“Stop, stop, stop!” Justin raises his hands. “We can’t believe this Guardian that he knows where Red is or that he’s a dream creature from outside my dream like the Fairy Flies. He’s a villain. He’s lying.” 

Amahle clicks her tongue to indicate ‘No’. “Justin, you do not understand. Tell them what you told me,” she tells the Guardian. 

The Guardian looks at Amahle in anger, then looks away. Amahe can’t see his expression, but she notes the silence. “All right,” she says. “Justin. He has told me he is of the Adroazni, a guardian spirit, and a child of the god Adroa.” 

“So?” Justin says. 

“Have you ever heard of the Adroazni or the Adroa?”

He shakes his head. Then he remembers to say, “I don’t know what that is.” 

“Exactly. I know very little, but I have heard of the Adroazni and I know they are children of Adroa. You. Do not know that. This creature was not created by you.” 

Justin looks at Amahle, then at the Guardian, then at Amahle. 

Thoughts flash through my brain: If he isn’t from here, if he is a dream creature, then so is The Red Dragon. So perhaps the Red Dragon did find a way out of the dream. Which means she may be alive. Or dead. But then we still have only The Guardian’s word on this. 

Buy my thoughts are different from Justin’s. Justin asks, “So Red asked you to be Joy’s guardian spirit?” 

“Mmmm…” he answers in a moan. 

“So where have you been all this time? Why have you never said anything? What are you doing spending your time here when Joy is in danger every day of her life?”

“Not every day!” Joy pipes in. 

“Every single day!” Justin insists.

The Guardian looks at Joy and speaks with intensity. “The dream is a deadly place, Dream Girl. There are dangers you have never imagined. There are threats worse than death. You were lucky to be hidden away for six years. Now you are out. With or without a guardian, with or without hiding, you are doomed to a short life.”

“All right!” Justin raises his voice, trying to stop the Guardian’s rant. 

“Leave!” The Guardian whirls around and disappears from my view, going deeper into his cell. 

“What kind of a Guardian are you!” Justin shouts at him.

“I am a Guardian that knows there is no protecting the Dream Girl. She is dead no matter what she does. A Guardian will not save you. A Guardian will not help you. A Guardian will only postpone your death by a few days.” 

Justin is shaking his head. “Let’s go, Joy. Villain or not, you should never listen to him and never talk to him.” 

Joy nods. She turns around and starts walking towards the stairs. 

“But I do recognize a warrior,” the Guardian says. He bends down, picks up the lion-claw necklace, and reaches out with it through the bars. “You have earned this lion-claw necklace. You have earned the title of an honorary Zulu.”

Joy stares at the necklace.

She stares at it for a long time. Then she says, “Keep it. Don’t want it.” And she goes up the stairs. Master Mind, myself, Justin, and Amahle follow her out.

(To be continued…)

—Told by Grampa Walt