Sacrifice (The Wayward King, The Projector's Mother, and A Prophecy Reborn) (A Fated Fantasy Quest Adventure Book 9)

by Rachel Humphrey - D'aigle

  “Jurekai Fazendiin sure seems to know more than most.”

  “And that is possibly the most frightening thought ever. But he does. Always ahead of everyone else. Like he’s somehow ten places at once. Or, able to see very detailed futures. Even my sister’s visions are not so clear.”

  “I’ve never heard of any seer with such a gift. But he is old. Really old. And powerful. And unfortunately, smart. And apparently ridiculously patient. There’s definitely no rival, his equal. Even the other Grosvenor all together, were no match for him.”

  Colin let out a bitter chuckle. “I’m supposed to be his rival. And Meghan. And Colby.”

  “Except the prophecy isn’t real, and you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

  He wondered in the end, even with the prophecy not being real, if they’d end up in a forced version of the prophecy anyway. Because the scary truth was, he was powerful enough to take on the Grosvenor, and Juliska. It just might take him down a terrifying path he might lose himself in forever, in the trying of it.

  “I wish Jasper was still here. I wish I could have had more time with him. He had so much more to teach me.”

  “I won’t let you fail, Colin. All we can do is heed his words, now. We will venture out in small, safe ways. We should stick to finding out who your parents are. And you wanted to get Jasper’s book back from Freyne. He’s dead now, so that should be simpler to manage. And if we can, we’ll assist in taking down Juliska as well.” She yawned out a, “We have to hope the rest will fall into place.” Her eyes closed, tiredness finding her. Colin wrapped his arm around her securely, and pulled a light blanket up around her shoulders.

  “I agree. We’ll find Jasper’s book, and focus on finding out who my parents are. In the meantime, maybe we can think up some way to help the Svoda, too. And your family. There must be something we can do. Something, safe, for me to try. Although they might not want help from the Projector who might go mad.”

  “I think they’d accept it over dying,” she replied tersely, wondering if he wasn’t right about that fear. “They’d be stupid not to take your help. And I don’t think they’d choose turning away help, over becoming slaves, or living through whatever cruel thing Juliska has planned for them.”

  “You’re probably right there.” Still, it irked him a little. Well, a lot really, that he was considering doing things that might make him unstable, to save people who would prefer to see him hunted down, and killed. It made a person a little bitter about the situation. “If we do come up with something, we’ll stay hidden. Like when I saved Billie and her boat crew.”

  “A smart idea,” she whispered.

  “Except you will be with me, this time,” he insisted adamantly. “I will not be leaving you alone again. Possibly ever.”

  “Also a smart idea,” she agreed, a tired smile on her lips.

  “I’ll think it all over. You sleep.” An icy mist had started to crystallize on the window. A few white flakes made their way to the ground. First snow of winter had won, pushing autumn out of the way.

  Colin stared out that window for a good long while as Catrina slept. Her easy breaths brought a calm focus to his mind. He wasn’t certain how to help the Svoda without making the situation worse, on all sides. However, the one thing he was positive of, is that losing Catrina was one sure way to turn him mad. Losing her was not an option. He’d come to that crystal clear conclusion after Freyne had taken her, and held her prisoner.

  And though he wanted to help her family, and his friends, the situation was getting murkier in his mind. Almost everyone in the magical world thought he was a danger to them. And heck, he might be.

  For some reason, words the ghost, Eddy, told him while they were in Grimble, came to mind.

  “It’s not really magic that makes you powerful, Colin. It’s what you do with it. How you use it. And how you do not use it.”

  So much had changed since then. Somehow, Colin didn’t imagine his ghostly friend from Grimble would say anything different, even now. And for reasons he could not express in words, this offered a strange sort of comfort. Even knowing that whoever this ghost was, which was probably not an uncle, or even a relative, he had still cared about him. That much was honest, and true, even if not his identity.

  Something crashed in another room deeper inside the apartment.

  Catrina jolted awake and sat upright while Colin lifted to his feet in a flash, shielding Catrina with his body. Was there any chance it was nothing at all? Just something falling for no reason whatsoever?

  “We’re still under your magical cloak, Colin. They can’t see us. Or hear us.” With that reminder, Catrina joined him at his side, and they waited, but didn’t hear anything else. He motioned for her to come with him, and they quietly left the bedroom to investigate. The invisible magical force field followed, protecting them as they walked along.

  They froze upon the sounds of voices speaking in the kitchen. Colin peeked around a corner. It was a man and a woman, two people Colin did not recognize. He and Catrina stepped around to investigate what they were up to, and find out who they were. At the same time, remaining safely hidden under the magical cloak.

  “Is that everything?” the woman asked as the man handed her a thick stack of files.

  “That’s it.”

  “Last stop then. Time to go home,” she stated decisively.

  “Home to what? A war? One Amelia Cobb started. Our leader.”

  “She didn’t start it, she definitely added some fuel to the flames,” she conceded. “But Amelia is dead now. Paid for that crime. Although I’m not sure it was a crime worthy of death.”

  The man shrugged. “Perhaps not, but it’s already done. It can’t be taken back. And neither can the chain reaction it has set off.”

