Page 11 of The Chosen Two

Predecessor: Joanna Beaufort

Docent: George Keating

I look from the folder to George. “Twenty-four, you say?”

He doesn’t respond with more than a beseeching look.

“I haven’t been Miranda Jones in about seventeen years, so did you start this file when you were seven? And what the fuck is a docent?”

“Basically, I’m your trainer, your guide on this path. We’re spiritually bound to each other. But...I wasn’t your original docent. He unfortunately died of COVID three years ago. I’m his replacement.” His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows those last words, leading me to speculate that he had some kind of relationship with my former docent.

I nod slowly because I don’t know what else to do. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

His eyes flick up to meet mine briefly. Then he looks around the room, uncomfortable in these surroundings, or maybe just around me. His eyes stop for a few moments on the bulletin board full of my kids’ drawings and his shoulders drop a fragment of an inch, enough to be perceptible, but barely. I am suddenly very aware that he is looking at the items that most show my children’s personalities, although I’m not sure why they are making his shoulders slump. Does he not like my kids or something?

“So, I’m spiritually bound…to Captain America…Junior. Great. So, how did I even get picked? I’m obviously not a baby.”

“No, but you were chosen when you were born, like all Guardians. Creatures haven’t been out as much as they were in past generations. Joanna barely ever had to fight, so she wasn’t in as much danger as previous guardians. So, you never had to be called up. Until now.”

I feel my pulse kick up, my arms and legs tense. I am beginning to panic. “Danger? What kind of danger are you implying I’m in, George?” He was just looking at my children’s art. He should know the stakes if I’m in danger.

“You’re not in dangernow.It could be coming though. Things are waking up, becoming real again. That’s why we need to start your training. I want you to be ready for anything.”

“So the previous Guardian, she’s dead now?”

He looks confused. “Oh! No! Not at all. She just had her sixtieth birthday, so the League of Docents decided she deserved to officially retire.”

“Okay, but if they’re—I mean, we’re—chosen at birth, shouldn’t there be another…one of us? Some teen or twenty-year-old who was picked for after me and maybe is in slightly better fighting condition than I am? Who doesn’t have a family to take care of? Why isn’t she being trained?”

George is quiet for a moment. Something heavy is going on in his mind, and he’s trying to find the pieces that are light enough for him to share. Finally, he does. “A successor was chosen for you. Suzanne. She had started her training, but she also died a couple years ago, just before her eighteenth birthday.”

This kid is surrounded by misery. I pinch the bridge of my nose and feel a headache coming on. “I’m sorry, George, I really think you have the wrong person here. I mean, is my family going to be in danger?”

He slowly draws a breath in and locks his eyes on me. “Your family should be in no greater danger than the world at large if you train hard and follow your destiny.”

I furrow my brow at such an obviously rehearsed line. I choose my words carefully but still they shake. “These are my children I am talking about. They are more important to me than the world at large.” We stare into each other’s eyes for a few moments but I know I’m running out of time to have this conversation. I look down at my hands gripped tightly to the edge of my counter of their own volition. “I’m going to need a little time to process all of this.”

“So, I get that. I do. But, I don’t know how much time you have to process this. That was a Jinn in the pharmacy today.” His words are fast. He is panicking as well.

“There was gin at the pharmacy? Did you have any of that gin? Are you drunk now, George?”

He rolls his eyes. “No, not gin. A Jinn, as in a genie.”

“Oh! A Jinn. Of course.” I would laugh at the absurdity of it all if it wasn’t happening to me.

“He looked right at you, Miranda. He knew who you were. That’s…not good.”

“And…why is a Jinn knowing who I am not good?” I cross my arms awaiting his response. Absolute silence fills my kitchen for a beat, until my alarm goes off, telling me to start my school pickup routine. We both look at my chiming phone, then to each other. “Well George, looks like our time is up for today. We’re going to have to pick this up next time.”

“Right, of course. Well, that folder is for you. Look through it when you can. I have it memorized.”

“Of course you do.”

We walk to the door together.

“Miranda, I know this is shocking, but it’s real. And it’s important. I know it seems completely crazy, but you are The Guardian. You need to look out for yourself. You need to be careful. You’re obviously behind in your training, so we need to get started right away.” He crosses the threshold and turns back to me, holding out a scrap of paper with an address on it. “Meet me here tomorrow morning after you drop the kids off. We need to get to work.”

I take the paper, not sure yet what I think of everything I just heard, but I’m fairly certain I will not be meeting this strange kid at a random address in the morning. However, I also need him to leave, so I nod.

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