Chapter 25

       Jerome walked over to me, crouching down as he sighed. "Are you ever going to get up?" he asked.

       "No," I said. "This is why I don't like sparring with people. I end up on the floor within seconds, and I won't want to get up because lying on the ground reminds me of napping and I like to nap."

       Jerome chuckled and held out his hand. I sighed, placing my hand in his before he pulled me to my feet. "You're the one who said you wanted to spar with something other than a bow."

       "Yeah, because I didn't think you'd be so good with the sword," I said.

       "Nolan, come on," Jerome said. "I'm good at everything. So want to spar again?"

       "Ha ha, no," I said. "Not happening. I would rather go the whole day without napping."

       "Okay, but it was your idea," Jerome said. "So you pretty much brought this on yourself."

       "You could have gone easy on me," I pointed out.

       "True, but I am also very competitive so I would rather not," Jerome said. "Even though you're very cute face made me want to lose in purpose."

       I glared. "Thanks. You know, the last thing I need is someone losing against me on purpose. I actually want to be challenged so I can get better and not be useless all the time."

       "You're not useless, Nolan," Jerome said. 

       I sighed as I made my way to the weapon stand to put the sword I was using away. "No, I'm pretty sure I am. The only thing I'm good at is shooting the bad guys when I'm at a distance. That's only good for a short period of time. Once they get closer, I'm pretty much screwed unless someone is with me."

       "Everyone has their advantages and disadvantages," Jerome said.

       "Which is a nice way of saying that I have more disadvantages than advantages," I said.

       Jerome walked over to me, turning me so I was facing him. "You can't keep comparing yourself to everyone else," he said. "Okay, yes, you may not be that great in the field but from what I learned, there is a lot more to being a Protector than just fighting the rogue supernaturals. You need to be smart and caring and courageous..."

       "Courageous?" I repeated. "I think I'm anything but courageous. I can list off everything I'm scared of if you want. There's spiders, bears, snakes, birds, the wind, sometimes the dark depending on where I am, thu--"

       "Nolan," Jerome interrupted. "Just because you have a few things that scare you, it doesn't mean you're not courageous."

       "It's not just a few things," I said. "Maybe a few dozen of things."

       "You remember what happened when we saved Millie?" Jerome asked.

       "I got stabbed with my own arrow and almost died?" I asked.

       "Yes, but you remember what you said to me when I was about to heal you, right?" Jerome asked. "You told me to heal Millie first. You told me to get her to the HQ. That meant I would have had to leave you in the alley while I got her to the HQ. If that's not courage... then I don't know what is."

       "You... You really think I'm courageious?" I asked.

       "Of course I do," Jerome said. "In your own, special way."

       I couldn't help but smile at Jerome. He always knew what to say to make me feel good about myself.

       "Thanks, Jerome," I said.

       "No need to thank me for telling you the truth," Jerome said. "Well, actually you can with something that involves some lips."

       I just rolled my eyes before leaning in to give Jerome a kiss but before our lips could even touch, red lights started flashing through the training room matched with some loud blaring. That could only mean one thing.

       An intruder.

       Or more than one.

       "You have got to be kidding me," Jerome muttered. "They couldn't have chosen another time to attack."

       "Forget that," I said, starting to head out of the training room. "Millie and Fitz are still in here. We need to make sure they stay safe."

       Jerome grabbed my arm to stop me from leaving. "Nolan, you really think it's going to be that easy to get to the infirmary with the HQ under attack? Chances are, we'll be bombarded before we can even get there."

       "Well, we can't just leave them there to fend for themselves," I said. "We need to get them out of there."

       "And we will," Jerome said, waving his hand around to create a portal. "The easy way."

       "Man, I wish I was a sorcerer at times," I said as the two of us headed into the portal, landing right in the infirmary.

       "Yeah, I still need to get used to all this magic and stuff," Fitz said when he saw us step out of the portal. "So what's with the red lights and loud blaring?"

       "Well, let's just say that we need to get you two out of here," Jerome said. "You think you'll be okay heading through a portal? Yes? Okay, good."

       "Wait, what?" Millie asked. "Is it... Is it safe?"

