Circle of Light

Circle Of Light

By Jacquelyn Danielle Childs

A guttural, animalistic growl cut through the night air. A second later, it was followed by a piercing howl that echoed off the heavily wooded hills at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains in the distance.

To an untrained ear, the howl might sound like it came from a wolf. But I wasn’t untrained, not in the least. And I knew immediately that it was no wolf. That was what we were here to hunt. That howl came from a creature of the night.

I closed my eyes where I stood and searched my surroundings for the other Guardians around me. Although we were spread out dozens of yards apart in the dense woods, I could clearly identify all six of my fellow Guardians who had been sent on this mission too. We were positioned in a semicircle, cornering the creature ahead. I shifted my attention in that direction and could feel the demon-like creature still about a mile ahead. But close enough we would be in striking distance any moment.

As if reading my thoughts, the others began running forward. I could feel them all sprint in unison to catch the animal where it was. I sprinted forward myself but knew they were all much faster than me. Never one who enjoyed getting left behind, I used my own advantage and jumped into the wind, allowing it to carry me away.

When my feet hit the ground a few seconds later, I was in a small clearing in the woods. The other six Guardians were coming to a stop side by side, facing the line of trees at the base of one of the taller mountains out here in the Virginia wilderness.

There it was.

The trees rustled violently from top to bottom as if being pushed by something much more aggressive than just the wind. A second later, the creature came barreling out of the woods with another guttural growl in our direction. Now that we were no longer a mile away, only about 50 yards actually, the growl was so loud it almost hurt my ears.

I looked up at the giant demon-like creature ahead. It had to have been about five stories high, all bones and sharp angles with its legs and arms bent backward at the joints to give it the appearance of a huge baby bird but with arms instead of wings. A slate gray, leathery skin was stretched over the sharp bones and disjointed angles. The whole appearance was so grotesque I couldn’t help but shiver a little.

Even so, when the creature took one giant, wobbly step toward us and let out another growl, my mouth curled up in a little half smile. This many Guardians was overkill. Looking at the creature ahead of us, I knew it wouldn’t even take half of these Guardians to take this thing down. But hey, we were nothing if not an efficient team. So as the other Guardians charged forward, I was hot on their heels and used the wind to leap forward with a howl of my own.

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Standing in front of the mirror, I pulled back my straightened light brown hair into a sleek ponytail. I had considered coloring it before the first day of school. I was never a fan of my hair. It wasn’t dark enough to be a pretty brown, but it wasn’t light enough to be considered blonde either. It was the blandest hair ever. But it was still me and I had a hard time picturing me with lighter or darker hair, so I’d continued to stick with what I was given.

I felt my mother approaching from down the hall and turned around as she leaned against my door frame.

“Well don’t you look lovely,” Mom said with a smile.

“Thanks,” I said and looked down at the outfit I chose. Keep it simple; a cute new pair of blue jeans and a short-sleeved, button-up green blouse that made my eyes pop. My hair might be boring, but at least I had my cool emerald green eyes and I enjoyed wearing clothes that showed them off.

“You ready for your first day of school? Junior year is a big one, right?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I’m excited. It’ll be good to see everyone again.”

I went to a very small private school where we lived in Washington D.C. It was so small that everyone knows everyone and in fact, most of us had all gone to the same, equally small elementary school. So we pretty much grew up together. They were another family, and it made the first day of school feel like a fun family reunion. Well, if you can get past the boring classes and cafeteria food.

“Are you sure you’re feeling up for it?” Mom asked. “If you’re too tired, I can call the school and…”

“No, Mom,” I said, shaking my head. “Seriously, I really am looking forward to it. Do I really look that tired?”

“No,” Mom said laughing. “You don’t look tired at all actually. I just worry about you. I asked your dad not to send you on that mission last night.”

“It really wasn’t that big of a deal,” I assured her. “If anything, it was too easy and over really quick. I kind of wish I could’ve been more helpful.”

“You more helpful?” Mom laughed again. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. I just look at what the other Guardians can do in these fights... I sometimes feel like a waste of space.”

Mom’s face went serious really quick.

“Brielle Anne,” she said almost angrily. “You are never a waste of space. I can’t believe you would even say that.”

