Harmonizer's Evolution (Balancer's Soul cycle) (56 page)

He offered
a boyish grin. “I’m well Mrs. May. Is there anything I may
be able to
help you with
?”

“Actually yes there is. Can you see if Deputy… I mean Sheriff Burrow’s can speak with us. My husband and I need to speak with him for a few minutes.”

Charles’s eyes lifted from
hers
to Connor’s and he shrunk back
into the chair
unintentionally. Then Charles cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about that Mr. Connor. Sometimes you look more dangerous than some of the
inhospitable
people whom live around here.”
She
caught
her
mate smile for a moment and then Charles said “Alright
,
give me a moment. I’ll go and see if the Sheriff is available.”

Charles stood from his desk and walked in the back of the establishment. It took him about ten minutes for him to finally r
eturn. By that time Connor and Sarah
moved to sit down in the waiting area. He said “The Sheriff said he can spare about fifteen minutes right now. You can go right on ahead.”

They stood and
made
their
way to the back
of the building
. The new Sheriff gained a corner office
that had solid glass for its
three walls. To cover the walls he used shades that could be spu
n to offer privacy. Right now they
could see in the office and
their family
friend saw
them
approach. Sheriff Burrow stoo
d from his large desk and met them
at the door. He swung it in and was
already
smiling, like always. “Come on in, kids. What do I owe
for
this unexpected surprise?”

Sarah
spoke lightly “We just need to speak to you.”

Once
they
were inside
,
the
human friend closed the door behind
them
.
They
each sat down in one of the two comfortable leather chairs. Then the new Sher
iff came over and sat behind his
desk. His dark skin was still showing the crinkled smile of a
middle aged and
playful man. “So is there a problem that you need my
expertise
? Is this like a legal question or is there something disturbing you?”

She
leaned forward and tried to speak pleasantly. “Actually, there is something going on and we think we could benefit
,
having you watch our backs.” The
Sheriff
remained smiling while his dark eyes remained relaxed on
hers
. “You see, there might be
more
reports and disturbances coming in
here
within the near future
that might be a little more than this office can handle
. Very soon, there are going to be
a great
many people approaching the town
for a time
.”

He leaned back in his chair and spoke. “Are any of these people unsavory?”

She
nodded. “Some of them can be. But
I must reiterate that
you aren’t equipped to handle them.” The Sherriff’s eyes narrowed. “What you need to understand is that we need you to let
us
handle things
,
if you have a situation with someone new to the town
, that’s being disruptive
.”

“Who is,
us
?” he asked calmly.

She shook her
head and glanced at Connor.
H
e was
looking calmly at his friend while allowing
her
to take the lead. This wouldn’t be easy, but
she
did ask for this.
She returned her
gaze on
their
friend and continued speaking evenly “Before any more explanations can be given I’ll need you to take the rest of the day off and come with us.” The Sheriff’s eyes widened and his composure broke for a moment. Before he could open his mouth
she
continued. “
You will have many questions today, but we are going to trust you with our very lives. The least you can do is to come with us and hear everything that we have to say. Will you keep our trust and follow us for today. Tomorrow you can do as you’d like.”

The office w
ent
silent for the next five minutes as the officer of the law weighed the
heavy
decisions
in
peace
. Finally he looked between
them
and asked “Are things going to get very serious around here?”

She
shook
her
head and
grimly
declared
“It will get
very
serious
everywhere
!”

He took a deep breath
and sighed through his nose,
met
her
stare and said “If it is truly that important to you, I’ll come with you
and deal with the consequences some time later down the road
.”

Finally Connor spoke. “You’ll ride in my truck
and we’ll also go retrieve the
misses.”

Sheriff Burrow
finally
grinned again. “I’ve been dying to ride in that
giant
green monster
again
!”

Before they
left together
,
the Sheriff locked his door and told Charles that he was leaving for today. He would put everything on his schedule for tomorrow.

In a few minutes they
made it to his home and Mrs. Burrow almost leapt into the
cab
. She looks absolutely delighted to leave the house for awhile and to have some time hanging out with
the May
family
again
.

As
they
pulled into
her
parents dr
iveway Mrs. Burrow sat behind Sarah
and said “This really is a great change of pace.
So why are you and Connor being so secretive all of a sudden?”
She
turned around to see her smiling like her husband
.

