A sly sneer snuck through his lips but he said nothing.
Throughout the rest of the day, the unfamiliar voice periodically entered Meghan’s mind, but never clearly enough to hear what was being said.
“Great,” she thought in a low whisper. “Just great! Hearing voices while stuck in the middle of nowhere on a mission with Ivan. Just perfect!”
Meghan’s frustrations grew more obvious as the day progressed. Ivan’s amusement turned to agitation as Meghan slowed and stumbled more often. As the second day ended, Ivan announced their hideout for the night was not too far, but they needed to pick up the pace to get there in time.
Once again, they found themselves scurrying to the cave with just minutes to spare before darkness descended. Ivan looked quite pleased when they arrived.
“What?” prodded Meghan breathlessly.
“We made good progress today. We actually went a lot further than I expected we would. We will arrive at our destination sometime in the late morning, if all goes well.”
“No wonder I’m so damn tired,” retorted Meghan. “I thought this journey wasn’t supposed to be that long.”
“I have a theory about that, actually. We know the goblins don’t go to sleep in the same place each morning. I think this might be on purpose. A defense mechanism of sorts, to make it harder to get through the valley. I don’t think Banon Blackwell realized we might walk in circles a few times.”
“Have we been?” Meghan had not noticed.
“Yes. A few times.”
“I’ll say it again, then. No wonder I’m so damn tired!”
“You survived,” replied Ivan, adding, “Same drill as last night. You see and I’ll get us some dinner.”
This plan was all well and good, except for the fact that Meghan was not in control of her emotions. As soon as she started her fire, the unwanted vision came: Jae, on his pillar, the malevolent being hurting him. Jae fighting back, but also fighting some evil growing inside him.
But this one didn’t end the same as the previous one.
Each time now, the vision changed just a little. Meghan could only assume that it meant Jae was changing too.
Near the end of the vision, Jae and the malevolent being were fighting on the pillar. But this time there was a sadistic voice that taunted Jae to let it free. To let the darkness inside him, out.
Whatever this thing was inside Jae, it was winning.
Meghan wished she could piece it all together. Was this vision a metaphor for some difficult or terrifying thing Jae was going through? Or was it more literal, like he was actually changing into something else? Like what? A monster? That didn’t make any sense.
However, in the vision, it’s exactly what happened.
The malevolent being challenged Jae, forcing him to release what was inside him. He did, and Meghan watched in horror as her scrawny friend turned into a monster.
With feral looking teeth that snapped at his opponent.
Rugged, thick arms and elongated fingernails that slashed and cut.
Jae let out a snarl and charged his attacker pushing the being to the edge of the pillar and right over the side into the black abyss. But the being’s hideous laugh echoed up from the depths. Jae might have pushed the being over the edge of the pillar but the being had gotten what it wanted from Jae.
He spun around and spied Meghan, letting out a snarl.
Her breath caught and she backed away, catching herself when she remembered she was stuck on a pillar too. Jae’s knees bent to a crouch.
What was he going to... he lunged, easily making the distance between their pillars.
His black burnished eyes pierced her own, his deadly grasp swinging out to take her down and Meghan screamed, falling over the side of the pillar.
The vision ended.
Ivan picked her up off the cave floor. He let go and turned around.
The vision of Jae was getting more intense and somehow, personal. Instead of watching like an onlooker, Meghan had gone to participant.
“Will you ever trust me enough to tell me what’s going on with Jae?” she asked shakily.
Thus far, they had avoided any real confrontation on this quest. And she’d kept the conversation light. But this was too much and Ivan needed to tell her more.
He whirled around and squatted down so he was eye to eye with her.
“Yes, I will actually.”
Meghan’s eyes opened wide, but then narrowed. She was finding it easier to read his expressions. “But not today, right?”
“No. Not today.”
“Why not?” she asked, genuinely interested in his reply.
“You’re not ready yet.”
She wrinkled her nose at him and folded her arms. “In your eyes, Ivan Crane, I doubt anyone would ever be deemed ready. What are you waiting for?”
“Meghan,” he stopped, shaking his head. His body language called out flustered, but his eyes met hers and indicated focused and determined. “I am going to tell you something, Meghan Jacoby.” He stood up, looking quite tall and foreboding.
Meghan did the same. She wanted to be on even ground when he insulted her so she could defend herself properly.
“I have certain goals I very much intend on fulfilling. Failure is not an option. It’s too important and nothing will get in my way. Nothing.”
Meghan recalled the violent dream she’d had, where Ivan attempted to kill her and made a statement eerily similar. At least here in the cave, he wasn’t pinning her to the ground with a knife in his hand like in the dream.
“You are an asset, Meghan,” he went on.
She’d had her suspicions about this, but was still surprised he admitted it so freely.
“The Banon likes you, therefore, I like you,” he continued. “The way I see it, we are unwilling business partners. You are helping me get what I want, and I, eventually, will give you what you want.”
“So this is like ‘let’s make a deal’ or something?” Meghan shook her head in disgust. “No wonder you don’t have any friends, and to think,” she accidentally admitted, “I was almost starting to not despise being around you.”
