Control (Book Seven) (Fated Saga Fantasy Series)

by Humphrey - D'aigle, Rachel

  “So where’s your mother?” she heard Colin asking.

  Ivan motioned for them to follow.

  Meghan nodded for Colin, Sebastien and Jae to follow Ivan, and she and Nona brought up the rear.

  “How do I protect someone who is so much more powerful than I am?” Meghan wondered. She heard her Catawitch’s thoughts mixing with her own.

  “Your protection doesn’t come from magic,” Nona said. “Your protection comes from love. He will always be your brother.”

  “Love can’t protect him, Nona.”

  “Love can go a long way,” her Catawitch replied. Nona felt another distress in Meghan’s mind, one she did not have to vocalize aloud or through her thoughts. “He scares you. Not always. But sometimes he does.”

  Meghan did not reply; she didn’t wish to think about it.

  Ivan came to a stop.

  Isabella Crane awaited their arrival, greeting them at the door.

  “How did you know we were coming?” asked Ivan.

  “I have my ways,” she winked in reply. “Although, I have to admit I was not expecting you to return so soon. Alas, I must also admit, I am not disappointed to see you again so soon.”

  Meghan bounded forward and hugged her mother. Sebastien, Jae and Nona greeted her. She introduced Colin. Everyone turned to see Ivan still standing in the doorway.

  He was staring at the place his mother called home. He had not seen it yet. Isabella gently grasped his arm and asked him to come in.

  He did, but said nothing.

  Isabella already had a teapot whistling and she bustled about getting everyone a beverage. Meghan decided to get right to the point.

  “We are hoping you might be able to help us with something. We have a problem and it has to do with my father’s mother. My and Colby’s grandmother,” explained Meghan.

  A questioning gaze flitted across Isabella’s face. “Aloyna Fazendiin?”

  “Is that her name?” asked Meghan.

  “Yes.”

  Meghan was pleased that they had come. Just finding out her grandmother’s name was already more than they had to go on previously.

  Seeing their hopeful faces, Isabella added, “I don’t know as I’ll be much more help on the subject of Aloyna. It’s not a subject Fazendiin ever spoke of in any depth. Apparently, even a man, if you can still call him a man, as old and powerful as Jurekai Fazendiin still mourns his mother.”

  “Who’d a thunk it,” said Sebastien in a mocking tone. “The leader of the Grosvenor, a mama’s boy.” It caught a few under the breath chuckle-filled replies.

  “A funny sentiment indeed,” continued Isabella. “Still, my only information about Aloyna comes from Colby. He spoke of her a few times when I still had contact with him...years ago. Told me she was nice, strict, especially when she took over his school lessons in Fazendiin’s absence. Poor boy didn’t have much of a childhood. No friends. Other than a glass grandmother.” Isabella shook her head in dismay.

  Meghan felt a pit growing in her stomach. The pit had might as well just move in and get comfortable, she thought. Lately it rarely ever left. How could Colby be anything but messed up, she wondered? He had grown up with Fazendiin as a father. He’d had no regular childhood, no friends his own age.

  Not that she and Colin had either. But they had at least had each other, and eventually, Sebastien. Plus, they had their Uncle Arnon taking care of them. It might not have been perfect, but it was far better than anything Colby had ever experienced.

  It was hard to hate him. Even for everything he had done or might do... it was hard to hate her brother, knowing she’d had it so much better than he did. Even so, it changed nothing. Not really.

  All she could do was show him there was another way to live. One that didn’t include hurting or killing people, just because he judged them to deserve it.

  Isabella looked up, a question forming in her eyes. “Why do you want to know about Aloyna?”

  Meghan explained their predicament.

  Isabella was just as stunned by Freyne’s request to have her freed as anyone else. If she feared it might be a mistake to free her, she kept it to herself.

  “I did ask Colby,” she explained. “I asked him if they’d ever discussed how Aloyna got into the glass. He told me he had asked, but she refused to speak of it.”

