Young Guardian Trilogy by Lady Adellandra Dratianos (read aloud .txt) 📕

I know everything, remember?"
"Who told you?" Shannon smiled.
"I have my sources." Shane remarked.
"I bet it was Love Joy. She's been hanging around the office a lot lately." Shannon supplied.
Shane "Shadow" Morehouse just laughed. "It's kind of hard not to know. You two have been conducting so-called meetings to get the two agencies together for nearly five years now."
"You know we've been together longer than that." Nick replied.
"Unfortunately, our relationship has nothing to do with the Crusader mission." Shannon announced. She wanted out of the conversation, and fast. "As of today, I'm assigning you to Grey Wolf, also known as Mark Grey."
The statement was directed at Shane.
"Why me?" He asked.
Nick couldn't resist teasing him. "Because you're the Shadow. You're the best of the best the System has to offer."
Shane groaned. "I'll tell Big Guy."
Shannon and Nick smiled at each other. Each thought it was going to be an exciting Crusade.

Book Four: The Dominionite Warriors
Part 1:
Katherine’s Plan

Chapter Forty-Five:
Lord Maximaniac

Katherine and her sister Kitten’s Claw strolled the Canine Wood with their beaus, Wolf and Toby, enjoying the peace and quiet while it lasted.
“I hope Sabrina dies in the Outer Realm, agree?” Kit asked Toby.
“I hope she does not hear you, Kit.” Wolf replied, smiling. “If she does, we will all be doomed!”
“Please, Wolf, do not say such things!” Katherine gasped in horror.
Wolf kissed her cheek. “I am only jesting, my dear.” He thought of something. “Though, there are some rumors about her going around the Realm.”
“If there were some way to do what Sabrina herself has done.” Toby spoke up.
Kit slapped him. “How dare you think such a thing?” She scolded him.
“What I merely meant was I wish we could be Earthbound for a while.” Toby recalled, rubbing his sore arm. “No need for violence, Kit.”
Katherine scowled and stared at her sister in shame. Kit remembered her promise to the Sisters: behave.
“Sorry,” She replied. Toby took her hand and squeezed it.
“It is all right, my pet.” Toby told her, making her purr with a kiss. “You are still not used to being home for good, are you?”
Kit shook her head.
“It would be a wondrous thing if we could do such a thing, Toby.” Katherine replied, getting back to the subject. She was thinking of Young Guardian mostly. “To be Earthbound, helping the Crusaders in their own Realm.”
“If Sabrina can do it, surely we can as well?” Kitten’s Claw asked. Just thinking of her evil cousin made her blood curdle. “Question is, how?”
“The Ancient Mystic Sisters.” Wolf cried, excitedly. “Maybe they would know a way?”
Katherine agreed.
Wolf heard a cackle from nearby, and put a claw to his lips. The felines perked their ears.
Kitten’s Claw and Katherine growled, knowing.
It was Sabrina. With her was Grand Psycho and behind her was Mark’s sister, the outrageous Caroline Parker herself!
“Well, well. What do we have here?” Sabrina crooned. She folded her arms and fingered the Dominionite Crystal around her neck.
Kit noticed both Grand Psycho and Caroline had identical crystals around their necks. Caroline’s eyes were deep red, the color of hatred in the Dominion.
Katherine noticed this as well, but stayed silent. Somehow, she believed Caroline was under one of Sabrina’s spells. But how? She wondered.
“Go away, Sabrina!” The Hawk twins commanded.
Sabrina just laughed. Grand Psycho moved to Katherine, and Wolf could only stand and watch as he planted a kiss on Katherine’s lips.
“Wonderful to see you again, my dear.” He whispered in her ear.
Katherine hissed, shoving him away. Wolf moved to jump at him, but Grand Psycho got away with a grin.
Wolf was soon in fisticuffs with him. Once his fist was to Grand Psycho’s face, Grand Psycho gave him a silent message.
It’s I, Lord Maximaniac. I am deceiving Sabrina. Play along.
Wolf growled, letting him go. “What do you want?”
Sabrina interrupted before he could say anything. “To tell you, cousins.” She replied, showing them the Dominionite Crystal segment that hung around her neck. “Since I lost my own powers to Young Guardian, I had to beg Father for the fiercest device this side of the Dominion Gate.”
Katherine stood, angry. “You never lost your powers, Sabrina.” She revealed. “You were just too preoccupied with your stupid plans to get even with Young Guardian to realize you still had them.”
Kit, Toby, and Wolf stared at her.
Sabrina was intrigued. “You jest, Kat?”
Kitten’s Claw stepped in, no longer afraid of her evil cousin. “My sister never jests. If you do not believe us, just ask your precious father. He will tell you.”
“Very interesting.” Grand Psycho muttered under his breath. He knew the young kittens were right. Maximaniac, as Grand Psycho was once called, knew exactly what to do next.
They continued to bicker while Max plotted his own plan for destroying his brother Orthos.
In order to drain Sabrina’s weakened power, he must defeat her entire family – which included Sabrina’s own brother, Damian.
For Maximaniac, it was going to be a piece of cake.

