“When we first came out,” said Colin, “I swear there was a face in that bush.”
“We all saw it,” whispered Jae. “Just bizarre. Don’t know how they’d have just vanished like that.”
Eddy flew back down to them. “I’m afraid too many eyes are upon us.”
The twins knew what this meant: they wouldn’t be able to see their uncle again, until he thought it was safe to do so. Eddy did an unexpected thing then.
“Jae, I just want to personally thank you for helping Meghan and Colin. I realize this must be a burden. I know your rules are strict.”
Jae shrugged, not outwardly concerned.
Meghan had a terrible thought. Was this what was bothering Jae? It seemed a far cry from the terrifying images she saw in her vision, but she supposed maybe she was taking it too literally. Perhaps it wasn’t a thing, or an actual person or monster even, hurting Jae, but a more metaphorical monster. Something suffocating him... like pressure. Not an actual person.
She felt like an idiot. Here they had just taken exams based on the very rules they were all breaking. Most importantly, Jae was breaking. And he’d already gotten into trouble because of the one’s he’d been caught for.
Was this all it was though? She wasn’t certain about this, but she’d add it to her journal. The severity of her nightmarish vision mingled into her thoughts and she slammed her mind block up so Colin could not accidentally see it.
“Colin,” called out their uncle. “Keep that book safe. Don’t carry it with you unless absolutely necessary.”
“Okay.”
Eddy let out a forlorn sigh. “Be safe. All of you. I’ll contact you as soon as I can. If anything happens you need to tell me about, send me a leaf straight away.”
They nodded and smiled sadly.
Time with their uncle was running short. And now they’d have even less of it. He vanished, leaving them to walk home. Timothy escorted them. Even he looked a bit sad that they’d not get to visit as soon as they wanted.
Another perfect day ruined... it was a thought they all carried as they walked somberly through Grimble, back to the wagons.
Their brooding ended abruptly.
“Trouble is not even close to what you three are in,” sneered the voice of Darcy Scraggs.
Ambushed again. And in the same spot as before. By the Three D’s.
“Do you think it was them spying on us just now?” sent Meghan to Colin silently.
“I can’t picture them spying and not getting caught,” he shot back.
“Colin, this is the second time they have ambushed us in the same spot. I don’t want to give them credit any more than you do, however, they might at least be smart enough to spy without getting caught.”
“Touche,” he retorted. “So how do we find out how much they know?”
“Still working on that.” Meghan eyed their ambushers, watching them closely. The twins and Jae stood back to back to back. Colin drew a determined breath; he didn’t want to crash out of the picture this time. Jae was a mixture of looking sick and angry. He really didn’t need any more trouble.
“So Darcy, going to let Miss Hadrian do all the talking for you again? It’s always so much fun listening to her,” needled Meghan.
Dulcy reeled with anger and started to open her mouth, but Darcy motioned for her to shut it.
Colin groaned. “Why do you always need to make her more upset?” He sent the thought to her rather than speak it.
“I’m trying to keep her sidetracked while we think of a way out of this. And hopefully not make things worse for Jae in the process.” Meghan kept her gaze on Darcy.
“I don’t think pissing her off is sidetracking her,” he argued. She ignored him, instead, incensing Darcy again.
“What is it you think we’ve done, exactly? You claimed you knew something before. Far as I can tell, you’re full of crap.”
Her reply was not what any of trio expected.
An enormous blast of air swept Meghan off her feet; she flew backwards, her head barely missing a tree branch. She landed on the ground with a soft thud.
“Darcy! You’ve done magic against someone,” Jae shouted, totally stunned. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He expected the Balaton to show up any second. They did not.
Meghan snuck into Colin’s thoughts and told him to stand his ground. “I’m fine.” She got back to her feet. Just as she did, Jae flew by her landing with a much harder thud.
Colin remained, alone.
“I have every right to use magic on you three!” Darcy spat at them. “You’re hiding something. I’ve had some very interesting conversations with a certain member of the Viancourt, and that certain member gave me permission to do magic and not... get... caught,” she taunted.
