Jakira walked home that day feeling happy but puzzled.
She was glad she'd made a friend in her class, one she could see every day, but she had the strangest feeling she'd met him before. The entire time he'd seemed to know exactly what was on her mind, and she'd accidentally spoken his thoughts four times.
When have I talked to him? I know I have sometime before!
Those thoughts were still ringing in her head as she walked through the front door and waved to her mother, Synthia, who was sitting on the couch reading. "Hey, Mom."
"Hi, sweetheart!" she called back, closing her book and rising to give her daughter a hug. When they pulled away, she studied Jakira's face. "How was school?"
"Good," Jakira answered. She smiled. "I made a new friend."
"Oh, you did? That's great! What's her name?"
"His," she corrected. "He's a boy. His name's Alex. We were chosen to be partners for a history project."
Synthia paused. "What's his last name?"
"Sameron. Why?"
"Oh, nothing, just wondering." She turned and walked back into the kitchen, but Jakira didn't miss the little smile that flashed across her face.
She dropped her backpack. "Mom!" she exclaimed indignantly. "You can't just go matchmaking me with a guy I just met today! And besides, I already-"
"I know, I know," she interrupted, laughing. "You already have a thing for Night. I was just kidding."
Jakira rolled her eyes, smiling, and bent down to pick up her school stuff. She couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed that her mom knew who she'd been crushing on for quite some time now. There were pretty much no secrets between them; Synthia also knew she was Sunray, because she'd once been the light guardian herself. When Jakira had gotten old enough, she'd received the light gem and was taught by her mother how to use and control her new power.
After she tossed her stuff in her room, Jakira entered the kitchen again and asked, "Mom, what was the last dark host's name again?" She'd heard it before, but not very often.
"Oscuro," she replied, turning to the sink to wash her hands.
"Did you ever find out who he was?" she continued curiously.
Synthia stopped, gazing sadly out the window of the sink. "No," she said quietly. "I don't know what happened to him. Ten years ago, one Monday, he was acting strange: nervous, anxious, jumpy. I asked him why, and he said he'd explain later. But then after the fight with Preciser he forgot. On Friday he never showed up. Preciser told me . . . told me that I would never see him again." She stopped, swallowing, then finished, "I assumed he was dead."
"Oh." Jakira fell silent as her mother stared at the wall miserably, lost in bittersweet memories. She'd heard other times that the former dark guardian, Oscuro, had been her mother's closest friend when she was younger.
Now, she took a deep breath and looked back at her daughter, smiling briefly. Obviously she was trying to think of happier subjects. "So . . . do you know that this romance going on between you and Night is the first ever with the light and dark heroes?"
She blinked. "Seriously?"
Her mother nodded. "All the other ones, including me and Oscuro, were just very close friends. They always seemed to have someone else on their minds."
YOU ARE READING
Where Light Meets Dark
Teen Fiction[COMPLETED ~ TO BE PUBLISHED... eventually] Sunray was the light, lonely and shining. She was a beacon of hope to the public, but quiet in her own life. To everyone else, anyway. Night was her shadow, sworn to protect her just as much as his home. H...
