Page 41 of Keeper of All

“It still looks like Chinese to me.”

Ekon shook his head. “I don’t know what language it is. I just see the words in my mind.” He leaned over the pages and read.

They came again today, each time they brought more files. Only this time with them was a creature that wasn’t what it presented to the world. Its face is deceit and death. He has stolen magic from a sea creature I can scent it. Feel its power. This one is more dangerous than the others who seek its approval. I fear for the first time. No good can come from this person taking control of shifters.

“Do you think that’s Andromeda it is writing about?” Mao’s voice took a few seconds to register and a few more to hear the question when the pages sucked him into the mind of the fae.

Ekon rubbed at his eyebrow pressing above it when he felt it twitch. “He was a changeling. It killed the Thalassas parents and used the magic they possessed for many centuries. That’s what we discovered when we helped the brothers with the council issues. I’d say it’s undisputable with what we know. Kelvin picked up its scent among others in the bunker.”

Mao eyed the journal. “He knew what they were doing…” He glanced at Ekon, concern etched there for him to see. “Why didn’t he try to stop it? Tell someone?”

“Who would he have told? The changeling had total control.” He tapped the page, his eyes glowing. “He was frightened and didn’t have the magic to challenge.”

“Your eyes are glowing.”

Mao was staring, and Ekon reached up to touch his eye. “Glowing?”

“Yep, when you spoke about his fear, your eyes changed.” He was tampering down his thoughts, except their bond was strong enough for Ekon to pick up the anxiety at what this all meant.

“I know it’s within me. Maybe it’s trying to explain through me why it felt…” Ekon reached for the right word. “Powerless. He was alone, carrying the burden of pain because they stole a part of him, first off, then left him for dead. He survived, hunted them down, and found the records. He waited a long time to find my file… centuries. What must he have made of the failed experiment part? And that leads him and me to the same question: if they had taken his essence to use for so long… why pick me? Why use me as a vessel for it and was that what they thought was a failure?”

Mao nodded slowly, rubbing a finger over his bottom lip. “There has to be something special about you that the scientists missed.” His face split into a wide grin. “Then I already know that.”

Chuckling at how corny his mate was being, Ekon glanced back down and continued to read, though there was little more to give them any clues. It captured his despair at how many children died. The bond he formed with the dead souls to protect them in the afterlife. This was prevalent through the remaining part of the journal. When he finally read the last page, Ekon’s temples pounded and his eyes were blurry with tears.

So much pain, how did one person carry it?

With care, came the whispered response.

“Did you hear that?” Ekon swiped at his eyes to bring Mao into focus. He had tears tracking down his ashen cheeks.

“Yes. I feel his pain… your pain.” Mao scrubbed at his face. “We need to figure out how to help ease it—”

“Before it consumes me,” he finished Mao’s thought and offered a gentle smile to remove any sting of the truth. “I’ve seen what the krakens can do, let’s focus on that.”

It was easier said than done with how he felt, but after the steward brought them a meal, Ekon chose to go and lie down. He needed some time to process and run through everything he knew. Because he had a niggling thought when he’d finished reading that the answer was… the burden of souls. He just wasn’t sure what that meant.

He was unaware of when he’d drifted off to sleep, but he must have when Mao appeared over him and woke him by softly stroking his cheek. “Hey sleepy head, we’ve landed.”

He sat up groggily and wiped the sleep from his eyes, peering out the window into darkness. “Shouldn’t you have woken me before we landed?” Ekon glanced beyond Mao’s shoulder looking for the steward.

“Yep, but you were sleeping so peacefully I told him I’d take responsibility if something happened.”

Ekon grinned widely at the thought that flittered through his head. “You threatened to castrate him, didn’t you?”

He looked cagey as shoulder’s rose and fell. “I’m not saying I did that.”

Ekon tapped him on the end of his nose. “You’re also not saying you didn’t.” He shook his head. “Come on, let's see who came to collect us so we can go find the answers.”

Hopefully.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Mao

Mao had never met a kraken, but if he had to imagine what one would look like on land in their human form, he would have envisaged somebody big, strong, commanding, and someone that carried the scent of the sea with them.

Krakens were extremely old. At least, from what he’d heard, and creatures like that his cat could respect and sense the wisdom that came with the ages. Something, again, he expected to feel in at least one of the two men who were waiting for them when they stepped off the plane.