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

by Humphrey Quinn

  “Okay, you’re not going to be any help.” She lifted her chin in defiance. “I’m still waiting… you had something to tell us, right?”

  Fury flared in Darcy’s eyes. “Deliver the message,” she hissed to Dulcy.

  “You two better watch yourselves,” Dulcy warned, still twisting her hair.

  Meghan nearly laughed and bit her tongue.

  “We’re watching you,” Dulcy continued. “You’re just a couple of wolves in cheap clothing.”

  Meghan could not stop from laughing this time. “In cheap clothing… now that is an insult.”

  Colin wondered if his sister had gone mad. He didn’t care how the message was delivered, it was clear that even in the world of the Svoda, there were still bullies he’d have to deal with.

  Darcy swatted Dulcy upside the head.

  “What?” she whimpered. “That was the message wasn’t it?”

  Darcy dug into Dulcy’s arm and tore away down the road, glaring at the twins as she stalked passed them.

  “You complete dingbat!” Darcy spat out at her counterpart. “Sheep’s clothing. Not cheap clothing! How many times did I tell you that?”

  The girls disappeared into the school entrance.

  Meghan couldn’t stop laughing.

  “What were you thinking?” Colin scolded her.

  “We can’t let them think we’re weak.”

  “Easy for you to say,” he muttered. “We should try not to make enemies. Remember what Uncle Eddy said about good behavior and gaining trust?”

  “I know, Col, but think about it. Those girls had their minds made up already.”

  She was right about that, but he still despised making new enemies. This was not a place they could simply pack up and leave behind, if they got tired of it. They were not living with their Uncle Arnon any longer.

  They continued on their journey to Grimble. During the walk through the town, toward the wagon exit into Grimble, Colin explained to his sister about Corny, living in the Mochrie’s basement. Part of him did not want to though, and wished she would discover him on her own.

  “He lives in the basement? Does he get out?” she asked, confused. Colin decided she did not comprehend the old man.

  “No, I don’t think he gets out.”

  “That’s awful. They need to get him out, get some air.”

  “I don’t think he wants air. Jae says they tried but he refused.”

  “They must not be trying hard enough, everyone likes to get out.”

  “If you’re so keen on him getting some fresh air, maybe you should try,” he insisted smugly.

  “Maybe I will.”

  Colin decided she would not understand Corny until she had met him, and gave up the topic. Once in the ghost town they quickened their pace, easily locating the meeting spot. They were about to take a seat on the bench to wait for Eddy when a rustle in the trees above distracted them.

  “Hey, look, Col.”

  His gaze followed Meghan’s pointing finger.

  “No way!” he breathed in disbelief.

  “It sure looks like it,” said Meghan. A bird with a scruffy crest and a gray-blue body sat high in the tree, watching the twins.

  “Maybe our eyes are playing tricks on us,” suggested Colin.

  “Sure looks like the same one to me.”

  “Maybe it accidentally went through the doorway, like we did?”

  “Didn’t notice it. But we were a little in shock at the time. And distracted.”

  “It can’t be the same bird from Cobbscott. It just can’t,” argued Colin.

  Their uncle’s ghostly figure appeared.

  “Hi, Uncle Eddy,” the twins greeted in unison.

  “Hello back! Come this way, but carefully, we don’t want to be followed.”

  “Speaking of being followed, there is this bird, right up…” Meghan searched, but it had flown away. “That figures, it’s gone.”

  “You’ve been followed by a bird?” asked their uncle, cautiously.

  “Not sure it meant to follow, but it is similar to one we’ve seen back home. It’s an unfamiliar species, with a scruffy head, and gray-blue body,” answered Colin. “I’ve never seen a bird act like it recognizes anyone though.”

  There’s way too many weird things going on around here…

  Colin nodded outwardly at his sister’s silent thought.

  Uncle Eddy floated high into the trees to investigate, but saw nothing. He came back down. “Let’s get moving. Lots to do, sure it’s nothing.” They followed their floating uncle down a path lined with dead trees, straying onto a smaller path until they came to an abandoned, gray-shingled mill.

