The Guardians of the Relic
Chapter 9

Emily watched Ethan as he sat and held an ice pack to his head. Betsy stood next to him with a concerned look on her face. She kept asking him if he was okay. She noticed that she called him ‘Ethan sir.’ He really does hate to be called Mr. Cunningham, she thought. A paramedic was on the way although he insisted he was fine and could just go to the hospital. The sheriff was busy writing the facts she had given him onto a small notepad.

Sheriff Archibald was a stout old man with a big beard. She knew him well; he had been a good friend of her dad’s. He kept chewing on a something which annoyed her. She stood at a distance from him because his breath smelled of tobacco. There was a stain on his uniform. It looked like relish. She guessed he never left the station much. Elgin was pretty much a safe place to live in.

He continued his line of questioning. It was a bit hard to explain to him that it was robbery since nothing in the apartment seemed to be missing. Ethan told her his assailant must have been a robber. He said the ‘robber’ knocked him on the back of his head when he was opening his door. After that, the only thing he remembered was hearing her knock on the door when he was regaining consciousness. He told her he didn’t want to call the police because he hated the attention, and he really didn’t want his father to know. He said he didn’t care if they took anything, but Emily had insisted.

“Thank you, Miss Carson,” said Sheriff Archibald.

Finally he was done. When he left it was already ten. She hadn’t realized the time had passed so quickly, and she had forgotten to call Jason and tell him she would be late. When she pulled out her phone from her bag, she sighed. Six missed calls. Her phone was on silent mode. She contemplated whether to tell him the truth or lie. It would be hard to explain why she was at Ethan’s apartment in the first place. She erred on the side of caution and told him she had car trouble and had to take it to the garage.

The paramedic just finished bandaging Ethan’s head and was about to leave when she ended the call. “It’s just a mild concussion,” he said. “Told you it’s nothing serious. Although I would have preferred the person hit me anywhere else beside the head.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t get killed,” said Emily.

He glanced past her to Betsy who was still tidying the place. “Thank you Betsy. You may leave now,” said Ethan. She nodded and left.

For the first time since she got there Emily really looked around. The place was enormous. She thought of her little apartment. “You know I think this apartment is twice the size of mine.”

“Yeah, it’s a little spacious I guess. You should see my parent’s house,” said Ethan. He popped some painkillers in his mouth and washed them down with a glass of water. She noticed he stared at her through the rim of the glass as she walked around. She stopped to study a painting on his wall. It was one of Mike’s. He must have bought it at the exhibition.

“Thanks for your help, Emily,” he said.

She walked to the kitchen counter where he was standing. “No problem.” She sat down on a bar stool and leaned in a bit closer to his face. “So, now that we’re alone, are you going to tell me what really happened?”

Ethan put down the glass. This was a complication for him. He had planned everything out so well, but so far nothing went according to his plans. First that bloody cat woman Athena jumped him and he was forced to tell her part of what he knew. Then, of all people, Emily replaces him in this compromising situation. Ethan was good at most things, but he was always terrible at lying.

“What are you talking about?”

“You lied to the sheriff. This was not a robbery,” said Emily, keeping her eyes fixed on his. She had her father’s instincts, and she knew when a story didn’t fit together.

“What makes you say that?” He walked past her to his desk to break the tension. Her gaze was making him nervous. She followed him.

“Well, first you said the attacker hit the back of your head, but your face is also bruised, specifically your lip. It looks like you were punched, which means you were awake when the attacker did it.” She paused for a moment. “Second, you said that this was a robbery, but nothing’s missing.”

Ethan caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror on the dining room wall. He looked terrible. Sure nothing was stolen, except his pride, he thought. “You’re right. It wasn’t a robbery. But I did tell you not to bother to call the police.”

She sat on the edge of his desk. “So what really happened then?”

“Let’s just say it’s a private matter. Why don’t you tell me what was so urgent that you had to come looking for me at my apartment? Of course I’m grateful that you did,” smiled Ethan.

Obviously he didn’t want to tell her the truth, and that was okay. It wasn’t her business anyway. Although she was now beginning to see why some people called him strange. He had too many secrets, and didn’t seem interested in letting anyone in. But what she was about to tell him was just as strange.

“Okay, let me start from the beginning,” she said.

* *

Only a few blocks away from Ethan’s apartment, a figure stood in the corner of an alley. He wore a dark blue cloak with the hood covering his face. He was waiting for Athena. He was a bit worried that she would not be able to handle the task. After all, she was just a mere mortal. But they were getting closer to the pendant. It wouldn’t be long now until Alkron had all the power he needed. All he had to do was stick to the plan.

