Chapter 13

       Martha wanted to take a look at everyone's skills in combat to see who should be training a lot more and I was hoping that would mean showing her our skills with the weapon we train with.

       It wasn't.

       It was a test in both sword and hand to hand combat, so I already knew I wasn't going to do well and she was going to make me train a lot more. And that would mean a lot less time for me to go visit Jerome.

       It got a whole lot worse when Martha decided to be a little jerk and pair me up with Ryder. He was one of the strongest Protectors in both sword and hand to hand combat. Not only that, but his Protector ability heightened his agility. He was a lot more agile and flexible than everyone else.

       So it didn't take me long to end up on the floor after Ryder and I started our combat because Ryder never went easy on anyone. Even his weakling of a younger brother who couldn't be under even more surveillance.

       Ryder knelt down beside me after I refused to get up. "You and I should do one on one training sometime," he said.

       "No thanks," I said.

       "He's right," Martha said as she walked over. "I had never seen someone lose in a combat so quickly. You haven't been taking training seriously, have you?"

       I sat up, feeling like whacking here over the head with the biggest book in the library. "I have," I said. "I'm not a hand to hand person. Or a sword person. Every Protector chose the weapon once they figure out what their ability is. I chose the bow. That's the only thing I trained with."

       "He honestly has the best aim in this HQ," Ryder said. "And he has done a lot on missions because of it."

       Martha didn't say anything for a bit before she walked over to the weapon stand and grabbed my bow and quiver. She walked back over, handing both of them to me. "Show me what you got," she said.

       I took the bow and quiver from her, placing the quiver on my back before going to where I normally stood while aiming for the targets.

       Was it bad that I wanted to aim for Martha's foot?

       Wow, I really had to let go of my anger and violent ways towards her.

       Before I could even place an arrow in my bow, Martha told me to wait. She then went over to the control panel of the training room, and I knew she was going to set up a stimulation for me because it was clear how much she hated me.

       However, she wasn't able to set one up because right as she was about it, a loud alarm started sounding throughout the HQ as it started flashing red which only meant one thing:

       We were under attack.

       Martha and Ryder didn't hesitate to rush out of the training room. I, on the other hand, wasn't in the mood to fight anyone's ugly face today so I did what anyone else would do in my situation.

       Turn invisible and hope for the best.

       I had to place my bow on my back for it to be concealed with my quiver. And then I backed into the corner and crouched down like the little wimp I was.

       It wasn't that I was too scared to fight whoever was breaking into the HQ. I just wasn't in the mood to see ugly people.

       I couldn't see what was happening outside of the training room, but I did hear a lot of swords clashing and things falling. I really hoped the Protectors were doing okay.

       Two people, a girl and a boy who seemed to be at least three years older than me, walked into the training room and I immediately hated them.

       "No one's in here," the girl said. "We'll check other rooms."

       The boy, on the other hand, didn't leave. He just looked around the room before sending a blast of magic in my direction. I tried diving out of the way, but it still hit me and knocked me on the floor.

       And my invisibility went away.

       I was about to get up, but the sorcerer used another spell against me, this one making it hard for me to move as a red magic force wrapped tightly around me.

       They both walked over to me and the girl crouched down beside me. "This one's cute," she said. "He has that... innocent look. I think he'll be perfect."

       I hated her even more than I had ever hated her, and I didn't even know who she was.

       But she was right about one thing. I was cute.

       "Alright, do it," the boy said. "Enchant him."

       "My pleasure," the girls said while waving her hand in my face in a flowing way.

       I didn't know what they were planning to do with me, but it wasn't going to work.

       The boy loosened the bond around me and I took the opportunity to, as discreetly as I could, reach the gemstone sitting under my shirt. Getting Jerome's help was going to be risky, but right now, he was our best bet.

       If it meant being caught... Well, it was going to happen eventually.

       "So, here's what's going to happen," the girl said. "You are going to join us and tell us all there is to know about the Protectors so we can take them done. Sounds good?"

       "What?" I asked. "No, that sounds horrible."

       "Cheryl, you didn't even enchant him," the boy said, and I now, unfortunately, knew his name. This was Dirk and Cheryl, the ones leading the uprising.

       "I did," Cheryl said right as I gripped the stone. 

       Moments later, a blue blast of magic pushed Dirk and Cheryl away from me. Jerome then rushed by my side and helped me stand up. "Are you okay?" he asked.

       "Yeah," I said. "The HQ is under attack, though."

       "No surprise there with Dirk behind here," Jerome said.

       Dirk stood up and instead of glaring at Jerome like I thought he would do, he smiled and said, "Now it makes sense. I kind of assume you were seeing a Protector once you refused to help us out with our plan."

