Guardians of the Light

Intrigue

♦ When Lenny finished everyone was speechless. The first to speak after a long pause was Lenny, "So... what do you say? Weird huh?"

"Today was weird overall" Kamila said, twirling her wavy hair around her hand as she thought. "Mom was talking to Mrs. Chase about Guardians of the Light. And she mentioned us and a few other people. They were saying something about how it was decided, that those people will probably become Guardians of the Light or something like that."

"Do you remember who they mentioned? You didn't tell me that." David asked.

"They mentioned me, Lenny, you, Erika, and then some Emma and Anthony."

"Wait," Diana jumped in, "there's an Emma in our class. Emma Burns, right?" Kamila nodded. "I thought about her too. They mentioned that she has some kind of disability, which would fit her. Now to find out if he has a mother named Natasha and a brother named Anthony."

"Yeah, she does," Erika said, "Her mom, Natasha, is an old acquaintance of our parents and since I was eight, she'd often come over with Emma and Tony and we'd play together. Remember, David?"

"Yes"

"David, you said you would tell me about those Guardians of the Light." Kamila was right. David opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't. It was as if he had lost his voice, no matter how hard he tried, he didn't make a sound. He slapped his forehead "Sorry, Kamila, I can't tell you anything."

"Well, ladies and gentleman, we have a mystery here," Lenny declared. "And at the centre of that mystery is Mrs. Chase. Who's for us to spy on her?" Lenny raised his hand enthusiastically. After a while, Kamila and Erika also raised theirs. "I'm too intrigued by this mystery to say no. But if it gets us in trouble, you're dead Lenny." Kamila said.

"Super, sis. Diana, David, are you in?"

"I absolutely am not in. I refuse to get in trouble. Erika, you're coming with me." David grabbed Erika's hand and started to walk away.

"What about you, Diana?" Diana looked at Lenny with an uncertain expression. "I don't know. David's right, it could get us into trouble."

"You're right, it could, but it won't, because we have Kamcha here and she'll come up with some plan that will guarantee that we won't be caught."

"Lenny, don't make me do it." Diana said.

"You know what? We'll give you time to think." the wizard said and tried to stand up, forgetting that he had a sprained ankle. He was starting to collapse like a house of cards but Diana caught him saying, "Maybe you should hold off on that investigation until you've recovered."

"And maybe you'll change your mind by then." Lenny said optimistically.

♦ Meanwhile, in some perhaps distant, perhaps not so distant location, Moon Lady was walking down a long corridor. However, she did not go to the emergency room, even though she should have because of the burn on her left hand. She stopped in front of a large door at the end of the hall. ALCHEMICAL/CHEMICAL LABORATORY was written above the door. There was a microphone on the wall next to the door. "Permission to enter," said Moon Lady into the microphone. A camera-like device snaked out of the wall. A beam of light shot out from the device, sweeping Moon Lady from the bottom to the top. Then one of the floor tiles opened and a small table emerged from it with a built-in tablet computers and a small circle with a hole in the middle. The camera on the tablet computer was glowing red. Moon Lady leaned in to it so it could capture her face. Her face and a green check mark appeared on the screen. She placed her right hand on the second smaller tablet computer, on the larger tablet computer appeared an image of her hand and a second check mark. Moon Lady turned so that the side of her head where the comb was was facing the circle with the hole. She closed her eyes and concentrated. A beam of coral light shot out of the clip and went straight into the hole of the circle. An image appeared on the screen silver and pink combs, her comb. Another check mark appeared beside them. The tablet table sank back under the floor and the tile closed. A circlet descended from the ceiling and tightened around Moon Lady's head. Moon Lady closed her eyes. After a few seconds the circlet glowed green, Moon Lady took it off and it floated into the ceiling. The lady stepped up to the microphone and said, "Chocolate Unicorns." The door began to open and a robotic voice said, "Security screening completed, access granted." Moonlight walked in. She walked past many doors with names until she finally stopped in front of one. She rang the doorbell and a camera emerged from the wall to scan her again. After a while, the door opened and Moonlight was allowed to enter. "Lab coat." said the blonde alchemist who was currently immersed in preparing and stirring the potion in a cauldron. She didn't even look at Moon Lady. "Of course." Moon Lady put on a lab coat. "I see you are working alone today. Where's your colleague?"