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  Gardians of The magic realm

  Book 1

  By: Bella Ward

  Chapter One

  She ran as fast as she could on her weak legs, trying to get away from the thing she could not see, but only felt. There was nothing there that was an immediate threat. There was never anything visibly there, but since her parents were murdered in front of her eyes when she was five, Odessa LeMay had felt the darkness nearly everywhere she went. The alley she ran in appeared to be caving in on her as she heaved stiff, almost visible breaths in the cold winter air. She didn’t have a jacket of any kind, and her shoes were so worn they couldn’t be classified as being of any use.

  She had her only possessions in a ratty backpack Child Protective Services had given her to put her things in thirteen-years earlier. The only thing she had to put in the bag at the time were a few items of clothing she had managed to hang on to during her family’s travels, and two items her parents had been insisting were magic the entire five years they had been alive together.

  A black handled athame her father insisted had belonged to an ancient tribe, which was supposedly her family’s linage, and an amulet she had taken off of her dead mother’s neck, along with a torn picture of the three of them together were all the items Odessa had gotten from her dead family.

  Odessa had spent so many nights in foster care, holding the athame and the amulet praying for the magic her parents spoke of to appear, but nothing came from them. Nothing had ever come from them despite her still trying to access their magic, even the night before she found herself running for dear life down a darkened ally.

  She had hidden the items from her foster families, sure they would take the athame from her for being a blade. She knew deep down they were the key to her survival, and to finding who had killed her parents. She had been placed under the floor of the kitchen in their cabin, when her parents Cloe and Winston had heard the approaching danger. Her mother was chanting something that Odessa had not understood as the amulet around her mother’s neck began to glow a soft yellow color, but still the men came. They killed her parents and looked for her. The men didn’t take anything, but Odessa could see the entire thing through a knot hole in the wood flooring. She still remembered the main man had a scar on his face the size of the athame itself.

  Odessa shook her head as she ran down the ally, sure to be letting go of the thoughts of her parent’s death. She spun around in the ally, looking behind her…nothing looked the same. Her vision had blurred so much, she couldn’t see where she was going and where she had come from. She hadn’t eaten in two days.

  The day before she had turned eighteen, and upon her birthday she became a legal adult. The children’s home she was living in had set her up with a job and an apartment, but in the first night there she felt the drawing of the shadow of darkness. The thick oily nothing that had been following her for years.

  The nothingness had caused so much havoc in her life. It ran her from her first foster home, where she was deemed a runaway at the age of five. The second home was more strict and secure, but not secure enough to keep out the darkness.

  Odessa was a good girl, she had never done anything wrong…on purpose, but the darkness made things happen. Things would break, be set afire, or drive her momentarily mad…crazy if you will. By the time she was ten, she was in her first group home; then her second, then third, until she hit her ninth, just six months before her eighteenth year.

  Everyone thought she was the one doing all the damage, that she was marked as Odessa, the evil one, but that was not her at all. Despite the hate in her heart for the men who killed her parents, there was nothing but good in her, except for the darkness that always lurked around her. The darkness would have taken her over long ago, if it weren’t for the positive thoughts she always tried to keep with her. But in the cold, in the darkness, with nothing but a bleak future awaiting her, she could feel the positivity leaving her system, replaced by doubt and doom.

  She took a left out of the ally, as the oily feeling slid beneath her feet, causing her to push her weak body to move even faster. Something inside her wanted to get caught though, to let the shadow take her and make her what it wanted her to be. She didn’t have the strength to fight it any longer. Odessa slid on nothing and fell, hitting her head hard on the ground. The haze of pain caused her poor vision to worsen, as the evil began to wrap its dark tentacles around her.

  She looked down, bringing her knees up into a fetal position so she could try to block out as much as she could instinctively. She tried to call to the magic of the items in her bag, but nothing happened. She felt hopeless as death pulled to her, causing her to give up all hope altogether.

  Suddenly, she felt real arms wrap around her. She was being hoisted by the darkness, or so she thought. Odessa tried to open her eyes, but there was only a sliver of light that came through. She could tell it was a man who had her wrapped in his arms. He had her bag over his shoulder. She wanted to tell him to put her down, to give her things back, but her eyes were fading fast.

  In the last seconds, before blackness washed over her, she could see a transparent blue light envelope them, with a warm feeling accompanied by it, causing Odessa’s freezing body to warm up ever so slightly, making sleep even more possible. Her eyes closed, as the feeling of oily evil and death left her body, replaced by peace and utter exhaustion.

  Chapter Two

  Odessa woke up on a cot in what looked like an enormous tent. She tried to sit up, but her body was far too weak to allow her to move. She tried to look around the best she could, but all she saw were more cots in rows, full of people much like herself. She began to panic when she thought of her backpack, fighting to push herself up with no avail. She knew she had to find it at all cost.

