Of Sun & Moon (Midnight Guardian Series, Book 1)

OF SUN & MOON

  Midnight Guardian Series

  Book 1

  By Bryna Butler

  OF SUN & MOON

  By Bryna Butler

  Copyright 2011 by Bryna Butler

  All Rights Reserved

  Any trademarks used are the property of their respective companies and are used without permission. This is a work of fiction. All people, places, and situations described are used fictitiously or are the result of the author’s imagination.

  DEDICATION

  To my mother who surprises me daily with her wisdom and reminds me to live life boldly.

  Chapter 1: Colby & Keira

  Colby’s head was throbbing as he lay motionless on the cold, hard concrete outside. The coolness felt good on his forehead for only a moment before full awareness slammed down on him. The wind pounded against his back and a sense of urgency surged through his entire body. He tried to move an arm, but it didn’t respond. His legs ignored him too. He needed to get up. He needed to do something…anything. Keira and Brooke were standing right in front of him and they were in danger. He couldn’t see the cause of his alarm, but he knew it was there. He could feel danger. As he struggled to work past the pain and regain control over his body, Colby Hayes could read the word ‘anyone’ screaming from Brooke’s lips, but nothing more.

  His head continued to throb and the ringing in his ears grew more and more intense, until he opened his eyes.

  “Just a dream,” he whispered to himself. On his desk, just inches from his nose, he picked up the ringing phone. “Hello.”

  “Were you asleep? You totally were. You may be an uncle now, but that doesn’t mean you’re any older. You don’t have to go to bed at four in the afternoon,” laughed Keira.

  “No, no, I’m awake.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Colby rose to his feet, stretched, and grabbed the foam basketball by his bed. “Anyway, you were calling because…”

  “I just heard about the new baby. Hey, since he’s Jamie’s son, and Jamie is your half-brother, he would be your nephew, right?” Keira asked. “…Or is it half-nephew? What’s the etiquette on that? Never mind. Anyway, I’m totally off track. What I meant was, since you’re a new uncle, are you into family stuff with the new baby…or do you want to meet at The Landing?”

  Colby juggled the phone as he listened. Finally, it came to rest between his ear and his shoulder. His hands were then free to catch the ball which he clumsily tossed just before she asked the last question. Over the last thirteen years, he had lofted more than a few failed attempts at the rim mounted to the back of his bedroom door during Keira’s ramblings.

  “See you in ten minutes.”

  Colby slipped the phone into his back pocket, slid into his sneakers, and eased down the stairs. He brushed past his mother who was trying to show him the blue baby blanket that she had proudly monogrammed for her new grandchild. It had the initials ACH for Andrew Christopher Hayes.

  “That’s great, Mom,” Colby said without a look back as he moved out the door. “I’m meeting Keira, be back later.” The door slammed shut.

  Colby and Keira had been best friends for as long as either could remember. This fact was proven by his mother’s vast collection of videos starring the two of them, wearing nothing but their diapers. Videos, that despite Colby’s constant protest, she happily trotted out at any given opportunity.

  Their longtime friendship was a bit of a mystery to most, since no two people could be more opposite.

  Colby Hayes was an over-achieving, small town boy. His platinum blond hair was always neatly trimmed. His clothing matched his demeanor, always appropriate and immaculate. He was never late and always did his homework. He was always as honest as a boy scout. He was perhaps a little too safe, too honest, and too responsible. Always.

  However, that never seemed to concern Keira Ryan, his very best friend and complete opposite. Her long, wavy black hair bounced wildly down her back. Her favorite outfit was her old ripped blue jeans, worn-soft hooded sweatshirt and broken-in cowboy boots. She dressed for comfort, not to impress. She always spoke her mind. Her emotions were not just felt; they exploded. She loved adventure and never missed a chance to drag Colby along.

  The two were like night and day. Their friendship gave them the perfect balance.

  At this moment, Colby was balancing, literally, as he crossed the log that straddled a creek at the edge of his yard. After the log, it was a quick walk through the corn field, the shortest way to The Landing. On a rural scale, Colby and Keira would be considered neighbors. Of course, a country neighbor is far different from neighbors in the city. After Keira’s house, the next house down the road was Colby’s, but their homes were separated by a field of a little more than a hundred yards wide. The field was part of the sprawling farm owned by the Hayes family and passed down generation by generation. Colby’s dad, Curt, tended the farm and rotated a variety of crops in that particular field. One year, he would choose to plant corn; the next would be soybeans or alfalfa hay. Every couple of seasons brought a new view. The field now boasted late August corn, stretching six and seven feet from root to tassel.

  Colby moved through the field to meet Keira at The Landing. The Landing was not a restaurant or popular hangout. It was simply as the name indicates…a boat landing, mostly used by locals to launch their bass boats for early morning fishing or for the occasional tourist kayak or canoe.

  The breeze began to pick up. The green cornstalks danced and shimmied at Colby’s sides as he made his way across the field to meet his friend. He took in the warm, sweet air. It was the kind of air that only precedes a summer storm. With no one watching, he closed his eyes and stretched out his arms to the wind as he walked. A weightless, carefree feeling pulled him open as Colby took in a deep breath and let summer fill his lungs.

