Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (9 page)

Connor
enjoyed having a physical connection with her
too
.

Ma
rk looked at Kara and then to Connor
for guidance.
Something in his expression tipped o
f
f Mark’s analytical skills.
“What
did you come up with
?”
He knew Connor
all
too well.
Connor never left
anything half finished, especially when lives could be on the line.

“I can think of only two
possibilities
that will not backfire on us
,
too
badly.” Mark
nodded and Kara was watching her brother
intently
with her chocolaty eyes
. “My first solution is that I
should
invite Jillian and Jack to
our
house while the two of you were there and we broke
it to them carefully.” Connor
looked down at
S
arah as
he
felt her hand clutch
his
thigh tightly as she read
his
mind
for
the
other solution that could work
.
Connor
sighed when she released
her grip in understanding
of
the reasoning
.

“What’s the other plan
,
Connor?
I doubt the first will work and your house becomes a casualty if something goes wrong.
” He
saw Mark’s
silver
eyes searching intently
for an answer
.
Connor
just hoped that
t
he
y
’ll
all
go along with it.
It could get tricky for
Mark most of all.

“This one might be a little more dangerous for you two, but I believe that it will make the disputes
and accusations
go away quicker
and become smoother for all of us
.
Plus we wouldn’t have to worry about damaging our cottage
, like you said
.
” Sarah didn’t
dare
look at him
, but
Connor
felt her worry as if it were
his own
,
through
the
connection
as mates
. From
his
peripheral vision
Connor
saw Kara shift in her seat uncomfortably
. She wasn’t sure what kind of danger there could be, but she wasn’t going to give in
or up without a fight
.
H
er honest ignorance might be both a benefit and a liability.
Mark
’
s eyes didn’t flinch or waver from
his friends
.
He
stayed
calm and conf
ident for whatever
the situation
to come f
or
them
.
His look said
it all ‘T
wo normal Balancers wouldn’t be a problem to handle.
’
“F
or about
the past
three weeks Sara and I train with her parents
daily
.
We are honing our skills.
Sometimes we spar with weapons, hand to hand and even using our abilities in different ways.
We need
ed
to learn about ourselves and her parents are helping
us
.
”

“Where does the danger factor in?” Mark asked evenly and without emotion.

“I would like for them to meet the four o
f us at the training grounds.” Connor
retorted
t
o
him in
the same tone. “It might be
more
dangerous because they will be already prepared for
a full day’s fight
. I think it would be better for them to have their guards up and minds running
,
rather than spring this secret on them and they react in a hostile manner.
Plus we will be in a wide open space and can act accordingly.
At the very least, this plan won’t confine the two of you
in my home
should they snap.
I look
ed
for way
s
to cause the least amount of trouble
for everyone
and this one seemed the most viable for everyone
.
”

“That would be
a
wise
decision
.” Mark nodded.

“How could that be wise,
Mark?
I
t seems more like an
execution
for
me
.
Yeah…five super-human
s with weird abilities verses little ol me,
a
little
human girl
who couldn’t even blink faster than you move
. Yeah,
that seems fair.
” Kara blurted out
, almost in a mental breakdown
.
“How would things be better
if they are already ready to fight
?”

Mark finally looked away
from
Connor
and now looked
over
to his girlfriend
.
He placed his calm
, confident
hand
s
over her shaking
shoulders
in
the
attempt to ease her
nervousness.
“You’re brother is right. I didn’t think of it at all
and
yet he came up with the most logical solution.
An
d
you needn’t worry, I’ll be there the whole time. I won’t allow
any
harm to come to you.
” She still looked skeptical so he elaborated a bit more. “Think of it this way: What if you were suddenly at a cheerleading competition and didn’t have any rehearsals memorized? You would worry, become frightened or possibly
become
angry.
You
make untold mistakes and
wouldn’t get a good
judges
score and your team would l
ose.

