Arrangement

Waking up in mine and Seraphina's living quarters was strange. The very last thing I remember is Nathaniel's worrisome face, but I can't remember why he was wearing the expression he had. On top of all that, I had such a horrid nightmare.

As I look over towards the other side of the room, I notice several people standing around Seraphina talking quietly amongst one another.

"What's going on?" I murmur towards the group of people. The whispering stopped and everyone froze in awkward silence for a moment until –

"Oh, good! You're awake!" Jude exclaims. Jude is the director of Camp Camael. He has dark brown, slicked-back hair with luscious green eyes and stands about six feet tall. He's one of the eldest at camp, yet his skin remains young as ever.

"Why does everyone always avoid answering my questions?" I drowsily blurt out at them. I didn't mean it in a rude way but it's true!

"Now, now, Avalon, we're all just as confused as you are," Seraphina chimed in. Just hearing her voice is able to calm me down.

"Well, what's with the confusion?" I ask politely

"That is exactly what we're trying to figure out, but we need your help in connecting the puzzle pieces." Jude addresses

Why do they need my help? I don't even remember myself let alone have the capability to connect stupid ass puzzle pieces!

"I want Nate." I informed for the simple reasoning of him being the last memory that I can recall, and it also might be nice to just have a friend by my side.

I see Jude nod and wave his hand towards Isadora, his lovely wife, to find Nathaniel and bring him here. I don't understand why he isn't already here. Obviously, him being the last thing I laid eyes on, you'd expect him to be front and center for all of this. How else would the others know anything that's going on if it wasn't for Nate? It must have been one hell of an accident. I seem to be getting into a lot of those, lately.

Isadora walks back into the living quarters a few minutes later with Nathaniel right behind her. Isadora looks to be a tall Latin supermodel with black curly hair that flows to her waistline. Her eyes shine a beautiful brown and the accent in her voice can make any man melt; especially with red plush lips.

"Avalon!" I hear Nathaniel call out as he makes his way past Isadora and the rest of the crowd. "I was so worried… I'm sorry I wasn't here for you when you woke up. I –" He tries to continue as a girl off in the corner cuts him off.

"She has Nate, now, can we move on with the issue?" The girl interrupted. It was Raine. She likes to walk around as if she has a stick up her ass and I'm not sure why. I've never spoken a word to her this whole time at camp. She never greeted me when I arrived; nothing. So, her problem she seems to have with me leaves me completely oblivious. Raine has extremely straight and thin black hair that is layered right below her shoulders. Her eyes seem to be a cyan blue, which is strangely intriguing, and she stands about five feet and four inches tall. She's a bit taller than sweet little Enna. Whenever I've seen Raine walking around camp she's always wearing some sort of leather; must be some odd obsession with the fabric.

"Yes, let's get back to that," Jude gives Raine a slight look of order basically letting her know who's in charge around here, "why was Nate needed, Avalon?" he finishes.

"Because he is all that I can remember, and I have no idea what's going on…" I blurted out trying not to sound frustrated. Answers still remain irrelevant to them and it's going to start pissing me off. If they tell me what exactly is going on then it may jog my memory a little for me to remember and give them the pieces to the puzzle that they are missing.

"Wait, you don't remember anything at all?" Nate said in surprise. "I heard you… screaming… and when I got to you, your oxygen was almost drained from your entire being; you were almost…" He whimpered underneath his breath and I can tell that seeing me like that hurt him. It hurt him a lot more than I would ever imagine.

"But I'm fine now, Nathaniel," I smile while standing up to caress his cheek, "I'm okay and it's all thanks to you." I continued to soothe his nerves and I feel as if Seraphina's magical motherly touch rubbed off on me.

"Nate was able to give viable information on the matter, but it was a minute amount. Other than the trees that were knocked over and the force of the wind that surrounded you, is there any information that you are able to relay?" Jude questions me in hopes that the dots can finally be connected and everything can come full circle.