Ivan stepped closer to Meghan with a cutthroat gaze that made her fall back against the cave wall. He closed the space, putting his hand next to her head and peered into her eyes with a chilling intensity that sent ice surging through her veins.
“Having friends is a luxury I cannot afford, Meghan Jacoby. Friends get in the way. And I don’t have time for things to get in the way. What I’m doing is far more important than making friends.”
She heard so many unsaid things in between the lines.
They would never be friends. Unwilling business partners, only.
That Ivan was up to something. She assumed securing his place in some high position close to Juliska. Although his tone hinted at something more.
That whatever he was up to, he considered it worth giving up any kind of life for.
And this had nothing at all to do with Jae, this was personal to Ivan.
Just what was he hiding? And planning?
Ivan stood back, unpinning Meghan from the wall and went to the opposite side of the cave and readied dinner in silence. She stayed, her mind racing and adrenaline pumping hard from the fright he’d given her.
Perhaps part of his anger was that she’d sneaked into his thoughts thanks to the visons, and saw things he didn’t want to share.
Colin hated when she got into his mind without asking first, too. It was the one place he always felt safe and free. And she was sure the reason he so rarely and on cautiously let his mind-block down to talk with her. And truthfully, the same could be said of her. No one wanted their private thoughts and fears invaded.
Perhaps Ivan was worried she would see too much. She suddenly remembered the phrase keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Ivan Crane was not someone she could afford to trust, completely. She might be forced to spend time with him, but it was now purely business. There w
as no giving Ivan a chance any longer.
She decided it best to get back to the job she’d been brought along for. Her heartbeats normal again, she concentrated on the task. A fire burst out of her palm and she gazed into the flames intently. Nothing. No new vision and no replay of an old one.
He looked at her expectantly. She shook her head.
Ivan nodded, handing her a meat pie. They ate in tense silence.
Outside the cave, darkness descended and the goblins stirred to life. In the distance, a ghastly, deafening cry filled the sky. Followed by a thunderous shake of the ground. It gave them both pause.
Meghan wanted this bad trip to be finished. What was she doing here? Tears threatened to surface but she bit her lip, hard, to force them back. She could not, and would not, permit Ivan Crane to get the better of her. She’d do whatever she needed to do to help Jae. Even if that meant working with Ivan.
Meghan extended her hand.
“Business partners then,” she told him.
He shook her hand, his dry smile returning. “I knew you’d come around.”
Meghan wanted to hit him.
“Let’s get some sleep,” he advised. “We have a big day tomorrow.”
Meghan sighed.
Why did Ivan always have to be right?
EVENING APPROACHED and Colin was farther away from his closest safe spot than he’d hoped to be. Bird urged him along, but Colin’s short legs could only go so fast. They were hiking past a ridged canyon wall, which he thought would never end. Somewhere at the end of this rocky ridge was his hideout for the night.
Bird’s chirping got more noisy as they neared the end, but Colin was forced to stop and catch his breath. He leaned up against the last bit of the canyon wall. Darkness was setting in. He needed to hurry and enter the cave, or face being caught by the goblins.
As he repositioned the bag over his shoulder, he froze. A rumble came out of the canyon wall. The rumble turned into clunky movement, which turned into the rock lifting off the ground.
Colin was too late, the goblins were waking. Although he’d thought for sure this was just an actual canyon wall. It was so long and had taken a couple hours to walk the length of it.
Pebbles and other sharp rocky debris plummeted down the sides of the shifting wall of rock. Colin started to run but something caught his cheek slicing into his skin. It wasn’t deep but bled profusely.
The creature awoke and came to life with a terrible roar that rumbled across the entire valley. It shook its body like a wet dog, but rather than hair, shards of rock showered the ground below its body.
Colin ran faster than he’d ever ran before. Bird had found the cave and was hovering in front of the entrance waiting. Colin reached it and slid inside, ending up on his butt. From the safety of the shadows, he watched what he had believed was a canyon wall, stalk by him, like a gigantic playful puppy. One with a dangerously outstretched and spiked tail wagging behind it.
Breath caught, Colin crept deeper into the cave.
“What have I gotten myself into?” he asked Bird.
Bird’s eyes were wide with disbelief, too, but he nudged Colin’s arm meaningfully.
“Yeah, I’m doing the right thing. I know,” said Colin. “This is just so different than my life. Right now, I should be heading back to Cobbscott for the summer, dealing with bullies, and meeting up with the Jendayas. Getting ready for my fourteenth birthday party. Fighting with my sister!”
That life was so far out of reach now.
He shook off his apprehensions and dug out his first aid kit, locating a cream that would heal the cut on his face. It stung to put on, but within seconds the bleeding had stopped and the wound had closed. Colin took out Corny’s map.
“We should be at our destination tomorrow morning,” he told Bird. An electric pulse shot through his nerves at the thought of actually meeting the real Catrina. Would she recognize him? Did she remember the dreams so vividly, like he did?
“Abdo Remotus Aspectus,” he whispered.
His mind’s eye left the cave searching outward to where Catrina lay sleeping. The spell worked easily for him now. And using Abdo kept anyone from tracing the magic.
