Young Guardian Trilogy by Lady Adellandra Dratianos (read aloud .txt) 📕

had to live with the knowledge of her leaving him. It hurt Aaron’s heart just thinking about it. He was going to lose her one day.
Aaron Theodore had fallen in love, and he didn’t want to let her go. 
Prologue: #3:
Shannon Ryan's Destiny

Fifteen-year-old Aluna Sister-Woods, codenamed Lu-Lu, raced down the hallway to Shannon Ryan's office. Her long red-blond ponytail whipped in her face. She didn't realize when she ran into a fellow officer, Shane "The Shadow" Morehouse.
"Hey!" Shadow cried, grasping her. "Where're you going so fast?"
"Sorry Shadow. I can't talk now." She puffed, catching her breath. "I'm in a hurry."
"Oh, okay I guess." Shadow replied softly, looking down.
She turned to leave, but he suddenly screamed, "Luna, wait!"
Luna faced him. "What?"
"Are you doing anything tonight?"
She blushed. "No, Shane, I'm not."
Luna knew she was the only one that could call him by his real name.
"Well, uh, did you want to do something later tonight?" Shadow stammered.
She looked to the ground shyly. She had been noticing him watching her every move for the last several years. Luna always had a crush on the older and sophisticated agent, but was too shy to admit it.
Why not? She thought to herself. It’ll be fun.
"Sure.” She flashed her brightest smile at him, making him blush. “See you later."
Shadow smiled and waved. "See you."
Luna shook her head with a giggle and headed in the direction of Shannon's office for her main mission. She opened the double-doors to the main Computer Room and made her way to Shannon's office ahead.
"Wait, Lu, you can't go in there." Big Guy stood from her seat, rushing to stop her.
Luna stopped in her tracks, turning on the brunette with a serious look in her eyes. "Watch me.”
Big Guy was astonished, and Luna could tell the Senior Detective was apprehensive. “I’m sorry, Luna, but –”
“It's important, Big Guy. I've got to talk to Shannon." She replied. "It's urgent."
"No way,” Big Guy regretted as she shook her head. "Shannon gave me strict orders not to interrupt her."
Luna leaned her elbows on the desk Big Guy was stationed. She gave Big Guy a pout, whining. "Please, Bridget?"
Big Guy sighed, rolling her eyes. "Very well. Let me go in first to warn her."
Luna grinned. “You won’t regret this.”
I hope not, Big Guy thought, only Luna heard it, smiling.

