Arnon nodded weakly in her assessment. He fell back a bit, almost stumbling over the trailer steps. Even in the shadows of the trailer, the twins noted a sickly color replacing his normal healthy tan.
“You all right, Uncle Arnon?” asked Meghan. He looks like he is going to be sick she thought.
Or, like he has seen a ghost added Colin, in his own mind. Meghan heard and silently agreed.
“Yes. Yes I’m fine,” Arnon stammered. “You two… go… clean up breakfast. I’m going to wait for Kanda to return.” His tone indicated it would be a private conversation.
They didn’t argue. But something in their Uncle’s demeanor caught them as strange. A sudden whiff of something serious he didn’t want them to know, or worry about. Which of course had the opposite effect and made them worry at once.
Regardless, they gathered dishes and leftover food, heading inside the trailer. Once in, Meghan washed the dishes while Colin dried. Halfway through, and in unison, the twins shuddered as an eerie tingle crawled down their spines. It brought them out of their silent stupor over their uncle’s unusual behavior.
“Was that your creepy feeling or mine?” asked Colin.
“We felt it at the same time,” said Meghan. “Bad omen if you ask me.”
Colin hated when Meghan said things like that. They had a bizarre way of coming true.
They tried to shake off the ominous feeling and finish with the clean up, all the while keeping an eye on their uncle who still sat on the step, appearing now to be in deep concentration. They heard Kanda’s voice call out to him and he walked methodically, meeting her in the middle of the now empty roadway.
The twins were curious about their uncle’s strange reaction to the gypsies and strained their ears to hear the conversation, but heard nothing but unintelligible echoes.
“I did not wish to worry you, Arnon,” began Kanda with a sigh. “I was afraid if I told you this was the summer… oh, honestly Arnon, I was half afraid you would take the twins and disappear.”
Instinct did tell him to grab his two young traveling companions and run far away, but he fought that instinct realizing he could not act upon it. It was not what they’d all agreed to so many years before. However, he was the one raising them, and considered them like his own children.
“You know me too well, Kanda.” His eyes wandered toward the gypsy’s campsites. “My betrayal to them I can handle. But my impending betrayal to my young companions...” he left the sentence unfinished, knowing she already understood his anguish.
She took hold of Arnon’s hand and squeezed it firmly, forcing him to realize the truth.
I do not need to run anymore. This thought brought him relief, followed instantly by regret for feeling that relief.
This is the moment I have feared more than any other in my life.
All our lives will change now.
Is this good or bad? Are they ready? Do they have a choice?
All of Arnon’s fears came pouring out at once, forcing him to take a deep, cleansing breath to regain his composure.
“Maybe we…” he stopped, closing his eyes. He did not dare speak his wishes aloud.
Kanda dropped his hand gently.
“Their path lies before them, Arnon. We cannot interfere with their destiny any longer,” she affirmed. “There is still a little time…” She did her best to allay his fears and offer comfort.
He nodded, barely able to ignore an irrepressible desire to seize the twins and run. To hide them far away from the dangers they now faced. Dangers that would find them, eventually, no matter where he tried to hide them.
“I knew this day was coming. Even so, I’m not sure I’m ready,” he admitted.
“None of us are,” she replied softly. “I love them like they are my own, too.”
Arnon dropped his gaze. She spoke the truth. It didn’t make it hurt any less.
“But they are not ours…” he spoke gently, more to remind himself than anything else.
Inside the trailer, the twins finished cleaning up and exited. They saw Kanda’s hand sliding down their uncle’s arm.
“Do you think they like each other, Col?”
“Sure they like each other. Why would we come back every summer if they didn’t?”
“I mean like-like,” Meghan rephrased. “You know. Are they in love?”
“Oh. That. Well, if they were, don’t you think Uncle Arnon would have stopped traveling around and stayed here with Kanda?”
“I can imagine a lot of things, Col. But Uncle Arnon settling down in one place is not one of them.”
