Destiny Rising by L. J. Smith Page A

forming on his face, and she pushed forward with her explanation. “There’s a monster here,” she said. “A very old, very cruel vampire, and he wants to kill me and my friends. And probably a lot of other people. The more we have to fight him with, the better.”
    Andrés nodded, his expressive face earnest. “My Powers aren’t very warlike, but they may be useful, and I will help you however I can. No two Guardians have the same Powers. There’s got to be some way to find yours, though, and to turn them on.”
    A glow of excitement shone through Elena. If she could access the Powers the Guardians gave her by herself, she wouldn’t be their tool; she’d be a weapon. Her own weapon. “Maybe you could tell me about the first time you accessed yours?” she prompted.
    “Okay.” Andrés sat up straighter and let his knees fall so that he was sitting cross-legged on the grass. “The first thing you have to understand,” he said, “is that Costa Rica is very different from here.” He waved an arm around, indicating the little yard and house, the rows of houses beside and behind them, the sunshiny but chilly autumn skies. “Costa Rica has a great deal of unspoiled land, land that is protected by our country’s laws for the animals and plants. The people of Costa Rica have a phrase we use a lot: pura vida —it means pure life , and when we say that—at least when I say it—we’re talking about our connection to the natural world.”
    “I’m sure it’s beautiful there,” Elena said.
    Andrés chuckled. “Of course it is,” he said. “And you’re wondering why I’m talking about ecology when I should be talking about Power. Watch.”
    Closing his eyes, he seemed to gather his strength, then placed both his hands flat, palms down, against the ground.
    A gentle rustling noise began, so quiet at first that Elena barely noticed it, but soon grew louder. She glanced up at Andrés’s face, which was closed off and intent, still listening to something she couldn’t hear.
    As she watched, the grass where his hands rested grew longer, the blades poking up between his fingers and rising higher to frame his hands. Andrés’s mouth opened a tiny bit and he breathed harder. From above them came a creaking and Elena looked up to find new leaves unfurling from the beech tree’s branches, their fresh spring green strange among the yellow-tinted autumn leaves already there. There was a soft thump behind her, and Elena turned to realize that a small pebble had rolled closer to them. Looking around, she saw a ring of pebbles and small stones, all gently sliding toward them.
    Andrés’s hair rose lightly, individual strands crackling with energy. He looked powerful and benevolent.
    “So,” he said, opening his eyes. Some of the intensity in his posture faded. The sounds of the quickly growing plants and the movement of the pebbles stopped. There was still a sense of expectant energy in the air around them. “I can tap into the power of the natural world and channel it to defend against the supernatural. If I need to, I can make boulders fling themselves through the air, or tree roots drag my enemies down to the ground. My strength feeds nature, and nature increases my strength. It’s more effective in Costa Rica, because there are so many more uncultivated places and therefore so much more wild energy than there is here.”
    “It looks like your talents are pretty strong even here,” Elena said, picking up a smooth, white pebble from the ground and turning it over curiously in her fingers.
    Andrés grinned and ducked his head modestly. “Anyway,” he said, “my first task came to me when I was seventeen. Javier had been teaching me for about five years, and I was dying to prove myself. A creature was killing young married women in the town where we lived, and a Principal Guardian—who was quite terrifying in her way, very powerful and focused—came to me and told me my job was to track and kill it.”
    “How