Luminescence 25

“Candor.”

            “Marcus.”

            Marcus stared at the man, his black hair flopping over his wire rimmed glasses. Candor had hardly aged since the last time Marcus had seen him, though his eyes were weary, cautious. The most powerful of them all was Candor, telepath.

            His presence stirred something in Marcus, an ice sluiced in the pit of his stomach though he made no other move. He’d let go of what had happened all those years ago. There was nothing that could have been done differently. If it wasn’t for the impenetrable wall Candor had put on Marcus’s mind he would be sure the telepath would know exactly what he was thinking.

            “I did not take you for a Travelling Guardian,” Marcus said at last.

            The man shifted in his stance, “I’m not a regular, I do what I can,” Candor didn’t meet his eyes; instead he looked to the others squaring his jaw.

            Marcus knew the answer for the lie it was. Candor had opted to aid the Travelling Guardians so as not to be available for Marcus and his boss Lindenhoff.

            The things they made him do…the missions he’d been on, had come at a cost. The greater good. A cost that seemed to have taxed them all. 

            For a second a silence swept the table.

            They all watched as the Grimskeeper was rendered speechless.

“He’s one of our best,” Rover said patting Candor on the shoulder. 

             “I know.”