Fifth graders Lizzie and Zach love playing hockey, being outside, and climbing the rocks at Raven Park. When it's decided that they'll spend a whole day at the park, the two friends can barely subdue their excitement. This sunny day will be different from all the others, though, as Lizzie and Zach come face-to-face with the mysterious park guardians-the stone people. The kids can't be sure about the stone people. Are they friends or foes? Do they mean to do harm, or are they there to protect the park and all those who enter? Lizzie and Zach decide to answer these questions by using their imagination, and soon they travel to far-off places and take on big adventures, all in a world of their own creation. When Lizzie begins to feel sick, though, it's hard to trust the stone people. Lizzie's parents come to realize she has juvenile diabetes. Her condition worsens, and even best friend Zach can't imagine this illness away. As Lizzie gets sicker, the stone people grow bigger and bigger and possibly, more sinister-or maybe not. Maybe the stone people aren't sinister at all. Maybe they're preparing for battle as Lizzie's personal guardians to help her confront this new illness.

The Stone Guardian

By Tracey McLeod-Stecy

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Tracey McLeod-Stecy
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-3954-8

Chapter One

Getting Ready

Lizzie woke up from a deep slumber with a start. The sun was peeking through the curtains and she could hear her family making arrangements for a day trip to go hiking at Raven Park. They had been there twice before but Lizzie and her older brother were still excited about climbing around the rocks one more time. Lizzie lay there and collected her thoughts for a moment. Then she rolled out of bed, her two, long brown braids swinging over her shoulders. On the way out the door, she grabbed her baseball cap and planted it on her head. The hat had been signed by two ladies on the women's national baseball team and she wore it everywhere.

Michael was four years older than his little sister. Standing at almost six feet, he was a whole foot taller and many pounds heavier. Since Lizzie had a hard time keeping up with Mike, they had each invited a friend their own age. Lizzie's friend and hockeymate, Zach was coming.

Zach and Lizzie didn't attend the same school but they were both in the fifth grade. They were fast friends after playing two seasons of hockey together. They had gotten into the habit of seeing each other often, even during the summer when they weren't playing hockey.

Lizzie walked into the kitchen still wearing her jammies. The blue flannel pajamas had hockey skates and sticks all over them. Mom had originally sewn the pajamas for Michael. Now, four years later, they were perfect for Lizzie although they were a little warm for this time of the year.

Sasha the dog was lying on her back with all four paws in the air while chewing on her squeaky toy. Being a dog was really hard work! At nine months of age she was still very much a puppy. She jumped up when Lizzie came into the kitchen. In her haste to get across the room to see Lizzie, the dog bonked the top of her head on the underside of the kitchen table. It made a hollow sounding "Clunk!" Sasha recovered clumsily, and continued her dash across the kitchen. Lizzie plopped onto the floor and gave her furry friend a quick hug. Then she went to see her mom.

Mom was busy packing a cooler with sandwiches and homemade chocolate chip cookies which were well known to all the friends of both kids. Mom was known to almost all of Lizzie's friends as "Mom" but her name was actually Ann. Several sports bottles filled with water were on the counter, waiting to be placed into the cooler. Mom stopped what she was doing long enough to hug Lizzie, say, "Morning sweetie," and tug playfully at the dirty baseball cap.

"Where's Dad?" inquired Lizzie.

Mom replied, "He's at work already."

Lizzie had forgotten that summer holidays were almost over and that Dad was back to working his regular hours.

Lizzie had started to fix herself some cereal when Zach and his mom drove up. Lizzie interrupted her breakfast to run past the dog and open the front door. Sasha barked repeatedly, her ears flopping from side to side as she jumped up and down behind her dog gate in the kitchen.

Zach's mom entered the front doorway carrying a backpack and a water bottle. Zach followed, lifted his arms in the air, and shouted "Attack!" Lizzie and Zach tackled each other and fell to the carpet giggling.

Zach's mom yelled above the racket to anyone who was listening, "Zach has a sandwich, water, two juice boxes, and granola bars for everyone!" Zach's backpack was slouched at her feet.

Ann leaned over the dog gate and shouted back so that she could be heard above the barking, "Okay! We'll phone you when we get back to the city!"

Michael rolled his eyes as he walked by the smaller kids. He was headed to the kitchen to eat his breakfast and give the two guinea pigs theirs. He had to step carefully to avoid tripping over the two friends who were still rolling around on the floor laughing.

Once Zach's mom had departed, Lizzie retrieved her hat from the floor and returned to the kitchen to finish her breakfast. While Lizzie was eating, Zach sat nearby and observed the two guinea pigs nibbling on lettuce in the corner of the room. The two tiny animals made huge chomping sounds. Zach reached over and petted the back of the smaller black pig. Startled, it made sort of a chirping noise and ran underneath a little house made of wooden sticks. He was a really well fed guinea pig and his bum stuck out the back end of his house. Zach turned back around to face Lizzie at the table.

Between mouthfuls of cereal, she stated, "That's Hershey, he's always hungry. He squeaks when anyone opens the fridge." Lizzie swung her legs from side to side under the table, trying to shake off Sasha, who was biting her toes.

