The Soul of Ten
Chapter One
15 February 2011
Paradise, Ohio wasn't a large town by any stretch of the imagination. The population was barely over 5,000 residents. Normally Connor avoided towns like Paradise, he found the small town life to be quite dull. He preferred the hustle bustle of big towns, the anonymity of a crowd. It was almost impossible to go unnoticed in small towns whereas the exact opposite was true of cities.
But he was there for a reason. He scrolled down the news article, skipping over the information about the family. He knew who John and Henri Smith were and he was about 98% certain that they weren't terrorists, although he was 100% certain that they had been involved in the destruction of Paradise High School.
He stopped on the pictures of the two. John was tall and blonde, most people would probably say that he was handsome. He wore a blue pendant around his neck, the same as the one that hung, hidden, under Connor's shirt. Other than that pendant Connor wouldn't have known John Smith from Adam. But his father, Henri Smith, Connor recognised him.
When he knew him he'd been called Brandon. They'd spent a year together, along with 9 other children and 8 other adults, when they'd travelled to Earth from their planet, Lorien. As soon as he saw his face Connor had packed a bag and headed to Paradise.
John and Henri were both on the run from the FBI after they'd supposedly been involved in the destruction of Paradise High and the murder of 5 members of its staff.
Since he'd arrived Connor had been discreetly talking to the residents, trying to find out as much information as he could without getting the attention of the FBI. Just about every resident of Paradise had said the same things about John and Henri Smith: they kept mostly to themselves and John Smith was head over heels in love with Sarah Hart.
He'd had trouble approaching Sarah directly, the one time that he'd tried the FBI had grabbed him before he could get anywhere near her. They'd basically told him that if they saw him attempting to talk to her again he'd be arrested.
But he hadn't given up, he'd simply spent some time coming up with a more subtle approach. That was how he'd found himself walking into the school in the next town over. After the battle at the high school, and Connor was certain that there was a battle, all of the students had been accepted into schools in the surrounding districts until Paradise High could be rebuilt.
This particular school was Athens High School and it was the one that Sarah Hart had been sourced to. He figured that the FBI couldn't control who Sarah spoke to at school; that would be almost impossible, not to mention entirely unethical, although, if his suspicions were correct, the FBI didn't care much about ethical.
He fiddled with the ring on his finger as he walked through the school towards the principal's office. The ring was made of Loralite, the same as the pendant which hung around his neck, hidden under his shirt so that no one could see it. Loralite was the rarest gem on his planet, Lorien, and could only be found at the planet's core. This particular piece of Loralite allowed him to change his appearance so that the FBI wouldn't recognise him as soon as he tried to speak to Sarah.
The principal wasn't in when Connor arrived but his PA was happy to register him for his classes. She looked through his paperwork, all forged, and didn't find anything wrong, not that Connor expected her to, and then gave him his options for his classes. He'd done his research on Sarah Hart, he knew which classes she was taking and he chose as many of the same options as he could.
He had no lessons with her that day but it didn't matter to him, he was patient, willing to wait.
As it turned out he didn't have to wait long.
He'd just got his dinner from the cafeteria when he spotted her. She was carrying her dinner to a table in the corner when he saw a group stand in her way. The girls were in cheerleader uniforms which proudly showed their support for the Athens Bulldogs, the school football team, and the boys were wearing letterman jackets; they were the football team.
One of the guys knocked Sarah's tray from her hand and another grabbed at the camera that hung around her neck. He pulled it hard enough to break the strap.
Connor strode towards her, carrying his tray of horrible looking school food, watching as Sarah tried to walk away but two of the girls pushed her back as the group ringed around her.
Connor placed his food on a nearby table and pushed through the group, shouldering a couple of the larger boys out of the way.
"Is there a problem?" he asked casually, butting into their conversation.
"None of your business, newbie." One of the guys said to him "Let us talk to the terrorist."
"Oh, she's a terrorist?" he asked, feigning surprise "What did she do? Blow up an embassy? Shoot up a mall?"
