Ivan took over, allowing Sebastien to find his feet again. The poor guy looked beat up and ready to keel over.
“Amelia is more than just a leader, Meghan. She's crazy.”
“And what's new? Everyone in this whole damn world is crazy! It’s making me crazy!”
Ivan jumped forward and covered her mouth before she could say more, forcing her to listen. Her skin was fever-hot but didn’t burn him. Sebastien seemed shocked by his daring maneuver.
“Meghan, do you remember in Grimble when Colin saw someone on top of the candy shop roof?”
She nodded yes.
“That was me.” He kept his grip firm, feeling her trying to shout something underneath his hand. “I have been a secret informant for the banished Svoda for the past four years. I did so in order to have contact with the outside world while we traveled. I never agreed with what Amelia was doing, but I played along to keep my contacts open. I never dreamt she would actually discover a way to make it happen.”
Meghan forced Ivan's hand off her face and shouted, “Make what happen? Would you get to the point already?”
Sebastien took over again. “Amelia is planning to return magic to the world. The entire world. A world that has forgotten it ever existed. And...” he paused. “I don't know to what extent, but you and Colin have always been some vital key to making this goal of hers happen.”
“Okay.” She dug deep to remain calm. “So what this all comes down to is everyone is completely off their damn rockers!”
“Sort of.” It was a simplified summation of the problem.
“So if I have it straight, this woman, Amelia, wants to return magic to the world. The Grosvenor, of whom one it seems just so happens to be my father, wants to destroy all magic and take over the world. Oh and here's one for the two of you... Catrina Flummer is not the Projector. Don't imagine I need to explain Catrina to you, Sebastien, since you've been following us around all this time.”
“No,” he said cautiously. “But what do you mean it’s not her?”
“Yeah, what do you mean?” asked Ivan. They both looked equally perplexed by this revelation.
“I don't believe it. Is there something the two of you don't know? Some piece of devastating news I can actually tell you?” Meghan’s voice wandered into psychotic. “The Projector everyone is hunting down, is my brother. It’s Colin everyone wants to kill!”
“How do you know this?” asked Ivan, looking paler than she’d ever seen him.
Meghan just shook her head. “Why don't you just trust me?” she threw back at his face.
“Well, this isn’t good news,” said Sebastien, ignoring her anger.
“And off topic!” reminded Meghan. She spun back to Ivan. “None of this has anything to do with Jae Mochrie. Your turn. Spill!”
Ivan took a deep breath. “Okay. Um. It’s not so much Jae, as Juliska,” he spoke in muted tones. He had not yet explained to Sebastien about Meghan’s vision, which indicated Juliska might be the twins' mother. “And since we're being completely frank, I still have no idea what Juliska Blackwell is up to. I just know that whatever it is, it’s definitely not good. That’s not doing it any justice. She’s not a good person, Meghan. But I think you’ve already come to that conclusion.”
Meghan swallowed hard. She had no more strength to speak.
Her mother was evil. She needed to accept this.
Ivan went to speak but she held up her hand for him to hold off. She turned away from them and closed her eyes. She’d wanted the truth. Now that she was hearing it all, part of her wished she could go back to being in the dark.
A siren blared.
They gasped. An announcement ringing out across the island.
“We are under attack! Return to your homes at once!” It repeated three times in quick succession.
The three and Nona, who’d been so patiently quiet and keeping watch for any intruders to their conversation, bustled to the edge of the woods. Someone was running around the bend in the road.
“Jae?” questioned Meghan. She took off after him before anyone could stop her. Was he thinking he could fight the Scratcher again? He was crazy do try it on his own. She rounded the corner only to freeze. Ivan and Sebastien ran up behind her.
Darcy had bounced out of nowhere and was chasing Jae, shouting for him to stop.
“What the hell?” Meghan pushed off again, Nona at her heels. Ivan and Sebastien cast each other a, “here we go again,” and took off after her. Meghan ran and ran until there was nowhere else to run. She skidded to a stop, gaping at her friend, who was staring out to sea, balancing himself precariously at the edge of a very high cliff. There was nothing below other than the freezing Atlantic Ocean. Far, far below.
