The Keepers

Chapter 10

About a week later, a new kid came into homeroom. He was about average height, and he was wearing jeans and a band tee. He had glasses and wore a beanie.

"Is this Mr. Krupp's class?" he asked knocking on the door. He spoke with a British accent that I absolutely adore.

"Yes," Mr. Krupp responded, "And who are you?"

"Lucas Campbell," he replied. I swear that accent was adorable.

"Do you see that?" Alex whispered.

"See what?" I asked, "That he has an amazing accent."

"No," Alex shot me an angry look, "he's wearing a heartstone." Alex pointed to the deep turquoise gem hanging around Lucas' neck.

"Oh my gosh!" I whisper-yelled, "It does look like it. But Marcus said the hair thing happens to everyone"

"Uhm hello!" Alex whispered, "He's wearing a hat!"

"Oh yeah," I realized, "You don't really think....?"

"Yeah I think so," Alex said quickly.

"Think what?" Gabe jumped in the conversation.

"The new kid is wearing a heartstone," Alex pointed out.

"Really?" Gabe asked, "No way! Get your eyes checked!"

"I have 20/20 vision," Alex scoffed, "And that is a heartstone!"

"How do we know for sure?" I asked

"Don't worry," Alex assured us, "I've got a plan."

"Oh no," Gabe added.

At lunch, Alex invited Lucas to sit with us.

"So Lucas," Alex started, "where'd you come here from?"

"You'd think the accent would kinda give it away," Lucas joked, "I came from England."

"I meant what city?" Alex noted.

"Oh," Lucas blushed, "London."

"Cool," Alex said, "I see they have these in London." Alex took out his heartstone. He looked at me and Gabe and we took ours out too.

"Are you all...?" his question faded

"Depends," Alex began, "I don't want to say anything until we can be sure. Can you take our hat off for a second?"

"If I must," Lucas agreed. He took off the beanie revealing brown and turquoise hair, "Now you all have to show me your hair." Alex took off his hood, I took out my bun, and Gabe took off the hat he had started wearing to school showing him our colored hair.

"Yes," Alex finally answered his question.

"Wow," Lucas smiled, "I've never gone to a school with anyone else like me, let alone three."

"Yeah," Alex began, "there's also something else. We're also the keepers."

"Wait!" Gabe interrupted, "You're just gonna tell him. We barely know the guy!"

"Really!?" Lucas asked excitedly, "My mum used to tell me stories about you when I was little. You're really them?"

"Well, not exactly," I interjected, "We're still in training. Our parents are the real keepers."

"So," Lucas urged, "Can I meet them?"

"No," I told him, "We haven't even met them. It's a long story, but we didn't even know about the whole dracovir thing until about a month or so ago."

"Wait if you're in training," Lucas started, "do you have the special powers that Mum told me about in the stories? Could you show me?"

"Do it Jess," Alex instructed.

"Wait! Right now?" I asked.

"It's not like anyone's gonna notice," ho pointed out.

"True," I agreed freezing everything, "look around." Lucas was amazed. He looked back at Alex. Alex changed into Lucas, which freaked him out a little. Alex changed back and looked at Gabe trying to get him to show Lucas his power.

"I'm not doing it," Gabe refused, "We barely know him, how do we know we can trust him? How do we know he's not Marcus in disguise, testing us?"

"Because we saw them in the same room together," Alex noted.

"I still don't trust him," Gabe replied, "C'mon Jess, undo it." I unfroze it all and we went on with lunch.

After school, when I found Alex, he and Lucas were headed for the empty classroom.

"Why is he coming?" I asked

"I wanted to show him training," Alex replied

"You can't do that," I yelled, "For all we know, Marcus might actually kill us."

"He wouldn't do that," Alex said.

"It's still not a good Idea," I told him.

"It's fine," Alex urged. We went to the training room and I still felt uneasy about it all. Marcus was waiting for us when we got there.

"Why is he here?" Marcus snapped.

"It's ok," Alex reassured him, "he a dracovir too."

"That doesn't mean you can take him here!" Marcus yelled

Alex started laughing, "We got 'em!" Lucas started laughing too.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"This isn't Lucas!" Alex laughed. He looked over and turned Lucas into Gabe.

"We had you both fooled!" Gabe laughed. I knew it was really him because it was his voice.

"Stop messing around!" Marcus ordered, "But I am glad to see that you are getting along better. Now, today I only need Alex, but if you want you can stay, we might be able to work you in to the lesson.

"I have homework," I told him, "So, I can't stay." I left the training room and the empty classroom. As I walked out of school I ran into Lucas."

"Hey," Lucas said.

"Oh hey," I replied after getting over his accent.

"Are you alone?" he asked, "Let me walk you home."

"Ok," I smiled.