My Sister's a Guardian (RotG Fanfiction)

Chapter 5: My Sister's a Guardian

(Content/trigger warnings for this chapter: anxiety)

--Ranya--

Seeing the Guardians on my doorstep was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me. Even greater than getting a hundred favorites on one of my fanfictions, or if I one day solved the mysteries of Windshallow. I breathed in the Guardians' magic and mystery and, well, awesomeness. North—Santa; Bunny—the Easter Bunny; Sandy—the Sandman; Tooth—the Tooth Fairy; and Jack Frost. Sandy wore a glittering robe of what I knew to be glowing golden Dreamsand, his expression pleasant. Tooth's insect-like wings hummed as she hovered, and her multicolored iridescent feathers shone like her smile. North, his body large and covered in what I knew to be a red fur-lined coat, stood nearly two feet taller than I, and he also grinned, while Bunny, with his furry rabbit ears, stood a little taller. His humanoid body was covered in soft blue fur, though he scowled. The immortal teenage Jack's staff, sweatshirt, and tight-fitting pants glistened with frost. His expression was blank.

I wished I could see them not as a spiraling rave party, but hopefully they'd spend the night.

As I tried to stand, I realized I shook. My smile felt like it was stretched wide enough to be a maniac's. I have to calm down. I somehow pulled myself to my feet, but the world slid out from beneath me, and I fell again.

"Mrs. Kirkwood," North said in his Russian accent. Hearing his voice in real life made me laugh with hysteria. It was a loud, uncontrollable sound.

Bunny's eyes widened as he looked at me, and he took a step back. His stare darted from his fellow Guardians to my mom. "What's she doing?" His accent was a twangy Australian.

"She's excited." Isabelle took a few steps toward the Guardians. Her hands pressed together.

North—the Guardians' official leader below the Man in the Moon—strode toward her. My mom let him through. "You're Isabelle, correct?"

She nodded. "And this is my sister, Ranya." She gestured at me.

Zachary ran from her side around legs to Bunny. "Hi!" Zachary grinned. "I'm Zachary. Are you a monster?"

Bunny shook his head, and smiled. "I'm the Easter Bunny."

"That sucks."

Bunny's face took on the same expression he'd looked at me with as Zachary ran back.

My dad strode toward the five immortal beings, rubbing his hands together in the cold. "You must be the Guardians."

North nodded. "May we come in?" Despite the fact that he already stood inside.

"Yes."

I struggled to stand again, and this time I managed to stay on my feet, though I swayed. But I couldn't force my mad smile down.

"Is she all right?" North glanced at me with a raised eyebrow.

"The Watcher appears in my dreams, and when he does, he makes me hallucinate that day," I said as I careened back to the floor.

As the world spun, hands gripped my armpits and lifted me from the scratchy carpet. Before I could process, I was on the stiff couch in the living room.

"What do you hallucinate?" Through the whirling, I could just make out Tooth hovering a foot from my face.

"Everything flashes neon colors," I explained, "and the world spins beneath me. Words move when I try to read them. The Watcher wipes my memory of him every time he sees me watching, too," I added. Tooth was the Guardian of Memories, after all. She might want to know.