Collecting the Pieces of the Shandhi Sword (Book 2 of Mark Series)

Chapter 26

A/N: I promise. I am working on this story. However, I have been working on others more. If you want me to update this before I actually do, feel free to tell me to update, but please give me about three days to do so.

Thanks

~Rissa

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I gasped again, feeling as if this weight was lifted off of my chest, and I could finally breathe. "Son of a bitch," I breathed out, seething. "What the actual fuck?"

Korra laughed, and I looked at her and scowled. "Of course, that would be the first thing out of your mouth," she said. She laughed some more and clutched her stomach while she bent over, ignoring the scowls that both Samuel and I sent her way. "That is just too funny. Do it again.

Samuel's scowl deepened while he looked at Korra, unimpressed before he looked at me, the scowl disappearing as soon as he made eye contact. Guilt filled his eyes, and he bowed his head, submitting to me. "Again, I want to apologize for what had happened on the mountain, Jaz," he said nervously, and I scowled and narrowed my eyes.

"You have ten seconds before I kick your ass until next week, Samuel," I warned and bared my teeth at him. "What is happening? What's going on? Where are we?"

Anger bristled in the pit of my stomach and swirled around, consuming me, but I didn't let it control me like I wanted to.

Instead, I gave him my best deadly look, indicating the annoyance and anger that I felt but couldn't use against him.

Samel's face grew paler, and he gulped. A small look of fear flashed through his eyes, and he looked at Korra before he looked at me again when she made no move to stop me or try to calm me down.

"Well?" I asked, my tone brisk and sharp. "What is it?"

"I am not going to save you," Korra said amused when Samuel looked at her again. "You are the one that will have to handle this alone. Not me." She gestured towards me, and Samuel gulped.

I glanced at her, unimpressed before I looked at Samuel again, waiting for his response.

Samuel sighed and cleared his throat before he slowly nodded and stood taller. He cleared his throat again and put his arms behind his back while he looked at me before he looked at the ground. "My actual name is Sheamus," he said, finally after a long pause, "and I am a part of a group that is sworn to protect the Shandhi and their mate."

I snorted and rolled my eyes while I folded my arms across my chest and scowled while I narrowed my eyes. "That is b-"

"It's true," Samuel, Sheamus, whatever his name was, said, interrupting me. "I am part of a group that is sworn to protect the Shandhi and their mate."

I blinked, unimpressed. "That's what the Protectors do," I said. "I already knew about that."

"He is talking about a different group, Shandhi," Korra said, and I looked at her. "He is not talking about the group that you reside in now. The one that he is talking about is a lot older than that group, born from a different realm than this one."

"Another realm?" I asked and looked at Samuel. "What does that mean?"

Samuel hesitated but nodded. "Yes," he said. "There are more realms than this one. Most of the creatures you have faced so far are from those realms."

"Then why are they here?" I asked and raised an eyebrow. "Why are they a part of this realm? How did they get here?"

Samuel and Korra looked at each other before they looked at me with equal blank expressions on their faces. He cleared his throat and shifted on his feet while he moved a hand through his hair and shook his head. "I can't answer those questions," he said apologetically. "I am not allowed to."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, not believing him.

All he had done was tell me lies, and I was sick and tired of it. I was tired of all the bull shit that seemed to happen with him, and I didn't appreciate it at all.

"Bu-"

"It's true," Korra said, interrupting me, and I looked at her. "He can't answer them. He's not allowed. He could get in trouble if he did without permission."

I narrowed my eyes and scowled, not impressed with their bull shit and wanting answers now. "Then who is able to tell me?"

"You'll meet them later," Korra said and shrugged. "You just have to understand that we can't tell you anything until it's deemed safe by them."

I huffed and rubbed the bridge of my nose, getting more annoyed by the second. "This is still all fucking bull shit," I grumbled, and they looked at each other and shrugged. "But why am I here? Where is here?"

Samuel and Korra looked at each other again before they looked at me with blank expressions on their faces. "It's called Inben," Samuel said, and Korra nodded in agreement, "or in between. You're here because you are the one person that we have been looking for. You aren't just a Werewolf or the Shandhi."

I waited for them to tell me what I was, but they didn't. I raised an eyebrow and dipped my chin closer to my chest, trying but failing to stay patient while they looked at each other to see who would tell me the news.

"Well?" I asked finally when they didn't respond. "What is it?" I asked. "What am I?"

"Something that we can't say," Samuel said apologetically, and I growled angrily. He flinched and cleared his throat while he shifted on his feet. He looked at Korra, silently begging her to say something and get him out of trouble.

Korra rolled her eyes before she bit back a sigh and shook her head. "He is right," she said, and I looked at her. "The person that you are to meet, soon hopefully, will be able to tell you what you are and why you have been chosen."

"Then what can you tell me?" I asked. "Or is all of this just a waste of time?" I gestured to the area we were in and scowled.

Anger and annoyance filled my body, and all I wanted to do was scream, yell, and cuss them out for doing this to me and making it so that I didn't have time to rest and prepare myself for the collection of the other pieces and then for me to get my pack.

"It's not a waste," Samuel said.

"Ya, you received permission to punch him," Korra said, and I sent her an annoyed look. She grinned. "I don't think that is a waste."

"And you get to know that I am not just a "stupid geek" that shouldn't be allowed on trips," Samuel added.

"Y-"

"I know," he interrupted me, and I growled a small warning. "I will hopefully still be around, but I will be more of your guide than anything. The plan is that no one else will be able to see me or hear me."

"With your permission, of course, he'll be doing his duty like he should have been doing," someone new said from behind me, and I turned around but didn't see anyone there, "and that duty is to protect you at all cost."