The Guardian (The Gifted Book 1) (32 page)

50
Capture

Randell turned from the window when Pam entered the kitchen carrying blankets and other linens. "What are those for?"

"The blankets are for you to take with you. Daen mentioned you'd be sleeping outside. These are rags to rip into gags." Pam lifted two pillowcases. "And these are for our captives. I was thinking you could put them over their heads; blind them
, so to speak."

Daen reached for the cases. "Not a bad idea. It should disorient them and prevent them from seeing Rhea's face if her veil comes down."

Rhea said, "But they've already seen me."

Daen responded, "True. But we don't know how much of your face they remember
, and the king wants us to try and hide your identity."

"Okay."

Ander slid into a chair at the kitchen table. "Who are you going to grab first?"

Daen and Randell looked at each
other, trying to decide.

Rhea made the decision. "The big one ... in back."
She closed her eyes and concentrated on the backyard. "He's closer now. We should hurry; he's moving towards the house."

Daen appeared surprised. "Oh? And why is he the first one we should capture?"

"Noise. I think it'll be noisier to grab the one out front, and it might tip off the big one ... Bestian ... to either run or come to see what's happening. I assume we don't want to take them both on at the same time."

Randell considered her logic. "I'm okay with
your plan."

Daen conceded as well. "I'd like to go first." He looked at Randell as if to get his okay. There was no argument.

Rhea was glad they had worked things out. She looked out the back window, "Okay, now that that's settled, I propose we approach him straight on. He's at the edge of the woods, and it's not going to matter if he can't see us because he'll hear us as soon as we step into the leaves."

Daen nodd
ed. "We'll go to the edge of the grass, and on the count of three we’ll run at him and subdue him. You can then help me restrain him."

Rhea asked, "How will you subdue him?"

"My gift allows me to ... stun by touch," explained Daen.

Randell nodded and handed Rhea a zip tie,
a gag, and a pillow case. "Sounds like a plan." He picked up the empty soda bottle. "Are you ready?"

Rhea took a deep breath. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Daen stepped close to Rhea and she called on the energy to help them. When Randell couldn't see them, he opened the kitchen door and left it open as he walked to the recycle bin. Daen and Rhea followed him out.

She had assumed Randell would turn in one direction or another
, but he hadn't yet. That's when she saw the bins were close to where Bestian was hiding in the woods.

About halfway there, Daen and Rhea saw movement. Rhea took Daen's hand to warn him
, but he was already stopping. Bestian was crouched and heading right at them, his eyes locked on Randell as he opened the lid of the recycle bin. Bestian slid a knife from his belt and picked up his pace. Daen prepared to jump him.

Before Daen could make his move and before Rhea knew what was happening,
however, Rhea opened her hands and reached for Bestian, freezing him in place.

Daen stopped in the middle of throwing an energy ball and looked between Bestian and Rhea
, his eyes wide with disbelief. He returned his attention to Bestian and threw the energy ball, but the tracker didn't fall.

Rhea gasped and stepped back
, breaking her hold and causing Randell's would-be assailant to fall to the ground.

Randell turned around to see Bestian sprawled out on the ground, knife still in his hand.

Rhea's veil had fallen the minute she'd reached out for the man who was about to kill Randell. She stood there, shaking, wondering what had just happened.

Daen picked up the gag, tie, and pillowcase from where they'd fallen.

Rhea watched as Daen and Randell secured Bestian on the ground.

"Is he ...," Rhea
almost couldn't bring herself to ask, "... did I ...?"

"He's alive
, if that's what you're asking." Daen's voice was quiet and calm.

