The Protector's Pledge - Danielle Y. C. McClean

A fast-paced adventure set deep in a Caribbean forest with a hero who must risk everything to save the forest and his village.  Twelve-year-old JV can't wait to spend his vacation exploring the Oscuros Forest. True, everyone in the village of Alcavere believes the Oscuros Forest is a place to be feared, inhabited by dangerous and magical beings. But JV is not afraid, even when his first trip into the forest brings him face-to-face with a mysterious creature.  Then the disappearance of one of their own shakes the village and JV joins the search. He finds himself deep in the Oscuros Forest on a rescue mission and committed to a promise, a promise which the Protectors of the forest insist he keeps no matter how dangerous things get.

Can JV complete his daring quest even as he uncovers in the process, a shocking secret that will force him to question everything he thought he knew?