Kanda and Arnon approached. “You must all come tonight, to my fire pit,” she bid them. “I have a grand feast prepared, to welcome the summer.”
Uncle Arnon forced his fears aside.
He had no other choice. He was the twins’ willing caretaker and protector. But fate was knocking loudly at the door and it would not stay closed much longer.
“We will be there, Kanda,” he replied firmly. “Besides, I know Colin is eager to hear more of your campfire stories.”
Colin’s excitement showed as he beamed widely in agreement.
“And I have a special one planned for tonight,” Kanda added, in a tone that sent Colin’s mind reeling with curiosity, and once again reignited Arnon’s fears for the twins’ safety.
Kanda’s mischievous eyes sparkled as her attention turned to the campground’s entrance. “And now, I think more good news.”
The low rumbling of the approaching motorhome was unmistakable. Meghan’s heart skipped a beat. A second later Colin had guessed, too.
“The Jendayas are here!” He ran a few steps closer, waving vigorously. Meghan ducked behind the mirror on their uncle’s station wagon, rechecking her clothes and hair. She wished there was time to apply a darker shade of eyeliner.
Arnon rejoined Kanda and held out his hand, inviting her to lead the way. She snatched him instead and they walked arm and arm.
The thirty-four-foot motorhome came to a slow, skidding stop. The windows rolled down and the entry door flew open. An athletic looking tall and tan boy, with crazily curly, dusty blond hair, leapt out, grinning widely.
“Sebastien, hey,” said Colin.
“Hey, backatcha,” the athletic boy replied, patting Colin’s shoulder. Sebastien turned to hug Meghan, but she kept her distance. He blushed slightly, but did not step any closer. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by his mother.
“Don’t run off, Sebastien,” she said, in a controlled, but quiet manner. “You need to help your father.”
“I know, Mom,” he answered begrudgingly.
He and the twins walked a short distance away so they could have their own private conversation.
“I was beginning to think summer would never get here,” Sebastien droned.
“It was a long year this time, wasn’t it?” agreed Colin. He continued without waiting for a reply. “There’s a caravan of gypsies in the campground. Did you see any of them on your drive in?”
“Gypsies? Um… no,” he stumbled across his words, his grin faltering.
The twins caught another whiff of something unfamiliar, their friend... caught off guard. But a moment later his grin had returned and he acted as though everything was perfectly normal.
“I haven’t seen them. Where are they camped? And please tell me you haven’t already gotten yourselves grounded by getting caught spying on them?”
Colin frowned at the idea.
Meghan laughed. “No. Not yet…” she replied, her tone insinuating it was only a matter of time. “They are in the next few sites over. You know, the ones with the permanently parked wagons,” she explained knowingly.
Sebastien’s gaze flitted toward the campsite next door. “So they are the owners of those.” It was nearly impossible to see the site next door from the Jacoby’s though. There was a thick divider of trees and shrubs between them.
He looked back at the twins.
Meghan swore she caught
the faintest hint of unease dissolving in his gaze.
“Always wanted to know what those wagons looked like on the inside,” he added, a grin widening across his face.
“I know. Right,” she agreed. “So weird, no windows you can see into.”
Colin sighed. His sister the nosy neighbor… “I am not spying on them, so get that idea out of your head.”
“Grow up, Little Bro. Can’t be endlessly afraid of getting caught all your life.”
Colin scowled. “Not afraid,” he clarified. “Um, well, except that you will get us into trouble again. And I am not getting grounded this summer!”
Meghan punched him in the arm.
Colin winced.
“I can see the two of you have not changed a bit,” jested their friend. Meghan forgot her tirade on Colin as blood rushed to her already flushed face, turning her cheeks even rosier.
A voice carried over to the trio.
“Sebastien, honey, it’s time to go,” called his mother.
