The Keepers of Azera ( Book 1 of the Keepers Trilogy)

Chapter 22

It takes a while for me to fall asleep, but when I do, I have a weird dream. I'm in the woods with a hundred or so people, all wearing the same white robes the Elder Gods are depicted in in the many paintings and drawings of them. They all mutter and point to a growing speck in the sky. A man who looks like my father-in fact, I think he is my father-leans over and whispers, "These are the first Keepers, Callie. And that-" he points at the glowing dot- "That's the asteroid."

It's now so close that I can see the orange-reddish rock, far away. The ground rumbles, the trees swaying, making an odd metallic clanging noise that I usually associate it with the sound of walking over the grates that make up the Training Base's floors. I haven't seen a tree since I was maybe four, but I'm pretty sure they don't make that noise.

When the asteroid is right above our heads, I wake up with a start. And frown. And wonder why my ceiling is shaking.

I sit up in bed. That rumbling in my dream, that clanking, it wasn't from trees or asteroids. The noise comes from the grates below my feet.

I slowly slide out of bed, gently testing to see if the floor will hold. It does. I hear James's door open and voices out in the living room, so I leave my room to find out what's going on.

Poppa looks over at me. "Go back to sleep," he says quietly. "It's nothing."

I don't believe him. For one thing, he looks like he didn't sleep at all. He's fully dressed in the blue and gold robes of a Keeper, and he looks exhausted. For another, we live under a war. A war that's approaching the Training Base at a fast pace. Of course I'm on edge about some rumbling, even though it's stopped. But Poppa smiles at me. "I know what it is, Callie. We're just expecting some visitors, that's all."

"Visitors don't make the floor shake," James points out. His eyes are a little out of focus, always a sign that he's just woken up. He gropes for his glasses on the coffee table and puts them on. "How come you didn't tell us about these visitors, Alex?"

"We weren't sure they were coming," Poppa says. Without another word, he yanks open the front door and leaves. I look at James, who yawns. "I'd go to sleep, if I were you."

"I'll try," I say, opening the door to my room. I look back at James, who has taken off his glasses and snuggled back under his blankets. He waves, and I wave back. Then I close the door behind me and climb back into bed.

***

The next morning, James wakes me up so we can go to breakfast together. According to him, Poppa left early to talk to our "visitors."

I just nod and stumble to the bathroom, feeling extremely tired.

We receive our breakfast and sit across from each other at the table designated to our group. "I just realized," James says, "that we didn't practice last night."

I shrug and touch my cheek. The swelling went down during the night, but there's a bruise where Matilda struck me, and a purple stripe where her ring contacted with my face. It stings like hell. "It's fine, James."

He purses his lips together. "We should practice today, after breakfast," he decides.

"I feel like I don't have a say in this matter," I say. I feel extremely sluggish today.

"It's just a suggestion..." he trails off as he looks at the front of the room, where the Trainers sit.

"What?" I ask, following his gaze. Up there, my father talks to two people. The first thing I notice about them is their height-they must be six feet tall, at least. The second thing is that they are not Azeran or human. They are both unnaturally skinny, with cheekbones that stick out of thin faces, making them look starved, and their skin shares the same bleached look that us Keepers and Guardians have, but they're paler than any Northerner I've ever seen. It's a sharp contrast to their jet-black hair. One has his hair pulled into a pony tail, the other lets it hang an inch past her shoulders. They both wear baggy jumpsuits-pony tail guy in green, hair down girl in blue. It's impossible to guess their ages, because they look timeless.

"Who are they?" I ask James. He looks at me, a look of confusion playing out on his face. "I don't know. They must be the visitors that Alex told us about last night."

"Visitors?" Astrid repeats. "Was that that rumbling noise we heard last night? And who's that? When did he arrive?"

"Last night," I say just as Matilda takes center stage and shouts, "Can I have everyone's attention, please?"

The whole room falls silent. I touch my cheek again. She nods. "We have some very special announcements today! First off, our fine Chief Keeper is here today-"

Everyone stands up and gives a small bow. Even James and I do it, even though it's awkward to bow to my father. Just as silently, everyone sits back down. A young Keeper tries to whisper something to his Guardian, but he shushes him quickly. Poppa gives a small bob of his head. Matilda clears her throat and keeps going. "He will be staying with us for a few days, to take care of some business regarding our, ah, allies." 

"Thank you, Matilda," Poppa says, stepping forward. Matilda nods her head to him and takes her seat again. Poppa clears his throat too and says, "My young Keepers, their Guardians, and the Trainers here, may I introduce Amacus-" he gestures to the one in a green jumpsuit, who also nods his head before raising his chin back into his straight-backed, puffed chest position- "and Alexa." The girl in the blue jumpsuit does the same as Amacus. She quickly tucks a piece of hair that fell into her face behind her ear and clasps her hands in front of her. She seems a little more nervous than Amacus.

"They are Turamese, from the planet Tura. A while ago, their father- the king- has been attacked from the same enemy as ours, and after some planning, Amacus and Alexa have kindly offered to stay here, at the Training Base, to work with our Keepers-to-be safe."

"It is an honor to be here," Alexa says. Her accent is no like any other accent I've heard. Gravelly and deep. "My twin and I are looking forward to working with you."

Astrid takes a sharp breath, and I look at her. She points at them. "Look at their eyes," she whispers.

I do and share the same reaction as Astrid. Their eyes are as dark as their hair-and when I say eyes, I don't just mean the irises. I mean the whole thing. No pupils. No whites. Just large, pure black eyes.

"We hope that my sister and I can make a difference here," Amacus says. He smiles, showing pointy front teeth and incisors that would rival a human vampire. "While our military joins forces with yours and hopefully crushes the enemy."

The enemy. Always "the enemy." Poppa must've told them not to use Simon's name.

Either that, or they don't know it either.

***

"But I've never heard of the Turamese," Astrid says as we leave the dining hall.

"We like to keep to ourselves," a deep voice says behind us. We all jump. Amacus and Poppa have sneaked up on us. "We are not like you, we have not fought you, or played any part in your history, so it makes sense you have never heard of us."

"Their king specifically asked to keep their kind secret until now," Poppa explains. "Like they said, they prefer to keep to themselves."

"Mm," James says. "Well, Callie, we should go down to the gym and get some training done. Alex, until later."

"You will refer to him as Chief," Amacus growls.

Poppa hurriedly explains, "Amacus, he is a very good friend of mine-one of my closest friends, in fact. He is Callie, my daughter's-" he places a hand on my shoulder- "Guardian."

Amacus relaxes a bit. "I will help you train," he decides. "After all, that is why I am here."

"Um, okay," James says, eyeing him warily.