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

Melody?” Michael was caring, looking at her for a split second.
“Don’t go so fast, please?” She asked. “We’re not late, you know.”
“I know. I just wanted to see how my daughters are fairing.” Michael held a smile, taking her hand.
Somehow, that didn’t take the feeling from her soul.
I shouldn’t do this...Mother always warned me about the Mystic Magic...
“I can sense them, darling. Remember?” Melody tried to convince him, but the car still sped.
Michael patted her hand. “Be careful.”
That’s when I became Melody. I could sense he knew of her anxious Mystic Magic teachings that frequently warned her of possible danger. Should he trust her intuition all the time, though?
I closed Melody’s silver-blue eyes, feeling her hands glow a little in a rainbow-colored Magic cloud.
She saw her eldest daughter, Amanda Josephine in the kitchen of the Adams’ house, helping Mrs. Adams with the final preparations.
Amanda Jo seemed to sense her watching, sending a message, I’m fine, Momma. Please hurry.
As Melody’s eyes opened, she saw the speeding semi truck coming toward them.
Michael turned the wheel in the opposite direction, but it was too late.
The truck hit them head on.

I woke in a sweat, getting sick in the bathroom. My mind whirled all sorts of thoughts of the dreams. Why would I dream of someone I don’t even know? Why did her daughter Amanda Josephine look exactly like Kelly? What was going on? The only one I knew of that would be able to answer my questions was my Great-Aunt Dorianne Jacobs.
I dreaded seeing light of the next morning.
Chapter:
The Elusive Dorianne