  “It’s the only area I’m aware of that no other ghosts or Svoda typically come, and we must be alone. I created this place from a memory,” Eddy told them. He saw the questioning gazes of the twins and continued. “You may notice as ghosts arrive, or move on from Grimble, sometimes things change. Like the buildings or the scenery. On occasion, even color will pop in somewhere. Grimble is built by the memories of the residing ghosts. Many ghosts spend a lot of years here though, so some things don’t change.”

  The twins just stared and listened, many questions on the tip of their tongues.

  “I realize that both of you must have numerous questions for me,” Eddy expressed, almost as if reading their thoughts. “Firstly though, I must warn you, that at least for now, the subjects we discuss are for your ears only.”

  He rested his floating body a few feet in front of them. The twins got as comfortable as they could amongst the dust and cobwebs, sitting on an old pile of wood.

  “How about for today, we start with one question from each of you,” he suggested. “Then we will begin your training.”

  The twins pondered what to ask first. Colin, still deciphering what he wanted to ask, let Meghan go first.

  “Can you tell us anything about our parents?” she blurted out.

  Their uncle smiled sadly.

  “I assumed this would be one of your first questions. I am afraid I do not have much to offer on the subject, any more so than you probably already know. You see, I died about a year after your parents met. I do remember your mother was a striking beauty. Inside and out. Not everyone agreed with me,” he chuckled. “They did agree she was one of the prettiest girls they had ever seen, but she was also infamous for her temper.”

  So our mom had a temper… no wonder Meghan’s always…

  Meghan punched his arm before he could finish.

  See. Proves my point, his thoughts shouted.

  “And daring!” Eddy added, continuing. “Quick-witted too. Now your father on the other hand, I am afraid we were just not that close. He was a charismatic man though. Well respected in his community.”

  The twins listened intently; their parents were not a topic Uncle Arnon ever discussed. They assumed it brought back too many memories for him.

  “I’m afraid that I don’t have much else to add,” said Eddy. “I never met either of you in person, but something kept me here in Grimble. Something nagged at the back of my mind that I had to wait for you.”

  “Honestly, Uncle Eddy, we’ve never known much about our parents, so even the little you can tell is fascinating,” Meghan told him.

  “I’m glad. I only wish I had more to tell.” His face smiled compassionately as he turned his attention to Colin. “Do you have your question ready?”

  He did.

  “How come I can do magic?”

  Eddy floated back and forth for a moment before answering.

  “You are what the Svoda like to call lost ones, people who survived magic’s demise but whose families didn’t join a larger clan.”

  The twins stared at each other in stunned silence.

  How is it possible that they never knew this before now? Did Uncle Arnon know this? And why wouldn’t he have told them?

  “Your Uncle Arnon is from a magical bloodline. So are you.”

  Meghan’s breath hitched. “Is that w
hy Colin and I can talk to each other through our minds?” Meghan divulged the truth before she could stop herself. It was a fact they usually kept secret.

  “Can you? No, I would not guess that ability is purely magic related. It’s not a common gift. I imagine this ability has more to do with your bond as twins,” he answered. He cast a long gaze between them, pondering the subject.

  “That’s why we traveled around with Uncle Arnon isn’t it?” asked Colin hesitantly. “If anything magical happened, he didn’t want us to get caught.”

  “Yes. I am sure he wanted to raise you away from prying eyes. To protect you.”

  They were saddened again at the memory of the uncle whose fate they still did not know.

  Eddy continued. “And now you are with the Svoda. Not because of the best circumstances, but there is much you can learn from them.”

  “So where do we start?” asked Colin.

  “With the Magicante. If you don’t mind, Colin,” he gestured for him to take it out and hold it open. The leaves glimmered as the pages flipped.

  “Ah, Magicante. Any ideas on how this book works, either of you?” asked their uncle.

