Eternity

Chapter 2, Good and Evil

Chapter II, Good and Evil

The rest of the day passed dully and uneventfully.  Truth be-told none of these classes held interest for Amara, she had taken and passed them all a million times over and although she also attended Calculus and Phys-Ed with Casey neither spoke to each other, they were saving it for after school.  However numerous glances had been exchanged, mostly cold warning stares from Amara and mischievous mocking glances from Casey.  Once the shrill sound of the bell rang signalling the end of final period, Amara headed straight to her locker and gathered up her books into her faded denim shoulder bag, which was her constant companion in the crowded school hallways. 

She noticed that Tali hadn’t come around yet smiling and poking in Amara’s business, as was her tendency to do.  However Amara knew that Tali would most definitely be at the confrontation between herself and Casey, Tali wouldn’t miss something like that for the world.

Amara slammed her locker door shut with a sharp metallic clang and turned to walk down the slowly emptying hallway, however as she spun sharply on her heel; who would she find herself standing face-to-face with but Casey,

“Hi” said Casey, who was wearing a rather odd smirk on his handsome face. 

“What do want, Horseman?” questioned Amara, momentarily forgetting that they had an ‘appointment’ with each other.

“Why, I believe we have a date” Casey’s smirk quickly turned to a mischievous grin.

“It is not a date, Try to get that through your thick skull and into your small, underused brain”, Casey’s grin widened further at the outburst; it was more than obvious that he was loving every minute of this.

“Fine, would you prefer I said ‘mutual business appointment’?”

“I would prefer it if you shut up”

“Actually I’d rather not”, Amara felt her temper rise, she was mad enough now that she should have steam blowing out of her ears. 

“You really are evil, you know that right?”
“Well…”

“Oh never mind!” snapped Amara.

“Ohh, such a temper; how un-Guardian like” said Casey mockingly.  Amara took a deep breath, she hated to admit it but Casey was right.  Guardians weren’t supposed to have tempers, or at least not ones they couldn’t control.  She forced a smile and glared at Casey, looking every bit as evil as he did.

“I should just vanquish you right now”

“You wish!” laughed Casey “Neither side knows how to destroy each other!”

“Yes I am aware” Amara sighed.

“Hey!! Amara!” came Tali’s voice from behind them, the two rivals turned toward her with matching expressions of shock.

“T-Tali!?” Stuttered Amara

“How long have you been standing there?” asked Casey, voicing Amara’s thoughts.  He actually seemed rather worried; exposure was no better for him than it was for Amara.

“A few minutes”, Tali’s deep brown eyes were shining with mystery; something that tended to happen when she had a juicy secret.  Amara and Casey exchanged glances of sheer panic, before turning back to Tali.

“So what all did you hear?” Inquired Casey in a threatening tone

“Nothing!” squeaked Tali taking a step back “I couldn’t hear you from were I was standing”.  Casey looked relieved but Amara knew Tali well enough to know when she was lying.  Tali fiddled with the fraying pockets of her blue jeans when she lied, it was the only way to tell if she was lying seeing as she was an expert at it.  She was fiddling with her pockets now.

“Well I had better get going then” said Casey breaking the tense silence “I have some business I must attend to”, He waved at Tali and turned to wink at Amara before walking away as swiftly as his army-booted feet would carry him.

“So what did you really hear?” asked Amara looking sharply at Tali with her blue and silver eyes.

“Everything” said Tali calmly “And know I would love it if you would tell me what exactly all of this means”.

Amara looked at Tali, unsure of what to say.  However, what she told Tali wasn’t her largest growing concern at the moment; she was far more worried about what she was going to tell the other Guardians.  Revealing the truth to a mortal was strictly forbidden unless it was deemed necessary or excusable by the Keepers. 

The Keepers were the head of all Guardians’; they took the forms of 20 year olds to show their status. They handed out the assignments and laid down the rules and they worked directly with Gaia.  It was every Guardian’s goal to become a Keeper, every few centuries a Keeper would retire and a Guardian would be promoted to take his/her place while a new recruit from the current century’s mortal young people would be brought in to take the promoted Guardians place. 

Amara took a deep breath and slowly began to explain to Tali the truth behind truths, which had lied un-disturbed since their friendship began…