The Keepers

By Parishon Fagan

Corcase Jacobs is your typical seventeen-year-old girl, except she has the ability to heal things. She spends most of her days out by an oak tree with her best friend, Rueben. While Rueben knows his best friend is a healer, he does not quite know everything like he is led to believe. Every Saturday, Corcase is training with her dad since her physical element power is no longer working; all she has to defend herself is her body. When a tragic fire strikes at her rural area home and claims the lives of both of her parents, Corcase and Rueben are forced to run. Along the way, Corcase finds out that her dad might not have been as forthcoming as she thought. How many lies did he tell her? Slowly the secrets of who she really is will unravel before her eyes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781496968234

Parishon Fagan

Parishon Fagan has lived in Wichita, Kansas, all her life. She enjoys spending time with her family, especially her two-year-old son. In her spare time, she enjoys reading all types of books. When she can, she likes to binge watch Deadly Women and Law and Order: SVU. She hopes to continuing writing and someday be able to do it all day.

Book preview

Chapter One

The birds chirp in the tree above my head. I am laying at the base of an old oak tree watching the clouds pass through the leaves in the clear blue sky. Lying under the tree is nothing new; I have done this every day for the past three months. Usually, my best friend Rueben is here, but not today. Today he has left me alone with my thoughts and my musings. He said he had some rehearsal dinner to attend for his older brother’s wedding which will be happening next week. Ben, which is what I call Rueben, says the dinner is just for the people directly in the wedding. I do not get to attend this, but at the wedding I will be his date. Well… I’ll accompany him. I’m not sure date is in the words to use for our relationship.

I’ve been laying under the tree for most of the afternoon and decide it is time to head back down the hill to my home. I am just about to get up from my cozy spot under our oak tree when the wind blows furiously. It whips my long dark hair around my face. I guess I should have worn it up today, but it is too late now. The wind stops blowing and then I hear a faint chirping beside me. I look to my left, and I see a baby mourning dove lying there defenseless. Being a sensitive soul, I hate to see any living creature in pain. The dove’s right wing is sticking up at an odd angle, and it has tears running from its eyes. I roll over on my side propping myself up with my left hand; I look at the bird, then look straight up and see, on a very high branch, a birds nest. It must have been getting ready to fly for the first time when the wind blew. Poor luck, really.

I start to feel a dull ache in my right arm. It starts to intensify, and I know that I am feeling the little bird’s pain. The tears begin to roll down my cheeks before I can attempt to stop them. Heedless of the pain increasing in my arm, I reach out and touch the bird, and a faint blue glow begins to spread from my hand over the bird’s body. The bird’s wing is mended right before my eyes, and it hops up, jumping around in a tiny circle. It flaps its wings, as if to test if the blue light did its job. Satisfied with the results the bird chirps, nodding its head as if in approval; I smile and stifle a giggle. You’re welcome, I say. The bird flaps its wings and takes off into the sky. Not bad for its first time.

This is not the first time this has happened. It surely won’t be the last. Healing someone or something always takes me back to the first time it happened. It was late in October, and my mother had been battling with a disease for most of the year. I was only about nine, so I don’t remember all of the details about why she was sick, only that she was on the verge of death. She did not like hospitals; she still doesn’t, so she was in her bed with a nurse tending to her. The Doctor had decided there wasn’t anything left that he could do, so he had sent the nurse to make her comfortable.

Late that same night, I was sitting in a chair beside her bed holding her hand and talking about something that happened at school that day. She was barely conscious, but I kept talking. I think it soothed us both a little. The pain hit me so suddenly I didn’t even understand it at first. My whole body began to ache. It felt like little knives were sticking me everywhere. I was hot and cold all at the same time, and I broke out into a sweat. The pain was so intense I began to sob, deep heaving sobs, I cried out in pain to try to get some relief from the pressure that was pressing down on me. I never let go of my mother’s hand through this pain, and when I looked down, I saw a faint blue glow escaping my hand and flowing into her. Even through the pain I know I had a look of confusion on my face. The light spread all over her body encasing her in a radiant color. It abruptly went away, and she started to stir. When the light cutoff so did all the pain in my body, so I was on my feet in seconds. Mom? I said not sure if I had fallen asleep and dreamed the whole thing. What was going on?

