Guardians and Darklings, Pt. 3

They managed to get through class without having any contact with Lillian, aside from a few glances that they shot at her. It was more than halfway through the year. What was she doing in the class so late? She didn't talk to anyone, so it wasn't like she was lurking in the class to hang out with a friend.

"What does she have to do with anything?" Dariel asked Aislinn during lunch, around a mouthful of strawberries. Saskia was there, and Aislinn's twin sister Siofra had finally been added to the group. Aislinn filled them in on everything that had been happening today, feeling the weight of the situation settle on her shoulders.

Aislinn snagged one of the unusually sweet fruits and chewed it thoughtfully. "I don't know. I just know that she's been following me around all day, even between classes."

"Momma G talked to her after class today." Saskia reminded Aislinn, using the pet name their zero hour class gave Mrs. G.

"But that's not that unusual, is it? A lot of kids stay after." Siofra chimed in, reaching for one of the strawberries. She received a firm slap from Dariel, who reiterated the rule that only Aislinn could steal food from her.

"Not Lillian." Aislinn said, "She's usually the first to clear out of the room."

Suddenly, Dariel straightened up and glared at someone who was coming towards their table.

"Hey, can I sit here?" Lillian asked, even though she had already pulled up a chair.

"Apparently you can." Dariel said bitterly, moving a little to the side and swiveling around so her shoulder was shielding Aislinn from the girl.

Lillian didn't say anything, either ignoring the anger in the Dariel's voice or just not hearing it. Instead, she pulled out a hardbound sketchbook, an eraser and a liquid pen. The four friends started up a new conversation so as not to give Lillian reason to suspect that they had just been talking about her.

Aislinn joined in to the conversation, but she was far more interested in what Lillian was doing. The page in the book that Lillian had opened to looked like an unfinished panel in a graphic novel of some sort, all light pencil lines that Aislinn had a hard time untangling to form actual shapes. Lillian uncapped the pen with her teeth and tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, her eyes narrowing down at the page. She studied it for a while, then brought the pen down and began to ink some of the shapes in.

Near the end of lunch, Aislinn began to see what Lillian was drawing. A girl with light wings fighting a creature that could have been made of shadows, with huge black wings. Now she stared in shock at the page. It couldn't be… surely it was a coincidence?

Siofra stood up, and Saskia and Dariel followed suit. Aislinn's attention snapped back to her friends. And her lunch. She had barely eaten any of it. She was still holding half of a strawberry.

"You need to eat, Aislinn." Dariel said, concerned. Aislinn had issues with her blood sugar levels. She had to eat small meals throughout the day or she got sick.

"I know, sorry guys. You go on without me, wait in the library. I'll be there in a second." Aislinn said, shooing them away with a wave of her hand.

"Are you sure?" Dariel asked, shooting a glance at Lillian, who hadn't said a word all through lunch.

"Yup. See you in a bit."

Dariel nodded then ran to catch up with Saskia and Siofra to the library for the last ten minutes of lunch.

Aislinn bit into her untouched sandwich, looking back at Lillian. She jerked back in surprise.

Lillian was looking back at her now, flexing her drawing hand, which was stiff from inking. Aislinn had never noticed the color of the girl's eyes before. Now, it was hard to look away from them. They were ocean blue, with a ring of gold in the center. Aislinn had never seen anything like them in her life.

"What?" The girl asked.

"You were the one looking at me." Aislinn snapped, annoyed at how rude Lillian was being.

"Not for the entirety of lunch." Lillian shot back.

'She has me there.' Aislinn thought, wondering how she even knew that she was looking at her in the first place. Lillian had been concentrating on inking the whole time.

"So?" Lillian asked, "What do you want?"

"Nothing. What do you want with me?"

"I want nothing to do with you."

"Then why have you been following me around all day?"

Lillian narrowed her eyes. "You knew I was following you?"

"Of course I did. It's hard not to notice when you start to see someone you never see everywhere you go."

"I knew she shouldn't have transferred me into your class." Lillian muttered under her breath.

"So, you admit to following me."

"I did no such thing. But yes, I have been. It doesn't mean that I want to. I have better things to be doing with my life." With that, Lillian stood up and gathered her things, the now closed sketchbook under her arm.

"Wait." Aislinn grabbed onto the girl's wrist. Lillian growled and twisted free.
"Never do that again!" Lillian snarled.

"Who told you to follow me?" Aislinn asked, her voice strong.

"Desmion. Go ask her if you want answers, I'm done babysitting you." She stormed off into the crowd, and was lost.


The rest of her classes passed without incident. She didn't have any of her friends in her last three classes after lunch, though she did speak to some people in her last class. She shut herself down and tried to forget about her situation, so she could concentrate on her classes. After school, she hoped to get answers for everything that had been happening. She would take Saskia and get a ride home from her afterwards.

When the bell rang for her last period to end, she got out of the room as fast as she could, only to be ambushed by Dariel and Siofra.

"You didn't think you would get away with doing this by yourself, did you?" Siofra asked, giving her twin a lopsided grin.

"This involves all of us, now." Dariel said, putting on a brave face.

"Thanks guys." Aislinn smiled. "I'm glad to have such a loyal team with me." She began walking from the hallway where her last class was, heading towards the back of the school and the English hall.

'Desmion.' Aislinn repeated Lillian's words in her head. Desmion was Mrs. G's first name. Was her English teacher really behind everything that had been happening? If so, why hadn't she reacted to Aislinn when she came in. Couldn't she see it on her or something?

When they finally got to the room, Mrs. G was missing. Her light was on, the computer sitting where it usually sat. There was a sticky note next to the computer, with the words 'A present for you, Momma G. Enjoy your fork.' It was signed in Callie's handwriting, one of Aislinn's classmates.

The plastic fork was lying on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood.