part 2 of chpt 1

That afternoon Beth stood stretching to relieve her aching muscles as Colin brought in another box of beads.

“I can’t believe that we are selling out of these so fast. They are the hottest item here. Would you mind putting them on the display?” she headed for the door, “I will grab us some lunch. Oh, hi.”

Colin sat on the stool behind the counter. He opened the box and looked over the edge of the counter, which was chest high now, too see if anyone was in the store. No one was there. Kindred never used their gifts in front of earth humans, or ‘Cherra’ in the Kindred language. Using some Majik he sent the beads floating to the wooden tree stand display. Then he sent some dancing through the air to the stuffed wizard that stood in the far corner. They drooped over the pointed satin hat and around the satin-gloved fingers. The beads caught on the nylon-stitched face. Before he could move them, the beads adjusted themselves. Frowning he looked around the room but no one was there. Odd, maybe they just fell into place. He shrugged and sent more beads floating to the wizard, draping them over the wand he held. A couple of the strands slipped and fell off the emerald satin end of the wand, only to float back to the wand without his help. He heard a giggle. This time he stood and came around the counter.

A little girl was seated on a short stool, next to the counter. She stood quickly and moved closer to the door. She didn’t speak but looked straight at him. He felt a strong buzz as she sorted him. Her ability to read his mind was strong. He immediately raised a shield against her. She frowned at him and tried again to sort his mind. Colin felt the strength of her ‘Zihra.’ Kindred trained in advanced techniques usually exhibited this kind of power. Not in one so young.

‘Who are you?’ Colin, telepathed to her.

She didn’t answer, but stood there, her hand on the door. He repeated the question, this time out loud. There was a very strange feeling about her. He couldn’t decipher it.

The door opened and a woman in a very elaborate costume came in. “Chandra, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

‘Stop. Wait.’ He telepathed then tried to move to stop her, but he was paralyzed. Shocked,he sorted his body to reject whatever command she had put on his body.

‘Are you Charles?’ she asked, interrupting his self diagnosis.

‘No! How do you know about Charles?’ Colin was surprised by her question.

“Did you find anything in here you wanted to buy?” The woman at the door asked Chandra.

“No.” she answered as they moved though the door.

‘Charles killed my father.’ Was all he heard in his mind, as the door shut behind the two females.

They were gone. He was surprised that he was paralyzed. Regaining his senses, he neutralized the paralyzing command and moved around the counter. Immediately he found himself sprawled on the floor, beads rolling everywhere from the box that had been at his feet. It was a minute before he could catch his breath and get to the door, which opened in his face.

Two women blocked his way as they pushed past him into the shop.

“What a wonderful shop.” They both looked up and down the length of Colin, and a slow smile of appreciation spread across their faces. “Who might you be, my fine fellow?”

“Hey Darlin’ are you for sale?” one woman smiled and winked at him, her over stuffed bodice looked like it was ready to explode over the tight lacings.

“No.” He looked out the door to see if he could see which way the girl and woman had gone but he didn’t see either of them. He sent an urgent mental call to Beth to get back to the shop. Then he sent a soama from his mind, which, like sonar would sense anyone who had used Majik recently, and return a thin Majik trail he could follow.

There was no return signal from his soama, when Colin scanned the area, he could not detect the two women. They seemed to have left no Majick trace of themselves. They just disappeared. They must be very powerful Kindred to put up a barrier that even he could not break through.

“Are you going to show us around your shop? I didn’t expect to see a MAN in this shop.” The two women were like over stuffed pigeons, and cooed around him.

‘Beth, get back here NOW!’ he telepathed in desperation.

“Hey What’s up?” Beth hurried into the shop and before she could access the situation he was on the run.

“I’ll tell you later.” Was all she heard, as she saw him weaving through the crowd. As he headed toward the parameter, he sent out a Majik barrier to each of the exits. Anyone that was of Kindred blood that passed the barrier triggered a signal back to him.

He got to the outer edge of the fair grounds, where the employees and exhibitors parked, he saw no one that fit their discription. He couldn’t be that far behind them. He looked at each car that was passing out of the protected area. None had the woman and child he was looking for.

Maybe they hadn’t left the fair. Back on the grounds, he began a thorough search of the grounds and the shops. He knew this would take too long to do by himself.

‘Beth I need your help. I need you to bond with me to strengthen the soama and cover the whole area. She can’t have gone far. I need to find her.’

