The Guardian Spirit (The Guardians of Nine Heavens, Book 2)

Lucy Caldwell suffered a disaster in her childhood - her house was burnt, which turned fatal for her parents. She grew up in a children's house with other orphans. She could never forget the fire incident and was sure her parents were murdered, so she wished to investigate the case when she grew old enough. Lucy, like all the other children, frequents a Spirit School, where children are taught to control their inner spiritual energy. When they reach 15 years of age, they befriend spirits that reside in the vast Spirit Forest in East Land and receive the Bond Item - an object from the spirits which permits to summon them whenever in need. Each person is able to form a bond with a single spirit. However, there are certain spirits that never approach humans, are known as man-eaters and have marked severe borders on their territory, eating anyone who trespasses on them. Such is the clan of the tailed foxes - the Huli. Lucy has already reached 15 years, so she goes to the Spirit Forest with her classmates to befriend a spirit and bond with them. However, while sitting around a bonfire and listening to her classmates' scary stories, she remembers the dreadful day of how her house caught fire in past, and, worked-up, runs off into the depths of the forest to cry off her anguish. But as elders often say, dense forests are definitely not a place for little children to run around, for the danger lies in every corner, as Lucy soon comes to realise...