Guardian: Darkness Rising by Melanie Houtman

sure that her father and his friends were
there. She knew only one James Riverdale, and she knew for sure
that it was the James she knew. And Mari implemented that in such a way that
she instantly knew that her father’s other friends were the other
Guardians. Her father’s closest friends would make five
Guardians.
    If Luke was one of them, too, he’d be number
six. But who were the other four?
    Mari was quickly distracted from her questions
when she saw a young man standing near the opened doors of the
Ritual Chamber. His hair had a familiar shade of red, and had
apparently noticed that Mari was staring at him, as he quickly
approached her.
    As soon as he opened his mouth and said his
name, he revealed his identity to Mari. It was him, without a
doubt.
    “ Mari,” Luke said.
    “ Luke,” Mari replied, blinking as
if the boy standing in front of her was merely a vision of her own
imagination and would go away if she just kept blinking her eyes at
him.
    “ It’s been an awfully long time,
Mari,” Luke said, his blue eyes twinkling behind the blue mask he
was wearing, making them nearly undistinguishable – but Mari
managed. “Where have you been?”
    “ Everywhere and nowhere,” Mari
replied quickly. “How did you know it was me?”
    Luke chuckled. “Well, I must admit that I had
to come up close to know for sure,” he said. “But I’d recognize
those pretty eyes of yours anywhere.”
    Mari instantly knew what Luke
meant. Her eyes had always been the thing Mari liked the most about
herself; it made her feel somewhat special. They were different,
but a good kind of different.
    Mari let out a sigh of both happiness and
relief. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you again, Luke,”
she said.
    The left corner of Luke’s mouth pulled upward
into a crooked smile. “So am I, Mari,” he said. “I waited for you.
For four years.”
    “ Thank you,” Mari said slowly.
“You know you didn’t have to do that. But thank you for waiting
anyway.”
    The right corner of Luke’s mouth was pulled up
into a smile now, too. “Of course I’d wait for you,” he said. “What
else would I have to wait for?”
    Luke slowly pulled Mari into a
hug; for a moment, by the position of Luke’s head and the way he
moved, Mari believed that he wanted to kiss her, but somehow felt
relieved – yet, for some reason slightly disappointed – that he
didn’t do so. It was weird for the two of them to kiss without
having any reason to.
    After all, Mari hadn’t seen Luke in four
years, and he’d probably found someone else. They’d always viewed
each other as friends, and Mari didn’t want to change that point of
view.
    “ Now look at the
ridiculous place I found you in,” Luke chuckled. “Out of all the
places in our universe you could’ve chosen, I had to come find you
in another .”
    “ Yeah,” Mari chuckled, her mind
still vaguely hanging on to the strange, kind of gross thought of
her lips on Luke’s.
    ...Sadly, whether Mari and Luke would kiss or
just keep hugging, there had to be someone to get in their
way.
    What are you doing!? The Master’s voice boomed through Mari’s
head. This is not part of our agreement,
Marilyn. First, you’d do your job for me, and then you’d get to
spend as much time with your family as you want. Don’t make me
change my mind.
    Mari, startled by the sudden threat that had
come her way, quickly pulled away from Luke’s hug, who grabbed her
wrist as she tried to run off.
    “ What’s the matter, Mari?” Luke
said. “Why are you running away?”
    “ I- I can’t explain,” Mari said
heatedly. “I’ll be right back, okay? I just need to take care of
something! I’ll come right back to you when I’m done!”
    “ Can’t I help you?” Luke said.
“Mari, you know you can tell me anything!
    “ You don’t have to keep secrets
anymore!”
    Mari stopped struggling as her
eyes darkened. “No,” she said, her words shaking, yet certain. “I
can’t tell you everything.