by Lee Morgan
“Then how did you…” Jenny then shifted her eyes to Mark. “Was this your doing? How old are you then?”
“Yes it was my doing and I am actually just over nine hundred.” He said calmly and Jenny shook her head. He then continued. “I didn’t force her to become like this. It was her decision to become like me.” Connor was glad he didn’t explain how it was done or what happened during Kara’s transformation.
Rhoda took a step forward and asked “What is a Changer exactly?”
Kara smiled and said “Changers can manipulate their bodies into pretty much whatever we need. That is why I’m wearing this?” Kara did a quick pirouette to show her leather gear. “Allow me to show you what I can do…” She stopped and warned everyone in a shy voice “This will really freak you out. I hope after this you will still treat me the same.”
Before they could comfort her, Kara’s pupils began to glow. Jenny and her parents stopped breathing. Then they heard the bones inside Kara’s body fracturing. Connor and the others have seen her transformations many times so he watched his family’s facial reactions. All of their features became astonished and awed. Once the internal sounds ended fifteen seconds later Connor turned to see his sister standing in her wolf form. Kara stood taller than normal and completely covered in sandy blonde fur. Her hands and feet were now claws and her bulky head resembled nearly every aspect of a wolf. Her barreled chest and breasts were covered by her leather top. Her teeth were hidden behind her lip flaps and her slit eyes peered down at everyone. Her voice became animalistic yet still feminine when she began to speak. “I know this is frightening to see for the first time, but it still is me in here.” She touched her left claw to the top of her breast. “I chose this life because I loved Mark and wanted to be with him forever. The only way for us to be together was for me to become like him.”
Suddenly Jenny burst into laughter and startled all of them. “Kara, Kara, Kara.” Jenny shook her head and laughed again. They worried that she was having a mental meltdown. “You’ve always been like a hyperactive puppy and here you are now looking like one.” She laughed again and said “Come over here. I want to feel your ears.” Kara grinned and obliged. She dropped to all fours and walked up to her mom. Jenny giggled once she rubbed Kara’s pointy ears. “They feel like the real thing… Wow your fur is so soft… like silk…”
“Thanks Mom. I’m glad you’re taking so well.” Kara peered around to look at her silent grandparents. “What do you think of all this?”
David and Rhoda looked at each other and began laughing. She said “Sweetie, you learn something new every day.” She smiled at Kara who just sat on her haunches. “You know I’ve always believed in the strange and unexplainable, but I never could have imagined seeing it firsthand. What’s more is that my grandchildren are part of that world… Kara, I’m shocked, but I’m still your grandma and that will never change.”
Kara’s playful side kicked into overdrive as she got up and walked on her back legs to her grandma. Then Kara licked her grandma’s entire left cheek with one sloppy kiss. Then everyone laughed, including Connor.
Once things settled back down Connor looked at his grandfather and grabbed his attention. “Speaking of the supernatural I have a question for you. What is your favorite mythical creature, Granddaddy?”
He crossed his arms and said “You already know full well my favorite mythical creatures are the dragons.”
“Well actually there called Keepers and they aren’t myths.” His eyes widened and a grin spread across his face. His arms uncrossed and he became excited. “Would you like to meet them?”
“Really? You’re not yanking my chain are you?”
“Sorono? Veronica? It is time for you to finally meet the family.”
Connor turned around as did everyone else to see Sorono and Veronica walking out of the woods. They walked side by side looking tall and proud. Sorono walked with his hands behind his back and Veronica still had her egg on the curve of her left arm. David said in awe “No way… I can’t believe I get to see living dragons… wow…”
The look on his face was all worth the work and planning for this day.
They were soon standing next to everyone and the whole family was openly gawking at them. Connor started the introductions. “Mom, you said you heard something big out in the woods when you found me. Well this is who you heard. This is Sorono the Head Elder of the immortals. He is also the oldest living immortal. He is over sixty million years old and also he is the brother I spoke of.”
Sorono knelt on one knee and offered his index finger as an offering to Connor’s mother first. “It is an honor meeting my little brother’s surrogate parents. I was correct in leaving him with you all those years ago. You have raised him to be a force for good and balance.”
