Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (71 page)

“Brother?” H
e glanced at Kara
for a moment before looking back at the road. “How did Mathew get the drop on all of you?”

He sighed. “I was too focused on getting her home. I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings
or my instincts
.
I felt the danger, but I made a mistake
thinking it was a hungry predator
and someone had to lo
se their life.
”

“Is
there
anything I can do to help?”
She
asked.

“Yes you can.”
Kara
waited for his request
while feeling useful at last
. “I’ll call you in the morning. And I’ll need you to
deliver
a message for me.”

“Done, Brother.” She
said and the six of
them
sat in silence the rest of the way home
, wrapped in their thoughts
.

W
hen they
arrived back at Jillian’s,
Connor
handed Mark some money a
nd both he and Kara
ran home
through the dark
because
they
didn’t bring the jeep.

The next morning
,
Connor
called
and
she
memori
zed the lines instantly. Since Kara
became a Changer
her
memory has improved
dramatically
.
She remembered things she long forgotten when she was still human.

Mark took Connor
’s truck and left the jeep for
her
at the apartment.
Kara
drove for over an hou
r and arrived at the hospital. She
walked to the information desk and
soon
made her
way
up
to the fourth floor.

Kara
knocked on the door and a deep voice said “Come in.”
and
she
entered Deputy
Burrow’s room
to find him
alone
. He was laying in the hospital bed and had the beige
bed
covers up to his ribs. His head was wrapped in white gauze and he
contiuned
smiling
like always
.
He sat down a thick book and said
“Well good morning Ms. May. What brings you all the way out here
to see me
?”

“I wanted to che
ck up on you. How’s the head?” She
asked as
she
sat
down
in a swivel chair
beside the bed
.

“Pretty good. They have me on some wonderful painkillers
. The
doctors
said I would be fine;
the concussion I got was very minor and didn’t need surgery.
B
ut I’ll
have to
be on
medical
leave for
the next
six weeks
till my skull heals
. The sheriff
also
sent two men
this morning
to get my c
ruiser
I left on the scene.
” His white teeth gleamed in the
early
morning light that came through the window.

Even looking like a cue tip, he still manages to be positive.

“Sounds like that
short
trip
you did
to yourself
last night was
all
worth it.
You get time off, with pay.
” He still had that goofy grin on.
Kara
then handed him back his walkie-talkie to which he put on the night stand.
“By the way, Brother
also
gave me a message for you.”

His smile weakened
, but
for only a moment. “What did he have to say?”

“Brother said
‘
Some animals got into the trash
during the night
and scattered it everywhere.
T
he big pieces were
all
gone and what was left
i
s too small to
recognize
.’ That was what he said.
Do you know what he’s talking about?
” She
smiled.
Brother more like
opened a hole in the ground and buried the body like he did against Mr. Branderson.

His smile brightened
and tilted his head
. “That
’s the
most
positive
news
I’ve been waiting to hear all day
.”
she
asked
him again
, feigning ignorance, what that meant, but the deputy only smiled and said it was nothing
of any importance
.

For the next thirty minutes they
talked and asked d
ifferent questions about what
they
did yesterday.
It turned out to be a wonderful time.

When she
finally made it back to the apartment a message
waited
on
the
answering machine.
The
contact
lenses
were ready a day sooner than
they were
expected. Kara
went
by
and picked them up
from the optic store
. She
walked back to the jeep and opened the box.

Looking in the mirror
,
she
examined
her
silver eyes
,
t
he silver eyes that
now
forever
make
her
a Changer.
Kara
sighed
to herself as she
looked at the flimsy colored contact and laughed inwardly.
First I wanted my eyes to go back to normal, but now I don’t want to cover them up.
They are so
…
exotic.
She
decided that seeing
her m
om
i
s more important so
she
popped in the brown contacts.
She
looked into the mirror again a
nd saw that the contacts made her
look
almost
the same
, but she felt so different now that she survived crossing into a whole new world
. In less
than a week into this new life she
found
her
self feeling
a bit
nostalgic for some odd reason.

First
though Kara
stopped by
her
grandparent’s
ranch
because it has been too long since seeing either of them
. It was around noon when
she
arrived
in Mark’s brown jeep
. She
knocked on the front
screen
door and let
her
self in.
Kara
walked into the living room to
find
them eating lunch while watching the
noon
news. “Good afternoon Granddaddy and Grandma.”

Her g
randma was the first to speak. She wore a yellow and green
polka dot
shirt and
bright
red spandex
shorts.
A
lways the fashion
queen.
She sounded a little flustered. “Well hello
,
Kara. I haven’t seen you for over two weeks
. How are you doing?” Kara
placated her by saying that
she
was alright. “What did you do last night?” She smiled knowingly.

“Umm,” She
started to say, but the TV
’s
volume began
getting
overwhelmingly
louder. Kara
looked down at
her
g
randdaddy and saw the remote control in his left hand an
d a ham sandwich in the other. She
looked at the news that was
currently
on the TV.

In the news a
young
blonde
anchor
woman
reported
“Last night a group of four trackers
a
rose to the challenge and rescued Maggie
Laurento
, a seven year old girl who became lost in the woods
early yesterday morning
. This lead
and handsome
tracker,”
I
t was
a clip of Connor
when he was kneeling
on the ground
and sear
ch
ing for the first signs of where Maggie first disappeared
in the back yard
.
His silver armlet glistened over his massive arms.
Kara
also saw Mark and Mr. Branderson off to the side
watching him intently
.
Mark looked so good without a shirt on that
she
almost forgot to listen to what was said.
“found her tracks
in thirty minutes
rather
than an entire search team who were out there for
several
hours. We didn’t get his name or the names of
those who traveled with him.

“
The four men
followed her tracks into the forest and
found
Maggie
and brought her back safe and sound, but the officer who was
traveling
with the group had to be rushed to the hospital
because of a
minor
head
trauma
. The lead tracker
himself carried the officer
all the way
back and gave him over to the emergency
personnel
.” The screen switched to
a
clip of
her
brother running to put Deputy Burrow on the stretcher.
Connor
was now a TV star.
When the background disappeared the anchorwoman said “Whoever you are; thank you.
” The woman
smiled
seductively
.
“
And you can have my number if you stop by the station.”

At that
Kara started laughing; hard. When she wiped the tears away and
could breathe
again she
said “Sweetie, Sarah woul
d absolutely
Love
to meet you!
”

Then the woman went on to the next story by saying “The category five hurricane that appeared in the Gulf of Mexico has finally made its way to shore and is causing havoc to both Louisiana and Mississippi. Now we’re going to Molly who is on scene during the devastating storm…”

The TV
suddenly
turned off and
David
spoke without emotion. “Why didn’t anyone tell me about this or even offer to ask for my help?”

Uh oh… What am I going to do?

Kara came to a quick decision and
walked in front of both of them
. This wouldn’t be easy, but she’d have to sell it to keep off suspicions. Kara
spoke seriously
to
her
soot covered
grandfather. He must have been working the forge this morning
and only came in to eat
.
“Time was of the importance and you were too far out of the way. I’m sorry, but we were in a rush.”

He sighed and scratched his head.
David
grimaced and said
“
I’m sorry, Kara. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of both of you
and what you accomplished
, but it’s difficult to see how quickly the two of you have grown
into
such
fine adults
.”

She
wanted to ease his mind. “Granddaddy, would you like me to tell you what happened yesterday?” His head came up and he smiled softly and nodded.