Chapter Three - The Birth
Drew shot up in his bed, beads of sweat forming around his forehead. A dull ache echoed through his left arm. The mysterious brand he now bore pulsed with red light.
He reached for his cellphone. The phone screen read 6:06am. Sunlight was slowly beginning to creep through the slits between his blinds. He sighed heavily.
An uneasy feeling washed over him. Something was coming; he could feel it.
*
The school bell rang.
Quinn Lockwood paused at her locker for a single moment. A picture of her and her parents hung to the inside of the door with a heart-shaped magnet. Her fingertips lightly ran across their faces. She blinked away the burning feeling behind her eyes.
“Hey.”
She jumped slightly at the sound of the voice. She inhaled deeply through her nose. As she closed the locker door, she saw him standing there, his arms folded lazily over his chest. He leaned against the lockers, a half smile curling on his lips. She rolled her eyes.
“How are you?” Jonah asked. “I’m glad to see you’re back.”
“Thanks,” She said without making eye contact. She turned her back to him and began to make her way down the hallway. “What do you want, Jonah?”
“Just to check on you,” He was only a few steps behind her. “Like I said, I’m glad to see you’re back.”
Quinn shook her head and rolled her eyes. She knew him better than that. She felt his hand cup around her shoulder; a chill ran down her spine. She stopped in her tracks. “Don’t touch me,” She wouldn’t turn to look at him. “Please.”
Jonah quickly pulled his hand back, his arms defensively going up into the air. “Sorry,” He muttered under his breath.
Quinn shook her head. She continued walking, her pace increasingly as she heard him coming closer.
“Hey,” Jonah hovered his hand over her shoulder once more. He stopped himself, being sure to not make the same mistake twice. “Look, I just wanted to invite you to a party this weekend. That’s all. My parents are out of town. Whole class will be there. You could probably use the night out.”
Quinn lingered in the doorway of their homeroom class for a moment. She tried to fight a smile forming around her lips. “Thanks,” She said as the morning bell rang once more.
“Ms. Lockwood, Mr. Duque,” A voice called from inside the room.
Elijah Avery was leaned against his desk, his arms folded over his chest. He was young, only somewhere in his early 30’s. He was smartly dressed, the sleeves of his shirt cuffed over his sweater and folded to his elbows. His lips were pursed slightly. “Care to join us this morning?”
“Sorry, Mr. Avery,” Jonah muttered, pushing through the door and making his way to his seat at the back of the room.
“Mr. Avery, I have something for you,” Quinn dug into her backpack. She removed a slip of paper and handed it to him. “Sorry it’s late, I…”
Mr. Avery smiled a half-smile and put up his hand. “It’s alright, Quinn,” He took the paper and looked it over once. “Trip isn’t until this afternoon. You got this in just in time.”
“Thank you,” Quinn smiled.
She turned on her heels as Mr. Avery cleared his throat. He slowly called out names, waiting for a response from her fellow classmates. There was one empty seat near the middle of the room. She took her place in the chair and placed her bag on the desktop in front of her. Beside her, a young man sat that she didn’t recognize. Must be the new kid she had heard about transferring.
“Michael Campbell,” Mr. Avery called out.
“Here,” Her new neighbor responded.
Quinn looked to him and forced a smile. He responded with a shy one of his own.
*
“My lord.”
Goneril lingered for a moment. She stared straight ahead, picking a point on the wall behind him rather than making eye contact with Varys. The last few days had been trying ones; with Sansa and Ramiel’s failure when it came to the three latest children, Varys’ temper had been at an all time high. The slightest thing had been setting off his wrath. She grew more and more worried each time she would have to speak with him.
Varys sat upon his throne, his eyes tightly closed. He remained silent as though he were in a deep state of meditation. She hated to have to interrupt him, but Goneril knew what she had to do. She took in a deep breath as she tried to gather up her courage.
“My lord,” She spoke again. “I must speak with you. It is of the utmost importance. I’ve had another vision.”
Varys’ eyes snapped open on her last word. The elder demon’s back cracked several times as he adjusted himself to an upright position on his throne. His head tilted to the side slowly. He locked his cold, ancient eyes with hers.
“Tell me everything,” He said, his voice laced with an icy tone.
*
The Kaden Trammell Museum.
The building was housed just at the edge of the Providence limits. A greco-roman style building, the vast white columns almost gleamed in the sunlight.