Randell helped Daen pick up the large man and carry him into the house as Rhea followed. They propped him up against the wall in the living room, near the island shadow
, and returned to the kitchen.

~~~

Daen turned to Rhea, his expression flat. "What were you thinking when ... when you ..." he waved his hand, unable to say the words.

At first she didn't know how to answer; everything had happened so fast. She replayed the scene in her head, trying to remember. "
Stop him
. That's what I was thinking. Literally I was thinking,
stop him
. Before I knew what was happening, I had dropped the gear and reached out." She looked down at her hands. They were trembling, as was her entire body.

Christine's voice came from behind Daen. "What happened?"

Randell grinned. "Rhea and Daen saved my life and basically kicked that jerk's ass."

Rhea wasn't sure she was feeling as enthused as Randell. "It just happened. It was like with the candy bar and disappearing. I just reacted."

Randell wrapped his arm around her shoulder and smiled at Daen. "Well, whatever caused it, I'm certainly grateful to both of you."

Rhea tried to smile with him but the look on Daen's face gave her pause. "What's wrong?"

"I wasn't sure before, or maybe I just didn't want to admit it to myself. But now ...." He ran his hand over his face.

Daen was making Rhea nervous
, and from everyone else's expressions, she could tell she wasn't alone in that feeling. "Daen, what is it?"

Daen stepped to the kitchen door and looked at Bestian, tied and gagged in the living room. He closed the kitchen door and lowered his voice.
"Do you have a birthmark, three circles?"

"No."

At the same time she said no, Christine said, "Yes."

Rhea turned to her mother, her brows scrunched in confusion. "No
, I don't."

"You did. When you first came to us, you had a mark on your lower back, three circles overlapping. Within a few days it was gone
, but it was there."

"You never told me."

Christine shrugged. "I didn't think much of it. I assumed it was maybe a bruise that faded."

Rhea turned to Daen, whose eyes had gone wide. "Why do you need to know about a birthmark? ... Daen? ... Daen?"

When he spoke, his voice was barely audible. "You're a channel." His gaze was intense.

Rhea
glanced at the closed kitchen door and pictured the man in the other room as she shook her head. She whispered, "I just said I don't have the birthmark."

"I can't explain
it, but I'm fairly certain you're a channel."

"A what?" asked Randell.

Ander stepped forward. "Daen, what's a channel?"

Daen didn't answer. He looked miles away.

"Daen, talk to me." Rhea stood next to him.

He looked at everyone's face before turning his eyes to Rhea
, his voice quiet as he explained, "You have seven gifts that I know of, probably more. You learn how to use a gift within minutes. You think something and it happens." Daen ran his fingers through his hair. "And the Libraim sent me to you before you were even born."

Rhea shrugged. "And this means ...?"

"You wouldn't be the first to receive multiple gifts, but, Rhea, I don't think you've received multiple gifts. I think you've received one gift." He turned and walked across the room and looked out into the backyard. "It's a myth for some, a legend for others, but for many its meaning has long been forgotten."

He turned to face everyone in the room. "For thousands of years, guardians have kept the histories of Luxatra and the Libraim. The histories teach us that we get our gifts from the Libraim as a way for us to ensure balance and free will is preserved in our world. The histories show that there have been times when our gifts haven't been enough to stave off large
-scale threats to our way of life."

He took a deep breath and proceeded, "It is written that when the Libraim senses a significant threat and the people don't see it or can't defend against it, it sends ... how do I say this ... special help; someone who can channel the power of the Libraim. It's as if that person is an extension of the Libraim." He didn't continue but just looked at Rhea as if trying to see something written across her face that would tell him for sure.

Rhea watched Christine reach for a chair to sit. Pam and Brian joined her. Rhea was immobile, frozen in place. Ander nodded his head slowly and Randell looked stunned.

Randell turned to Ander. "What do you know about this?"

"Just what my grandmother Raisal told me the last time I saw her. I can't believe I'd forgotten it until now. She told me that one day a conduit would come and it would need my help. I didn't understand, and I never saw her again. It just slipped my mind, but I think she was foretelling Rhea's arrival."

Now it was Rhea's turn to grab a chair and sit down. "I don't feel like a channel or a conduit or whatever. And I'm not sure I want to be." She felt like someone had dumped an elephant on her shoulders and wished her luck getting out from under it.

Daen pulled a chair up next to hers and sat. "We believe in free will. There is nothing you have to do. The Libraim has simply gifted you with the ability to help if you choose to, whatever the problem may be."

She wasn't feeling the weight come off. "Yeah, right. Like I could ignore what was happening to me, to Luxatra, even if I wanted to. If what you say is true, there are a lot of people whose lives might depend on me, right? How can I ignore that?"

Daen's smile reached his eyes as he looked into Rhea's. "That's the reason you were chosen."

~~~

Randell left the kitchen to check on Bestian and to see if Gauvin was still in the car, while Rhea tried to process what Daen had just said. He returned with a report. "Bestian is still unconscious and Gauvin is still in the car, apparently unaware of what has transpired."

Rhea looked at Daen. "I don't understand something. How can I channel something that's in another world?"

"I'm not sure you're literally connecting with the Libraim right now, but the things you can do with minimal or no effort point to a natural connection to the energy around you. Because this world is different, I believe we're seeing only a fraction of what you can do."

Rhea remembered what it
had felt like when she’d pushed her hand through the shadow, the connection she had felt with the veil and the sensation she had gotten by just having her hand in Luxatra’s air. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this."

Daen reached out and took her hand. "I'm sorry if I've upset you."

Rhea placed a hand over Daen's. "It's not your fault."

After a moment, Daen stood, breaking their hold. "Ready to get Gauvin?"

She looked up at him, trying to will herself to join him. He leaned down and looked her in the eyes. "You can do whatever you want. It's up to you to decide."

Rhea looked at her parents and the Youngs and thought about all the people that the Libraim was trying to save by giving her this gift. She thought about how she, before Daen had decided she was a channel, had already decided to go to Luxatra. What would she have done if this information
had come to light after she was already there? Would she have turned around and come back? No. And there she had her answer. "No" came so quickly to her thoughts that she knew she had to continue with the original plan. Besides, maybe Daen was wrong. But, whether he was right or wrong, someone wanted her, and the people she cared most about were in danger because of her.

Daen sensed a change in her and extended his hand
. She reached for it and in that moment made a commitment. It was the same commitment Daen had made a long time ago, to help.

"Let's go get us a bad guy." She grabbed the gag, tie, pillowcase, and a hunting knife Ander had retrieved from the garage, in case they needed to flatten a tire. Before opening the back door, Rhea looked over her shoulder to see who would join her and found Randell standing there.

He was grinning ear to ear like a little kid ready to see what Santa had left under the tree. "Let's go."

Rhea
reviewed the plan. "I'll open the car door and you pull him out, face down on the road. Then we'll gag him, tie him, and put the pillowcase over his head. Sound like a plan?"

Randell gave one nod. "Works for me."

Rhea offered her hand, and when he took it they disappeared.

~~~

They stepped off the porch and turned to the left towards the garage side of the house so that they could approach the car from behind, but before they could, Gauvin got out. He ducked and ran to the opposite side of the front yard from where they were standing, heading for the backyard and most likely Bestian.