“I know.”
He took a quick glance toward his uncle and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”
Colin grasped Catrina’s hand and instantly they were gone.
Cloaked, invisible, and Arnon hoped, untraceable.
Kanda reached out a hand to Arnon and he held it firmly. Nashua looked at them both, no words forming. He need not say it aloud. They both knew that the hunt was on. Colin was in more danger than he’d ever been.
“Arnon!” shouted Kanda unexpectedly. She pushed him at the same moment, a spell hitting her arm, splitting it open. Blood gushed freely.
“This is your fault,” said Amelia, now on her feet and striding closer. “You still cannot stop me,” she spoke, an octave above her normal voice.
Arnon rolled over Kanda, shielding her, with blood from her injury covering them both.
“I still have the Immortality Stone,” bellowed Amelia, her palm raised.
A throat cleared loudly from behind her, stopping her in her tracks. She spun around, her expression one of annoyed fury.
“Actually, you don’t,” declared a cocky voice. It was Colby, sitting calmly atop the Immortality Stone. No one knew who this boy was except for Ivan and Sebastien, as Meghan was still missing.
“Colby, you cannot take this!” stated Ivan, stepping forward bravely. He raised his palm to fight. Sebastien joined him.
“Who are you?” shrieked Amelia at Colby. “Who are you to tell me what I no longer have? You are just a boy!” she spat.
“My most favorite words,” mumbled Colby in heated boredom. Amelia started to run at Colby as if she were planning on jumping up and knocking him off her precious stone.
Colby raised his hand, snapped his finger and a vicious crack rent the air. Amelia Cobb’s head suddenly faced the wrong direction, looking back at the Tunkapog with dead eyes bulging with lifeless fury. Her body slumped to the ground.
“You killed her,” said one of her followers, stunned.
“Oh, she needed to be killed,” said Colby. “You know, that’s the problem with all of you... sometimes, people just need to die.”
Another voice called out from the bewildered crowd.
“Colby?” It was Meghan. She had returned. Her eyes were their normal shade of ocean blue and she was casting them back and forth between the dead body of Amelia Cobb and her brother, Colby.
“Ah. Hello again, Sis,” he spoke in a cold hiss. “Long time no see.”
All eyes swiftly landed on Meghan, demanding an explanation of who this boy was, why he was here, and why this boy called her Sis!
She couldn’t speak and tore her gaze away. No words would come to her.
“Don’t look so disappointed,” he told her. “Trying to convince that nut job to stop what she was doing wasn’t possible. She would’ve had to be put down one day, or another. Why not now? Save a few lives,” he rattled on.
Silently, she sent him, “It’s not that you did it, it’s that you’re getting far too much joy out of doing it. You have no remorse. It was the easy way out, Colby. The cowardly way out.”
“Well I certainly won’t mourn her loss,” he shot into her mind. There was a fleeting moment she caught before it vanished. A hint of regret. But not because of what he’d done, only that she was disappointed in his actions. “I saved you,” he reminded, though his reminder was weak. Aloud he said, “Sometimes, you have to be the one who stands up and says, enough. Enough of all this craziness. And actually do something about it. Take action. Not just sit around talking about doing something.”
Meghan refused reply and shut her thoughts off from him. In part because she didn’t want him to see that she kind of agreed with him. She didn’t want to encourage his dark side. But he did have a point. Then again, so did she. So where was the middle ground?
And that was kind of the point, wasn’t it? The middle ground, finding a solution that everyone can live with. Not just taking action because you decide it’s the right thing to do. And yet even as she said this to herself, she saw Colby’s point too.
She couldn’t hide all of it from him.
“We’re more alike than you know.” His voice pushed its way into her mind, breaking down the barrier.
He was getting stronger, fast. No one here knew he was also a Projector. Most likely much more dangerous than Colin would ever be.
“See ya soon, Sis. Oh and by the way, early happy birthday. Sixteen tomorrow. Maybe next year we’ll get to throw a party?”
