The Gift

On Rae Gibson’s sixteenth birthday, she woke up in a cold sweat, her sheets damp and her hair plastered to her forehead.

Great, she thought to herself, of course I wake up sick on my birthday. 

Determined, she rolled into a sitting position on the side of her bed, her feet hitting the hardwood floor lightly. The joints in her body complained, as if the flu had taken up residence in her skeleton. Rolling her neck, she slowly stood and shuffled across the room to the half-closed pocket door to the bathroom she shared with her younger brother, Jackson. She slid the door back on the track and found the switch for the lights above the sink. The room lit up, causing Rae to squint against the brightness. This morning, the light hurt, causing a ringing in her ears and flashes of color filled her vision. Dizzy, she stumbled in the direction of the toilet to sit down but stumbled and landed on her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. As pain coursed through her body, Rae lay there, breathing raggedly as the edges of her vision darkened, finally turning to black when she lost consciousness. 

“Rae? Rae!” A voice broke through the fog in her head. Slowly, Rae pulled herself out the blackness and forced herself back to the present. Jackson’s brown eyes peered at her, full of worry and fear. In the back of her mind, Rae could hear her mother’s voice, saying Jackson had the eyes of an old soul that had been here before. She saw that now as he stared at her.

“I’m good Jack. I just tripped and fell.”

“You passed out.” Jackson corrected his sister. “I was scared I wasn’t going to be able to wake you up.” He sat back on his knees as Rae raised herself on one arm. Hopping to his feet, he held out a hand to her. She smiled and took it, placing most of her weight on her own hand to get up.

“You didn’t tell mom, did you?” Rae asked, looking over his head at the closed door that led to the hallway. He shook his head.

“No. She’d make you stay home, and that’s the last thing you want on your birthday.” Jackson was wise beyond his years, and the Black Panther pajamas and slippers he wore. They stared at each other for a minute. “You look...different.” he said finally. Rae shrugged and went to the mirror.

“I feel like crap.” She told him. “It feels like I have the flu.”

“Whoa!” Jackson shuffled backwards, his hands out in front of him. “I’ve got a sleepover with Damon this weekend! I can’t get sick!” Rae rolled her eyes at him.

As she turned away from her reflection in the mirror, something caught her attention. There. Just below the collar of her t-shirt. Was that glitter? Rae pulled the neck of the shirt down to expose the skin beneath her clavicle on the left.

“What is that?” Jackson asked, venturing closer, seeing it too.

“Turn off the light.” Rae told him.

In the semi-dark room, the glow on her chest was subtle but unmistakable. Blues, yellows and reds swirled together, moving slowly in time with the beat of Rae’s heart, creating other luminescent colors of the spectrum that sparkled.

“Wow.” Jackson breathed. He crept closer to his sister, stopping only when he was practically standing on her toes. “Does it hurt?” he asked. Rae shook her head, her eyes wide with equal amazement.

“I can’t describe it. It’s like a tingle, and it’s cool and warm at the same time.” She told him. She brought her fingers to the skin above the glow and touched it gently. The colors seemed drawn to her fingertips, following them as she ran them across the skin. Jackson flipped the light back on and reached for the doorknob.

“I’m gonna go get Mom.” He said.

“No!” Rae said, reaching for him as his hand closed around the doorknob. A flash of electricity passed from her fingers as they closed around his shoulder to stop him. The lights in the bathroom exploded and Jackson jumped, pulling from Rae’s grasp and slapping at this shoulder.

“Holy cow!” Jackson said. Rae looked at him and her mouth fell open, seeing the shoulder of his pajama shirt smoking where she’d grabbed him, and a small burn hole in the center. “You set me on fire!”

“I…I…” she stared at her hands, turning them over again and again as if they didn’t belong to her.

“How am I gonna explain this?” Jackson asked her, pointing to his shirt. They looked at each other for a few seconds, mutual understanding passing between them. Jackson yanked the door open and ran into the hallway, Rae on his heels.

