Young Guardian Trilogy by Lady Adellandra Dratianos (the lemonade war series .TXT) 📖

Crusaders banished her to the Unknown, with her father and brother soon following.
We returned to our rightful homes after it was over. Luna and I were at our home, the Woods’. Derrick was with his family in the Rich District, and Aaron was next door. I didn’t know he was next door until Katherine blurted it out on a visit to the Dream Realm. Mark, on the other hand, was initiated as a Companion, once helping with the fight. His new name was Panther, and my heart went out to him in the end. With one last wish to him, I turned his now-black fur back to his human self. It was just enough time for him to give me a kiss, and myself to promise to learn to love him as Panther.
Anyway, not long after, Aaron thought it would be best to reunite with our daughter. He didn’t know where to look first, so I suggested the Hill Crest Orphanage, where I used to stay with the Oracles. He didn’t want to, at first, but humbly agreed to follow my lead. When I walked in the door, I called for the Oracles in my mind. An adorable brunette named Tiffany came to me, and recognized Aaron. Aaron had never been to Hill Crest before, so I wondered how they knew each other. Turns out, he had a secret. Shortly before reuniting with me, he and Aimee, his twin sister, adopted a little boy from here, named Bradley Allen. Mrs. Gertrude tried to weasel it out of him, by reminding him of the secret he wanted to keep, but it was too late. I already knew it. At any rate, Mrs. Gertrude told us who took our daughter Kelly, and we were on our way.
Not soon after we began our search, Luna and Shane were looking at the house across the street from our parents. The five of us, Aaron, Luna, Shane, Derrick, and I started our journey to Adams’ Grove Farms, deep in the heart of Charlton County. I would spend the weekend with Kelly, to get back in the parenting role. Aunt Sharon, my mother’s twin sister, was the owner and operator of Adams’ Grove. She taught me a little about the Advanced Magics while I was there, and even told me a little about the family. Kelly, who was six, was learning her own Magic as well. She would be the Enchanted Child to the Dream Realm, and I its Young Guardian. We were an explosive Earthbound team with Mystic Magic to fight the bad guys of the Dominion. The weekend ended quickly, and we were allowed to go home. I called Derrick at his parent’s house, telling him we were ready. To my surprise, he brought with him Luna, Shane, Aaron, and Aaron’s adopted son, Bradley Allen.
I was a mother again, and Aaron was a father. Derrick would soon be Daddy Derrick to Kelly, as she wanted to be called. We had quite an adventure in the Unknown, where Orthos was hiding. Kelly and I were taken to the Abyss, a dimension between the Dream Realm and Unknown, places like that. She was scared, but I was left wondering. In the end of our Abyss adventure, Kelly, Bradley, Aaron, Derrick, Luna, Shane, Aimee and I gathered in Luna and Shane’s new home. We were left wondering what was going to happen next.
We had survived a lot of things together; the Crusaders and I, and our lives together were only just beginning. Derrick, as inquisitive as he is, wondered what it would have been like if we hadn’t met. I scolded him for thinking such a thing. What we didn’t realize by answering his question was that Sabrina was listening in, ready to tell her father and mother in the Unknown.
Orthos thought it would be funny to see how it really would be without the Crusaders in his way. Unfortunately, his twin brother O’Dell, the Lord Guardian himself, didn’t think so. Once Jezebel, Orthos’ bride, revealed her husband’s secret plan to turn back time, O’Dell decided to get into it. He and the Sisters, Enchantra and Challandra, cast a protective spell over us, which they called “The Mind-In-Time Spell.” What the spell did was give us the knowledge of true time as we were cast out of it.
This made time change for the Companions as well. Katherine and Kitten’s Claw were stuck back in Dark Tower in the newly revised Dominion. Toby and Wolf were stuck being Warriors, wondering how it happened, and where their lost loves were, and Panther was just plain stuck. Mark, since it was three years into the past, was alive and well, loving someone he knew he couldn’t have; his adopted sister, Bonnie Marie. Shane, swept in time and place, was now a ward of the court, sent to a foster home across from the Parkers. This is how they met each other again. Aaron, Aimee, and I were in the Hill Crest Orphanage. Aaron loved me as if nothing happened, Aimee thought for sure something had happened, and I wanted to find out the truth and return things to normal. Derrick, who was left at home instead of at the System with Luna, Shane, and me, is left searching for me, living his own life for the second-time around.
Once Panther got to me, briefly explaining who I was, I began a plan to get the Crusaders back together again. He got the Companions to use their power to help him in the Dream Realm battle. Meanwhile, Bonnie Marie, his adopted sister who died two years earlier in real-time, was left searching for love, hope, friendship, and a home. She found it in the five Companions: Kat, Kit, Toby, Wolf, and especially Panther. After telling her what was going on in the Outer Realm, Panther was sure Bonnie Marie was for real, and it was time to make his move. While I was getting the Crusaders together, trying to turn time around, Panther was getting the Companions together to fight in a bi-world, bi-Crusade against Orthos one last time.