“Let’s meet up in two hours, at the secret path,” he suggested, jumping back on board the motorhome. Meghan and Colin nodded their agreement. Sebastien gave them the thumbs up, which meant one thing: summer had officially started!
CHAPTER TWO
Two hours had not seemed like a long time to wait, but after mere minutes, the twins were already bored. Meghan kept busy by turning her room upside down in attempts to locate her lost black jacket. After finally locating it, she set up her sewing kit… outside the trailer near her brother… and sewed on a new button. Colin attempted to read a book, but let his thoughts meander every few lines or so.
“Why do you keep trying to read that book?” asked Meghan, her eyes still on her sewing project.
“Huh?” Colin had only half heard her.
“You’ve started it like ten times and haven’t even finished the first chapter,” Meghan said. “It obviously isn’t any good.” She cut her thread and put the needle back in her sewing kit.
Colin put the book down.
“I guess I keep trying because it is the only book I own that I have not finished. I’ve read everything else I own at least five times over.”
“Yeah, more like ten. I will never understand your need to read books.”
Colin could think of a hundred different, and as equally amusing, replies, but decided it was not worth the energy to get into another argument with her.
Meghan arose to put away her sewing kit, when a rustling in the bushes between their camp and the gypsies’, stopped her in her tracks. Colin slid his chair back a few feet, not thrilled at the prospect of something in the woods he could not see.
“Oh, don’t be such a chicken, Col. It’s too high off the ground to be anything big.” Meghan thought she saw the shadow of something in the rustling bushes and stepped a little closer. She sensed her brother’s opinion that getting closer might not be the smartest idea.
“I see… something,” she said softly, scrunching her eyes together in attempt to focus into the bush. “Looks like a…” she fell backwards, yelping, as a bird flew out of the shrub nearly missing a straight on collision with her face.
Colin tried to get a close look at the bird, his curiosity getting the better of him, even over the humor of his sister’s shocked face. As it flew away, he could see a spiky blue-gray crest, a long, black, sharp looking bill and a white underbelly. Colin tried to recall such a bird from his books and wondered what it was.
“I saw it in there,” insisted Meghan, regaining her composure. “I just couldn’t get out of the way in time.” She haughtily swiped dirt and pine needles off her skirt, gathered up her sewing supplies and pretended she was not the least bit surprised by what had happened.
“Sis, did you see any colors other than blue or gray?”
Meghan turned from irritated to furious at once.
“Are you serious? I almost got my face torn off by a bird and you’re asking me if I got a look at its colors?” She abruptly stormed off, disappearing inside the travel trailer.
“It didn’t even touch your face, you don’t have to…” he stopped and blocked her from hearing him. “Ah, why bother? She won’t listen anyway.” He wished he could keep the block in place longer, but it broke just a minute later when he grabbed his book and followed her inside. Her angry silent mumblings echoed into his mind until she finally calmed down and emerged from the bathroom, throwing her dirt covered skirt into the washer.
“Oh, wearing black again,” baited Colin, catching the slightest wink in his uncle’s eye.
“I’ll dress the way I want to.”
Colin followed her into their shared room.
“I was kidding, Meghan. But even you have to admit that your clothes look a lot alike. And yet it takes you forever to get dressed.”
“And that shows how much you know!” she snapped back. “My outfits are NEVER the same. That is why it takes so long. For example, and like you would notice, but I have not worn my tall black boots in days,” she argued. “And I just found this sweater yesterday. I lost it weeks ago.”
“Well if it all looks the same to me, I’d wager it looks the same to everyone else, too.” He knew that would infuriate her. “Besides,” he continued, “I can be ready in ten minutes, tops.”
“That’s pretty obvious,” she snorted. “Talk about wearing the same thing every day. Khaki’s, loafers, and that ridiculous vest!”
“Ridiculous? What?”
His sister plugged her nose, pretending an unbearable stench had entered the room.
“I do not stink,” he sputtered, his face turning red with anger.
