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Which is what brings me back here, to the League of Docents. Because it is Miranda’s role in all of this, even if that’s only as the gear around which the rest of us turn, is what led to Jake’s murder, she’s ready to burn it all to the ground: her birthright, the League, the Guardianship—all of it. And it’s my job to try to ensure that doesn’t happen. But I still can’t let it go completely. Jake deserves better than that.
“Mr. Keating, we understand the question you’re posing, but there has simply never been an opportunity for us to test if the powers of The Guardian are genetic. There has never been a child of a Guardian before, so there has never even been a way for us to do so. And because there has never been a child of a Guardian before, there has never been areasonto suspect a genetic component.”
Perry Fucking Philips, Arch Docent and royal douchebag. I tried to warn him, tried to tell him to find another Guardian. I told him how unfair it would be on Miranda’s family. I hate that I was right on this.
Before I speak, I stuff my clenched fists into my pockets and bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from screaming. “I realize this, Perry. But I am the one training these kids, and I am the one telling you there is something to this. I don’t know how we find out more about it, but I think we should. You’d be amazed. It’s unbelievable the speed with which Jessie and Phoebe pick up these techniques.”
“Mr. Keating, did you ask for permission to train these children? I don’t see a record here of such a meeting.” Regina Yasmin, the newest member on the League, looks at her notes like she’s reading a text book, not a file of a living person’s life. She’s not much older than I am; therefore, she is much younger than the rest of the League. She probably thinks she has something to prove. Her oily black hair frames her face in lanky tresses. She sits curled in on herself as if she has absolutely no confidence, but when she speaks, her voice is commanding and assured.
Which is how I hope I sound when I answer. “No, ma’am. I didn’t. After their father died, they asked—”
“Yes, and about this Jake… He was the last non-Guardian you asked for permission to train, am I correct?” Her brow is furled, head tipped to the side, as if she doesn’t already know the answers to all of her obnoxious questions.
I swallow, hard, all the curses I want to sling at her, all the pain I’ve see Miranda and her kids go through. And I’m the one the League is going to pin it all on. I grit my teeth and try to continue. “I’m sure you understand how much danger the family of The Guardian is inevitably put in and the role we have all been placed in to protect them.”
“It just doesn’t seem you do a great job at training laymen, if the last one who worked with you is now six feet under. I’m not so sure I’m okay with you working with The Guardian’s children.” She drops her pen on the stack of papers before her and leans back abruptly. She has said her piece and thinks everyone should, and will, agree with her.
“With all due respect, ma’am, I don’t care. I’m going to continue to train Miranda’s kids because it is the only thing they are holding onto right now, so they don’t lose their minds after finding out their mother is a superhero only to immediately lose their father before they had a chance to even process the information as a family.”
This shuts her up, although a ripple of individual conversations works its way down the row of them.
I clear my throat loudly, getting all those eyes back on me before I begin “I came here to implore you to look into the potential genetic component to being The Guardian. I know none of Miranda’s children are Chosen. I know the only girl officially in line right now is a toddler, but I am telling you, these kids, at least the older two, are gifted, powerful fighters.” I hesitate to make the point that’s been ping ponging around in the back of my mind, but I need to share whatever arguments I have for them. “You know Tabby isn’t going to be ready to take the mantel before Miranda is too old to keep fighting. We may actually need Jessie and Phoebe.”
They stare down at me in a moment of silence, but I won’t back down, not like I’m sure they are hoping for.
Finally, Perry speaks. “There is no evidence of there being a genetic piece to any of this. There have never been two Guardians in the same blood line. If you’re not mistaken about their abilities, there must be another explanation for what you believe you are witnessing. The League will convene, in a closed meeting, to discuss the matter, and you will be informed of any decisions we make that affect you. You are dismissed.”
He bangs his gavel on the long table, and it echoes throughout the room. I’m not sure what I was hoping to accomplish here, but I am unsatisfied with the verdict handed down to me.
I don’t care what they say. I know there is something special about Miranda’s kids. I’m going to find out what it is. And Miranda and I are going to train them to be the best fucking superheroes yet.
