The Time Keeper (The Guardians of Time Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

the house, his face like thunder.  Taking the steps two at a time, he brushed past her without a word and all but ran down the drive.
    Emilia stared after him in surprise.  Clearly yesterday’s amiability was a one-day special.  Whatever!  A return to his normal behaviour was a whole lot less unsettling.
    She bounded up the steps and headed for her father’s study.  It was one of her favourite rooms in the house, filled with shelves and shelves of all kinds of books and antiquities.  David was staring out the window in the direction of Seb’s SUV, which by the sound of squealing tyres, was peeling away from the curb at greater than usual speed.
    ‘Dad?  What’s going on?’
    David sighed heavily and turned away from the window.  He looked drawn, tired and every day of his fifty-six years.  He was a tall, solid man, with a thick head of steel grey hair and rather austere features, softened only by a pair of warm brown eyes flecked with gold – the same eyes Emilia had.
    ‘Are you okay, Dad?’  She hadn’t been worried about this conversation; it was fairly normal for him to make “appointments” to spend a little father-daughter quality time.  However, now she began to wonder if there was something more to this conversation.  Please God, don’t let him be dying , she sent up in a quick prayer.
    He waved towards the leather club chair in front of his antique mahogany desk.  ‘I’m fine, Emmy.  Sit down.’
    Relieved, she plopped down in the chair without argument.  Picking up a small square box, he came around the front of the desk and perched on the edge.  He studied the box, turning it this way and that, before he looked up at her.
    ‘I have a gift for you, though you may not thank me for it,’ he said cryptically.
    He held out the box and Emilia took it tentatively.  Lifting the lid, she found an old, heavy pendant, the gold on it worn and dulled with age.  She looked enquiringly at her father.
    ‘Turn it over.  There’s a slight depression in the centre.  Press it,’ he instructed.
    The pendant popped open, revealing what looked like a timepiece of some sort with a series of dials and cogs.  She’d never seen anything like it and, while it was interesting, she couldn’t understand why he was giving it to her.
    ‘What is this, Dad?’
    ‘It’s a time travel device,’ he said simply and waited for the inevitable.
    Emilia lifted puzzled eyes to meet David’s expectant gaze.  ‘What, like off a movie set or something?’
    ‘No honey, this is the real thing.’  He paused, giving Emilia time to respond, but she honestly didn’t know what to say.  Had her dad had a mental breakdown?  ‘You come from a long line of time travellers, including myself.  We have all, at one time or another, chosen to serve a higher cause to bring balance to the world.’
    ‘Uh, you’ve lost me.’  Emilia knew her eyes were wide with bemused dismay… or wonder – she really wasn’t sure which at the moment.
    David smiled, his eyes sparkling mischievously.  ‘Don’t worry, everyone reacts this way when they’re first told.’
    ‘There are others?’
    ‘Yes.  Quite a few of us actually, scattered around the world.  The vast majority of us are members of the Human Preservation Society led by seven Elders.’
    She decided to humour him to find out how serious his delusions were.  ‘Right.  What’s the purpose of this Society ?’  She wiggled her fingers in the air, imitating speech marks.
    ‘You’ve heard of the Mayan predictions that the world as we know it would end on December 21 st , 2012?’
    Emilia nodded.  It would have been hard to miss considering it had been all over the news.
    ‘Obviously that didn’t happen since we’re still here,’ David continued.  ‘But it’s possible it could have, if not for the work we do.  Our goal is simply to preserve humanity and this world by effectively adding time onto the “end date”.  Delaying Armageddon, so to