“That’s enough,” broke in a stern voice. “You two need to stop arguing and learn to get along,” scolded their uncle.
They stopped arguing, but a moment later, silently, Meghan shot a jeering thought to her brother. “Another one for Meghan. Uh, huh. I rock.”
“I’m leaving,” called out their uncle. “Got a small job to do. Shouldn’t take long.” He pulled his camp hat low over his face. “Please try not to spend the rest of the day arguing,” he pleaded as he stepped out of the trailer.
Arnon Jacoby was a fixer upper. He worked from camp to camp lining up jobs as they traveled. He had taken in Meghan and Colin after an accident claimed the lives of their parents at the age of two. Having always lived on the road, he made the decision to buy a larger trailer and take them along on his travels. They had never questioned why their uncle chose this lifestyle, especially since it meant they did not have to attend normal school. Although from the stories Sebastien had told them, they guessed that Uncle Arnon was right up there with being one of the strictest teachers ever.
Meghan closed the door to their shared room, which hid a mirror, and put on her jacket with the new button. Another perfect fix! She caught a side view of Colin’s face and sighed jealously.
“I wish I had your eyelashes. Any girl would die to have those, you know.”
“Great…”
“It’s the truth, Col.”
“I realize you are trying to be nice, Sis, but really, anything I have, that a girl would die to have, can’t be a good thing.”
She shook her head in disagreement.
“It’s not a bad thing, Col, believe me. Girls would kill for those thick lashes of yours.” She took off the jacket tossing it back to the pile-of-black on the floor. “Well there. Chores are done. You ready to go spy on our new neighbors?”
“Do I have a choice?” he returned with a huff.
“You can’t hide it from me that you’re curious,” she taunted.
Colin sighed.
She was right.
Again.
“Let’s not take all day about it. Remember Sebastien? We are supposed to meet him soon.”
“Don’t worry, it won’t take long.”
Colin followed her out of the trailer.
“How many emails did you get from Sebastien over the last few months, anyway?” Colin asked daringly as he followed her. She did n
ot answer him about the emails, but her cheeks now matched the color of her flame red hair.
One night, a few months back, Colin had accidentally discovered that Meghan had developed a crush on their shared friend. She had just finished reading an email from Sebastien and before she had fallen asleep, let slip the words, “Goodnight, Sebastien. My love.”
Colin had laughed moronically all night long. He was not sure if he had ever seen his sister as mortified as the night he discovered she had a crush on Sebastien Jendaya.
The twins pushed their way through the bush and tree filled divider, which separated the campsites, attempting to sneak a peek at the gypsies.
There was a group of men sitting around a campfire playing strange looking guitars; their fingers moved at incredible speeds, playing music that was catchy, yet soothing, almost trance-like. They looked out of place sitting around a campfire dressed in their brightly colored shirts and winged-tipped shoes and sports jackets.
“Nothing too weird to report here,” said Meghan, losing interest.
They lingered a minute longer when something too weird did happen.
Colin breathed in abruptly as he lost control of his body and could no longer move. Not even his gaze was under his control. His eyes penetrated by another pair of eyes just on the inside of the gypsy camp.
“Tell me what to do!” he cried silently.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Meghan replied, searching his thoughts in vain for something to help her understand.
Colin got a keen sense that someone could clearly see the two of them standing in the woods, spying. His face went white with dread as he saw the shadow of a figure get up and walk in their direction.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” croaked Colin, trying to look away. His eyes or body would not budge. He remained frozen in place. Being caught spying was definitely not how Colin imagined meeting his new neighbors.
In the next moment, a shrill, screeching howl echoed overhead. Seemingly from high up in the sky. A chill raced down the twins’ spines simultaneously releasing Colin from his statue-like imprisonment. The howl bellowed down like an ominous warning and was unlike anything they’d ever heard before.
Awaken (The Witches, The Spell Book, and The Magic Tree) (A Fated Fantasy Quest Adventure Book 1) Page 2
