The Wishing Tree - Book Two [Completed]

Terms and Conditions - Part 35

The Life Line Keeper throws back his head and laughs; his white teeth pop out of his dark mouth. "The beauty and the horror of an old soul that never quite made it to the Fourth Realm."

This realm never felt sinister to me before – powerful, yes, but not sinister. I look at Mason and reach for his hand. He squeezes my hand and then releases it quickly, but he doesn't look at me. He's focused on the screen to the left of the keeper where a scene is playing out in the background.

I don't recognize it. It's from the Third, but all of the clothing and hairstyles are a little old fashioned. Mason's eyes are glued to the screen. He watches as a figure pays a bonding specialist a large sum of money and then leaves the building just as two people, clearly in love walk in the door. We watch the bonding ceremony – the brilliant purple that ignites both bonding marks and immediately I see the grief on the woman's face.

I frown, squinting at the scene. "Mason, is that us?" I ask.

He nods, but his eyes don't leave the window pane. His hands are glowing a faint yellow and I reach for them again. I don't know why we're watching this, but Mason seems to understand all too well.

"You had someone pay the bonder to make the mark burn purple?" Mason asks, heat coming off him in waves. He said something might explode, I'm starting to worry that it might be him.

The Life Line Keeper laughs. "No, not me. I don't interfere. I set up choices. Did you recognize the soul of the man who paid the bonding specialist? Should be easy, since soul recognition is your niche." He drags out the last word and looks up from the table to give Mason a piercing look.

Mason sighs and leans back in his chair, all the anger gone as if his balloon popped. "I did," Mason admits. He's capable of reigning in his emotions so quickly sometimes that it amazes me.

"We had nothing to do with that – not in any detail, really. We allowed it to happen; we were curious. But, like a few things that have happened over the years, we regretted our lack of interference."

"What would it have burned?" Mason asks, resigned to something I don't understand.

The Life Line Keeper shakes his head. "Hard to say for sure. But, it wouldn't have been purple. Her soul," he nods in my direction and my heart contracts, "in that body back then, loved you deeply."

Mason's jaw is tense. "Why tell me now?" Mason asks.

"I think you know why," the Life Line Keeper says, but there's no malice in his voice.

Mason looks away, out the windows that are no longer a screen. I wonder what he sees. He's completely caught up in his own head. I don't remember my former life, so the scene that played out for us doesn't mean anything to me, but one look at Mason's face confirms that it meant a great deal to him.

I look at the keeper and feel a surge of anger. Years ago Mason was manipulated into becoming a man full of hatred and revenge and now the keepers are trying to use that knowledge to manipulate him again. Mason's warning about figuring out what to believe reverberates around my head.

"Where are the other keepers? Where's Ryan and Maizie? Where are the Journeyers?" I ask and throw up my hands in frustration. A flash lights up the room.

Mason's head whips around to look at me and then he looks towards the keeper. I guess I just stole that bit of power from somewhere.

The Life Line Keeper gives me a warning look and tosses some gloves to me. "Put those on and get yourself under control. You want some answers? You have to play by our rules."

"Why?" I ask. "If you don't give us the answers we need, the Third Realm collapses. It won't be long before that trickles down to other realms, ruining this little hierarchy that's been set up with all of you as the puppet masters. Ryan doesn't have a successor up there if he dies; if I drain him dry, it all falls apart."