by Ashlyn Ross
Eccentric Rise of a Keeper
League Files from the Keeper Library
by Ashlyn Ross
Eccentric Rise of a Keeper
League Files from the Keeper Library
by Ashlyn Ross
Copyright © Ashlyn Ross, 2014
ISBN: 9781310022739
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Cover Art by Ashlyn Ross
For my husband and daughter.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Rebecca Green Gasper for all the help and encouragement that she has given me. You will never understand how much you have helped me. My husband for helping through the editing and telling me to follow my dreams.
We have all heard the term that the winners write the history, which was usually because there was no one left to contradict the facts. Only when you’re a Keeper, you can change the past, since you can go back in time just by reading a newspaper article, why not?
He sat in a window seat reading the morning paper, just as he had done for years. Looking to see if anything struck him, almost pulling him in. Today it didn't seem anything was calling. Last week, he saved a bus full of young children who should have died in a horrible car crash. Now nothing.
What was the point of being able to change things if there wasn't anything that needed to be changed? The problem being it was a small town – a very small town. The paper that he held in his hands was only two pages long since there wasn’t much news to report. It mostly consisted of announcements about flowers or who had just won the town prize for best lawn.
Frustrated, he finally put the paper down and looked out his window. He saw the school children running to catch the bus. Seeing his neighbor Alec Wilks run across his front yard nearly dropping his history book, gave him an idea. He got up, went to his car, and drove over to the library.
“Hello, Scott,” said the elderly librarian from behind the front desk as he walked through the front door.
“Hey there, Mrs. Sterling. I’m just going to look around,” he said, going past her towards the stacks.
“Sure, holler if you need anything,” she said, having already turned back to her reading.
“Will do.” He tried not to run as he made his way to the history section.
Once there, he wasn’t sure where to begin. There was so much that he that wanted to be a part of and also change. He scanned the shelves, trying to think of how far back in time he wanted to go. There were so many great moments in history.
Scanning the shelves, he decided to first look in the ancient history section. Just as he reached out his hand to look at a book on Roman history, someone grabbed his wrist. He looked up to see a strange young woman with shoulder length brown hair and green eyes staring at him.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she said. She didn’t looked much older than 18 and had a very stern look on her face.
“Why don’t you mind your own business and leave me to mine?” Scott pulled his hand away from her's.
“Alright, but remember they used to crucify people back then and it wasn’t through the hands that they nailed you. It was right below the wrist joints. ” She lifted her hand and pointed to where she meant. “So don’t just pop in wherever you feel like it.” She turned and walked to one of the tables near the back of the library.
Scott just stared after her. How had she known what he was about to do? Was she like him? He thought he knew everyone in town and yet she was unknown to him. He let his hand drop away from the book and followed her.
“How did you know?” he said, trying not to raise his voice.
She sat down at a table which already had a notebook and pen on it. “I’m like you, only… well hasn’t anyone come to talk to you yet?”
“Wait, there are more people who can do this?” Stunned, Scott sat down slowly across from her.
“Yeah, I will take that as a no… Alright what have you figured out on your own?” She opened the notebook and readied a pen, looking at him expectantly.
“Well, I’ve been trying to help out by reading the local paper every morning. When I figured out what I am able to do, I um… stopped a bank robbery and saved a bus of kids,” he said a little sheepishly, but also with a touch of pride.
“Shit. You’re not supposed to change anything. You can go and experience… You know, observe when it comes to reality, but not change things. You don’t know what kind of damage you can do by changing things. In fiction you can do what you want as it doesn’t change the book. You can play all you want, and once you leave, it reverts back to the original text.” After writing a few things down, she started tapping her pen on the table nervously.
“Who's to say that we can’t change things for the better?” He was becoming angry and it showed all over his face as it turned red.
“The League, that’s who. There are rules to this… kind of life. I’m shocked that I’m the first Keeper you’ve met so far,” she said matter of factly.
Scott rubbed the back of his neck a little nervously. “Well, yeah… and who might you be anyway?”
She blushed as she realized how rude she was being. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m Emily Segal. I was sent to check on all of old Michael's charges. You were his newest before he decided to become True Bound. We thought you were still dormant, and I was just to take a quick peek at you. Only I saw the way you came barging in here, heading straight for the history section like a man with a mission.”
“Well I thought that I could help out someone in the past, you know?” He ran his hand through his dirty-blonde hair again. “Why would we be able to this if it isn't to help others?”
“I understand that you want to be helpful, but you need to know you can’t be doing that. You have no way of knowing what it could actually cause.” She shook her head, put her pen down, and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Alright, here are some of the things that you need to know. First, you are what we call a Keeper. Which means you are an immortal who can go into any form of written media. You can go and explore your favorite fiction book as much as you would like, but when it comes to nonfiction you need to be careful because you can actually change time and events. Even small things can make a big effect, like a pebble thrown into a body of water and the ripples it causes,” Emily paused, waiting to see if he understood.
“So I shouldn’t have saved that bus load of kids? That just doesn’t seem right. They’re just kids who haven’t even had a chance in this world.” He crossed his arms and leaned away from her and the table as if in disgust.
“I know it’s hard, especially when kids are involved. Only the effects can be severe.”
“How would you know what changed and the effect of either outcome?
”
“That’s why we have Time Jumpers to check what kind of changes that you caused with both of the events that you went to. We didn’t expect that you had discovered what you were — a Keeper – until later. That’s what usually happens.” A tall lean man wearing jeans and a white shirt was standing next to them. He seemed to appear out of thin air, looking like he was coming straight off the set of Grease. His black hair was slicked back and the left sleeve of his shirt was rolled up around a pack of cigarettes. Though he looked about twenty something, his green eyes looked much older. Unfazed, Emily turned to him. “He has stopped a bank robbery and a bus full of kids who were supposed to die due to ice. Please check it out. If a fix is needed, let us know as soon as possible. Thanks, David.”
David nodded and left as quickly and soundlessly as he had appeared. The only sign that he had been there was a faint smell of whatever he used on his hair. Emily glanced over at Scott who had a strange look on his face.
“Scott, what’s wrong?” she said with concern.
“What do you mean by usually happens? There are ways that this...” he said as he waved his arms around, “is supposed to happen?”
Emily sighed. “Well since we are immortal, we want you to have a normal life. You know, to try and make it so that you