  “When we were in trouble and asked for help, it gave it to us. Although it was quite unexpected, I might add. I guess you have to ask it?” answered Colin.

  “Make sure you say please though, Uncle Eddy,” muttered Meghan.

  “A spirited book is it?” he chuckled. As his ghostly hands hovered over the leaf-filled pages, the book came to life.

  The Magicante’s snide voice spoke in bored, but arrogant, excitement. “I see I’m moving up in the world. Finally, someone with experience. Dead, but knowledgeable, at least.”

  “See?” Meghan rolled her eyes.

  Eddy lifted a brow in amused agreement.

  “Magicante isn’t just a magical book, it is original magic,” continued their uncle. “Magic long forgotten by most. If you ask for help, it may choose to help you or it may not. Or it may offer help, but not in the manner you might desire or understand.”

  Colin still reeled over the fact that he’d gotten his hands on such a book, and wondered just who Jasper Thorndike really was. Just a guy selling wares at a traveling carnival, or was he there on purpose, somehow?

  Meghan wrinkled her nose trying to understand what Eddy was telling them. “I guess when we were first unaware of what the book could do, it offered help, knowing we needed it.” It sounded more like a question.

  Colin butted in. “It didn’t offer me help when I was trying to save Meghan back in Cobbscott. Told me I had to do it myself. Why?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked him.

  Colin realized that he had never explained to Meghan how he had gotten her home, when she had first fallen ill under the oak tree.

  “Maybe before I continue, you should fully disclose to your sister what the book did and did not do. First lesson -and the most important- never keep secrets from each other.”

  “What are you keeping from me?” She bore into his mind trying to infiltrate his thoughts.

  “It wasn’t that big a deal,” Colin said, blocking her. “After you stormed off, the day you got sick, the book told me you were in trouble and I had to find you.” He explained the leaf tornado, which led him to her. “I wasn’t sure how to help you. I asked the book to get us out of the woods. But it wouldn’t, it told me I had another way.”

  “Another way?” she questioned, with a shudder. “That was such an awful day. I couldn’t even move, it all hurt so bad. It was like being paralyzed, and in so much pain at the same time.”

  “I remember it well,” said Colin. “I felt everything you did. But when I found you I couldn’t move you, and the book wouldn’t help me. I panicked. All I could focus on was getting you home, and BOOM! I was there.”

  “Without the book’s help?” she asked.

  The book answered her question. “Not with my help, lassie. He didn’t need it, did he?”

  Meghan huffed. “I get that we come from some magical bloodline, Uncle Eddy. And it seems like Colin has accessed his abilities a few times now. What I want to understand is why can Colin do all this magic stuff, but not me?”

  “Before we get to that, Colin, let me ask you, why do you think the book forced you to figure it out for yourself, instead of doing it for you?”

  Colin recounted the incident in his head before answering.

  “I think it was because the book thought I should learn how to do it on my own. It was more like it was forcing me to. I remember it telling me something about not having a lot of time and needing to.”

  A low agreeing grumble ricocheted out of the book. “Looks like I was right.”

  “How did you know though?” Colin asked the book. He shook his head in disbelief that he was having a conversation with a book.

  “I became aware the first moment you opened me, that you had magical blood, and that you did not know this. This inevitably leads to finding out, followed by others finding out. It only makes sense to prepare you. Quickly.”

  Eddy eyed Colin. “Make sense?”

  “I guess. It’s all just so new to me. I thought it was only because of Jae being around that all the magic stuff was happening. Or the book. I didn’t think it was anything to do with me.”

  “Oh, it’s all to do with you,” the book responded. It insinuated there was more to say on the subject, but Eddy cleared his throat, cutting it off.

  “Magicante is a complex thing. Think of the book as a textbook to end all textbooks. It will not, however, perform what it thinks you should be able to do for yourself.”

  “So back to my question,” implored Meghan. “Why - can’t - I?”

  “Have you tried?” enticed her uncle.