The bus breathed a sigh of exhaust as it came to a halt in front of the building. Elijah Avery stepped down first, standing tall on the steps of the museum as the students slowly stepped down from the vehicle. They formed a line and stood before the bus as they waited for their further instructions.
“Alright guys,” Mr. Avery started, pausing only for the sounds of the bus pulling away to fade out. He nodded slightly. “Break off into groups. You’ll have two hours to explore the museum and find your ideas for your group project. One of your groups will have to be a group of five. Other than that, you must group off in fours.”
Liam and Jonah nodded to each other as they made their way closer together. Quinn sighed as she met Jonah’s gaze. Reluctantly she joined up with them. She smiled as she gave Liam a hug. It had been the first time the entire day she had seen him. The embrace was warm. He gave her a small squeeze.
“Jonah,” Layla’s voice came through the group. “Can I be with you guys?”
Jonah groaned and opened his mouth to protest. His sister was advanced enough to join their class. He didn’t want her following around with his friends. Not today. Before he could have a chance to speak, however, Quinn stepped forward.
“That should be more than fine,” She said, looking towards him. “Right, Jonah?”
He sighed a gave a small nod. “Sure, why not?”
“Hey guys,” Liam nodded towards the center of the group of students.
Michael stood off on his own, his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets. Liam frowned.
“What about him?” Liam said. “He’s still new. He doesn’t really know anyone.”
“Ugh,” Jonah groaned. “You’re only concerned about him because you think he’s hot. We’ve already got my sister, I think we’re enough of the Island of Misfits without the new kid too.”
“I heard that,” Layla rolled her eyes.
“Dude, shut up,” Liam ignored him.
He ran his hands down the sides of his pants to smooth away any wrinkles. He walked over and tapped Michael on the shoulder, giving him a warm smile. Michael jumped slightly, startled by the contact.
“Sorry,” Liam chuckled. “Didn’t mean to freak you out there.”
“Oh, no, it wasn’t…” Michael stammered. He cleared his throat. “You didn’t freak me out.”
Liam smirked and nodded his head slowly. “Right. Anyway, I’m Liam. You’re new in town, right? Michael?”
“Yeah,” Michael said. “My family and I just moved here. That obvious?”
“Small town. We all grew up together and went through pre-K til now together. New kids tend to stand out.”
Michael felt a faint burn in his face as his cheeks went flush. Liam pretended to ignore it. Was he blushing because of him? It didn’t matter. Liam simply shook it off.
Unbeknownst to the other, both teens were ignoring the dull pulsing pain that was radiating up both of their left arms. Their shirt sleeves hid the faint pulsing light coming from their marks.
“You look a little lost,” Liam finally continued. “Without a group, I mean. Why don’t you come with us? We don’t mind being the ones with five.”
Michael awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t really see much of another option. “Umm, sure. Thanks.”
“Great!” Liam threw his arm around Michael’s shoulder and pulled him in closer. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”
They quickly made their way through the crowd of students beginning to push their way up the stairs. Introductions were quick, simple waves and head nods. Jonah grumbled something beneath his breath, although no one could actually make out the words. He said nothing else as he started his way up the steps to the main entrance of the building.
“Don’t mind him,” Quinn said to Michael as they followed suit. “He’s not much of a people person. He doesn’t really know how to act around them.”
“I can agree to that from living with him all these years,” Layla snickered lightly. “My brother’s a bit of a douche.”
“Heard that,” Jonah called from ahead. “Will you guys just shut up and hurry up? I’d rather get this crap done and out of the way as soon as we can.”
His left hand tightened into a fist as he felt the pain start to murmur beneath his skin. He ignored it as best as he could. He’d ignored the marking all together since the day that he, Liam and Layla had been attacked. When either of them tried to bring it up, he simply shook them off. Better to pretend like it hadn’t happened at all.
Layla knew he’d ignore her too if she brought it up. She wanted to ask Liam, but she knew better. Something felt off though. She’d been around both Liam and her brother since their attack and the pain hadn’t returned. Not like this at least. What did this Michael boy have to do with it? The second he got closer to them, she felt it once more. Did Jonah and Liam feel the same? She would have to be sure to find the moment to ask Liam, a time when they’d be alone.
They entered the museum and were greeted by the looming skeleton of a tyrannosaurus. It’s empty eye slots stared at them. Drew found himself mesmerized by the massive beast before him. His head tilted to the side, his eyes meeting the hollow stare.
“Hey, new kid!”