Zach looked at the two guinea pigs again and commented, "They're really fat."

Lizzie held her hand to her chest, and replied with mock indignation, "No, they're just big boned!"

Lizzie's mom finished packing up and set the cooler on the floor near the front door. She called for Michael to carry it to the van. As Mike was putting on his shoes, Sam walked up the driveway. He was carrying a backpack, a sweatshirt, and a bottle of water. Sam lived down the street and they had started kindergarten together. Now, they were in the ninth grade in a much larger school, but were still classmates and good friends.

Sam opened the back door of the van when he saw Mike come out the door with the cooler, and greeted his friend with, "Hi, are you guys ready to leave yet?" Mike put the cooler in the van. Sam threw his belongings into the van and Mike heaved the door closed.

"Pretty much, except that Lizzie just got up and you know how fast she moves in the morning. One of her hockey friends is here too."

Sam nodded. He had visited often enough to be familiar with Lizzie's dawdling.

The two boys went back into the house to see if the rest of the gang was ready to go. Lizzie was still wearing her jammies but ran down the hall to change when Mom hollered, "Get your buns moving!"

Zach amused himself by playing tug with Sasha in the kitchen. An old baseball sock was stretched between Zach's hands and Sasha's teeth. Sasha's nose was level with the floor but her bum was up in the air and her tail was wagging. The dog's paws slid across the floor as Zach pulled her forwards until his back was against a chair and he couldn't back up any further. The sock was full of holes and didn't look like it would be used for any more baseball games.

Lizzie came back out of her bedroom remarkably quickly and Mom pronounced the group ready to go. Lizzie's hair had not been brushed but it was still tucked into braids from the day before, and she was the last one to care what her hair looked like. Her baseball cap was back in its customary position.

Mike grabbed Sasha's leash and water bowl and the six of them climbed into the van. Within moments they were headed down the street in the direction of the highway which led out of the north part of the city.

Chapter Two

Driving To Raven Park

The drive to Raven Park was about forty-five minutes long, not including any stops along the way. Mom sat at the wheel and everybody settled in for the ride quickly except for Sasha. She sat awkwardly in the passenger seat next to Mom. She didn't want to sit on the floor because then she couldn't see out the window, but she never seemed to get very comfy sitting on the seat. So she often stood up on the seat and Mom then had to remind her to sit back down. Either way, sitting or standing, she always slimed up the window with her nose.

The younger kids were sitting in the two middle seats of the van. They amused themselves with various farting noises and lots of laughing.

"Flarp! Flarp!" Zach made noises with his hand inside his shirt, under his armpit.

The two older boys were sitting in the seats at the very back of the van. They couldn't help but laugh at the noises but did not actually join the farting game.

If Sam and Zach hadn't been around, Mike would have made farting noises with Lizzie. He could make farting noises with his hands, neck, armpits, and weirdly, with his nose. He was an expert on farting noises, but only for his own family's entertainment, and not normally when other people were present.

Lizzie sipped on a juice box whenever she wasn't making rude noises with Zach.

Mom listened to the farting kids for a moment and turned the radio up a bit louder.

The younger kids were still entertained with their noises, but Mike asked Sam, "Did you get to watch the game last night?" He was referring to the Jays and the Yanks. Mike and his dad followed the Jays whenever they could. Sam did too, but had to share the television with a family that mainly didn't care much about baseball.

Sam replied, "Yah, but I only got to watch the last three innings, after mom finished her show."

The two boys had played baseball together for three seasons running. Mike's dad, Dave, loved to coach the team and Sam's dad helped out at all the practices as well. The four of them would often head across the street together to the diamond for games and practices.

Mike commented that, "It wasn't even much of a game until the sixth inning anyway. The Jays didn't score any runs during the first five although two batters walked. There were a few good hits but only one run came in, during the sixth." The boys continued their conversation quietly. They never tired of discussing baseball.

Chapter Three

Raven Park

Before long, the park entrance came into view. Lizzie could see her favorite hiking location from the highway. The surrounding area was hilly and even rocky but the formation known as "Raven's Ledge" jutted out completely randomly. It was an area of really rough terrain that didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the park. It looked as if a giant had taken a huge handful of sharp, spiky rocks, and placed them on the ground leaning up against each other. Pine trees grew precariously wherever they could find a location with a bit of soil among the rocks. The trees sometimes started growing almost sideways, but managed to straighten out as they grew taller.

Mom parked and everyone jumped out of the van. Zach had Sasha on her leash.

"Sash stop!" the boy yelled as the dog lunged towards a gopher which immediately dove into a hole. Sasha dragged Zach for a moment and the boy almost tripped over his own feet. Sasha did not behave very well on a leash and was a handful at the best of times. She pulled at the leash in the direction of the gopher hole. By the time Zach had regained his footing and had a firm grip on the leash, the gopher was long gone. Zach and Lizzie lied down on their stomachs and peered into the hole. Sasha's tail wagged furiously as she barked at the hole.

Lizzie called out, "Hey rodent!" into the hole but the gopher wasn't answering his door.

Mike and Sam were discussing which hiking trail to attempt. There were several marked trails suitable for different fitness levels.