       "Yeah, of course it is," Jerome said. "You won't even feel or see a thing. Once you step through it, you're exactly where you imagine you'll be. You might feel a bit nauseous, but that's usually only if you have a weak stomach. Nolan was able to make it through a couple of portals before he got nauseous, so since this is the first one, you'll be fine."

       "Enough talking," I said. "Create the portal before whoever is here comes to the infirmary."

       "Right," Jerome said, creating a portal for Millie and Fitz. "All you want to do is think of your home or something, and to make sure you end up in the same place, hold each other's hands or something."

       "I'll lead us through it," Fitz said since he could tell Millie was feeling a bit nervous to step through the portal. 

       "It really is okay," I assured Millie. "And since you have Jerome's number, just text him when you're safe to let us know."

       "Yeah, okay," Millie said, stepping off of the infirmary bed before holding Fitz's hand. "I'm ready."

       "Then let's go," Fitz said but before they stepped through the portal, he looked at me and Jerome. "Thank you for all your help. And of course, we promise to keep the supernatural world a secret."

       "And thank you for that," Jerome said. "Again, if either of you need help, that's what we're here for."

       Fitz nodded before he and Millie stepped into the portal, having it disappear behind them. Shortly after it did, Jerome got a text so he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "They're safe."

       "Great," I said. "Now can you portal us back to the training room? I'll need my bow if I'm going to at least try to fight these losers."

       Jerome smiled before creating yet another portal. The two of us stepped through it to head into the training room, but Dirk and Cheryl were already there. They must have been checking if any Protectors were in here since they were about to leave, but they stopped when they saw me and Jerome.

       If only we came here a few seconds after.

       I wasn't even able to make it to the weapons stand because Dirk was quick enough to use his magic to throw me and Jerome off our feet.

       Jerome got up quickly and instead of going after Dirk, he came to my side. "You okay?" he asked.

       I nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."

       Dirk sent a ball of green magic towards us, but Jerome stopped it with his own blue magic. Neither disintegrated; the magic only tried forcing the other away. Dirk pushed his closer to Jerome's, and Jerome was clearly struggling to win this small battle.

       I wished there was something I could do to help...

       Wait a second... There was.

       We were part of the Two Souls Prophecy for a reason.

       I tried standing up so I help Jerome, but I was still feeling a bit weak from . It took me almost all of me energy to finally be able to stand up and be by Jerome's side. "Jerome, let me grab one of your hands," I said.

       "What?" Jerome asked, the magic making its way closer to us.

       "The prophecy," I said. "We make each other stronger."

       "Then what are you waiting for?" Jerome asked so I held on tightly to his hand. 

       Jerome was able to push the magic back to Dirk, knocking both him and Cheryl to the ground. However, the force was quite powerful that it knocked me and Jerome to the ground too. I ended up hitting the wall behind me before falling to the ground. Pain ached through my body and I tried getting up, but I just wasn't strong enough, and it didn't help that I was feeling lightheaded too.

       Dirk and Cheryl got up and was about to leave, but Jerome shot his hand forward, trapping Dirk in a magic bind.

       Cheryl couldn't even do anything to get her sorcerer boyfriend out of it.

       "Cheryl, leave," Dirk said. "You can't get caught too."

       "Dirk..." Cheryl began.

       "Leave," Dirk repeated, so Cheryl used her vampire speed to quickly take off, right as Martha and other members of the Tribunal stepped inside.

       One was holding a pair of handcuffs that would trap Dirk's magic, so Jerome took that as his cue to release the bind. The Tribunal member quickly put the handcuffs on Dirk as Martha said, "When will you ever learn, Dirk? Attacking the HQ, where the Protectors live and train, is the worst idea you could ever come up with. Take him to the cellar."

       As the Tribunal members took Dirk away, Jerome quickly went to my side and helped me stand up, holding onto me tightly as I stumbled a bit. "Are you okay this time?" he asked.

       "Yeah," I said. "Yeah, I'm... I'm fine. I'm just a little lightheaded."

       "Do you need to go to the infirmary?" Jerome asked.

        "No, I'll be fine," I said. "Nothing a little sleep can't fix."

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i'm happy i'm frequently updating this again. i missed it <3 and jerlan. but i have so many stories with jerlan ahahaha.

it's definitely because i can't let jerlan go so easily, so i'm trying to create as many stories as i can so i can write about them F O R E V E R.

they're my babies <3

and my otp <3