       "Your plan is getting innocent people killed," Jerome said. "Of course I didn't want to help out."

       "Well, you're going to wish you did," Dirk said before throwing a blast of magic towards us.

       Jerome and I dove out of the way, and Jerome was fast to send magic right back at Dirk. I, on the other hand, went for Cheryl by taking my bow off my back, pulling an arrow out of my quiver, then aiming right for her arm.

       After the arrow hit her, Dirk lost his focus and got hit with Jerome's magic. A bunch of people on Dirk's team suddenly came rushing into the training room, but once again, Jerome's reflexes were quick and sent the biggest blast of magic I had ever seen towards them. They all crashed down, some even flying out of the training room.

       They didn't even bother fighting back now that Jerome was here. 

       Dirk created a portal and everyone on his side rushed through them. He made sure everyone was in there before heading in himself and it closing behind him.

       "Funny how he runs away right when I show up," Jerome said. "Good thing I gave you that gemstone. Are you okay?"

       "Yeah," I said. "They didn't hurt me. Cheryl tried enchanting me so they could use me against the Protectors, but it's a good thing I'm... You know."

       "Gay?" Jerome asked and I nodded. "You do know you can say it, right?"

       "I know, but I can't," I said. "I've always been different in my family. Being... It just pushes me feel even more left out."

       "Hey," Jerome said, gently resting his hand on my cheek. "You don't even have to label yourself. All that matters is your happiness."

       I smiled before giving Jerome a kiss, then pulling him into a hug. I really was happy being with him.

       I forgot we were in the HQ until I heard Martha say, "I should have known all along."

       Jerome and I pulled away from each other to see Martha standing in the entrance of the training room with a few more members of the Tribunal, not just the two that were staying here with her.

       "Out of all the Protectors, you seemed to be the most likely one," Martha said. "Always wanting to leave the HQ, being 'in your room' for a long time, being a lot more quiet than others. But I never really thought it would be you of all people since you're a Prince. You're part of the most respectful and greatest Protector family and yet, you chose to break the first law of being a Protector."

       "I can explain," I said.

       "Oh, you don't have to," Martha said before looking at two Tribunal members. "Take him to the cellar."

       "Whoa, is that necessary?" Jerome asked as the members walked over to me and took my bow and quiver out of my possession before grabbing my arms. "You can't blame him for this, you know that."

       "Him too," Martha said to two other members.

       Martha then led the members holding onto me out of the training room and towards the cellar.

       On the way there, Dad saw me being pulled by the Tribunal and asked, "Martha, what on earth are you doing with my son?"

       "Being an unfair liar," I said.

       "Oh, I'm the liar?" Martha asked. "Remind me, who's your boyfriend?"

       "Not the liar, that's for sure," Jerome said as the members pulling him reached us, and I noticed he had the handcuffs on once again to prevent him from doing magic. "You're only doing this because you're scared of the Prophecy."

       "Not another word," Martha snapped. For some reason, she really didn't like the Two Souls Prophecy being brought up.

       Martha gestured for the Tribunal members to follow her to the cellar, and Jerome still chose to talk, but about something different. "You know, I'm the reason Dirk and his stupid team left. They would still be here right now and they could have hurt a lot of you, and this is how you repay me?"

       Martha stopped and turned around. "How did you even know to show up?" she asked.

       "Okay, no, you are not accusing me of being part of the uprising when I made them leave," Jerome said. "And to answer your question, I gave Nolan something to use whenever he was in trouble and I would get the message because, unlike you, care about him."

       Martha ignored Jerome and led us to the cellar. There were many different floors of it since we needed a lot of room to keep rogue supernaturals, but she put us on a floor where there currently wasn't anyone.

       I never struggled the grasp of the Tribunal while they were leading me here but once I saw the size of each individual cell, I started to struggle. "Please, I can't go in there," I said.

       I was ignored and put in the cell anyway. I really hoped this didn't last.

       Jerome was put in a separate cell beside me and once we were both locked in, Martha said, "Magic is blocked here."

       "No, really?" Jerome said sarcastically. "I thought I would have been able to use my magic to break out of here."

       "How long will we be in here?" I asked.

       "Indefinitely," Martha said.

       "Are you crazy?" Jerome asked. "We're not going to cause any damage."

       "You know about the Prophecy and how much damage it can bring," Martha said. "So, yes, it can. We're keeping everyone safe by having you two in here."

       "Safe?" Jerome asked. "You're going to make things worse. If Nolan gets hurt, I get mad. And he's going to get hurt staying in here for too long."

       Martha didn't reply as she walked away with the rest of the Tribunal.

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Martha you suck lol.

I still love her though idk why.

Okay I need to go to bed since I have to wake up early byeeeeeee.