He shook his head, snapping himself back to reality. Jonah held his arm up, waving for him to follow along. “Sorry,” Drew nodded.
Jonah threw his head back and rolled his eyes. “I blame you,” He said to Liam.
Quinn cleared her throat. “Wait here, guys,” She said. “I have to use the bathroom. Be right back.”
Jonah groaned. The longer they stalled, the longer it would take for them to find anything. “Meet us over by the ancient Greek stuff,” He called after her. “I want to get there before anyone else does. Lay claim on that crap!”
“I’ll wait for her,” Layla said. “You guys go on ahead.”
“Whatever,” Jonah mumbled.
He took the lead, Liam and Drew following behind quietly. Layla turned her head, watching as Quinn made her way across the floor towards the restrooms. Her head tilted slightly as something caught her eye. As she walked, Quinn’s left sleeve pulled up slightly. A faint pink light emerged from beneath her skin. Layla’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly.
“Quinn,” She whispered.
She took in a deep breath through her nose before she took off running after her.
*
His heavy boots fell against the pavement. The sound reverberated with each step. His black trenchcoat hovered inches above the ground, each step seeming to bring it closer to the pavement. Fingerless gloves covered both of his hands. His knuckles cracked as he tightened and loosened up his fists.
Manu pulled the dark sunglasses away from his face, holding them tightly in his right hand. He looked upward, his eyes meeting the museum situated at the edge of the street where he stood. A sly smirk curled over his lips.
He slid the glasses back over his eyes, hiding the demon black flickering through them. His master had trusted him with this mission. Find the children, destroy them no matter what would follow. The Seer had proven herself useful, her ability showing her them. She said there would be five, although the final one was shrouded in mystery to her. It didn’t matter. He would find them all.
“Soon enough,” He said to himself.
He continued walking down the sidewalk, his heavy footsteps clunking against the ground. He heard a low growling sound coming from up ahead.
A large dog stood, it’s claws trying to dig into the concrete sidewalk. The hair on the dog’s back stood upright as the creature snarled, revealing all of it’s teeth in Manu’s direction. As the demon drew closer, the dog’s growls turned to angry barks. The owner, a middle-aged woman with dark hair, pulled at the leash in an attempt to make her dog stop.
“Caesar, that’s enough!” She yelled. Her eyes looked upward, meeting Manu’s lenses. “I’m so sorry, he’s never like this.”
“It’s no bother,” Manu said cooly, walking passed the barking dog as if it were nothing.
His voice sent a shiver down the woman’s spine.
*
She stared at herself in the mirror. Her eyes squinted as she felt a strange pain coming over her. She rolled her left wrist in a small circular motion, feeling the bones quietly crack as she did so. Quinn pinched her eyes tightly shut for a moment. She exhaled slowly.
“What the hell?” She muttered to herself, gently massaging her wrist.
She sighed. She pushed through the bathroom door and stepped back out in the museum hallway. Layla nearly collided with her. Both girls braced themselves, narrowly avoiding the impact.
“Gotta go that bad, huh?” Quinn smirked.
“No,” Layla shook her head, almost out of breath. “I was coming to get you. I needed to talk to you about…”
“Your brother is really working my last nerve,” Quinn grumbled. “A girl can’t even pee in peace without him rushing everyone. What’s his problem today anyway? Since when does he give a rat’s ass about any of his school work?”
She groaned and rolled her eyes, walking passed Layla. She didn’t even notice the confused look on the younger girl’s face. “C’mon then, we’d better hurry up and find them before Jonah has some kind of meltdown. I’m really not in the mood to deal with anything like that today.”
“No,” Layla said, her pace increasingly slightly to catch up with her. “That’s not it at all.”
“That’s sweet of you to defend him,” Quinn smiled. “Even if your brother is a douche by your own admission. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything to him. I don’t want you getting into any kind of trouble with him or anything.”
Layla wanted to say more, to ask her about the light from her wrist. Did it burn like hers did? Did she even know what it meant? Did she get some kind of ability from it too? But it was no use. Quinn was already marching far ahead of her.
They rounded the corner, finding Liam and Jonah staring intently at a series of painting on a wall. Beautiful paintings that depicted the Gods of Olympus. In the center of the paintings, one of the famed mountain, covered in a shroud of mist, caught Quinn’s eyes.
“These are pretty neat,” Jonah said with a simple nod. “What do you guys think? We do something that has to do with Mount Olympus for our project? Seems easy enough, don’t you think?”