  “We were so close. So close to returning magic. Can you imagine the world at this moment, if it had happened?”

  “I am,” he sucked in. “I am having a harder time imagining these days.” It was clearly hard for him to admit.

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. But I think we’re all overwhelmed and exhausted too. Once this whole crazy war is finally over, we can think about all of that, I guess.” She glanced around the room one final time. “At least the safe houses are cleaned up. If anyone happens across one, they won’t find anything of value. Nothing to use against us anyway.”

  “No. We’ll keep all Amelia’s plans locked away. Like you said, once the war is over we can discuss with the other banished, to see if they wish to continue with her plan to return magic to the world, or not.”

  Colin couldn’t fathom that they were still considering this crazy plan, and wondered whether it still included him, or his sister, in some way. That was out of the question. In any manner. No one was using him, for anything, period. Or his sister.

  There was a light squeeze of his arm, and he peered over to see Catrina, concerned about his condition. He was getting upset, which never ended well. His second soul, the Magicante, was revved up and working hard to keep up with the chaos in his mind, and the unhealthy ideas he was having about these people and their plans.

  “I’m okay,” he insisted. She grabbed his fisted hands, which were balled so tight she couldn’t pry them apart. “I’m trying to be okay,” he corrected.

  “Let’s talk it through then. Tell me what you’re feeling.”

  “Pissed. These people are part of the reason we’re in hiding. They tried to use me, and Meghan. I am… I really don’t like these people. They won’t just stop at hurting me, they’d hurt you for being with me.”

  “Feel better, saying it out loud?”

  “Not really. We should probably leave.” Meaning, if we stay, I can’t guarantee I won’t do something stupid.

  “Okay. Where do you,” she gasped, taken off guard when the stack of files the two banished Svoda were packing up, burst into flames. The man and woman yelped and dropped the burning pages and jumped away from the fiery files.

  “What the heck
just happened?” the woman coughed out. “Some kind of fail-safe?”

  “I- I don’t think so. I mean, none of the others did that. Amelia never mentioned having one in place.”

  “She didn’t mention a lot of things.”

  Their wary gazes flitted about the room as if both wondering if they were alone. The man’s gaze paused ever so little right where Colin and Catrina were hiding under the magical cloak. Catrina gripped Colin’s arms, tightly. His muscles were flexing underneath his skin. He was not getting himself under control. His breaths were getting shallow, and weighted.

  “Colin,” she called out softly. “I understand your anger. You’ve done enough now. Whatever was in those files can’t be used again.”

  His head twisted to see her. With grinding teeth, and a mind threatening to go haywire, he nodded. He took a few deep breaths and prepared to leave. He needed a moment to think about that first though. It was not safe to stay here any longer and he’d not take any chances. But where did they go? Where would they be safe?

  Catrina felt his muscles relax under her grip and breathed a little easier herself.

  “Still sure about all those things you told me earlier?” Colin tried to make light.

  “Not a doubt.” She got to her tiptoes and kissed him gently. “Never a single doubt. What is it they say, for better or for worse?”

  “What if being with me is far more of the worse, than the better?”

  “It won’t always be like this.”

  “No. You’re right.” He had to hold onto that hope. “I’ll take us someplace we can’t be found. Somewhere safe. I want to help people. I want to save your family. My friends. But the way I really feel…” He took a second. “These people are our enemy. They want to hurt us. They want me dead. You too, by default. I can’t see them as anything but our enemies.” His meaning, why would I still try to help them? And I’m not sure I can, knowing what they want.

  “Let’s go get Jasper’s book. I’m guessing it’ll be in Freyne’s home. Although I have no idea where he lived.” Catrina gave him a tight grin. “I suppose, you being you, it doesn’t actually matter, does it?” She reminded him of his strengths, what he could do.

  “You’re right. I can find it. If I can focus for a moment.”

  “I trust you can.”

  So did he, but at the same time, he had this overwhelming urge to show the two banished Svoda just who had been here, and who had burned their files. They were getting the flames put out and seeing there was nothing left to salvage.

  Colin prepared to leave, and kept Catrina cloaked, but just as they were about to fly away he let his presence known. Just a short little blip of himself, enough for the two of them to confirm they were not alone. And that it was him, who’d been here, and heard them talking.

  They stared, with a muted sort of shock. Watching him fade away and disappear. Colin watched the spark of knowledge hit their eye, followed by the spark of fear.

  And he didn’t mind admitting to himself that causing that fear, by a mere showing of himself, satisfied him in a way that wasn’t healthy, and yet he did not care.

  This right here, was Catrina’s worst fear. Seeing that dark look of pleasure from causing someone else, fear. Her greatest weapon was to love him. Jasper had told her that, the day before he died.

  “Love is grounding,” he’d impressed upon her. “But it can also be his undoing, should anything ever happen to that love, that cannot be undone.”

  It was a very fine point, Catrina was beginning to understand. The distance between light and dark, a simple pinprick of width. But she had seen Colin’s true heart, and it was pure. She’d do everything in her power to keep it so.

  Colin was sure the Banished Svoda had gotten his message. He wasn’t someone to mess with. Ever. And he thought they’d gotten the point, loud and clear.