"She was dating the kid that blew up her school." One of the cheerleaders announced "Now get lost."
"So the kid she was dating was a terrorist. That doesn't make her one." He stepped next to Sarah "So give her back her camera and we'll get out of your way."
"Who's gonna make us, shrimp? You?" one of the guys stepped right into Connor's face. Connor had to look up to make eye contact but he wasn't scared, even as three equally as big guys stepped up to flank their friend.
"If I have to."
The ringleader reached out and placed a hand on Connor's shoulder, squeezing as hard as he could. Connor reached up and casually grabbed hold of the boy's wrist, pressing his fingers into the pressure point on his wrist, forcing him to release his grip on Connor's shoulder. He twisted the hand so that the palm was facing upwards and then, with his other hand, pushed the boy so that he staggered backwards a couple of paces, letting go of his wrist as he did.
"Are you going to let us walk away now?" Connor asked. He was standing casually in front of them, his arms crossed over his chest. He wouldn't look threatening if it wasn't for the hard look in his eyes, one that told them not to mess with him.
The group slowly parted to let them walk out. Connor spotted the guy who'd took Sarah's camera and stopped in front of him. He held his hand out and the guy gulped before giving it to him. Connor smiled and continued walking, passing the camera to Sarah as they walked.
"Thank you." Sarah said once they were far enough from the group that she wouldn't be heard.
"It's my pleasure." He replied. They sat at an empty table in the corner of the cafeteria. Connor had left his food on the table where he'd left it so neither of them had anything to eat.
"My name's Sarah. Sarah Hart." She held out her hand and he took it with a smile.
"I know." He saw the startled look on her face and she tried to pull her hand away but he held on tight, not letting her pull away "I've been looking for your boyfriend: John Smith. I know him by a different name: Number Four."
"You're one of them, aren't you?" she asked, her face going white.
"Is everything alright, Sarah?" A tall guy with black hair and bushy eyebrows sat next to them, putting his tray on the table.
"He's one of them, Mark." Sarah breathed. The guy grabbed the crappy knife off of his tray and swung it straight for Connor's neck. Connor didn't move a muscle but the boy's arm froze in mid-air. He strained to stab Connor but his arm just wouldn't move.
"I'm not a Mogadorian." He reached to his neck and pulled out the pendant that hung there "I'm a Garde. Like John. I'm Number Ten."
"You can't be." Sarah gasped as Connor let his telekinetic grip on Mark go. The boy's hand dropped to the table and he let the knife go "Why are you here? Why aren't you looking for the others?"
"I am looking for the others. That's why I'm here. If anyone can help me find John it's you."
"I keep telling the FBI. I don't know where he is." Sarah told him. She sounded exasperated, like she'd answered the question so many times.
"I figured as much." He replied easily "We Garde are good at hiding. It's what we do. He'd have been dumb to tell either of you. No offense." They both looked a little taken aback at how lightly he was taking this "But if he loves you as much as everyone in Paradise thinks he does…"
"He does." Sarah cut him off. She sounded so confident, Connor wished he could love someone that totally.
"If he loves you that much then he'll be in touch eventually. That's why the FBI are watching you."
"What do you want me to do?" Sarah asked.
"Just let me know when he does contact you. And tell him about me. He'll want to meet me." Sarah and Mark shared a look before the girl nodded once. He smiled brightly.
"Now, I propose a deal." He looked at them both "Come around to my place after school. I'll tell you everything that you want to know and in return you tell me about the battle. There's some very important questions I need to know the answer to."
"Sounds fair to me." Mark agreed. Sarah nodded her head eagerly.
The three of them met up after school and Sarah drove them back to Connor's house. He'd rented it when he first came to Paradise and lived there on his own. He'd been very careful after his first attempt to speak to Sarah so that the FBI hadn't followed his first alter-ego back here.
He unlocked the door and let the two in before cagily checking the street for any surveillance. Surprise, surprise he could see a town car parked up down the street. It had followed them from the school, which could mean only one thing: the FBI would be following him soon.