“MOM!!” they both yelled, pounding down the stairs to the living room.

Sam Gibson appeared in the hallway between the kitchen and the living room, a cup of coffee in his hand and his tie draped around his neck. 

“Save some for the party tonight guys!” he said. “Hap…” his voice trailed off before he could finish saying happy birthday. As he stared at his daughter, the air rushed out of his lungs and his face paled.   “Jessa!” He called for his wife, struggling to appear calm.

The glow in Rae’s chest was moving up her neck on the left side and the underside of her face and chin, as well as illuminating both of her hands.

“What’s burning?” Jessa Gibson asked, appearing behind her husband in the hallway. She stopped short when she saw Rae. In two strides, she closed the distance between them and wrapped the girl in her arms and squeezed her tightly to her.

“Breathe Rae. I need you to breathe and calm down.” Jessa fought the tears that threatened to fall, her heart broken by her daughter’s lost innocence. In her arms, she felt Rae’s breathing ease, and her body relax.

“Mom, what’s wrong with me?” she asked, her voice muffled, her face buried in her mother’s chest. “Am I some kind of freak?”

“She set my shirt on fire!” Jackson said, his excitement raising his voice a few octaves. Sam hushed him, checking the boy’s shirt and the skin beneath the burn.

“He’s ok.” Sam told Jessa. Jessa’s stomach clenched tighter. Jackson’s lack of injury could only mean one thing.

Both of her children had been gifted. The relief on Sam’s face disappeared as the truth hit him. He wrapped his arm around his son’s shoulders and pressed him against his side.

“Mom?” Rae asked again, looking up at her mother. The glowing had retreated to Rae’s chest, her face and hands returning to their normal appearance.

“You’re not a freak baby, I promise. You’re special, just like me.” Jessa cupped her daughter’s face in her hands and smiled sadly. “I just hoped I had a few more years before I had to tell you about this.”

“What do you mean special?” Rae asked.

“You have a gift Rae. You can generate and harness power.”

“You’re a superhero!” Jackson shouted. Sam hushed him.

Jessa laughed softly and stretched an arm out to him, kissing the top of his head once she wrapped her arm around him.

“We’re called Guardians, Jacky.”

“Am I Guardian?” Jackson asked, his face lighting up. He began patting himself down, lifting his shirt and checking his chest. “I don’t glow like Rae does.” He looked up at Rae, sadness in his eyes.

“No, you don’t. But, yes, you are. You may not have the same powers as Rae; we won’t know until it’s time.”

“Why is this happening to me now?” Rae asked. Jessa sighed heavily and led them both to the couch. She sat on the coffee table facing them.

“Every Guardian has counterpart, called a Narakiam. An ancient curse imprisoned the Naraki in hell centuries ago, but witches practicing the dark arts created spells to pull certain Narakiam out of hell to do their ugliest bidding. Eventually, the Naraki found ways to keep from returning to Hell, which threw off the balance of nature on earth. After a century of chaos, the Guardians were created by the Tarrant coven, a group of witches who could see the future and what it looked like if the Naraki continued to roam free.”

“Why not just make a spell that killed the Naraki?” Rae asked.

“Because, you can’t kill what’s already dead. Only a being rooted in good can defeat a Narakiam and return it to it’s prison.”

“Ok, but why now?” Rae asked again, impatient.

“Every guardian has a specific gift that makes them suitable for capturing and returning a certain Narakiam to the underworld. When one escapes hell or resurfaces, the current Guardian in the line is activated and the hunt begins.” Jessa took a deep breath and stared at her hands before continuing.  “Sometimes, a Guardian is killed. When their flame of life extinguishes in the Tarrant tomb, a new flame ignites in its place, of the next Guardian in the line.”

Rae swallowed hard.

“Is that what happened to me?” 

