Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (83 page)

Connor
liked hearing that
.

Jack and Connor
were
then
led into a clear plastic box and
they
put on
their
face mask. W
hen the
plastic door
closed
a white vapor sprayed
upon them
. Connor
knew from watching
TV that they were being sterilized
for the clean room
they
were going to enter. Now
sterilized
,
the plastic doors on the other side
cracked
opened. As the noise came in
suddenly
Connor dropped to his
knees from the pain in
his
ears. Even with the earplugs
,
the
ear splitting
sound
was like getting your skull opened
up
by a jackhammer. He tried cupping his
hands
over his
ears, but it did little good
against the excessive sounds that came from the room
.

The moment Jack saw
such
distress he ran over to a wall and pulled off a set of head phones
from a nearby wall
. He put them over Connor’s
ears and the noise became
somewhat
bearable. Jack
stuck his thumb up and entered
his
mind.
“Sorry about that. I
didn’t think about how sensitive your hearing is. Is that
any
better?”

Connor
nodded and stood up.

Connor
pulled
the
board
from behind
his
back and wrote
‘Thanks for that. What should we do first
?’

For the next
five
hours
J
ack showed
Connor
every step in the process of how he designed, fabricated and pieced together every piece of the green truck he made for
the gift
.
After awhile
he was assimilated to the harsh sounds
of the room
.
When the tour
came to an end
they
stepped back into the
clear
box and was cleaned again. As they
stepped out of the box
Connor
took off the ear coverings and the ear plugs. Beau stood and asked “What happened in there?
Earlier I mean.
” He was referring to the
trip to the ground.

“Sorry. I have
very
acute hearing and
it was just a little
too
loud for me.
I
t isn’t the first time that has happened before.
” He
said after taking
the
mask off.

“I was worried
that
you were hurt
or something
.” He sighed as his skinny frame sat down in the chair again.

Jack and
Connor
redressed in
their original
clothes again and left the building
soon after he gave a few orders to Beau and a few other employees
.

Silence
i
s bliss.

About halfway home the snow was
still
heavily coming down. Jack wanted a conversation because nothing on the radio was
worth listening to
. “I haven’t seen my daughter in a week. How’s she doing?”

Connor
said in honesty “I’m not
really
sure.”

He turned from looking out the side of the window t
owards
him
. H
e
asked evenly “What do you mean you don’t know
?
Is something wrong with
her?
”

He
down shifted
and remained calm
. “She’s been feeling off for a few weeks now. She won’t tell me what’s wrong, but I’ve always noticed everything about her. Lately Sarah’s been sleeping
in
a little bit more
than usual
and she’s
even practically
eaten every
thing
in the house
, but the
apple
s
were the
first
to vanish
.
”
He
turned to
Jack
and asked
“Speaking of, can I run in the store real quick and pick up some more?”

He nodded and said “I wouldn’t worry too much about her. She
’s
pr
obably just tired and hungry.” Connor
thought
that he
saw
the Viking
smirk knowingly, but it was gone before he
could look again.
It wasn’t polite to read his mind without permission
but his
instincts told
him
that
Jack
knew something important
.

On the way home Connor
stopped by the store and bought four
fresh
bags of red and green apples.

As
they
pulled into the driveway
Connor
looked and saw Mark’s jeep.
He’s working
today
… So Kara must have come over for a visit.
He
smiled
knowing his
mate wasn’t
sitting
home alone
and
being bored to death
.

They
parted ways as
Jack
walked inside his house and
Connor
walked to
his
cottage with the apples
thrown over his shoulders. He
walked normally
through the snow, enjoying it
and saw
his
house fifteen minutes later.
His
home was powdered with fresh
snow. Connor
used
his abilities
to
clear a path to the front door with
his
control over Liquid. For every step
he
took
,
a foot of snow would spread away
and reform the
path. Finally reaching the door
he
knocked.

The door creaked open and he
knew
that the hinges needed to be oiled
. Kara stood at the door s
aying “Brother! Welcome home.” T
he tone of her voice
was normal and chipper, but his
instinct told
him
otherwise by making
all of the
fine
hairs on the back of
his
neck stand
straight
up. The feral grin she wore made them
stand
even more alert. “Come in and get out of the cold.
The last t
h
ing we need is to let all the warm air out.
” She grabbed the clothes on
his
chest and pulled
him
inside and then she quickly shut and locked the door.

The inside of
the cabin
was nice and cozy. As
he
took a step
further in
Sarah was absently
sitting in front of the fire still wearing the blanket wrapped around her. Her head
then
jerked
in
his
direction
when she suddenly realized he arrived
. Her green eyes were
twinkling
like the stars on a crystal clear night. Her long and luscious hair was also covered by the sheet. She
sh
owed him
a smile that
he’s
never seen her use before. It was a mixture of worry,
fear, unknowing and for some reason pure happiness.
Something
i
s going on.

Not letting on to his growing anxiety, he
smiled back at her and decided to
put away the apples first. As he
walked to the pantry
he
saw Kara walk over to S
arah from the corner of his
eye.

S
everal apples
were put
into the fruit bowl
after
he
washed them in the sink
and
stored
the remaining into the pantry. As he
came out
he
heard Kara whisper
ing
“Go on
,
tell him.” He
took another step and saw Kara kneeling beside Sarah as
his
little sister
rubbed her back.
Sarah said quietly back to hi
s
sister “But what if he doesn’t…”

Connor
gathered their attention by saying in a concerned voice “Tell me what?”
The two of them jumped as one and turned in the direction of
his
voice.
He
stopped
walking because of their
strange
expressions
and
stood
stoically
by the dining room table
.
He
watched the two of them carefully
as they watched
him
with the same intensity
.
Sarah looked at his
sister with worried eyes. Kara looked back at her and smiled gently.
He
began to worry what their expressions meant.
Something was definitely going on and it was
beginning to frighten him
.

Slowly
,
Sarah stood
from the floor
and dropped
the bed sheet. She looked at Connor
with her
warm and shy
green eyes and took a step in
his
direction
;
after taking a deep breath and sighing. As she stepped over the sheet, Kara picked it up
in one motion
and looked back at them
.

Sarah took two more steps
in his
direction
and stopped a
bout an arm
’
s length away
. She suddenly looked down
and began biting her bottom lip
. She
then
spoke
in a
very quietly and shaky
voice
. “I… I’m…. I’m pr…”

He
took a step forward and put
his
arms around her
and clasped
his
fingers around her lower back
wanting to ease her discomfort
.
He
didn’t know what was going on, but this has always made her feel better.
He
kissed the top of her head and s
aid in the best soothing voice he
had “Relax Princess. Tell me what’s going on?
There is not
h
ing to worry about.
”

She
remained
rigid, but he
felt her emotions going in every
conceivable
direction
and their intensity were beyond anything he’s felt from her this far
.

She’s never felt like this before
, that much was certain

A minute later she
began
breathing normally. She t
urned her head up to look at him
and h
er green eyes were
now
on
the verge of tears. Her voice o
n the other hand came back
stronger
. “Connor, I’m Pregnant!”

Sudden and Delay