Beth heard the desperation in his voice and sorted his memory. The scene from the shop played in her mind. She sensed his feelings to this girl were strong and did as he asked. Connecting with him, they sent out a powerful soama and waited a few minutes but nothing came back.

‘Sorry.’ Beth offered. ‘She must have left.’

Colin stumbled, weary from the effort he had expended sending the soama, strong arms grasped him.

‘Easy’ the man holding him telepathed, Colin sorted the man holding him but there was no malice in his mind, only questions and fear.

Colin allowed the man to assist him to a bench along side a building. Seated, Colin looked at the tall, thickset man, dressed in an olive green tunic, a floppy velvet hat with a jaunty feather, and brown tights. Colin couldn’t help but smile, the man did not return it.

“You are like me.” The man spoke softly. “I felt a strong tingle from something and I held on to it, not allowing it to get away. I followed the trail it left and found you almost falling.”

Colin remembered the man had telepathed him. “Yes, I guess so.” With other things on his mind, he didn’t have the usual satisfaction of finding a fellow Kindred. Then realized the man said he had not allowed the soama to return.

The man sighed and dropped his arms at his side. “In all my 30 years, I have never met any others like me. There are more?”

Surprised Colin was quick to reassure him, “Yes, there are many of us. Are you alone here? Do you have family?”

“I have a mother and father, but they do not talk of this. They have always tried to hide what we are. I have wondered if there are others. Where are they? Do they live here in Minnesota?” a boyish excitement entered his voice.

“I don’t know. I am looking for a young girl that I talked to and her mother or grandmother, but she just disappeared.”

“That is possible?” The man’s eyes widened in amazement, and Colin realized he misunderstood him.

“Well, for some it is possible to become invisible. There are very few I know that have that gift. What I meant was they seemed to disappear as I cannot find them anywhere and they didn’t leave a trace.” Colin frowned remembering an earlier thought, “You said you didn’t allow the soama to return.” He waited for a response.

“Yes, I used to practice sending out a soama ball, catching it before it could return.” He grinned,” Like playing catch with yourself. I got pretty good at it.”

“Not bad, I guess I forgot about that. I did it as a kid too.” Now he wondered if the girl or woman had done the same thing. He should have remembered that detail. He was so used to using it on Cherra’s who couldn’t detect a soama, that he forgot that a Kindred detect it if felt.

“Wow! By the way, my name is Roger Carrington. I have a Sword shop here at the Fair. Can we get together? I want to hear more and meet others like me.”

“My cousin Beth has a shop here too. You can’t miss it as it is one of the few with a real fireplace.”

“Thomas the pottery man’s, shop. He had a stroke last year. This must be your first time here.” When Colin nodded he continued, “I know where the shop is. Is Beth like us?”

“Yes, she can tell you all you want to know about the Kindred population. I need to get back to my search.”

Colin watched Roger hurry off toward Beth’s shop. This should be interesting; Beth might even find the man handsome. He had a job to do and the conversation with Roger had set him back.

He began to search the fairgrounds again, in case they had some sort of shield against his soama.

Each shop or booth he sorted revealed no hidden Kindred.

“Hey, man who are you looking for? Maybe I can help” A man dressed in a security uniform stopped him.

Colin winked, “A pretty girl to take to the dance tonight. Got any suggestions?”

The officer looked at him and shook his head, “Just walk down this aisle to the wooden stage. The Auction man would love to have you for a item. I would bet there are a lot of women out here that would be willing to pay big bucks for a date. “ He started to move away then turned, “You wouldn’t consider being my date would you?”

Colin didn’t smile but firmly shook his head and moved away. When he was out of eyesight of the officer, he turned down a side path and continued his search.

It was all to no avail, and he returned to the shop, hot, tired and frustrated. Failure was not something that set well with him.

Beth’s shop was empty of customers when he opened the door. Beth and Roger sat behind the counter their heads together as they spoke in low tones. They both looked up as he entered.

He made it to the remaining unoccupied chair and sank into it. He was more mentally tired than physically, although his feet hurt.

“Did you see a girl in here when you left to get our lunch?” He questioned Beth after drinking half the water from the bottle she handed him.

“Yes, she came in as I was leaving, didn’t you see her?”

“No, she was sitting right on the little stool in front of the counter out of my sight. I was flinging, the beads on the wizard with Majik, and she began moving them, with Majik. What a surprise it was for me to see her. A woman came in and called her to leave. Beth, she paralyzed me, I couldn’t move. I ‘pathed her but just before she left she asked if I was Charles. Beth this little girl could only have been about 7 or 8. When I asked how she knew Charles,” Colin stood and paced the small area. “She said that Charles had killed her father.”