“I wouldn’t call it easy,” Liam said, turning his attention to Jonah. “Mount Olympus has a lot of history to it. Lots of research to go through. You can find thousands of pages of texts on just one of the lesser known Gods alone. Maybe it would be best to narrow our search down, just a bit.”
As the two of them engaged in their discussion, Layla took this as the time to try and talk with Quinn once more. As she stepped forward to get her attention, however, she stopped herself midstep. Her eyes caught the stillness of Drew, standing before a glass case. His eyes were so mesmerized by what was inside. She began moving towards him, ignoring Quinn as she joined in the conversation with Liam and Jonah.
The case held a series of five small cuffs. The bands were mostly silver, trimmed with a beautiful golden trim. They were small, roughly the size of someone’s palm. Encrusted in the center of the cuffs, five small jewels with their own individual color. The jewels seemed to sparkle in the light from the ceiling.
“These are pretty,” She said. “What are they?”
Drew couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew what these were. Something called to him, something he had seen once before. His dreams? He didn’t want to admit to it, but they were right. Always. But what did these mean?
He shook his head. “I’m not sure. The tag over there just says Cuff of Olympus, but it doesn’t actually explain what that means.”
“They were presents from the Gods,” A voice spoke out.
The voice made Drew’s hair stand on end. Both he and Layla looked upward, meeting the gaze of a tall man clad in a long trench coat. Despite being inside, he wore sunglasses firmly perched on his face. He face was cold and expressionless.
“Legend states that whoever was gifted the cuffs, they were touched by the Gods; granted abilities far beyond any mortal thought. But legend also tells that the mortals squandered their gifts. That they thought themselves to be more powerful than the Gods and planned to overthrow them.”
Both Drew and Layla found themselves staring at the man. They hadn’t even heard him approach them at first. And then here he was, talking to them. Drew felt his eyes pinch shut as the burning pulse in his left arm began to intensify.
“The story goes,” The man continued. “That the mortals fought against the Gods, only to have their souls stripped of their bodies and banished to the Underworld. But history and legend are only written by the supposed winners, so who’s to say that’s what really happened.”
The man turned on his heels, his heavy boots stomping against the tile floor. His sudden movements caught the attention of Liam, Jonah and Quinn, who paused mid-conversation to turn and stare at him. The man stood before a case of gladiator-style weapons. Spears, shields, thick bladed swords. He pulled his hand from his pocket and placed it over the glass case surrounding them.
“You guys want to get out of here?” Liam asked as their group inched together. “This guy is kind of giving me the creeps.”
“Try listening to him talk for the last five minutes,” Drew said quietly.
Something about this guy seemed familiar to him. The sheer height of him alone, his bulking, looming presence. And his voice. The chill that it sent down his spine. But from where? He had only been in town for two weeks at this point. He blinked his eyes rapidly to try and push away the confusion.
“Such greatness,” The man continued, his eyes still fixed on the weapons display. “Nothing like the nonsense used in this day and age. Technology, firearms, nothing at all can compare to these.”
He took his hand from the case, his head tilted down slightly. He turned slowly to face the five teenagers once more. The twisted grin was still planted on his face. His head came up slowly until his eyes locked on the group before him. As his hand slowly raised up towards the sunglasses on his face, Drew felt the sudden click of realization.
“We need to go,” He said.
“Where’s the fun in that, boy?”
Manu pulled his sunglasses from his face and lazily tossed them to the ground. His eyes were solid demon black.
Quinn pressed her hand to her mouth to fight back a gasp. Jonah’s head tilted to the side, his brow furrowed with a mix of confusion and fear.
“Let’s get out of here,” Liam said, giving Jonah a small nudge.
Drew felt his feet moving before his brain could fully process what was happening. The others were quick to follow as they took off down the corridor. They didn’t say anything to each other, they just kept running. Layla, despite being the youngest, was the only one to look back.
Like some kind of horror movie villain, Manu stalked behind them. He didn’t run or walk at any quick pace. He still drew closer to them than they had wanted. “He’s coming!” Layla cried out.
She took in a deep breath through her nose and threw her left arm up. A pair of vines shot up through the cracks in the tile. The two vines wrapped around Manu’s wrists and tightened. She smirked lightly as they crossed through the front doors of the museum and stopped on the front steps.
“Layla!” Jonah yelled at her. “What’s the matter with you?”
