The Ghost, The Dragon, and The Lost King (Fated Chronicles Book 4)

by Humphrey Quinn

“That did not answer my question.”

  “Ivan, we have finally reached that pivotal moment where the past is catching up to the future.” He looked ready to explode if someone didn’t come clean, immediately.

  “Son,” said Isabella. “Meghan is about to create our greatest weapon in this war.”

  “What do you mean by this?” It was Nona who demanded an answer.

  “Yes, what great weapon? And why can’t she do that here?” Ivan demanded to understand.

  “I will explain all, and I will start from the beginning.” Aloyna shifted to get comfortable. Ivan sighed miserably. This was not going to be a short story.

  “I’ll make some tea,” Isabella offered.

  The strobe-light craziness slipped away, leaving Meghan and Sebastien in an embrace of hanging on for dear life. Everyone else in the room got blurry and hard to see as this bright light swept over the two of them. It’s coming from my locket, she realized, right as things got even crazier. The light had entombed the two of them like some kind of shell of protection. But from what? Just what did her father have in store for her?

  No, this wasn’t her father. It had started out that way. This was coming from her locket. The one her mother had wrapped around her neck as an infant. The one with the thorns that pricked her skin, now and again.

  And that’s when she heard the voice. She dared take a larger look around herself.

  “What’s going on,” asked Sebastien, shock thick in his throat.

  Directly around them was this silvery shield where all was calm, but outside, it was like pure chaos passing them by. But it was moving so fast nothing made any sense. It was just a series of unidentifiable shadows and movement.

  “You are going to where you need to be.” The voice, it became clearer.

  Meghan gasped. “Who are you?” A woman in white approached, and Meghan recognized her as the woman she’d once tried to wake up. But had been told now was not the time. Apparently, today was the time.

  “I am no one. And everyone. I am magic, in its purest form. And I’m here to take you where you need to go. Do not worry. Your father cannot reach you in here. You’re safe from his grasp.” Her silhouette began to fade. “You’re almost there now. I will see you again, soon.”

  Meghan and Sebastien eyed each other, like, what the heck is going on, and where the heck were they going, and holy hell, I suddenly feel like I can’t breathe and…

  It stopped.

  Everything stopped.

  The bright silvery light was gone.

  The cave where her mother and grandmother and Ivan and Nona were, was gone.

  They were surrounded by earth, below them, and trees around them. A starry night sky, high overhead. Slowly and cautiously, they got to their feet, checking out their surroundings before taking a single step. Meghan refused to let go of Sebastien for fear they might get separated. If they were stuck in some memory, he was her only anchor now. Ivan hadn’t made the trip.

  Meghan stared upward for a moment and drew her gaze down to fix on Sebastien’s.

  “What the heck happened?” he asked her.

  “I can’t say,” she shook her head. “This is nothing like the last time. Last time, it was like walking through dreams. Watching old memories, like movies. It wasn’t like being bounced through a disco hall, or so loud and chaotic.” She glanced down at her locket.

  “Who was that woman?”

  “You heard what I heard.” Meghan kicked her foot across the ground. “This dirt is quite real feeling.”

  “So we’ve gone somewhere then,” he guessed. “Your father must have been prepared for you to try this.”

  “So much for getting one up on him.”

  “I wonder how far away we are from everyone. He must be vying for time. Wanted us separated from everyone else.”

  “Maybe. He wouldn’t know though, when, or if I’d actually try this. Only that I might. And whatever he was trying to do, I think whoever that woman is in my locket, she intervened.”

  “So we are wherever she sent us?” He reached out and touched one of the trees.

  “It’s not like we couldn’t touch things when I went through my memories before,” Meghan explained. “But it very much had the sense of memory, not real. This,” she knocked upside the tree his hand was on. “This is real.”

  “Okay, so we gotta figure out where we are. Why we’re here. And how to get home.”

  “I agree. And we can probably let go of each other,” she added awkwardly. He still had one of his hands firmly in hers.