  “It’s right here,” a male voice called out from beside her.

  A very handsome, young, Japanese man helped her sit up as he placed the bag on the bed with her. She quickly looked through it, closing it as quick as she had opened it. She could feel her body weaken by the quick movement. Noticing her exhaustion, he handed her a glass of water and she began to drink. Odessa did not realize how thirsty she was.

  “Thank you,” she said weakly, as she took the last sip of her drink.

  “I’m Hamachi,” he said to her, as he took the glass from her.

  “You saved me,” Odessa’s jaw dropped a little, realizing how handsome he truly was.

  He had to be around her age, maybe a bit older.

  “Yeah,” he said as he rubbed at the back of his neck.

  “Thank you,” Odessa looked into his eyes. “How long have I been out?”

  “Three days,” he looked down.

  “Three days!” she squeaked. “Have you been here the whole time?”

  “Yes…well no, I have left to go to work, and eat, and stuff. But other than that, I have been here with you, Odessa.”

  “How do you know my name?” she asked.

  He looked at her bag with a slight blush to his face. The realization hit her…he had gone through her things.

  “You went through my stuff!” she yelled at him as best she could.

  “Sorry Odessa, the nurses needed to know who you were.”

  “I swear…if you took anything,” she stammered.

  “Relax,” he said
with his hands up. “What would I want with a rusty old blade and an amulet…and I hardly wear women’s clothing…so I think your things are safe with me. Besides, you just went through it yourself.”

  “The athame and amulet were my parent’s,” she let a tear fall down her face. “They are not just things.”

  “What happened to them?” Hamachi asked, realizing the quick change in mood.

  “They were killed when I was five,” she admitted as more tears fell.

  “I’m sorry,” he looked down. “My parents were killed too…when I was seven.” He began to rub her back.

  “I’m sorry…what did you say your name was again?”

  “Hamachi.”

  “Hamachi,” she repeated. “That’s a cool name.”

  “Thanks,” Hamachi said as he rubbed at the back of his neck again. “It means village with a priest…or a type of Japanese sushi, whichever you prefer.”

  “Nice,” Odessa laughed, her tears had already dried on her face.

  “My father was some kind of leader of our church and my mother was a Japanese woman who loved raw fish, so it was the best of both worlds,” he laughed out loud. “What does Odessa mean?”

  “Odessa means a great odyssey or epic journey,” she laughed sarcastically, her strength building by the second.

  “And have you been on your epic journey yet?” Hamachi asked her.

  “No…no journeys for me,” she looked down again as sadness returned.

  “Life can be an epic journey,” he said to her, while drawing her eyes back to him.

  “If you say so,” Odessa frowned, “not mine.”

  “Well, we will see if we can change that,” Hamachi said as he reached over and handed her a tissue. “If you stay here much longer, I am sure an adventure awaits you.”

  “So, what happened back there…where you found me?” she leaned in closer, hoping to change the subject from her life, wondering what Hamachi meant about staying there very long.

  “A shadow had you. Your light was fading fast,” he looked at her intensely. “I had to save you!”

  “My light?” Odessa asked.

  “You really don’t know do you?” His gaze turned from more serious to concerned.

  “Know what?” she squealed.

  “Odessa, you are special.”

  “Sure,” she giggled, but then noticed his serious expression. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

  He shook his head as he looked around for a minute. His eyes settled on a nurse. He excused himself, and then walked away for a moment to talk to her. Odessa tried to tune in to hear them, but there was no way that could happen, because they were so far away…or could it? She pulled what strength she did have into the core of her body…sure enough, the faint whispers of Hamachi and the nurse became louder and louder, until it sounded like they were yelling.

  Hamachi was asking if they had found anything on her lineage yet, and if they thought she was strong enough to know about her magic. Odessa wondered what magic they could be talking about. Surely, they didn’t know about the magic supposedly in the athame and amulet; how could they? She was shocked she had heard their whispers. Hamachi requested to be the one to talk to her about it. Before the nurse answered, Odessa dropped the connection she didn’t know she could have before someone caught on, if that was even possible.

  Hamachi came back and sat next to Odessa in the chair he had been in off and on for three days.

  “Listen,” he said. “I have to go to work, but when I get back, I will take you on a walk and tell you everything.”

  “Alright,” she whispered. “How long will you be gone?”

  Hamachi got up to walk away, but turned before getting too far away from her.

  “Six hours. It will pass before you know it. Oh yeah, nice supersonic hearing technique,” he said, and then walked out of the medical tent, leaving her to wonder how he knew she had listened in.

  She sat up even more on her cot, determined to be in working order for when Hamachi returned from work. She wanted to know what he knew about the magic, and what he knew about the darkness, but even more than that, she wanted to know where she was that magic could be talked about so freely.