“I stopped him, didn’t I?” She huffed.
“Wait, you did that?” Drew stepped forward. He nodded towards Manu, who was still struggling with the vines.
Layla didn’t say anything. Her eyes darted between Liam and Jonah. Her lips pursed when her eyes fell on her brother. She pulled back the sleeve covering her left arm to reveal the pale green tattoo brand that covered her arm. The design extended down into her fingertips.
“Jonah and Liam have them too,” She said. “We got attacked a few days ago by some weird creatures. We found these. They let us do things,” She paused for a minute. Her eyes fixed on Quinn. “You’ve got one too. I saw the light coming from your arm when you were going to the bathroom.”
“No, there’s no..” Quinn began. She bit down on her lip, unable to ignore the burning sensation in her wrist any longer. She unbuttoned the sleeve of her shirt and pulled it back. The pale pink light around her wrist began to dissipate, tracing out the tattoo that went into her fingertips and traveled up her arm.
As the light from the mark pulsed with light, the wind picked up around her. Quinn’s hair blew in the breeze. Drew followed suit and held out his own arm, revealing his own mark. Liam shared his, glancing at Jonah and nodding towards his arm.
Jonah tilted his head back and rolled his eyes. “Big deal,” He scoffed, rolling up his own sleeve. “We all got matching ink. What’s that going to do for us? We don’t even know what that guy’s deal is.”
“Guys,” Liam had turned away from them. He stared through the glass of the entrance doors. “Where’d he go?”
Manu was gone. The vines were snapped and laying on the ground.
“Neat trick,” A deep voice spoke from behind them. Manu had his arms crossed firmly over his chest. “Let me show you mine.”
The five of them turned quickly at the sound of his voice. Unsure of how he had gotten passed them to sneak up behind them, the fear of this mysterious man had grown. Jonah tightened up his fist, his knuckles cracking as his fingers balled together. He stepped forward and sneered. Drew pressed his hand against his chest.
“Charging him probably isn’t the smart move,” Drew said.
Jonah snickered and pushed Drew’s arm away. He held up his hands, braids of lightning dancing between his fingertips.
Manu pulled a whistle out from under his shirt and pulled it to his lips. He blew hard, the sounds escaping and echoing through the air. Instantly they pressed their hands to their ears and fell to their knees. The windows shattered around them, glass spraying out and littering the ground.
Manu’s looming shadow split into several pieces on the ground. The pieces slithered from the demon’s large figure and moved across the concrete like serpents. In an instant, the shadows shot upwards and took shape.
The creatures held a human-like shape. Their bodies were solid black. Their faces were covered in white masks the clung tight to their skin. The masks themselves were blank and expressionless. Some of the soldiers carried jagged daggers while others remained unarmed. Their arm muscles twitched as they clutched to their weapons and tightened their fists, causing thin white veins to bulge.
The whistle fell from Manu’s mouth. “Tear them apart.”
The creatures were silent and moved in unison. They stepped forward and readied for their attack.
Jonah held his arm out once more and shot a short burst of lightning towards the creatures. The blast made them stumble slightly, giving him enough time to regroup with the others. He looked at the others and shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Drew glanced around the area, his eyes falling on the creatures. The broken glass, the steps of the museum, everything was beginning to click for him. Last night’s dream was coming back to him. He made a sweeping gesture with his arm, summoning up a line of flames between them and the advancing creatures.
“Wait here,” He said. “Trust me. I have an idea.”
“Is he serious?” Jonah scoffed, watching as Drew took off running back into the museum. “Does he seriously think that we’re just going to stand around and wait for these things to come and kill us? I think not.”
As he went to turn on his heels, he was met with Liam standing behind him, arms crossed over his chest. Layla stood at his side.
“We have these powers for a reason,” Liam said to him. “Don’t you think we should use them?”
Quinn bit down on her lower lip. “I dunno. I think Jonah is right on this one,” She groaned slightly, shocked at the words coming out of her own mouth. “We should get out of here while we can.”
“Too late for that,” Layla said, tightening her left fist.
The creatures drew in closer, standing at the line of flames. They froze in place. Manu pushed through the ranks, stepping towards the center of the front line of creatures.
“This is your one chance,” The demon spoke. “Come with me and my soldiers will allow your friends to live.”
“Dude, piss off,” Jonah said. “We’re going to just go on our merry way and we’re going to pretend like this didn’t happen. You good with that?”
Manu said nothing.
*
Mass hysteria rang throughout the museum. The firm alarm was blaring as people ran through the various displays. He didn’t see anyone from his class, no one at all that he would even recognize. Then again, he doubted he would recognize anyone anyway.
He brought himself to a skidding halt as he rounded the corner and came to the display case. The five cuffs gleamed behind their glass case. The gems in the center seemed to be glowing. How was he going to do this? He had only seconds to figure that out.
“Drew!”
He snapped his head around to see Mr. Avery standing there. The man seemed to be out of breath and was staring directly at Drew’s left arm. He cursed himself for not rolling back his sleeve.
“Mr. Avery, I…”
“Where’s the rest of your group?” Elijah said. “Why haven’t all of you evacuated yet?” He stepped forward, his eyes still fixed on the pulsing mark on Drew’s left arm. “These were the questions I was looking for the answers to, but now I’ve got quite a few more. And not enough time to ask them.”
He pulled his sleeve down over his hand and curled up a fist. Drew watched in shock as Mr. Avery brought his covered fist threw the top of the glass case. The sound of breaking glass was just barely masked by the blaring alarms.
“Take them,” He said to Drew. “You’ll understand soon enough. And when you’re ready to ask your questions, you can find me in the garden.”
Drew didn’t have any time to react to what just happened. Mr. Avery was gone almost as quickly as he had arrived. He wanted to call out for him, to ask him just what the hell was going on, but the words were caught in his throat. He had no more time to waste. He reached in through the broken glass and carefully gathered up the cuffs. He held them close to his chest as he took off running once more, back towards the front steps.
*
Staying behind proved to be more fun than he wanted it to be. Although fun might not have been the best word for Jonah to use.
He held his palms out before him. Braids of electricity danced from fingertip to fingertip, swirling in the center of his palms, forming a small sphere of lightning. He smirked, watching as Layla and Liam threw their arms around, throwing short bursts of water and summoning tiny vines from the earth.
“Watch out!” Jonah called, throwing his arms outward.
The burst of lightning swirled through the air and crashed into the oncoming hoard of creatures. It barely made them falter, although the creatures stumbled back slightly. It didn’t matter. They continued their heavy, silent movements.
“Hey!”
The four of them snapped their heads around to see Drew come running through the front door once of the museum. He held something cradled in his arms. The items dropped to the concrete steps and made a pinging sort of noise. The Cuffs of Olympus, the mysterious treasures that they had seen in the museum.
“What are those?” Jonah pointed at them. “What are we supposed to do with these?”
“I…” Drew said, his hand hovering over the one containing the small red gem. “I think we’re supposed to use these.”
He said nothing, placing the cuff over his left wrist. The pulsing red light of the mark on his arm intensified. He felt power coursing through his body. He looked up to the others and gave them a small nod. Liam followed suit, taking the one with the blue gem and placing it over his arm.
“I think we might have switched,” Layla said quietly, holding the yellow gemmed cuff out towards Jonah.
The four teens looked to Drew as they awaited further instruction. He had felt as if someone else had taken over. He placed his palm flat against the concrete steps, a thin red line of light shooting out from his fingertips.
Liam knelt down to Drew’s right and placed his hand down against the steps, a thin blue light shooting from his own hand and meeting up with the red light from Drew. A yellow light came from Jonah’s hand, green from Layla’s and a pink one from Quinn’s. The five lines of light braided and wove together, shooting forward.
“Fetch their treasures!” Manu’s voice rang out.
The Druids took to the command and their speed increased. The strands of light seemed to form a sort of barrier, blocking the Druids from any kind of movement. The light intensified and pushed back against them, sending the hoard of creatures flying backwards. Manu’s nostrils flared out in anger.
“Hoc Imperii Deorum!”
Drew had no idea where these words had come from. Despite that, they fell from his mouth with the greatest of ease. He slowly stood up, his fellow classmates following suit. The light surrounded them and wrapped around their bodies. Manu forced himself to raise his hand and shield his eyes.
The light faded and the five teens stood tall. Their bodies were covered in colored armor, trimmed with black and gold. They wore white gloves and boots with golden accents on their hands and feet. Heavy helmets with thick black visors over their eyes covered their faces. Attached at their left hip, a holster that held a dagger-like weapon.
“Holy crap, dude!” Jonah smirked under his helmet as he examined his yellow armor. “Are we…”
“Power Rangers,” Liam bobbed his head slowly. His blue armor felt almost like a second skin to him, despite his first wearing of it.
