A young girl no older than six crouches by the door. An important meeting is being held on the other side, and she wants to hear what's going on. She slipped out after her guardian left. He's actually at the meeting now.
"They can't know," he says now. "They're children, Matilda, just young children!"
"So was he," Matilda argues. The girl doesn't like Matilda. She thinks the woman is a bit mean. "And look what happened to him."
"He wasn't that young," another woman points out. "Twelve years old is old enough to make decisions. I doubt that his disappearance was an accident. I think he planned this out."
"We can't let the others know," the girl's guardian says. "It'll raise too many questions."
"How do you plan to explain his absence?" Matilda demands.
There's a thudding noise. Someone has just slammed their fist against the table. "How can we let them know there's been a murder?"
The girl backs away from the door. She doesn't quite know what murder means, but she can guess it's not good. She suddenly decides she doesn't want to hear any more. This doesn't sound good at all.
Quietly she slips down the hall and back to her room. She slides into bed, but she can't fall asleep.
She's about to nod off when her door opens. Her guardian slips in, tucks her stuffed elephant into the crook of her arm-it fell onto the floor as she climbed into bed earlier-and bends down next to her. He brushes his lips against her temple and whispers quietly, "You're not as subtle as you think."
With that, he ducks into his bedroom, leaving the young girl to realize that they knew she was there, after all.
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The Keepers of Azera ( Book 1 of the Keepers Trilogy)
Science FictionI am not human. I do not come from Earth. My home is called Azera. I am an Azeran, or more specifically a Keeper, which is the name of someone that belongs to an elite army. Each person has a unique power given to them in a special necklace with a...