Jae was back on his feet and he and Meghan had rejoined Colin. The twins glanced at him, unsure what to do. He tossed them a curt shake of his head. He’d never seen anything like this happen before. A court member making it so someone could do magic and not get caught... it was unheard of.
Darcy huffed. “You’re really going to make me ask for it, aren’t you?”
They just stared at her.
“Whatever you’ve been hiding... hand it over.” She aimed her demand at Colin. He staggered backwards into his sister. Did she mean the book? The Magicante?
“Oh, don’t worry,” said Darcy with a vicious laugh. “I know you don’t have it on you, but I expect you to deliver it to me by tomorrow. Then the authorities can deal with you... and you,” she barked at Jae.
“Why are you doing this, Darcy? Do you hate my family that much?”
“It’s not a matter of hate, Jae. It’s a matter of survival. You and your family have gotten lazy. You’re becoming a hazard to the group.”
“So that’s it. You and a few select others think my family is holding you all back. How so, exactly?”
“You three know so little,” she sneered, shaking her head. “Dulcy, Daveena.” Darcy snapped her fingers for them to follow her. They did without further instruction. “Don’t forget. Deliver it by tomorrow! Or you’ll all be... homeless,” she jeered malevolently.
Something snapped inside Colin. He faced the Three D’s backsides and raised his hand to strike. Jae realized instantly what he was about to do, and at the same moment Colin sent his spell, Jae shot one off to block it.
“Emissio,” yelled Colin.
“Obstructo.” Jae’s spell found Colin’s, blocking it from hitting its target.
Darcy spun around, a wide grin spread across her face. She shook her head as if dealing with nothing more than silly children before catching up with the other two.
Jae blocked Colin but faced him. “It’s not worth it. If that spell hit one of them, we would be in serious trouble.”
“I’m sorry Jae, I couldn’t help myself.” Colin wasn’t sure what exactly came over him.
Jae let out a rushed breath. “If I could have, and got away with it, I would’ve done it myself!”
Timothy floated back down. “Are you all right? Do you want me to fetch Eddy?”
“No, it’s fine, Timothy,” said Colin. “I don’t think we should worry Uncle Eddy about this.”
Timothy floated next to Colin’s ear. “Is this another secret?”
Colin nodded yes, half-heartedly. Timothy swirled high into the air in delight of having a second secret.
Jae examined the scene.
Meghan’s shirtsleeve had a slice through it, and Nona had jumped into her arms and was licking a small cut on her arm. It wasn’t deep, but there was a bit of blood on her shirt.
Despite looking a bit sick to his stomach, Colin wasn’t physically injured.
Jae was disheveled and had the wind knocked out of him, but wasn’t outwardly injured either.
He expected the twins were feeling the same level of anxiety that he was. He shook his head in dismay. “Sorry, Meghan. I wish I could heal your cut like I did back when we were all in Cobbscott. I don’t get it really, b
ut I just don’t have enough magical energy in me to do it.”
Healing wasn’t something Colin was ready to try yet.
“No worries, Jae,” said Meghan, tossing him a weak smile. “I think we have much bigger problems than a small cut on my arm.”
“We don’t look that bad,” agreed Colin. “We do need to come up with some kind of plan though.”
“Any ideas?” Meghan asked Jae. She lifted her arm, wincing; her cut was about two inches long but not deep. Nona kept up licking the wound.
“I did have one thought,” said Jae. “It’s possible, I don’t know how likely, but possible she’s just still angry over not being able to expose you.”
“Hm, revenge, sounds fun,” Meghan droned sarcastically.
“What I’m wondering more than anything,” said Jae, “is how a certain Viancourt member got hold of a spell that can hide using magic against another person. I wasn’t aware anything like that existed.”
“Isn’t that one of the rules though?” asked Meghan. “You can use magic against someone with permission from a Viancourt member, right?”
“True, yes,” said Jae. “But it would still be known. It wouldn’t be hidden. They’re allowing her to do it under the radar. No one knows it happened except for us, and them.”