Sam immediately stated, "Let's do the advanced four mile loop."

"That trail takes over two hours," Mike warned. He and his mom had chosen that particular trail when they had visited the park last summer without Lizzie or Sasha. It had taken them quite a bit longer than they had expected. By the time they arrived back at the parking lot all of their water was gone and they were starving.

"Maybe you two boys should do the easier four mile loop," Ann suggested. "I'm going to stay with the kids and Sasha on the shortest trail. I don't really want you boys doing the advanced trail without an adult."

Sam looked disappointed.

Mom added, "It's still almost four miles but it isn't as steep as the tougher trail."

"We're going to do the short trail because I also have Sasha to look after. Just keeping that ding dong under control is lots of exercise."

Lizzie was going to complain about the shorter trail but caught herself before actually saying anything. She was very fit and could manage a more difficult hike but had been a bit tired the last week. Taking advantage of the last few days of summer holidays, she had slept in a little longer than usual each morning.

Sasha busied herself sniffing around in circles with Zach in tow. They seemed to have more than enough energy to do any of the trails.

Mike rummaged through the cooler, asking, "What's to eat?" This was one of his most commonly used sentences. He ate almost constantly.

Mom replied, "You can each have a cookie but you have to eat a handful of green grapes first."

Lizzie started to protest, "But I don't like grapes ..."

Zach shrugged his shoulders, and strode over to the cooler. He quickly grabbed a bunch of grapes from Mike's hands and started to munch while hopping around in circles. One shoelace was undone and dangling in the dirt. His wavy blonde hair flopped around as he bounced.

Mike and Sam stared at the hopping younger boy. Lizzie raised her eyebrows and sighed. Since Zach didn't seem to care what he ate, she finally followed his example. Once the obligatory grapes were eaten, everyone enjoyed a cookie as well.

Mike finished his grapes and a cookie, and then looked around. No-one noticed as he grabbed another cookie. He shoved the whole thing into his mouth, chewed quickly, and then called, "Sasha!"

The big dog was always happy to play. The two of them rolled around on the ground by the picnic table and wrestled like they were both puppies. They were soon covered in dust.

Mike declared, "Sasha's a lap dog!" as he grabbed her and tried to put her in his lap. She stomped all over his legs, slobbered on one ear, and wriggled out of his hold, promptly distracted by another gopher hole. She ran over to the hole and started to dig. She stuck her nose in the hole to sniff and dug some more. Soon she had clumps of black dirt scattered over the top of her muzzle and inside her mouth. Only Sasha could still be cheerful with chunks of mud stuck to her tongue.

Mike poured a little water into Sasha's bowl for her. She had a quick drink with her mud before running off again. She didn't seem very thirsty for someone who had a fur coat on so Mike put her dish back in the van. Finally, the two older friends put their water in Mike's bag and headed off on their hike.

Mom got the dog back on the leash and under control. Zach grabbed his water bottle and put it in the bag Mom was planning to carry. Lizzie had a quick drink from her bottle and placed it in the bag as well. The four set off in a direction almost opposite the bigger boys. Their adventure had begun.

Chapter Four

Hiking

Mom started along the path with Sasha straining on the leash, ahead, side to side, and behind her. The dog wanted to sniff everything along the path and ran from rock to rock with her tail in the air. She was obviously happy to be there. Sasha yanked on the leash so vigorously that soon Mom's arm was sore.

Lizzie and Zach moved on and off the path almost as quickly as the dog. Zach let out a whoop as he jumped from a small boulder back onto the trail.

Lizzie laughed at Zach, climbed up onto the same rock, and completed the same jump, also with a whoop.

The two kids ran a few feet off the path and veered towards a large sloped rock. At the top of the rock, they lay down on their stomachs, wriggled forward a little further, and peered over the edge.

Zach asked Lizzie, "Do you think anyone lives here?"

She closed her eyes for a moment to imagine what sort of creature would live among the rocks and trees. Then she replied, "Rocks live here. Little tiny people who are the size of gnomes and they are made out of piles of rocks like inukshuks. The stacks of rocks run around the forest and they live here among the ordinary rocks."

In his mind's eye, Zach could envision stacks of rocks wiggling and wobbling as they traveled along the ground.

Lizzie pictured several of the rock creatures. As if on cue, they walked by single file on the path in front of them. The individual rocks didn't seem to be attached to each other but somehow they formed a body, limbs, and a head. An invisible string seemed to be keeping the rocks together so that the stacks didn't fall apart as they made their way around the park. The rocks were light brown and chunky with rough edges and sparkly quartz bits in them. When the sun peeked through gaps in the trees the quartz glinted. The rock piles moved along a path they had worn into the ground and the stony feet made raucous clunking noises at each step forward. The noise and the reflected light made the procession seem like a parade.

"Where do you think they're headed?" whispered Lizzie.

Zach joined in the game and shrugged his shoulders, signaling that he had no idea where they were going. The creatures didn't notice that they were being observed and they continued on their way.

Zach pointed to the rock creature at the front of the line.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Stone Guardianby Tracey McLeod-Stecy Copyright © 2011 by Tracey McLeod-Stecy. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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