“Jae!” Ivan called out to him. “Don’t do this.” He inched closer. Cautiously, so as not to spook Jae. Sebastien grabbed Meghan to keep her from moving any closer. They hadn’t finished explaining everything yet and she had no clue what was happening.
Her gaze locked onto his; those eyes she once shyly thought about in her dreams, screaming a thousand apologies she wasn’t able to accept.
“Jae,” called out Ivan again when he did not respond.
“Just leave me,” Jae cried back mournfully.
“Please let us help you,” Ivan pleaded with him.
“You can't help me. I messed up. I have to end it.”
“You went too far, Jae. That doesn't mean there isn't a way back.”
Jae teetered on the edge. Ivan inched closer.
“Jae, you've been betrayed by the people you trusted and believed in. I understand this more than you know. But it’s not too late for you.”
He’d pretty much come out and told Meghan it was too late. But she kept her mouth shut and let Ivan do the talking.
“Jae… please. Step away from the edge.” Ivan stopped, Jae twisted around to see them. Gaze stoic. Decided. “It is not too late.” Ivan silently begged him to listen.
“You’re wrong,” Jae denied them. “It is too late.” He stepped out, falling over the edge. Disappearing.
Slow motion.
The world stopped spinning.
The horror of watching Jae step over that edge permanently branding a scar into their memories. Meghan screamed and attempted to run to the edge, Sebastien held on in stunned, breathless disbelief.
Slow motion. No sound.
That didn’t just happen.
Jae did not jump.
The world came crashing back in like a bomb exploded.
Up over the side of the cliff two massive bodies flew upward, clashing in a vicious battle. Wolf-like heads, sleek bodies, gnashing teeth, deadly wings, and claws. They landed onto the ground near the edge biting out at each other.
“No…” Meghan shook her head. What she was thinking, this… no. This had to be wrong. So very, very wrong. This world was severely messed up. A world she’d come to believe she belonged in. She didn’t want anything to do with it… not if…
Sebastien and Ivan pulled her back out of harm’s way.
The two Scratchers battled it out.
Meghan found Ivan’s gaze fixed on her. He read the silent question there. And nodded.
“No,” she cried. “No.”
“Juliska created the Scratchers, Meghan.”
This wasn’t possible. Scratchers hunted down and killed Svoda. This would mean the woman who was potentially her mother was a cold-hearted killer. A murderer of her own people.
“How could she?”
“I don’t know why. Only that she did.”
They gasped, the Scratchers… no, Jae Mochrie… one of those beasts was Jae… snarled and took off into the air. Claws and wings duking it out overhead.
Meghan’s legs faltered. If Juliska was her mother, the same blood ran through her own veins. Bad blood. A killer’s blood. And a Grosvenor for a father, what chance did she have of not turning evil too?
There was a thud and they twisted to see one of the Scratchers slam into the ground.
It clambered to its feet, wings thrashing. The other lunged and pinned it to the ground, stabbing a claw through its delicate web-like wings, tearing through it. The imprisoned beast howled out in brutal agony.
Meghan closed her eyes, pleading for the pinned creature not to be Jae. She heard Ivan and Sebastien gasp, and opened her eyes to a ghastly sight. The free Scratcher lifted its head into the air and pierced the cold morning air with a ferocious, mournful cry. When it stopped, it jumped back, unpinning its rival.
Before the injured beast made it upright, the other outstretched its murderous wings and stalked toward it. The injured beast wailed desperately as the wings enclosed securely around it. The wail ended abruptly. The wings released and the dead Scratcher slumped lifelessly to the ground.
Meghan, Ivan, Sebastien, and Nona held their breath, having no idea if it was Jae who just died. Voices… getting closer. People were coming.
“Over here, it’s over here,” they heard someone shout.
Ivan and Sebastien dragged Meghan out of sight. Nona kept a vigilant watch to make sure no one spotted them. They had only a little cover in a thin tree line.
