Guardian (7 page)

But then I looked down at the cool, gray steel contraption in my hand. A gun. He had handed me a
gun
. Did he, I wondered in shock, actually expect me to be able to use it? Me, Lyla Evans. I abhorred violence! But then I looked down at the man on the ground before me, and felt my heart lurch a little. I would do it, for Colton and Grace. For them, I could do it. But while he was unconscious, and therefore harmless…

Love your enemies,
a voice seemed to whisper inside my head. I swallowed hard, and even though it was one of the hardest things I had ever done, I leaned against the brick wall at my back for support, and prayed.

Lord, watch over me,
I thought, though I was sure to keep my eyes on the man before me on the ground.
Give me courage, I need it badly. Colton and Grace must be so scared. Give them strength and courage as well. Let them feel your presence, touch them with your steady hand. Thank you for sending Rafael to save us. Thank you for helping us, for answering my prayers for safety. And, and,
I closed my eyes for only a moment.
Be with these men, Lord,
I thought quickly.
I don’t know their lives, their families, their stories, but You do. Help them to have a change of heart, to see the error of their ways. Let them see it’s not too late to turn their lives around. And please, please, oh
please
let Rafael rescue Colton and Grace. Oh, Lord, I don’t know how he’ll catch up to a car on foot, but I have faith in this stranger you sent to us. Keep us all from harm, and bring them safely back to me.

A shudder went through me as I ran out of words. I felt weak and wrung out, completely spent, as though I had just finished a marathon. Because striding toward me, carrying Grace and with Colton hurrying along beside him, was Rafael. The gun dropped from my hand with a loud, metallic
clunk
and I ran toward them. Rafael immediately passed Grace to me, and then I collapsed onto my knees to clutch Colton to my chest as well.

I started sobbing all over again, because honestly, there didn’t seem to be any other appropriate reaction. I could only cry into Gracie’s sensible plaid jumper and Colton’s neatly pressed white shirt. It was only a few moments after this that I realized the strangest thing; Grace wasn’t crying. Neither was Colton. Not a single tear between the two of them. By all rights, they should be hysterical, scared, absolutely terrified and clinging to me in fear. But no. Instead, much like the time I had lost them at the library and they had been safe the whole time,
they
were the ones stroking my hair and patting my arms, and even telling me “Everything will be all right”.

I stared at them in complete shock. What was going on? Why were they so
calm
? I felt anything but calm. I felt wildly, totally, out of my mind,
drunk
with barely contained hysteria. Utterly confused, and a little concerned, I looked up at Rafael. He was watching the scene with a coolly detached air, his brow creased slightly and his arms folded across his chest.

Was this his doing? I remembered how Austin hadn’t remembered anything about the night he had attacked me; had their memories been wiped as well? Was this man
capable
of such a thing? It didn’t seem possible, and yet… I looked at the crater-like depression in the blacktop where Rafael had first appeared.

“I’m so glad you two are all right,” I said carefully, in my nasally, tear clogged voice. “I’m so glad those men didn’t catch you!”

“Me too!” Grace said, though not in a fearful voice at all. She was merely… agreeing with me. “They weren’t nice. They slapped Colton!”

I breathed a sigh of relief. They did remember. They just weren’t scared. Weren’t traumatized. While this was relieving, in a way, it did cause me to worry just the same. What if this was some kind of severe, very serious psychological disorder? Was it just another effect from shock?

“Come on.” I started in surprise when I felt a hand with a hard as steel grip clasp my elbow and pull me to my feet. “We have to go,” Rafael said. “I’ll walk you home. Let’s get going.”

Again, I felt his deep voice rumble inside my chest, the way I felt the
boom
of fireworks inside me, rather than just with my ears. It made me shiver and rub my arms in a vain effort to get rid of the goose bumps that had appeared there.

“Come along,” he said, yet again, this time a little impatiently. Before I could stop him, he had taken hold of Grace and swung her up into his arms, where she appeared to be quite at ease. And then he began walking out of the alley.