Wolf had a feeling he’d find Grand Psycho in the Garden, and left Katherine’s side to confront him. Sabrina usually didn’t dare step foot near the Garden, where the Dominion-Province gate was hidden. It was too ‘good’ for her.
Wolf found Maximaniac wandering alone in the Garden, thankfully, and needed to get some answers.
“Why have you done this to Heart-Brother Mark?” Wolf demanded, growling in Max’s face.
Max could tell his former follower was skeptic of his strange turnaround. “I will explain my views to Heart-Brother Mark myself when the time comes.” He said calmly, eyes searching, calming Wolf’s anger. “I am merely using Sabrina for my own revenge against her father – my brother, Orthos.”
Somehow, Wolf didn’t fully believe him. “What grudge have you against Master Orthos?” Wolf was skeptic, but kept his eye on Max. “You are the creation of Sabrina’s sick mind, Grand Psycho. How is Orthos your brother?”
Maximaniac stayed calm, and met Wolf’s eyes. “Wolf, my friend, Companion confidant, I wish for you to listen to me.”
“Why should I?” Wolf asked, an angry gleam in his eyes, teeth showing. “So you can lie to me as well?”
Max stared at him. “I am not who I say I am.”
Wolf was confused, and his anger subsided.
Max continued, shifting his form from a playful clown to a grey gargoyle. “My name is Maximaniac. I am one of the Originators of the Dream Realm, way before your brothers, parents, or you were born, pup.” Max explained, noticing sadness in Wolf’s eyes at the mention of his family lost in the Dream Realm Wars. “When he stole my bride Jezebel, I was crushed. I Banished myself to Young Mark to stay away from Orthos and O’Dell’s fight against each other. Before you joined his mind, Mark was a sad, solemn soul. I disguised myself as a playful Companion clown, naming myself Psycho.”
“The question remains,” Wolf countered. “Why? Why hurt Mark for your own selfish reasons? You are no better than Orthos himself by doing that.”
“I am sorry,” Max was silent for a moment. “My only wish is to return to the Dream Realm for good. Once I am, I will be one step closer to reclaiming the heart of my beloved Jezebel.”
After a second of thought, Wolf extended his paw. “Heart-Brothers?”
Max looked up, a smile crept on his face. He took Wolf’s paw, knowing all was forgiven in the young pup’s eyes. “Heart-Brothers.”

He met up with Wolf and the other Companions later in the Garden.
“Leave us, Grand Psycho.” Toby commanded, standing.
“I have come in peace.” Max insisted.
“Peace.” Kit scoffed, rolling her eyes.
In front of their eyes, he shifted from an Immortal male in a dark clown’s costume to his original shape, a great gargoyle, with bright navy blue eyes and like colors around his body.
The Companions gasped. Wolf grinned, kneeling to his former Lord Maximaniac.
“Lord Maximaniac!” Kit cried. She, too, knelt to his feet. Toby followed her example. “I apologize.”
“No need, my Companion followers.” Max replied. “I understand. I have not returned for nearly fifteen years of Outer Realm time.”
They were still kneeling. “Rise, Wolf Stargazer, Tobias White-Snow, Katherine and Kitten’s Claw Hawk.”
They listened.
Kit spoke up. “If it is all right with you, my Lord Maximaniac, I prefer to be called Kit.”
“And I, Toby.” Toby replied after her.
“Noted.” Max smiled upon them. It felt funny being here without Sabrina or Caroline by his side, but it was a welcoming change. “I have come to explain myself.”
“Why now, my Lord Maximaniac?” Wolf asked. “I have been Banished to Heart-Brother Mark with you, and knew of your true identity.”
“Please, just call me Lord Max.” Max insisted with a grin. He turned back into an Immortal male. “Heart-Brother Mark still does not know the truth.”
“What is the truth, Lord Max?” Kit asked.
“Well, Kit.” He sat himself on a dead tree stump before continuing. The Companions stood listening with interest. “Long ago, before the Wars started between O’Dell and Orthos, which included Jezebel, Sibylline, and their older sisters, Enchantra and Challandra, Orthos and I planned to rule the Dream Realm. He soon became bored when he could not go against our brother O’Dell, so he came up with an idea. If we could not rule the Dream Realm, what is to say we could not try to rule the Outer Realm? Reluctantly, I went along. I did not want to harm the Dreamers, which made me soft in Orthos’ eyes."
He took a breath before continuing. This was getting harder and harder to tell the sordid tale. The lust, the horror, the Magic, the Wars. It had earned him his real name -- Maximaniac.
"At that same time, Orthos and Jezebel began courting. I was furious, and wanted my bride-to-be back. That’s when O’Dell decided to get into it. He and Orthos began to fight, and soon, Sibylline, Jezebel's twin sister, was caught in the line of fire. I could tell she did not want to do it, but Jezebel had killed her. O'Dell was furious! He shot at Orthos, who shielded his attack. The fire bounced from Orthos' shield to my darling Jezebel. She was killed instantly. That is when the Wars for Power ended.”
Max paused, remembering the Wars. “When the Dominion Gate went up, I did not know to which side I would go. In a way, I was evil, for going along with Orthos’ plans. In another, O’Dell and I believed I was good, for keeping the Dreamers of the Outer Realm safe from harm. I was confused, depressed, and lonely. Soon, I Banished myself to the Outer Realm, in hopes the Wars would be over soon, and O’Dell and I would be able to rule it together.”
“Unfortunately, it did not work that way,” Katherine purred.
“Nay, it did not.” Max replied. “I met Heart-Brother Mark, a lonely soul himself, and changed my image from myself to a human clown. Ever since then, I have been the more outgoing, more playful side of Mark he did not dare to venture.”
“He is a peculiar, but sad soul, I agree Lord Max.” Wolf replied. “It was amazing when I saw and recognized you. I was not certain you were telling me the truth until you brought up my family in our private conversation.”
“Do you mean to tell us Mark had both of you in his mind, as the Hawks were in Young Guardian and the Grand Magus’ minds?” Toby asked, amazed. He didn’t know what to think.
“Most of his life was spent like Young Guardian. Only, he did not have Lord