Of The Sky

By Lauren Hansen

Waking up in an unknown place should be scary, but for some reason, I felt surprisingly calm... ish... about it. Okay, I may have been mildly panicking, but the point is, I kept my wits about me! When I first arrived, I knew two things: my name is Kalani, and I need to find my brother, Zane. Everything has been a learning experience. I was told, being a Guardian would be hard, yet everyone was vague about the details. They didn't tell me I would have intense, realistic simulations to get through-the type that in the end really messes with your feelings. "Let them die," yeah, like that's easy to swallow. They certainly didn't tell me that one of my classes would be how to fly. Who leaves that out? Seriously, flying is awesome. They really should have led with that. I credit Samuel with making things easier. He's a sweet talker who knows what to say to turn me into a blubbering idiot. The whole "I like him and he likes me" scenario really gets twisted when I learn a huge secret. Do I tell him? Do I keep it to myself? It makes the "let's be honest" thing difficult when what you have to say is life altering. As if that weren't hard enough, Zane decides to slap me with his own dose of the truth. Dude, come on, I'm your twin; you should've known better. I know you're just trying to help right now, but it's just giving me more anxiety. Ugh! On top of it all, it turns out Guardianship is about to be changed forever. Thanks, Alex.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635252309

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Of the Sky

Lauren Hansen

ISBN 978-1-63525-229-3 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63525-230-9 (Digital)

Copyright © 2016 by Lauren Hansen

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

296 Chestnut Street

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Acknowledgements

About the Author

For my Ma, Francesca Hot Pants, and Joel.

You all know what you did.

Chapter 1

Zane, I whisper. Zane, are you there… Pssssst… Zane, I say a little louder this time. Where are you? I call out. No answer.

I get up and start walking toward a light switch. I flick it on, and bright light floods the room. Squinting my eyes, I move around the room to see if I can find my brother or, at the very least, some sort of clue as to where I am.

As my eyes adjust to the light, I can see that to my right is a big black door. The mere size and color alone make me hesitant to walk through it. To my left is a jumble of furniture arranged in front of rows and rows of books. The couch I woke up on sits next to a beat-up old coffee table with a few water rings and an empty plate with crumbs strewn all around it. Did I eat? I don’t remember eating in which case the person who lives here is a little bit of a slob. There is a table on the corner of the room where there seems to be a very close game of chess going on. The large marble pieces are strewn around the board with the taken pieces discarded to the sides. From what I can gather, white is winning. One more move and they will have black in checkmate.

Focus Kalani. You have to find Zane and hightail it outta here! I say to myself.

Noticing that the big black door is the only way out, I walk over to it and muster up the courage to go through. Relax. There is nothing scary on the other side of this door, I tell myself. I decide to run over to the bookshelf and grab a bookend for protection. Just in case. At the very least I can hit someone in the head with it or throw it or something.

I turn the knob and push the door open. The door gives a loud creak as it opens.

"

shhhhh

!" I yell at the door as if it can hear me.

I find myself in a long hallway and slowly begin walking, gluing myself to the wall. I guess I think that if I am one with the wall, no one will notice me. I stop at every door, swallow hard, and bust in yelling like a maniac, swinging my bookend in all directions, hoping that if Zane isn’t there, I can at least catch whoever is in there off guard. Every door reveals an empty room.

I come out of the last door and notice another hallway full of more rooms. This is gonna take a while, I say under my breath. After checking every room, each with less enthusiasm as the previous, I come to a large staircase that leads to a foyer. Talk about a grand staircase. There’s a giant chandelier hanging over it, illuminating the downstairs area. I take a quick peek over the banister to see if anyone is down there, and when I see no one, I creep down the stairs slowly until I reach the bottom. A large white door stands in front of me. This must be the exit. There’s a very large part of me screaming,

get out of here

! The other smaller part knows that I cannot leave without knowing for sure that Zane is not here.

I decide left is as good as any place to start, sigh heavily, and make my way down the hall. This particular path leads me to a kitchen, and let me just say, holy kitchen! This thing is massive! What could you possibly need that many cabinets for? Whatever. I need to move on. Zane isn’t in here. I go back to the door and, this time, go right. Another hallway.

