Golden Guardians

When the guardians arrived at the castle they took Harry upstairs. They took off his jacket, shoes, and socks but left everything else on. Harry was still asleep so they quietly left the room.

"How do you know we're the golden guardians? They only come around once every 1,000 generations," Holt asks.

"Can I explain tomorrow? Harry will be awake and I need time to actually think through what just happened," Ella rubs her forehead.

"Yeah, that's fine," Brooke motions for Ella to go to her room.

"Is she ok?" Holt asks as soon as Ella enters her room.

"She's gone too long without water," Brooke says.

"What do you mean?" Holt looks at his friend curiously.

"When mermaids choose to live on land for any amount of time, they're risking drying out. It's when their bodies get so dry that it's physically painful for them when they grow their tail out. Ella usually takes 2 hour long baths once a week to not risk anything happening," Brooke explains.

"When was the last time she took that bath?" Holt asks.

"Probably a month ago, she thinks showers still help but they don't. It's obvious," Brooke says.

"We need to get her into actual water soon," Holt suggests.

"We better do it soon. We can ask Ronald if we can go on a picnic tomorrow and that way she'll be able to swim in actual water," Brooke plans out.

"Sounds good, now go sleep. It's late and too much has happened," Holt and Brooke say good night to each other and go their separate ways.

Brooke takes her time to wash off her makeup and clean her face. She gets into bed worried about her 2 friends that don't seem to care about their own health.

When morning came by Harry and Brooke woke up early and talked with Ronald. After explaining the situation, Ronald agreed that they can have the day to go on a picnic.

"Wake up, Ella," Brooke walks into Ella's room. She was still asleep when Brooke opened her blinds, allowing the sun to bathe the room in light.

"I don't want to," Ella's voice was muffled from her face being pushed against her pillow.

"We're gonna go on a picnic today," Brooke is answered with a grunt of annoyance. "By the lake."

This causes Ella to lift her head to look at Brooke. After confirming that they're going to the lake, Ella gets out of bed and packs some clothes. The girls go downstairs to help pack a basket filled with food.

Bear Lake is very beautiful. Its waters are clear and cool, a perfect combination for a hot day. Though it was cold, Ella still decided on getting in the water. The guardians all wore warm clothing to protect themselves from the autumn weather.

Holt drove the 2 hours it took to get there while Brooke sat next to him. Harry and Ella were told to sit in the back since they weren't feeling too well.

Brooke and Holt took out their food basket and drinks from the car, setting them up on one of the tables. Harry helped set the plastic plates and utensils for everyone, Ella sat down next to him.

"Aren't you getting in the water?" Harry asks her.

"I haven't had breakfast yet," Ella starts making herself a sandwich.

"How long are we gonna be here?" Harry looks at Holt.

"As long as we want," Harry says. "Ronald agreed that we can take as much time as we need today."

They made light conversation while eating their food. They saved some snacks for later in the day. Brooke puts the food into its containers and puts them in the car while Holt throws away their trash. Brooke grabs a blanket from the car before walking back to her friends, she lays it under a tree allowing them to sit down.

"I'm gonna go get in the water," Ella stands.

"Do we need to shield our eyes?" Holt jokes.

"I don't feel like dealing with taking off my clothes, that's why I brought an extra outfit," Ella takes off her scarf and jacket as she explains.

"So, you're just gonna jump into ice-cold water in jeans and a shirt?" Holt asks.

"Sounds about right," Ella turns to the lake and starts walking.

"Is this safe?" Ella can hear Holt asks Brooke.

Ella walks into the water until it reaches her hips, she takes a deep breath and dives under. Being completely underwater, her purple tail starts to form. Only something was different this time. Her scales had flakes of gold all over them, the tattoos that showed up on her arms when she transformed were also gold.

Ella swims underwater for a few minutes, relishing in the feeling of the icy water. She swims along with some of the fish she finds. Deciding she had swum long enough, she turns and swims back to where her friends were now sleeping. She brings some water out from the lake and sprinkles it on top of them to wake them up.

"Is it raining?" Harry asks sleepily.

"Nope," Ella says. "Just me."

"Do you need help getting out?" Brooke walks closer to Ella.

"Yes, but I also wanted to show you guys something," Ella says. She was laying on her stomach while she talked, she lifted the lower half of her tail to bring it out of the water. Ella showed her friends the new gold flakes that decorated her tail.

"Those weren't there before," Brooke observes.

"Does it have anything to do with us being the Golden Guardians?" Holt asks.

"It might," Ella says, unsure.

"Golden guardians?" Harry asks.

"Let me get out and I'll catch you up to speed," Ella pushes herself up and gets out of the water with Brooke's help.

The boys turn around and stay far away while Brooke holds up a towel for Ella to change behind. They walk over and sit down on the blanket when she's done. Harry and Holt join them, immediately opening a bag of chips.

"Last night, when we found you in the room with Esther and her friends," Ella says to Harry. "I got mad and attacked her. Holt and Brooke took you out of the room and went to the car. I almost killed Esther. Axel came in and tried to get me to let go but I wouldn't. Eventually, Emperess Persephone separated us and made some guards take Esther home."

Ella takes a breath before continuing.

"I was looking down because I was angry at myself. Hades asked me to look at him but I thought I was in trouble so I didn't look up. Persophone came and something about her just made me trust her. I looked up at her and everyone in the room, including the royal family of Elder Woods, saw my eyes. Apparently I was ice cold cause Persephone had to warm me up. My eyes changed back to brown and Persophone said I was the golden guardian. Which means," Ella looks at her friends. "We're the Golden Guardians."

"Does that change anything?" Holt asks. "Like, the golden guardians are important but how important can they be?"

"They only come around every 1,000 generations because usually during that time something really bad is going to happen. So, us being the golden guardians means that something really bad is going to happen," Brooke explains.

"That means we're gonna go through harder training," Holt says.

"I overheard Ronald talking about sending us to our element's homelands when we're finished with our training together. He thinks we'll be able to control our power individually better that way," Ella says.

"Looks like we have a lot of work to do," Harry sighs.