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Chapter 11, A line in the Sand

“Where is she?” Becky growled.

“I’m sure she’ll be here.” Aisha said aloud, though not very convincingly. Jacob nodded in agreement.

“She probably met up with the Art teacher, and now their talking about her drawings. You know how she is when it comes to keeping track of time.” Jacob said confidently..

Becky, Aisha and Jacob all shifted uneasily.

Daitaro was pacing along the floor of the mansion, circling the young Guardians. The blue fox was uncomfortable without his Master. He ignored the pleas of little Suichi, who begged for him to play with her. Eventually, he allowed himself to be picked up by Becky.

Soon, it was time to leave. The sky was dark, and the girls had to go. Becky agreed to take Daitaro home for the night, until they could find Kelly.

That night, Jacob didn’t sleep well. He was worried about his friend. She’d never left Daitaro anywhere, why now? Eventually, he did drift off to sleep, shifting the whole night.

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Jacob walked into school the next morning, Aisha and Becky in tow. Neither of them looked like they had slept well either. The reason was the same for all of them, but none of them had spoken out loud about it. They walked over to their lockers, conveniently located next to each other.

“Where. Is. She?” Becky growled again, grinding her teeth, irritated. She wasn’t the happiest person normally, and sleep depravity made it worse.

As if on cue, the school door opened and five people walked in. Itamo, Kagune, Jessica and Sean entered. But with them was someone who made the Guardian’s jaws dropped.

Kelly walked side by side with Kagune, both girls chatting as if old friends, and not sworn enemies. Kelly was dressed in red and black striped arm warmers, , a black shirt with a skull and crossbones, underneath was the name Fye. She had on black baggy pants with chains on the sides and a star stitched into the left leg side. Her normal shoes were switched with black and white Converses. The biggest change was her hair, which was down from its normal ponytail.

“What the...” Becky growled in disbelief.

“Oh my.” Aisha gasped, her hand covering her mouth.

The Destroyers, along with their new “friend”, walked past the Guardians without even looking in their direction.

“What happened?” Becky shouted when they rounded the corner, out of earshot of mostly everyone.

“I’m not sure, but whatever it is, it needs to be stopped.” Jacob said turning and walking to Drama class, his only class without any of the girls. Most of the day passed uneventfully, until lunch.

Jacob grabbed his lunch from the lunch line, and to the table where he generally sat with Aisha, Becky and Kelly, the latter missing. Twenty minutes passed without many words, until the end.

“What do we do?” Aisha asked.

“I have a plan.” Jacob told her, grabbing his lunch remains. Without another word, he got up to throw it away. Halfway there, he bumped shoulders with Kelly, who didn’t even recognize his existence. Jacob smirked and sat back down at the table.

“What was that about?” Becky asked, her eyes not missing much. She saw Jacob slip a note into Kelly’s hands, thought most people would have missed it.

“You’ll see eventually.” He said confidently.

“Do you need any help?” Aisha asked.

“No. This is something I’ll have to do alone.” Jacob told her grimly.

The bell wrung, signaling the time to go. Without another word, Jacob left the other two girls and went to Science class.

The class went by quickly, Jacob’s thoughts on other events until the bell rang.

He nodded to Aisha and Becky, before running behind the school stadium. He held out his hand, and his staff was in it, with his flute attached in his pouch on his pants. Suddenly, the earth reared up and swallowed him, leaving no trace of the boy.
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Gemstone Beach, in the more populated and popular parts, was a very crowded place. But for some odd reason, miles and miles of the sandy dunes went untouched by human hands, hardly anyone ever setting foot there.

For the first time in over fifty years, a human set place on the sand.

Jacob shook the sand from his hair as the earth spit him back out. He adjusted his turtleneck shirt again, shaking the sand from the green cloth. It had been a present from Kelly on his last birthday, when he turned sixteen. He fingered the Dream Catcher on his neck, another gift from his friend.

He leaned backwards suddenly as a blade of ice went by his face, shaking him from his thoughts.

Kelly stood on shoreline, her chain scythe in her hands and her snow board attached to her back.
“What do you want?” She growled with malice, her scythe arm twitching in anticipation.

“What happened to you Kelly?” Jacob asked sadly. “What happened to the girl who sat with me last week, who laughed and smiled?”