  Another dead end, Colin thought to himself.

  The teakettle whistled again. Isabella hustled to the stove, sliding it to a cool spot near the back. “More tea, anyone?”

  Meghan said yes, she’d already drunk most of hers. Everyone else declined. Isabella directed them to sit and get off their feet. Meghan and Colin sat down at the small table, with Isabella, Nona lounging at their feet. Sebastien sat atop a large round stump positioned near the stove. Jae slipped into a chair opposite the table, while Ivan refused to sit and leaned near the fireplace.

  “What about using Firemancy?” he asked after a bit. “Something Jae said a few days ago has been stewing around my brain. Can you force a vision, one that could go back far enough in history to see how Aloyna was cursed into the glass?”

  Jae’s face lit up. Had his far-fetched idea actually been a good one?

  Isabella turned stoic, disappearing into her thoughts for a minute before answering.

  “Is it possible to go that far back in history? Yes,” she answered hesitantly. “However, to force a vision, that’s not so easy... it could take weeks, months, years even.”

  Meghan took a sip of her perfectly temperatured tea, only to get startled and spill it down her chin as Isabella bounded out of her chair, darting to a shelf filled with papers and books.

  Isabella made a clucking sound as she sifted through the stacks, searching for something. “There you are,” she breathed out, grabbing an aged book. It was square and the edges were tattered with years of use.

  She scurried back to the table, setting it down, opening it, and flipped through the pages, her eyes sweeping through each at great speed until she found what she was looking for.

  “Yes! This might work,” she said to no one in particular. When she finished reading, she looked up, a victorious smile etched across her face.

  “What did you find?” asked Meghan.

  “As I said, you cannot force a vision of a certain event. Not just at will. With time, patience and luck, you might eventually see the specific event you’re looking for.”

  Meghan recalled when she had tried to force visions about Colin. It had not worked for her either. She had seen lots of things, but never what she had wanted to see. Now, she understood why. It didn’t work like that.

  “Now, forced visions being out of the question, what we are left with, are blood visions.”

  “What exactly is a blood vision?” asked Meghan.

  “It’s something only seers can perform,” explained Isabella. “A tool I’ve never used myself. I’ve only ever read about it.”

  She smoothed out the pages, sucking in an anxious breath.

  “A blood vision allows a seer to revisit their past,” she told them. “It allows you to see the history of your own bloodline. Only your own. It’s a tool that seers typically use to learn the tools of the trade from their ancestors.”

  “Wow. I can see where that would come in handy,” said Meghan. “But if I get what you’re saying, for example, I couldn’t use this spell to see Colin’s bloodline? Only mine.”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  Meghan had hoped that once all this business with Freyne was over, she could go back into Colin’s bloodline and give him some of the answers he was seeking; mainly being, who his parents were.

  Colin shot her a look that said it was of no matter. Catrina was all he cared about right now.

  “Regardless of the why’s and how’s of it all,” said Isabella, “you and Aloyna share the same bloodline, Meghan. I believe you could actually relive the moment in history where she is cursed into the glass. By pure luck, the moment you need to witness is from your own bloodlin
e.”

  Meghan let out a puff of air. “So what do I do?”

  Isabella glanced at her nervously. “First, you have to be sure, Meghan. Blood spells are not to be taken lightly. They can be dangerous.”

  “Dangerous how?” asked Ivan.

  “When under a blood spell, your mind travels into history. You’ll see events as if you are there, witnessing them. You cannot be seen. You cannot alter anything. It is but a memory stored deep within your blood. Your physical body will be as if in a deep sleep, or trance, and you won’t come out of it until you bring yourself out.”

  “So we’ll need to do this in hiding somewhere,” said Sebastien. “Meghan will need protection while she’s in this trance.”

  “That’s not here, I’m guessing,” said Ivan.

  “No. You might be safe enough here, but I cannot guarantee it,” Isabella answered.

