A jolt of electricity went down my spine at his gunmetal blue eyes on me. His eyes reminded me of the firearm in the robber’s hand: cold, hard-looking and shining. He gave me a quick once-over as if he was judging me, and then dipped his head.

“So, what do you want me to do with him?” he asked, subtly moving between the robber and the exit.

Me? Was he asking me?

“What?” was all I could blurt.

“What would you have me do with him!” the pale guy repeated in my direction with thinly veiled irritation.

While the pale man and I focused on each other the robber made a dash for the exit.

“Today, please!” the pale guy yelled.

“I— I don’t know,” I stammered. “I— Stop him! Take his gun!”

What happened next went too fast for me to keep up with. In a flash, the pale guy went after the robber. A bloodcurdling scream rang in my ears, followed by a loud thud. I screamed too and pressed myself against the floor with my hands covering my head and my eyes pressed shut.

“Hey.” The blonde guy’s voice sounded next to me. It was only a small relief to see it was him crouching down next to me when I finally dared to crack one eye open. I was met with the sight of lots and lots of denim.

The pale guy was wearing clothing that reminded me of my parents’ embarrassing collection of college pictures from the 90’s and he was completely unscathed. From up close, he almost looked translucent. Translucent with glowing eyes. He opened his hand, which held the robber’s gun. Like he expected me to take it.

I sucked in a sharp breath, not moving. “What—? Is—?” I tried to stumble through some incoherent sentences. I swallowed. “Is he… what did you do to him?”

Pale guy frowned in confusion, then jutted a thumb over his shoulder. “What? Robber guy? Oh, he’s just… taking a good, long nap. So, here’s the gun as requested.”

He tried to offer it again. I recoiled from the murder weapon. “I-I’m not touching that. Just put in on the counter or something.”

The pale guy obeyed and carelessly tossed the gun on the counter near us.

I flinched, and a somewhat mocking smile appeared the pale guy’s face. “I locked it by the way. It’s not gonna accidentally fire.”

“Oh… Thank you.”

He nodded at me. “Sure. It’s my job, after all. The police should be on their way now,” he said. “I took the liberty of pressing your alarm button a while ago.”  

His job? Never mind, I wasn’t going to ask. I still wasn’t ready to move, or to confirm what the stranger had said either: the robber is just ‘asleep.’ I was going to assume it was true for my own sanity. We were all alive, even the robber. No matter what he did, I didn’t wish death on anyone. A shaky, nervous laugh suddenly passed my lips.

“Whew. I thought guardian spirits weren’t real this afternoon,” I blabbered, “but maybe there is something watching over us since we all survived this.”  

Instinctively I reached for the medallion around my neck, but something was different. Its surface felt different. Frowning, I looked down.

The medallion was open. It was empty.

“Huh. But that’s not,” I stuttered. “I could’ve sworn it was stuck. It’s been stuck for years.”

“Right, and now it’s no longer stuck,” the pale guy stated matter-of-fact. “That happens when you wake up guardian spirits.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I leave you for now, I have to take care of a few things to make sure I don’t get tied up in the police investigation. I’ll be back later. See ya.”

I didn’t get a chance to respond, or ask what the hell he was talking about.

I blinked and the guy was gone.

Police sirens wailed in the distance.