II

Shannon, now twenty-one, sighed as she put her feet up on her desk, relaxing. She thought about the System, which was her pride and joy now. She had so many prominent people working for her.
It’s all under my control! Shannon thought with a smile.
The System was the first detecting agency exclusively for training young teenagers. It had fun times, and Shannon always wanted her family of agents to have fun. The only bad times were when they were dealing with the Dominionite Master and his crew. Shannon had the best of friends and enemies at her command -- even a crush on her rival agencies' leader, Nick McNathaniels. Everything was going her way -- at last, she was in charge.
Tests long ago had kept her on her toes, along with keeping her out of trouble. She was the chief -- at last. All the excitement and horror that came from being in charge, though some of which were hard to handle at first, was all hers. The responsibility, the laughs, the paperwork. Everything was hers to care for.
Shannon thought of who had to lose their life in order for her to be in charge, and remembered what her Aunt Dixilynne had told her: Anytime you need me, just dream about me.
Shannon noticed the massive amounts of paperwork that waited for her on her desk. She sighed and began working. When she was halfway through the stack, there was a knock on her office door. It nearly startled out of her wits.
"Enter." Shannon announced as she slammed her pen down on the desk. Might as well take a break, she thought to herself.
In popped Bridget Guy, Shannon's best friend and one of the Senior Detective-ranked officers at the System.
Shannon smiled at her, relieved. "What do you need, Big Guy?"
Big Guy was Bridget's codename, and codenames were Shannon's idea.
Big Guy pleaded. "Please don't hurt me, Shan."
"Why would I want to, Brig?" Shannon laughed, confused.
Big Guy didn't move from her position at the door, and the look on her face turned serious. "Luna desperately needs to speak to you. Now."
Shannon's face fell. The young agent was a bit of a nuisance and a troublemaker since arriving at the System at the age of five. Dixilynne had unofficially 'adopted' Luna when Shannon was eleven. Luna was fifteen now, and the two girls grew up like sisters.
Shannon shook her head and sighed. "Send her in."
Big Guy wasn't used to Shannon actually allowing Luna to bother her, let alone wanting to talk to her, so it came as a shock. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, Big Guy, I'm sure." Shannon nodded with a smile.
Big Guy shrugged. "Very well, but you can't say I didn't warn you!"
The door banged behind her. When it opened again, in burst Luna.
"Shannon, I must speak to you -- now." She demanded seriously.
"So, speak." Shannon replied, shrugging. What am I in for now? She thought to herself.
Luna cleared her throat. "I have some very shocking news. Brace yourself."
Shannon was on the verge of bursting out in frustration about her young agent's stalling. "Tell me, already!"
Luna took a breath before saying, "I, Aluna Star Sister-Woods, am your cousin." She watched and waited for Shannon's response.
Shannon's face held a look of disbelief. "Yeah, right." She quipped. "How do you figure?"
"It's true, I'm telling you!" Luna nearly screamed out. She calmed herself before getting in Shannon's face. "Do the words 'Ancient Mystics' ring any bells?" When Shannon didn't respond, she went on. "How about the names Enchantra, Challandra, and Lord Guardian? What about your mother, Sarabeth, or your Aunts Dixilynne and Dorianne?"
Shannon wore a look of confusion as she held her breath, forcing Luna to continue. "That's right, you don't know about Dorianne."
Shannon shook her head, wondering, "How do you?"
"Please, Shannon, let me finish." Luna commanded lightly.
Shannon had to laugh.
Luna frowned and ignored her laughter. "Now then. My mother Susan and her twin sister Sharon are the daughters of Dixilynne. Sarabeth was yours and your twin's mother."
"I don't have a twin." Shannon replied, confused.
Luna silenced her. "Ah, but you do, as do I. Anyway -- Sarabeth, Dixilynne and Dorianne are the Earthbound daughters of Enchantra, the elder Ancient Mystic Sister. Sarabeth was my great-aunt, as is Dorianne now, and Dixilynne was my grandmother."
"I don't follow you." A very confused Shannon replied, interested. She never realized until now just how much more of this Ancient Mystic stuff Aluna knew than she did.
Luna shook her head. "Maybe this will jog your memory? Gramma Dixie was visited by her mother a while ago, right?"
Shannon nodded, understanding. "Go on."
"Enchantra told her of what Dixie and you must do." Aluna continued in a daze, trying to get the information right as she went along. "Dixie must leave the Outer Realm and return to what is known as the Dream Realm, where she was born. Enchantra wanted Dixie to be unharmed, out of the clutches of the Dominionite Master. Dixie then came to you the next morning, and told you that your training to be the chief had to begin soon."
Shannon sat there, in awe. "How do you know these things?"
Luna smiled. "I am a daughter of an Ancient Mystic, as are you. Once I had been told the story, Lord Guardian himself came to me, telling me what I have to do."
"Which is?"
"Tell you of my dreams and visions." Luna replied seriously. "I have the power of clairvoyance. That is, I can See Visions of things with in my mind, or See the future in dreams."
Shannon shook her head, trying to let it all sink in. "Intense." She said under her breath. Then she smiled in disbelief. "So, what are your dreams about anyway, Lu-Lu?"
"Please. Now that we're family, call me Luna." Luna replied.
"No problem, Luna. Go ahead." Shannon replied in interest.
Luna's usually sarcastic voice turned serious, as did the look on her face. Her eyes turned dark as she faced Shannon with as much seriousness as she could bear. "I saw terror and destruction in our precious Realm of Dreams. You hired four individuals, starting with Derrick Reading. My twin sister, Ariana Moon, would be next. The third, Aaron Schmidt, would come later. There's also another, I believe his name is Mark Grey, but I'm not sure." Luna stopped. She kept her gaze on Shannon as she continued. "All four of them, plus you, me, Nick and Shadow were fighting against the Dominionite Master Orthos. Four Companions: Kitten’s Claw and Katherine Hawk, Warrior Wolf and Warrior Tobias would help us fight him, too, though I don’t know how, since both Hawk twins are Banished and both boys are on their side.”
She took a deep breath, shaking her head. She turned back to Shannon with the statement. “The worst of it is this: his son, the Merchant as he calls himself, had my twin sister locked in a cage." Luna looked at her lap and grew quiet. A tear trickled down her cheek from her left eye. She wiped it away, sniffing back more tears. As she went on, her voice fell softly. "I felt her Shannon. I sensed her frightened, and she was crying in pain."
Luna started to cry softly, then louder as the painful truth hit her. Shannon stood from her desk, and sat next to her. She wrapped a concerned arm around Luna's shoulders, rubbing her arms in support. "Why are you telling me this?"
Luna looked up and into her boss's eyes. "Shannon, I don't want either of us to die too young. It is your duty as an Ancient Mystic to help me. It has been that of those before, and of those after, to continue fighting Dominionites and Master Orthos. It’s your Ancient Mystic duty to make sure Young Dreamers of our world are kept safe at night."
Shannon gave her a tissue. After her almost-sister had calmed down, Luna left. Shannon stood at the same window her aunt Dixilynne had stood at some time ago, before leaving the Outer Realm to live in the Dream Realm.
She understood completely what she had to do.
It was her turn to fight the Dominionite Master.
It was her destiny. 
Part 2: Agent Derrick Reading

Chapter One:
Shannon's Plan

Shannon Ryan sat at her mahogany desk and stared at the computer screen for answers to her many internal questions. Where to search for the first recruit?
She flipped through many files and files of endless documents, and the Internet before finally finding what she was looking for. In front of her was the student web page of Derrick James Reading. She frowned, browsing the many files of this sixteen-year-old boy genius. Based on these journals, Derrick James Reading (pronounced Redding, as she read), was one very lonely and disturbed young man.
How Luna knew about him and two others still boggled Shannon's mind.
She continued for what seemed to be hours, coming up with a plan on how to get this young man to the System to get him trained. Shannon called for Shane "Shadow" Morehouse on the telephone.
He answered on the second ring. “Shadow speaking.”
“Shadow, will you come back to my office? I’ve got something to discuss with you.” Shannon was