Drew felt a knot tie in his stomach. Red? From what he had ever heard of the color-clad heroes from over the years, red always signified the leader. Was that him? He felt his fists loosen at his sides.
“Your new clothing will not save you,” Manu called out, breaking Drew’s concentration. “Druids! Tear them apart and bring me their treasures.”
The creatures had recovered from their flight through the air. As if in unison, they all silently nodded and took off running. They broke off from one another and scurried off in several directions.
“This is going to be so much fun,” Jonah pressed his right fist against his left palm.
Without any kind of warning, he broke from his own newly formed team and leapt into attack. He swung his right fist in an arc, gloved fist colliding solidly with the face of one of the creatures. He felt a tinge of pain radiating across his knuckles. He didn’t have much time to react to it though, as another Druid came towards him. He swung his foot backwards and pressed his boot against the chest of it.
Liam had taken action on his own, spinning around to land his heel against the side of one of the Druids. He jumped backwards to narrowly avoid a swiping dagger aimed directly at his midsection. He kicked up again, kicking the Druid in the wrist and knocking the dagger from its hand. The creature reached outward, its hands closing in around Liam’s throat. The new blue ranger tried to break free from the coming attack. The more he struggled, however, the tighter the grip around his throat became. Liam felt himself beginning to struggle for breath. His vision was beginning to blur.
The Druid’s grip loosened and fell from Liam’s throat. He drew in a labored breath and coughed. His hand rubbed against his neck. Drew cupped a hand over Liam’s right shoulder.
“Thanks,” Liam said. “I owe you one.”
Drew didn’t have time to respond. As a Druid drew forward for another attack, his leg instinctively kicked outward, planting a heavy boot against the chest. He spun around, landing another kick against the side of an oncoming attack. Liam’s fist connected straight across the creature’s face as it stumbled towards him.
Layla and Quinn found themselves standing back to back. Each of them held their daggers tightly in their right hands. As a group of Druids circled around, the two girls gave each other a small nod and dove forward. Using the daggers, they slashed at their coming attacks. The blades striked against their bellies, their arms, anywhere that the weapons would land.
Drew snapped his leg out, landing a solid kick against the chest of another of the Druids. Liam spun around, landing a kick to its side and sending the creature toppling over.
“Guys!” Layla called out. She came running towards them, Quinn trailing a few steps behind. “That was amazing! We did it!”
Jonah tilted his head backwards as he followed behind. The yellow ranger rolled his eyes behind his helmet. “That creep got away though.”
Manu had disappeared from sight. As they looked around to see what they had fought, they noticed the Druids had begun to melt away, leaving thick pools of black, oily ichor in their wake. What had they just fought against?
*
The garden was a rarely seen area of the school’s campus. Tucked away just behind the building, few students actually cared to come near it. The weeds grew up through the cracks in the stone walkway.
The five newly minted rangers had pushed through the gates and carefully stepped across the pathway.
“You’re sure Mr. Avery said to meet you here?” Quinn asked. Her eyes scanned around the deserted garden. “If that’s the case, where is he?”
Drew shrugged his shoulders. “It was really weird. One minute he was yelling at me and asking where the rest of you were. Next thing I know, he’s telling me to meet him here and smashing open the display case to get me these,” He motioned to the cuff on his wrist. “Is this guy always that weird?”
“Not really,” Liam shook his head. “Although nothing shocks me anymore after what we’ve seen the last couple of days.”
The walkway came to an abrupt end, stopping at the edge of a cracked fountain. Vines covered the stone base of it, while weeds grew up through the cracks inside. Jonah groaned and threw his head back in annoyance.
“Avery’s a quack,” He said as he turned on his heels. “He made us come out here for nothing. Let’s get out of here. I think we can all use a nap or something.”
Drew stared at the fountain for a moment. He stepped up over the edge to stand in it. He tilted his head to the side as he examined the base. His hand reached forward, his palm resting flat against the center. The ground beneath them began to shake. The sound of stone shifting and scraping against itself filled the air. The bottom of the fountain opened up, revealing a stone staircase descending into the ground.
Mr. Avery stood at the bottom of the staircase, his hands crossed casually over his chest. He was no longer dressed in his teacher clothes, trading them in for a pair of jeans and a v-neck t-shirt.
“I’m sure you guys have a lot of questions,” He called up to them. “The answers for you are here. Come downstairs and I will explain everything to you.”
