Guardians of the Akasha by Celia Stander Page B

collapsed under another storm of tears.
    “There, there,” Chloe crooned.
    “But—but at the same time—I’m so mad!” Keira hiccupped and blew her nose into the wad of tissues Chloe handed her.
    “It’s okay,” Chloe said. “I would be angry too.”
    “You would?” Keira asked, grateful that someone had an inkling of what she was feeling.
    “Of course,” Chloe nodded. “You grew up with these powers that you didn’t know what to do with. You had to hide it because people probably already thought you were slightly strange. Kids can be so cruel,” Chloe sighed.
    The young woman’s empathy caused Keira to burst out in a fresh bout of sobbing. Years of pent-up emotion poured out of her in a confused tumble of words and tears and all the while, Chloe sat and listened, making comforting sounds and assuring her that, “There, there. It will be all right.”
    After a century of agonising emotional purging, Keira’s sobs subsided and she lay spent, her head on Chloe’s lap. She gave a last, shuddering sigh and sat up. The room was darker; dusk had set in. It took a moment, but then she realised something inside her had changed. She felt strangely confident, even happy.
    Keira looked at Chloe. “I can’t begin to thank you. I’m feeling so much better—it’s—I don’t know how to describe it!”
    Chloe smiled. “It’s okay, Keira. Even The One is entitled to a breakdown every now and again.”
    The women looked at each other and started giggling. Then suddenly, they had to hold on to each other as their laughter rang through the room.
    “Well, well. Seems like you two are having fun,” a dry male voice sounded from the door.
    Gasping for breath and clutching her side, Keira looked up. Marco and a younger, almost identical image of him, stood staring at them.
    “Hallo, darling,” Chloe said, in between a fresh fit of giggles. She got up and glided over to the men. Keira felt an inexplicable pang of relief when Chloe hugged the younger man next to Marco.
    “Keira, this is my partner, Rafael. He is Marco’s brother,” Chloe said.
    “Pleased to meet you, Keira,” Rafael said. “I was looking for you,” he said to Chloe, holding her tightly to him. Keira was almost jealous of the love that shone between the couple; they had eyes only for each other.
    “We’re on our way to change. Victoria said to tell you dinner will be served in an hour and the dress is formal,” Marco said. The brothers looked at each other with nearly identical grimaces.
    “Oh come on,” Cloe laughed. “It’s not every day we get the chance to dress up.”
    “Thanks. I’ll unpack—get ready—” Keira said and looked away. Her eyes felt as if they were the size of grapefruits, swollen from the marathon crying session.
    Chloe noticed her discomfort and shooed the men out of the room. “Okay, off you go, we’ll meet you downstairs. Oh, Rafael darling, please ask Zina to come up here when you see her?” she called after the brothers as they left the room.
    She came to sit next to Keira again and asked, “While we wait for Zina to come and help you freshen up, do you mind if I tell you my story, how I became part of the Guardians?
    “No, of course not,” Keira said, surprised at Chloe’s question.
    Chloe took Keira’s hands in her own again. “Well,” she began. “I grew up in a small hamlet in Austria, near Innsbruck in the Alps. I have six older sisters. They all still live there; the eldest four in the village with their husbands and children; the other two with my parents.”
    “Are they also magickal?” Keira asked.
    “No, they are not,” Chloe replied. “You see, my parents are devoutly religious and view anything out of the ordinary as an affront to the Church. Needless to say, when I came along and started seeing things that happened in nearby towns, they weren’t impressed.”
    “What happened?” Keira asked.
    “They tried to ignore it for as long as they could—warned me to never speak of it