CHAPTER 4

They rode in silence for a while, and then Cassidy began to feel the adrenaline slowing down and tears forming in her eyes. Great, she thought, here I’m supposed to be some great leader and I’m crying. She tried to hide the tears as they began to roll down her face, but the twins were sitting next to her and saw when she tried to wipe them away discreetly.

Before long, she was sobbing and the girls had switched seats so they were sandwiching her in, then they were crying right along with her. The worst part was none of them was pretty criers; when they cried it was downright ugly, snotty noses and blotchy faces. When they were tweens, they made a pact to never cry unless they were together and alone. For the first time since they decided to make this rule, they were breaking it. Most of the time their crying feasts involved chocolate and McDonalds, too bad they were hurtling down the road fleeing for their lives or she would have suggested to stop and have lunch.

“I’m sorry you are a Gnome, Cami, and you are a Fairy, Celli. It’s my fault we are in this situation. I should have never continued to eat ice cream before bed. My dreams must have created this alternate universe.” She sniffled, “There is no way this can really be happening.”

“Hey, we were wondering how to spend the summer. You know, traveling or shopping; now we have our answer. We will be in home schooling, learning everything we always wanted to know about our real lives but were afraid to ask, huh? I can hardly wait, at least we will be together, and I’m suddenly feeling the need for chocolate, and maybe a Big Mac.” Celli cried and buried her head in Cassidy’s neck.

They were silent the rest of the drive. The only noise in the car was the radio blabbering on about how summer was here and blah, blah, and blah. Reality really sucked.

Do these people not realize that her life has become a cartoon book? Cassidy thought, and not the cool kind with super heroes that rescue you from a burning building. No, her life was a life-sized cartoon that included Gnomes, Elves, Fairies, and Wizards that are seemingly going to be hell bent on killing her when they find out she was alive.

No happy ending in the near future for me; Cassidy figured if she were going nuts, she was ok to talk to herself in her head, of course no need to broadcast it. Gosh, she had to snap out of this, but once again, she was questioning the drug theory.

As the van pulled off the interstate and began to drive toward the mountains, Cassidy remembered she always loved the mountains growing up.

She had begged Bernie to take her up to the top of Pikes Peak or to Rocky Mountain National Park to hike, but he had always had an excuse why they couldn’t go. She and her friends had planned to go to Estes Park, Colorado and wander through the downtown area sometime this summer; they had heard from friends that it was a blast.

Kallen was shaken out of his stupor long enough to tell them they had turned off the interstate on the exit that led to Loveland, like that was a surprise, they could read.

Loveland, Colorado was a quiet community in Northern Colorado. Very rarely did you hear anything on the news about anything bad happening here. The only thing she could remember was the Art and Crafts Fair they hosted every year. It included a Sculpture Fair that brought artists from around the world to the area to show off their talent.

Well, we may be shaking it up some. Cassidy thought so much for the closed closet community reputation; Cassidy and her friends were going to shoot that in the ass. The only good part was they passed a new strip mall on the way into town. At least they would get in some good shopping; now if there was just a candy store close, they were in business. Cassidy was wondering if they could at least stop at a gas station and stock up on junk food before they arrived at their destination. She was the Queen Whatever for now, surely the driver would listen to her.

Obviously, once again, she was wrong; when they found out the truth a few hours ago, they had gained the ability to see the hidden things normal humans couldn’t see. Her thoughts about a closed closet community were more on than she thought. The driver refused to stop anywhere they could be recognized before claiming the throne.

Dyl and Eli were the ones to notice they were seeing things weird; the driver had to explain Council Wizards had cast the cloaking spell on Loveland many years ago. Though the town was protected, there were still possibilities of dangerous people slipping through the shield. They had been gone for so long; members could have changed loyalty without anyone knowing it.

Loveland became a Stronghold for Cassidy when she had been born; her parents declared the entire town a sanctuary for her. Every protection was in place, but it had not been needed in many years, and without a royal member being at the stronghold, they had no idea if the spells would hold. This was new to everyone, never had their Guilds been without a leader for so long.

Wow, thanks for the full disclosure Kyia, Cassidy thought. She still wasn’t sure about the strange woman. Cassidy was beginning to think the woman was going to be a huge issue.

When a normal person drove through Loveland, they saw a normal community with normal houses and businesses. When a Guild member drove through, they could see the different buildings and houses. There were bright colors and flags indicating which Guild the businesses belonged to and the houses were like small castles built with stone not wood.

