The Water Keeper Novels & Stories

“One name on the list—old healer Mira—has been quieter than usual since the fire. I’m checking her movements.” Mara added, “The handlers loved talking about how the Keeper became invisible by being useful. Fixing problems before anyone noticed. Earning love.” Eli pointed at notes. “The convergence reacting to your memories supports that. The land holds echoes. The Keeper’s fear of exposure might be leaking through now that we’re close.” I sighed. “I keep wondering if every story told to me as a child had two meanings. Comfort… and surveillance.” Killian intertwined our fingers. “We’ll uncover the truth. Together. No more masks.”

Standing over me, she ordered the two guards and said, "Beat her up and don't hold back!" The two security guards were clearly on her side. Without the slightest hesitation, they started to punch and kick me. I clenched my teeth, keeping inside every cry and groan. It felt like my bones were breaking and my innards were scrambling. Jessica kept screaming, "Who do you think you are?! You're nothing but a leech!"

The Rootkeeper smiled. "Were there?" The question lingered. No one answered. The Rootkeeper walked toward the center of the chamber. The living earth opened beneath their feet. A pool of crystal-clear water emerged. Its surface reflected no faces. Only light. Green light. The Rootkeeper gestured for Ama to come closer. She knelt beside the pool. "What do you see?" Ama gazed into the water. At first... Nothing. Then gentle ripples spread across the surface. One image appeared.

I did not know that was possible in a Beta until I saw it. The lower wards water system is running. My mother stood at every outlet on opening day. She did not say much. She has a way of being present with things that I am only now understanding is its own form of speech. I have been thinking about item forty-three. There is no item forty-three on the list because the list ended at forty-two. But I can feel it. The thing the list was pointing toward that the list itself could not contain. I think it is this: Iron Crest Pack needs a Keeper.

"Get out of the water, now!" Ivory shouted at them, they immediately looked at her and obeyed what she said. Even soaking wet they tried to make them feel the whole place. "What did you see?" Jake asked her, instead of answering him she came a little closer to the water and touched it, the already cold water earlier was gradually heating up as if it was already caustic. "I think the guardian of this place is here," they finally heard the answer they had been waiting for.

Kade’s gaze went to the door; my hand went to the knife at the small of my back; Jas’s shoulder leaned into the jamb like a man who could be a wall if you asked him nicely. “Up river boys,” the Keeper whispered, mouth gone bloodless. “They come to count the blue by the barrel and the souls by the name they won’t say.” “Hide,” Kade told him. The one word had a softness I’d rarely heard from him. The Keeper dove beneath the service table with a dignity some saints will never learn. Kade took the other side of the door. He glanced at me once, left or right? And I slid to the left, knife in my palm, back to cold stone. Jas lifted his chin an inch: two at least, maybe three.

scold, me,” she said teasingly. A smile filled my face and I found myself laughing. “You really are something else,” I reply, looking down at the open book. “So, I am so confused. Marylin finds out that Remus has been lying to her the whole time, but then in this chapter, she sleeps with him. I don’t understand,” she says while showing me the next tab. I smile at her eagerness, “You don’t remember the gift that Remus gives her in the third chapter? A ring, forged in Dolos, the place of lost minds, rectified by the Keeper?” She nods her head as she flips back to the third chapter, “Right, it was a birthday gift.” “Yes, and remember Rosalyn later says that the Keeper went by many nam

“We’ll be the punchline of a joke.” “Yeah,” Aislen agreed. Diana had no idea, she thought, how right she was. If Havermouth voted in the Secret Keeper as mayor, they were, by extension, voting in Aislen Carter, the Triquetra’s whore. “Who do you think the Secret Keeper is?” She asked Diana.

She looked up at him once more. “Anya is very lucky to have you.” Her smile warmed him happily. “That she is.” The vibration of water told him something was up. The fish began to swim away and hide insinuating someone was now in the water with them. “Listen closely, I have to leave you here to protect you. I will lead them away from the lake but I will come right back okay. This air bubble will hold out for a while. The moment it goes to just being around your head you need to get out. Find a safe place to hide and I will find you.”

Then the Keeper spoke. For the first time— not as a guide. Not as a watcher. But as something much older. Much more powerful. His voice carried authority. Absolute authority. Then: "Enough." The word shook reality. The abyss froze. The heartbeat stopped. Even the creature became still. Then the Keeper looked toward Thomas. His expression unreadable. Then: "You need the final memory." Silence. Then Thomas whispered: "What final memory?" The Keeper's gaze hardened. Then: "The one they erased."