“That does not bode well,” groaned Colin.
“And of all the people to give it to, why Darcy?” wondered Meghan.
“Okay, first... when we say certain Viancourt member, we are talking about Garner Sadorus, right?” interrupted Colin.
“That would be my guess,” said Meghan.
“Mine too,” agreed Jae. “If he wanted information, say for example, about two new strangers that Darcy would have easier access to...”
Meghan and Colin let out simultaneous groans, understanding his insinuation. Maybe they should tell Uncle Eddy.
Jae looked at them quite seriously. “Remember the day you first met your Uncle Eddy, when we had the ghost candy?”
Colin hadn’t thought of that in weeks. “The person on the roof,” he recalled.
“I can’t be sure of course, but this could have something to do with what you saw.”
“You think Darcy or Garner Sadorus could have something to do with what Colin saw on the roof?” Meghan asked.
Jae shrugged. “It’s one possibility. They sure seem interested in you guys. For whatever reason they won’t explain.”
Meghan bit her lip, unease settling in her gut. “Lots of interesting questions we’ve got here. Too bad we don’t have any answers.”
“And no idea how to get any,” Colin added.
Jae glanced back and forth between his new friends, wondering just what Garner Sadorus was trying to do. He may not have liked the Mochrie family that much, but this attack and obsession with the twins even seemed far-fetched for him. And it was all centered around this book. The Magicante. Jae was starting to believe it had nothing to do with him or his family at all.
In addition, this was also going on behind the Balaton’s back. And worse, the Banon’s. He toyed with marching up to the fort and telling the leader what was going on. She’d be sure to put a stop to it. Wouldn’t she?
Jae wasn’t sure what to do. He knew what he should do. But something nagged at him to just let things be. For now.
They silently made their way back to the wagons where they bid Timothy goodbye. The trio stepped into Bedgewood Harbor and stopped, half expecting to be ambushed.
The Three D’s were nowhere in sight.
In fact, it was fairly quiet and normal looking.
Nona jumped out of Meghan’s arms and wound around her legs.
Colin gasped.
The others jumped, easily startled. They saw nothing though, and stared at him in a what the heck was that for grimace.
He pointed at Meghan’s arm. She lifted it to look.
“What the...” she let out a mini gasp of her own. “It’s gone. The cut, it’s totally healed.” They all looked down at Nona, who purred in gratified contentment at her master’s feet. Meghan bent over and picked up the Catawitch, snuggling it to her face. “Nona, you are by far, the coolest cat ever!”
They headed toward home. It was difficult to remain disheartened as they walked through the town. Everyone was hanging decorations in preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday. Sheila and Mireya had spent the morning decorating the Mochrie cottage in autumn colors. The smell of pies baking wafted invitingly from the kitchen.
Problems? What problems? All the trio was concerned with now was eating pie.
Jae took them aside, and they decided to give the Three D’s warning some thought for the night. The only conclusion they could confirm was that Colin was not handing over the Magicante. Today. Tomorrow. Or any other day!
“I really don’t think they’ll do anything if you don’t hand it over,” insisted Jae. Even as he said it, he wasn’t certain at all. Darcy had attacked them by order of Garner Sadorus.
“You really think so?” asked Meghan quietly.
“They seem ready to take action,” argued Colin.
“They might be. But they’re doing it all in secret. Behind everyone’s backs.” Jae eyed each of them knowingly.
Colin nodded, understanding. “We should stay in public places. In groups of people. Where Balaton, or anyone, would be sure to see something.”
“Yeah, okay,” agreed Meghan. “This could work. Just don’t get in a situation where they could corner us.”
“I think it’s all we can do, for now at least.”
With that, they each let out a huge sigh. It was something, if not much.
They rejoined Sheila and Mireya and helped prepare dinner. The rest of the day managed to be quite pleasant, with an early, and most delicious, pre-holiday feast being served. Ivan did not join them, and Irving arrived just as the food was served.
He had a big grin on his face. “I’ve been promoted!” he announced to everyone.