Cassidy and her friends were blinking their eyes repeatedly seeing what was real and what was not. Hallucination was looking better and better as an explanation. Seriously, this shit could not be right under our noses without someone knowing about it, or discovering it.

Her parents wanted to make it appear to be an elderly community? That’s what she remembered someone telling her. I guess the memo to the town council was lost in the mail because the town had grown so much in the last few years, mostly from the various Guilds hiding in the area. The rebels had been trying to recruit members forcefully, the driver explained to them again. Where there were only a few members of the Guild living in the town, now there was more than half of the town who belonged to one Guild or another.

Cassidy thanked the driver for giving them this information, he had smiled and then explained he had been her driver when she was little and would remain so. He hoped since her disappearance she was still alive so he had stayed close to Kyia all these years in hopes Cassidy would return.

Cassidy enjoyed the surprise of this stranger’s loyalty. She could be a mass murderer, and he had just accepted that he would follow her. This must be what it was like to be stupidly rich and famous, no one care about what you did as long as they were allowed to be close to you. She was going to have to think about that one; if this driver were serious about his loyalty, she would not let him down.

Cassidy began fearing that she was really in a cult and they were taking them to the brainwashing facility. She was not a hero; she thought, ‘They must have me confused with someone else.’ As if Kallen had known what she was thinking, he leaned forward and gripped her shoulder in comfort. “I agree with him. You are going to be the best leader ever.”

Their van was leading the way down highway 34 and they suddenly made a quick turn down what appeared to be a deserted road. Cassidy had not even noticed the road before the driver turned.

She was looking so she could remember directions to the nearest busy road, if they figured out she was actually a fraud when they arrived at their destination.

They traveled about three miles then suddenly he jerked the wheel again and pulled into a lane meant for slow cars. Once again, he turned quickly and seemed to be heading directly toward what looked like the banks of a lake.

They started screaming at the driver to stop when they saw a stone fence across the road ahead of them. Only after they passed through it unhurt did they comprehend that they were still moving on the same road.

They all turned around, stared at the stone gate behind them, and told the driver that he could have at least warned them, but he was laughing too hard to hear them. He kept hitting his leg and saying, “I love doing that.”

When they saw a huge castle in the distance, the driver said it was their destination; they actually became excited when they saw the lake it overlooked.

They all loved the water; the one class they all took together when they were young was swimming lessons. All the Guardians had insisted they learned safety lessons about the water, now she was thankful. She always thought that jet skis and boats looked like they would be fun.

Two tall men appeared, holding bows and arrows standing in the middle of the road. They held out their hands to make them stop and one approached the driver’s window.

This was it, Cassidy thought, the decisive moment. One look at Cassidy and they were going to arrest her and shoot her. They had to know she was not a leader. They whispered something to the driver, when he answered them the two-armed men quickly stepped back and bowed to the window Cassidy was looking out.

“Wow,” Cami said looking out the window. “Our own eye candy, what could be better?”

The driver said out of the side of his mouth, “Elves, don’t go getting too excited, they are at least 100 years old, much too old for you youngsters.”

They continued to the castle with all of them looking out and gasping at each new site. There were many people working here, they had horses, and gardens being tended to, even small children playing in the fields. It was like a small town, Cassidy thought as she looked out the window. There were at least fifteen homes along the dirt road. Each had its own garden and shed the men were working in. When they saw the van drive by, all the people began looking curiously and following them until they drove into a courtyard. It was circular and in the middle had a huge flower garden with a waterfall. Cassidy was amazed at the beauty of the landscape.

They got out of the car slowly taking in the scenery before them. The Guardians joined them by the side of the van; they were waving at those people they seemed to know.

Kyia turned to Cassidy as said, “This is your home, and should you choose to accept your birthright, it becomes your Stronghold and sanctuary to the members who choose to follow you. Your parents built this the year you were born so you would have a sanctuary when you had reached the age to take the throne. All royal families were required to do this for their offspring as a gift to them.” Kyia pointed to the castle. “You were supposed to receive this home and your trust fund on your 18th birthday when your father and mother completed your training. Unfortunately, they were unable to start your training; Bernie has caught me up to date with your knowledge level. We only have one year to finish the lessons, your Council must be in place and ready to vote you as their leader before May 31st next year. Bernie, being your Guardian, has given you the trust and Stronghold; now we can work on what you do not know.”

