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

by Rachel Humphrey - D'aigle

  “You’re back.”

  “And you are relieved,” she guessed.

  “More than you can even imagine. It looks as though we are about to pack up and find a new place to park the encampment.”

  “What is going on?” Ivan asked. He was seeing faces he recognized, and it hit him. “The Svoda. They are here. How?”

  Arnon quickly explained what had happened. And saw the immense relief in the news that Colby had done this. And disappointment that Jae was not among the new arrivals, however.

  Arnon smiled at some of the others, his gaze pausing on a woman whose face he recognized. One he had not seen since, well, since she had died!

  “Isabella Crane?”

  “Hello, Arnon. It’s been an age.”

  “I confess myself so very much confused.”

  “Oh, right, um, introductions,” said Meghan. “Uncle Arnon, this is my mother.”

  “Isabella Crane is your mother. Right. Okay. I’m with you.” Although he could not have sounded more stunned at seeing the woman believed dead, alive. Meghan introduced him to Aloyna, and Jasper.

  Sebastien tossed her a quick goodbye, and a, he’d be back soon. He needed to find his parents in all the chaos. Ivan was trying to remain calm but she could tell he was dying to locate Maria.

  Meghan shot him a, go already gesture, and he fled like there was no tomorrow. Somehow, amongst all this chaos, good things were happening.

  Many scary things still lay ahead.

  But that was tomorrow. In this moment, things were looking up.

  “So, Uncle Arnon. I can see there’s a lot going on, but as soon as the encampment is moved, I need to call a meeting. I have a lot to talk about.” And for the first time ever, she was looking forward to it.

  Arnon saw the confidence in her stature and he had a fleeting thought that maybe, just maybe, everything was going to turn out okay. They might even win. And yet it made him sort of sad to see her all grown up like this.

  Meghan stepped away for a minute to escape the chaos. She leaned back against a tree and took it all in for a moment. Colby had saved them. A shock, and yet not. At least not after what he’d shown her, and the conflict she’d seen. She wondered where he was now and attempted to reach out to his mind, but there was no answer. So that had not changed. But she’d not rush him.

  She pulled out the letter Robert Motley had written her.

  She couldn’t even fathom what it might say, and it took a minute to find the courage to rip open the envelope and read the letter.

  She unfolded it and fell into a laugh.

  “You kissed that fool yet?”

  No greeting, or, hope you’re well.

  “I wanted to pass along a little advice. I’m pretty good at it, seeing as I can read people’s minds. Don’t worry about the future. In the end, whatever happens will happen. Live for today. Always, for today. Don’t turn away love if it’s offered freely, and willingly. I saw the fear in your mind. The hurt, in your heart. I can guarantee you a thousand lifetimes over, that boy is the one thing you can count on never to do that again. Whatever he did in the past, let it go. Your path is a dangerous one. You’re going to need him. And my best advice: don’t be afraid to need people. And damn it, just go kiss the boy already and put him out of his misery.”

  Meghan shook her head.

  “I wish you all the best, Red. I hope you like my gift.”

  Jasper… he was one heck of a gift!

  She fought back the tears wanting to surface. She’d not let them. Not today.

  Robert hadn’t even bothered to sign his name.

  These things he said were conclusions she was starting to draw for herself, but he’d hit it on the head. She’d always been afraid of needing people. She’d started to let Ivan in. And he’d started to do the same. She’d broken down a few walls, for Sebastien. But it was time to let them all fall. She caught a glimpse of him. He’d found his parents and they were elated to see him. They were heading out into the chaos to help the others.

  Sebastien caught her gaze lingering on him, and he smiled.

  Letting all the walls down was not going to be easy, but that smile knocked a few more down right then. She wished Colin was here. Colby even. It would almost seem more complete in a way.

  She had no idea where Colin was right now, other than in hiding. She could try to reach out to him, but in the end, he was where he needed to be. For now. And he had Jasper, thanks to a crazy, mind-reading teddy bear she’d met only briefly hundreds of years ago.

  Robert Motley was right. These were all future problems and she needed to live for today. She rejoined her mother, Jasper, and Aloyna, who set into assisting the Svoda who were in bad shape. They called for an official evacuation a few minutes later. It wasn’t going to be an easy move. There were a lot of people and many of them not well.

  Nashua and Kanda were having a heated discussion. She headed over to listen in.

  “We’ve never done such a thing before,” Nashua was saying. “It’s taking one hell of a chance, Sister.”

  “What choice do we have, Brother?”

  “And if Fazendiin finds us, and we lose our home? What then?”

  “We find a new one. It’s not the end of the world. But it’s the safest place for everyone. Many of these people need help, and time to recover.”

  Nashua sagged. She was right, and he needed to accept it. He spun around to a few of his guard standing close by. “Get to the river and prepare the boats. We’re taking everyone to our lands.” He saw Meghan, and hardened his stare again.

  Kanda just rolled her eyes and greeted Meghan.

  “Welcome back.” She didn’t bother to question her, and took off to assist in the movement of all the people.

  Nashua wanted to question the girl, but now was not the time.