She opened her eyes and looked over at me with bright blue eyes. Her face was full of color again, and the only thing left behind from her sickness was the wet sheets from her sweating so much. Sweetheart? She gasped out, You did this, didn’t you? she asked me not at all surprised.

I …yeah. I guess I did. I stammered out. She smiled a knowing smile and told me to get my father as quickly as I could.

If my powers had not of shown up when they did, I would be motherless now. I have no doubts about that. I get up off the ground and straighten out my sundress. I take off in the direction the bird flew, but only because my house is the same way.

The wind is still blowing lightly, and the sun is beaming down on my pale skin. Ben always teases me about how I need a good tan. I tried to tan once. The only thing I got out of it was turning red like a lobster and not being able to move for a week. It was awful. Ben, on the other hand, got a good laugh out of it. Yeah. I will not be doing that again. I am not here for his amusement or pleasure. Though he would beg to differ.

I am glad my house is just a brisk walk away from the oak tree. I am home in about five minute’s time climbing the white stairs up to the grand patio that wraps around my home. I open the screen door and turn the knob to the front door and walk right into the grand spacious entryway. My parents should not trust people as much as they do. Even in rural areas keeping the door unlocked, is risky. It was like posting a sign on the front porch saying I want you to rob me and shoot me dead,, but they did it anyhow.

Mother..? I call; I pause to listen for an answer.

In the kitchen dear! is the response I get.

I hang my bag on the rail of the staircase and head off to my right through a huge archway. I walk through the dining room and pass by the huge dining room table that sits fifteen people (my parents should stop flashing their money) and through the big white double doors into our kitchen. She is kneading dough on the counter, covered in flour. Various bowls are lying around. I think one of them is filled with sugar. Sweet bread time, score!

Her blonde hair is tied back in a low ponytail at the nape of her neck, flowing to the middle of her back. She looks up at me with crystal blue eyes that match my own. Smiling I ask her, What are you making this time? Sweet bread? Her reply is full of all the love she can muster while baking; that is not much.

Not today dear. You know that is a special treat, for special occasions. I am making rolls for dinner. She looks up at me and smirks. I pull out a black bar stool chair and sit on it. I prop my elbows up on the counter and rest my head on my hands before replying.

Then what’s the sugar for? I ask with a hopeful tone.

She shakes her head at me still kneading the dough and says, You know nothing about baking. How are you my child again..? I laugh; she was right. I was horrible in the kitchen, but I could throw a good punch. So, there was that…

I change the subject still trying to get some of her sweet bread out of her. Well… You know… Derek’s wedding is in three days. How about my wedding present is some of your famous sweet bread? I suggest with a grin.

Ha-ha. I know that bread wouldn’t make it to the church. Between you and Ben the basket would be empty by the time you cleared the driveway. She replies. She is right of course. Ben can put it away, but it is not surprising. He is tall, about six foot four and muscular. I am average height, about five foot seven and skinny all around, so my eating almost as much as him throws us all off sometimes.

Okay, okay. Have it your way. I’m going up to my room. I grab my phone off the counter, which I sat down when I first walked over to the counter. I push up out of the chair and turn to walk away and get as far as the double doors when my mom calls out to me. I stop in my tracks, one of my hands is holding the door open as I turn to look at her.

Oh, and Corcase? she smiles while still managing to knead the roll batter.

Yes? I say

We hope it will be Ben and yours wedding we will be attending in a few years! she says a little too gleefully.

Goodbye mom. I shake my head and walk through the doors. I hear her laughing as I turn the corner to get to the large staircase. Why does everyone insist that Ben and I will end up married with children?

I walk up the staircase and take the long hallway to my overly large bedroom. I don’t understand why we need this big house. I open my door and head straight for my computer desk. I open up my Mac laptop and open my emails.

My brother, Kelvin, is away in London for the summer. We have been emailing this whole time because he insists he doesn’t want the international cost of the phone bill. He is supposed to be back in a few weeks to start his first year in college. He had taken two years off already, traveling to exotic locations. Ben and I will be starting our senior years at Lee Hawkins High School in the fall; which is just less than a month away. That’s when it occurs to me. We are always together. That’s why people think we will end up together.