Meghan sputtered out, “You’ve known a long time.” His father was the first to die at the wings of a Scratcher.
“I saw my father killed when I was four,” Ivan explained. “I never told anyone until Bird. I mean, Sebastien,” he restated. “I saw the Scratcher transform. It was someone my father considered a friend, and that friend killed him. I was little, but it’s not something you forget. I did not comprehend what it meant, only that it was wrong.”
Familiar voices were calling out. People screaming and shouting as they arrived to the sight of a dead Scratcher on the edge of the cliff and another hovering over its kill.
Billie Sadorus arrived alongside her brother Garner, and his wife, Ravana. The Jackal sisters, Kalila and Kalida hobbled in. Tanzea Chase strode in, looking particularly strong for her aged body and wearing a fiendish glare aimed at the living Scratcher. Lots of others strolled in, many, Meghan did not recognize.
And there she was. Juliska. Her eyes wild with fury she was sure most blamed on the attack. How would she get out of this one?
The crowd of onlookers were not sure if they should be poised to attack, run, or just continue gawking. They’d never seen a Scratcher attack one of its own kind before. There was a simultaneous gasp and draw back as the living Scratcher began to morph. So did the dead one. Its death, returning it to its human form… Meghan gasped, covering her mouth.
Darcy…
That’s why she’d run after Jae. Why they’d become some version of friends.
Juliska had recruited her too.
But this meant…
The living Scratcher finished morphing and Jae Mochrie stared down Juliska Blackwell.
“Jae? Son?” Irving Mochrie pushed through the crowd. His mother and sister nowhere near. Jae’s dark gaze never acknowledged his father, his spite all aimed at Juliska. The woman responsible. He stepped back to the edge of the cliff again.
“I made a mistake, but I'm going to fix it. And everyone will know what you’ve done. And you will have two less monsters to carry out your sick orders.” His penetrating stare taunted Juliska to contradict him. She did not. But there was no proof she was responsible, only one young man’s blame. Nothing she could not smooth over. She’d sacrifice one more to keep control of the many.
People were casting their gazes at Jae, and Juliska, and Irving, and then Darcy, dead on the ground, trying to piece it all together.
“Son?” Irving called out again. “Come away from there.”
No one dared get close to him. Afraid he’d change back into that deadly monster… had they seen that correctly? Jae Mochrie and Darcy Scraggs, Scratchers? They were befuddled, trying to make some kind of logical sense out of it all. The only problem was, there was none.
Jae sighed, some kind of contentment coming over him.
Meghan needed to stop this. Somehow, she had to. She peeked out of the tree line, Jae caught her movement. Her ocean blue eyes brimmed with tears, begging him silently to stop.
Why couldn’t she have found out soon enough to change this? She should have pushed Ivan harder. Should have worked harder to sort out her visions.
Perhaps there was no stopping it. Perhaps this is how Juliska’s world, fell.
Billie and Garner had spoken of a war…
But this was not fair. Not Jae.
“Please…” she begged one last time.
“I can’t live with what I’ve done. Or what I will do if I live.” He closed his eyes and fell back…
Everything went blank.
Meghan was aware of the screams of horror and the cry of pain from Irving. But it all sounded miles away. And then they were away. The chaos, gone.
Ivan had opened the Magicante and taken them away. She grabbed the book and sank to the ground.
“Bring him back,” she demanded of the book. “You’ve done it before. Bring him back.”
The book sighed. Audibly bothered by what he had to say.
“Please,” she begged through sobs.
“I'm sorry, Lass. It cannot be done.”
“Bring him back. You have to!”
“This time is not the same.”
Meghan screamed out a garbled mess of words that meant nothing. Why would this time be any different? Ivan had died and the Magicante had brought him back to life.
Strong arms picked her up off the ground, she struggled to get free.
“Meghan.” Ivan’s voice was weak and scratchy. She stopped struggling, the pain staring back at her, crippling. The tears falling down his face… too real. She leaned her head against his chest, the sobs winning. He held her tight, a little afraid to let go or he might fall over. Through her sobs, she tried to explain to Ivan that he had died in Grimble, and the book brought him back to life. Ivan showed no surprise to this revelation, but he glanced down at the Magicante unable to ask it the question they needed an answer to.
