Destiny Rising by L. J. Smith

together.
    “I had a Guide, of course,” he said. “My beloved Javier, who raised me. But he passed away last year”—Andrés suddenly looked ineffably sad, his brown eyes liquid—“and since then I have been alone.” He brightened again. “But now you are here, and I can help you as Javier helped me.”
    “Javier was a Guardian?” Elena asked, surprised. Andrés had loved Javier, clearly, and love was not something she associated with the Guardians.
    Andrés gave a mock shudder. “God forbid,” he said. “The Guardians wish the world well, but they are cold, yes? Imagine one of them in charge of a growing child. No, Javier was a Guide. A good man, a wise man, but fully human. A priest, actually, and a teacher.”
    “Oh.” Elena thought for a while, carefully plucking a blade of grass and pulling it to pieces, looking down at her hands. “I thought that the Guardians themselves raised the human children they took. I don’t—my parents didn’t want to let me go. I guess I would have had a Guide if I had gone with them when I was little.”
    Andrés nodded, his face solemn. “James has told me of your situation,” he said. “I’m sorry about what happened to your parents, and I wish I could offer some kind of explanation. But since you don’t have a Guide assigned to you, I hope I can help you with what I know.”
    “Yes,” Elena said. “Thank you. I mean, I really do appreciate it. Do you—” She hesitated, ripping another blade of grass apart. There was something she had wondered. It wasn’t something she could imagine asking a stranger, but that curious, happy connection between them made her relax enough to turn to Andrés. “Do you think it would have been better if my parents had let them take me? Are you glad the Guardians took you away from your family?”
    Andrés leaned his head back against the tree and sighed. “No,” he admitted. “I never stopped missing my parents. I wish they had tried to keep me with them. But they saw me as a child who belonged to the Guardians, not to them. They’re lost to me now.” He turned to look at her. “But I did come to love Javier, and I was glad to have someone with me when I went through the transformation.”
    “Transformation?” Elena asked, sitting up straight and hearing her own voice go high and panicky. “What do you mean, transformation ?”
    Andrés smiled at her reassuringly, and despite herself, Elena instinctively relaxed a bit at the warmth in his eyes.
    “It will be all right,” he said quietly, and part of Elena believed him. Andrés sat up, too, wrapping his arms around his knees. “It’s nothing to be afraid of. When your first task as a Guardian comes up, a Principal Guardian will come and explain to you what you must do. Your Powers will start developing when you have a task. Until you’ve finished your task, you won’t be able to think of anything else. You’ll feel this overwhelming need to complete it. The Principal Guardian returns when the task is done and releases you from your compulsion.” He shrugged, looking self-conscious. “I’ve only had a few tasks, but when they ended, I couldn’t wait for the next one. And the Powers I’ve developed for a task, I’ve kept over time.”
    “Is that the transformation you’re talking about?” Elena said dubiously. “Developing Powers?” She wanted the Power to defeat Klaus, but she didn’t like the idea of changing, of something making her change.
    Andrés smiled. “Working as a Guardian makes you stronger,” he told her. “It makes you wiser and more powerful. You’ll still be you, though,” he said.
    Elena swallowed. This was the crux of her plan. With Klaus out there, Powers would be more than useful, but she needed to access them now rather than waiting around until a Principal Guardian decided to appear.
    “Is there any way to wake up these Powers before I have a task?” she asked. Andrés was opening his mouth to ask her why, a puzzled frown