  Meghan swore he growled as he took off to assist as well. They needed to get this evacuation done fast. She caught Ivan and Maria approaching as well as Sebastien.

  “Hello,” she greeted Maria. The girl was beaming over Ivan’s safe return. And he was beaming right back. It was going to take some getting used to. Ivan, and beaming.

  “So, started Sebastien. We going with them?”

  “Yes. Now that I know what the heck I’m doing, I can tell all of them.”

  “We will see you later then,” Ivan said. “I’m going to help get everyone onto the boats.” He and Maria took off to do that.

  “Are you okay?” Sebastien asked her. “That was a pretty crazy ride we went on today.”

  “Yeah. It was. But for the first time in what feels like forever, I am okay. There’s still so much to do. So much about to happen. But I finally know why I’m here. What my purpose is. There’s something about knowing that, which is grounding, in a way.”

  “I hope you know that my only purpose is to follow you, Meghan. Wherever you go, whatever task you have ahead of you, that’s all I…” He didn’t finish. She cut him off and finally took Robert’s advice and kissed the fool to put him out of his misery. And she almost had to stop, and laugh, because for a moment, she felt like that girl who’d stolen a kiss outside her uncle’s travel trailer the night her life had changed, forever.

  Maybe this was a sign of new changes coming. Better changes.

  And this was a way better kiss once Sebastien had gotten over his initial shock and put his own effort into it. With every second that ticked by, the past was pushed away, left as nothing more than a memory. From here on out, it was today, and forward.

  CHAPTER 18

  Colin and Catrina stood outside the doorway to the rebuilt orphanage, staring at a statue that resembled a familiar face. Timothy, the ghost boy from Grimble, who’d died in the fire after saving other kids. A sad reminder of another loss created by the presence of magic all those years ago, when he and Meghan were here as infants.

  “I’m not so sure about this,” Colin whispered. They’d decided to come, regardless of what had happened at Freynes. It was feeling more importan
t than ever to discover as much about his past, as possible.

  Catrina wasn’t sure about it either.

  “I think I can do it without removing the protection cloak, but I’ll have to add everyone here to it so they can see us, and talk to us.”

  Catrina thought on it for a minute. “It seems pretty quiet. Can you tell if there’s anyone magical nearby? Anyone lying in wait?” They feared someone would expect him to come here and would be staking out the place.

  Colin closed his eyes and focused on the area around him. He reached out with his magic, letting it search on his behalf. He opened his eyes a minute later and shook his head. “Seems to be magic free. But if they’re tracking me, they might be waiting for me to come out of the cloak again.”

  “We know what to expect now. I think if we stay aware, we won’t get caught off guard. They are not going to attack you in public, around other people. At least, I don’t imagine they would.”

  “No, I think you’re right about that. Okay, let’s just do this.” He had them through the front door as fast as possible. He kept his mind tuned into what was going on while Catrina did the talking. He made sure the cloak expanded out to reach everyone inside the building.

  There were a few young kids running around, Colin ignored them. A minute later, an older woman shuffled their direction, walking with a cane, and motioned for them to follow into her office. Colin breathed a thousand times easier when she shut the door and he reformed the cloak just around the three of them. The woman would never know.

  “What can I do for you?” she asked. She gave off an aura of kindness, though came across a little ragged and run down.

  “I don’t honestly think you’re going to have many answers for me,” Colin started. “But you see, I spent some time here when I was an infant. It was before the fire.”

  The woman nodded knowingly. “If you’re looking for records, I am afraid you will be disappointed. We lost everything.”

  “You were here, back then?” Catrina confirmed.

  “Yes. We had a larger staff on hand, and more money than we do today. We do what we can. Most of these kids come from broken homes with drug addicts for parents. Few are actually orphans. Most just have nowhere else to go. Poor things. But, while we don’t have any records left from before the fire, I can try to answer your questions. I’m afraid I won’t have much to offer you. And I do not recall you. But you say you were here before the fire, and were an infant still. How long before? I’d wager not too long, you look what, sixteen, seventeen?” she guessed.

  He had no idea exactly how old he was.

  “I um,” he shrugged. “I have no record of my birthdate. But I’m somewhere around there.”

  This wasn’t going very well so far.

  The woman got an inquisitive look. She got up and dug around in a drawer of a filing cabinet and returned to her desk with a thick envelope. She placed it in front of her.

  “I always wondered if one of you might show up at my door someday.”

  “What do you mean?” Colin was getting nervous about this.

  “We lost a few, in the fire. So the official reports say. I only know of one boy lost.”

  “Timothy,” Colin breathed out.

  The woman eyed him, a knowing look revealed in her gaze. “He died saving others. Brave boy he was. Good kid. It was a terrible day to bury him.”

  “What of the others lost?” Catrina asked the woman.

  “You mean, the two never found. A girl, and a boy.” She planted her gaze on Colin like she was willing him to tell her he was that boy.

  He was thinking about fleeing. This might have been a mistake.

  The woman continued.

  “They didn’t want it getting out that two in our care, vanished, and then the place was burned down. They faked the death records. Pretended the bodies were found. You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

  “What would you do if I said yes?” He was on edge, worried they’d stepped into some elaborate trap. Catrina found his hand and tried to squeeze some of the angst out of him. This was not the place to lose it.

