Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (66 page)

G
rass and dirt
had been turned into
a mess from everyone
trampling
on the property.
From all who arrived Connor ignored all prints that were too deep
, large
or beyond all reason to follow. The soft soil helped hold prints so that would benefit them.
Ten minutes
into
the
search
he
allowed
Jim walk up and show
Maggie’s
most recent
body
picture.
He
focused and saw the size of her legs and
feet. Knowing this would help
to
decipher
her
weight and the
average
length of her
gait. When Jim
left
to stand with others Connor
resumed studying the terrain.
He
moved leaves and sticks out of
the
way periodically.
This wasn’t going to be easy.

Fifteen minutes later Connor
found
just
what
he
’
s looking for.
He
went down on one knee
suddenly
and
positively
knew it was her because of
the size of
her small feet
matched the picture
.
He
spun around and stood. “I found her Trail!”

Mark, Jac
k and the d
eputy were the first to get
him
.
M
oments later
he
was surrounded by everyone
and Connor made them give him
a ten foot berth
. The deputy made everyone in the crowd become quiet with another ear piercing whistle
because they were all asking
too many
questions at the same time
. When
it was silent again Mark
asked “What did you find?”

Connor
didn
’t see the girls anywhere, but he
could feel that Sarah
stood
within
the house and
her mood was that of empathy. He knew she was doing what he
asked
by
comforting
and reassuring
the family
, telling them he found her trail
.

He
knelt down before a large
, heavy
footprint. The annoying hiker
announce
d
“Boy, You must be blind
. That little girl couldn’t have made such a print.
Even an amateur can tell the difference between a print of a man’s size to that of a child’s.
” He turned to walk away. “What a waste of
precious
time.”

“Maggie made the first impression, not the second.” The man stopped cold as
Connor
spoke up
in annoyance
. “Look at the grass and how it’s going mostly in the direction of the larger footprint. There are three blades of grass that are going in a perpendicular direction compared to the others.
Nothing can make a print like that simultaneously.
Also notice the subtle toe kick from the impression of moving forward.
With the size of her foot and her weight, this larger male foot
print
almost completely
masked Maggie’s.” Connor stood up because he
was still angry at
the man
, but
he
radiated
his
anger to everyone. “If it wasn’t for me
,
you would have increased her danger because it is
your
foo
t print.” He turned to look at Connor
with a
n expression
full of rage. “
That’s right, you weren’t paying attention
to your surroundings
and
carelessly
stepped right on it
. Now get out of here before you mess something else u
p
because I don’t have any
more time to waste on you.”

Nearly e
veryone gasped.

The man
tried to
get close enough to hit
Connor for the insult
, but three
other
officers and Deputy
Burrow
blocked his path as a silent warning to leave.

Connor spun on his
heels to
study the tracks more. He
put one knee on the ground as
he
gently
pushed the grass around with
his
fingers. A few seconds later
he
found something else out. Jack
saw
the
change
of expression
and
asked “What did you find
,
Connor?”

The crowd remained silent and listened
in
. “The reason why she’s lost
,
”
H
is
silver haired father-in-law knelt by
Connor’s
side and studied the ground himself. “She was chasing a rabbit into the woods.”
He
noticed something that was at least some
consolation
. “She is
at least
wearing shoes though.”

Jack
said
in a sigh
“That’s a good sign.”

Connor
stood up and looked at
his
party. “Let’s go.”
He
started running along her
faint trail.
He
knew that
his
three other members were on
his
six, but there were too many
thundering steps following
them
.
Connor
stopped and saw that the large crowd
was following.
He
put up a hand and they al
l
stopped. “I’m sorry, but everyone needs to stay here
and wait for us to come back
.
”

When they started protesting, Deputy Burrow
whistled a third time. “Everyone pay attention because
I’m only going to say this once!
” The crowd quieted down and
Connor
saw two camera men recording
everything
. “
He
chose the four of us because we can move easier
and quicker
in the woods. We don’t need someone to get hurt as they try to help. More people will only
serve to
slow us down.
Maggie needs to be found as quickly as possible before it rains and night falls. You all know that the first twenty four hours are the most crucial…
”

Connor
wanted to kno
w what J
ack was thinking because he was looking
far too
annoyed.
We are already slowed down because Connor invited you.
Jack thought.
We can move much quicker than any human.

“Jack,”
His
azure
eyes shifted to
Connor’s piercing hazel
as the deputy
continued
telling the crowd to stay away.
“that
’
s the very reason we need him
to tag
along. If we find the girl in a few minutes, people will get suspicious of us. Don’t forget, the press is still here. If we have him along, it will keep us honest and less open for our secret getting out.”

Jack began
processing
the truth of such words.
He sighed thinking
“Point taken, Connor.”

Connor
tapped Deputy Burrow’s shoulder. “We need to go
, now
. We
’
re wasting time
standing
around
here
.”

He th
ought
for only a moment. He said to the crowd “Let me put it another way. If anyone follows us, I will arrest them for impeding an official police investigation.” The crowd finally settled
down
and stayed
as
Connor
looked them over one last time before taking off
. He thought he
saw someone
he
knew
in the crowd
, but it couldn’t have been.

Connor
took the lead and
was
being flanked on each side by Mark and Jack
.
Deputy Burrow took the rear
of the group
.

For ten minutes
they
w
alked at a hiking pace because Connor
didn’t want to tire the
only
human in
their
group down.
Deputy Burrow
was the first to speak
though
. “Connor
,
keep walking.” he
did
. “Are we still on her trail?” Connor
nodded and saw some disturbed gravel that was the shape of a small print, but it couldn’t be distinguishe
d as fully human. Even though his
instinct said it
belonged to Maggie
. “Then why aren’t we going faster?”

Without
turning around to talk to him he
said “Because for every stride we take is three for her.
We are still gaining ground on her. If we become too tired trying to find her, what do you think we could do for her
then
?
Mistakes will only endanger her more.
”
He
glanced over
his
shoulder to see the officer quietly contemplating scenarios in his mind.

An hour later
Connor
finally
found a positive sign. “Look here.”
he
pointed to a small shoe print in the
loose
dirt.
The treads and shape were just what
they
needed.
“We
’
re on the right track. I would say this
print
is about four to six hours old.” Everyone sighed with relief. While the deputy looked at t
he track, Connor
entered Mark’s mind to ask
“Does your sense of smell tell you anything?”

He silently smelled the air.
“Only that you are right. Her smell is getting stronger than when I tried catching
the scent
back at the house.
I went to her room and caught her scent, but there were too many people for me to find her trail. You saved me over an hour trying to run around the forest
to catch her scent again.
”

The first sound of thunder rolled through the clouds
and the mountain
.
Jack then said
“We
’d
better pick up the pace. The rain might wash away her tracks
before we find her
.”

No one disagreed as
they
increased
their
pace up to a slow
and measured
jog. Connor
recognized
where she tried
taking
different routes through the forest and had to try
going
somewhere else.
They took only the freshest trail and followed it. This child has gotten lost, but her hiking habits would put other people her age to shame. Though she couldn’t find her way back she made good time.
She jumped over
small
logs and crawled through some of the foliage
when game trails came to an end
.
They
came upon a stream and saw where she put her knees in the mud and
knew she
had a drink. She followed the stream down for three hundred yards
before she could cross over it safely
.

Her tracks
stopped and turned to the left suddenly.

He
kne
lt where she turned and saw the space between her steps widen drastically. “Connor
,
what is it?” Jack asked.