  “We’ll go back to Kanda’s,” said Colin. “I can cloak the place. We can do the spell there.”

  Everyone agreed that it sounded like a good plan.

  “There’s more,” informed Isabella. She ripped out the pages and handed them to Meghan. “The spell itself is not complicated. I have no doubts you can perform it on your own. However, pay special attention to this warning.” She pointed to the bottom of the page.

  Meghan read it aloud.

  “Never travel into your blood history alone. Seers that have attempted to travel into their memories alone are known to get lost inside the memories, sometimes not finding their way out for weeks, or even months.”

  Meghan gulped.

  “You need to travel with at least one companion, preferably two or even three; but never more than three,” she went on to read. “Two or three companions will keep you anchored to reality as you travel through your blood memories. With more than three, the strength of reality is known to cast you out of the spell before you’re ready to leave it.”

  Meghan finished and looked up, seeing Jae, Sebastien and Ivan passing looks back and forth. She heard Nona trying to silence her own concerns.

  “Guess you’ll be going with me, Colin,” Meghan said after a moment.

  “I’m fine with that,” he answered. “Who will be the second?”

  Meghan glanced at Ivan.

  “You know I’ll do whatever you ask,” he told her, “but I would prefer to be your protection on the outside,” he answered truthfully.

  She nodded that she understood and agreed. Before she could ask Sebastien or Jae, she heard her mother whisper, “Colby. Bring Colby.”

  “You don’t think that would be dangerous?” Meghan asked. “He might tell our father what we’re up to, and I don’t even know if that’s a bad thing, seeing as he wants her free, but... Colby’s sort of a loose cannon these days.”

  “I understand your concerns,” replied her mother. “But there could be benefits to bringing him.”

  “Like what?” asked Ivan, disliking this plan.

  “For one, having two people with the same bloodline will only make the blood spell stronger. You will have a stronger connection to your history.”

  She paused, seeing that they needed more reasons to bring Colby.

  “Meghan,” she implored. “This could be an opportunity. To connect Colby to his past. It’s his history too. I can’t begin to guess at what you’ll see. But I do know that learning about your past can make you feel connected to something bigger. It might open his mind to a larger world than the one his father has created for him.”

  “I’m not a fan of this idea,” said Colin. “That kid,” he said spitefully, “has tried to kill me, more than once.”

  “But neither of you can die,” reminded Meghan. “And I know why we are doing this Colin, believe me, I’m not losing sight of saving Catrina. But look at it this way, if the three of us, you, me and Colby, are glued together because of this prophecy, maybe this isn’t such a bad idea. The three of us, working together towards a common goal,” said Meghan.

  Colin drew out a long breath. “Fine,” he mumbled unhappily. “If he agrees to help, he can tag along.” He tossed Meghan a fake smile.

  No one looked entirely pleased by the choice.

  “Even if you want him to come,” said Ivan, “How will you get him to?”

  “Yeah, he’s not exactly known for his cooperation,” added Sebastien.

  Jae didn’t have the exposure to Colby that the other’s did, but even he wasn’t keen on it, especially seeing Nona pacing around Meghan’s feet, looking as though she wanted desperately to disagree with her master.

  “If I know Colby, and I’m starting to, I can get him to agree,” she told everyone.

  “How?” asked Ivan.

  “Using his own tricks against him,” she said, eyeing Colin. She had seen it in Colin’s memories, when Colby had killed Jasper... basic human instinct. Colby wanted nothing more in this life than to please his father.

  ##

  The days were getting shorter and colder. A dusting of snow covered the ground. Kanda Macawi and Arnon Jacoby hurried to finish breakfast and gather for what was sure to be another interesting meeting. Today though, they would vote.

  Many small meeting and debates had taken place over the previous days, on whether to go after the Immortality Stone or to go to the Svoda Island and take Juliska Blackwell out of power.

  The main issues being even if they wanted to go after the Stone, could they? It might take weeks if not months to track the Stone. And how would they force Fazendiin to give it up?

