The Book, The Witches, and the Doorway (Fated Chronicles Book 1)

by Humphrey Quinn

  “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 not 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.

  A sense of panic infiltrated the gypsy camp. The music stopped and within seconds, all had disappeared inside the closest wagon.

  “How peculiar. It had to be an owl,” stammered Meghan. She saw a shadow in Colin’s mind and flicked her head upward, glancing up through the elevated pines. Nothing.

  Colin let out a nervous rush of air. “Loudest owl I’ve ever heard.” A deep chill settled in Colin’s bones. Meghan sensed it and shivered involuntarily. Colin edged closer to his sister, perplexed by what had just happened.

  The gypsy camp was completely deserted.

  “Man. What the heck was that? I couldn’t move. I literally could not move.”

  Meghan, already shaking off the strange occurrence, seized the opportunity to frighten her brother. “I’m sure it was a gypsy cuurrse, to puutt you under their controlll.”

  “Ha ha, Sis. Very funny,” he retorted, not falling for her attempt at frightening him. “Plus, did you notice they all disappeared into one wagon?”

  “Couldn’t have,” answered Meghan. “There had to be at least thirty people over there.”

  “I saw it, and they did.”

  “Maybe when you weren’t looking they all climbed out the back.”

  Colin did not
have time to reply.

  A gruff voice whispered angrily behind them. “What are you doing in there?”

  They both gasped and spun around. It was Uncle Arnon, who knew exactly what they were doing. They wondered if perhaps he could also read minds as he was often a little too good at knowing when they were up to trouble.

  Arnon stood with arms folded, waiting for an answer.

  Colin let Meghan handle the hard part of answering since he could do little more than tell the truth; which is not the point when caught in the act of something you know will make Uncle Arnon angry.

  “We were listening to the music.”

  “What music? The gypsies are not outside.”

  “They stopped playing and disappeared inside their wagons,” answered Meghan. “Or,” she continued, putting on her annoyed face, “if you want to believe the geek patrol, my little brother insists they somehow all fit themselves into one wagon, after an owl or something screeched overhead. Spooked ’em pretty bad I guess.”

  “Yeah, imagine being spooked by an owl when you’re camping in the middle of the Maine woods,” jested Colin, the entire time thinking the exact opposite. He was also sure to send Meghan a silent scowl for the little brother wisecrack.

  Uncle Arnon gawked oddly into the sky as if expecting to see something. He led the spying duo by their shoulders, back to the trailer. The twins crossed their eyes at each other, questioning their uncle’s unusual behavior.

  “I passed the Jendaya site on my way home,” he informed them. “They are not quite set up yet, so why don’t we have some lunch before you visit Sebastien.”

  Meghan pouted in obvious disappointment, but begrudgingly made lunch. An hour later, long after they had finished lunch, the twins began to get the distinct impression that Uncle Arnon was stalling their departure, as he kept them busy doing piddly things around the trailer.

  Finally, over another hour later, they noticed a few of the gypsies were back outside, and once Uncle Arnon had seen this, he told them they could go.

  “Behave, please!” he yelled after them. “Come six o’clock, you be at Kanda’s fire pit.”

  They raced across the road and headed into the woods to their secret path (which they had created over the previous six summers), leading to Sebastien’s campsite. Halfway through, they crashed directly into him.

  “’Bout time! I was coming to find you two.”

  “Sorry, our uncle wouldn’t let us go. Besides, he told us you weren’t set up yet,” Colin said, catching his breath.

  “I told your uncle to tell you I was finishing when he passed by.”

  How strange, thought both twins in confused unison.

  “We’re together now,” said Sebastien, uncaring of their uncle’s odd behavior. “Whatdyawannado?”

  “I’m thirsty, how about a tonic?” suggested Meghan. “We’re almost at The Little Shop anyway, and then we can hang at the lake.” They continued on the path, which veered off in two directions; one path led to the Jendaya camp, and the second, to The Little Shop, which was in the middle of the Cobbscott Campground.

  As the trio followed the pathway, an unusual and awkward silence fell over them. Colin sensed Meghan’s nerves stopping her from talking, something he rarely had the pleasure to witness. Can she really have it this bad, over Sebastien? Colin hid the thought from his sister and decided to be nice, by breaking the silence.

  “So… it must be nice that schools out?”

  “Definitely,” agreed Sebastien, glad of the break in tension.

  “What about your teams though?” Colin asked. “Don’t you miss them in the summer?”

  “I suppose a little,” admitted Sebastien.

  In an artless manner, Meghan finally spoke. “You started telling me in an email about getting to state finals.” Even as she blurted it out, she sent a silent glare to Colin that implied, don’t you dare tell him or I will… she continued seamlessly, adding, “How did that turn out?”

  “Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to tell you.” He excitedly went into a story of winning the final big game of the season. After discussing school and sports, Meghan was still abnormally quiet.

  “Did you get a look at any of the gypsies yet, Sebastien?” asked Colin, broaching a new subject.

  “No, not yet.”

  “Apparently, they’re afraid of owls,” jested Colin. “They all ran into a wagon after one screeched.”