It all worked out in the end. Derrick, Luna, Shane, Aaron, Aimee, Kelly, Bradley, and I returned time to normal, and the Companions were congratulated for their efforts. Bonnie Marie, who was now being called Marie, was now learning how to be a full Companion, per Katherine Hawk. O’Dell and the Sisters, now adding Jezebel back into the Sisterhood, are getting ready for the most exciting time in all our lives.
The very day Derrick and I get married. Luna and Shane will marry as well, as will Katherine to Wolf, Kit to Toby, and Marie to Panther. The five marriages of the Dream Realm Crusaders would mark more than just another fling for the Dream Realm. It was the start of something big.
In the present, Luna, Aaron, Aimee, and I are going on twenty-one that same week, Shane is twenty-three, Derrick is twenty-two, Shannon is twenty-seven, and Nick is twenty-eight. We’re all at the System, with the children, Kelly, who just turned seven, and Bradley Allen, who is eight. Our entire family, minus the Readings back in Hill View, was here. Luna’s and my sisters, Anna, Mary Ellen, and Claudia, were our brides-maids with Shannon, and Nick, Chips Deneson, Jamie “Jammins” Stewart, and Aaron were the grooms’ best men.
Luna and I shared our old quarters of Fourth-Floor, Derrick and Shane shared the Ginger Room across from us, and Aaron and Aimee were with the kids next door to us in the room known as Demure Commons. Each room at the System had its own separate history, therefore its own special name.
A lot would happen to us within the next two weeks.
I couldn’t wait.
Prologue #2:
Twin Celebrations

The morning of the double wedding, Luna, Shannon and I were three busy little bees, decorating the System’s Chez Café. Not only would we have the wedding banquet in the Café, but also Luna and I would be turning twenty-one. Everyone was helping us, from Bridget “Big Guy” Guy, Shannon’s best friend to Alan “Chips” Deneson, the System’s resident computer genius. The entire lot of System’s agents was helping. I could hear them chattering away about wedding plans and what we were going to do with our lives after we left the System’s grounds. Luna was wound up with excitement.
“I can’t believe it’s happening!” Luna squealed, jumping up and down like an excited schoolgirl. She held my shoulders, making me shake.
“Calm down, Lu.” I laughed, grasping Luna’s arms to stop her jumping. I held her hands to calm her. “I can’t believe it either.”
“Imagine, a double wedding – right here at the System!” Our cousin Shannon cried, wrapping her arms around us. Luna and I shared a look, giggling.
“This is sure going to be a wedding to remember.” Luna sighed romantically.
“Well, it is where we met each other,” I pointed out, nodding to my sister.
“Not to mention our loves, Shane and Derrick.” Luna said after her, sighing romantically.
“By this time tomorrow, you two will no longer be Ariana and Luna Woods, but Ariana Reading,” Shannon looked at my eyes and brilliant smile on her left, and then looked to her right. “And Aluna Morehouse.”
Luna reddened.
We went back to hanging decorations for the party. I helped Luna make name cards for the tables, to show where people would sit.
“Just think, Ariana.” Luna started, picking up the red-colored marker to color in a name card. “We’re going to be so happy. Our own little families. Can you imagine how happy I am right now?”
“I’m happy, too, but I don’t think Shannon is.” I told her. I nodded across the room, where Shannon and another agent, Cindy “Cool Cat” Carmichael were talking.
Luna looked. “She looks fine, so don’t make a big deal out of it.”
I stared at her. “Lu, use your Empathy, and tell me how she feels.”
Luna shook her head, her eyes wide with horror. “Sorry, sis, but no. My empathy isn’t as powerful as yours is. I’m only a clairvoyant and you know it.”
That was strange. I shrugged it off, ignoring her apprehension of using her Empathy.
“I’ll do it, then.” I told her. I opened my Empathic eyes and ears as I stared at our cousin. Shannon was playing with the ribbons, shaking her head as she tried to pay attention. After a moment, I was able to tell my sister what I felt. “I can sense she’s worried about something.”
“Can you tell what?”
I shook my head and stood up. “Nope, but I’m gonna find out. Coming with me?”
Luna capped the marker and grinned. “You bet.”
Together, we headed over to Shannon and Cool Cat.
“Hi guys!” Cool Cat greeted. “May I wish you a happy birthday?”
Luna hugged her before I did. “You may.”
“You’re gonna be at the wedding, aren’t you Cool Cat?” Luna asked.
Cool Cat smiled, her blue eyes sparkling. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
I cleared my throat. “Could we talk to Shannon for a minute?”
“Alone?” Luna gave her a look.
“No problem.” Cool Cat supplied as she disappeared.
We turned to Shannon, sharing a look when we noticed she was fiddling with the paper flowers. She was preoccupied, I could tell.
“What’s on your mind, Shannon?” I asked her.
She was staring out into space. Shaking her head, she came back to life. “Oh, nothing.” She cleared her throat and asked me. “So, how do you feel being twenty-one finally?”
My cousin was stalling, and she knew I knew it.
“Shannon...” I warned her, giving her a look. “Spill it.”
I smiled, to let her know I was there for her if she needed me.
She opened her mouth, only to close it again. She sat in the booth behind her. “I’ve