Chapter Seven

Old Friends, not from Facebook

Most people said Elizabeth was unduly cautious, but she knew that one slips up could mean disaster for herself or her young daughter. There was a time when the Roberts family could enjoy being a family, even go on a vacation every once in a while.

She remembered a wonderful family trip to Disneyland just last year. Sara had ridden on Space Mountain at least five times, and they had all enjoyed Splash Mountain immensely. Her husband, Jackson, had purchased the family picture. Even though this picture caught Elizabeth in the middle of a scream, her mouth wide open, and her eyes clamped shut. Sara, on the other hand, was smiling and had thrown her hands in the air. Sara had asked to go on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and they could not explain to her, a toad spy might be hiding in the animatronics. They settled on Peter Pan instead. As they left the park, Sara was allowed to pick any t-shirt she wanted. Wouldn’t you know it; she chose a pink Minnie Mouse t-shirt. Imagine, her daughter walking around with a rodent on her shirt.

Since that trip, they constantly moved, always staying one step ahead of the toads. Fortunately, she was very sensitive to the magic of the toads. It gave her migraine headaches, and this had helped her stay on the run.

She could sense something was wrong. She didn’t have a headache, but something just wasn’t right.

She knew it was time to tell her daughter about everything.

She was finishing the last batch of avocado muffins. The porridge and scrambled cottage cheese sat on a plate atop the kitchen table. “Tonight,” she whispered, “Tonight I will tell her.” She glanced down the hall and saw Sara coming out of the master bedroom. “Ok. What’s up Sara? You know you are not allowed in my room without permission.”

“Nothing,” said Sara, “Really, nothing at all.” She sat at the table with a Cheshire cat smile on her face. Elizabeth put her hands on her hips as Sara shoveled the food into her mouth- not missing a crumb-, grabbed her backpack, and sprinted out the door for school.

“Sara,” her mother called, “we need to talk after school. It is urgent”.

After she cleaned off the table and washed the dishes, she picked up the trash to take it out to the trashcans in the alley. As she was walking to the garbage cans, she saw the tracks. Dozens of toad tracks and rat tracks pressed into the damp earth. Dropping the trash, she ran back into the house, closing and locking the back door as she did so. “I have to inform Thomas; we have been discovered. They’ve never been this close before.” She ran to her room to get her cell phone.

Midway down the hall, she froze. It was too late. She had heard the toad before she saw him. She turned to face him and noticed he was not the lone toad in the room. “Hello Liz, you have been avoiding us. Now, that isn’t very nice, is it? After all, Liz, we go back a long way, don’t we?” croaked the toad.

“Leave us alone, Appleton, we aren’t bothering anybody,” pleaded Liz.

“You know we can’t do that Liz. The fact that you are still breathing makes my employers nervous but, they want to solve that problem- personally. I regret I didn’t get here soon enough to get that brat kid of yours before she got on that yellow bus. We almost had her,” sneered Appleton. Elizabeth turned to run as the toads unfurled their tongues and shot them at her.

She felt several stings as the poisonous tongues lanced her neck. “I must say, Appleton, you do look better as a toad.” She laughed at Appleton as her world went dark and she crumpled to the floor.

Appleton handed a note to one of the other toads with instructions to place it on the bed. “Don’t disturb anything in the room, am I clear Walter?”

         

*

Tiffani and Sara walked arm in arm to the French doors leading to the garden. Once outside, Sara stopped.

“What’s wrong, Sara?”

“It’s those statues. They are creepy. How about we stay right here?” The statues were turned and staring straight at Sara.

“Oh, they aren’t creepy. They are part of the protection system for The Manor. Come on.”

They strolled through the garden, Sara keeping her eye on those statues. As they walked, the statues followed her. She shivered.

“So, Sara, has your mother told you anything?”

“We talk all the time.”

“I mean about Tenebrae.”

“No, not about that. I don’t understand what’s going on Tiffani. I’m confused.”

“You were taken from our world by your mother and father when you were a baby. At around the same time, the Queen allowed people to leave our world if they first had their magic signatures taken. Tenebrae looks for these signatures, and if we return, we will be killed or imprisoned. We can never go back. Even here many of us are hunted and are either killed or conveniently disappear. The word from back in Tenebrae is a lot of them ended up in Doldunt Prison.”

“Tiffani, that is terrible. Why doesn’t the United States Government do something about it?”

“Earth can never know about us; they wouldn’t understand. Some of us have volunteered as guardians. We protect the others. You were my most recent job.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Only about three years- since I was fifteen.”

Sara counted on her fingers, “That makes you eighteen years old.”

 “Yes, there are times we need to, umm…change our age slightly to protect our assignments.”

“Where is Tenebrae?”

“See the North Star?” Tiffani pointed to the North Star. “Count up seven stars and seven stars to the right.”

“Really? That’s Tenebrae?”

“Yes, that’s it.”

“Why are you protecting me?”

“I don’t know. Mr. Thompson hasn’t told me why you are so special but, no one has had three guardians at the same time before, so you must be pretty special. I have heard him mention your destiny.”

“My destiny?”

“Yes. Listen, Sara. I like you. I want you to be careful.”

Sara looked up. The statues had turned away and were looking towards the gate. Tiffani followed Sara’s eyes to the statues.

“That’s odd.”

“What is it, Tiffani?”

“I don’t know. It’s time for you to get back in the house now; Mr. Thompson does not like to be kept waiting, and you wouldn’t want to be around him if you make him to miss American’s Got Talent.” Tiffani smiled.

“Aren’t you going too?”

“No, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Sara watched as Tiffani walked towards the gate, her ponytail held in place by a blue ribbon. Sara turned around and went into the house.