Guardian: Darkness Rising Read Free

at its title. “Guardians of Light. I’ve never heard
of it...”
    Intrigued by both its title and the cryptic
placing of the word ‘Believe’ on the last page, Luke wrapped the
book inside the vest and took it downstairs...
    ...Only to run right into his father, who was
just coming up the steps. And he didn’t look happy.
    “ What were you doing on the attic,
Luke?” James said. “I believe your mother and I have told you many
times before that-”
    Luke, irritated, cut his father
off. “ If we want something from the attic,
we ask for it, blah blah blah,” he
grunted. “I know ,
Dad. I’m seven teen .” A crooked grin crept onto his lips. “I just went up to get
this old vest of Mari’s. Nothing else.”
    James raised his eyebrows as Lucas showed him
the vest. Had he recognized it?
    “ Can I see that?” he said, not
revealing anything about his awareness of the obvious, poorly
hidden object inside the vest. Luke reacted slightly surprised, but
tried to play it cool by agreeing to show his Dad the vest – by
folding it out in front of his chest, carefully hiding the book
behind the purple fabric.
    Luke instantly knew that his
hiding tactics weren’t working, but he remained hopeful.
    But James had known Luke for longer than
today; he knew his son was hiding something, and gently tapped his
son on the chest, right on the book.
    “ Can I
see that, too?”
he said, grinning crookedly. “I know you’re using that vest to hide
something, Lucas.”
    Luke grunted loudly at the fact that he’d been
caught. “Fine,” he said, sounding very unwilling. He reluctantly
took the book from underneath the vest and handed it to his father,
whose eyes widened.
    “ Where’d you
find this?” he said; he tried to conceal the surprise and fear in
his voice, but didn’t manage to do so all too well. “Luke, I need
you to put this back where you found it. Now. ”
    Luke wanted to get the book back from his
father, but he pulled it close to his chest. “Promise you’ll put it
back, Luke. Just do it.”
    “ Why, Dad?” Luke said, slightly
flailing his arms. “I mean – it’s just a book. What’s the matter
with it?”
    “ I’d love to explain everything
about it to you, Lucas,” James said, while looking at the book with
worried eyes. “But I’m afraid I can’t. I swore an oath that I’d
keep this book a secret twenty-five years ago, and I’m not planning
on breaking it.”
    “ Dad,” Luke said, “you’re talking
nonsense. As usual.”
    James looked at his son, his
navy-blue eyes spouting fire. “I might be unreasonable sometimes,”
he said, “but at least I’m doing everything I can to protect you.
I can’t tell you
anything, Lucas. If I could’ve, I would’ve done so already.”
    Luke leaned against the wall, grinning
mockingly at his father. “Oh, really?” he said. He knew he was on
the verge of pissing off his father – he was being an ungrateful
little brat, and he knew it, but sometimes his father just needed
to be put on the spot. Luke never understood what the fuss was all
about regarding the attic.
    When he was little, his father used to tell
Luke and his brothers Theodore and Ian ghost stories to keep them
away from the attic. As innocent and gullible as they were, the
three boys truly believed it was haunted for the first twelve years
of their lives.
    Their father was a very convincing
storyteller; no wonder he wrote children’s books for a living. His
father had a great love for books, which had started somewhere in
his childhood.
    His study, where he’d often spend
the entire day working on a new book if inspiration struck him, was
filled with bookcases. And all bookcases were nearly full. So this book, being
left abandoned on the attic wrapped inside an old vest, surprised
Luke greatly. Why wasn’t it somewhere on the shelves in his
father’s study? What was so bad about it, that it had to be
hidden?
    James’s eyes continued to spout fire. “Yes,”
he said.