  “Oh, yeah. Right.” He let go, and they separated a little. Venturing out a few steps.

  “Listen,” he whispered a second later. “C’mon,” he grabbed her hand again and they swept through the trees until they thinned out a little. Not far away were the sounds of civilization. People. Music. Revelry. Other noises they could not identify.

  “Do you think we should?”

  “Do we have a choice? We need to find out where we are. I could go like a bird,” he grinned lightly. She gawked at their hands, once again wound together. And shook her head.

  “I don’t want to get separated. I know you can transform on the fly, but, let’s just stick together until we know where we are.”

  He wasn’t about to argue. And looked far too happy to hold her hand, which gave Meghan’s stomach another flip flop. Anymore of those and she was going to turn inside out.

  They meandered cautiously through the thinning trees until they reached the backside of a building. They walked along until they came to an alleyway, separating it, and another building. It appeared there was a bustling town just on the other side.

  Meghan stared down it; there was something familiar about this alleyway.

  “What is it?” Sebastien questioned her puzzled stare.

  “Deja vu I guess. Feel like I’ve been here before.”

  They stared down the long alley. Did they go through, see what was on the other side? It sounded like a bustling town, and there were shapes of people walking by from time to time, far in the distance. Perhaps they’d just get lost in the crowd and not be noticed. If they were lucky, Meghan had been here before, and would recognize the place.

  She took a bold step and led the way. Sebastien kept his eye behind them and bumped into her when she came to an abrupt stop a few seconds later. She was staring at an empty and parked wooden cart. Why was this familiar to her? Where had she seen this before?

  “Are you remembering something?” Sebastien hoped. “Recognize where we are?”

  “There’s something familiar.” She blew it off and took them past the cart towards the active town ahead. Only to pop out onto the street, freeze, and feel Sebastien drag her back into the shadow of the alley.

  “People should not be dressed like that,” he muttered loudly. “We land in some medieval fair or something?”

  Meghan peeked out around the corner. Sebastien’s head popped out above hers.

  “This isn’t any fair, Sebastian. You can’t turn an entire town into something like this.” Unless they’d landed in some amusement park or something, but she didn’t see any rides!

  They pulled themselves back in and stood flat against the wall, mulling over the possibilities. Ignoring the one blatant choice, because it wasn’t possible. It was the simplest explanation, but just not possible!

  Meghan shoved her hands outward. “This is stupid. I’m just going to go out there because there has to be a logical explanation.” She marched around the corner right into a girl, around ten years old.

  “Apologies, Miss. I did not see you.” She curtsied, gave Meghan a smile and continued on. Sebastien yanked Meghan back inside the safety of the alley.

  “Holy crap. Crap. Crap. It’s real. We are definitely not stuck in a memory. That girl was real, and she saw me.”

  “I’m just gonna come out and say it,” Sebastien stumbled out the words. “I think, somehow we went back in time.”

  “And that doesn’t make us crazy a
t all. Because that is not possible. And yet…” she threw her hands outward motioning crazily to the town, which screamed, history! The past!

  “Okay, um, let’s just say we have, gone back in time,” Sebastien continued. “Why? And how? And how the hell do we get home? And just what year is this?”

  Meghan’s head flipped back to the empty cart they’d passed.

  “Oh my God. I know where we are. When we are,” she corrected.

  “And?”

  “About a few hundred years ago, I’d wager.”

  “Um. Okay. I’ve seen some crazy kinds of magic, but this is…”

  Meghan breathed out. “We have come back to the time of the Stone War, Sebastien. When Aloyna was first cursed into the glass. And she was working with Jasper to stop my father.”

  “How do you know?”

  She pointed back at the cart. “I saw that cart get blown up. And Jasper and Aloyna were in the alley, talking. About the fake, made up prophecy.”

  He blew out a ragged exhale and plunked back against the wall.

  She joined him a second later. “So now what?”

  “Still trying to wrap my brain around the whole back in time thing.”

