The Sentinel Read Online Free PDF

Some of the other children were true Guardians, as in both their parents were Guardians.’
    I gasped with sudden clarity. ‘Josh and Grace?’
    He nodded
    Of course they were. The grass green eyes, the constant vigilance, why hadn’t I seen it before?
    ‘So why bother trying to mix Guardian and human DNA if it wasn’t likely to work? Why not just have true Guardians for my friends.’
    ‘Because Guardians don’t really have emotions. Things like love, compassion and friendship are concepts they struggle with, things they’re not really capable of experiencing. They figured you would be able to relate better to someone with emotions. And they were right; you never really clicked with the Guardian children did you?’
    I remembered Josh and Grace; distant children that never really got the concept of playing. Where me, Seth and the others were playing with water, sand and experimenting with paint, the Guardians would look at the toys with confusion. I had always thought of them as socially inept, though I didn’t have a name for it at the time. I remembered them trying to play with me in the playground, but they were so cold towards the other children, and their smiles seemed fake. Seth was right; I had never really counted them as friends.
    ‘What happened to them?’ I remembered when we were ten years old, the Guardian children stopped coming to school and I had never seen them since.
    ‘They were only there to be your friend Eve, so that when you played outside of school you would have Guardians to play with, instead of human children. When it became apparent that you weren’t friends with them, it was just a waste to have them there. They took them out of school and started putting them through extensive training instead. I’m sure you’ll see Josh and Grace again at some point. And Eli, remember him?’
    ‘The little boy who stared at me all day?’
    Seth smiled. ‘Yes, even then he took his job very seriously. They had to take him out of school when he was seven; he was already nearly six foot, not the inconspicuous classmate the Guardians were looking for. He was the one that rescued you from the fire tonight. Did you not recognise him?’
    I shook my head. Though through the smoke, the fire and with my dog turning into a man, there hadn’t really been time to take in his features.
    ‘So the men in the silver car, Eli, they’re my Guardians?
    He nodded and I groaned. ‘I thought they were trying to kill me.’
    ‘No, they’re sworn to protect you.’
    And I had shot at them, unwittingly with some beam of lightning.
    ‘So… Seth you’re my friend because you have to be?’ I asked quietly.
    ‘No silly. I mean yes in the beginning, as soon as I was able to walk and talk, my Dad told me what my purpose in life was, what I had been created for. I had to make friends with you and protect you no matter what. The first day, probably the first few weeks I was just fulfilling my duty, but after that I…I became attached. I’m your friend now because I want to be, because I cannot imagine my life without you, because I love you. I’m supposed to discredit you, get you to think it’s all rubbish. You’re not supposed to know yet and I’m definitely not supposed to be the one that tells you. But how can I laugh in your face when you’re my best friend? Evie I’m loyal to you, not to my duty, that’s why I’m telling you all this now. When they find out I’ve talked I’ll get in so much trouble but I don’t care, you’re my best friend, so I’ll tell you what I know.’
    ‘Thanks Seth, that means a lot.’ I squeezed his hand. ‘Tell me about the Guardians then, they’re not human, so what are they?’
    ‘They’re a species called Deus.’
    I knew enough about Latin to recognise that word. ‘Gods?’
    ‘Yeah thousands of years ago that’s what people thought they were. They were so strong and fast and never died, it was quite obvious they weren’t human, so it was thought they were