“I didn’t mean it like that… I just…” I trailed off as I tried to figure out how to express what I was feeling.

“Why do you think your father was so adamant that you go on that mission? Because he knows you’re the best tracker in our Circle. I mean, other than him maybe. You have an incredible power that is instrumental in hunting these things. You know that.”

“I know,” I said, shaking my head. “I know I can help finding these things. It’s just... I guess I wish I was a bit more help in fighting them when we actually get there. You know?”

“I get it,” Mom said and crossed the room. She ran her fingers through the hair in my ponytail and smiled down at me. “Brielle, we all have gifts. Strengths. But none of us can have all of the strengths. That’s why it’s important that we have each other. That we work together as a team. That’s the point of the Circle.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” I said and got to my feet. I gave her a quick hug.

“It’s okay. I just want you to know how special you are.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Do you want a ride to school?” She asked.

“I’m good. I’ll take the train.” I started gathering the last of my stuff and putting it in my backpack. “You’re taking Evin to school anyway right?”

My little sister Evin was starting 6th grade and it would be her last year at the elementary school where I had gone. Next year, we’d be in the same school again.

“I can take you both,” She answered.

“Nah, focus on Ev,” I said as I threw my backpack over my shoulder. “Pretty sure there’s some social etiquette in high school that says it’s no longer cool to have your mom drop you off.”

Mom laughed and headed out of my room. “Fine,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll focus on the daughter who isn’t embarrassed to be seen with me.” Then she stopped and turned around in the doorway. “Have a good day today, Bri.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

I grabbed my phone off of my dresser and checked my reflection in my vanity mirror one more time.

My look was simple and classic, the way I liked it. I had never liked to stand out. In fact, when I was younger, I tried really hard not to because I knew I would have to live a double life. And I thought that keeping myself hidden in day-to-day life would make it easier to cope with the secrets. Normal people couldn’t know about Guardians’ powers, or there would be chaos. Our role in life was to be protectors of human society and keep the dark realm at bay. But we did it in secret.

I tried to fade into the background but it became difficult after I started training regularly and fighting with the Circle. The day following my second battle ever, I was cornered three different times at school by different boys asking me to the school dance the following weekend. After struggling to politely turn down the third offer, I ran to the nurse’s office, physically sick, and lost my lunch before being sent home. Back home, sitting in my room physically and mentally drained from the fight the night before and emotionally drained from the battle of life as a middle school girl, I broke into tears.

Later, when my father got home, he sat and explained to me that our responsibilities in life weren’t limited to the battlefield. My plan to stay hidden would never work. The problem was our powers stemmed from the light of the world itself. That special light shines in us in a way that draws people in. When we use our powers, it only magnifies that light and draws even more attention. Unless I gave up being who I was meant to be, it wasn’t possible to smother that light. Instead, I would need to find a way to coexist with people constantly paying attention, but still manage to not reveal the Guardians’ secrets.

This was why my father, Alexander Hunter II, hid in plain sight as the Deputy Under Secretary for Management at the Department of Homeland Security. People of both magical and non-magical types had an immense amount of respect for my father who was a natural leader. People loved to follow him.

And he was right. Once I accepted and learned to live with the attention, things got much easier at school. I chose to embrace the attention but still stay myself. Instead of becoming some stereotypical popular girl, I chose to become a good leader like my father. I threw myself into community service and various student councils and leadership roles. If I had to be seen, I wanted to use that light only for good.

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The first day of school chaos made getting in, traversing the hallways, and getting to my class a bit more trouble than it usually was. Our school started in the seventh grade and you could tell immediately who the seventh graders were, lost and wild-eyed wandering the halls. I smiled and brushed past them to my locker, the same locker I had had since my own seventh grade year.

After the initial morning chaos, everything seemed to fall into a regular routine. In fact, by the time I was walking out of my first class of the day, I was already counting down the hours until lunch and wondering why I had been so excited for today to begin with. School was school and hindsight told me it really wasn’t anything to get excited about.

But at least Zoe was in my next class. Class with my B.F.F. had to be fun. Right?

I stopped by my locker to get my Spanish textbook out before heading to class. But as soon as I got to my locker every hair stood on end as the nerves in my body screamed.

Something terrible was about to happen.