Cami, Celli and Kallen were just as shocked and had their mouths open gawking at everything, all this and money too? This had to be a dream; last week she had been begging Bernie for 20 dollars to buy her monthly bus pass. She had given hers to the homeless person on the corner; Bernie was irritated because she did that every month. Cassidy was always doing things like that with her allowance and Bernie was constantly reminding her she needed to budget. If she wanted to give stuff away fine, just wait until she knew how to budget herself.

Bernie and the other Guardians were talking quietly in a tight circle. Cassidy watched as Bernie and Kyia seemed to be at odds with each other. Bernie seemed very upset by whatever she was saying. Bernie shrugged and Kyia stepped toward Cassidy and her friends and clapped her hands to get their attention.

“We must introduce you to the Stronghold so they know you are here. It is a custom when a new Queen or King entered their Stronghold for the first time; they have to introduce themselves to the members in their Stronghold. Cassidy you must show your jewels to the members who already live here, and they will either accept you as their leader or leave,” Kyia said with a certain amount of smugness. Cassidy was certain Kyia thought she was going to fail and the Stronghold members would leave her.

Cassidy turned to her friends and whispered, “Guys. I think the deck is being stacked against us and we need to step up now. So let us wipe the scared look off our faces and appear confident, or this will be over before we have begun. I still think there is a possibility we will wake up tomorrow in our beds in Denver, but in case this is real, what do you think? Are we going to do this or what?”

Kallen put his hand in the middle of the circle they formed and said, “I’m in!”

One by one, they all followed until Cassidy laid her hand on top and smiled at her friends.

“Let’s do this!” she said with more confidence than she felt, but it seemed to work for her friends because they smiled at her in return and turned presenting a united front to the Guardians.

Bernie and the others were smiling because they knew from experience if all of them worked together there was nothing they could not do.

Cassidy walked to the center of the courtyard and saw there was a round center island with purple flowers and bushes arranged with rocks and water to make an eye catching waterfall scene. A small pathway led to a large flat rock that Cassidy thought looked like a stage.

She took a deep breath, climbed up to the flat stage, and turned to look at her Stronghold.

It reminded her of an old west town; it had a dirt road separating two sides of the little town. There were houses and business fronts lining each side, people were milling through them and in the courtyard. Cassidy was trying to decide the best way to get the people’s attention when she saw him.

“Hey!” Cassidy yelled. ‘Apollo,’ dammit, she thought, that wasn’t his name.

Cassidy was torn between jumping off the stage and running to the handsome stranger she had been dreaming about, and addressing her Stronghold. Well, she looked like an idiot anyway; people had begun to gather in front of the stage looking at her, she figured she would just go with it.

Once again, she is going to miss the cutest guy she had ever seen, wait a minute, this was her Stronghold which means he was part of a Guild and her Stronghold. Cassidy smiled because she knew she could find him now, but the people who were staring at her though she was smiling at them. She needed to do something quick.

Cassidy quickly focused on the mission at hand. “Can I have your attention? I am Cassidy, and I have received these jewels as proof that I am the next in line for the Warrior throne. I am new to this whole thing, and hope that you will have patience with my Council and me. I will introduce each of them in turn, and once we are settled, I will arrange for a specific meeting time with each of you. I know you will all understand if I tell you my first priority is to finish my training, and then free the Kings and Queens from all the Guilds. You have been without leaders for too long, and we will not fail you,” Cassidy said and then held up her right hand to show the members of her Stronghold.

At first, there was a stunned silence and Cassidy turned to see the smirk on Kyia’s face. Cassidy was starting to feel very exposed on the stage alone, and she took a small step backwards when she heard single person clapping. The noise grew until the whole crowd was clapping and cheering for her. Cassidy stepped forward again and introduced her friends.

“Kallen is the heir to the Ranger/Solaris Guilds. Dyl is the heir to the Wizard Guild. Eli is the heir to the Elves Guild and finally, Cami is heir to the Gnome, and Celli is heir to the Fairy Guilds.” Cassidy allowed each of them time to show their jewels also.

When the noise subsided slightly, Cassidy was ready to leave the stage; she turned, and there off to the side, was her dream guy and he was standing next to Bernie talking.

Cassidy was in such a hurry to get to her dream man, she jumped off the stage and into the crowd. She realized her mistake at once because well-wishers and people who wanted to shake her hand surrounded her.

