Free Recruits (Keeper of the Water Book 2) by Kevin George Page B

tribe before so I don’t believe she should be rewarded with a second chance.”
    A combination of moonlight and a bluish glow from the nearby spring illuminates the surrounding forest but all I see are shadows of women holding weapons. The Amazon who speaks out against me is positioned in the trees ahead of me, just out of my view. Still, I can almost imagine the sneer on her face from what she says against me. This is the first time I’ve heard the angry voice but I’m certain it won’t be the last.
    I stand just beside the spring of magical water, surrounded in a big circle by the group of Amazons. Most of them remain in the shadows but I can feel their eyes turned on me, studying every part of me. I can even sense that a few of the women are glaring at me with just as much vitriol as the woman speaking against me. I’m super nervous but my eyes spot a faint flash of red among the circle. I feel better knowing that Anne is so close. I can’t see her face but I’m sure she’s smiling at me, trying to send positive vibes in my direction.
    It comes as little surprise that the other woman who came to retrieve me now stands among the group against my inclusion into the tribe.
    Anne, her partner and I arrived in camp only minutes earlier. We ran due east for nearly a day and a half straight – resting for only a few minutes at a time – but I’m more energized than ever. I feel like I could run for a week without stopping but that might just be my nervous energy.
    Anne didn’t tell me much along the way – running at breakneck speeds doesn’t exactly make it easy to have in-depth conversation – so I wasn’t expecting my character to be put on trial this soon. I know so little about these women – nothing about the large majority of them – but they seem to know plenty about me. Anne wasn’t kidding when she said they’d been following my life.
    Still, not every feeling I sense from the women is negative. Anne told me how impressed most of the women were with how I lived my life and I feel a sense of acceptance from most in the group. This is especially evident from the woman closest to me, the only one I see clearly.
    She’s not part of the circle with the rest of the Amazons and instead stands just inside the spring, the water up to her ankles. But that’s not the most obvious difference about her. She’s old; not just old er but really old, her hair a shock of white, her skin covered with wrinkles. But she doesn’t appear weak and frail like so many of the elderly from my former tribe. This woman’s hair is long and flowing, her body lithe and muscular beneath the wrinkles. Her eyes might seem distant and spacey, but there’s strength in them that can’t be missed.
    I never saw the woman in my life. But as I think back to this memory, I can totally see that she’s Celeste. She is the one they call the Keeper.
    “If there’s anyone here who should appreciate joining our group in an untraditional manner, it’s you,” the Keeper tells the woman who spoke out against me.
    The woman takes a few steps forward into the light, where I lay my eyes on her for the first time. Just as I recognize Celeste from my past life, I now recognize the first moment I saw Cassie. She looked different back then, rougher and dirtier without makeup or the use of a hairdryer. But there’s still something prissy about the way she carries herself, nowhere near as casual as Anne.
    Our eyes meet for a brief instant, all the time needed for her hatred to shine through. It’s the first sneer she ever gives me – at least she stays consistent with that over the years.
    “My Keeper, my loyalty to the group, to you, and to the water has never wavered,” she says. “But I can’t shake the bad feeling I receive from this new recruit. She will bring trouble and strife to our group.”
    “I do not interpret the situation the same way you do,” the Keeper says. “Only time will determine such matters but I expect you to open