Chapter 4

Ryder

       "I'm seriously getting bored of all this researching," Alan said as we were looking at a map of Canada. "Laekrants are exclusive to the west coast, so I say we just throw a dart on the map and go where it lands."

       "Okay, but my guess is that Laekrants are more than just region exclusive," Orchid asked. "There's barely any information about them, so they're probably very rare as well. We need to figure out exactly where to go."

       "Can you, I don't know, stop being so prepared with these missions?" Alan asked.

       Orchid raised an eyebrow. "Did anyone else notice how wrong that sentence was? He's telling me not to be prepared. Like... What?"

       "Well, we have to figure something out," I said. "We have to do this sooner rather than later before Rhys wakes up from his nap."

       "I'm pretty sure we'd be gone longer than a baby napping," Alan said. "I'm serious, though. Hang the map up on the wall, and we'll throw a dart at it to see where we go."

       "Or we go right here," Jerome said, pointing to a place on Vancouver Island.

       I furrowed my eyebows. "Why there? Did you just pick a random place?"

       "What? No," Jerome said. "There's a glowing path leading to it. You don't see it?"

       I looked closely at the map, but I didn't see anything except a regular map. No glowing path whatsoever. "I see nothing," I said.

       "Yeah, same here," Alan said. "Orchid, you?"

       "Nope," Orchid said. "I don't see any glowing path."

       "Maybe us Protectors can't see it," Alan said before picking up the map and walking over to the couch Nolan was still laying on. He had been laying there with Kingsley ever since Dad told us to find out what killed those sorcerers. "Can you see a glowing path?"

       "Leading to a place on Vancouver Island?" Nolan asked. "Yeah, I see it."

       "So, it's not a Protector thing," Alan said, placing the map back on the table.

       "Or it's a supernatural thing," Jerome said. "You forgot that Nolan is also a sorcerer, didn't you?"

       "Yes, I did, I'm stupid," Alan said. "Anyway, I say we get going as soon as possible. Should we get our weapons?"

       "No," Jerome said. "I think we'll be fine without them."

       "You'll be fine without them," I said. "You have magic. We don't."

       "If we're going to find out about Laekrants, it will be best to just talk to other supernaturals without it seeming like we're a threat," Jerome said. "Trust me, supernaturals hate it when Protectors show up with weapons."

       "How come we were never told about that?" Alan asked. "You're an honorary Protector. You're married to a Protector. You should have told us."

       Jerome shrugged. "Yeah, yeah. Ready to go?"

       "I guess we are," Orchid said. "And Ryder's right. We should get this done fast."

       "Alright, one portal coming up," Jerome said before creating a portal. "To make sure we all end up in the same place, we have to make sure we're in physical contact with each other."

       "Uh, no," Nolan said. "No one's touching you."

       "Oh, relax, Nolan," Jerome said. "They're my sibling-in-laws and if it will."

       "I don't care."

       "If it will make you feel better, I'll only hold Orchid's hands since she's a girl."

       "Orchid is the only one allowed to touch you."

       Nolan was always such a jealous and overly-protective boyfriend, now husband. Then again, he was a Prince. We all were overprotective of our significant others.

       We all held onto each other's hands before we walked through the portal, landing in the middle of a forest.

       I didn't see how this would help.

       "Why are we in the middle of the forest?" Alan asked. 

       "It was where the glowing path pointed to," Jerome said. "Let's just keep walking for a bit. Maybe we'll come across something."

       We did come across something after not even five minutes of walking; a village.

       We started heading into the village, but there was a sudden whoosh, and Jerome reacted quickly enough to use his magic and stop a tranquilizer dart that was close to hitting Alan.

       "Why'd you that that?" Orchid asked. 

       "Uh, because it would have hit Alan," Jerome said.

       "Exactly why I asked why you did that," Orchid said. "You should have let it hit him."

       Alan glared at Orchid as a man walked over to us. "Normally, I would ask who are you but considering you stopped the dart with magic, I have a good idea," he said. "Now my question is what you're doing here?"

       "We just want to know more about Laekrants," Jerome said.

       The man scoffed. "And what brings you to this village just to ask about Laekrants?"

       "We're not from here," I said. "We were told Laekrants are region exclusive to the west side of Canada, so this was our best bet."

       "Why would you like to know more about them?" the man asked. "Actually, no, I don't care. Normally, I wouldn't let you guys in since Laekrants are banned from here, but you're in luck. We have two of them here so follow me."

       The man led us through the village and to one of the houses there. He knocked on the door and a teenage boy answered it. "Ah, whatever your name is," the man said.

