Chapter One

Less than two weeks earlier . . .

Fear. It was a living, breathing thing that resided inside me. Sometimes I could feel it prowling around, striving to break free. It journeyed with me now as Lindsey and I stalked through the national forest's dense thicket near midnight. But I'd become pretty good at hiding the panic. I didn't want Lindsey to think she'd made a mistake when she'd convinced me to work as a wilderness guide with her during the summer. I figured I could learn a few tricks from her about battling my inner demons. She took the meaning of adventuresome to a whole new level.

But still, coming alone to a place where wild things looked for tasty snacks was insane. It was even crazier that we hadn't told anyone. We'd kept quiet because leaving the barracks once the lights were out was reason for dismissal. After surviving a week of intensive training, I definitely didn't want to get fired the night before my first assignment.

I tightened my fingers around my weapon—a Maglite. My adoptive dad is a cop who taught me, like, a hundred ways to kill a man using a flashlight. Okay, so I'm prone to exaggeration, but still, he'd shown me a few self-defense moves.

Off to the side where the trees and brush were thickest, I heard a rustling noise.

"Shh! Wait up. What was that?" I whispered harshly.

Lindsey scanned her flashlight between the trees and into the darkness of the canopy of leaves above. While there was a crescent moon tonight, its light couldn't penetrate the thickness of the trees here. "What was what?"

My flashlight beam hit her as I swung it around. She flinched and held up a hand to protect her eyes from the harsh light. Her silky, white-blond hair reflected the light and appeared magical. She reminded me of a whimsical fairy, but I knew her delicate features hid an inner strength. She'd been featured in the local paper because she'd saved a child from a cougar attack by putting herself between the animal and the child and yelling at it until it ran off.

"I thought I heard something," I told her.

"Like what?"

"I don't know." My heart thudding, I glanced around again. I loved the outdoors. But tonight, being out here gave me the creeps. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched or having a Blair Witch Project moment.

"Like footsteps?" Lindsey asked.

"Not really. Not like a person makes. More a soft plodding, like walking in your socks—or on paws maybe."

Lindsey slung her arm easily around my slender shoulders. She was a little taller than I was, and her muscles were firm from all the hiking and rock climbing she did. We'd met last summer when I'd come camping with my parents. Lindsey had been one of our guides—or sherpas, as the park personnel referred to them. We'd connected and become fast friends, keeping in touch over the school year.

"We're not being followed," Lindsey assured me. "Everyone was asleep when we left our cabin."

"What if it's some kind of predator?" This fear I was experiencing didn't make sense. But I knew I'd heard some-thing, and I knew it wasn't friendly. I couldn't explain how I knew—just a sixth sense sort of thing.

Lindsey's laughter echoed through the trees.

"I'm serious. What about that cougar you chased off last summer?" I asked.

"What about him?"

"What if he's out for revenge?"

"Then he'll eat me, not you. Unless he's just hungry. Then he'll eat whoever runs the slowest."

Which would be me, I thought. I wasn't exactly athletically challenged, but I wasn't American Gladiators material either.

I took a deep breath and listened intently. The woods were eerily quiet. Didn't they go silent when danger was near? "Maybe we should head back."

We were about a mile from the village that was at the entrance to the park. Lindsey and I shared a small cabin with Brittany, another guide. Once lights were out at eleven, no one was supposed to leave the cabin.

Now Lindsey imitated the sound of a chicken. "Bawk! Bawk!"

"Very funny. What if we get fired?" I asked.

"We'll only get fired if we get caught. Come on."

"What exactly is it that you want to show me?" All she'd told me was that she wanted to share "something intense" with me. It had been enough to make me curious, but that was when we were in the safety of the village.

"Look, Kayla, if you're going to be a sherpa, you have to connect with your inner adventure girl. Trust me. What I'm about to show you is well worth the risk of losing job, life, or limb."

"Wow. Really?" Was she dodging my question? It sure seemed like it. I glanced around suspiciously. "Is the male of the species involved?" Because honestly, that's the only thing I considered worth the danger.

Lindsey sighed impatiently. "You're hopeless. Let's go."

Since I didn't want to be left alone, I fell into step beside her. As far as I was concerned, my caution was well earned. When I was five, my mom and dad were killed in these very woods. My adoptive parents had brought me here last summer to help me get over the trauma, which was probably a few years too late to really do any good. We'd camped here for nearly a week. I'd had an amazing time, but I wasn't sure how effective the experience had been in helping me to get over my "issues."

Yeah, supposedly I had emotional problems. So I was in therapy, spending a wasted hour each week with a shrink named Dr. Brandon, whose Yoda-like pronouncements—face your fears, you must—irritated more than helped me. Truly, I would have rather spent time with a dentist.

Maybe I was only kidding myself to think that I was brave enough to face the elements of the wild, day after day. Although what was I really afraid of? It wasn't even an animal that had attacked my parents. They'd been shot by two beer-guzzling hunters—in the woods illegally—who had stupidly mistaken them for wolves.

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Excerpted from Dark Guardian #1: Moonlight by Rachel Hawthorne
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.