Page 7 of Unshaken

“I have no idea. I have to be there sometime today. I don’t know if I will make it even with my early departure.” I try not to sound worried, but I am. I mean, who drops an admission box at your door and expects you to arrive the next day when you live several states over. I’m like an eight-hour drive away. That’s a lot to ask, even for a Supernatural.

“Let me take you. I mean, at least as far as I can.” I look over my shoulder again, my brother is watching me carefully, he knows that I know he can light a portal. I also know that he can’t use it unless he is on mission. I am sure there are loopholes, but I don’t think it includes dropping your sister off at a mysterious dark Academy in the middle of nowhere.

“Can you do that, Marcus? I don’t want you to get into trouble,” I ask seriously, hoping he will spare me the pain of driving. He waves me off, the defiance on his face is all the answer I need. He doesn’t care, he will suffer my mother’s wrath, but he is the golden boy after all.

“Let me do this for you, Micah. It will ease my mind to at least know you got there safely.” He smiles softly, reaching down to grab my luggage he extends his other hand towards me.

I know I should ask more questions. It is reckless, but Marcus and I always did that well. I shrug and place my hand in his. If I can get there without driving for hours at breakneck speeds, I am game. I will accept the gift he is giving me. Plus, as much as it hurts to admit it, this is probably my one and only chance to use a light portal. A sense of loss hits me hard in the chest, my chance at creating my own, makes my eyes blur with tears. Blinking my eyes to fight the spill down my cheeks, I push down my sadness, I do the only thing I can think of. Make light of the situation. “We’re not going to end up in the middle of the Sahara, are we?” I reach into my pocket and grab the map with the location and hold it out for him to look at.

“This really is in the middle of nowhere. It’s an access road, that’s it.” He lifts is eyebrow in question, and I shrug because I thought the same thing. “I guess we will see when we get there. But seriously, please tell me we won’t end up in the middle of a tropical rain forest with hungry pythons all around us?” I ask him again, getting anxious when he just smiles, avoiding my question. My brother closes his eyes and begins to recite a quick spell, his Enochian articulation crystal clear, not a break in the celestial language of any kind. I’m impressed and very proud. All those nights of our father drilling us really paid off. I watch in awe, his eyes open, no longer his normal brown, but glowing white as a bright blue shimmering portal lights up behind him. It’s an oval shape, about seven feet at its highest point and the width of two people walking abreast.

I don’t know why I am so nervous, but I feel uneasy. “Marcus?” Before I get a chance to say more, we are both sucked inside the portal at what feels like warp speed.

I scream. If that doesn’t wake my parents up, I don’t know what will. Oh well, so much for a quiet departure.

* * *

I don’t know how long we are in the portal. Five seconds, five minutes, or five years, but it feels like forever and yet a snap of a finger all at the same time. I feel my body pulling apart and reforming, we are like dust in the air as we speed through the light to our destination. It’s disorienting, like I am having an outer body experience. Then as soon as it starts, it’s over. We both step out of the portal onto a quiet rural road, like we were out for a leisurely stroll and not hurtling like particles through the sky. I don’t get a chance to look around before my stomach betrays me.

I stumble away from Marcus, bending over, my backpack slides over my head and hits the ground as my stomach roils. Thank goodness I opted out of breakfast, if not, I would be painting the road with it. “Mi, are you okay?” I hear the amusement in my brother’s voice as I hold my hand up to keep him back as I dry heave. My sternum contracts hard as I retch, causing my key to slip out from under my t-shirt. I grab it and immediately tuck it back in place as my brother walks towards me, the sound of the wheels of my luggage dragging along the asphalt. I don’t need any more questions if he sees it hanging around my neck, because he will indeed be curious about it. I take in a deep breath, groaning at the hot sticky humid air invading my lungs like thick soap.

“I don’t know if I will survive if this is the air I have to breathe every day,” I pant out, picking up my backpack and shouldering it again. I turn to see my brother has the biggest smile on his face.

“What?” I ask, already feeling irritated from my light portal experience. That is not the way the textbooks describe it at all. It sure as hell wasn’t as seamless as taking a breath. Liars.

“To answer your question, full transparency, that was my first leap.” Marcus holds up his hands in surrender, but it’s so hot the thought of charging after him in anger makes me second guess it.Why is it so hot? The sun has barely risen over the trees around us. Ugh. The South.I think to myself as I look at my overly excited brother.

