Free The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon by Matthew Burkey Page A

chuckled.
    “Dude, I’m a 14 year old boy I can get over stuff pretty fast,” Sean shrugged. “And I think that we both know that Kelly wasn’t exactly my soul mate.”
    “Can I ask you something?”
    “Gabriel, I haven’t seen this Ryan dude, so I can’t tell you if he is hot or not.”
    That actually brought a rather disgusted look from Gabriel. It wasn’t that Ryan wasn’t attractive, he was, but the way that Ryan treated him at his house was more…brotherly than anything. The very thought of anything happening physically between the two of them sort of made his skin crawl. He really couldn’t explain it.
    “That’s not what I meant,” Gabriel sighed.
    “Oh, so this guy isn’t a possible romantic interest?”
    “Damnnit Sean, it not like I want to jump every guy that I see.”
    “Alright, alright,” Sean said, holding his hands to ward off what he thought was an incoming tirade. “So, what did you want to ask me?”
    “If you had the chance to do something to make a difference, even if it might be dangerous, would you do it? Do you think that doing good is worth putting your life on the line?”
    “You mean like joining the Marines or something?” Sean asked.
    “Something like that,” Gabriel nodded.
    “Are you planning on doing something stupid that I need to talk you out of?”
    “No,” Gabriel snapped, the reply coming out harsher than he intended. Ever since the incident last year, every member of his family tended to get a little overprotective of him, Sean more so than anyone else.
    “Are you sure about that?”
    “Yes,” Gabriel hissed. “Now answer the question.”
    “Depends on what kind of good you are talking about doing,” Sean shrugged. “I think I recall a famous quote that might help out ‘the only way to for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing’…or something like that.”
    “Going all philosophical on me?”
    “Just repeating something I heard,” Sean said, grabbing a magazine off Gabriel’s desk and starting to flip through it. “But yeah man, I think if you can do something good in the world then you sort of have too.”
    Gabriel nodded. Sean would have no idea exactly what it was that Gabriel was talking about; he could have been talking about a bake sale for all Sean knew but he did have a point. Gabriel has been handed a great chance here to do something…to actually fight evil in the world and not just the metaphorical kind.
    “I know what you did the other day at school,” Sean said, turning far more serious than his younger brother usually did. “Tim’s cousin goes to your school and he told me about how you stood up for that kid.”
    “It was nothing,” Gabriel shrugged.
    “No one at that school has stood up for you and you go out of your way to stand up for someone else. He also said that Ryan guy is pretty popular and not entirely a total jerk.”
    “He’s actually pretty cool,” Gabriel shrugged.
    “I’m glad,” Sean said. “You deserve some cool people in your life.”
    Gabriel smiled at that comment.
    “I’m off to bed, see ya in the morning.”
    “Night.”
    Gabriel watched Sean go, his thoughts drifting back to everything that Ryan had said. Maybe he was right, maybe this was a chance to do something more. He took a deep breath before fishing the cell phone out of his pocket. He scrolled through his contacts, finally locating Ryan’s name.  He hesitated for only a brief second before pushing the dial button.
    “Yo,” Ryan answered.
    “I’m in,” Gabriel answered.
    “Are you sure? There isn’t any turning back as soon as you start.”
    “Yeah,” Gabriel sighed.
    “Cool, pick you up tomorrow at seven, tell your mom you’re going to go work out with me, which actually won’t be that far from the truth.”
    “Alright, see you then.”
    And the line went dead. Gabriel fell into bed and wondered what he had gotten himself into it.
     

CHAPTER 4
     
    The morning came entirely too early for Gabriel. He hadn’t