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

Chapter 22

"Wait; what?" I asked. I furrowed my brows and cocked my head while I stared at him. Confusion was written on my face, and I studied the male that had his head bowed toward me. "What do you mean by that?"

Samuel cleared his throat and removed his glasses from his face, lifting his face. He rubbed them down before he stood and scampered somewhere else, leaving me feeling very confused and annoyed.

"Samuel!" I exclaimed. I scowled and narrowed my eyes in the direction that he had gone in. "I am not done with you. Come back here."

"Just hang on a second," he said. "I need to find this. I know I had seen it somewhere..."

Crash! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

Books fell to the floor when Samuel knocked something over, and Clarice leaped out of her seat with a small gasp because she was not expecting that.

"Samuel!" I exclaimed and glared in the direction that he had gone in. Impatience and anger filled my body, and all I wanted to do was go over there and smack the back of his head because he was not thinking straight.

"Oops, sorry." He didn't come back from where he hid, and I had no idea what he was trying to find.

"Don't look at me," Carter said when I looked at him. He looked just as confused as me, and he had his eyes in the direction that he went. "I have no idea what he is talking about. That is a him question when he comes back over here."

"And I will be back over there soon," Samuel promised. "I just need to find something..." His voice trailed off while he searched for whatever he needed. "But, I don't know what I had done with it."

I sighed and shook my head before I turned my attention back to the sword. I gripped my hand in a tight fist and ignored the urge to grab the sword. My heart pounded hard in my chest, and it felt like the sword was beckoning me to pick it up.

"You know, you can pick up your sword," Samuel called, sounding further away from the group. "I mean, it is yours. It's only right for you to pick it up."

I sighed again but picked up the sword again. I could feel the magic pulsating through the whole blade and stared at it in awe.

The two colors of the sword merged into each other and glistened with the unknown magic that it held. The gray turned light brown the lower the blade went, symbolizing the elements that it possessed.

Earth and Air.

Those were the elements that this blade symbolized. Those were the elements that I could control and bend to my will.

I stilled when that thought crossed my mind, and I stared at the sword with a cocked head, studying it as if it held the answers that I sought. "Can I control the elements?" I asked, hoping that Samuel would stop doing whatever he was doing and walk back over here.

"Yes, I think so; why?" Samuel asked. He didn't walk back over to where we were, and he still sounded distant even for my acute hearing to pick up his location. "What did you come with?"

"Well, a thought occurred to me while I was studying my new sword," I said, hesitating slightly. I cleared my throat and shifted on my feet while I moved my sword this way and that, watching the light criss-cross through the steel blade. "And, it was that I could control the elements."

"If so, I suggest you try to control them after you have completed the other one," he said. He sounded like he was coming back our way, even though he still sounded far. "I don't know what would happen if you used one without the other, and I don't want to find out."

I huffed and rolled my eyes before I set my sword back on the table. "Fine," I grumbled, not really wanting to wait. I scowled and folded my arms across my chest. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Hurry up and come over here so you can answer my questions."

"I'm coming; I'm coming," he said, and I could tell that he was by the quickening of his pace. "I needed to find some information to help me explain what I mean," he added. "I had to get it from somewhere else because it had been a while since we had needed it."

"When was the last time that you had needed it?" I asked. I picked the blade up again and twisted it around, feeling the hilt and the weight of the actual blade, not looking at it again. I nodded in affirmation, knowing that this blade was good for me to use and would probably be sturdy if I needed it in my half form.

"A long time ago," Samuel said, not giving me an exact date. He cleared his throat and walked from the bookshelves carrying multiple books that looked older than him. "It's not something that we talk about," he said, shifting the books in his hands before he fiddled with his glasses.

I cocked my head and studied him with narrowed eyes. "Who is we?" I asked, and he stilled and paused a step. I raised an eyebrow. "Well?" I asked when he didn't answer. "Who is we?"

"Ummm... librarians," he said quickly. He cleared his throat and didn't meet my gaze. His whole body grew tense, and I raised my eye higher. "Did I say we? I meant me." He nodded. "Ya, I meant me." He set the books on the table and still did not meet my gaze. "Put your sword down," he said, changing the subject.

I narrowed my eyes. "What would you do if I said no?" I asked, cocking my head further and studied him more intensely, "not until you tell me what you mean?"

He sighed and shook his head. "Not tell you anything," he said. He looked at me and then looked down. "I can't say anything about what I mean when I am in the presence... of others." He glanced at Carter and Clarice before looking at me, silently wondering if I understood what he meant.

"Hey," Carter said. He scowled and folded his arms across his chest. "I take offense."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course you do," I muttered. I cleared my throat and shifted on my feet. "If I ask when we are alone, will you tell me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Carter snorted, and I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He leaned back in his seat and grinned. "Like that's going to happen," he said. His grin grew wider, and I raised my eyebrow higher when he didn't answer me. "He is too much of a chicken to be in the room alone with you." He winked, and I rolled my eyes. "But I will be in a room alone with you anytime, Princess."

I smiled sweetly and made my teeth longer and those more like a wolf. "I would allow it," I replied. "After I pull your head off of your body."