Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (61 page)

Connor stood and yelled “Hey
Kara
! I think this belongs to you!” He twirled the bone arrow in his right hand and tossed it like a javelin. He didn’t use all of his strength, but the arrow still zipped in the air.
It was a perfect and arching throw.
Kara turned around and saw it coming. Connor threw it so that it would be easy to catch. She caught it with her right hand
.

With the bone still in her hand she waved b
ack at them
and
Sarah
could see her
faint
smile. “Thanks, Brother
!
” She turned around to the Head Elder. Her
voice turned calm and even. “I
am sorry for acting so rash Head
Elder. I just didn’t like it when they were making a joke out of my mate. As you just witnessed, that was my brother. I knew a demonstration was in order and Brother and I do this all the time. It wasn’t an ass
ass
ination attempt by any means, but I apologize and beg your forgiveness
for the misunderstanding
.” She bowed her head and waited.

In the same calm and cool voice the H
ead
Elder said
“I will forgive this transgression if you put your bones away and not disturb the peace again. This will be your
only
warning,
Hatchling
.
Is that clear?
”

“Thank you.” She raised herself back up and her
bones
began
returning back into her arm. She took the bone arrow and made it disappear by eat
ing it. She turned to Mark and even Sarah
could tell he
remained
rigid.

Suddenly the audience
heard a booming laugh again. It was H
ead
Elder Raphael again. “Ah Marcus. That
was
a surprise and I absolutely loved it.” He turned to Kara with a playful smile. “Before you depart, I have a question for you. Did anything happen differently when you crossed over into our world?”

Sarah
placed
her
hand on
her
head because Kara’s brutal honesty was
about to become
legen
dary. She
wasn’t disappointed
as
Kara
bluntly said
“Well does it count if I told you
that
my heart stopped and
I died
for a minute
before
Brother brought me back to life?” All of the Elder Changers were all struck speechless. “Yep, I died during the process and Brother brought me back so that I could finish the painful transition.” She took Mark
’
s hand and finished by saying “Don’t worry, you will all meet him soon enough.
I hope you
’
r
e
looking forward to meet
ing someone stronger than me.” S
he grinned. “See you later, Elders.” She dropped down to all four and trotted off. Mark
followed silently behind. The E
lders all started speaking in their language. No
one except the thirty Elders kne
w that ancient and dead language.
Sarah
pulled
her
mind
back
as the two of them made their
w
ay down the front steps.

The crowd around
them
cautiously took their seats and some grumbled. They became even more skittish once Kara and Mark took their seats beside
Sarah
. Kara gr
inned once she sat
again, enjoying the fact she unsettled people
. E
veryone
who sat
close
to the six of
them
carefully kept guarded eyes on
her
impulsive sister-in-law.
She put her right arm around
Sarah
and whispered in
her
ear. “How did I do?”

Sarah
whispered in her soft, pointed and furry ear saying “No one, but you could have pulled off such a shot from the range you did. At least y
ou spiced up the meeting.” And she
thought
she
heard Connor
’
s mental voice say
‘
…
wait until you see…’
and that was all
she remembered
.

They
had to remain quiet until the meeting ended seve
ral hours later. Then Head
Elder Damian finished the meeting by saying
“We will reconvene tomorrow for the Balancers. Sleep well.”

After di
nner with everyone, Connor and Sarah
took
a
bath and went to sleep early.

Connor
feigned sleep until Sarah was
finally
out cold.
He
was lucky because she wasn’t cuddled
up
against
him
like normal
. It was
currently
the middle of the night, but
he
had something
that
desperately needed to
be
take
n
care of
and sleep could wait a while longer
. He
slid
him
self out of be
d and didn’t disturb her in the least
. He
still had
pants on when he
went to bed so
he
didn’t need to worry about zipping up
a noisy
zipper.
He
carefully made
his
way to the door and was grateful that the hinges were well lubricated
after being destroyed
and repaired
. He
closed the door and walked next door
to
hear the sou
nds of his
sister’s snoring and
wondered how Mark
every
got any real sleep in
his situation
.

