Ghost Archer

In the summer between 8th grade and 9th, Laurie, always the most athletic of the trio, conned her friends into joining the Rec League softball team. Both Laurie and Shay figured Chrissie would cop out after no more than two practices but she surprised them. Over the summer they had twelve games and won 8 allowing them to advance into the district finals. Though they were eliminated in two games, the trio had developed a passion for the sport. They had just started the new summer season just after their 9th grade year when the robots came.

“Ghost Archer, Buchanan airport is reporting three unidentified aircraft approaching the north end of the field,” Spock informed me then added “In a ‘v’ formation. The aircraft have ignored all challenges.”
I rose from my desk and with a flick of thought summoned my equipment. Activating my subcutaneous radio I said “War Eagle, Daimon, ready status 5.”
The alert would place the pair on standby for a five minute departure.
Raven swept down the spiral staircase into the library wearing a black silk kimono patterned with dragons. She eyed my combat gear.
“Problem?” she asked coming into my arms.
“Precaution,” I replied kissing the top of her head. “Buchanan is reporting three unidentified aircraft.”
“Who is Buchanan?” She looked up at me.
I smiled. A few years living in a new area never gave one even the smallest part of the knowledge a native possessed and to Raven my world was so different from her own that she would probably never really become acclimated.
“Buchanan is a civilian airfield over in Concord,” I told her.
“What do you suspect?” She asked.
I shrugged.
“Just a feeling,” I replied.
“Then it is best you act quickly,” she said. “Be most careful.”

War Eagle, Daimon and I materialized in the living room of small house in Martinez, about twelve miles from Concord. It smelled musty, not having been aired out in the past several years. I said nothing to my companions concerning our location but led them through the dining room, kitchen and laundry room to the back door. We stepped out into the tiny porch and down six steps to the overgrown lawn.
“Follow me,” I said and vaulted into the air.
War Eagle immediately joined me in the air as I turned north. Daimon, ground-bound was out through the gate and into the street in a blur. A block later we hit Pacheco Blvd and I followed it toward Concord, Daimon dodging through the traffic below.

Laurie Machado leaned toward home plate, the ball rotating slowly in the hand she held behind her back, watching the signs from the catcher. Shay Severn was back off second base shaded toward right field with the shortstop covering the gap to left, ready to jump either direction. Chrissie stood, feet apart, hands on her knees, in right field, unusually alert as the batter was a leftie. As Laurie came upright into set position, the ball tucked into her glove someone in the stands screamed.
A shadow eclipsed Chrissie out in right field and she looked up into a wash of heat from the jet boots of a giant robot. Backpedaling until she hit the fence she crouched down hoping it would give her some kind of cover. As she lifted her arms to cover her head someone landed between her and the robot. There was an explosion and the groan of twisting metal. Chrissie dared to look up and saw the monster’s arm tear free from the body and crash to the turf.
A man with a bow already had another arrow nocked and before she could think, a second explosion wrecked the robot, and hole appeared in its chest. The bow vanished from the man’s hand and shining sword swept back as he leaped at the metal giant. Silver flashed and the robot’s leg folded like a crushed Coke can. Again the blade came up as the thing fell and the head rolled free of the body, malevolent red lights dying in its eyes as Chrissie stared at it. The man held out a hand, she took it, and effortlessly he pulled her to her feet.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, jade green eyes regarding her.
‘Save me, save me’ echoed in her head as she threw herself into his arms. He held her for a only a moment before pushing her out to arms length.
“Stay right here,” he ordered and turned, his bow already back in his hand.
Chrissie was shocked. She poured everything she had at him, almost begging him to rescue her and he’d all but ignored her command. It was then she realized the chaos going on around her. To her horror, another of the giant robots had stepped into the bleachers and the crowd of spectators there. Ignoring the bowman, she ran toward her family.

The first Minuteman had folded pretty quickly but almost instantly I’d lost contact with War Eagle as he and the dark-haired pitcher vanished. Daimon had his hands full taking apart the second Minuteman but a third was practically standing in the batter’s box. Pushing the blonde right fielder away I ordered her to stay there and turned to deal with the robot at home plate.
As I drew a bead on its head the thing stepped into the stands and I knew there would be dead. Fighting back the urge to howl in fury I loosed the shaft and blew a good sized chunk of the thing out into the parking lot. Releasing the bow, I rocketed into the air, altering my density to maximum and plowed into the giant.
I hit it high, knocking it from its feet and away from the people in the stands. We landed together atop a dozen cars, my blade already slicing into the robot’s interior. Three swipes of the enchanted blade severed the last of the Minuteman’s control circuits and it went dead. It didn’t matter any more. I leapt into the rubble of the bleachers

Chrissie stood quietly between her two best friends, their fingers laced as the last of the coffins was lowered into the ground. For four days the girls had been numbed by the lost of their family and friends and this final service was little more than a blur to Chrissie. A large hand came to rest on her shoulder and she didn’t have to look back to know it was Ghost Archer.
Almost instantly after the last of the robots had been killed, Ghost Archer and his friend Daimon had evacuated Shay, Laurie and her from the ball field. Still mostly in shock they’d been given rooms in a huge house in the middle of an unbelievable valley where they met Raven. She’d talk to the three, as a group and individually and in doing so somehow eased the pain. At first, Chrissie didn’t understand why it felt as if things had happened many years ago, and then she remembered her own powers to alter feelings. Raven, she realized, was just like her.
Now, after four days, things were in the works to make Ghost Archer and Raven guardians to the three girls, something all had agreed to as none had any living family. This last little bit, last funeral, her own mother’s, and she could finally let go . . .

It took the girls two weeks to come out of their depression. I’d told Raven not to hurry the process but to let them heal naturally. That night after the last funeral had been the worst but the trio had slept in the same room and supported one another so completely I found it hard to remember they weren’t sisters.
Chrissie turned out to be the most self-possessed and probably had more to do with pulling the other two through the whole ordeal then any therapy. One thing I noticed as time passed, none of them ever played baseball again.

Finally Chrissie gave up on trying to manipulate Ghost Archer, it was like talking to a brick wall, and Raven was even more closed. The scholarly looking Kyle Longstreet and his girl-friend Everith turned out to be every bit as difficult as Archer and she gave up testing them too when Everith suddenly revealed her own powers and literally put the fear of God into her. At that point, she gave up on adults. Something about having super powers made them immune to her powers and it was disconcerting.
When the Lothlorien Academy opened, so many new possibilities came along.