He had almost ruined things by trying to get too close to Emily the night before. Alkron would not accept any mistakes, and that particular mistake could have cost him his life. But he had things under control now. He closed his eyes. When he opened them he knew she was already behind him.

“What did you replace out from the boy?” he asked, not turning around.

Athena jumped down from the ledge on the building. “He doesn’t know much,” she said. He could sense the fear in her from a mile away. Humans were so weak.

“You do know what will happen if you fail?” he asked. She suddenly flung her blade at him in a rage but missed dismally. He turned around and stood inches away from her face. “I would kill you in a heartbeat if it wasn’t for Alkron.” Although her breathing became a little unsteady he was surprised she still stood her ground.

“It is not my fault he proved useless. This was your idea,” she yelled. His eyes turned a murky black and she stumbled back and fell to the ground. She slowly crawled back as he stepped towards her. “He thinks that Michael Carson has it. I swear that’s all he told me, please.” She blocked her face with her hands and closed her eyes. Pathetic, he thought. Absolutely pathetic.

“Get up. There is still much to be done,” he said. He left before she opened her eyes again. Ethan was obviously lying. Clearly Athena didn’t use enough persuasion to get him to tell the truth. He would have used different methods, but he was not to interfere. He had a very specific role to play in all this. He decided he couldn’t waste any more valuable time on that damn boy.

* *

Ethan sat at his desk listening to her. She wasn’t sure whether he thought she was crazy or not because he said nothing. He just listened. When she was finally done all that could be heard was the sound of his gigantic clock ticking away. He suddenly got up and went to pick up his laptop bag next to his desk. She watched him. He put it on the desk, switched it on, and turned to face her.

“So let me get this straight. You think that this….what’s his name?” asked Ethan.

“Alastair,” said Emily interrupting him quickly.

“Yes right. You think that Alastair had someone follow you?”

“Yes I do. Izdel was acting very strange when I questioned him, and so was Alastair when I visited the shop. They think I heard something that night in the park, and now they want to get rid of me.” She had not realized it before but she was actually scared now. Her fear had led her to his apartment. The thought was unsettling.

“But did you hear anything?” asked Ethan.

“All I heard was them mention something about a weapon and how in the wrong hands it would be very dangerous. It sounded important,” she said.

A buzzing sound suddenly interrupted their conversation. She followed the sound and realized it was coming from underneath the chair. It was his cellphone ringing. It must have fallen in all the commotion. She reached over to pick it up for him, but he grabbed it first.

“Thanks, I got it,” he said quickly. He rejected the call and put it in his pocket. “So, back to what you were saying. What do you think they’re up to exactly?”

Emily pulled out the book from her bag and handed it him. If he didn’t think she was crazy before this, he certainly would now.

Ethan took the book from her hand. Alkron of Moray. If she had this book then she already knew too much. He flipped through the pages, pretending to be indifferent. “What does this have to do with anything?” he asked.

“Well, if you look on those pages you see a small symbol.” She turned to one of the pages for him. “This one,” she pointed. It was three small rings overlapping each other. “I only realized it last night when I was looking through the book again. Alastair has that exact same symbol on his hand.”

“Do you know what it means?” he asked.

“According to the book it’s the symbol of the council,” said Emily.

Ethan traced over the symbol with his thumb. It looked familiar. “You mean the council of wizards?”

“Yes...okay, I know how this sounds. But there has to be some explanation for why they were in the park that day other than the lame excuse Izdel gave me,” she said.

Ethan closed the book and handed it to her. “I’m not sure how you expect me to help you.”

“Look into it for me. You have more resources than I do. Just research it. There might be a logical explanation for all of this. Please. I need to know. Something is not right here.”

Ethan folded his arms. “Okay, I’ll see what I can replace for you.”

“Thank you so much. I know this isn’t what you usually do,” said Emily. He just nodded. The bloodstain on his white shirt caught her eye suddenly and she thought he probably did much more than just run a computer shop anyway. “Okay then, I’ll leave you to rest now. You had quite an eventful evening.” She headed towards the door.

“Emily,” he said before she could leave. She turned around. “Thank you again for…” He hesitated and looked away.

She smiled. “You’re welcome Ethan.”

When she left, Ethan made a cup of coffee. He rubbed his eyes. Those tablets were beginning to kick in, but he didn’t have time to rest. He needed to figure out his game plan. Emily was hard to fool. He felt the phone in his pocket vibrate again. When he pulled it out he saw the red dot moving on the screen. The tracker application he had installed on his phone was working like a charm.