Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (75 page)

She closed the
distance
once he
became
nude
and pinned
him against
the trunk. It was the first time
they
made real
and perfect
love since entering this mountain.

After an hour of pure bliss
they
de
cided to
head
back.
They
flew to the ground
together
and put everything back on. B
oth had a thin sheen of sweat from
the exercise of passion. So Connor used
power over Liquid to make it evaporate quickly. She looked positively radiant and her pleased smile made
him
even more satisfied. S
he wove her right arm through his
left as
they
started making
their
way back to the others.

T
he thickness of the trees
began
thinning
not long after
departing
.
They
fi
nally passed the tree line and he
realized everyone was
still
waiting
patiently
for
them
. Mark and Kara were cuddled together
of
f
in the high grass and they remained in their wolf form, but they got rid of their wings. Jack sat in the grass that led
up
to the wall. He
leaned
his back
against
the wall and Jillian had her back
pressed into
his chest and both of their eyes were closed. Veronica and Sorono were leaning on the other wall
. They were looking into each other’s eyes and having a personal conversation.

Sorono’s hazel eyes shifted as he heard
them
enter the clearing. He smiled and said
“It is good to see you two again. You
’
r
e
looking
calmer
, Connor.”

“Mark, Brother’s back!” Kara’s head
immediately
aimed
in their direction while
she
began
shaking Mark back to consciousness. He popped his head above the grass so he could see and he then grinned
at their return
. Jillian and Jack also woke up and rubbed
their eyes before
spotting
them
. Kara trotted on all fours and sat on her
haunches about five feet from where they stopped
.
She cocked her head to the side and her ears were flat against her head.
“Brother, are you feeling any better? You’re not going to go crazy on us again, right?”

He
chuckled. “Nah, I feel like myself
once again.” Then he
remembered something
that
she would. “Do you remember when I was hospitalized after
receiving this?” He thumbed his
bare
chest. “Do you remember what I was like after a single week of being cooped up
in that room
?”

Her eyes widened
, remembering vividly of the
past. “How could I ever forget what you did to those poor people?”

Sarah released her grip on his
arm and took a step
so she could look at him
and
his
sister with an arched eyebrow. “And what
, pray tell
, did Connor do while being at the hospital after only a week?”

By this time
,
everyone was starting to walk over to
them
so they could
get in on
this
story from
his
sister’s perspective. She leaned back and stood
erect
on her back legs. “Give me just a moment. It’s easier to talk when I’m
not
looking
like this
.” She walked behind a tree
while
followed
closely
by Mark.
On
ce they were hidden from sight they
heard bones breaking from two
distinctive
sources. After about thirty seconds they
returned
,
looking like themselves. The only difference was that their hair both remained long
and straight
. Kara skipped over to
the rest of them while
Mark walked normally. She stopped and said to herself in her chirpy voice “Where should I begin…?”

“The beginning would work for all of us.” Sarah said pleasantly.

“That’s fine by me. I love to talk as you all know.” She grinned her normal goofy grin.
Connor
sighed
heavily,
which made her grin widen
all the more
.
She took a deep breath and began the story. “When Brother knocked Granddaddy out of the way
of the crossbeam
and received that tattoo
,
h
e went unconscious from the agony
. When Granddaddy was finally able to get the
searing hot
metal off of Brother’s chest
,
he managed to drag Brother onto the bed of his truck. Grandma drove the truck while Granddaddy
did first aid until they got him to the hospital. Granddaddy stayed with Brother while Grandma called our house to let us know what had
just
happened. Since Mom is the head nurse at the hospital she was
able to get me
back
into the PICU…” S
he looked up at Sorono and Veronica. “That stands for the Pediatric. Intensive. Care. Unit. It is where children under eighteen go when they are critically injured
and get the best treatment
.” They nodded
in understanding and
for
Kara
to continue. “For some reason the sedatives they used
on
Brother were
potent
enough for a bull elephant
to sleep for a week
. They had to keep giving it to him because he would burn through it faster than he did with
his
meals
.
That baffled the doctors, let me tell you… they couldn’t believe the quantities they were forced to use and would have killed five full grown men, but they were forced to keep him under at any cost. They did blood tests and so many others I cannot even begin to comprehend, but they all turned out as if he were another ordinary human boy with a fast metabolism.
When they finally
and eventually
all
owed him to wake
,
Granddaddy explained
what happened. Now this is where things got interesting.