“Marcus!! We could have ended up anywhere.” I throw my arms up in exasperation, and my brother laughs a good belly laugh. He is laughing so hard, it makes my own lips turn up slightly, but I refuse to budge. This is serious.

“If I had told you at home that I’ve never done one before, would you have taken a chance? Besides—” He takes his thumb and gestures behind us. He sighs, still laughing as if he’s just told the worlds funniest joke. “—we made it. Congratulations, Marcus, you are Light Guardian of the year.” He claps for himself, doing a little victory dance in the middle of the road. I am not amused, at least, I try not to be. I look over his shoulder at the white rickety sign jutting out of the ground with the words: Access Road 666 is written in red. I look at my brother, and he sobers quickly as we both look unimpressed by the words on the sign.

“Is this a joke?” I say out loud. I can clearly see the real road marker a few inches away with the right coordinates from the map I have. I guess the locals like to have a little fun, or they are genuinely frightened by this stretch of road. I take a look around, finally noticing how quiet and desolate it is. Not a car in sight. Tall pine trees line either side of the road, and to any passerby, if anyone actually did travel this way, it would appear like a normal, everyday service road.

My brother whistles. “Not going to lie, but this looks creepy as fuck, Micah. You sure you want me to leave you here? We can always go home and face the music,” he asks. I can see the concern on his face as we both take a few steps towards the dirt road leading to God knows where.

“There has to be wards in place, right. The last thing you want is random humans trekking through your Academy gates,” I reply, unsure of the darkness that seems to loom down the unkept road. I sigh and turn to Marcus, but he walks closer to the edge of the road before he stops abruptly.

“Yep, it’s warded, it wants nothing to do with me. This is as far as I can go, sis.” He turns with a grimace, looking at the invisible barrier as if he means to tear it down.

“I’ll be okay. I’m not afraid,” I say, putting on a brave face for my brother. I don’t want this moment to be tainted with my fear. I need him to know that he doesn’t need to worry about his big sis. “I got this.” I smile, reaching over to grab the handle of my luggage that he left parked beside me.

“I know you will be okay. It’s the unknown I am worried about. No one knows anything about this Academy except for its students, and those who graduated from the place, and most of them—”, His words trail off, but I know what he wants to say.

“Do you think so little of me? Do you think that I would succumb so easily to darkness and evil?” I tilt my head, waiting for his response. His back is to me so I can’t see his reaction to my question. The worry in his voice is the exact worry I felt from my parents last night. They see the world in black and white, there is no in-between in their eyes, but that is not realistic. There will always be a duality to the world, a blending of good and evil, light and darkness. Most of us fall in the middle of them both, because we aren’t perfect. We are human beings at the end of the day. Well, some of us are a little bit extra but hey, semantics, right.

He turns to face me. “You are the strongest person I know, Mi. I think the world of you. I don’t want us to grow apart, yet I can already feel you pulling way. Dynamic duo, that is what we are supposed to be.” He tries to smile, but I can see that this is really affecting him. I swallow past the lump in my throat, and close the distance between us, throwing my arms around him to pull him into a hug. Well, I make halfway, Marcus has really bulked up this past year. No longer my little brother but a giant of a man. Where has the time gone?

“I love you, Panda, no matter what. It’s you and me against the world. Always.” He leans down and gives me a hardy squeeze before he takes a breath and steps away.

“I love you too, Mi.” He reaches out and pats my back, gently pushing me towards the road. I look up and down the road, still no car has passed since we walked out of the portal. I am ready for the zombies to start dragging themselves from in between the trees, that’s how eerie it feels.

“Tell Mom and Dad that I meant no disrespect, but this is my future, my life. I had to make a decision for myself.” I nod, happy with my last words to them and start pulling my luggage behind me. Then turn again. “Oh, don’t get lost on the way home or they will blame me if you end up on the top of the Eiffel tower.” I smile, trying not to cry as I leave my brother behind. I can hear Marcus’s laugh as he watches me go past the dilapidated sign, and then all of a sudden, the world around me changes. I can hear Marcus calling my name, but I can no longer see him when I turn to look behind me. I try to step back and find my way blocked, so there is no way I can try to reassure him I’m OK.

Then his voice is cut short, severing my ties with the world outside, and it almost feels symbolic as the foreboding silence closes in on me.

Five

MICAH

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