Really? More hallway? Good grief. Who designed this place? Where’s the imagination? Checking all these rooms is exhausting! I say quietly. Using the same approach of scream and wave as I did upstairs, I check each room and determine that Zane is not in this house. In fact, no one is in this house.

Walking through the big white door is a lot easier than the black one upstairs. I turn the knob, fling the bookend, and race out the door. Once I’m around the corner at what I feel is a safe distance from the strange house, I find a bench, sit down, and take a deep breath.

My gut is telling me that Zane is okay. He is somewhere in this strange city, and all I have to do is find him. I stand atop the bench in an attempt to get a better vantage point and look around. A skyscraper off in the distance catches my eye. There is no logical explanation as to why Zane would be there, but I decide to go for it. I have this gnawing feeling that is where he is.

I guess it’s as good a place as any to start looking, I say, not that there is anyone around to hear me.

I jog down the only path on this hill and decide the more populated route to my destination is the safest. The less crowded route would be much more conducive to finding Zane as quickly as possible, but staying in an area where I don’t stick out seems like the safer way to go.

Getting from the hill to the metropolitan area is cake. Navigating the city is proving to be a bit more difficult. After getting turned around what seems like hundreds of times, I finally see the skyscraper about a block down. I hurry down the street, passing people who don’t even seem to notice me. I’m steps away from the front doors of the building when out of the corner of my eye, I see a woman across the street, carrying bags, about to run into a very full bike rack.

In the blink of an eye I find myself in front of the rack, screaming, "

stop

!" The woman stops in her tracks, but the fact that she is half on and half off the curb causes her to lose her footing and start tumbling down. I spring forward and catch her just before she hits the ground.

Thank you, she says, sounding a little winded.

I didn’t mean to make you fall. I saw you from across the street, heading straight for the bike rack, and it didn’t look like you knew you were about to crash right into it, I tell her, handing her the last bag.

You must have pretty good speed on you to notice me and get to me from that distance. Well, I know you do since you caught me before I fell too hard, she says.

Was I really that fast? I didn’t think I was, but I’m not sure of much today.

She peers down at her watch, and her eyes grow wide. I better go. Thank you again for saving me, she yells as she proceeds down her original route.

I return to the front of the building, determined not to get distracted again, and notice that it is much more beautiful up close than it had been from far away. I take a step back to admire it some more. The first thing I notice is that this building is all window—tall wide windows. I close my eyes tight and then open them again. I take another step back and rub my eyes. That glow is still there. I look up and see the sun in the sky. It’s not the sun setting behind it. I can’t seem to figure out where the glow is coming from. I guess, maybe it’s just a glowing building. Whatever the cause is, it’s pretty. So much for not getting sidetracked anymore. I walk back up to the doors and pull open one of the heavy golden doors without a clue as to what I’ll find inside or what I’m going to do next.

There’s an information booth that stands in the middle of the room, and I walk toward it. I don’t know what I’m expecting to find there; it’s not like the woman standing there is going to be able to tell me where my brother is. She’s never even met my brother before. I approach her slowly and hesitantly. When I reach her, I notice that she is smiling—big smile—and when I say big smile, I mean big smile. You would think a smile like that would make me more apprehensive. What could you be so happy about sitting behind a desk all day? The opposite happens. I suddenly feel at ease. I can feel the calm surging through my body as my muscles relax and my mind finally takes a break from racing. All I feel is… happy.

Can I help you? she asks.

I’m looking for my brother, I answer.

Oh, were you separated somewhere here in the building? she asks.

No, I was somewhere else. Come to think of it, I don’t know where I was. All I know is, I need to find my brother, and it seemed like this would be a good place to start looking, I explain.

I don’t know what is making me be so open about all my answers. This woman doesn’t know me. She’s a complete stranger. For all I know, she is the one who separated Zane and me to begin with; she’s the one who put me in that dark, cold room by myself—highly unlikely, but you never know.

Her smile is bigger now, if that’s even possible. Part of me wants to ask how it doesn’t hurt to smile like that. Before I can, she asks me for my name.

Kalani… I say without any hesitation. What is wrong with you? Don’t give this strange person your name, I yell to myself. There is a struggle inside of my head that keeps saying, Don’t you dare give her more information while the other part is stuck in this calm feeling that this woman is making me feel. Ehhhh, she’s all right, I end up deciding.