  And if they wanted to take Juliska out of power, would they even be able to do so if Fazendiin still held the Stone within his grasp?

  Kanda and Arnon held the same fear; that as dire as the situation on the island was, without removing the Stone from the clasps of Jurekai Fazendiin, battling Juliska would prove disastrous. Especially if they were working together and he came to her rescue. There would be many casualties on all sides.

  They departed for the meeting, walking up behind Milo and Kay Jendaya. They walked in somber contemplation, together.

  There was no building large enough to hold everyone attending this morning’s meeting, which now included the original occupants of the encampment, the Tunkapog Tribe and the newly arrived ship of escapees from the Svoda island.

  The meeting was taking place in the pavilion in the middle of the encampment; the same location in which the Tunkapog had been ambushed by Amelia Cobb, upon first arrival.

  As the weather had turned cold and snow had fallen, a discussion on whether to use magic to enlarge a room, thus making it possible to meet indoors, had quickly ended in defeat.

  There was a battle coming.

  One way or another.

  And they would each need to keep all magical reserves for this. A warm meeting room was a frivolity they could not afford.

  Instead, they lit a bonfire in the center of the pavilion to stay warm. It only helped though, if you were close enough to feel the heat. Those standing near the outside of the pavilion couldn’t even tell there was a fire.

  The meeting commenced with Nashua, Kanda’s brother and leader of the Tunkapog, and Curtis Bevins, the newly appointed spokesman for the banished, and former prisoner (alongside Jae Mochrie), introducing Billie Sadorus and Noah Flummer. Billie spoke on behalf of the escapees.

  “We want to start by thanking everyone for their hospitality. You’ve all been very accommodating to our situation.” She nodded to Arnon and Kanda and a few others that had helped them personally. She opened her mouth to speak, when she felt a tug at her arm and stopped. Noah was pointing into the sky, overhead.

  Nashua stepped forward, as if to secure all those standing on the pavilion stage. If one had looked closely enough, the white fur that made up his clothing quivered, each strand that lined his back acting like a nerve standing at attention.

  A dark cloud swirled overhead. Lowering.

  A wind swept through the encampment launching frost and snow-covered leaves into the air, leaving trails of spark
ly white flakes in its wake.

  The dark cloud lowered.

  The ice-like snow swirled so hard people were forced to use their hands to cover their eyes, just to try to see. The swirl was moving towards the fire. Wet sizzles erupted as the snow hit the flames, dousing them little by little, until the last flame flickered and then fizzled, leaving them once again to fend off the cold. Only black smoke and steam rose from the fire pit now.

  Frightened murmurs spread.

  The dark cloud lingered overhead, casting a gloomy canopy over the encampment.

  Something started to fall out from the middle of the cloud. It fell slowly, as if floating downward, towards them.

  “Do not touch it,” advised Nashua.

  Every gaze was glued to the object.

  Not a breath could be heard as they waited.

  The shape of the falling thing started to form, the closer it dropped.

  It was a leaf. A wide one. Easily six inches across and larger in length. When it was about ten feet over their heads it stopped floating and started rotating.

  There was a simultaneous gasp as a voice came out of the leaf.

  Its identity was unmistakable: Jurekai Fazendiin.

  “I come bearing an invitation,” he spoke with ill-boding smugness. “I wish to meet. The coordinates of this meeting will be delivered upon your acceptance of this request. I voluntarily wish to surrender the Stone. I do not want it in my possession. Decide, quickly. That is all.”

  Words lit up on the body of the leaf, in fiery oranges and yellows.

  “Accept or decline this offer.”

  “It’s madness,” said Curtis. “He’ll not just hand it over!”

  “A trap, no doubt,” added Nashua.

  Doubts spread like fire throughout the encampment.

  “Why would he just hand over the Stone?” questioned Arnon, aiming his words at Kanda.

  “I fear the answer to that question,” she replied.

  “Surely we won’t just walk into a trap,” said Kay Jendaya.