While Jenny cautiously shook the finger she asked “Are you really Connor’s brother? You look nothing alike.”
Sorono grinned, showing his large and sharp teeth, but she took it as a threat and ran behind the tree. “What is the matter child? I was only smiling.” Jenny slowly moved from behind the tree timidly. “That’s better. Now I know that my brother and I look nothing alike, but the Hallowed Mother branded me as well.” Sorono stood and shrugged his robe off so they could see his mark which was identical to Connor’s except his brand was on his back. “As you can see, we share the same fate.”
Connor jumped in and said “This is my close friend, Veronica. She and Sorono are mates and she is over eight hundred thousand years old.”
Veronica bowed slightly and his parental figures returned the gesture.
Once all the introduction were over, Sarah’s three in-laws began to slowly relax throughout the day. It was getting late it the evening, but the excitement remained electric. David sat close to Sorono and Veronica for the most part and kept asking questions about all the history they’ve seen. Kara and Mark sat close to Jenny and Rhoda. Jenny absently rubbed Kara’s fur and they kept asking questions. Connor and her parents sat off to the side with Sarah. They all watched with curiosity of how normal humans can interact with immortals without hostility.
Connor eventually said “Everything is actually working out. Fate isn’t always a cruel mistress. Just look, Mom and Grandma are having a normal conversation, like Kara still looked human. And my Granddaddy” Connor grinned. “is having the time of his life. He isn’t the least bit phased that Sorono is speaking telepathically. It all seems so natural for some reason.”
Sarah placed her hand on his now clothed back. “It only works because of you. You have a knack, like I said, for making things work out.”
He shook his head slowly while still watching everyone’s interaction. “It’s not that. Some people are open-minded and can adapt to new things, but some people don’t like the supernatural and think of it like a blight. Kind of like Mathew and his father; they couldn’t accept that someone was better than them and they fought against us.” He sighed. “Ok, enough of that pity talk,” Connor stood up and everyone quit talking to look at him. “Alright before we wrap this up… Kara how about you show us what you made?”
Her ears perked. “Oh right.” She pushed herself up on her back legs. She walked over and retrieved her pack. She opened it and pulled out the first painting.
They all got up and formed a line, per her instructions. They all stood in a semicircle and shoulder to shoulder. She turned the painting around to reveal their contents. “This painting is for Jillian and Jack. I captured your paintings from the baseball game.” It was Jillian in motion, swinging the oversized Keeper bat and Jack in the dark corner catching the ball with his fire whip. They walked up together and accepted the painting with grins.
Kara took out another and said “This is for you Mom. I thought you would like a picture of all of us together. I had a little fun with it though.” It was a beautiful picture with Sarah, Jillian, Jenny, Rhoda and Kara all on one side. Kara was flying on the end in her Fwen form. Jillian had two large balls of blue and white water abo
ve her running hands. Sarah had fire in her hands and Jenny held a huge, two handed syringe. Rhoda charged with a large wooden spoon. On the right side ran Connor, Jack, David, and Mark. Mark too was in his dark Fwen form and flying. Jack held a flaming Haunt and David held a large war-hammer in his hand. Connor held Tool in one hand and water in the other. Kara finished her explanation by saying “This is the conflict imaging and battles between men and women.”
Jenny walked up and laughed. She asked “Why does Mom have a spoon?”
“To hit Granddaddy with it,” Rhoda began to laugh.
The next painting was a flat representation of the timeline painting that Sorono told the story of the Hallowed Mother and Harmonizers. “This is for you Grandma and Granddaddy. I will tell you the story later, but it’s about the Harmonizers, like Brother.” They took it gratefully.
There was only one last painting in her pack. She pulled it out, but hid it behind her back. “Sarah, this is a painting for you and Brother. Don’t worry I left my personal painting at the apartment and you can come over any time. I call your painting Balanced Harmonizers!” She pulled the painting to her front.
Her painting was of Connor and herself. It was a picture of them dancing. It is a picture of her in the Wood Nymph costume and Connor in his Pan outfit. They were dancing in the air along with Sorono and Veronica in the background. It was a truly beautiful work of art. Sarah walked forward and barely touched her painted hair. It was slightly tacky. She looked up into Kara’s silver eyes and asked “When did you make this? We danced only yesterday morning.”