Beth’s head jerked toward Colin, “Do you think-?

“I don’t know. She might be the right age.”

Customers came in the shop and the conversation ended for the moment. Beth waited on them and returned to sit next to Roger when the shop was again empty.

“Who do you think she was, If I am not imposing.” Roger asked.

“It is a long story, but years ago Colin was asked to watch over the wife and child of a friend. The two disappeared and Colin never found them. He thought Charles might have located them and was holding them at his institute.”

“Who is Charles?”

“Roger that is a long story. Lets just say he is the Lex Luther to Superman.”

“Okay, but I love the superman comics and I have the entire collection, so I will want to hear about this Charles.”

Colin looked at Beth who gave him a brief nod. "Settle back my children and I will tell you a tale." Colin leaned back in his comfortable folding chair and grinned at Roger.

"Charles, is the son of two very advanced scientists. They were not Kindred, just way above average humans. They wrote books on the effects of space on earth. I guess that in the early years, Charles was a happy little boy, but on a camping trip Charles' parents met a family. A couple with a little boy who was just a few years younger than Charles. The problem was, this family was Kindred and they shared that fact with Charles' parents. Intrigued, they interrogated the couple and found that they had a book. This book is one of three that when read with the other two; tell the complete story of the Kindred and the secret to all their gifts. Not the secret of how to gain them, but how to enhance and use the gifts you have. The problem was that Charles' parents became obsessed with this Kindred family. They moved them into their house, hired special tutors for Charles and the boy. They ordered Charles to include the boy in everything he did. Charles was different, he pulled the wings off butterflys, he trapped and tortured animals then brought the meat to his parents. They thought he was a mighty killer. He was, he ended up killing his parents, and the young boy's parents. He kept the boy as his ward, drugged and experimented on him trying to figure a way to obtain the young boy's gifts. He used intimidation and pain to control the boy and use his gifts to obtain wealth. He purchased the scientific institute which he renamed the Institute for the Paranormal. He brings any person he suspects to be Kindred or a decendent and tests their abilities. He is looking for the other two books."

"Will he find them?" Roger asked.

"No. Moira has one and we don't know who has the other."

"What does this have to do with the little girl?' Beth asked this time.

"The little girl's name is Chandra." Beth's head jerked as she looked back at him.

"Chandra? Does that have some special meaning?" Roger spoke before Beth had a chance.

"In our language and history, Chandra means 'The Chosen.' We don't name our childen this name. It means she is being groomed to be one of the Few, someone didn't know what the name means, or she is none of the above."

"But she said Charles killed her father. There is some connection to the Kindred, she could telepath and she was able to stop you. That tells me that we are dealing with a very special little girl and we need to find her before Charles does."

"How does Charles know about her?" Roger looked back and forth between Beth and Colin, confused.

"I don't know that he does, but I want to find her first and get her to safety, she may be in danger or her parents are.” Colin leaned forward.

“You’re right of course. Finding her in the Renaissance Fair would be virtually impossible. It would be like finding the proverbial ‘needle in the haystack.” Roger added.

“Your parents never talk about the Kindred history?” Colin turned to Roger.

“Not unless I drag it out of them. They act as if we are from earth and there is nothing about us to make us any different. They have a earth based genealogy, of course they say they are both only children and so on. I have almost no knowledge of my culture or history.” His voice pleaded to be included.

“It would take too long to teach you everything. The Chosen One or Chandra, for the females, are born to pure Kindred bloodlines and has been prophesied, to be chosen to rule with the Few.” Colin held up his hand to ward off the question he knew Roger was about to ask.

“The Few are the hierarchy of the Kindred on earth. They have all gifts, all knowledge are born to those who are Chosen, but they have to trained to use the gifts like any other Kindred. No, not all the Few females are named Chandra, that is why this is so odd. This one is special, if she really is the one that will eventually lead all, we have to find her and quickly.”

“You need to talk to Jareth. We need help. This can’t be done alone. I am going to take Roger and if they will come, his parents, to Heartland. They need to see that there are others like us, so they won’t be afraid anymore.” She went across the space to hug Colin and he stood in her comforting embrace.

“Colin, you will not fail this time. You will find the girl and her mother. I feel it. Maybe this time you will put to rest the demons that have been driving you these past eight years.”