       "Rory," the teenager said. "My name's Rory."

       "I don't care," he said. "These four, for whatever reason, wants to know more about Laekrants so you help them." The man didn't even wait for us to say anything else before he walked away.

       "Don't mind him," Rory said. "He's not fond of Laekrants. In fact, nobody is. Anyway, I'll tell you everything I know." He opened the door wider and gestured for us to come inside. "Just a heads up, I am currently living with six other teenagers, and two of them don't know how to shut up."

       "Don't worry about it," I said as we walked inside where there was five teenagers and a girl who seemed about Tulip's age. "I have seven younger siblings. I'm used to them not shutting up. Alan."

       "Fight me," Alan said.

      "Ooh, new people," another teenage boy said. "Although isn't this house a bit too crowded already?"

       "We're not here to stay," I said. "We just need to learn as much as we can about Laekrants."

       "Ah, then Rory is indeed your guy," he said. "I'm Marshal, by the way, and I love giving out nicknames. There's Abs, Bubblegum, Romeo, and Boy Juliet. Then there's Juliet, who can't have a nickname because it defeats the purpose of Romeo. And there's also little precious Theo, who isn't here right now and is probably flirting with some guy."

       "What about me?" the girl around Tulip's age asked. "I'd like a nickname."

       "You can be Smol Bean," Marshal said.

       "And the real names are Abby, Avery, Cam, and that's Lacy," Rory said. 

       "I'm Ryder, and these are two of my seven siblings Orchid and Alan," I said. "And him... I can care less about him."

       "Are you jealous because I'm a sorcerer and you're not?" Jerome asked. 

       "No," I said. "You just annoy me."

       "Everyone annoys you," Jerome said.

       "This is going to take a while, so I am going to make myself comfortable if you all don't mind," Orchid said before walking over and sitting down on the couch. "Ryder likes arguing with people, so good luck."

       "So, Rory, what do you know about Laekrants?" Alan asked.

       "Everything," Rory said. "There aren't too many Laekrants around, and unfortunately, a lot of them were taken and injected with some sort of serum that would make them attack full-blood humans and suck the energy out of them."

       "So... All Laekrants don't do that?" I asked.

       "Nope," Rory said. "Only the ones injecting with a serum are. The rest of us are completely normal. We're kind of like werewolves, minus the full moon part. We transform when we're mad, agitated, very hungry, or when we just want to."

       "We?" I asked. "You're a Laekrant?"

       "I am," Rory said. "Same with Juliet, since she's my twin sister."

       "Why do you want to know about Laekrants?" Juliet asked.

       "Two sorcerers were recently killed by one," I said. "And we're not even from Canada. We live in America, more specifically Florida."

       "That's odd," Abby said. "They're only on the west side of Canada. Why would they be in another country on the east side?"

       "Forget that," Juliet said. "Why would they kill sorcerers?"

       "Well, if some Laekrants were injected with a serum to make them kill full-blood humans, what if they were given a serum to make them kill supernaturals?" I asked, before looking over at Jerome to notice he did not look so well.

       He looked quite pale and he was holding onto his side.

       "Are you okay, Jerome?" I asked.

       "Yeah," Jerome said, though he was a bit breathless. "I'm just... I feel weak."

       "Why?" Alan asked.

       "I... I don't know," Jerome said. "It... it feels like..." He almost lost his balance even though he was just standing still, so I quickly caught him before sitting him down on the couch.

       "Is he okay?" Rory asked.

       "I'll be fine," Jerome said. "I'm just... lightheaded."

       "Anyway," Alan said. "Do you have any idea why they would end up in Florida?"

       "Not really, no," Rory said. "The only thing I could think of is the people injecting them wanting to bring them elsewhere and use them as their own personal army."

       Alan immediately narrowed his eyes. "Janelle."

       "You literally blame her for everything," Orchid said. "Even who ate my last piece of bacon."

       "Who's Janelle?" Rory asked.

       None of us could reply because just then, a portal opened and Nolan stumbled out of it and because of the klutz he was, he would have toppled over if he didn't grab onto the back of the couch. "After two years, I'm still not use to that," he said before flopping down on the couch Orchid was on and resting his head on her lap. 

       "What are you doing here?" Orchid asked. "And where's Kingsley?"

       "With Mom," Nolan said. "And I came here so I wouldn't die."

       "You're being melodramatic," I said.

       "No, I'm serious," Nolan said. "I felt like I was dying. You guys were taking too long."

       "So?" I asked. "You know what? It doesn't matter. We really need to figure things out."

       "Right, so who's this Janelle?" Rory asked.