… and my brother’s name is Zane, I add. Kalani, if this woman does anything to us, I am going to kill you! My instinct is trying too hard to overcome whatever this… this thing that this woman is inflicting on me.

Follow me, she says. My legs start to follow her, but my mind is still yelling at me, This is probably how you ended up in that room to begin with! You know better than this!

Bathroom! I scream randomly before slapping my hands over my mouth.

I’m sorry? she says, turning around.

I need to use the bathroom, I say calmer this time.

She shows me to the restroom and waits outside for me.

Let’s just look at this logically, I begin saying out loud in front of the mirror, hoping to silence all this paranoia. This woman seems friendly, we are in a large building filled with people, and she didn’t flinch when I gave her our names. This may be a stupid decision to follow this stranger into the unknown, but if there is even the slightest chance she knows where Zane is, you have to follow her, I say.

I rinse my hands and splash some water on my face before leaving the bathroom and following this woman once again. I follow her up an elevator to the third floor and through a maze of doors. This place sure does like hallways. She stops abruptly and informs me that this is as far as she goes.

What you are looking for is just through that door, she says.

Uh, thanks, I manage to get out, unsure if I really am about to be grateful to this woman or not.

I stare at the door a moment longer, wishing I still had that bookend, and push through, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

Kalani!

I would know that voice anywhere.

Zane?! I yell in disbelief. He runs over to me and scoops me up into a hug.

I knew I would find you, I say, finally relaxing a little bit without the help of that strange woman.

How long have you been here? How did you get here? What happened to you? What is this place? I ask. All these questions just keep spilling out of me, giving Zane absolutely no chance to answer any of them, when I notice a man in the corner. He’s staring out the window, smiling.

Who’s that? I whisper to Zane.

My name is Michael, the man says, turning around.

So much for trying to be quiet so he couldn’t hear me.

Michael appears to have that same glow about him that this entire building has, and there is definitely no sun in here. He is a tall, strapping man. You can see the tone of his muscles through his shirt. His eyes are a deep green, and his blond hair falls to his shoulders with a few of his curls falling onto his face. For some reason, the words Hey, heeeyyyyy! are coming to mind. Zane, noticing that some drool is probably coming out of the corner of my mouth, elbows me, bringing me back from my obvious daze.

Why don’t you two have a seat so I can start explaining a few things to you, he says.

Zane and I take a seat on a couch, and Michael sits on the chair across from us.

I sit on the edge of the soft blue couch, fidgeting, waiting for somebody to say something. Zane, noticing my leg bouncing nervously, puts his hand on my leg to make me stop.

Sorry, I mouth.

Can someone tell me what is going on? I ask impatiently, looking back and forth between Zane and Michael. Zane doesn’t seem to be alarmed by this man or the fact that we are in a strange city and have no idea what is going on.

Michael, why don’t you explain it to her. I don’t think I can explain it the way you can. I’m still trying to understand it all myself, Zane says.

So that’s why he’s so calm. He’s already heard all this. He mostly understands all this. It must not be too bad since he’s not trying to bust out of here.

As I was telling your brother before you got here, Michael starts, your awakening experience here is basically a test. We have you wake up in an unknown place and wipe your memory of everything. In your case, we kept your memory of Zane and his of you since you both came here together. However, we started you off in separate places to see what you would do upon being separated. Your results did not disappoint, but we will get to that later, he says.

I look at Zane for some reassurance, and he nods to let me know everything is okay.

Upon arrival here, there are four different possible outcomes: Guardianship, Teaching, Recreation, and Administration. The first thing we evaluate is your behavior when you first wake up… he starts.

Whoa, buddy, you need to back it up a couple of steps. You lost me at upon arrival here. Upon arrival where? Not knowing where I am is negating all other information that is flowing out of your mouth right now… Guardianship of who? Teaching of what? What were the others? Recreation? Administration? This is all meaningless to me without further explanation of my whereabouts. I guess I should pay more attention, and he may get to that point, I think to myself

...That’s where you started, Kalani… Is where I pick up his little spiel.

Great… I missed all that. I don’t know where I started now. Eh… Zane can fill me in later…

"…Logic, which can lead to Teaching or Guardianship, is where you started, Zane. Since you two showed the aptitude for these specific ones, I’ll only touch on them in the interest of time. We look to your actions along the way to help us zero in on your ending