  She glanced down at her locket wishing she could ask the woman inside just what she was doing here, and how they’d get back home?

  “We’re here for a reason, Sebastien. I guess we just have to… go out there and find out why.”

  “Okay. Yeah. Um, we’re not exactly going to fit in. But that, I can fix. As long my magic still works here.” He took another peek around the corner and investigated more closely, the typical clothing of the day, and came back to Meghan. “Ready?”

  “Yup. But, you know,” she stopped him. “Make it look good.”

  He laughed, and grinned. “I would never dream of doing anything, but.” It was funny how some things didn’t change.

  In a single inhale and exhale, and wave of Sebastien’s hand, they’d both gotten a wardrobe change.

  “I really need to learn how to do that,” she told him.

  “I can teach you. Some other time, when we’re not stuck in the past.”

  “Yeah, one problem at a time.”

  “How’d I do?” he asked her.

  She glanced down at herself. It was a deep red, form-fitting tunic that fell down her back but stopped at her stomach. It clasped in the front with black buckles. She had black pants on underneath and tall boots with matching black clasps.

  “If we ever get to dress up for Halloween again, I’ll let you magic me a costume.”

  He chuckled. “Ready for this?”

  “Nope.” She stepped out anyway. And just as Sebastien made it to her side, she stopped and froze. It appeared they were not going to make it very far without stopping. Meghan’s gaze fixed on the two people hurrying in their direction.

  “Wow,” muttered Sebastien. Meghan’s mouth just hung open.

  The pair cast Meghan and Sebastien a curious look but stepped right by, clearly in a hurry to get somewhere. Their gait held a sense of urgency. But then the woman stopped, glanced to her side wearing a curious expression, and spun around. Her gaze searched Meghan up and down. Her companion did the same only after realizing he was suddenly bustling along, alone.

  The woman approached Meghan, a confused look in her eye.

  “I smell you,” she muttered. “But I don’t know you. Why do I smell my blood in you?”

  Meghan stammered over a few non-sensical words. The woman’s companion came up alongside the woman.

  “Aloyna?” he questioned. It was Jasper Thorndike. And her grandmother.

  “Who are you?” Aloyna ordered quietly, like they were trying not to draw too much attention.

  The only words that came to Meghan’s mind were, the truth.

  “I’m your granddaughter. From the very distant future. And that doesn’t sound like a direct ride right to the looney bin.”

  “I have no grandchildren.”

  “She did say the distant future,” Jasper responded, as if the idea was not at all preposterous.

  “I only have one son.”

  “Yeah, that’s my dad,” she tried to make light. “I wasn’t raised by him,” she clarified abruptly.

  Aloyna lifted a brow. Jasper gave her a shrug that only she understood the meaning of. Her grandmother sighed.

  “You’re lucky, he knows when people are lying.”

  “I’m not lying.”

  “I’d wager you’d better come with us then,” Aloyna decided.

  There was no, how are you here?

  Or where exactly did you come from?

  Or, you’re related to me, hi, nice to meet you.

  Or even shock, really.

  Meghan and Sebastien passed a wary glance between them. He grabbed her hand again. They were staying together, no matter what.

  “Nice outfit, by the way,” her grandmother told her as she and Jasper took off. “It’s nice to see a young woman embrace herself in such daring clothes. I’m sure your husband appreciates it, too.” She had a humored tease in her voice.

  Meghan choked out some more words that didn’t quite form, meaning to say, “Oh, he’s not my husband. And right, olden days, people married super young.” Sebastien was no help, trying not to laugh at her. She finally mustered out, “We’re not married.”

  “You’re holding hands in public.” Which meant, of course you are.

  “We are recently married,” Sebastien answered on her behalf. “It’s still new to us.”

  “Oh, well, congratulations, and many blessings.” Aloyna and Jasper motioned them down some stairs into a basement.

  Meghan eyed Sebastien, hard.

  He got in close to her ear and whispered. “They think we’re not married, we get separated. That’s not happening. I don’t care who we happened to run into. And… you do look good.” He would know, he picked it out.

  And suddenly there wasn’t enough room to breathe inside her clothes. Meghan forced out a silent grumble. They followed down a long corridor, leading to who knew where.

  CHAPTER 35

  Juliska eyed Colby unhappily. She despised being summoned. Especially at this moment. She had much to do, and little time. And now, of all days, Fazendiin wanted a personal meeting.

  “What does he wish to see me about? I’m busy.”

  Colby eyed the Queen like she was crazy to even think she could turn him down.

  She ground her teeth together, she wasn’t going to get out of this. And he’d sent his insolent child, to fetch her.

  She gazed to Tanzea and passed along a silent message. Something she could do with each of her Scratchers, if she wanted.

  “Keep an eye on things while I’m gone. Mainly, KarNavan. Don’t let him get any ideas. And the young one, Colby, don’t let him stray too far either.”

  Juliska forced a toothy smile at Colby. “Enjoy your stay.” Her words held only coldness, and indicated, she’d return soon, and his presence would not be needed, long.

  “Actually,” Colby turned to KarNavan. “You are going with her.” Not a request, but an order. “My father says, it’s nearly time.” And even though he hadn’t cared what that meant, and had not asked, his tone held the wisdom that he did. And whatever it was, the Striper leader got a greedy bead shining in his eye. It still didn’t make Colby care.

  Juliska eyed the Striper, wondering what his business was with Fazendiin. Just what kind of deal he’d made. She didn’t like the man, but she liked leaving Colby in charge, less. Although, what difference did it make in the end, they were all fulfilling the Grosvenor’s plans. Hers, were just a personal side project. To get even with everyone who’d conspired against her, and killed her son. There was a pain that sliced through her at the thought of her son, and the vision she’d had, and her visit from that betrayer, Eddy. She would not be sucked into another trick, ever again. She breathed it out like flames doused by ice.

  “Father. Father.”

  KarNavan looked upward to
see his daughter approaching. He heard an under the breath grunt and slid his gaze sideways to see Colby, eyeing his daughter in a far too interested, manner.

  “I didn’t know you had a daughter,” Colby grinned out smugly.

  “Yes. He does,” Katana Jade answered on her own behalf. “And you are?”

  “I’m surprised your father hasn’t told you about me.”

  “Oh, wait,” Katana put her hands on her hips. “You’re the smug idiot.”

  Her father bit his tongue at her audacity. Colby didn’t even bat an eye.

  “Yeah, that’s me.”

  Elisha hissed through her teeth down by his ankles. She didn’t agree.

  “Grosvenor’s, kid. Colby, right?”

  He grimaced. Kid. His least favorite word. And he’d really enjoy punching the smug off KarNavan’s face right about now over that.

  The Striper leader took a step closer to his daughter and tossed her a what do you want, look.

  “Just wanted to let you know I started the job.” She gave him a mocking salute that was clearly a marker for pretending to be the obedient daughter. Her father ignored it.

  “Good. Keep at it. I’ll be leaving, for a time.” He had no idea how long actually. “You will report to Ardon while I’m away.”

  “No.”

  KarNavan spun around, eyeing Colby with venom in his gaze. “Excuse me?”

  “If anyone’s reporting to anyone around here, that will be me.” Colby stated it like he’d just set down the law and no one had better even think about breaking it. Elisha was pleased with this attitude and encouraged him. The Striper leader had every inkling this was only partly laying down the law, and partly because this happened to be his daughter, and Colby was getting a kick out of seeing him squirm.

  Good thing Katana could fend for herself. He simply smirked, and nodded. Then cast a gaze at his daughter which she understood to mean, Ardon… you report to Ardon.

  “Well this is fun,” Juliska frowned. “Can we go now?”

  KarNavan motioned for her to lead the way.

  When they were gone, Colby asked, “So what’s your name?”

  “Katana Jade KarNavan. Do not ever call me Kat.”

  “Why? What happens then?”