“
Now
,
what if you knew every move
by heart for the competition
, but you
were forced
to move ahead of schedule because a
nother
team dropped out? You wouldn’t feel completely unprepared and you c
ould manage
the routine
because of all the preparations
.
Your
overall
score wouldn’t be affected
by the judges
and you’d win the competition
hands down
.
” He smiled at her.
“Connor wants
S
arah’s parent
’
s
to be
somewhat prepared
for us
and not
completely off guard.
Less mistakes will happen.
”

“That makes since now.” She said quietly to herself as she turned her head
to
look at the ground. She
finally
looked up at Connor
with calm
er
eyes
.
Mark’s
words had truly eased her suffering. A
nd
she finally
asked
,
after a few deep and slow breaths
“When do you think we should tell them
,
Brother?”

Sarah cut in
to the conversation
as she took her hand off
his
leg. “The sooner
we tell them
,
the better
chance that they will have time to understand
our unique positions
.
The longer we wait the more we’ll have to defend against.
Let us think on it
some more,
ok?” Sarah looked up to Connor
for reassurance and
he
smiled
reassuringly
and she smiled
softly
back.

“Ok just let us know
when and where to meet
.” Kara said
while
standing up and
began
walking to the hidden mountain stream with a handful of clean clothes
and
the
deodorant
from her bag
. Sarah
then
leaned forward and rummaged in her
own
pack for her last pair of clean clothes
and her hairbrush
,
along with her bar of soap
. She kissed Connor’s
cheek before she quickly caught up to
his
sister
by the thicket
.
The look in Sarah’s
loving
green eyes told him
that she was going to keep an eye
on his
sister
,
make sure all
i
s well
and to speak in private
.

Connor
looked up at the morning sun kissing th
e eastern
side of the mountain
. The birds were all awake and giving the morning air a
mixed yet
harmonized melody. When Connor
looked down
and
saw Mark
’
s eyes flash for a moment
he
asked with a smile “What did you change?”

He said playfully “Just the tendons and cartilage in each of my knees.”

That’s
an
odd
thing to do
…
“Why?”

“Because we are hiking downhill today and I know how much strain it puts on the knees. So I added
about a millimeter
more cartilage to absorb the impact my legs will sustain and my tendons help absorb
the shock
as well.
Puts a bit more bounce in my step.
”

“That
s
ure is a
handy
ability
.”
Connor
stood and quickly pulled the post out of the gr
ound before
ask
ing
“By the way
can you grow any more arms or legs
,
being what you are?”

Connor
turned to him
when he began
laughing. “No, but I can grow wings
or modify my limbs into fins
,
if I wanted!”
Mark
laughed eve
n
m
ore
after
Connor
noticed
his
jaw
hung
slacked.
Connor
didn’t understand the
full
extent of his
best friend’s
abilities, but
Mark thought he
did and thought it hilarious.

When
the
scattered thoughts
finally
collected
coherently
Connor
said “Let’s break down camp and pack up while the girls are over there
making themselves pretty.” Connor
gestured
in their direction. Without looking
at him directly
Mark nodded and they
started pouring the old
warm
water over the fire
,
snuffing it out before
cover
ing
it with clay
and
sand
to prevent a wildfire
.

As
Kara
lathered
her
hair with the bar of soap
she
saw
her
sister-in-law in a new light.
Sarah
was still wearing her bra and panties as she resurfaced from under
the still frigid
water. Her graceful movements were so amazingly stunning
now that
Kara
had cause to pay attention
.
S
arah
also moved differen
tly than most girls who look their
age.
Her movements were fluid and precise like she had to always be aware of her surroundings or else she could make some kind of deadly mistake. Th
en her warm green eyes caught Kara
staring at her. In response to being caught gawking
she
dunked
her
self quickly
in the frigid stream
, but
Kara
also
had
to get the suds washed
out
or she
’d
be scratching
her
head all day. All of the soap suds were
slowly
washed away downstream as she
finally
resurfaced.