Colin had no problem locating her. He gazed into the glass coffin where she serenely slept. He was so close. One more night and... he caught his breath. There was a shadow hovering in Catrina’s room, close to her coffin. A hooded figure edged closer to her. It raised a hand, which held a silver knife.
“No. No. No!” screamed Colin.
Catrina’s eyes flew open, looking straight into his. She placed her hand on the inside of her glass coffin, gasping.
“Hurry, Colin. Please,” she begged.
A gloved hand covered her face from Colin’s view.
He lost control of his spell and instantly surrendered his contact with her. He jumped to his feet to depart.
“Catrina’s in trouble,” he told Bird. “I have to go. I can’t wait.”
Bird flew in front of Colin, attempting to stop him.
“I can’t wait,” argued Colin. “If I do, I’ll be too late!”
Bird’s attempts to stop him failed. Colin bounded back out into the valley just as Nona, Meghan’s Catawitch jumped in front of him, trying to push him back into the safety of the cave. Colin didn’t give Nona a second glance and took only a few steps when something grabbed hold of him, yanking him off the ground.
Colin came face to face with a goblin.
Time seemed to freeze for a minute, each staring at each other eye to eye, until an eerie grin spread across the goblin’s rock-hard face.
“Straight to Eidolon with you,” its rough voice announced.
So they could talk. But Colin found he could not, his vocal chords incapable of forming anything coherent. The goblin’s body wriggled along the ground, like a slug. But much faster, and uncaring of the path it took and whether it bumped into anything else along the way.
Colin went limp. How stupid could he be?
He’d jumped right out into the middle of trouble. Without a plan.
He might never make it to Catrina now.
And just as frightening, he might never make it home.
IT WAS LATE MORNING. Meghan and Ivan stood at the entrance to their destination: another cave.
The moment of truth. Was the Svoda who had wandered into the valley still alive? Was he being held captive? Did whatever he have on his person, which Juliska did not want to leave in the valley, still exist? Or had it been taken by Eidolon?
Ivan took hold of two torches, which hung from a wall, unlit.
“Hm hm,” mumbled Ivan. “If you don’t mind...”
“Oh, right,” said Meghan. She snapped her fingers over the torches and they roared to life.
“We need to try to keep to a schedule in here,” informed Ivan. “This is not a safe cave. Once it’s dark, the goblins will be able to find us in here.”
“Okay,” said Meghan, apprehensively. “You do realize,” she added, “that even the best laid plans hardly ever go smoothly?”
Ivan rolled his eyes. “I am aware, Meghan, and to be honest, other than walking in here and searching for what we’re looking for, there is no other plan. We’ll be winging it.”
“Winging it! Oh that sounds nice and solid,” she criticized.
“There’s no telling what’s going to happen. We will just have to adapt and plan as we go.” Ivan stepped in, unafraid.
Again, Meghan had to talk herself down from her inner ledge.
I’m too young for this. I’m not good enough for this. What could Juliska have been thinking when she agreed with Ivan that I could handle this?
Juliska’s belief in her gave her the strength to step in after Ivan.
She was glad that the floor of the cave was relatively flat and smooth, which made it much easier to walk on. And run, if it became necessary.
Somewhere, not too far in, was supposed to be a series of rooms, like a dungeon. Another twenty steps in and the rooms came in
to view. Meghan’s heart raced faster and faster as they started their search. So far though, each was empty. But one of these rooms would have a man in it, either dead or alive. If the information Juliska had was correct.
Ivan’s arm swung up to his side stopping Meghan in her tracks. She froze and held her breath. Three rooms down a door creaked and feet shuffled across the ground.
Meghan wished she could talk through Ivan’s mind like she could with Colin.
They edged closer to the door.
Ivan motioned for Meghan to stay where she was and then he turned and softly jumped to the opposite side of the doorway. He faced her and mouthed, “We’ll jump in together.”
She nodded.
The element of surprise.
Would it be enough?
Ivan held up three fingers. “On three,” he mouthed.
She readied herself, a burst of flames erupting silently in the palm of her hand.
When Ivan held up his third finger, they simultaneously barged into the room, palms at the ready in case they were attacked, and needed to defend themselves.
Meghan’s fire fizzled.
Ivan’s hand fell and his head cocked awkwardly to one side.
They were not alone. There was someone else already there. Someone they both recognized, instantly.
COLIN AWOKE. APPARENTLY, he had passed out after being taken by the goblin. That or they’d knocked him out, he had no recollection of which. He climbed to his feet shaking off a bit of the grogginess weighting his head.
“I need to figure out where I am,” he whispered.
One lone torch hung on the side of a wall, lit. It didn’t offer much light, but enough to see he was inside a dungeon-like room. There was a door with bars on it, locking him inside. And if he had to guess, he’d bet he was in another cave as the walls were stone.
He tried to keep the panic at bay, but it surfaced anyway.
What had happened to Catrina?
Where’s Bird?
And... Oh crap, where is my bag, and... double crap... where’s the Magicante?
He had hoped the book might help him escape.
But he was on his own.
Fated Fantasy Adventure Page 55