  “A wagon?” questioned Sebastien, not missing a beat.

  “I’m sure my brother was seeing things, Sebastien. There were too many to fit into one wagon.” Meghan was annoyed that Colin was still insisting on this fact.

  “That is what I saw, Sis.”

  “Why don’t we go check’em out later?” suggested Sebastien, recalling how the twins’ arguments could escalate.

  “You two will have to go without me. I’m not spying anymore,” announced Colin decidedly.

  Sebastien, puzzled, asked, “Why not?”

  “Something strange happened, that’s why.”

  For once, Meghan agreed. “I guess it was strange, but still, it’s not worth quitting over.”

  Sebastien waited for an explanation.

  Meghan continued. “Colin and I snuck into the woods to take a peek at the gypsies, and I think someone caught us.”

  Colin shuddered at the memory. “It was like someone was forcing me to stay where I was. I was frozen in place. Then they all got scared by an owl screeching and ran away.” He added, reiterating, “Into one wagon.”

  “How would any of those things be possible?” asked Sebastien.

  “No idea. But even minus that point, our uncle also caught us. So next time, we would be grounded for sure.” Colin tossed Meghan a scowl.

  “Nah,” she said, blowing him off.

  “You don’t think so, Sis?”

  “Next time we won’t get caught, Little Bro.”

  Also remembering how Meghan’s use of the phrase ‘little bro’ could start a downward spiral in the conversation, Sebastien, thankful they had arrived at The Little Shop, sidetracked the twins.

  “We’re here. So, tonics all around?”

  The twins nodded yes.

  The path ended and they came into a clearing behind the tiny camp shop; three people inside would be a crowd and there were already two.

  “You wait here, I’ll grab the tonics,” Colin said, rushing inside, letting the screen door slam behind him.

  This left Meghan standing alone with Sebastien, searching her thoughts for something useful to say. What is wrong with me? I need to get this under control already.

  “Yes, you do,” a voice echoed in her head.

  “Shut up, Col. You are not helping,” she shot back into his mind.

  “Can you at least try not to be weird all summer? We wouldn’t want to scare away our only friend,” he sent back sarcastically. To his surprise, he heard her giggle nervously.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Sebastien. “Did Colin say something funny? Were you doing that talking to each other thing again?” he whispered.

  “Sorry, he tripped in the store,” she lied.

  Colin’s frown was so deep, Meghan didn’t need to see it, she could sense it.

  Sebastien was the only person they had told about their mind-speaking ability, seeing as how one day he figured out something was up and asked them straight out if they could hear each other.

  Colin exited with three blueberry tonics, handing one each to Meghan and Sebastien.

  Without hesitation, they headed to the edge of Camp Cobbscott, to their favorite spot near the edge of the lake. They sat on an odd shaped tree, which grew sideways rather than up-ways, and spent the afternoon lounging in the shade and wading through the cold water as if the past eight months apart had not even happened. Before they knew it, six o’clock had arrived and they headed to Kanda’s fire pit.

  CHAPTER 3

  “I can’t wait to hear Kanda’s new story tonight. I really love her stories,” said Colin in a dreamy
haze.

  Meghan snorted. “You would ya geek!”

  Sebastien could not help but laugh, too.

  “You don’t like them?” Colin asked, perplexed.

  “Ah, my nerdy little brother.”

  Colin cringed at his two least favorite words.

  “It’s not that I don’t like them, per se,” she continued. “It’s just that they always have some point, some moral at the end. They’re not just stories.”

  “So?” Colin replied, still not understanding.

  “I think what she’s trying to say,” said Sebastien, “is that it’s too much like learning something.”

  “It’s still a story though,” defended Colin.

  “Yes, it is,” she agreed. “I have to admit, there’s something about Kanda’s voice when she tells them, it makes the story seem…” Meghan paused, thinking of the right word.

  “Believable,” suggested Sebastien.

  “Yeah, believable,” she agreed. “But it is still too much like learning something, and it’s summer. I don’t want to learn anything unless I have to!”

  That’s my sister, thought Colin. Wouldn’t want to learn anything, even by accident.

  “I heard that,” she snarled aloud, hurrying along to the party.

  “What did you hear?” asked Sebastien, but she did not answer. “What did I miss? Were you two using telepathy again?”

  “Sorry, Sebastien. It was nothing.” Colin ran to catch up with her, leaving Sebastien behind, looking confused.

  He shook his head and followed the twins, muttering, “I’m beginning to hate it when they do that.”

  A feast ensued with lobster and clam chowder, or as the locals put it, lobstah and chowdah, with ployes for dipping into the chowder, made by Mrs. Jendaya (she makes the best), and loads of fresh corn, potatoes roasted with butter and spices, and biscuits with molasses. For dessert, they had another summer evening favorite; blackberry dumplings, served hot with homemade vanilla ice cream. Blackberries were not in season yet, but Kanda always kept some frozen to have throughout the year.

  As the incoming night chill set in, the group huddled close to the fire, all eyes lost in the flames, sucked into the designs of the fire.