She did not want to piss people off right now so she patiently waited for each person who wanted to talk to her have their say. She kept one eye on the man, smiled, and answered questions as she moved toward Bernie and the Greek God.

Finally, she was within a few feet of the duo, and Bernie caught her eye and grinned. He motioned for her to come forward and Cassidy excused herself from the crowd, took a deep breath, and went to meet her mystery man.

“Hey Bernie, I see you have met my knight in shining armor. This was the guy I told you about the other day, the one who warned me about being followed.” Cassidy smiled and tilted her head to face the stranger face to face. “You are a hard man to find. You never left your name or phone number, I thought I was going to have to hunt you down,” she said softly.

The handsome young man smiled at her and said sheepishly, “My name is Justice, and I think you may be surprised to know who I am.”

Bernie took her arm and guided her away from the crowd and the hot guy. “Cass, we have a lot of decisions to make and talking to do, but first, we have to speak with your young man. I believe you know that your parents have already chosen a mate for you. They did this after they were captured. I had no idea who it was until he showed up with your father's ring. Your father gave it to him so he could be identified as your mate. I do not know the whole story, but he is your chosen mate, and as such, he will participate in your training with your friends. I will make sure he returns tomorrow and we will deal with it then.”

Cassidy nodded and was too stunned to speak again. She took another deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Bernie, you know I don’t handle surprises well, and so far, there have been way too many for me today. I am having a hard time processing. I think it would be best if we went inside, found our rooms, and left discussions until tomorrow. I have received a bunch of money, a new house, and boyfriend all in one day.” She stopped speaking and started to shake her head, as if she was refusing to accept anymore.

Bernie knew when she had reached her limit and knew it was now. If he didn’t get them in the house soon, Cassidy was going to have a meltdown in front of the entire Stronghold. He called for all of her friends to follow him into the castle. Bernie also paused long enough to ask Justice to return in the morning to discuss what was going to happen. She saw him open his mouth to argue, but Bernie had already begun pulling her away.

Cassidy felt bad when she saw Justice try to find her in the crowd that was still there. She finally saw him walk toward a motorcycle that was parked on the edge of her little town.

All of her friends clearly had found this much cooler than she did, they were laughing and waving to the crowd out the front door, she was practically running in fear.

Still laughing, her friends walked together into the foyer of the castle. They pushed Cassidy who had stopped just inside the entryway, to make room for all of them.

“Well shit, I am actually speechless,” Cami said which meant a lot considering she had the biggest mouth of them all. “Do you suppose we have our own floor?” she said looking up at the numerous levels above them that seemed to never end.

“No,” chuckled the young woman walking around where the group had stopped. “You each have your own chambers, which include an office, a living space, a bath and sleeping quarters, which I will show you promptly after I introduce myself.” In addition, she bowed to them and said as she was rising, “My name is Tina, and I am also from the Warriors Guild.”

Cassidy relaxed when the door shut and took a deep breath. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand much more of this, learning we are, whatever we are, has been too much. What I would not give for a 12 pack of Mt. Dew and a Wii game right now to relax us. We need to just sit and chill out for a few hours. I want to be me again for a while.”

“No doubt, the super heroes have voted. No more strange and crazy for the rest of the night, we are burnt toast. We want to spread ourselves out and consume too much sugar, and fat foods, or we will go on strike. Pizza, pop and ice cream all around before we stage a sit-in,” Cami cried and hooked arms with Cassidy and Celli.

“I’m with the chicks,” Kallen said. Dyl and Eli were nodding in agreement and motioning at them to follow them. They both had the noses to follow the smell of the food. They had never been wrong when pizza was involved.

Kyia looked as if she were going to stop them when Bernie asked Tina if it was possible to change their dinner plans. “Later, we will come and get you to show you to your rooms,” Bernie said shaking his finger at the group.

To the other Guardians he said, “We have been out voted and I agree they need to decompress.”

Cassidy and the others were looking around the entryway with the huge staircase, just taking it all in, when Dyl told them he found a game room down the hallway that led to the left. They all followed him looking at all the rooms on the way; they appeared all beautifully decorated in bold colors that matched all their jewels.

There was a huge living area, dining room, and library before they entered into a room filled with beanbag chairs and a TV mounted on the wall. There were rows of movies and games on either side, and they all felt like they had died and gone to heaven.

