Of Sun & Moon (Midnight Guardian Series, Book 1)

by Bryna Butler

  ***

  Keira, Nana, August, and Bianca arrived at Brooke’s home in less than ten minutes after the call. Colby led them upstairs and gave his detailed account of the kidnapping.

  “He told me to bring my black-haired charge,” Colby repeated. “He kept saying that I stunk like a guardian.”

  “Brainless hounds,” August smirked. “They must have followed the scent. They’ve been watching, trying to figure out who’s the guardian.”

  “They are together a lot, so their scents were mingled,” Bianca added. “His on her, her’s on him. They had to deduce which was which.”

  “And they chose Colby because he’s so responsible,” Keira offered.

  “No,” Colby said. “It’s because of the coaster. If that mogdoc succeeded, their problems were over, if he failed, it would be the ultimate litmus test to find the guardian.”

  “And you passed the test by surrendering your own life to save me,” Keira whispered. “And this is how I repay you, by putting your girlfriend’s life at risk.”

  Colby hadn’t thought of it that way. This was Gammen’s fault, not Keira’s. “You can’t ‘pass’ a litmus test. Gee whiz, Keira, no wonder you’re pulling a C in chemistry,” he said in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood and alleviate her guilt.

  She recognized and appreciated his effort. “Please, I’m just glad to see that you stayed conscious this time.”

  “That’s enough,” August interrupted. “Colby, do you recall how many of them were here?”

  “Five, but I don’t care. That’s not important now. We’re getting Brooke back. How do we get to Gammen? Can we make it by midnight?”

  Keira then noticed that her father had taken a seat and was rubbing his temples. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She knew what her father surmised in only seconds. There were five. It had to be the Sect of Low, the emperor’s best warriors.

  “No!” Bianca spoke up. “I know what you’re thinking, August, but we’ve given up too much to keep Keira safe. I’m not about to let her walk into Gammen’s arms now.”

  August looked up, the weight of the world on his brow. “Bianca, dear, I think we have to let her go. This girl is a friend of Keira’s, her human friend, her human gift. I think it’s time. This is the perfect opportunity. He has this whole thing mixed up, so she’s coming into it with a definite advantage. She’s had combat training. She’s ready.”

  “Please, August, no.”

  “We have a plan.” August explained, “That’s all we’ve been doing for the past three months. We’ve plotted out what we thought was every possible scenario. A hostage situation is certainly one of them, but I don’t believe that the mogdocs have ever taken a regular human captive before. We didn’t anticipate that they would think Colby was a guardian or that they would think the charge was old enough to be one of you. This indicates that they have little intel. They’re pretty much flying blind, which is good for us. Regardless, we do have a plan to follow them. Nana, I need you to go back to the training room for some more weapons and contact our young friend, we’ll need her help to re-open the threshold. Colby and Keira, prepare for battle.”

  “No,” Keira said forcefully. “You can’t expect Colby to fight. He is not going.”

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart. He probably won’t have to fight, but you had better tell Colby about your other special ability. You may need to use it to escape tonight and we can’t risk your boyfriend going into shock and slowing us down.”

  “I’m/He’s not her/my boyfriend!” the two said in unison.

  Keira rolled her eyes and took Colby by the hand. She led him into the hallway and then to the room at the end. It appeared to be some sort of game room, with a massive billiards table in the center flanked by high tables with matching stools. A mahogany bar stretched across the end of the room with rows of glassware on shelves behind.

  “What I’m about to tell you is very personal,” Keira started. “Telling you this means that I have to trust you.”

  “It’s a little late to have trust issues now, don’t you think?”

  “Maybe, first, tell me what you were doing here alone with Brooke tonight.”

  “I really like Brooke,” he said. “She’s my girlfriend. Let’s leave it at that.”

  “Why did I ask?”

  “Why did you? It’s none of your business.”

  “Forget it. Let’s just move on,” she said. “You’re gonna want to sit down.”

  Colby’s patience ran out. “Do we really have time for this? My best friend’s the tooth fairy and my girlfriend’s been kidnapped by the boogeyman. I don’t think there’s much left that can shock me.”

  “Really? Well, I turn into a mouse.”

  She stood before Colby with her hands on her hips. He could see that she was completely serious.

  “What do you mean…a mouse?”

  “Mickey and Minnie. Stuart Little. Nothing was stirring, not even a…”

  Colby was bewildered. This bit of information was just not sinking in. After an awkward moment of silence, Keira continued, “Remember the night that I told you about being a guardian. I said that in another part of the world they call us ratón de los dientes. That name translates to ‘tooth mouse’. It’s Spain’s version of the tooth fairy. It turns out that they’re a bit closer to the real story than the folks here in the states.”

  Colby struggled to understand. He could feel Keira’s frustration pushing at him like a prosecuting attorney waiting for the defendant’s response to a loaded question. He scrambled to think of the most sensitive way to respond.

  “What kind of mouse?”

  “Huh?” Keira said looking at him in utter disbelief. “Oh, I’m told that I’m a silky black with a twitchy nose and whiskers…very cute. After I save your girlfriend, maybe I can run the exercise wheel for you.”

  “I didn’t mean…”

  Keira closed her eyes and shook the stress from her body. “Sorry. It’s just maddening, you know? You’ve had to put up with so much craziness from me. I was just trying to save you this one little thing. You must think that I’m a total freak.”

  Keira sat down beside Colby and buried her face in her hands. From behind them she mumbled, “This is my fault. If you had never known me, you wouldn’t be in danger. Now I’ve put Brooke in danger too. She doesn’t even know what I’ve gotten her into.”

  Keira looked up. “If something happens to you...” She left the rest unsaid and lowered her head.

  “Hey, this mouse thing could be kinda cool,” Colby said. “Can you change at will?”

  Keira lifted her head and nodded. He was distracting her from her feelings again. This time it was a welcome distraction.

  “Wow, if it were me, I’d be changing all the time.”

  “Once I change, it takes a while to change back. It really zaps my strength, so it’s more of an emergency thing.”

  “So guardians probably have this ability in case they’re caught in a charge’s room?”

  Keira nodded again, this time with a smile. “Thanks for understanding,” she said, rising to her feet. “Enough of this, we’ve got a damsel in distress to save.”

  “Hold it a second. There’s something I have to tell you.”

  Keira didn’t ask, she just squinted at him, ready to take the worst.

  “I know I don’t have super powers like you, but sometimes I remember things.”

  “Sure, that’s why you’re the smartest kid at school.” Keira couldn’t fathom what this had to do with their upcoming mission.

  “That’s not what I mean. It’s hard to explain. I guess I have a little bit of a photographic memory, but it’s not always just memories. Like sometimes, I’ll stare at a page in a book or when something good happens, I’ll blink my eyes and try to freeze that image. It’s like capturing a snapshot in my head.”

  “Okay,” Keira encouraged, still not knowing where this was leading.

  “Well, sometimes, I see pict
ures that I didn’t ‘take’, something from the future. It doesn’t happen often, but I vaguely remember seeing something the night of the dance last fall. I think it’s important.”

  “Why?”

  “It was you and you were wearing the same outfit that you have on now.”

  “Oh.”

  “I saw you surprise a man dressed in black with a knife. You had it hidden in your right sleeve by your wrist.” He took her hand and pulled back her sleeve to show her the spot.

  “I was wondering where to strap my dagger so that Gammen wouldn’t notice. Thank you.”

  She said nothing more, even though she wanted to. This vision sounded like prophetic sight. It also sounded like he had more than the one vision. Perhaps he inherited some of his ancestor’s abilities. She could ask Nana about it later. For now, it was probably safer if no one knew.