Meghan folded her arms in defiance, purposely avoiding his gaze. When she dared a few seconds later, Colby was gone.
And so was the Immortality Stone.
CHAPTER 19
“Please, please tell me that what I think just happened, did not just happen,” begged Arnon.
“Colby is Meghan’s real twin brother. It’s a really long story,” said Sebastien.
“And do we know who this boy’s father is?” asked Nashua, stalking over to them.
“Jurekai Fazendiin,” answered Meghan, weakly. “I can’t believe Colby killed her, just like that. I thought...” she didn’t know what to think. She had hoped there was some small piece of Colby that could be saved. And why had he said happy birthday to her? She wasn’t supposed to turn sixteen for months yet.
Their eyes again fell onto the dead body of Amelia Cobb.
No one approached her, they just stared.
Someone treated Kanda’s wound while Arnon located Meghan, finally able to see her and speak to her. Her eyes widened, tearing up upon seeing him. Alive. And relatively well. She hadn’t even realized he was there. She hadn’t even recognized his voice she was so wound up in her own thoughts.
She ran into his arms. Kanda joined a moment later, arm bandaged, but the bleeding had stopped.
“I thought once I’d spoken to Colin that I was pretty well caught up with what’s been going on in your lives, but it seems I may be incorrect in that theory,” Arnon told her a minute later.
“You have no idea,” she replied tiredly. “Wait! You talked to Colin. Is he here?”
“No, he’s gone. Just minutes ago.”
“What exactly happened anyway? I’m a bit fuzzy about how I got here.”
“I’ll let you handle this,” said Kanda, heading to aid her brother.
While Nashua and Kanda spoke to the stunned followers of the now deceased Amelia Cobb, and Sebastien had a reunion with his parents, Meghan spent the next couple of hours reconnecting with her uncle/not uncle/but would always be her uncle no matter what. Sharing everything that Colin had not told him, or had not known to tell him. He in turn, filled her in on everything Colin had shared with him.
“So Colin has no idea you’re not really twins?” said Arnon, his voice riddle in sadness and exhaustion.
“No. And he refuses any of my attempts to reach out to him, not that I can blame him. And not that I’ve been trying too hard. I wanted to give him some space. And time.”
Arnon understood her pain, but also Colin’s anger.
“We were always sure that you were born of immortal blood, we were just never certain which immortal. And Fazendiin, the first created. Considered the most powerful. The most, wise.”
“I don’t know if I’d say wise,” said Meghan, a short smile flitting across her lips.
“Don’t mistake what I mean,” said Arnon. “His knowledge is as vast as the many long years of his life.”
“Oh, yeah, well...” she shrugged, no idea what to say. “Oh, um, so is it really my birthday tomorrow?”
Arnon shrugged. “I was not long ago explaining to Colin that we picked a date we thought was close. We didn’t actually know when you were born.”
“I suppose Colby has no reason to lie,” she said with an accepting sigh. “Birthdays just don’t seem as important as they used to.”
“I don’t think your bro... I mean Colin, would agree with you,” said Arnon.
“How much danger is he really in?”
When Arnon found himself unable to r
eply, she understood it was the worst kind.
“I’m going to try to help him,” she advised her uncle. “I don’t know how. But I refuse to give up. On Colin, or Colby. Not yet. Oh! I can’t believe I haven’t told you yet!” she blurted out at the end. “My mother is still alive!”
Arnon’s mouth fell open, no words coming out. Just sounds mimicking attempts to speak.
“Yeah, I know,” she replied. “That was pretty much my reaction too. I was about to meet her when all this craziness with Colby started. I don’t know what all’s going to be happening around here, but I really have to go back. I have to meet her. I need answers, about a lot of things.”
“Yes. You must,” he agreed, finding his voice again. “Although, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it pains me to see you leave.”
She leaned in and hugged him again.
“So grown up,” he muttered lovingly. “I knew it would happen, but to see it all at once, like this. You’re sixteen tomorrow.”
“Sixteen. It feels more like forty!”