Dorianne Jacobs was the oldest living Mystic relative. She lived alone in a house atop the tallest hill in Hill View. I’ve never been to her house, but I have seen her around town. I knew she was a very powerful Mystic; quiet, yet smart, and the only Elder Mystic still left Earthbound from the Dream Realm Wars for Power when she was only ten.
That’s as far as my knowledge of her went.
That morning, I kissed my husband goodbye, sent Bradley and Kelly to ride with the Farthays, and prepared my three-year-old twin sons and myself for the ride of our lives. It was going to be hard, but I knew it had to be done.
Where are we going? Andrew James relayed to me in telepathy as I set he and his twin brother in their car seats.
“You’ll know when we get there.” I told him simply.
Are we going to a bad place? Mark-Antony thought.
“Not really. We’re visiting your Great-great Aunt Dorianne.” I told the boys.
Who is she? Andrew asked.
“Only the oldest living Mystic in the world.” I told them. I pet their knees, making sure they were safely buckled in. “Don’t ask any more questions. I don’t know that much about her myself.”
If only my knowledge would have stayed that way.
I pulled into her driveway ten minutes later, unbuckling the twins. When I closed the car door and told Mark-Antony to hold my free hand, I heard a woman’s voice.
“Well, well, who do we have here?” I recognized Dorianne Jacobs right away. The elder woman had her silver-black hair pulled into a bun. She stood a foot taller than myself and had a hard look on her face. She tried to smile as she greeted my sons, but frowned when they hid behind my legs.
“I’m one of Dixie’s granddaughters, Ariana.” I told her, hoping she’d remember her own twin sister she lost so long ago.
“Ah, yes. The Young Guardian.” Dorianne hugged me. “Father’s successor. Welcome to my home, Ariana Moon.”
Seeing she didn’t hurt me, my sons inched their way around my legs.
“Don’t be bashful, boys.” I told them with a smile. “This is your Great-great Aunt Dorianne. She won’t hurt you.”
Mark-Antony was brave. He came out and placed a hand on hers, closing his eyes. I recognized it as his own use of the Empathy. When he opened his eyes again, he smiled. “Dori-Anne.”
Andrew followed suit, trusting his brother’s instinct.
Dorianne and I smiled at each other. Once she set them up in a make-shift playroom, she made some hot chocolate for the two of us. I sat on the couch while she sat on the chair across from me.
“What can I do for you, Ariana?” She asked me.
I explained to her my two strange dreams, to which she listened intently and didn’t interrupt. When I was finished, she stared at me.
“Melody...” Dorianne took a hand to her heart when she breathed the name. “It’s not possible.”
“I’m not sure she’s the same one, Dorianne.” I told her. “It could be just a namesake.”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s my Melody.” Dorianne replied. “Father and the Goddess Ocarina told me so themselves.”
“You don’t mind telling me the story, do you?” I asked her. “Maybe that would help me better understand the link between the dreams and my pregnancy.”
“You’re pregnant?” Dorianne placed a hand to my stomach. “Yes, I can feel the Magic in this one.”
My eyes were wide open now. “Please, tell me your story.”
“I’m surprised Aluna Star didn’t tell you so herself.” She replied, taking her hand away.
“Luna hasn’t been herself for the past year.” I told her sadly. “The story?”
“Yes, the story.” Dorianne started. “Almost fifty years ago, I had a pair of twins, Melody Anne and Elisabeth Jane. I would say Melody was like you in every way, save the glasses and age, of course. Anyway, I hated my heritage and didn’t want any part of the Mystic family at all. I never told my husband Paul about it, nor my daughters.”
“Why did you hate who you were?” I asked.
“I didn’t hate who I was, no. I hated the actual Mystic Magic itself.” Dorianne explained. “It had killed both my sisters when Mother and Father promised nothing would happen to us here.”
“Dorianne, Sarabeth died of complications in both her pregnancy with Shannon and Julie and the cancer that had spread through her brain.” I explained. “As for Dixilynne, my grandmother, she fought in the Wars for Power, but didn’t die there. She died of natural causes after training Shannon to take her place at the System.”
Dorianne pondered my words before saying a few of her own. “Going on, I could tell as my twins grew up, they found they could do things. When they came to me, I discouraged it. I didn’t want to lose them as I’d lost both my twin and my younger sister. I later found out they were practicing behind my back. Mother came to me, begging to teach my girls the Magic they held. I wouldn’t allow it, so Mother cursed my entire line. Until I came to terms with who I was Magically, neither of my descendants could learn their power fully.”
“What happened to Melody?” I asked.
“When the girls were fifteen, I found my Melody was suffering from small-pox. In those days, there weren’t any cures, so I lost her.” Dorianne’s voice cracked as she tried to explain. “Before their sixteenth birthday, I was a grandmother by Elisabeth. She had a pair of girls of her own, named Annabelle and Angela. On her deathbed, Melody and Elisabeth made a pact. They would learn all they needed to know about the Magic to keep it alive. I lost my Melody Anne on her seventeenth birthday. Elisabeth made up her mind. She would be her own daughters’ aunt, saying Melody was their mother who died in childbirth.”
“The years pass, and Elisabeth’s twins grow up. Annabelle moved to Europe after graduation. To this day, I still don’t know whatever happened to her. Angela would live to bear a pair of twins unlike her mother. She had both a boy and a girl once loving and marrying a lovely young man named Jack Crawford. To her knowledge, she named her daughter after her mother, Melody.” Dorianne paused to sip her hot chocolate.
“Of course, it wasn’t true. Angela had actually named Melody after her own aunt.” I surmised, with Dorianne agreeing with me. “Did Angela ever find out the truth?”
“No, but her daughter Melody did.” Dorianne replied. “This Melody had a twin brother Matthew, who was overprotective of her. It started to bother her when they were each thirteen. That was when she met her now-husband Michael Applebee.”
“Well, what did Matthew do?”
“He was jealous and hurt. He was no longer the object of his twin’s attentions or affections. Sure, they were still twins, living in the same house, but it wasn’t the same to him. Matthew didn’t think Michael Applebee was good enough for his twin sister.” Dorianne said. “He tried everything to keep the two lovers apart. Nothing worked, until Matthew went to his dying mother Angela. She told him what to do. Apologize to Michael and Melody and be happy for them.”
“How did Angela die?”
“Heartache. She missed her twin Annabelle, quite like Elisabeth missed her own twin Melody.” Dorianne supplied. “Anyway, a month before Matthew and Melody’s high school graduation, Angela died of complications. The twins mourned for her, but Melody knew it wouldn’t be the last time she saw her mother. Matthew was bitter until their graduation day. He did as his mother told him and apologized to Melody and Michael. Matthew wished them a happy life together, accepted his diploma and died that night on the way home. Melody was crushed, but life went on.”
“Soon, she and Michael Applebee had a daughter, Amanda Josephine. Seven years later, three years ago, she had a second daughter, Anastasia Elizabeth.”
I was finally getting the story. “Does that mean what I think it does? That this Melody is my triplet cousin, and her daughter Amanda Josephine is Kelly’s twin second-cousin?”
“Depends. When were you both born?” I told her and she nodded her head. “Exactly. Amanda Josephine is going on ten in about nine months, the same day as your daughter Kelly turns ten. Melody Applebee was, in fact, born on the same day as you and Aluna Star, in the same year.”
“Is that why I’m becoming her in my dreams?” I asked, rubbing my head. By now, my hot chocolate was cold, so I used Magic to warm it in my hands. “If so, that doesn’t explain why I saw both the Goddess Ocarina and your Melody in the Portal of Time. I didn’t become her there. It was as if I were standing on the sidelines, watching an important scene.”
“Very good. I’m sure, being Father’s successor; now that I’ve told you the story; you can figure the rest out on your own.” Dorianne stood and took the now-empty hot chocolate mug to the kitchen.
“I’m going to check on the boys.” I told her, going to the make-shift playroom in the back of the house. When I opened the door, I saw they were playing a game with glowing ribbons of Magic.
“Mark! Andrew! Stop that right now!”
As soon as I said that, the ribbons disappeared and they cowered away. They looked like they were about to cry. I had to smile.
I crouched down to their level and held my arms out. They both ran to them, allowing me to hug them.
“Sorry, Mommy.” They chorused aloud.
I put a kiss on each of their cheeks. “You have to be careful with that.”
“You let us at home.” Andrew carefully pronounced, sucking his thumb.
“It’s different at home, my Andrew James.” I told him. “You two are going to preschool next year. In school, you can’t do Magic at all. Only at home, understand?”
The twins nodded each their heads.
“It’s a super-secret. You can’t tell anybody about it, okay?” I told them, hoping my young boys would understand.
They