He closed the door and led his two guests into the living room. The house was a little rundown and only had three rooms: the bedroom, the bathroom and the sitting room/ kitchen.
"The FBI are outside." He told them as though it was the most casual thing in the world.
"They're always outside." Sarah said. She sounded drained, like she was fed-up of being followed "I can't go anywhere without them following."
"How are we going to talk with them listening in?" Mark asked.
"That's easy. There's a reason that I chose this house. The walls and roof are lined with lead. Their listening equipment won't be able to hear anything we say in here." Mark laughed and he could see the weight leave both of their shoulders.
"Shall we start with you guys?" he asked "What happened during the battle?" The two of them looked at each other before Sarah started to talk. She told him about the house fire and how John rescued her and then they moved on to the day of the battle. Sarah told him about John leaving home economics to talk to the principal and then Mark told him about how he saw the video of John jumping out of his house with Sarah so he went to his house to talk to Henri. But Henri was leaving as he got there because someone had faxed him a note asking if John was Number Four.
Everything after that went a little crazy. John ran home when Henri got to the school, fought with Henri and then ran back to the school to say goodbye to Sarah. The Mogs were already at the school and John found Sarah hiding in the dark room. They tried to leave and the Mogs caught up to them.
That was when the one thing that Connor had dreaded had happened. Number Six had turned up to save them. He was glad that she'd been there, according to both Sarah and Mark they'd all have died if it wasn't for Six but that came with a huge consequence for all 7 of the surviving Garde.
When the ten of them, the next generation of Loric Elders, escaped Lorien when the Mogadorians attacked the last remaining Elder, Loridas, had cast a charm on them. The effects of this charm gave them all a number, 1 – 10, and they could only be killed in the order of their numbers. Numbers One, Two and Three were all dead. John Smith was Number Four, the next in line, and Connor was Number Ten, the safest of them all. But the charm had one weakness, if any two of them came together, if they met in any way, then the charm stopped protecting all of them.
Now that Four and Six had met then the charm was broken and Connor was as vulnerable now as John.
Sarah and Mark continued talking about the battle. After that it was a little but crazy for everyone, neither of them could tell him much of what happened. But they did mention that John's dog, Bernie Kosar could change its shape and that Henri, John's Cêpan, sent from Lorien to protect him, had been killed in the battle.
"I remember Henri from the ship." Connor told them when the two of them had finished "He was a good man. A kind man. I'm sorry that he died." Neither of the other two said anything but they both looked quite sombre, like they didn't know what to say.
"I remember the chimaera too. We called him Hadley then. He used to fly around the ship and the younger ones would chase him around." He smiled fondly, he hadn't enjoyed much of their year long journey to Earth but the moments like that always made him smile.
"How do you remember so much?" Sarah asked "John didn't remember anything."
"Because I was the oldest." Connor replied easily "Me and Number One were three years older than John. The only one even close to our age was Number Seven. I doubt the others remember much at all."
"No way you're nineteen." Mark declared. Connor laughed and reached down to the ring on his finger. He pulled it off and the others watched as he grew right in front of them. He didn't change much, not really. His hair grew a little longer, he grew a lot taller and a little more muscled and he had a light shading of stubble on his chin.
"How the hell did you do that?" Mark asked.
"Is that your Legacy?" Sarah asked at the same time.
"No. The ring came from my chest. It allows me to scan an image of someone and then become them."
"What are your Legacies?" Mark asked, leaning forwards with interest.
"You'll have to wait and see." He replied with a mysterious smile.
Sarah's phone rang and she excused herself into the bedroom to talk to whoever was on the other end. She came back in a few minutes later with a weird look on her face.
"I've just been invited to a party." She frowned, as though she couldn't understand why.
"Me too." Mark showed them his phone screen where he'd got an invite by text.
"Are you going to go?" Connor asked them.
"Will you go with us?" Sarah asked. She looked at him with hopeful eyes and he knew that he wasn't going to say no "I don't think I want to be around those guys without some support."
"Who doesn't like a good party?" he replied with a confident smile.
