My Sister's a Guardian (RotG Fanfiction)

Chapter 23: Before Night Falls

(Content/trigger warnings for this chapter: anxiety)

--Ranya--

It was time to begin forming my plan. I typed in the Notes app on my phone.

The first step was to tell Isabelle what she needed to do tonight. I probably wasn't getting a private audience with her anymore with the Guardians' new suspicion, so I needed a secret way to communicate. She didn't have a phone or a laptop—I needed to do something in-person. I couldn't even whisper without the Guardians hearing, though, so I needed some other way. Like a note.

The only place I could write without Tooth seeing was the bathroom. It even had tissues I could use as paper, but I'd have to sneak a writing utensil in there, like a pencil from the pencil holder on my desk. My best chance would be if I sprinted into my room and stashed it in my pants before Tooth arrived.

Then once I wrote the message, I'd have to get it to Isabelle. I couldn't just clearly hand a note to her; that would be suspicious. I'd have to hide it in something. But I'd also have to hint to her to keep the note away from Jack's sight. So, I had to be suspicious in a way only Isabelle would recognize as suspicious. Like making her drawings. I never did that, but the Guardians didn't know it. I could make a couple of pictures and hide the note in between.

As soon as North had given up getting into Isabelle's room and plodded away, I stopped reading my book (I wasn't going to write fanfiction with Tooth in it in front of her) next to my bed and got up. Then I gathered underclothes and pants from my dresser and strode down the hall with Tooth behind me. I locked myself alone in the bathroom. The door muffled her twittering on the other end slightly. It sounded extra high and tense.

After waiting a minute, I said, "I need something else," and dashed out the door to my room.

I yanked a pencil from the wooden pencil holder on my desk and shoved it in my sweatpants (not a pocket—inside my pants) before Tooth arrived, then continued to my closet and jerked out a new sweater.

As I began striding back to the bathroom, Tooth's lips pressed flat. "You don't need a pencil in the bathroom."

"Why would I have a pencil?"

"I heard you take something from your pencil holder."

"No I didn't."

"Ranya... You're planning to do something dangerous again, aren't you? You're trying to communicate your plan to someone so they can help?" Before I could respond, she took my shoulders and began patting me down from there. I tried to wiggle the pencil down into the looser part of my pants so it could drop into my boot, but it wouldn't budge. Crap.

"Stop moving," Tooth said. I continued to wiggle, more furiously, and she grabbed my arms. Her grip was tight. "Stop, please."

She made it to my waist. I had to do something.

I swiped down my leg—disguising it as a scratch—and tried to push the pencil down. It hardly moved.

"Ranya, please," Tooth said as she pushed a stiff hand against my stomach. I "scratched" again, but it still wasn't enough. "Ranya!" The third time, I released the pencil, and it fell. I stopped moving.

Tooth finished patting me down. She didn't find the pencil but still pulled her arms tight against her chest. I went and locked myself in the bathroom again. After washing my ratty hair and pulling new clothes on, I scrawled on a tissue explaining what had happened with Dakota and my plan for tonight. I tucked my pencil under a scraggly blue towel beneath the sink, folded up the note, and slid it into my back pocket.

Once back in my room, I sketched and colored butterflies on a couple of papers, using a stiff clipboard as I sat against my bed.

I soon finished. Now for the second hard part of contacting Isabelle—sliding the tissue out of my pocket and between the two drawings without Tooth noticing. The Guardian stared at me intently.

I leaned one of my hands behind me—close to the tissue—my muscles tense. "What's your favorite color, Tooth?" Casual questions to lower her guard.

"Pink." She stared at me. "Yours?"

"Green. Especially that green." I pointed to the tall lamp on the night table next to my bed. With my other hand, I tried to inch the tissue out of my pocket without ripping it. "I think it's called shamrock green?"

Tooth's stiff, pale expression didn't change. "What are you trying to do, Ranya?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're being suspicious again. You've had plenty of time to ask questions, and you're only getting to it now?"

"I only thought of them now."

Tooth sighed. "What are you trying to do?"

"Just talk."

"Ranya, please. Pitch, the Watcher, and the Fear Angels are dangerous." Her eyes snapped to my hidden hand. "You have something in your pocket."

I yanked the tissue the rest of the way out without ripping it and sat on top. "No I don't."

"Let me see. Get up."

"You can check while I'm sitting."

Tooth snatched my arms and pulled. "Get up, please."

I held firm. "Really, there's nothing in my pocket!"

Tooth tugged, inching me off the ground as I fought to remain sitting. I let go of my clipboard, and it fell onto the carpet near the tissue. Tooth yanked me to my knees. I kicked the board's corner, and it moved closer to the note. Giving a hard tug, she nearly exposed it. I risked extra suspiciousness and grabbed the clipboard with my hand and moved it over the tissue.

I stood up the rest of the way, and Tooth stuck her hand in my empty pocket.

"I could've sworn..." she muttered. She glanced at the clipboard and picked it up. But the tissue stuck to the bottom. She didn't see anything on the carpet underneath.

I was soon able to slip it between the papers.

Later, I walked to Isabelle's door and knocked.

"It's me—Ranya."

No footsteps sounded on the other side—Isabelle's silent feet—but the door soon opened to the small room. Her long black hair stuck up in places like dryer lint. I didn't think she had just risen from a nap, though, because a penciled butterfly outline sat on her desk and a blue colored pencil rolled next to it. Her lilac blinds were open to the evening light.

Then through the window, the sun suddenly plunged under the horizon like a hand had yanked. Windshallow. Isabelle jumped and screamed as she spun toward the window. When she saw the night, or maybe the sparkling stars overhead, she took deep breaths and calmed. Even with her exposure therapy to Windshallow's strangeness, night still meant terror in her eyes. But at least it hadn't been a shadow about to sneak up on her.

Slowly, she turned back toward me, though she still half-glanced at the window behind her every few seconds.

"I made something for you." I held out the stack of papers with the tissue now stuck between them, making a point to stare her directly in her eyes with purpose for an awkwardly long time. "You can look at them in your room if you want." I put a slight emphasis on those words.

Isabelle nodded back, and then spun and shut the door.

Step one completed.

(A/N: Please vote, comment, and follow if you're enjoying this! And don't forget about my Discord server! Join to talk about RotG and share your fan works, talk about my own fan works, and make friends in the fandom, including me! Copy and paste this link to join: https://discord.gg/vZ3pym3h (Go to the latest chapter for a link that still works; Discord makes them stop working after a week.))