[5] Secrets

We exited the strange city and made our way back to the mortal town I knew. I could spot the medical centre in the distance and I saw familiar faces as Ethan drove his vehicle by. We swung into the car park at the centre, exiting the vehicle. As we moved towards the entrance I looked around the perimeter of the building, noticing how the peachy paint had worn off over the years, how the sign on the wall had dulled from being in constant contact with direct rays of sunlight, how ordinary people passed the streets without care, off on their merry ways about.

“You okay?” Ethan asked, opening the glass double doors.

I nodded, unconvincingly. I walked in and turned to him, “Just thinking about how ordinary this place looks now that I've seen both sides of it.”

Ethan told me to take a seat as he made his way to the receptionist's desk. He said something to the young woman that made her turn her glassy blue eyes my way in an expression I couldn't decipher. I studied her carefully; trying to pinpoint any signs I could find to associate her with the Wielders. Pale blonde hair, fair, glassy blue eyes, tall and slender, she had a tattoo on her neck that I could tell she tried desperately to hide with foundation and powder. The makeup was beginning to wear off, and I could spot the obvious details showing that it was a tattoo of a deer. I’d given a similar tattoo so many people during my time at the tattoo parlour. This receptionist looked young, maybe around my age of twenty-one, though I believed she was far prettier.

I had inherited most of my traits from my father, hence my permanent height of five-foot-six (my dad is five-foot-nine, and I doesn’t not want to be any taller), my hazel eyes (my mom's eyes are amber, my dad's are dark brown), I was quite slender, too. My straight hair was raven, and whenever the sun would hit it, it appeared a metallic blue. I liked that about it; when I was younger I thought it was magic and that I was secretly a mermaid. My limbs were quite long; I always had a bit of insecurity pulling at me on the inside because I felt at times that they were too long.

Ethan had finished his conversation with the young woman and had taken the seat beside me. I'd realised how caught up I was in comparing myself to that girl. Ethan giggled, asking what was on my mind.

“Your expression is quite intimidating,” He confessed.

“Is she one of us?” I asked, sheepishly.

He looked up, “The receptionist?”

I nodded.

“Nope,” Ethan chuckled softly, "Not everyone in the Wielder world has a normal job, too but to make everything completely normal for humans, we blend in. It's especially easy for Wielders who found out they were Guardians after living an ordinary mundane life. The ones who were born into The Guardianship and who were raised at the Academy... weren't so lucky.”

I scoffed, “Lemme guess, they're... antisocial, buff, bitch-faced and always on the lookout like they're trying not to be paranoid but yet calm and disciplined like a soldier.”

Ethan shrugged, “Not all of them.

We waited for about ten minutes, until the receptionist finally ushered us to the doctor's office. Caesar wasn't there, but I took a seat and Ethan stood, waiting. I had become curious about what Ethan had told the receptionist.

“What did you tell her my problem was?” I asked.

“Remember your check-up earlier? You ran out without completing anything.”

I lowered my head, embarrassed. Not long after, the tall, slender figure came marching into the office with a folder in his hand. His expression was blank, but the semblance of a smile grew slowly on his face as he turned to Ethan.

“Welcome back, nine-O-two,” he said, shaking Ethan's hand.

“Nine-O-Two?” I whispered, looking up at Ethan.

Caesar turned to me, “Oh yes. I'll explain that, too.”

Caesar and Ethan shared a thread of expressions between themselves before I interrupted, “So, um... how does this work, exactly?”

Caesar switched his field of vision to me. “You ask the questions, I give the answers. Then I explain basic things that will take you to the next set of people who will tell you more. Basically.”

I made herself comfortable, “Okay. First question. The first time I was here you said I was going to do scans after a check-up. Then, you made Ethan leave and then some freaky stuff happened on a piece of paper, and I ran out and apparently blacked out...again.”

“It was necessary for you to feel like the check-up was genuine, but you had to find out on your own and your friend here was afraid that him being in the room would somehow turn you against him,” Caesar said. “It was a planned thing, really. Ethan called me when you’d first blacked out at the actual accident to tell me what to do before you both even showed up. Not that I needed the plan –I’ve done this so many times before.”

“Oh.” I raised an eyebrow, smirked, and turned to Ethan. “Is that so?”

“If you saw both of us doing weird magic all of a sudden while you were traumatized and woozy, would you have trusted me?” He said, pointedly.”

“Fine. Next question,” I turned back to Caesar who had collapsed into his office chair. “Why the poem?” I folded one leg over the other and leaned forward gripping to the edge of the cushioned seat, “Ethan didn't find out that way. He didn't tell me how he found out for himself, but why the poem for me? How was it relative? How did you know it would work, too?”

Caesar turned in his chair, trying desperately to get comfortable, but failing at every attempt to search for the right words, “People who are of our kind find out in a multitude of ways. It could be by growing up in a family of Guardians or depending on their abilities or by accident or even by force. In terms of growing up in the Guardianship, it could mean you were born in the Wielder city. In terms of abilities, people find out in all sorts of ways... depending on what they do... an accident might happen... they might try something and magic sparks while they do it... stuff like that. By accident could mean you didn’t mean to find out or didn’t know you were supposed to know. You just did something that led to the reveal. By force... well... let’s say the higher powers probably needed you or something. You found out through the poem based on your questions. Plus, I’m a doctor, it’s pretty easy for me to tell what kind of person you are. I may not be a psychologist, but I’m working on it.”

“Wait, so for me...” I said, thinking... “I found out by accident?”

Caesar, turning to Ethan, shot him a look of disappointment. Ethan shrugged, and Caesar turned back to me. “Yes,” he said, “You did.”

“I'm still missing so much of what really happened. Would you please just tell me the entire story?” I begged, turning to Ethan.

Ethan sighed. “Whatever you learn from this, whether you trust me or not afterwards,” He rested both his hands on my arms before continuing, “Just know that I will never stop trying to protect you.” He had this look of pure worry in his face...

“What makes you think I'm going to stop talking to you?” I asked him. I felt slightly angry that he would even bother considering the possibility of that happening. “Ethan, if I was so paranoid about this I would have left you hanging since the car ride to the apartments.”

“The Wielder city is just the tip of the iceberg, Faye. That's nothing compared to the level of dirt that is sometimes required to get our jobs done,” He admitted.

“You're not a bad person,” I said gently, hugging him, “You’re not a bad person and I know it. Whatever I learn about today, I promise if there's something in the info that freaks me out, I won't show it. I'm pretty good at hiding my own feelings. Much like you.”

Ethan was caught off guard at that. He dropped his head and I could see his eyes filling with tears that were struggling not to fall. I brought my fingers to his cheek and wiped them away. His emerald eyes stared back at mine and I observed my reflection. I wondered how I looked and who I was from his point of view.

“I trust you,” I said to him.

He stood up straight and nodded to Caesar saying, “Okay. Let's just get this over with.”