Everyone cheered and congratulated Irving on getting his management of the bank back. Basically meaning he was now in charge of monitoring and maintaining the Svoda’s travel finances.
The twins hoped it wasn’t a sick joke by Garner Sadorus to give Mr. Mochrie the job, only to strip it from him again once he had ousted his son, and the Jacoby’s.
As what? Or for what?
They were not even sure. Other than, it all came back to Colin’s book.
The Magicante.
THANKSGIVING ARRIVED and the Mochrie house was full, being that both Irving and Ivan were at home, rather than at work. The entire Svoda village was shut down, even the hospital; there were no patients.
Colin thought of the beautiful sick girl with the silver hair he had seen there. Who was she? Was she better, and if so, why hadn’t he seen her around? His face reddened thinking about the girl. Meghan gazed oddly at him, attempting to invade his thoughts. He cleared his throat and blocked her.
At noon, three guests arrived for a pre-feast gathering. They included Billie Sadorus, plus the Jackal sisters, owners of The Jackal Lantern. They were dressed in their usual 1930’s style dresses, including beautiful lace gloves. That’s where their good manner’s ended however, especially once they’d gotten into Sheila Mochrie’s pumpkin brandy (known to be the best in the village).
Jae licked his lips. “If we’re lucky, mom’ll let us try a little.”
Instead, a minute later she was asking them to bring a plate down to the basement for Corny. “I wish I could get him out of that dark cellar and up to the table, he’s just so darn stubborn.”
Meghan arrogantly volunteered.
Jae snickered. “Be careful, he might bite if you get too close.”
The way Jae said it gave her the creeps.
“You’re coming with me,” she said, dragging Colin along. “It’s a shame he won’t come up, he’s missing all the fun. Of course, fun doesn’t ever last too long around here.”
They glanced at each other, expecting something terrible to ruin
their day at any moment.
“It can’t get ruined, every time,” whispered Colin.
“Wanna take bets?” she mumbled.
He begrudgingly followed his sister to the door in the floor, and they climbed down the ladder into the dank basement. One single candle flame flickered in a far corner. It gave off only a dim light, barely enough to cast a shadow.
Meghan held her skirt off the dusty floor. Colin held the tray.
“Where is he?” she asked, straining her eyes to see. It took a minute for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. He wasn’t on his bed. Colin moved deftly and put down the tray on a table by his bed. He tiptoed back to the ladder, hoping to escape without seeing Corny.
“Maybe he’s out?” Meghan suggested, turning to face her brother. “Colin. Don’t move,” she ordered in a loud whisper, in a tone that always made him want to run. “Hi there, Mr. Corny, sir. We brought you some Thanksgiving Dinner. Still hot, over there,” she pointed toward the tray.
Corny’s hot, tobacco-stenched breath pelted the back of Colin’s neck. He took a slow step forward and then turned around even slower. Corny’s face hid in the shadows, but his gritty teeth poked through his unkempt beard. He stepped forward into the light pouring down from upstairs, holding a tablet of paper in his hand. He ripped out a page and handed it to Colin. It was covered with non-coherent scribbling.
“Thanks, Corny. I’ll um... hang it in my room,” stammered Colin.
The old man tore out another page forcing Colin to take it; it was covered with the same scribbling. He tapped at it with his hands. Colin looked at it again, but saw nothing but a bunch of non-sensical pen scratching. But Corny didn’t give up. He tapped at it again, grunted, grinned, winked, and nodded as if he’d gotten his point across.
Colin had no idea what this was all about, but he held his breath, grasped the pages and followed his sister up the ladder. She’d already made it halfway up. As his head poked up into the house there was a pull at his leg and he slipped down a few rungs, coming face to face with Corny’s sour-breathed tobacco mouth.
Colin sucked in and swallowed a gasp. There was a sound like paper ripping, followed by Corny vigorously shoving another scribbled page into Colin’s hand. He appeared satisfied now and shuffled back to his bed, ignoring the holiday dinner.
Fated Fantasy Adventure Page 34