“That was then, this is now!” She shouted at him, her fury building at the boy.

“It was Itamo, wasn’t it? He did this to you.” Jacob stated, anger sparking in his voice.

“And what if he did? Maybe I like my new self! Did that ever occur to you?” She shouted, unable to control her anger.

“I did. Then I saw this.” Jacob said coldly, holding out her old sketchbook. “The real Kelly would never leave this behind. I know something is wrong with you, and I’m going to make it right.”

Kelly scowled and took a stance. She waved at him to come.

“Then lets have at it. You’ll lose.”

“We’ll see.” He said with a smirk. He flipped his staff and pointed it at her.

Kelly’s chain scythe raced at Jacob, who flipped in the air. He landed on top of the chain she held, and sprinted across the chain. Kelly yanked on the chain, wiggling it enough to make Jacob jump into the air. He brought his staff down at Kelly, who dodged.

As soon as his staff touched the ground, it made the earth fly several feet into the air. He whipped around and swiped at Kelly, who blocked with her scythe. He let out a volley of blows, all blocked by the blond haired girl. Suddenly, she jumped back. Spinning her scythe, she directed it at Jacob.

The ocean reared into the air, and shot itself at Jacob. Turning his foot and raising his palm upwards, Jacob summoned the earth up from the ground to protect him. The water split and diverged, going around the boy and into the sand of the beach. Jacob twisted his foot in a circle again, and the earth came up in spikes to Kelly.

Kelly quickly unstrapped her snow board, and jumped on it. Ice shot from the rear of the board as she shot into the air, a large trail of ice being left wherever she traveled. The spikes followed her, breaking the ice as it followed the girl. Jacob spun his staff and slammed it into the ground as the earth around him rose up, taking him into the air.

Kelly circled Jacob, trying to avoid the boy but attack him as well.

Jacob followed her pattern intently. Suddenly, his arm shot out and a stone pillar shot from the earth, knocking Kelly into the air with a gasp. She fell to the ground. Suddenly, the water shot forward and caught her gently, depositing her onto the ground.

“If that’s how you want it.” She growled. She took a stance.

“Tsunami Strike!” She shouted. The water rose up, climbing to fifty, sixty, seventy feet as the Tsunami flew at Jacob with intent to kill. That much water would surely crush him like a bug if he didn’t think fast. The stone pillar sunk back into the ground as he acted.

Jacob whipped out his flute and began to play a rapid song, his fingers flying over the notes. Then he stopped and slammed his fists onto the earth and the stood up, raising them above his head.

“Sand Tsunami!” He roared. The sand picked itself up, getting as high as Kelly’s Tsunami. The Guardians of Water and Earth stared at each other grimly as their attacks went for the other with intent to destroy.

Water met Earth as the two attacks slammed into each other, forcing the other opponent backwards and into the ground.

Jacob was the first to recover as he raced over to Kelly. He turned his feet into the ground and stone bonds wrapped around her unconscious form. Jacob pulled out his flute and began to play a soft song.

It was a lament, a song about sadness, but finding joy in that sadness. The song was beautiful, and brought creatures of all kinds to the surface of the water and sand to hear the beauty of the sad song.

The mark on Kelly’s cheek began to appear, like a black stain on her skin. It began to disappear as Jacob song progressed.

When he was done, the mark disappeared, leaving no trace. He dropped the bonds from her form. She was still unconscious, but her weapons had disappeared. Without another thought, he put his flute back in his holder and dis summoned his staff, and he picked her up bridal style and walked across the sand. As he walked, the sand flew around him in a vicious flurry, his form and hers disappearing.
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“Where is he?” Aisha asked, worried as the clock struck 4 o’clock.

“Just sit down. He’ll be here soon.” Becky told her, holding an uncomfortable Daitaro in her grasp.

The door slammed open as Jacob entered his room and placed Kelly on his bed. Aisha and Becky moved to get up, but Jacob shook his head. He grabbed a bowl and a rag and progressed to clean the cuts and bruises on Kelly’s visible form, her forehead and cheeks and arms. His face was stony as the girl lay there, but Jacob didn’t move until he had finished, and then he left the room.
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Well! I’ve been planning this chapter for over a year, and it’s finally done!!! Hope you guys love it, I sure do! It was hard at some parts, but I worked through it!

Have fun, and comment!