Tina showed them where everything was and how it worked. They even had a refrigerator filled with all kinds of soft drinks and snacks like fruit and cheese; next to it was a walk in pantry, which had chips, popcorn, etc....

She also explained how to use the intercom system; they could call the kitchen and ask the cook for pizza or tacos. Kallen loved pushing the buttons and calling the different rooms to see who would answer. Once they had all annoyed the staff repeatedly, they settled into the beanbags and began watching a movie they had never seen.

After they had consumed all four pizzas, and hot fudge sundaes that Cami had thought to ask for as an afterthought. Cassidy finally thought she had enough of a grasp on reality to say, “Ok guys, are we going to go through the whole click your heels and say ‘There’s no place like home’ thing or what?”

Kallen just shrugged and said, “I think I’m in the ‘go with the flow’ mood because someone will jump out and say ‘Gotcha’ soon, so why ruin a great dream? Besides,” he shrugged, “this is a cool house and if we believe Bernie, it’s yours, Cassidy, so I’m kinda hoping it’s real.”

“Hmm, I’m with you Kallen, let’s just ride it out,” Celli said tipping her head from side to side. “I think this may be real because I have pinched myself and tried to wake up so many times today, if I’m dreaming, I’m in a coma.”

“Me three,” Cami said yawning, “I just can’t deal right now.”

Charlie appeared in the doorway and asked if they were ready to see their rooms. They agreed to get a good night’s sleep and deal with the rest tomorrow. Charlie led them to the staircase and stopped.

“The Guardians thought it would be better to keep you on the same floor so you would be able to meet together easily. It was the way your parents had their house too,” he said looking directly at Cassidy and then turned to lead them to the first floor.

“We have put the boys on the left and the girls on the right; your names have been engraved on the doors, if you need anything, please use the intercom, and call us. Your Guardians’ suites are on the second floor. They shall remain as your personal advisors and trainers until you have all claimed your castles. Then, we will travel with you between the Guilds, and take care of your children. There are portals to each of your castles on the third floor, but they must be opened from the other side before we can travel through them, but you will learn all of this tomorrow.” Charlie bowed and returned down the stairs.

Cassidy’s room was the closest to the stairs, next to her was Cami, then Celli. On the left, Kallen’s room was first, then Dyl and finally Eli at the end of the hall. They all stood outside their rooms until Charlie had gone downstairs completely.

Cassidy finally waved and walked into her room. It was as if they were afraid of what was behind the door, so she went first. With any luck, a big lizard would devour her and she would wake up and laugh at her imagination.

The first thing she noticed was the colors, and the fact there was no lizard.

Cassidy entered into a living area that had big couches and a huge TV mounted to the wall with movies on either side. There was a stack of pillows in the bold colors leaning against the wall. Altogether, it was a very comfortable feeling room. She was glad that at least the living area was cool.

There was a small kitchenette in the corner that had a coffee maker and small refrigerator, she looked inside the fridge and was pleasantly surprised that it was fully stocked. All of her favorite snacks filled the counter and the cupboards.

“Wow,” Cassidy muttered and walked into the bedroom that was about the same size as the apartment she had shared with Bernie. Her stuff filled the dressers and shelves neatly.

There were even posters mounted on her wall that were from her apartment in Denver. Granted, they framed the posters, that could have seemed unusual, but she thought it was a nice touch. Mr. Skippy was front and center on her huge bed.

She walked into the closet and saw there were clothes hung there already. On one side were clothes she recognized, on the other side were ones she had never seen before and had no clue where they came from.

Taking a closer look, she discovered a row of black silk pants and multi-colored tunics all in her size; well at least choosing clothes will be easy, she thought. There were also workout clothes stacked on the shelves against the back wall.

Cassidy noticed another door next to her bedroom door and opened it, inside was a very masculine room set up. There were no clothes or decorations in there, but she was confused all the same. She thought Charlie said Bernie’s room was going to be upstairs?

She was just too tired to care at this point so she closed the door and went back into the hallway.

Cassidy saw the bathroom had a spa tub and the office stocked with a desktop computer, laptop, and a wall full of shelves filled with her favorite books.

She just wandered around taking everything in, finally looking at the bed. So plush and comfortable looking, Cassidy could not resist just falling on top covers and burying her face into the pillows and relaxing.

The last thing she remembered as she drifted into a dreamless sleep was what a cool day it had been, even if it wasn’t real. Bernie was going to get a laugh out of this when he asked her how she slept in the morning.