Eyes lit up in gratitude towards Meghan as Juliska announced this heroic deed. It took every ounce of strength Meghan had not to just crumble, and rather put on a generous and humble smile.
Jae grinned. This is what he had told Juliska…
Juliska allowed Meghan to step back.
She did more than step back. She took the opportunity to slip into the crowd as Juliska continued speaking.
“Most of you know the outcome of the earlier events of today. Colin Jacoby and Catrina Flummer figured out some way to escape, no doubt using her prowess as a Projector. However, because of their escape, we happened upon another discovery. One that will answer the next question I know is on all your minds.”
While she paused from speaking, Meghan hid at the back of the crowd. She saw Ivan up ahead, his head tilted, noticing her standing there. He slid back, standing next to her, Meghan thought, to question Juliska’s story.
“Don’t Ivan,” she begged. “I can’t.”
He nodded that he understood and for once, did not push for answers.
Meghan could not express, in words, how she felt. A shiver came over her, chilling through to her bones. Something about this entire situation just wasn’t right. Her gut instinct told her this, and it was rarely incorrect.
Juliska started speaking again, but Meghan did not hear as Ivan stunned her by doing the most unlikely of things: he put his arm around Meghan’s shoulders, steadying her. She felt instantly that this was not because he liked her, or that he cared about her, but that he simply understood she needed someone to stand by her side, just for this moment. She leaned into him, trembling.
“I don’t understand what I’m feeling right now, Ivan.”
She wasn’t the only one struggling to explain what she meant.
Ivan took a deep breath, twisting his head toward her.
“That’s because you’re beginning to understand who you should truly be afraid of, Meghan. And the truth…”
“Is not pretty,” she breathed out in bitter conclusion. She shimmied out of his grasp, better able to hold herself up now.
Meghan noticed Ivan’s gaze focus elsewhere. It was the girl, Maria. Awake after her wound from the quake earlier, with a small bandage on the side of her head. Ivan winced, seeing her. As if she felt eyes on her, Maria’s gaze shifted and landed on Ivan. Her eyelids fluttered, lips forming a delicate smile. She did not hold the pose long. Too shy.
“You like her.” Meghan stated it, rather smugly. So he really did feel things, or at least, one thing.
His gaze turned back to Meghan. “You’re much more observant that I give you credit for.” And she was not sure he was happy about that, or not.
“And you think I’m infuriating,” Meghan mumbled with an aggravated shake of her head. She looked up to demand just what he did want from her, smarts, or playing the dumb girl, when she saw something she’d have never believed existed.
Ivan was smiling. Not with any reckless abandon. But for Mr. Grumpy All The Time, it might as well have been the sun beaming down in a torrential rain.
Meghan gave up her tirade. It could wait. Until he pissed her off again, which was sure to happen at any moment.
“So what makes Maria so special?” she asked him, tone teasing just a little.
His chest heaved in a weighted breath.
“For one, she doesn’t have the need to share every single thought that enters her mind.”
Meghan stifled a laugh. Yeah, Maria was perfect for Ivan. And could not be more opposite of her and her inability to keep her mouth shut. When she made to tease him again though, his gaze had gone stoic. Whatever amusement he’d found, was over. A hard and fast reminder that the storm was not over yet. This was just a break in the clouds.
And she could keep her mouth shut when she wanted to. Meghan only wished she’d been smart enough to keep it shut before she’d betrayed her own brother.
Yup, break in the clouds. The storm was moving back in.
She tuned back into Juliska, having missed the last few minutes.
“I understand that all of you want to know what happens next. I don’t have all the answers. We will have to figure out these things, together. The question has arisen on whether we will go our separate ways, back into our groups, and continue as we were, or whether we should join as one group. My answer to this question is neither.”
The crowd listened intently, wondering what other possibility there could be.
“We have discovered a doorway, not previously known or documented in the Book of Doorways.”
“Where does this doorway lead?” a voice called out.
When Juliska answered the crowd inhaled simultaneously, and Meghan Jacoby felt as though she might faint. Was it possible this one thing could go right?
“This door, my friends,” Juliska announced, “will take us home. We are returning to our island."
Truth is the most powerful weapon there is…but only if you dare use it.
Book 5 Divided: Bloodlines, The Immortal, and The Dagger of Bone.
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In Book 5…
When the truths you have believed all your life turn out to be lies…
When you are betrayed by the very people who have sworn to protect you…
When you discover your life is no longer your own…
What would you sacrifice to take back what belongs to you?
Would you be willing to give up your own life?
The quest has taken a grim turn, and as discoveries are made and more secrets unravel, something utterly devastating happens that shatters all belief, and crushes all trust in those it was given to, the most.
Until rescue comes from the most unlikely of people, with an offer that will change everything.
Read Book 5: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010GGPMLO
THE FATED FANTASY ADVENTURE SERIES IS COMPLETE
Book 1: Awaken
Book 2: Shifting
Book 3: Embrace
Book 4: Broken
Book 5: Divided
Book 6: Taken
Book 7: Control
Book 8: Forsaken
Book 9: Sacrifice
Book 10: Redeem
Book 11: Ascend (The Final Book in the Series)
Broken (The Stones, The Vampyres, and The Cursed Child) (A Fated Fantasy Quest Adventure Book 4) Page 16
