My Sister's a Guardian (RotG Fanfiction)

Chapter 49: When Sanity Breaks

(Content/trigger warnings for this chapter: anxiety, self-hatred)

--Ranya--

My heart pounded as my gut clenched. I tried to fast-walk down the hall, but spun to the floor. How was I supposed to get Isabelle to someplace safe? I could hardly stand, even when I wasn't trying to go this fast! And Pitch could track her, so I couldn't teleport her away. But who knew how long until the "Guardians" made a move against her—or Pitch and his other people against my family? The "Guardians" had been mostly passive and indirect so far. Why? What was their greater, murkier plan?

"I really need help," I mumbled. "But if Pitch replaced the Guardians, he could've replaced their helpers or whatever too. So I can't ask them. Which leaves Mother Nature and a few others. I do know where she lives, but..." I tried to picture it in my head—the chaos of shifting earth and grass and streams, the trees stretching over the forest, and the spinning mist—but when I pressed the button on my teleporter, nothing happened. The books hadn't given me enough details. I realized I'd also probably have to be more specific about where in her empire I would appear, but it shifted constantly.

I thought of the next place: the Lunar Lamadary, where men dedicated to the study of the Moon lived. Their palace's cool, glistening lapis lazuli and opal mosaics climbing up every surface. Its mountains sheeted in thick white snow. The expansive sky. I didn't know if the Lunar Lamas would help me without a sign from the Man in the Moon, but it was worth a test.

Except when I pressed the button, the same thing happened. The descriptions in the book hadn't been enough. Even when I tried to picture more specific locations, I still didn't have enough details. I clenched my jaw as my head ached. The books didn't have details about every single object in a room. They had some pictures in them, but they were in black and white, and I needed colors. Then neither the Lunar Lamadary nor Mother Nature's domain appeared in the movies, so I couldn't go off of that.

Still, I went back and forth trying to teleport to either of those places, trying to picture what specific areas might look like. But nothing.

I realized, You know, I've been here alone awhile and the white mist hasn't come after me. I stopped and listened to the noises of the school. Dakota was probably gone or at least far enough away, because I couldn't hear footsteps anymore.

Abandoning me.

I held the teleporter to my lips and whispered, "Pendant, please help. I don't know how I can save my family!"

Nothing.

But something thumped hard nearby. Then footsteps. They were too large to be human. Bunny. They realized I'm gone.

I tightened my grip on my teleporter. I couldn't go home yet, and most stores still weren't open.

I pictured the cafeteria on the other side of the school and pressed the button.

Something gripped the neck of my shirt as soon as the world cleared of stars in the empty room.

"Found you," came Bunny's voice. How did he know where I would appear? And how did he get here so quickly? "Now come on. We need to get you home." He dropped me on the ground, where I collapsed, spinning and swerving. I tightened my grip on my teleporter and made to press the button.

Bunny snatched my hand and knocked it from my grip.

"Ranya." He bore his teeth. "I don't know what that is, but..."

The reaction was too aggressive for the real Bunny. He was easily annoyed, and distrustful sometimes, but not violent.

He knows I know.