Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (5 page)

As he
held their attention
Connor
took a small flame from the fire
as he released
warm flowing energy to
his
hand
.
The small
flame danced
in
the palm of
his
right
hand
like a lit candle
that fed from his energy rather than wood
. Mark
did
n’t
seem
too impressed, but
his
sister’s eyes went wide
as she stared into
the delicate
flame
. “This is the
energy
element
known as
Fire!”
Connor
returned
the small flame back into the campfire
and stopped using his
energy
.

Connor
closed
his
eyes and imagined
a flowing sphere of water o
ver
his
palm.
He
opened
his
eyes as
he
released
the
cool flowing energy. T
he moisture in the air accumulated into a
golf ball
sized rotating water ball. Kara went stone still as did Mark
, but
they did so
for two
completely
different reasons
. “Princess
,
I know you
’
r
e
thir
sty.” Connor
turned i
n his
seat and handed
her
the ball of water. She used her power to take the orb away from
him
and then she drank the water
graciously. “That is the
shifting
element
,
Liquid.”
She then returned
her
dry
hands back on
his
shoulders
after smiling at
him
.

Connor
scooped up a handful of clay dirt
from the ground
and held it out for the two of them to see
.
Connor
focused
his
mind and made the sand come together
in
his
mind
’
s eye and then released a solid
flow of stamina.
Connor
watched
how
the clay
’s shape
start
ed
forming together. It started forming small
hooves,
legs
, a roundish
torso
and
then finally a head, mane and a tail. Moments later
Connor
held a miniature clay pony
of perfect detail
. “This is the
solid
element
,
Terra.”
He
then handed it to a smiling Kara because her favorite animal is the horse.

Mark finally spoke, but quietly
to himself
. “This is
really
impossible.
What’s going on here?
” He stared at Connor
in disbelief. “
You were
really
serious?
”
His tone was
of
quiet astonishment.

“Let me finish
,
Bud
.
I still have two more elements to go.
” Connor
said
while
lookin
g him in the eye with a smile. Connor
the
n focused
his
mind and made
invisible
jet’s
under
each
his
feet. “Sarah
,
please step back for a moment.” When
h
er
loving touch
c
a
me off
his
shoulders
he
stood.
An
intense
flow of energy
flooded down to his
feet and
the soles of
his
feet
le
ft
the ground
,
but only
up by
five inches
from the surface
.

Connor
began
flying for the first time.

“Connor
,
when did you learn this?” Sarah said
while
giggling
from behind
.

“Just
now
, Princess.
It just
popped into my head
.
”
Sarah
hit
his
b
ottom playfully. Unfortunately the tap
broke his
mediocre
concentration and
Connor
fell back to
the solid
earth
,
hitting the ground
flatly
.
He
felt
lucky
that he
didn’t go any higher
or
he
would have stumbled a few steps
into the fire
.
Connor
looked at Sarah and all she did was smile
beautifully
.

“Brother
,
did you just fly?” Kara blurted out
,
without blinking.

“Yes, but I need to practice that
move
a little more though.” He
sat down again
on the log
.
“That’s the
power
element
,
Pressure.”

“Connor
,
are you sure you have enough for the last
bit of
show and tell
. Remember
…
last time?
” Sarah put her hands back over
his
shoulder and still didn’t give
over any
energy.
Her hands remained
both soft and warm.

“Just enough, but maybe you can fix it
back
when I’m done.” Connor
looked back to see her nod.
Her green eyes were focused
on helping in an emergency
.

Lastly,
Connor
reached over and picked up
his
clean
metal fork
from dinner
.
He
then held it up for Sarah to get a good look at it
s original shape
. She squeezed his
shoulder
once
she was finished studying it.

His eyes and
mind began to
vividly
picture
the metal fork, then
he
saw it change and reshape. As the
enormous
flow of energy
released down his arm
it now felt
somewhat
different
, less intense and taxing
.
Connor
opene
d
his
eyes to see the metal levitate from
the palm of his
hand and hover for a moment before its shape began to ch
ange. The four metal spikes
began glowing red
,
then fold
ed
in on themselves before fusing together
to
then bow out. As the
finally
metal cooled it fell into
his
hand as a spoon. “This is the final
,
malleable
element
,
Metal.” He
handed the spoon
over
to Mark for inspection.

This time
when
Connor
used
his
power over Metal
there was an unsettling sensation
of his own making
.
T
he metal manipulation didn’t drain
him
as it did before.
It still used the same amou
nt of energy, but his imagination supplied the difference. This attempt for price of metal manipulation was like he
barely took a bite out of a foot long sandwich instead of eating well over three quarters.

“This is truly remarkable
,
my friend
. Do you know why you have the affinity for all elements?”
Mark said
while
studying the spoon.

“Jillian has a theory. She thinks
that
because I was so powerful
as a human
,
before I became a Balancer
,
that means when I became a Balancer my abilities became
more
dramatically different than anyone else
’s
. And my abilities had another side effect because Sarah has the exact same abilities that I do.
Usually the female brings her mate to her level, but I did the opposite.
”
Connor
said and Mark l
ooked down to contemplate what was
revealed to him
while
still
studying the spoon
that
changed
before his very eyes
.
Disbelief warred with the logic he witnesses first hand.

“Wait… S
arah
,
is your sister
Jillian
a
nd your father
Balancer
’s
as well?” Kara asked innocently
moments later
.

Connor
bit
his
lip
,
trying not to laugh, but
it turned out impossible to
contain
himself. Then Sarah pinched his
shoulder muscle and walked around to sit on
his
lap.
“Kara
,
there is somet
hing that you must know.”
Sarah
’s shoulders lifted to
take in a deep breath and sigh. “Jillian is not my sister.”

“Really? Then how is she related?
She looks like you.
” Kara
said
cutting in on Sarah’s explanation.
His
sister has a knack for jumping to conclusions.

With a
nother sigh she explained “She does not look like me
, Kara
. In fact I look like her because s
he is actually my mother.”

In the minutes of silence
Connor
studied Kara’s expression. First wide eye
d
disbelief, then to skepticism and then when she cou
ld speak
she asked
“Are you serious
,
Sarah?” A
nd
he
saw
his
wife’s head nod as she shifted
her bottom
in his
lap.
Kara’s lips barely moved as she said
“Then…?”

“Yes… She and my father are mates
just
like Connor and I are.
They are both my biological parents.
” Sarah said evenly.

Kara
’s
blurting
and brutal
honesty came back with
a vengeance. “But it’s so creepy
. How could she be married to someone who looks so much older…
?”
She then looked
over
at Sarah and
Connor
after she visibly shuddered
. “Sorry you were right Brother
,
it is a lot to take in all at once.
Sarah’s three hundred and no guy alive is near her age. We all must seem like infants in comparison…
” She sat down
the
clay pony
Connor
made for her
beside
to her bow and then put her hands together. “I have just one more question
, Sarah?” She asked.