GUARDIAN Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
“This is a secret meeting,” Drew Newman whispered as he pulled his letterman’s jacket close. He sat perched on a log beside the crackling fire at the edge of his backyard. His green eyes darted back and forth between his two friends. “You can’t tell anyone what we’re going to talk about.”
“Dude, I’m a real man. Of course I can keep a secret.” Javon Manson ground out an ember that popped from the fire and fiddled with his do-rag, shifting his muscular body as he tried to find a comfortable position on his log.
Mattie Royz shivered as a chill wind tossed her red hair into blue eyes. She pulled her windbreaker tight around her petite, slightly plump frame. “Oh my gosh, Javon, you are so lame. I’m not a ‘real man,’ but I can keep a secret, too.”
“All right.” Drew slid the marshmallow off his roasting stick and popped it in his mouth. Hearing a noise, he turned toward the trees that stood beyond the flickering light of the fire.
At that moment, a stranger carrying a sword stepped from the night’s shadows and approached the teens, a dark hood hiding the man’s face. A gust of wind brought the smell of rain and tossed his black cloak aside, revealing a pristine white tunic and a red sash belted his waist.
Drew sucked in his breath as the man walked up to him, sword held at his side.
“Stand up,” the man commanded, pointing his sword at Drew. Shaking, Drew gulped and stood, then tripped on a loose shoestring.
“Stand up,” the man said. When Drew stood, the man lifted the tip of his sword to Drew’s chin. “Where is it?”
“Where is what?”
“Don’t trifle with me. Where is the book?”
Drew was so nervous he couldn’t think. “What book?”
“Yeah, what book,” Javon said, surprising Drew. Drew glanced at Javon and Mattie, who had come to stand beside him, nervously shifting from one foot to another.
“Shh,” Drew whispered.
“It’s a very special book,” the man prodded again. “You know which one.”
Drew wiped his sweaty hands on his Levi’s, inhaling the familiar, pungent odor of the campfire. Only one book was special. A journal. His mom’s journal. He’d touched it, and when he’d done so, it had left a peculiar scar on the back of his left hand. She’d cautioned him not to tell anyone about the book or how he’d gotten the scar. What did this man know of her book?
“Are you talking about my mom’s journal?” Drew asked.
“Your mom’s, hmm. Yes, that would be it. Where is it?”
“I don’t know. It must be lost because I haven’t seen it in years.”
“This book is not lost,” the man said, his voice flat and hard.
A second man wearing a black leather jacket and jeans slid out from the night’s shadows. His sword reflected the fire’s flames. The first man withdrew his sword from beneath Drew’s chin and the two whispered. The interrogator looked at Drew, who shivered in the damp wind. “You are fortunate, young man, that pressing matters require my attention elsewhere. I will see you again.”
At that, he sheathed his sword, and the two men disappeared into the darkness. The three teens stared at each other. Would the men come back? Were they in danger? A soft, cool rain began to fall as Javon hollered, “Run! Run!”
