My Sister's a Guardian (RotG Fanfiction)

Chapter 32: When Hoping for Time to Slow

(Content/trigger warnings for this chapter: anxiety)

**Isabelle**

Clocks always count down to something.

After dinner, Ranya and North silently baked chocolate chip cookies, filling the room with the treats' warm, rich smell. It felt wrong, and didn't tempt me as I frantically continued to scour the Internet on the cold floor for any other information about Mother Nature. I couldn't find anything, though. Was trying to leave a note and hoping for the best really the only way?

And something else chewed on the back of my brain. The Mini Fairy still hadn't returned, and there was still the threat of the white fog. Could Ranya defeat Pitch with its creator still prowling? She would face him with only Dakota by her side, wouldn't she?

I had to figure out who commanded the mist, didn't I? It made my chest squeeze, and my mind kept going over all the things that could happen: I could get killed normally, I could vanish, I could get tortured...? And what if because I spent time doing this, I wouldn't find what I needed to in my research?

Immediately, I had to pause my reading as the fears assaulted my mind. I couldn't do this. I couldn't.

Yet, I had to, or else Ranya would die. I told myself I'd figure out a way to stop the mist without fighting anyone, and while staying safe, and that it wouldn't take much time.

I had to contact the pale boy.

Painstakingly, I tried to force myself to break from my research and turn around to ask a question, but my head and body wouldn't move a centimeter. I wasn't even doing anything dangerous yet. I was going to do something scary, though. Not yet, however, I told myself. Turning around didn't mean I was putting myself in danger. And asking the question wouldn't even take very long.

My legs still wouldn't budge, and my eyes were stuck trailing the words on the screen.

I tried to pry open my lips and ask, "Can someone please go upstairs and get a yearbook for me?" I didn't know the pale boy's name, and I needed it to know his school email.

You're not committing anything, I tried to tell myself. Looking at a yearbook won't make anyone love you more, and it won't get the Watcher or mist being's attention. And it will only take a few minutes away from your research. I focused on my heavy, yanking guilt. But when I tried to pull myself to my feet or unlock my mouth, neither would budge. Fear wrapped its vice around me and wouldn't let me move.

I tried harder. Just put your arm behind you so that if you do turn, you can do it more easily, I told myself. I pushed all my willpower into moving it. Move, move, move. But it wouldn't. What about only an inch? I tried to will my arm to budge just that far. I attempted to will my hand to push the arm into position. My eyes were still fused to the screen. I focused on my fear for Ranya, and for myself if she died.

But I couldn't convince myself to even move that much. Though turning and asking for a yearbook were small movements, I knew what they could lead to, and what precious time they could waste. It made my chest grow colder and tighter.

Tick, tick, tick.

I stopped trying and continued reading as the heaviness consumed my stomach. I just couldn't do it.

Then fizzing sounded behind me. I jumped to my feet and turned. A pink disc spun in the air a few feet from my head. Everyone in the house stopped what they were doing and looked over at it, and they rushed into the kitchen, even the ones like Ranya and Dad who had lifeless looks on their faces.

No one uttered any other sound through the house. We stared intently at the disc as it spun faster, expanding and melting to haze. Lotus appeared in the center of the Time Rift as if they were their reflection in a lake. A fresh wound was cut across their cheek, still dripping blood. Their eyes shone, and they panted.

They vanished as the haze petered out and the disc shrank, then grew. It trembled and warped into twisted shapes.

"Isabelle!" Lotus managed to call, their voice stilted and fractured. "Don't trust calm feelings. I know it's difficult to resist them, I know your greatest wish is to be rid of your fear, but the woman behind them is planning something worse than she's done so far. I've seen the past—your future—and the woman, she—"

The disc fizzed out and vanished.

(A/N: Remember to favorite, comment, and watch if you're enjoying this! And you can still join my Discord server! Join to talk and make friends with other RotG fans, including myself, share your own and others' RotG fanworks, talk about mine, and, if you choose, get notified every time I post from the Discord app! Here's the link to copy and paste: https://discord.gg/pvD6g8qr (Go to the latest chapter for the link that works; Discord disables them after a week))