Jessa nodded, turning her left arm over and pulling up the sleeve on her denim shirt to reveal her wrist. Similar to Rae’s chest, her wrist glowed, revealing small symbols of ancient script tattooed on her caramel colored skin. As the three of them watched, one of the symbols slowly disappeared, as if being erased by an invisible hand. When the symbol was completely gone, Jessa’s skin stopped glowing and the symbols disappeared.

“Cool!” Jackson breathed softly. “When do I turn on?” he asked, eager. Jessa smoothed his hair.

“Hopefully, not for a while.” she smiled, cupping his chin in her hand.

“So what happens to me now?” Rae asked, her voice trembling.

“Now, you finish getting ready for school, grab some breakfast and drive your brother and yourself to school with Daddy. And we celebrate your birthday.” Jessa told her.

“You mean, like none of this happened?” Rae stared at her mother in disbelief.

“Exactly. We can deal with all of this tomorrow. Today is your day, and nothing should change that. So!” Jessa slapped her palms on her thighs. “Let’s go! The Dad Express is leaving in fifteen minutes!”  Rae and Jackson eyed her skeptically.

“Go, go, go!” she yelled, waving her hands at them with a false cheerfulness she didn’t feel.

As the sounds of their feet pounding up the stairs faded in the distance, Jessa heard Sam clear his throat behind her. Leaning her head back and closing her eyes, she sighed heavily.

“I know.” She said. She felt Sam move around in front of her and sit on the couch. He grabbed her hands in his and squeezed.

“This isn’t your fault.” He told her in a low voice. Jessa opened her eyes and sat up straight.

“So why does it feel like it is?” she asked.

“Because. It’s out of your control, and you’ve spent their whole lives trying to protect them from what could be.”

“I kept hoping it had skipped them, that they would have normal lives. And even if they turned out to be like me, I never dreamed either of them would have to step up this early.”

“There’s something else, isn’t there?” Sam asked. After twenty years of marriage, he knew her better than he knew himself and could tell when she was holding back.

“The Council will be here in the morning for Rae.” She said softly.

“What do you mean ‘be here for Rae’? Sam asked. “They’re not taking our daughter Jessa.” He let go of her hands and balled his into fists. She laid her palms on his knees.

“She has to go Sam. The Code of the Guardians dictates that each new protector has to go the Tarrant tomb to consecrate their flame and accept duty. Then, her training begins in the Forest of Egam.” She explained.

“She’s a child Jessa!” he jumped up from the couch. “Isn’t there a way to stop this? To delay it? I know, she has to do it, but does it have to be now? What about school? What about her life here?” He began to pace. Jessa stood as well, reaching for him.

“The Council has their own time schedule. They don’t deviate from it. But, time is also conceptual with them. In their world, she’ll be gone for weeks, but here on our reality, it will seem like only days. No more than a long weekend. And we’ll be able to check on her, using an Ocrum wedge the Council will provide. We can’t communicate with her, but we can see her.” Jessa was doing her best to calm not only her husband, but herself.

She remembered her weeks in the tomb and the forest. The fear, the pain, the studying. Learning to trust herself and her powers, using her instincts for survival and victory. So many times she thought she would break, wanting to just give up, but knowing she couldn’t because it was her duty. Rae was tougher, Jessa knew, but she wasn’t sure how she would take to the rigors of the Council.

“How does a Guardian just die at the hand of a demon? I thought you were basically indestructible.” Sam wondered.

Jessa folded her arms across her chest.

“If a Guardian loses their focus, sometimes, a Narakiam can gain the upper hand and infiltrate the mind, using it against them. That is our greatest vulnerability. Only the nastiest of the Naraki know how to do that though.” She explained, shivering against an invisible chill.

“And that’s who our daughter is up against.” Sam shook his head.

They stood there, without talking, each listening to the sounds coming from the upstairs hallway of the kids getting ready. Finally, Jessa took Sam’s hand in hers and led him back to the kitchen for one last cup of coffee before everything changed forever.