venture to admit, my heart drumming in my chest. My question is met by a rich chuckle from the Sun-prince. Viking-stoneface-prince, however, maintains his neutral expression.

"No, you cannot undo it. What you grant us, once granted, cannot be taken away."

"How am I even granting you anything?" I cry out in frustration, trying to slap away his hand where it holds my chin firmly. His other hand however snakes out as fast as only they can move, and imprisons my two hands over my lap, his eyes never blinking away from mine.

"Grant us the gift of tongues," he repeats with a new quiet tone, his patience running out.

"And when I do grant you this gift of tongues, will you finally leave me alone?" I ask. The two pairs of eyes keep staring back, unblinking.

"I need you to promise that you will leave me alone, after this." More silence, unflinching gazes and blank expressions is all I get as answer.

"I am afraid it is no deal, then. You'll have to find another.." My words die in my mouth as the fingers on my chin press even harder against my jaw. Shots of pain burst from the contact, and I am afraid he will break my jaw.

I look up at his once familiar brown eyes, which are now laced with a foreign coldness. True eyes of a monster, disguised in my grandfather's familiar eyes.

"How do I grant you this gift?" I choke in a laboured whisper. His grip loosens, but he still holds my chin in place, his cold eyes softening again to a familiar mellow brown.

"Need us to understand the languages man speaks. All of them," he says in a soft but commanding voice.

"And how do I do that?" I plead desperately.

"Just. Need. Us. To. Do. It." He says, grinding every single word out.

He's lost his temper. I panic even more, my heart now a throbbing mess behind my rib cage. They could kill me in a split second if they want to.

I need to help them, I need to do this, I think to myself. I need them to speak and understand all the languages in the world, if I am to survive. I desperately need them to. The hand leaves my face just as abruptly as it had reached out to touch me.

"Thank you," he says in English, smiling at me. His face completely transformed from the cold one that had stared me down a few seconds ago, to a warm glow, his eyes welcoming and kind again.

"It was about time," his fair cold-faced companion answers in flawless English.

"Do I have super powers?" I venture to ask, now that the threat on my life is diminished. Sun-prince breaks out into a deep hearty laugh at this.

"Well, do I?" I insist. None of them, however, tries to answer me.

"I'm Ariel, and this here is Raphael," the Sun-prince says, extending his arm with a warm smile. I shake it, despite my inhibitions. Raphael too gives me a stiff handshake.

"I can now finally stop calling you Sun-prince and Viking-prince," I say, before looking away in slight embarra.s.sment. Now what in all earth possessed me to reveal that detail?

"Is that what you were calling us? Cute!" Ariel says cheekily with a knowing wink, embarra.s.sing me further.

"You did not answer me. If I can make you understand all the languages in the world, can I also make myself speak Russian, or Italian? Or French?" I ask. My eyes sweep over Raphael, the Viking-prince, but he does not even bother to answer me. His eyes remain hard when they meet mine in a cold impa.s.se. I turn back to the Sun-prince, while stifling a shudder. Ariel slowly shakes his head at me.

"b.u.mmer. But can I grant the gift to my friends?" I push, thinking how A.M. would be ecstatic to hear about my new found powers. He shakes his head again.

"Not if by friends you mean the sons of man." I laugh at his word choice.

"The sons of man?" I ask laughing lightly. "We are called human beings."

"Well, not if by friends you mean human beings," he says, smiling again. I like it when he smiles, it makes me feel like the situation is less serious than it actually is.

But this situation is gravely serious! Who are these creatures and what do they want from me?

A thought crosses my mind, and I immediately think. I need them to be a hundred percent honest with me, and tell me who they are and what they want.

"You can't do that," I almost jump out of my skin when Ariel's voice whispers in my ear, his face much closer to mine than I remember it being. Raphael is nodding his head in agreement.

"Can you read minds too?" I ask in panic, right before my embarra.s.sment checks in, for I have thought a couple times or so before about how hot they are.

"No we can't, don't worry," Ariel says, reading my body language. "We however feel the requests when you try to grant us a gift."

"Oh, okay," I admit quietly. I need you to be super caring and kind, and never want to hurt me, I think, trying my luck again. I look up to catch Ariel's amused smile.

"I can't do that either?" I ask doubtfully, and he shakes his head to confirm my question.

"You can't change who we are inside."

"So sour-face over there has always been like that?" I ask nodding towards Raphael, who narrows his eyes into thin slits at my words in warning. I cheer myself on, for I've managed to draw some emotion from him.

"Yes, he's always been a damper, I have to admit," Ariel chuckles. A nice chuckle, I must say.

"How can you stand him?" I ask, enjoying the light banter, as it keeps me from thinking of the amount of danger I could now be in, with these two in my life.

"Well, one can't chose brothers," Ariel responds, and I cheer myself on again. A second victory, because he has revealed some information about themselves. They are brothers.

"Brothers, huh?" I ask.

"In every sense of the word," he confirms, reaching out to ruffle Raphael's bright wavy locks, who quickly slaps away his brother's hand, slight annoyance crossing his face.

"Umh... So is one of you adopted?" I ask. Ariel chuckles again at my question.

"You don't look alike," I explain.

"What do you mean? We are as alike as two peas in a pod. Same height, same build, same structure, same weight, same face..."