  Soon, he could feel the ground beneath him turning from uneven, cultivated dirt to rolling gravel. He had reached the end of the field. He stumbled and opened his eyes as he stepped from the corn rows onto the gravel path which led to the river’s edge.

  “Thought you said ten minutes? Try fifteen,” shouted Keira from the corner of the field.

  Her comment rang out like a starter pistol and the two took off. Step after step, breathing harder and harder, they pushed their way across the narrow path. Keira, receiving a definite starting position advantage, took the lead. She was quickly overtaken by Colby who immediately stumbled and fell back to second.

  “I win!” Keira yelled as her right foot struck the first plank of the boardwalk. She was not even out of breath.

  Colby huffed as he dusted himself off and rose to his feet. It was then that the particularly colorful sunset took him off guard with its vibrant reds and oranges. The sky was ablaze falling opposite the quiet, blue waters of the river. And there in the middle, danced the raven-haired Keira, still celebrating from her recent victory. Colby wished to linger in this summer moment, but in a brilliant flash, lightning broke the sweet orange sunset.

  Keira stopped when she noticed that he was not right beside her. “You okay?”

  He nodded.

  “Hurry up then, it’s gonna rain.” She grinned as she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the shelter.

  The Landing consisted of a creaky boardwalk leading to a rickety, wooden pier that sprang from the corn fields and jutted out into the river. Beside the pier was a park shelterhouse with open sides, a metal roof, a concrete floor, and stuffed with a half dozen weather-beaten picnic tables. When the river was high, the shelterhouse was flooded. When the river receded, it left behind a wake of mud and driftwood on the floor.
For this reason, the structure was rarely used. Eventually, weeds and vines grew to almost entirely enclose one side. However, on most summer days, like this one, it was still the perfect spot to watch the sun set over the river. That’s why Colby and Keira spent so much of their time there.

  As the first, fat raindrops struck the tin roof of the shelter, Colby stretched to retrieve his flashlight from its high hiding place on the inside ledge above the entrance. He didn’t need it yet. The rainclouds failed in their attempt to restrain the sunlight that was now streaming from the horizon. Instead, he tucked it under his arm and headed to his usual seat at the end of the centermost picnic table. Keira climbed on top of the same table and collapsed.

  “I can’t believe this is our last day of summer,” she moaned to the shelterhouse rafters. “It’s gone. Gone! Do we really have to go back tomorrow?”

  “Well, there is one good thing about going back to school,” Colby said without even looking at her. He was too busy dusting off his seat.

  “Yeah,” replied Keira dreamily. “William.” High school junior and star football running back William Swift had been Keira’s most recent infatuation.

  “Hold it. I’ll make you a deal. I won’t talk about her tonight, if you don’t talk about him.”

  “Deal,” Keira quickly nodded in agreement. She had heard enough about the great and wonderful Brooke Banes to last her a lifetime.

  Colby continued, “What I meant to say was that back to school this year means high school. All new challenges, new place, new people…”

  “Oh boy, honors chemistry! Yipee!”

  “Okay, I didn’t say that.”

  “No, but you were thinkin’ it,” she giggled. He laughed too.

  As the evening wore on, Colby turned on the flashlight. The conversation effortlessly moved from school, to Colby’s new nephew, to what movie to see next weekend. The light began to dim as the last rainclouds rescinded and the full moon appeared. Keira glanced up at it and a chill ran down her spine. As Colby pulled his phone from his pocket, Keira’s eyes were drawn to the electronic glow of its screen.

  “Colby! How could you let me stay this late? Nana’s gonna kill me.”

  “Well, she knows you’re with me,” Colby rebuffed in an uncharacteristically cocky tone.

  “True. You are the most responsible young man in town,” she said with a sweeping grand gesture. “Here stands Colby Hayes, a role model for our entire generation.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like me, but if she only knew the true you…”

  These words cut the jovial mood like a knife. With the grace and swiftness of a lethal, jungle cat, Keira’s feet hit the ground and she was suddenly standing.

  “Whoa, how did you…”

  She seized his left arm and lifted him to his feet. She stared deep into his eyes. “What do you know of the true me?”

  He let out an unintentional yelp. He couldn’t decide if this was real or some sort of practical joke. Keira continued her stare on him causing him to laugh nervously, trying to understand, until he finally decided to play along.

  “I know the true you. Who else knows that you are extremely bad at Monopoly.”

  “What?”

  “…and Hide ‘n Seek,” he continued. “Remember when we were five and you hid behind the living room curtains…the sheer curtains?”

  Keira relaxed slowly and started drifting back to her old self. She let go and patted him on the chest. “All right, smart guy. I have to get home before midnight,” she said as her face returned to its familiar gentle smile. She grasped his palm. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be such a weirdo. I’d better get home. See you tomorrow.”

  Without waiting for a response, she turned and made her exit guided by the light of the full moon in a now cloudless sky. Colby watched, rubbing his sore arm, as she disappeared down the gravel path.