I quickly grabbed Colton’s hand and hurried after him, lamely calling, “W-wait up!”

To my surprise, he did stop, although it was clear he was very irritated by now. “Hurry!” he snapped.

“You don’t have to be so rude about it!” I snapped right back, shocking even myself. An apology trembled on my lips, but I forced it back, looking down at my feet as we walked onward. I was still tense, and I was tired, every shadow and loud noise caused me to jump, and more than anything, I wanted to go home. I wanted to change into my softest, oldest pajamas, and sleep forever. But I knew as we turned down my street, at last, that I couldn’t. Not yet, at least.

Because I had realized, once again, as we walked, that Rafael was leading the way. To my home. He knew where it was. And how could I ever feel safe again knowing someone as dangerous as him – who had somehow caught up to a moving van, not to mention rescued two children out of it – knew where my siblings and I slept?

“I’ll be there in just a second,” I told Colton and Grace, ushering them up the steps. I kept one eye on Rafael, however, to make sure he didn’t run off and disappear. He seemed like just the type to try something like that. “We’re going to call it an early night.”

The toll of our adventure must have finally been catching up to them, because they didn’t even protest this as the two of them trouped inside. Once they had the front door safely closed behind them, I whirled on Rafael, just in time. He had the look of a man who had been about to try and slink away.

“All right,” I said, the strength in my voice shocking both of us. “Who are you?”
He inclined his head. “My name is Rafael.”

“I
know
that.” I tsked impatiently. “I mean, like, who
are
you? How do you know our names? Where I live? How did you know where we would be today?”

But he only shrugged and said, in a maddeningly calm and mysterious voice, “There is a lot to be heard if one only listens.”

“Oh,
well
,” I said sarcastically. “Thanks for totally clearing
that
one up. Let’s see if you can do better with this one.” I pointed a shaking finger at my dingy little house. “What is wrong with my brother and sister? They should be hysterical! Hysterical,” my voice began climbing with every word, “just as I am right now!”

Rafael just shrugged. A shrug. As if this was an acceptable answer.

“Did you wipe their memories the way you did with Austin?” I demanded.

Rafael seemed outraged at this accusation. “I did no such thing!” he protested heatedly. “I merely told them they had no reason to be afraid anymore!”

I gave a sardonic laugh. I was so utterly exhausted, it seemed I had turned into a different person. And not a nice one, at that. “Oh, really? Brainwashed them, more like.”

Rafael took a step closer to me. “Is it my fault they believed me?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied firmly, advancing a step of my own. “They were almost kidnapped. They should be terrified.”

Suddenly, we were nose to nose as we glared at each other. I felt his hot breath on me when he spoke, though it wasn’t revolting or disgusting like the man who had tried to take me. It was . . . . Nice. A little minty. Almost as though he had just chewed a piece of gum, not rescued three kids from would-be kidnappers.

“Is that what you want, Lyla?” he questioned in a silky voice, that, for some reason, made my knees go weak. And not from fear this time, either. “For them to be afraid? Afraid of everyone who comes their way? Afraid to leave the house, to go to school, afraid of their teachers, of every stranger who crosses their path?”

I tried to meet his gaze steadily, but in the end, I was the first to look away. Because he was right. I would rather have been kidnapped myself than have Colton and Grace cower away, afraid of the world.

“No,” I whispered. And then, for the second time that day, I found myself saying something that was so very hard, I wanted to choke on my own words. “Thank you.” I said it quietly, but I knew he could hear me.

My eyes darted quickly up to meet his, and then flew back to the ground. “And thank you for saving us today.” Suddenly, I remembered all my earlier questions, “Hey,” I began, looking up. “How did you know where-”

But he was gone.

That night, the sound of Grace crying out woke me up. I rolled over in bed, concerned, and then gasped.

“Grace!” I cried, tearing the covers off her writhing body and putting a calming hand on her hot back. I shook her gently to try and wake her up. “Gracie!”