Connor
pushed
his
thoughts out and into
his
best friend
’
s.
“Mark, wake up. I need to talk with you. Please don’t wake anyone up.”

“Connor?”
His mental voice sounded groggy
from being awoken so suddenly
.
“What…time is it?”

“It’s the middle of the night. I wouldn’t wake you up if I didn’t need to, but I do
. Please come with me, I need to tell you something important.”

Mark’s
mind processed what
he
just said and his thoughts began to pick up.
“I’ll be right out, Buddy. Just give me a minute to get dressed.”

He
pulled
his
thoughts back and waited against the wall.
Connor
was able to hear feet hit the floor between the sounds of Kara’s snoring.
The sound of a
drawer sliding
showed he was getting dressed
and soon
Mark’s
silent steps
approached the only exit
. The handle on
the
doorknob slowly twis
ted and then the darkness of the
room opened.
Mark’s
bare human foot
exited
first and he quickly slid outside. He closed it and Kara’s loud repetitions remained undisturbed.
He was as shirtless as
Connor
and barefoot
too
.
He t
urned around and looked up
with
calculating
silver eyes. He whispered “What do you need to talk about with me
so late at night
?”

Connor
gestured for him to follow with
a jerk of
his
head.
He
started
his
way down the hall and
heard Mark quietly following right behind
silently
,
despite his extreme weight.
They
made
their
way to the front and silently greeted Liz. She smiled
as she set down a thick novel
and asked “What are you two doing up at this time? Did something happen?”

“Nothing like that, w
e just need to have a p
rivate
conversation. No need to worry your pretty little head. We will be back very soon.”
Connor
said
in
a pleasant voice and she smiled.

Mark and
Connor
left the front door
of the lodge
.
They
walked
over
to a secluded place by a support pillar
and Connor
could feel that
they
were alone and no one
eavesdropp
ed
. Mark knew it as well and asked “What is so important that we needed to come all the way over here
at this time of
night
?”

He
propped
his
back against the pillar and looked
Mark
directly in the eyes. “Listen
,
tomorrow migh
t get a little dicey for me.” Mark’s
annoyed and bored expression vanished and
was
replaced by
the upmost
seriousness. “I cannot tell you what I have to do, because I
cannot afford
you to be accused of having prior knowledge of what I’m planning. I won’t lie to you,
Bud,
but you’ll just have to trust my motives.”

“Will it be dangerous?” His
tone remained
even
and calm
, but
Connor
kne
w when he’s worried because his
eyes stay focused on one thing,
him
.

“Without a doubt. That is why I called you out here. I know you won’t stop me because you know that when I talk to you like this, you know
that
I have
thought
every possibility and scenario
though. What I need you to do is keep all harm away from Sarah
. Will you do it for me?”

“You know I will, but will you tell me why?”

Connor
looked into his eyes and knew he wouldn’t let
him
leave
without
giv
ing
him something. He
sighed
in defeat
and scratched the back of
his
head. “Alright…I know you were a father before you became an immortal.” He remained motionless. “I saw the pain and agony you went through when your wife…you
that
know already. Sorry, man.” He nodded
, but didn’t speak
. “You know how protective Sarah and I are of each other. Well I’m afraid she might get in my way or try to stop me. I know she can take care of herself, but my unborn child cannot.”
Mark’s eyes widened as he knew what was
meant, but
he
continued. “All it will take is one simple hit and our child will be lost before we even were a
b
le to meet. When the time comes, I will look you directly in the eyes and nod once. I’m hoping that she will be away from me
by then
, but just incase, I’ll need you to get her as far and as fast away from me as you can possibly manage.
”

He sighed and looked away. “May I ask you just one more question?”

“As long as it won’t endanger
you any more from what I
’ve
asked,
”

“When can I inform Kara or Sarah’s parents?” His voice became softer.

Connor
though about
it for a moment an
d answered with “You can inform them once Sarah and I aren’t within her hearing range. I cannot let her know or she’ll ruin my plans. Use some covert words that would let the others know what
i
s going on, bu
t say it in a way that if other
s
over
heard you they would think it’s an idle conversation to
just
pass the time.”