  They did.

  “We were definitely not alone,” the woman spoke the obvious.

  She didn’t know what to make of this Colin Jacoby. The young man who’d secretly been an integral part of Amelia’s plan to return magic to the world, and had come to the rescue of various people more than once, but who was also a Projector who could not be trusted. Which was the message they’d both gotten just now. The point he’d just solidified a little more. His silent message flowing freely from the threat in his gaze, the menace in his posture; all meant to warn, I was here. You know it. Mess with me, and you’ll regret it.

  But they’d already done that. And something about that look warned he had not forgiven them for it, even if Amelia Cobb was dead.

  “Hard to blame the guy,” the man admitted, albeit with no true repentance in his tone.

  “We didn’t know what Amelia was planning,” argued the woman.

  “We should have. Regardless of our intentions, we should not have gone in so blindly. For that, we are all at fault.”

  “That might be true, but that young man is dangerous. I have a feeling whether Amelia had planned on using him in her plot, or not.” She shuddered at the confident darkness in that boy’s gaze.

  “Perhaps.”

  The woman sighed. “Let’s go home. We can’t do anything else here.”

  They gave the place one last glance and left, for good.

  Just as soon as they’d gone, another figure materialized.

  Cloaked. Quiet. And searching.

  A hand waved out in front of the figure and fog-like wispy tendrils snaked outward, reaching into the distance. A magical trail. A direction. But cut off after the boy had re-cloaked himself in magic.

  He’d been here. The Projector was here just moments ago.

  The cloaked figure was getting closer, the trail the freshest yet.

  A thin simper crept across the cloaked figure’s face. The boy would mess up sooner or later, and drop his shield again.

  The hunt continued.

  CHAPTER 2

  Meghan Jacoby needed to see her mother, and grandmother. But she’d gotten sidetracked from leaving to do so by the arrival of Arnon and Kanda, who were deep in conversation outside her bedroom. Which was really just a cutout inside the treehouse she was holding up in while staying in the northern Maine woods as a guest of the banished Svoda.

  They’d gotten back from a meeting right before lunch, and she hadn’t wanted to interrupt them; more like, didn’t want to see them because that would mean a lot of explaining, on her part. And they’d been going on themselves for over an hour now. Things in the world outside her bedroom were not going well, and it wasn’t a place she wanted to return to just yet.

  Apparently, and unbeknownst to Meghan, Arnon had a sister named Nina, whom he’d just seen for the first time in many years. It had been an emotional reunion and another stark reminder of all he’d given up to protect her and Colin.

  And worse, she and the man she was with, had ended up having a not so friendly run-in with her brother. At least, according to them.

  Nina had been out of the banished camp hiding out in one of the Svoda safe houses, having been called home after Amelia’s death and now, the impending war. And although an emotional one, the meeting had also been bittersweet. Leaving Arnon confused about his sister and her loyalties to Amelia. He’d never understood it, and still did not.

  Which was actually comforting to Meghan, hearing her uncle put down the dead leader, Amelia, and her crazy plans to return magic to the world. It was good to know he’d never become part of that scheme.

  She’d seen it in her eye-opening vision about Juliska and her life, too. But something about hearing it from his own mouth, made a world of difference; and that was mostly because she found herself having moments of distrust, and bitterness. She didn’t want to. She hated that she did. Because she believed in her heart, that Arnon and Kanda were two of the people she could trust most in this world.

  But they’d kept so much from her. And Colin. They were part of the world that was now consuming her life. And part of that world wanted Colin dead. Part of that world believe
d that she, Colin, and Colby, were three immortals born into a prophecy (that as it turned out wasn’t even real). It was a lot to accept at face value, or just poo poo away, like, no big. We’re cool. So what if my life was a lie and kind of still is. Meh… move on. Nothing else to see here.

  Getting over these hurdles was not so easy.

  Meghan had spent the last couple of days working through her difficulty. The massive vision she’d had, helped, some. But even knowing so much about Juliska, and others, and where their paths met, and ended, or broke apart, it was hard to find the energy to care. Hard to decipher what her own role was in all of this.

  A group of evil people needed to be stopped. Basis of every fantasy movie she’d ever seen, and she’d wager, every book Colin had ever read.

  But with a prophecy that wasn’t real, what was her place in this story?

  She had yet to figure that out.

  And now, Arnon and Kanda were speaking again of Amelia’s plans and hoping her followers were not still intending on moving forward with it. Most especially if that still consisted of using Meghan and Colin in any manner. Arnon’s temper was flaring and for that matter, so was Kanda’s. Something one rarely ever witnessed.

  And the very idea that Colin was out there in hiding, and had been forced to go even deeper into hiding… Meghan got the impression they were feeling a bit useless.

  But her heart was warmed by their concern, if only a little. As truthfully, her time stuck in this room had not only led her to some insane visions, but had given her the time she needed to think. Clearly. About many things.

  And though so much was still murky, she was nearing that moment, she thought, of being ready to face the world again. Finally finding enough clarity amongst all the chaos, to keep going, and figure out exactly what her part in all this was.