A Perfect World

Chapter 28

“Claire?” I say, in a questioning tone that even I can’t identify. Confused? Excited maybe? Both?

“Yeah?” She replies, rolling over to see me better.

“Your shoulder,” I say blankly, again in a strange, unidentifiable tone.

Immediately she jumps up and runs into the bathroom, turning at a strange angle so she can see the colorful mark. I see a soft, knowing smile touch her lips for a second before she comes back to meet us, her eyes bright with joy.

“So, who was it?” Matt taunts, Emma resting her head on his shoulder, both breathing heavily still.

“One of us, obviously. We were all wrestling, so I’m not sure.” She replies, but I can see she knows exactly who it is, so I take a shot in the dark.

“Was it… Jake?” I taunt, knowing full well I’m probably wrong, but I get my reaction. They both reel back and shout, “No!” at the same time, causing everyone to burst into laughter, especially Emma, Emory, Matt, Jack, and myself since our siblings get to be embarrassed in the process. The others’ laughter gets cut off by the voice of a newcomer.

“Morning, kids. How’s your plan coming along?” Syven asks, laying on my one of the beds in the boys room, where most of us had congregated, with his feet up on the wall and crossed one over the other at his ankles.

“How did you get in here, Lewis?” Jack asks, momentarily confusing me, but Emory gets to correcting him first, “Syven. His name is Syven.” She says, standing next to Jack.

“Syven?” He asks, turning his head toward her.

“The god of Balance, and the owner of The Balance of Haiwa,” I explain, “He’s been possessing the body of Lewis O’Connor for the last 140 years or so.”

“Ding Ding Ding!” He says obnoxiously, “That’s me! So, you didn’t answer my question. How’s it coming?” He says, appearing next to me, but I don’t jump at his presence this time.

“Okay, I suppose. We haven’t been able to find Haiwa, so we’ve been researching The Souls so we know how to use it once we find it.” I say, sitting down on a bed and grabbing Jack’s laptop despite protests from him.

“Calm yourself, Jack. I won’t break it, I just need to look something up.” I reply, shutting him up for a few minutes while I open the doc with all of our research on it.

“We’ve got a lot on The Marks of Haiwa, magic, and other things like that, but not much on Haiwa. She’s not really that popular with the people that believe in higher powers.”

“She made them that way. You’ve always been destined to do this.” He mumbles.

“I’ve had enough of fate for a while, Syven, so shut up before I shut you up.” Claire says, leaning against Emma, who stands against the wall with Matt.She has a far-away look in her eyes, and I can tell she’s still lost in the moment.

“Don’t mind her, she’s just grumpy. Her Turning-Point Mark got activated just before you got here, and we were trying to guess who it was.”

“Hey!” She cries out, but so tired she doesn’t sound threatening in the slightest.

“Sorry,” I reply, then go back to Syven, “We really don’t have anything. What about you? Did you find anything on big sis?”

“Zip zero. She hides well, just wish she had taught me how she does it.” He says, reading through what we have on the document.

“I’ll see what I can find,” He says before vanishing, and leaving us to ourselves again, following, two words pop into my head, and I can imagine them being said in Syven’s voice. His real voice, not Lewis’s stolen voice, which is a bit higher and kinder sounding than Syven’s, which isn’t really mean, just comes off as such sometimes.