  “No, I suppose I haven’t,” she answered less impatiently. “The first time the book helped us we weren’t sure that it wasn’t a fluke. Even after the second time, and Colin using magic himself to fight the Scratchers, it honestly didn’t dawn on me to try.”

  “Well,” Colin started, “when I did magic the second time, before the Scratcher attack…”

  “A second time?” she questioned.

  Uncle Eddy gestured Colin to explain. “No secrets,” he reminded.

  Colin let out a burst of air. “Remember when you were getting over being sick, and you sensed I was being bullied, and you came looking for me with Sebastien and Jae?” Colin lowered his head, embarrassed to let his uncle hear that he had been bullied.

  “Yeah, I remember, you had this smug look on your face…” she exhaled and asked in a dark voice, “What – Did – You - Do?”

  “It was a complete accident,” he insisted. “I didn’t realize anything would happen. I wished that the boys would freeze, and they did. Then they started yelling. I was afraid someone might see what I’d done, so I wished for them to shut up, and they did. I asked for it to happen, and it just did. But I heard the spell wear off. After I, um, ran away.”

  Meghan was dumbfounded that Colin had done magic, twice, before she had known about it. What scared her most was that he had successfully kept this fact hidden from her. He must be getting better at blocking me.

  “Yes, I am!” He stuck out his tongue.

  She mimicked him, folding her arms in disgust.

  Uncle Eddy eyed them both apprehensively.

  “I am afraid that before either of you can continue, this bickering has to stop. You must both find peace with each other. Your bond is strong, but it needs to remain so. Remember, always. No secrets.”

  Once again, the twins found themselves in trouble for arguing. They tried to put aside their bitterness and continue.

  “So how do I do it? Magic, I mean,” asked Meghan.

  “Let’s start with something simple,” suggested Eddy. “Perhaps the book will allow some assistance since it’s your first try.”

  The book answered, this time with a snide poem.

  Assistance I will give,

  For the one that lives,

 
; Although her brain a sieve,

  Oh drat! We all know she can’t do it on her own!

  Colin frowned at the odd poem, while sensing in Meghan’s mind a desire to kick the book.

  “What would you like to try, Meghan?” asked Eddy.

  “I don’t know,” she replied, unsure.

  “How about something simple, like color changing,” Eddy prompted.

  “Color changing!” she grinned. “How about my hair?”

  “Um. Well. That’s not exactly what I had in mind, but I guess it will work.”

  Colin rolled his eyes and was about to make a joke, when Meghan gave him a glare; he put on a fake smile, motioning for her to continue.

  “Book,” she tried to ask politely. “Hm-hmm,” she cleared her throat. “Give me a spell to turn my hair sky blue.”

  “As you wish your…” Uncle Eddy interrupted.

  “If you don’t mind, stick to the spell, thanks.”

  It sniveled and snarled under its breath. The pages flipped, stopping on a shimmering yellow leaf.

  Meghan was thankful to her uncle for stopping the oncoming onslaught of contempt. She read the directions, which floated over the shimmering leaf.

  “Although an insult to my knowledge…”

  Humpff Meghan’s thoughts shouted.

  A Spell for Blue Hair.

  To have hair of blue in every strand,

  Say three times, whilst waving your hand,

  Blue hair everywhere.

  To have blue hair just in stripes,

  Please say thrice, while trying to be nice,

  Blue hair here, blue hair there.

  Meghan stopped reading. “I’m going to try it!” She stood up.

  “But there’s more options, Meghan,” pointed out Colin.

  “I want the first one, all blue.”

  Colin was going to argue but decided to play nice.

  “Okay. Here I go. My first spell. Hope it doesn’t go wonky and turn it a bad blue, ‘cause that would suck.” She closed her eyes and waved her hand, palm side toward her face.

  “Blue hair everywhere,” she repeated it three times.

  After the third time, the hair on her head changed to a brilliant sky blue. She opened her eyes and admired herself in a nearby broken window.