“What you saw in Brother’s eyes
earlier today
was nothing to what I saw when he was awake
and in bed
for a week. He kept saying
he needed to go outside almost every minute, but the doctors said it would be too dangerous with
the severity from
his wounds.
He’d ask and ask and ask, like he forgot he said it the last thousand times or so.
Brother
sounded
more
like a junkie wanting more drugs
,
like he was going through withdraw
. Brother
was fed up with being told what to do. He
grabbed the doctor and threw him through the door
way
that
laid
at least
fifteen
feet away. Granddaddy tried restraining him from beh
ind as he got up out of the bed, but
Brother easily broke the hold and threw Granddaddy
back
on the bed. Some nurse was by the door and had a needle full of sedatives ready. When Brother exited his room the nurse jabbed the sedatives in his arm. Unfortunately she was in Brother’s territory and he backhanded her. She
had been
knocked out before
even
hitting the
tile
floor. Mom was with
me and
Grandma in the lounge and came out to see what was happening…”

“Did you try to stop him?” Jillian asked.

“Are you kidding
me
? I would have ended up like that nurse.” Kara chuckled and went on. “As I was saying, Grandma tried to stop him
too
, but Mom pulled her away.
The three of us followed Brother as he walked down several flights of stairs
, almost in a focused trance
. Someone
had
called
for
security and six guards were waiting
for him
on the first level. They underestimated my fourteen year old brother. He blew threw them like a tornado in a trailer park.

“When Brother managed to
finally
get outside
,
he found the first tree
in the parking lot
and climbed up in it and went
right
to sleep
,
like nothing had ever happened. All the while his entire torso was wrapped and his wounds had
barely begun to scab over let alone be
completely
healed. I knew he was still in
a tremendous
amount of
pain, but that
oak
tree seemed much more important. The doctors sai
d he went to sleep from the drugs
, but my family and I knew that shot was as useless as if they used straight saline.

“After that incident they moved Brother down to the first floor
under Mom’s consistent badgering with the PICU doctors.
Everyone
she worked with
wanted to restrain him
to his hospital bed
and Mom said ‘Go right
on
ahead.
I won
’
t stop you.
’ and she
told them
that
with a smile I might add.

“
Well they strapped him down with those hardened leather restraints, but when they came back an hour later they found Brother
up
in that tree again. He was strong enough to rip the restraints right off the bed itself. I still remember him sleeping with those leather straps
dangling
down
from his wrists
, waist
and ankles
. At night he would climb back down and sleep in the bed and get his dressings changed
without any more outbursts or attacks
. Mom said that all the girls she worked with were sayin
g she had a monkey for a son.” T
hen Kara’s
smile turned
bitterly
to her big brother
. “I never fully understood why you were so violent
back then
until now.
It finally makes sense.
”

“His connection with nature was severed
for
too long.
Even in sleep our attachment
to it
never wanes.
”
They
all turned to Sorono and Veronica
as he interrupted what Kara
had been
about to say
. He continued saying
“Even I fought the Third when I received
the
brand
up
on
my back. I was still only a hatchling
, but I fought him to get outside his home and lay on some grass.
I laid on my belly until my
back
wound
s
finally healed. I know the pain
he went through
all too well and the separation from life is even more unbearable. Connor, were you branded by crossed metal rods as well?”

“I was.” Sorono
simply
nodded.

“Hey Brother
!
W
e can finally tell Mom why you
’
r
e
so weird.” She chirped
with a full grin
.

“What are you thinking, Sis?” He
crossed
his
arms over
his
chest to hear out
an
answer.

“Well since you are a power
ful
Harmonizer and have the same authority as the Old
Lizard
Man here.” She thumbed at Sorono
and he smiled and shook his head
. “Then you have the choice of telling whoever you want
to
and whatever you want.
That means you can tell Mom about everything…
”