Trees? Wind? I remember now… it's all becoming clear again.

"The man. The man in the mask. From where you had me take that absurd fucking test!" I described while putting my face in my palms. I want to run out the door and leave them all far behind me, but without them, I apparently wouldn't be alive. But without them, I also wouldn't have been put here in the first place. I just need to stop being confused all the damn time!

"He found her," Jude claimed to the rest of the Guardians sending them out one by one to check the perimeters of camp. "Everything will be alright, Avalon, no need to worry. This does have something to do with your mission. The meeting will be set for tonight after dinner. We need to address this as fast as possible. Get yourself up and moving to shake off the things that have happened to you and to be ready for the news at hand." He concluded while walking out of the living quarters.

"I'm guessing you have to leave me, too," I say towards Nathaniel. He's the only one other than Seraphina that I feel comfortable and safe around even if I've only talked to him a few times. Everything seems to be so natural with him by my side. This life just 'clicks' when he's around.

"Not at all," He says while grabbing a hold of my hands, "I am to be your own personal bodyguard for the next few days." He gleams. His smile blocks out all the stress in the world and that's all I can think about. His smile can do nothing but make me smile in return and I don't know whether to hate him for it yet or not.

"Good," I quietly giggle while walking towards the door to make it to dinner in time.

The kitchen during dinner time is loud and rambunctious. The camp gathers together and acts silly while conversing about the day they had. You can hear some groups jokingly singing their favorite songs and other groups making beats with their utensils. Everyone is overjoyed and I'm stuck feeling lost. This isn't my kind of scene and I'm glad that I have Nate beside me or else I'd wallow in my lonesome. The menu for tonight's dinner is between a chicken parmesan dish and steak with a baked potato. I've come to the realization that the kitchen here at Camp Camael is like a 5-star restaurant – they go all out on their dishes but I'm sure as hell not complaining!

Nate and I are sitting at our normal spot all the way in the back of the dining area. We notice the other Guardians cleaning up their mess and heading out of the building. I'm guessing its time…

"You ready?" Nate asks with a concerned look on his face.

"I'll have to be, right?" I respond with an uneasy feeling. I'm not sure what to expect from this meeting and the unknowing is eating me to the core.

"Hey," Nate nudges me with his shoulder, "it'll be okay. I'll be next to you the whole time. If you start getting nervous just grab a hold of my hand." He reassures me with that smirk I adore.

We start to clean up our table and head out behind the rest of the gang. It seems with each step that I take the more anxious I become. Nearing Jude's and Isadora's living quarters sends a shiver down my spine. Am I really ready for all of this?

"There's the love-birds! I mean, happy campers!" Liam greets us at the door and I can't help but keep a straight face at the joke he just tried cracking.

"Speaking of love-birds, how are you and Luna doing?" Nate responds doing the talking for me, thank God.

"We're doing quite well, thank you for asking," Liam replies in a cheerful manner again. How is any of this exciting to him? It's half irritating me. "Sorry for the joke, Avalon, I know you're freaking out on the inside right now. Remember what I said at breakfast yesterday, everything will turn out just fine! This means you, too." Liam continues as if he can read minds or my body language is that readable.

As I walk through the door there's a huge round table in the center of the front room where everyone is gathered around.

"Take a seat, Avalon." Jude greeted from across the table. "Now, let us begin." He added on.

Isadora stands up next to Jude while the rest of us sit patiently, "Tonight, we are going to address the mission for Avalon. Avalon has a hard task to accomplish and we will need her to understand it to the best of her capability. So, please, no interruptions. There will be time to add insight on the mission after Jude has completely explained it. Everyone here should know the seriousness in this matter and will be expected to comply with what is asked of them. Thank you for your time, tonight. Jude," Isadora finishes up her beginning speech leaving the rest up to her husband and it doesn't help my anxiety. I need to maintain my cool. I can't look overwhelmed in front of all the Guardians. They sound like their counting on me, and it's my duty to let them.