Olympus Academy: The Final Bell.

Chapter Three: The Guardian

     

1.

Jake stared up at the chiseled image of his father. The statue presented him the way the world had perceived him; strong, confident, iconic. Anassuring look of grim resolution etched into the stone face, as it stood, arms folded high on its chest, watching over the school. But there was much more to Eric Johnson than the world would ever know. 

A seven-year-old Jake Jake sat on his bed, the inadequate illumination from his desktop lamp radiating through the darkness. He was holding his knees up to his chin. He'd been crying for a while by the time Eric had opened his bedroom door.

'Jakey? Are you... oh good, you're still up.' Eric sat next to Jake on his bed, looping an arm around his son. Jake responded with a big wet sniff. 'Do you want to talk about what happened at school today?'

'...'

'Mrs Robson says you hit another boy.'

'He called me a liar, I'm not a liar!' Jake rolled onto his side from his father's grip.

'No. No, you're not, but sometimes we need to... keep things to ourselves.' Eric looked at Jake's back, and rested a hand on his shoulder.

'Why? Why do you hide who you are?' Jake turned back to challenge Eric, fresh tears welling in the corners of his eyes. 'Why do you protect people if you don't even trust them?'

'Because the Hydra, and the Gorgons aren't the only monsters in the world, Jake. Sometimes people can be monsters too. If they knew who we were, they would come for us, and you or Rebecca could get hurt. We can't let that happen. Not ever.'

'He was lucky I only hit him, I could have zapped his butt if I wanted to.' Jake lowered his head.

'Then we'd be having an entirely different conversation.'

'I guess. Are you... mad at me?'

'I'm not mad.' Eric put a finger under Jake's chin, raising his head so their eyes met. 'I'm sorry. Sorry you can't be the amazing little boy I know you are. Sorry that we put you in a position where you have to lie for us.'

'I don't mind.' Jake sniffed again. 'It's just... it's hard sometimes.'

'Good thing you're a tough kid then, huh?' Eric brushed Jake's jaw with his fist. The boy smiled, and gave his dad a big hug. Eric stood, offered Jake a smile of his own, and gestured towards the lamp. 'You done with this now?'

'No. Leave it on please.'

'I thought you were too big and strong for a nightlight, but whatever you say, slugger.' Eric stepped over a few stray toys left strewn on Jake's floor, and stopped in the doorway. 'Jakey?'

'Uh-huh?'

'You know I love you, right?'

'I love you too, dad.'

'No matter what happens, don't ever forget that, okay?'

'Okay. Night, dad.' Jake smiled as his dad closed his bedroom door for the last time.

2.

It was Rebecca that opened it six hours later. Jake woke almost immediately. He looked over at his little sister, Mr. Paws dangling from her hand. She seemed upset.

'Becca?' Jake threw off his covers, swinging his legs over the side of his bed. 'What's wrong?'

'Mommy's crying, why is mommy crying?' Rebecca pulled Mr Paws tight to her chest. Jake dropped down from his bed, and took her free hand.

'I'm sure she's fine, let's go and check.' He led her out of his room and into the hallway. They could hear unsettled voices drifting up the stairs as soon as he stepped out onto the landing. They stopped at the top of the stairs, Jake could feel Rebecca squeezing in close to him as they listened to the familiar voices.

 
'...being too hard on yourself, nobody saw this coming.' The voice belonged to Ino Shinoda, the She-devil. She was Magdalena Johnson's closest friend. As Jake and Rebecca edged down the stairs towards the voices, the living room opened up beneath them.

'How could I not have, he lived here with me and the... My God, what do I tell the children?' Magda was sitting on the sofa, being comforted by Shinoda. Both women were in their Fearless Force uniforms. This made Jake even more nervous, Jake's parents never wore their work clothes in the house. As he got closer, he realised the uniforms were heavily damaged, almost shredded.

The women were bandaged, and there were blood stains everywhere. Another step down revealed more of the room, and they saw Kim Kealt, on the floor, leaning back into the huge chest of her husband, Jack. The Kealts also looked like they'd been in a fight for their lives. Something bad had happened. Jake knew it.

They reached the bottom step, as Ben Wagman came through the entry to the kitchen carrying a pack of beers under his arm. He tossed one to each of the Kealts. Shinoda waved his offer away. Ben was one of Jake's favourites, his ability made long, razor sharp blades burst out from his body, like a porcupine. Some of those blades were visible now; but they were bent, a few were even broken.

'Mom?' Jake could barely hear his own voice as he stepped down from the bottom step into the room full of beaten-up costumed heroes. They all stopped, and looked over to the two children huddled together at the foot of the stairs.

'Jake... Rebecca...' Magda pulled herself to her feet. The effort it took made Jake realise just how badly she was hurt.

'What happened... where's dad?' Jake's voice broke, despite the fact he was trying to be strong, so his sister wouldn't get even more upset. Magda stumbled toward them, fresh blood began to leak from a bandaged wound on her side. She barely made it to her children, collapsing into them. The little family of three clung to each other.

'I'm sorry...' She said. 'I'm so sorry.'

3.

Jake kissed two of the fingers on his right hand, and pressed them against the base of the statue.

'Miss you, dad.' He turned and walked across the school gardens towards C-block, glancing at the eerie sight of the psychic class in the middle of their morning meditation. They sat in a large circle in complete silence around their teacher, who monitored and guided them through their meditation.

The entire class was completely still. No fidgeting, no blinking. White eyes staring out into nothing. Anne Marie had once explained to Jake that every mind on Earth was connected through a psychic link which existed in a higher plane of perception. She said that telepaths could transcend our plane and access this realm, which some of the students called 'The Head-Space'. He presumed that was why telepaths appeared to be empty shells when they used their powers, because essentially that's what they were.

A jerk from a small black haired boy startled Jake. The teacher, Anne Marie, responded, slowly turning her head to face the dark-haired boy. Her eyes wide, and featureless. Jake shuddered. He decided to give the psychics a wider berth, moving a few steps further away from them as he passed. As he reached the edge of the circle, a girl of about fifteen, with shocking blue hair began to float from the ground. Jake walked a little quicker.