“All I’m going to say is that after today you’ll never see the world in the same way again. Now hold the rest of your quest
ions until we get to my home.” Sarah
smiled back at her playfully.

Mrs. Burrow almost squealed like a little girl. “Oh I love all this cloak and dagger stuff. And I cannot wait to see Darrel and Pearl
again
too
.”

Connor and Sarah
glanced at each other and smiled in foresight
. He smiled and spoke with his mind.
“We’ll see if they will see our children
in the same light after today. How do think they’ll handle things?”

She
shot
her
mate a wry smile.
“Since our children take after me, nothing bad will happen. We’ll need to keep them from fighting for more than two seconds.”

“Good luck with that!”

The four of them
exited the vehicle and began walking through the woods.
They
h
e
ld hand
s
continually because
they
love closeness. Mrs. Burrow noticed this and moved over to her husband and held his hand. They looked at each other with excitement, but
Sarah’s
worry was what would be
coming
next. Would they shun
them
or even come to hate or would they actually become closer
?
Soon ever
ything would be revealed and the
friendship would be put to the ultimate test.

As
they reached the cottage
,
Sarah
noticed that everyone had eit
her gone inside or was hidden. She
searched the backside of the house for any dead giveaways and found one. Behind an oak tree wa
tched
a single golden eye
,
peering excitedly towards them
. The eye didn’t remain there for very long as a large clawed hand appeared to Shannon’s side and ushered her into being completely hidden behind the tree. Now everything looked normal.

They
continued walking and knowing about
Connor
remaining
in
her
mind
she
asked
“Connor, what about the footprints from our visiting
friends
?”

He looked around
the
yard
,
after raising his power and without
alerting
the Burrow’s suspicion
to
conclude
“Everything looks to be in order. Clarein seems to
have
had just enough power to cover up everyone’s tracks.
”

As they
approached the cottage
,
there
came
the joyous sound of
laughter. 
Jillian
and Rhoda were laughing almost hysterically. Mrs. Burrow grinned and said “Sounds to me like there is a party
going on
inside.”

Connor opened the front door and inside they brought out one of
Jillian
’s games from her house. The dining room table
had been
moved back so that there was enough room. They were playing Twister.
Jillian
and Rhoda were
currently
on the board and looked almost like a
contorted
pretzel. David was sitting on the couch with Darrel and Pearl in their car seats
,
on the floor
and
looking at the excitement. Kara was to the side and flick
ed
the
arrowed
spinner. She yelled “Grandma, left hand red!”

Sarah
stepped inside after Connor and said “
What are you
guys
doing?”

Apparently
her
voice broke Rhoda’s concentration. She
buckled and crashed into Jillian
. In everyone’s face was a
round,
yellow spandex bottom.

Then everyone
started
laughing.

When
Jillian
and Rhoda finally untangled themselves, Kara stood up, grinned and said “We became a little board while waiting for you to come back. So Jillian ran home and brought this game over for us to pass the time.”

Mrs. Burrow walked around her chuckling husband
and asked “May I join the next game? I haven’t played this in years.”

Sarah
turned to her and smiled. “Sure you may, but we do have things to discuss
first
.” She conceded with a playful smile.

Soon they
all managed to fit inside and Connor brought out all of the chairs for everyone to find a place to sit. Rhoda picked up the plastic mat and moved it over and out of the way.
Now
they
were all sitting inside the front of the house while in a circle. Darrel and Pearl remained in their seats, but they sat in front of
their mommy
,
while
her
feet rocked them back and forth. The two Burrow
’
s sat across from Connor and
her
self. To
the
left sat
Jillian
, Rhoda and David. To
the
right sat Connor and his sister.

Sheriff Burrow started the conversation when everything became eerily silent and awkward. “So what is this big secret that has pulled me from work?”

Everyone glanced at Connor and he glanced at
her
.
She shook her
head.

Her
powerful mate leaned forward and sat his predatory eyes on his friends. His tone was calm and remarkably comforting. “Deputy Burrow,” The sheriff only smiled
knowingly
. “in this world there is the food chain. Who do you think is at the top of the food chain?”