Guardians

Chapter 10: "Lost and Found"

That morning we had retired to Lupin's room to take a well-deserved nap. Before I had drifted off, however, I had noticed a shadow lean in closely. I had recognized the form as Kari, and I had immediately known what she was about to ask me.

"Rose, you've known your friend for a long time, I bet," she had said, confirming my suspicions. "So why doesn't he use a name?" I had smiled in the darkness and given the only answer I could.

"Kari, go to sleep."

"Why won't you tell me?" Kari had protested. "Why does it need to be a secret?"

"Because I'm trying to respect my friend's privacy. Now go to sleep," I had said and turned over.

"You don't really know, do you," Kari had mumbled underneath her breath. "You probably don't even know his name." With a final grumble, she had left me in peace, and I was finally able to sleep. I didn't wake up until three in the afternoon, but I was still exhausted. I was stretching quietly on the floor when Lupin slipped into the room with a package in his hand.

"What's that?" I softly asked, not wanting to disturb Kari, who was still sleeping.

"I think you and Anonimo should see this," Lupin replied grimly. Seeing that my friend was already awake, we hovered around Lupin's shoulders as he sat down at the table and opened the package.

"I got this from the owl post," commented Lupin as he unwrapped the brown paper. "There was no return address." The wrapping fell to the table, revealing its contents, and I gasped slightly in recognition. Two wands sat side by side; one of them was my own. My friend took the other, a look of astonishment on his face. Beside the wands was a small note tucked neatly inside. Lupin took the note as I picked up my wand and polished it on my shirt.

"Take a look at this," Lupin said after reading the note, and he read it out loud.

" 'Guardians,

You left rather quickly, and in your haste, you had forgotten your wands. They are enclosed with this note. Your instructions are as follows: return to London immediately. Your friends Remus Lupin and Kari Sky may accompany you on your journey. You will wait in London until we contact you with further instructions. If you refuse to do so, the consequences are clear.' " The note was unsigned, and no writing except for Lupin's name was evident on the packaging.

"Wow," a voice said behind me, "what's that all about?" It was Kari, who was trying to brush through her wavy brown hair.

"It's from the Brethren," my friend replied. "They must have followed us."

"It didn't take them long to find us," I mumbled under my breath.

"That's because they never lost you," Lupin responded, overhearing my comment. "So, Guardians, the choice is up to you. Are we going to London?" I thought about it for a moment, and my friend spoke our answer.

"I miss home," he said. "We might as well go."

That night I found myself on the Continental Express, heading towards England at over one hundred kilometers an hour, or at least that's what the brochure said. The train was run by muggles, but that's why we chose this particular one. We could have been in London overnight if went by magic; however, we didn't want to attract the attention of the Brethren or their spies. I snuggled into the corner of our booth, leaning my head against the window. Lights, cars, and houses flashed for a moment before disappearing into the night.

"Comfortable?" my friend asked as he slid into the seat across from me.

"Oh, hello," I said, slightly startled. I hadn't even heard him slide open the door. "Yeah, I am, actually." We sat in silence as we stared out the window at the passing lights. I heard him sigh in introduction.

"Rose," he asked, "what if I told you that I thought someone was following us?" I thought of my answer for a moment and shrugged.

"I would say that you probably weren't far from wrong," I replied. "After all, the Brethren should be keeping tabs on us now that we've left Rome."

"I figured as much," he answered. "Remember when we were buying our tickets? A man was behind us, and I recognized him as the one who had pushed you back in the inn. As we were leaving, I accidentally bumped into him. The Othersight told me that he was scared and angry. He had somehow been affected by the Brethren. I know it might not mean anything, but he ordered a compartment two down from ours."

"Well," I said, using logic to the best of my ability, "he could be trying to sneak out of the country because of the Brethren, or he could be what you think: a spy."

"Or my Othersight could be wrong," my friend inserted. "I've never known it to lead me astray, though."

"I sincerely doubt it," I echoed. Just then the compartment door glided open, and Kari stepped inside with Lupin just behind her.

"It's amazing, the things you can find on a train!" she exclaimed.

"Haven't you ever been on a train before?" my friend asked, puzzled.

"Only in freight," she beamed, "but this is awesome. It's like being on a moving hotel. You wouldn't believe what I found in the bathroom!" After this outburst, my friend stifled his laughter as I gave her a strange look. Somehow I had the feeling I didn't want to know what Kari had found.

I woke up the next morning in the north of France. Kari was already up and gone, so I got dressed and went to the dining car, where I found the rest of my companions.

"Morning, sleepyhead," my friend teased me as I grabbed a bagel and a cup of milk from the buffet.

"Hmm..." I replied sarcastically. Kari made room for me to sit with her in the booth. Lupin hadn't arrived yet, so we conversed as we ate breakfast.

"How did you sleep, Kari?" my friend asked.

"Pretty well," she answered. "The train was rocking back and forth, and it wasn't hard to get to sleep. I only wish that they'd turn down whatever they use to keep it cold in there!" My friend agreed and turned around at the newcomer.

"Morning!" my friend called out to Lupin, who had just arrived with a cup of coffee and a newspaper tucked beneath his arm. He returned the greeting and noticed the overstuffed table.

"Well now, what do we have here?" Lupin said as he saw the array of food.

"Pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, muffins, Danish, toast, bananas, apples, oranges, grapefruit, bagels, milk, coffee, apple or orange juice," Kari rattled off. "The sign says 'help yourself'."

"I think that's what I'll do," Lupin replied. After selecting his breakfast, Lupin sat down and opened the first section of the newspaper. Out of the folds fluttered a note down to the table. I picked it up out of curiosity and inspected it. The note looked almost identical to the note that had come with our wands.

"Listen to this, everyone," I said and proceeded to read the note aloud.

" 'Guardians,

We left the choice of transportation to you, and you believe that you are no longer being watched. By the time you receive this note, something of importance from each of your belongings will be taken. If our instructions are followed, then your possessions will be returned. When you arrive in London, take the muggle underground to the Big Ben clock tower. A man in a trench coat with a dark red suitcase will await you at noon, exactly. DO NOT BE LATE, AND COME ALONE.'

"The last line is capitalized and underlined," I concluded, waiting for a reaction.

"Well then," my friend said in the silence.

"Does that mean we can't go with you to the meeting?" Kari asked, concern apparent in her voice.

"I guess not," I answered, and I handed the note to Lupin, who read it over quickly to himself.

"I think we should go back to our rooms now," Lupin cried out suddenly as he stood up. "Someone on this train works for the Brethren, and if we can catch him or her in the act, we'll know who that spy is." We rushed to our rooms and finally reached them. No one was nearby, so on the count of three, we unlocked and pushed open the doors. We had arrived too late; both rooms were catastrophic. Clothes had been flung everywhere, some papers out of my journal had been torn out, and my wand was lying on the floor by the wall. It looked like it had simply been thrown across the room, perhaps in frustration or in haste.

"All right, everyone," Lupin said as we began to clean up the mess. "Let's get everything organized and see what's missing."