I see I have an unread message, erasing all thoughts of Ben from my mind, I open the message from Kelvin. He doesn’t want to come back. I mean I cannot really blame him. Moving to North Carolina had not been fun for either of us, but it was necessary.

While he was on his wild adventures he met some girl, and he thinks he is in love or whatever. I have tried my best to convince him to come home, but he is pretty dead set on never returning. Well, at least not for another few months. He is in the works of trying to convince her that she should come back with him. He hasn’t even told our parents! What does he expect me to do? Lie for him? Tell them for him? No way! I write back and say as much. He was so unbelievable at times, but I did owe him a lot after our rough history.

Just as I am finishing up and pushing the send button my phone rings, and I hop up to retrieve it. On my way in I tossed it on my bed. It’s Ben. I answer with a cheery voice I usually try to avoid.

Hi Ben!

Uh, why are you so happy? I don’t remember you getting to see my beautiful face today. He says.

I can hear the smile in his voice.

Well, hearing your beautiful voice always puts me in a good mood, I say in a sarcastic tone. So, what’s up? I ask.

Geez. If I had known spending a few hours without me would rip you apart I would have stuck around. He chuckles. I’m on my way over, just thought I would give you a heads up, he says melancholy.

This is us. Sarcastic, sweet in an underlying way, we fit together. We have been best friend since I was about ten. We had moved from Florida to North Carolina a year after I had healed my mom. My dad wanted us away from the big cities.

Ben had fallen out of the big oak tree and broke his leg; I healed him, and we had been friends ever since. He wasn’t from here either, so he didn’t have the country accent most people around here did. My dad had never been happy about me healing Ben’s leg. He always reprimands me for doing that. We didn’t know Ben then, and he could have easily gotten scared and told everyone about me and then my dad likely would have been discovered too. It was not my fault, once I felt someone’s pain; I had to heal them.

I can control it a little better now, but back then the power was still new and I was adjusting to having just the healing inside of me. Besides, who knew how many people were around us who had powers of their own? It was not a long shot considering there were five possible powers. I’ll meet you under the tree, I say and quickly hang up.

I head downstairs where the scent of bread is spreading throughout the large house. I stomp through the kitchen, head straight to the fridge and grab out a small bowl full of grapes. Then I head into the pantry and grab a big bag of BBQ chips and some chocolate chip cookies. My mom is not in here anymore, so after I get my load I go to the hall closet closest to the door and grab the blue backpack out and pack the food inside. This shade of blue does not go with my light pink floral sundress but who cares? It’s Ben. He had seen me sick and snotty and was still my friend.

I head out to the tree to wait for him. However, of course, he is already there when I bound up the hill. He is standing there looking out at the little river just below.

Come on. It’s not like the view is that great. I say. I seem to shock him back into reality. He turns toward me with a big smile on his face. I wonder what he was thinking about so hard.

Well, look Cor. You decided to show up after all. He throws his arms open in an over-the-top way.

Ha-ha, I say, You couldn’t have been that far away when you called. It was kind of a stupid comment considering he lived just down the road. I walk over to the oak tree, and I sit up against it, pulling the food out after I get comfortable.

No. I was already here, actually. I just wanted to see if you would come running. He laughs as he walks over and sits across from me.

Well, I didn’t run. I walked all the way here. Gracefully, might I add. I stick my tongue out at him and take the lid off of the grapes while he opens the chip bag.

Don’t get so defensive Cor. People might start to think you actually care about me, he smiles and then bites down onto one of those god awful chips. How can he eat those things? They smell terrible and taste even worse. I think I make a disgusted face because he catches on and throws one of them at me. I yelp and cringe a little. I gain my composure back and toss a grape at his head. It bounces off and goes flying onto the river bank. We both burst out into a fit of giggles. Once we have regained ourselves we each toss our shoes aside and scoot over the edge of the cliff and dangle our feet off above the water.

So, how was the rehearsal dinner? I say swinging my legs back and forth. It takes him a second to answer.

It was the same old crap. Courtney was not happy and says that we all better get our lives in order to accommodate her. He says as he is tossing rocks into the river in front of us.

I roll my eyes at the sound of Courtney’s name. I have never met her, but Ben has told me stories that make me want to avoid her. She sounds like a spoiled princess who wants everything handed to her. It is no wonder she is marrying Derek