She smiled with her sharp canines. “Right when you all left I began working on it all night. I had to use my hairdryer to set the paint for travel, I hoped it would be fully dry by now, but alas it isn’t. Your aerial dance was so beautiful I just had to capture it like this. How did I do?”
“Can I hold it?” Kara handed it to her and Sarah walked over and handed it to Connor. She walked back and gave Kara a hug. “It is priceless and I’ll cherish it always.”
“Did Kara just say you can fly?” Sarah turned around to look at Jenny. She nodded and then Jenny asked “Can you show me?”
Connor jumped in saying “Before that, I have a surprise for you and Grandma and Granddaddy.” He walked over and gently sat their exquisite painting next to a tree.
“What do you got for us, son?” David asked once Connor walked up behind Sarah and rested his hands on her shoulders.
Her face flared once she remembered the last of his plan. He spoke confidently and said “Do you remember that gag gift you got me when you got the materials for my house?” She looked down at her suddenly important feet. “Well let’s just say I threw them out.”
“You mean…” David’s tone became happily excited. “Sarah? Are you going to make me a great-grandfather?”
“Sarah, are you pregnant?” Rhoda asked with a similar excitement. She looked up at her and smiled while biting her lip. Rhoda squealed like a little girl and ran over to give her a hug. Rhoda then dropped to her knees and lifted her shirt up a little bit. “How far along are you, Sweetie? You’re barely even showing.”
Sarah said quietly “I’m about seven months or so. Our children take longer to come into the world. You’ll get to meet your great-granddaughter in about another year. Her name will be Pearl May.”
Rhoda rose back up and gave her another hug. Jenny was just as excited and kissed the tiny bump. David gave Sarah a nice fatherly hug and he slugged Connor on the arm.
Connor said “We’ll call this a day. I need to get home because I have many things to do.”
“Before you go,” Sorono interrupted. “I wanted to say it was a pleasure meeting everyone, but I must be off to my home as well. When I get a break I’ll come back to visit.”
“As will I,” Veronica smiled. “Oh Sarah, don’t forget we need to set up some play dates when our children finally arrive.”
Sarah waived and said “I won’t forget and have a safe flight home.”
“Wait, before you go.” Connor called for his brother’s attention and got it. “Where are you going? How will I be able to find you?”
Sorono looked down at Connor and smiled. “We are going to my home. You have enough to worry about, but when you need me, you’ll have the skills to search me out. You will be able to see me anytime once you figure it out.”
The Keepers gathered their powers and took off into the sky. David laughed and whispered under his breath. He was like a child who received the best gift.
Kara said “Mom would you like to ride me and Grandma and Granddaddy can hitch a ride with Mark?
“I can ride you?” Kara’s eyes lit up and her hair began fusing into a sleek armor. Once she finished and looked streamlined did Mark transform himself and his fur fused as well.
“Hop on Mom. Hold my hair like a leash and you won’t fall.” As Jenny slowly threw her leg over Kara, her parents hopped onto Mark’s sturdy back. Once they became situated on their rides Connor and Sarah walked a few steps back. Jack held Jenny and Rhoda’s paintings while Jillian carried hers.
Sarah said “Goodnight everyone. We’ll see you in the morning.”
She brought her power forth and began lifting in the air and Connor adjusted their painting under his arm. He too began rising with her. Jenny and her parents smiled at them as they realized they really could actually fly. Kara and everyone began heading into the forest while Connor and Sarah flew home.
That night once they went to bed Sarah didn’t feel an ounce of stress on her as she cuddled next to her mate and her daughter was slowly and safely growing inside of her. Everything had turned out perfectly all thanks to finally finding her one true love; Connor.
This was Sarah’s happily ever after, but it isn’t over…
Be sure to download the conclusion to the Balancer cycle in
Harmonizer’s Evolution
Where the world will change forever.
Contact me:
http://facebook.com/h.leemorgan
Balancer’s Cycle:
Balancer’s Soul
Changer’s Blood
Keeper’s knowledge
Harmonizers Evolution
Item Trilogy (Coming in fall of 2012)
Untamed Gift
Furion’s Trials
Ra’van
