Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (90 page)

“I hadn’t a clue as to why I picked you up, but I couldn’t allow a
toddler to say out in the wilderness or else you might die
or get eaten
. I walked up and picked you up in my arms. You were heavy then too. When our eyes met you smiled like nothing bothered you about being alone
out
in the forest.
A face that adorable couldn’t be left behind and our camp wasn’t easy to get to so I knew your parents weren’t nearby
, even though I did look afterwards. There wasn’t any sign of anyone
being in the area for many months
, but in that moment when our eyes met
I
instantly
knew
that
I would find a way to raise you properly.

“I brought you back to show you to Mom and Daddy. They were bewildered as to how a child could be
out there
without their parents. All the while Kara continued to cry. You struggled in my arms until I
finally
let you back on the ground. You marched right up to Kara and just stared at her. Then
things
became a little
too
weird
for us.
”

“What
became weird? What did I do?” He
wanted to hear the rest of
his
story.

David
finally spoke up
when
Jenny
became hesitant
.
“When you reached into her crib and touched Kara’s head
,
she stopped crying and looked at you. The truly weird thing
i
s what happened next
,
and I still can’t explain
what I saw
but my eyes didn’t lie
. As you rubbed Kara’s hea
d, with a gentleness I’ve never
seen
in a child
, your pure white hair began changing colors in the firelight. Soon you had the same sandy blonde hair color that Kara did.” He smiled at
Connor
weakly. “After Kara
finally
went to sleep I took you and Jenny to a stream to clean you up. The water was ice cold, but it didn’t phase you at all.
Most children would struggle or cry
from the frigid temperatures
yet
y
ou
only
stood there and
watched us like a predator stalking its prey. It was kind of strange for a child to be quiet and just watch
me with such intensity
.
It was a little unsettling, but you had an air of peace around you…

“When we got back to camp I wrapped you in one of my shirts. You quietly watched us as you sat on Jenny’s lap. It
’
s funny, I thought you were learning our language.”

“I was.” His
faded
blue
eyes bulged. “Before I elaborate
on that
further
,
I have just one more question to ask. How did I get my identity?”

“I got it for you.” Jenny
said weakly
and swallowed dryly
. “
There was a toddler around your age who had passed away. I used the hospitals computers to change a few things. You have his social security number, but I changed the birth date to the day I found you
and kept the birth year the same
. I also changed the name to Connor May and some other minor things to create your identity. I know I broke the law, but I was more afraid of losing you to the system.” Her eyes hardened as she said “I swore I would be your mom even if we didn’t share blood. Kara didn’t fuss at the adjustment to her life because you became the protective big brother all
little
girls dream of having.”

Connor
sighed
, hung his head
and Sarah rubbed
his back slowly. “Thank you.” He
looked at them and said “Thank you for telling me the truth. I know it was hard after all these years of trying to protect me.”
He
smiled
genuinely
and
then
saw them visi
bly begin to relax. The heavy burden has been lifted
after all these years. He
looked at Sara
h
and said “Now that they told the truth so can we.”

Sarah nodded and smiled. “I agree.” Sarah
turned her head and looked at his
family. Her voice turned calm and velvety and her facial features showed her beauty
and age
. “I know what you’ll learn today will be a lot to take in, but I hope you can handle it.”
His
family had become entranced and listened to her every word. “What you will all learn today cannot be told to anyone else. I know you three can keep a secret because Connor is right here. Unfortunately I still need your word that what you learn
here
will not be uttered to another.”

David
puffed his chest and said “You have our word.” That was good enough if all three
of them
had said it.
“Now will you two knock out the suspense and tell us what’s on your minds.”

Sarah looked back at
him
with a smile and said “It’s your show.”

Connor smiled back and turned to his
family. “In your world you think humans are the most powerful species on the planet, but that is a huge misunderstanding. In fact there are three races of immortals alive today. They are the Keep
ers, Changers and Balancers.” His
family’s had disbelief written on their faces. So
h
e
knew that they needed a demonstration. “Sarah, will you tell them about yourself and give them a small demonstration?”

“Certainly.” Sh
e sat up straighter and looked his
family in their eyes. “Jenny, when I called you a Child I meant that compared to me you really are just a young child.
I’m not twenty three.
I’m older than you and your parents put together.
”
His m
om’s eyes widened. “In fact I am over three hundred years old
.” She smiled at his
grandparents. “In fact the two of you should call me Grandma since I’ve lived
over
four of your lifetimes.”

“You can’t honestly be serious, Sarah.”
Rhoda
said in an exasperated
tone
.