  Chapter Three

  Six hours had gone by rather fast for Hamachi, but slowly for Odessa. He couldn’t wait to get back to her, and his work with the pups was fun enough to make the time go quickly. She, on the other hand, tried for hours to get to her feet, just to fall back down on her cot. After hour three, she found herself sitting up in a chair, eating a small amount of soup. As hour five passed, she was walking the distance of the tent, back and forth. Odessa would go to the end of the tent, and peer through the opening to see what she could, but the only thing outside were trees and bright sunshine.

  By hour six, Odessa was waiting for Hamachi to return, with her shoes on and permission to leave for one hour, then return for supervision one more night. The nurse said she would be assigned living quarters and a job the next day, to keep for as long as she chose to stay with them.

  She was happy that for once in her life she was being given the chance to decide where she wanted to stay.

  As Hamachi walked back into the tent, she saw he kept the smile on his face the entire time he walked up to her. She knew it was because she was standing and looking much better than six hours before.

  “You look better,” Hamachi said as he walked up to her and instinctively gave her a hug.

  She thought it odd that he hugged her after just officially meeting that day, but his hug felt warm and inviting, so she let it continue.

  “The nurse says we have one hour to go for a walk,” she said, “and then I will have to stay here for the night.”

  “When do you find out your placement?” he asked.

  “Placement?” she asked in return. “Oh, you mean where I will stay and work?”

  “Yes,” he smiled. “That is, if you are planning on staying here.”

  “I think I need to know where here is before deciding anything,” she chuckled.

  Hamachi offered Odessa his crooked arm, allowing her some stability on her still shaky legs. She took it without putting up a fight, but only after she had her backpack secured on her back.

  “I would tell you that your things would be safe here,” he grinned, “but, I don’t think you would listen to me, would you?”

  “Nope,” she shook her head, pursed her lips, and laughed slyly.

  In minutes, they were walking through the woods. Odessa looked up to see the canopy of trees covering the view of the sky. She couldn’t understand how things were so lush and green, when three days ago, running through the alley, things were cold and dead.

  Thinking about the alley sparked her memories of the darkness. She hadn’t felt it one time since arriving to…to…to wherever she was.

  “What is this place?” Odessa asked Hamachi, bewildered.

  “It’s a camp for people like us,” he answered. “It’s called Camp Sacred Moon.”

  “People like…us?” She was shocked. “What kind of people are we?”

  “Let me start at the beginning,” Hamachi said. “Is that alright?”

  “The beginning is good,” she admitted.

  “Sit down.” He offered her a stump.

  He watched as she took a seat with wonderment in her eyes. He knew she was ready to hear what she was. She had been ready a long time ago.

  “I’m listening,” she whispered.

  “Odilia and Oleander Crescent-Moon were the first of our kind,” he began the story. “They lived in a tribe a thousand years ago, much like the one you and I descended from. There were six original tribes that our kind eventually came from, which is why I was asking the nurse your lineage.”

  “How did you know I was listening in?” she asked.

  “I’m getting there.” He sat down cross-legged in the dirt. “Like I said, I am just like you.”

  Odessa thought Hamachi looked like an Anime character from one of the Mang
a she loved to look at. His part Japanese features showed softly in the glow of the light.

  “Sorry Hamachi…go on,” she blushed a little at realizing how handsome he was.

  “It’s alright,” he ran a hand through his dark hair that stood up all over. “Odilia and Oleander were members of one of the five tribes that were good and light. That left one that used dark magic and let the evil slip in.” He took a breath as the excitement of the story filled him. “The darkness of the sixth tribe was making bad things happen in the other five; they were bonded through the deep magic. Odilia and Oleander found a binding spell that once spoken at a full moon would separate them from the sixth tribe and give a protecting ability to them that would keep them safe once the tribes were separated.”

  “What does this all mean?” Odessa cupped her face as she rested her elbows on her knees.

  “It means that once the full moon came,” Hamachi looked up at the sky for exaggeration, “the spell was cast, binding the five tribes in protection and leaving the sixth to get eaten by the darkness.”

  A chill ran up Odessa’s spine, as she shivered in the warmth of the day.

  “Is the shadow that was chasing me part of the sixth tribe?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he nodded. “Odilia, Oleander, and the members of the five remaining tribes became shifters to protect themselves and their people from the darkness.”

  “Shifters?” Odessa asked. “What kind of shifters?”

  “What kind of shifters do you think they became?” he asked her.

  “How should I know that?” she squealed.

  He got up and walked behind her, placing both hands on her shoulders. He pulled some of his inner magic and let it meet with hers.

  “Close your eyes,” he instructed as she did what he asked of her. “Now, take a deep breath…breathe in the fresh air, and let it sink to the pit of your stomach. When it’s there, let it out.”

  She breathed in and out and he could feel their magic mixing; magic she didn’t know was inside her yet.