The Keepers Book Two of the Holding Kate Series

The Keepers

Copyright © 2014 LaDonna Cole

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published by

HWV Productions

Print edition ISBN numbers:

ISBN-13: 978-0-9912335-2-6

ISBN-10: 0991233522

ALSO BY LaDONNA COLE

THE TORN

Book 1

The Holding Kate Series

THE KEEPERS FILES
1.5

Book 1.5

The Holding Kate Series

HEARTWORK VILLAGE DIVORCE AND

GRIEF RECOVERY CURRICULUM

Book 2.5

The Holding Kate Series

Coming Soon

THE SOURCE

Book 3

The Holding Kate Series

Coming Soon

DRUMMER BOY

A Family Christmas Story

For Dayla

For a full-sized, color map of Heartwork Village, visit

www.ladonnacolern.wix.com/ladonna-cole

THE IMMORTAL SONG

Hold me close, fly with me

Across immortal portals free.

Fall into the lover’s sea.

With lips so full of worship.

I will hold you for all time.

Come and press your heart to mine.

With my promise on your breast

I live in your nearness.

Hold me fast, come let’s go

Where fireflies bask in afterglow.

My kiss enfolds the tender soul

In bliss so full of worship.

“Through the discovery of intellectual streaming of Quantum Mechanics, we have perfected the interactive matrix linking individual imagination to a hive imagination to produce creative molecular cohesion.” ~
Dr. K. Pazicni, December 2022

THE VAN LURCHED
to a stop. I eased the blindfold over my right eye, then took it off. The old covered bridge stood near the parking lot where we sat. I took Kate’s blindfold off and opened the door. Seven of us poured out of the van and blinked in the harsh sunlight. Three weeks of underground training in florescent lighting made the sun seem unnaturally bright.

The van crawled away and clacked over the planks of the bridge, then sped off. We squinted at each other, the Keepers. Kate rescued a lady bug off of Mel’s shoulder and shook it into the wind. Mel wrapped her arm around Kate’s waist and they put their heads together, brunette and blond, in a private conversation ending in giggles. I turned to Mel’s husband, the tall lanky Donnie Dudgeon, and we shook our heads. Kate and Mel seemed destined to giggle when they got together. Trip shifted reaching for the sword normally strapped to his side, his fist closed on air. He let out a frustrated huff and gazed over the hills, ever vigilant. Tara, a goddess-like creature, squared off at his shoulder, scanning the opposite direction. Dirk swung his backpack onto his back, then cracked his knuckles.

Our mission firm in our minds, we were the task force trained to save the village from the mysterious saboteur; four teens and three barely out of their teens, with thousands of years of life experience shared between us. We would enter quantum jumps to ascertain which of the 12 Inner Circle members had gone rogue and started sabotaging the jump therapy sessions.

“I guess that’s our ride into the village.” Dirk pointed, his muscled arm flexing beneath coffee colored skin, to a large hay-stuffed wagon hitched to a pair of charcoal-tinted mules.

Kate stretched and shifted her backpack, cutting her eyes to me in a playful grin. “I am so glad to be outside again.” She spun in a circle and fell into my arms.

Donnie howled and tossed Mel over his shoulder. She squealed like a child while he pranced around the parking lot. We hooted at them and moved toward the trailer.

“Hey, Gladiator G.I. Joe!” Kate released my hand and skipped forward, calling to Trip.

He stopped and turned a baleful glare onto her. “I told you not to call me that, Katie girl.” He cracked a smile when she jumped onto his back.

“I just want a piggyback ride to round out the whole farm-slash-hay-ride experience.” She roughed up his hair and he locked his arms under her legs and trotted off.