Sebastien took a heavy breath and asked on their behalf.
“Why not this time? Why can’t Jae be saved?”
There was a long pause and the book explained.
“There is one death that cannot be undone by any magic. A life taken voluntarily, either by one’s own hand, or by knowingly and willingly giving it to save the life of another. Sacrifice,” he stated bluntly, “cannot be undone.”
Sebastien nodded, defeated, and plunked down on the ground. It made sense. It sucked, but it made sense. He averted his gaze from Meghan and Ivan. She was very comfortable in his arms, someone she claimed to despise. She’d never forgive him anyway. Heck, he didn’t even know why he still thought about her in any romantic way. He’d been fourteen when she’d left, and they’d shared one, innocent, peck on the lips.
But the crush had never lessened over time, for him. And yes, he’d been a part of her life since then. But she had not been a part of his. And from the looks of it, she’d moved on whether she was willing to admit it or not.
Meghan got her sobs under control and gently pushed away from Ivan. He let her go, but they refused to look at each other for fear of just losing it again.
“I did everything all wrong,” Ivan muttered.
“No. Stop,” decided Meghan. “There is no point in playing the blame game. Or going down the road of, what ifs. It’s done. He’s… gone. Jae is gone. It can’t be undone.” She sucked in her courage and looked at Ivan and Sebastien. “From here on out, clean slate. We start over. No more secrets. Or lies. Or holding back. No more of it.”
Sebastien nodded. It wasn’t forgiveness, only temporary acceptance because they had no other option. And she was right, it was time to move forward, together, starting with a clean slate. Which means he had one more secret he had to share.
Ivan raked his hand through his hair, agreeing with her too.
“So what do we do now?” Nona asked everyone.
“We need to get off the island,” Iv
an answered uneasily. “I just don't know how. The boundaries are well protected. I haven’t figured out how to penetrate them.”
Meghan got to her knees to collect the Magicante. Perhaps it would know some way to get them off the island. Some way through the magical barrier currently imprisoning them.
“Um,” started Sebastien. “In being honest, and starting fresh, and also possibly the best timing ever, I may have a solution to that problem.” He removed a candle from his pocket and joined her on his knees, his next words, weighted. “This will take us off the island.” He handed her the candle.
“How?” asked Ivan, kneeling down with them.
“There is one last thing I need to tell you, Meghan. I was waiting until the right time.”
“Sebastien, I can't handle anymore, really. I'm...” Her hand was shaking around the stem of the candle. He reached out his hand to steady hers.
“You just have to light it. That’s all.”
Meghan looked at Sebastien and down to the candle.
Sebastien nodded to Ivan, pointing for him to take hold as well.
Nona flitted into Meghan's arms.
“Where will it take us?” Meghan asked Sebastien.
His gaze dropped, reluctant to tell her. She had been through so much; surely, this would take her over the edge too. “To someone you'll want to meet.”
“Can they be trusted?” she wanted to know.
“Definitely,” he answered.
Ivan looked hesitant, but what choice did they have, they needed to get off the island.
Sebastien, seeing they would need more convincing, took a very deep breath and revealed, “Meghan, your mother is still alive.”
“Yeah, I know. And she’s a spying, conniving, evil... murderer…” she stopped, unable to continue her tirade on Juliska Blackwell.
Sebastien let go of the candle, shooting her a questioning look. Ivan let go and leaned back as well, shooting Sebastien a questioning look. He apparently had not told him everything about the Jacoby twins, after all.
“Juliska Blackwell,” said Meghan, answering Sebastien’s unasked question. “I had a vision. I know she’s my mother.”
“Um, Meghan,” said Sebastien, his face contorted with confusion. “I don't know what you saw in your vision, but Juliska Blackwell is not your mother.”
Divided (Bloodlines, The Immortal, and The Dagger of Bone) (A Fated Fantasy Quest Adventure Book 5) Page 16