“It is the honest truth. I am a child of one of the immortal classes, Rhoda. I am a Balancer. There are many aspects of us, but I’ll give you some of the basics. First off all Balancers are born female and require mates to help them balance their power. Connor knew about me for a long time before we
finally
became mates. Balancers have many
supernatural
abilities, but what you need to understand is that we can manipulate
the elemen
ts. This is the element Fire.” Connor
felt Sarah’s power growing as she raised her right hand and her palm raised up. She collected the surrounding heat from the air and pulled it to her hand. The heat focused and ignited into an orange fireball.

The May
family gasped and fell backwards from the suddenness. It took them a minute to regroup themselves, but their eyes remained focused on Sarah’s flame.
She continued saying “We can read minds, see everything around us and many more things.” She grinned.

David
was the first to move forward
,
to get a better look at
what she held and controlled
. He crawled on his hands and knees. He studied her hand and the flame. He said in an inquisitive voice “I don’t
see any fuel. How are you sustaining
that fire?”

Sarah closed her fingers and stopped her flow of energy. The flame extinguished. “I used my
stored
energy to fuel the fire and once I stoppe
d using my energy the flame dies
. Most Balancers
can only use one element, but Connor and I are a
little
different.” She looked into
David
’s eyes and said “Now that you know we aren’t lying
,
I’ll let Connor finish the story.”

David
and the others went back to sitting like before, but this time they were ready to hear the truth. “We lied to you when we said we went to South America for a vacation. We actually went to an immortals gathering called the Mélange. We left so we could find why Sarah and I were so different. You see unlike other Balancers Sarah and I can control the five elements. The five elements are Metal, Terra, Pressure, Fire and Liquid. My armlet is the symbol for the five elements and
is
the banner for the Balancers.”
Connor
twisted so they could see the engraving more easily. “Also we have abilities that others
of our kind
can only dream about
.”

He
took a deep breath and said “You see while we were there we learned why we were so different. It was actually because of me.”
Connor
looked directly at
his
mom and she looked back. “When you found me you said the ground and trees shook and the air vibrated. That was actu
ally me entering the world.” Jenny
’s jaw dropped slightly. “The thing is, Mom, I am not entirely human. All those weird and strange things you’ve seen me do is proof that I’m not human. When my hair changed color, I mimicked Kara so that it would be harder for you to let me go. It was my survival instinct to find a protective parent so that I could grow to maturity. Or that time I slammed on the breaks just before that semi-truck almost slammed into us.”

He
grabbed
his
shirt and slid it off.
Sarah took it
off his
hands and laid it on her legs. Connor
pointed to
the seared
tattoo. “When I got this we all wondered how the crossbeam fell. Actually it was my real mother’s fault.
You all
know
that
most healthy adults would have died with my kind of injury, but why did a
young
teen
ager
survive?”

“Connor, what do you mean
your
mother did it?”
David
asked. “At the time it was only you and me in the forge. You pushed me out of the way just in time, but you didn’t
get out of the way
.”

Connor
patted the grass in front of
him
. “What you need to understand is that I’m the
biological
son of the Hallowed Mother
and she tested me
.
By pushing you away I proved myself worthy to her.
Granddaddy
, the being
you have always called Mother Nature
,
s
he is real.” His eyes widened and his mouth became an O. “I’m living proof that she is real. This mark on my chest is the brand she gives to all of her children. I am her sixth child. We children are the strongest creatures on the earth. I am known as a Harmonizer
.”

“Harmonizer? Connor what exactly is a Harmonizer?”
H
is m
om asked in a quivering voice.

“The simplest way I can explain it is that I’m a guardian for the planet. Do you remember when I was in the hospital and removed everyone in the way
to go outside and rest in that old oak
?”

“Who could forget that? You fought full grown adults like newborn children. All you wanted was to get outside.”

He
raised
his
hand and she stopped talking. “Mom, you’ve got it wrong. There was more to it than that. As a Harmonizer
,
I need to be close to nature. If I’m gone for too long I become edgy and even more dangerous than normal. If I didn’t get in that tree I would have killed everyone in my path to get outside.”

“You
can’t be serious?” David
said
thickly
.

“He is.” Sarah said
,
backing him
up. “I saw a wild look in his eyes after a week of not seeing any trees or grass. Even his brother was surprised that he didn’t fight his way out.”

“You have a brother?” Jenny
asked.

“Woops.” Sarah’s hand came up to her mouth. She looked up at
him
and said
apologetically
“Sorry… Too soon?”

“It’s alright, Princess.” He
said while rubbing her back.
Connor
said to
his m
om “Yes, I have a brother. His name is Sorono a
nd you’ll meet him very soon.” H
e
cleared his
throat. “Before Sarah and I became mates we didn’t know what I was at the time. I would have still gotten my powers, but it would have taken me about a hundred years to gain my full abilities.”
Rhoda’s lips began to move, but he
knew what her next question was. “Yes I would have been immortal by myself
,
even if Sarah and I had never met.
Now before you start asking questions would you like to meet Sarah’s parents?”