Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (26 page)

“Over here
,
Kara!”
She waived her
hand above the
opaque
shower stall.

She
maneuvered
instantly next to Sarah
and entered the next oversized stall. “It feels great in here doesn’t it?”

“Mhmm.”
She
admitted
through
her
nose.

Sarah
then lathered and
quickly finished rinsing
her
soapy body and started
drying off. As
she
was putting on deodorant
in the stall
and covering
her
torso
Jillian
quickly took
her daughter’s
shower
stall
and started freshening
herself
up. Sarah
walked into the
first
room and put on all of
her
remaining
clean clothes
, socks and boots
.
She put the
wet towels into the clothing b
in, sat the basket on the table
and started brushing
her
hair as
she
ste
pped into the front room with her
clothes, shampoo, soap and deodorant
; all wrapped together
.

Waiting on the long aluminum bench
sat her man
. He might have just been sitting, but two other men sat on the o
pposite
end of the bench
as well
. Connor radiated authority a
nd power even though she
could see it and others could explain
why they looked insignificant
.
It seemed the other men were too frightened to sit any closer
to him
.
Sarah
stopped to see him freshly shaved and his hai
r
seemed wavy from
finger brush
ing it
back. H
is strong jaw and his
intense and observant eyes scanned everything.
He then smiled as he spotted her
.
He stood up and g
r
abbed his dirty clothes in one
hand. He opened the door for her
and
they
headed back to
their
room
together
.

Kara and Mark came back first and they dropped their old clothes inside their room. They came out wearing only their
leather
gear. Mark wore only his brown leather pants with a flap in the back for when he grows his tail and he
didn’t wear
shoes. Kara wore her brown leather pants of the same style and was
also
shoeless, but she also had on her leather top to cover her breast
s and the back of her small top has a cross strap for when she grows
out
her wings. Her hair h
ung
loose behind her shoulder and Mark’s black hair remained short and spiky.

Jillian and Jack
showed up ten minutes later.
He
wore a sea blue sleeveless shirt and
she attired
a deep red sleeveless shirt
with a low neckline
. They both wore brown pants and their only pair of hiking boots. Both
Jillian and Jack
had their hair pulled back and tied with a string.

About fif
teen minutes later the six of them
were gathered and
finally smelling pleasant and not
feeling
like dirty animals
.

Sarah suddenly took
his
han
d and her green eyes sparkled. Connor
looked at everyone as they looked
back to him
. “Ready to
go
get some grub?” Everyone smiled in obvious reply.

Connor
slipped
their room key in his
back pocket as
they
walked down the hallway
. Liz eyed them
as
they
left out the front door. As
they
made
their
way to the central pillar
his
best friend stepped up to walk beside
them
. He elbowed
Connor
saying
teasingly
“You guys are
so
lucky.”
Connor
looked down at him and waited for
further
explanation
. “I don’t know how they are powering this place, but it’s better than last time
I was here
. This is the first time that a meeting has been powered before. In the past everything was lit by torches and things weren’t
nearly
as sanitary. About a week into a meeting, everything would reek from body odor and burning pitch.
My nose is very grateful
for the
technological
upgrade
.
I’m glad that it won
’
t be that way
,
like in the past.”

“I know.” His silver eyes shot up
to
Connor
. “When we first entered the open area
,
everyone here except Kara,
took a deep breath through their
noses. I knew that you were all taking one last breath of fresh and clean air
, without
even
realizing you did it
.”
Mark
then formed a one sided smile on his lips.

Sarah gently squeezed
his
hand. “Can we hurry up? I’m hungry.”

Soon they
made it all the way to the solid central pillar. This time
Connor
led
the group down the stairs. As he took each step down he
felt like
he
was taking one step closer to finding an answer
to
their
situation
.
The central pillar was starting to get thicker.
He
knew
they
took more steps to get to the third level and
understood the concept
that it meant that the pillar supported more weight further down the lower levels and that those levels would be
even
larger
.

He
wasn’t wrong.

The third level was much larger than the first t
w
o.
The smell of food
became
intoxicating.
T
welve
large
pillars
held the ceiling of this
room and they lined six on each side.
O
n the far wall
sat
a gigan
tic stage that was at least
three to four
square acres
of white stone
. M
usic playing
below saturated the
room and
from what
he
saw
showed it came from
playing their instruments in the center of the stage.
V
iolins, three
piano’s
, clarinets, flutes, a harp,
trumpets, oboes and French horns all
played magically
on the stage
,
making a perfect melody.
They were playi
ng old school classical music. Connor
guess
ed that those musicians
probably
lived during
those times
and they were good at it
, but
he
could see that
most
of
their instruments were new.
Off to the side of the stage i
s a
large
six story building that met the cave ceiling.
A
short line of maybe five people and three Keepers
stood waiting at the front
.
O
ne person
began
walk
ing
awa
y with a huge tray of food and Connor
knew that was w
h
ere
they
had to go. As
he
continued walking down the steps
he
saw four long wooden benches
,
that were actually made in separate pieces
,
line the entire room
. The tables were all the same and were
large
enough to incorporate anyone who wished to sit
.
S
tep
ladders
were made
for some people to climb up
on
to the bench, but a Keeper could easily get in and out.
Connor
saw that the
species
separated
and gathered
amongst themselves
to eat
.
Fifteen
Keeper’s huddled at one table,
twenty one
Changers
s
at
at
another row and
twelve
Balancers
sat
off on another area.

Before
they
hit the bottom of the level
Connor
asked
“Mark, I see that Changers sit with others. Are you
and Kara
going to join them?”

“
Hell
n
o.” He said instantly and evenly. “I’m not like them. The only thing we have in common is that we manipulate our bodies. We’re gonna stick around with you guys.”

He
looked over
Connor’s
shoulder and his silver gaze
explained
that he wouldn’t even consider another option.
He was prepared for the consequences.
Connor
said “I’m glad you feel that way, Bud. It would feel odd if we didn’t hang out like normal.”

He grinned
and showed his
brilliant
white teeth
.

They
made it
down
to the next level and got off the stairwell. Sarah continued holding
his
hand as
they
got in
line behind the two Keepers. The
silent giant’s
didn’t
turn around the first time as they
waited along with them.
Connor
ignored them as well and decided to watch
his
mate just casually talk
ing
with her parents.
A
round
fifteen minutes later the
Keeper’s
grabbed their tray
s
of food and walked away.

Connor
stepped up to a
windowless counter that stretched about ten feet across and
stood
about four and a half feet high. The top was shiny and looked to be finely lacquered.
Over the counter hung a large brass bell with a
cord for someone to reach it.
H
eat and loud noises
from
pots and pans c
ame billowing
from the kitchen. There was a double
,
two way door that separated the front from the kitchen.
He
then understood why this building was so large. It was
like
a giant refrigerator.
A youn
g looking woman walked out and he
saw that the kitchen was
immaculately
white with a lot of stainless steel and modern technology.
He
saw
several
people and
two
Keepers inside and cooking
many meals
.

The woman walked up to the desk. She was barely a head taller than the table. She had dark black eyes and the blackest hair
he
ha
d
ever seen.
She had dark caramel skin with a
strangely familiar
petite frame.
Her jaw was strong and sharp
ly defined
, but it showed her femininity.
S
he wore a black robe
w
hich was sleeveless
and
tied
together
with a white
sash that was knotted in the front. On the center of her robed chest was a
n embroidered
golden pentagram that looked to be
made
o
f spun gold. She looked up at Connor
and was patiently
waiting
for something.
Her black eyes looked like a bottomless abyss and her ageless
expression
said that they were.