He laughed. “I miss you, and Colin. So much. I worry about you every moment I’m awake, and I dream-worry about you every night in my sleep.”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to just be back in the trailer, pulling into some new campground getting ready to roast marshmallows?” she said whimsically. “I know, not going to happen, but a girl can dream.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe how much I miss that life right now. I really am sixteen going on forty.”
Arnon felt exactly the same in this moment, as when he had found out that Colin’s and Meghan’s lives were about to change a couple years back. He had wanted to run away with them, hide them from the horrors to come. He wished more than anything he could take them away from this nightmare.
“Hey, don’t go too far okay,” he said. “I’m going to go check in with Kanda and see what’s happening.” As soon as Arnon stepped away, Ivan and Sebastien hopped over.
“We have given Nashua and Kanda all the info we could about Juliska,” said Ivan. “We figured it was best they knew everything that we did, all that’s going on. Amelia’s followers are a little confused and frightened, but I think they have come around to seeing reason. At the least, it’s given them a reason to put everything on hold.”
Sebastien nodded in weak agreement with what Ivan said. “So, what now? This,” he waved his arm around, “could take days.”
“I’m not waiting that long,” said Meghan. “I need to get back to the cave.”
Nona purred at Meghan’s feet. “I can take you back.”
“And what about after? After you meet your mother, what then?” asked Ivan.
Meghan sighed, glancing at her uncle, Kanda and Sebastien’s parents. “I know they won’t approve but, everyone knows what Colin is now. I have to help him. I have to find a way to save him. My real brother or not, I just have to find a way. And Colby, I actually thought that maybe I could save him. But I’m starting to think his father’s, our father’s, claws, are dug too deep. I still don’t want to give up.”
“So, plan one, get back to the cave and meet your mother,” said Sebastien.
“You guys are really going to come with me?” she asked, looking quite serious. “Are you sure you should? I have no idea how dangerous things might get.”
“Which is exactly why we’re coming with you,” stated Ivan decidedly. Sebastien eyed him sternly; a part of him still disbelieving that Ivan was not in love with Meghan.
“I have to help too,” Sebastien told her. “Colin is my oldest friend besides you, and no matter what, we’re sticking together through this one.” I have to make amends for everything I did, he added in grim silence. But Meghan saw this sentiment in the pained features riddling his face. She smiled, warily, but having him in her life again felt right, even with all the crap they still had to work through.
Sebastien hoped this was a sign that maybe, just maybe, she might forgive him for all that he had done.
“C’mon. Let’s just sneak away,” she suggested.
“Good idea,” agreed Sebastien. “If we try to say goodbye we’ll never get out of here.”
Nona stepped out in front, saying, “Follow me, there’s a way out in this direction.” They walked toward the backside of the camp, past burnt buildings that still smoldered. But it was quiet and empty, which is what they needed.
“I can’t believe I did all of this,” said Meghan.
“You were under a spell,” reminded Nona.
Meghan shuddered. “I so hope that never happens again.”
As they reached the edge of the hideout, Nona stopped, her ears perking up.
“What is it?” asked Meghan. “Oh, I hear it too.”
Someone was shouting, not far away. They raced toward the voice, fearing it was someone who needed help, and stopped in front of a tall wooden fence. There seemed to be no way to get inside. It took all three of them blasting spells at it to break through.
They stumbled inside and froze in shock at what they saw inside.
Meghan’s legs faltered, but Ivan and Sebastien caught her, although they had trouble keeping their own balance.
“Is it really you?” she asked the figure.
“Wh-what are you guys doing here?” Jae Mochrie asked, equally shocked.
Meghan responded by racing forward and flinging her arms around him. “You’re alive!” she said repeatedly. “I can’t believe it.”
Another figure stepped out next to Jae. He was quite concerned with what was happening further into the encampment.
“You mind what we’ve talked about,” he told Jae.
“I will, Curtis. Thank you.” The man nodded toward the others and scurried off.