  The woman pushed the envelope over to him. “We lost all our records. But I saved this. It’s a little burned up.”

  He took it nervously.

  “You were wrapped in this the day you were left on our doorstep. It was left in the crib when you were taken. To be honest, it’s not much. But someone took great care to make you as secure as possible when they brought you here. I still recall the note that came with you.”

  Colin listened eagerly and breathlessly.

  “I remember it because even though simple, and short, there seemed to be so much pain in it. There were stains on the paper, I imagined were tears.”

  Had his mother loved him? Had she been in trouble?

  “What did the note say?” asked Catrina on his behalf.

  “Please look after my son. His name is Colin.”

  A shudder knifed down his spine in hearing that.

  “I will return for him soon, but I fear for his life and our home is not safe. As soon as it is, I will return for him.”

  Only she never had. Or hadn’t in time.

  Because he’d been taken, along with Meghan.

  Catrina sensed this was all throwing Colin over the edge. She grabbed the envelope and got to her feet, dragging him with her. “Thank you for your time,” she said. Colin nodded, not really paying attention.

  “I know it’s not much. I wish you all the best in your search.” She got to her feet and like she had no power to stop herself, blurted out, “Do you know why you were taken? Was the girl taken with you? I’m sorry, I’ve just always wanted to know what happened to you.”

  “We were taken together,” Colin told her, although his mind was swinging all over the place. The woman just wanted some closure. The experience had left a hollow hole that had never been filled. “I cannot explain all the reasons behind it, but whoever my mother was, she was right. We were both in danger. But it all turned out okay. We were raised by good people.” He left her with that, and there was a tear in her eye. A peace she thought she’d never find.

  Colin and Catrina scurried out of the office, taking the magical cloak with them as they fled. On his way out he noticed a donation box. He magicked enough money inside the thing they’d not have to worry, anytime soon.

  But now, he needed air. A lot of it.

  His throat was tight. He was suffocating from the inside out.

  They busted into the outdoors and hurried down the street to the shoreline not far away.

  He needed to get them somewhere safe and he had no idea where that was. And he was not capable until he cooled down first. He didn’t want to chance losing the protection cloak again.

  It hadn’t been a wasted trip. Not at all. He hadn’t found out who his mother was. Or father. But he’d found out more than he’d expected. And it hit him so much harder than he’d thought it would.

  The woman made it sound like it was so sure that his mother had feared for his life, and did love him. Was she still alive? Out there somewhere? Was it his father, she was so afraid of? Or someone else?

  Still so many unanswered questions.

  “Colin?” Catrina called out gently. He found her eyes peeling into his, looking for a sign that he wasn’t about to lose it.

  “I’m okay,” he promised. “The Magicante is working hard.” He took in a breath to calm himself. “It’s handling it. I’m okay.”

  She nodded, and smiled. “You want to open this?” It couldn’t do too much damage, it was an old burned up blanket. Something from his past he could treasure.

  He took it from her and motioned for them to get off the sidewalk a little further. They made their way out onto a pier and he calmed a little more as the biting, bitter winter wind, knocked the sense back into him.

  He had enough of that wind pretty fast though and made sure it didn’t penetrate the magical cloak. He didn’t want Catrina getting cold. But he’d needed the air for a fe
w minutes to bring him back to level ground.

  He ripped open the envelope. The blanket came pouring out. He held it in his hands, his first true connection to his past. His mother had wrapped him in this blanket.

  Catrina cocked her head, listening to something.

  “What is it?” Colin asked her, concerned.

  She smiled, in shock. “Do you remember how I said there’s music, in almost everything?”

  “Yeah. Wait, are you hearing something from this blanket?”

  “Yes. Your mother hummed to you. Her songs to you are all over this.”

  “Wh-what do they say?” He was dumbfounded by Catrina’s gift.

  There was a tear in her eye. “How much she loved you. How terrified she was of losing you. How badly she wanted to keep you with her. But she could not, because…” she stopped, her gaze sinking inward.

  “What?”

  Catrina wished she’d never opened the envelope and they’d never come.

  “What is it?” Colin started to worry.

  It was the first time she wanted to lie. Wanted to shelter him from the truth.

  “Catrina, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”

  If she said the words, there was no telling what Colin would do. She started to shake because in the end, she could not lie.

  “Please tell me what is scaring you?”

  “I know who your mother is.”

  Colin backed away a step, stunned, an understatement. Because Catrina was frightened. When just a moment ago she’d been gushing over how much his mother had loved him.

  “I don’t think I can tell you.”

  “Please, it’ll be okay. I promise.”

  It was already not okay. His insides were quaking with both a need to know, and a fear that expanded, because Catrina was afraid to tell him. Afraid of his reaction.

  His face went flat. His eyes dulling in color. “Tell me.”

  “Juliska… Juliska Blackwell is your mother.”

  The world started spinning. He and Catrina taking off to the first whim that crossed Colin’s mind. They landed only seconds later and Catrina knew where. And this was going to be bad.