“Lyla!” she cried in a pitiful voice. As she launched herself onto my lap, I was surprised to realize she had already been awake when I had shaken her. “My dream was scary!”

I carefully stroked her hair, though my eyes were combing the room, trying to peer through the semidarkness. Surely I hadn’t seen...

“What happened in the dream?” I asked Grace, trying not to be too distracted.

“We were all running away from a scary monster!” Grace sobbed. “He looked a lot like Daddy, and Mommy was with us, but then he got her and he almost got us, but then I woke up but I thought I saw a big scary shadow standing over me!”

“Shh, shh.” I did my best to comfort my little sister, but inwardly I was panicking just as much as she had. Because when I had awoken, just moments ago, the dark shadow of a man standing over me had been the first thing I had seen as well.

Only now it was gone.

Though I spent Saturday in a haze of confusion and bewilderment, by Sunday morning, I had a plan. A good one. And the sight of Rafael stoically watching the church, unmoving as always, only cemented my resolve.

I waited until Colton, Grace, and I had changed into more casual jeans and t-shirts before suggesting brightly that we go hang out on the playground near school before youth group that night. Full of rambunctious energy after being cooped up in church for so long, they eagerly agreed.

In just under an hour we arrived at the park, and I got Colton and Grace going on the swings before slinking away to the main road, though still with Colton and Grace in my sights, of course. My plan was really quite simple, and required almost no brains at all.

The other day, Rafael had said, “There is a lot to be heard, if only one listens”. That had got me thinking. Who had he been ‘listening’ to? What had he even been talking about? And then, slow as I was, it had all clicked. Me. He had been listening to me. Rafael, this strange, good looking, oddly mysterious man, had to be following me. Watching me, as I had felt I’d been being watched. Ever since first sighting Rafael, actually. And that was how he knew our names, and where we lived.

Now, of course, I only had to prove it. Because, you see, he also seemed to appear whenever I was in danger. So, the only way to prove he was watching me, following me, was to put myself in danger. False danger that was, and wait for him to appear. In my eyes, it was a flawless plan.

I hoped.

But my heart was still fluttering as I stood on the edge of Broad Street and watched as all the cars flew past at an alarming speed.
What if Rafael doesn’t come?
asked the voice in my head that was always doubting myself.
He’ll come
, I assured myself.
He’s watching right now, wondering what in the name of all the saints I’m up to.

That thought made me smile, and with a deep breath for courage, I stepped out into the busy street. There was plenty of time for me to move out of the way of the next car, of course. I’d picked a moment when it was relatively empty. I didn’t have a death wish, after all. But Rafael didn’t know that.

I stood there for barely a second, just long enough to realize I had probably gone insane at last, to be doing this, when I was tackled. Seriously,
tackled.
I fell backward with a loud “Ack!” and hit my head on the pavement, though not as hard as I would have if hands hadn’t attempted to prevent just that. I laid there for a long moment, slightly smothered by the heavy body on top of me. He was
heavy
.

“What were you
thinking
?” Rafael snapped as he stood up. “Have I been mistaken and should have left you for dead all these times I’ve come to your rescue?”

I sat up slowly, probing with my fingers for the lump on my head. “Why is it,” I muttered sourly, “that when you ‘rescue’ me, I always end up getting hurt?”

“Maybe you wouldn’t,” Rafael said, in a very dark voice, “if you didn’t go rushing into these idiotic situations to begin with!”

“I was perfectly aware of what I was doing this time, thank you very much,” I said, annoyed. I slowly got to my feet and made my way to a park bench, on which I collapsed. “And it worked, I might add. Quite well, actually.”

“It… worked?” Rafael echoed, confused. Then I saw comprehension dawn in his eyes as he took a surprised step backward. “You… you tricked me?”

“Yes,” I said, with a little self-deserved smugness. “I did.” And then I frowned, realizing that my suspicions had just been a hundred percent confirmed. “So. You
have
been following me.” I put my hands on my hips, trying to summon up indignation that I really didn’t feel.