As soon as Meghan let go of Jae and backed away, she gasped. Ivan lunged in and bear hugged Jae, who stiffened a little, throwing a bemused expression at Meghan. She just bit her lip and held back the taunts hanging on her lips. Apparently, someone was getting a little more in touch with his human side. That, or Meghan guessed, had just released a tremendous amount of personal blame and guilt, over Jae’s believed death.
Ivan stepped back and straightened out his jacket.
“Sorry, just never been so happy to see someone I thought to be dead.”
“Um, thanks,” croaked Jae. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. “What the heck happened out there anyway? It sounded like a war zone. Now that I can see it, it looks like one too.”
“Pretty much exactly that,” said Meghan. “Amelia Cobb is dead,” she informed him. “It’s all kind of a long story.”
“So she won’t be returning magic?” Jae questioned.
“No,” stated Ivan emphatically.
“At least something went right.” Jae deflated just a little.
“How exactly did you get here?” asked Ivan. “We all thought you died.”
“Amelia,” he breathed out. “I jumped over the cliff and somehow she captured me, been holding me here ever since. She wanted information about Juliska, the island, and you and Colin,” he aimed at Meghan.
Meghan rolled her eyes, about to start in when Ivan said, “How about we move catch-up time, somewhere else? We were about to split, and I think we should stick to that idea.”
“Yeah, we should get outta here before we get sucked back in,” agreed Sebastien.
They made it outside of the hideout in the northern Maine woods and Meghan snapped her fingers, starting a fire. They each took hold of Nona and the Catawitch jumped into the flame, pulling the foursome along with her.
This time, they landed deeper into the woods, a little farther from the cave.
“I thought some better cover might be a smarter move,” said Nona, spying a run down shack. “You three,” she said to the young men, “can wait here. I will take Meghan just inside the cave and make sure she gets there this time. I’ll wait there until she’s ready to return.”
“That sounds perfect,” said Meghan nervously.
Nona took Meghan t
o the cave and while they were away, Ivan and Sebastien filled Jae in on all that had happened. And he, all that had happened to him.
“Jae,” said Ivan after they had finished. “I just need to say this, no matter if you get angry. I knew what was happening to you. I knew that Juliska was working on recruiting you. But I couldn’t chance her finding out that I was trying to take her down. I had to stay loyal to her. I wanted to warn you, to tell you to stay away, that you didn’t know what you were getting into...” Jae stopped him.
“Do you think for one minute I would have listened to you? It only would have made me join her even faster. All I ever heard these last years were Ivan this, and Ivan that, the boy that could do no wrong. I...” he stumbled over his words. “I sort of hated you.”
Ivan nodded. That was not unexpected. And deserved, he imagined.
Jae wore a sulking frown that meant, the only person I hate now, is myself. He cleared his throat. “The um, the real issue is that I’m still a monster, with an owner. If Juliska finds out I’m still alive, I’m dead. For real. Or back in her services.”
“How would she find out?” asked Ivan, determined to help him.
“If I transform.”
“Okay, so no doing that then.”
“Did you believe Amelia?” chimed in Sebastien. “When she told you there was a cure? Or a way to break the bond?”
“She seemed genuine when she said it, but seeing how crazy she was... the man I was with, Curtis. He knew her better than I did and he seemed to think she spoke the truth. Told me to keep looking.”
“Then that’s exactly what we’ll do,” said Ivan decidedly.
Sebastien agreed. “I guess we know what’s next then, other than helping Colin.”
Ivan sighed. “I would never, ever say this to Meghan, but I have no idea how to save him. If he got enough help and can keep it in control, I don’t see why he can’t just live like he is, in hiding. It’s not a great life, but it’s a life.”
“But if he can’t?” questioned Sebastien. “The entire magical world is about to start the largest manhunt ever. They don’t even realize he might not be killable, because of the whole possible immortality thing. Colin is one of my best friends, but...”
Taken (The Blood Spell, The Fugitives, and The Firemancer's Son) (A Fated Fantasy Quest Adventure Book 6) Page 15