Courageous Guardian

Prologue

Two young girls, not much older than five, sat beside each other on a swing set; their little feet barely touching the ground. The red haired girl, Clary, did her best to pump her legs excitedly while the dark haired child, Tessa, kicked a small pebble with the tip of her light up sketchers as she half hung off the seat. Their mothers sat together almost a yard away on a bench whispering back and forth; their lips in hard lines and brows furred and if anyone had asked Tessa she would have told them her mommy was upset. She would have been right.

Rose's brow furrowed, her voice barely above a whisper as she spoke to her to her friend. "Jocelyn you can't be seriously considering taking Clary's memories."

"I have to Rose, it's too dangerous for her to know about all of this." Jocelyn looked back towards the girls, smiling softly at the two of them.

"Is it too dangerous? Or is it just too hard?" Fury began to bubble up inside of Rose the longer they spoke.

Jocelyn's attention was back to their conversation now, her face softened, a deep frown pulling on her lips as she answered. "Both."

Rose scoffed and looked towards her daughter, young and beautiful, and oh so sweet as she giggled and smiled. Watching her daughter only cause Rose's anger to grow. "And you want me to, what? Send my daughter to potential death?" He head whipped back toward the woman she'd been friends with for such a long time, fear and anger easily seen on her face. "If he were to ever find out he would kill her without a second thought. Tessa's my baby, my little girl."

Jocelyn sighed and she shoulders relaxed as she spoke. "And Clary's mine. There is no one in this world I trust more than you and your family. I need you to do this for me."

Then finally, Rose relented. "Alright, but I still think this is a bad idea taking her memories could lead to real trouble. Especially if you don't get a chance to tell her first."

"That won't happen." She assured with a small smile on her face and tears in her eyes. 

Rose shook her head and grabbed her bag as she stood from the bench. "Whatever you say Jocelyn." She then turned towards the swings and called for her daughter. Tessa, still trying the kick the rock; her little but nearly sliding off the swing with her chubby fingers wrapped tightly around the chains, was startled by her mother's call and slid right out of the swing and onto the ground. A few sniffles began to escape and her mother took a step towards her but before she could move any closer a small boy with glasses walked up and held his hand out to her; helping her up from the stones and giving her a hug before taking her place on the swing.

Tessa bounced over to her mother taking a tight hold of her hand, "Who was that Tess?"

Tess shrugged. "His name is Simon, he's nice and we're best friends now."

Rose laughed and strapped Tess into her carseat. "What about Clary? Do you think she could be your best friend?"

The little girl mused for a moment then shook her head, "No mommy because I want Simon to be my best friend." Again Rose laughed.

"You can have more than one best friend baby."

Tessa's mouth gaped open and her eyes widened, "Really?" She asked. When her mother nodded she gave a big smile. "Well then yes, Clary's my best friend too!" He mother smiled and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"That's good, because you two are going to be very important in each other's lives." She shut the back door then climbed into her own seat; they were less than a block down the street when tiny snores could be heard from the back seat. Rose looked up into her rearview mirror to see her precious little girl sound asleep, beautiful and peaceful. Tearing her eyes away she wiped the tears that had begun to fall from them. "You won't remember this, but this is your last day to be a little girl. No cares, no worries about anything except if you'll get to play with mommy or daddy or Nate. After today, everything will change."