       "A vampire we have conflict with," Alan said. "Two years ago, she was part of a rebellion that tried taking us down because a bunch of people thought we were hypocrites. We're not, by the way. We just want to keep supernaturals and humans safe."

       "Wait..." Lacy said. "You're Protectors, aren't you?"

       "Most of us," Alan said. "Orchid, Ryder, and I are. And Nolan, my brother being lazy on the couch over there, is half of one."

       "Lazy?" Nolan asked. "I was dying."

       "Not everything is about you," Alan said.

       "You know, you guys couldn't have showed up at a more perfect time," Abby said. "We really need help, and we don't know if staying here is going to do us any good. We're kind of being hunted down by people who want to experiment on us and Lacy told us about this group called Protectors that can help. Is there anything you guys can do?"

       "Well, we personally can't since we're from Florida so so we technically can't be watching over you," I said. "But when we get back to our headquarters, we'll tell the head there and he'll contact the head of the closest HQ about you guys and they'll help you out."

       "Thank you," Juliet said. "And if there's anything you need, we'll help."

       "All we need is to figure out who's controlling the Laekrants that killed the sorcerers," I said. "And I don't think you'll know the answer for that. But really, everything you did tell us so far helps so thank you."

       "No problem," Rory said. "And thanks for offering to talk to the head of your headquarters for us. We really don't think it's safe for us here. That, and nobody likes Laekrants so Juliet and I feel left out."

       "Juliet never feels left out with Romeo around," Marshal said.

       "For once, can you call me by my actual name?" Cam asked. "Stop calling me Romeo."

       "Never," Marshal said. "Now, I need to give our new friends nicknames. Let's see... There's Rye Bread, Magic Pants, Janelle Hater, Orchie, and..." He looked at Nolan. "Yeah, I don't know enough about you yet."

       "Call him Sleepy," Orchid said.

       "Or Hungry," Alan sad.

       "Or The Gay One," Nolan said.

       "I like that," Orchid said. "Since you always use you being gay as an excuse for literally everything." Nolan only shrugged in reply.

       "Ooh, I like the nicknames," Marshal said. "By the way, my nickname is Martian if anyone wants to call me that."

       "Nobody wants to call you that," Cam said.

       "Shut up, Wolfy," Marshal said.

       "Okay, you either get Romeo or Wolfy," Cam said. "Not both."

       "I'd like to do what I want, thank you," Marshal said.

       "You see?" Rory said to us. "Some of them don't shut up. I'm surprised Avery wasn't said anything yet."

       "Oh, because I put a spell on her," Abby said. "She was annoying me."

       "I should do that to Alan," Nolan said.

       "Why do my fellow triplets hate me?" Alan asked.

       "Because you make it so easy," Orchid said.

       "So, what supernaturals are all of you?" I asked.

       "Marshal's a shapeshifter, Abby's a witch, Cam's a werewolf and so is his little sister Lacy, Avery's a fairy, and then Theo who isn't here right now can cause immense pain just by touching someone," Rory said. "Oh, I forgot something. Laekrants are also telekinetic. We can move things with our mind."

       "Oh, that's cool," Orchid said. "I've always wanted to do that. All I could do is read people's minds."

       "Ooh, read my mind!" Lacy said. 

       "You are thinking about how you ship Theo and Emery," Orchid said. "I don't know Emery."

       "He works at the blacksmiths," Lacy said. "He's always complaining how there's no other gay guys in the village but now there is with Theo. They would be cute together."

       "They would," Marshal agreed. "Little precious Theo needs love."

       "Speaking of love, we should really head back home," I said.

       "Where'd you get that from love?" Orchid asked.

       "Uh, because I love my sons and Rhys is probably awake now," I said before looking over at Jerome. "Are you feeling better now?"

       "Yeah," Jerome said.

       "What happened anyway?" I asked.

       "Uh, why do you think Nolan showed up?" Orchid asked. "The prophecy, remember? He was still all the way in Miami, and they can't be too far apart from each other."

       "Aw, please tell me Nolan and Jerome are dating," Lacy said. "They seem cute together, and it seems like soul mates how they can't be too far apart from each other."

      "Nope, we're not," Jerome said. "We're married."

      "Aw, yay!" Lacy said excitingly. She definitely reminded me of Tulip, shipping people like crazy. "Well, you guys should probably be heading out now. It was nice meeting all of you, and thanks for offering to help out the rest of us."

       "No problem," I said. "I'll make sure to talk to the head as soon as we get back."

______________

This isn't the last of the crossover. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

I missed Marshal giving everybody nicknames. He needs to meet more people to give them nicknames.