Taken (The Blood Spell, The Fugitives, and The Firemancer's Son) (A Fated Fantasy Quest Adventure Book 6)

by Humphrey Quinn

  “A new gift,” Elisha explained bitterly. “Colby’s father changed him. Made him something better and stronger, yet weaker. He cannot control this new gift.”

  “That much is obvious,” observed Ivan haughtily. “He killed his own Catawitch, and kidnapped our friend.”

  “It is not his fault,” insisted Elisha. “His new powers will become stable in time.”

  “And what exactly are these new powers you’re talking about?” Ivan interrogated. They needed to figure out what they were up against.

  “Stabbed him, his father did. With a blade made of bone.”

  “Colby’s own father, stabbed him?” clarified Sebastien.

  Before Elisha could answer him, Ivan interrupted.

  “The blade was made of bone, what kind of bone?”

  Her eyes blazed with devotion as she spoke. “The bones of a dead Projector.”

  “Seriously?” Sebastien exclaimed.

  “Meaning he has the powers of a Projector now?” questioned Ivan, making sure he understood what this meant.

  Elisha nodded. “Master was already strong, but once he learns to control these new powers, he will be...”

  “Unstoppable,” finished Sebastien, in grim acceptance.

  “Possibly more powerful than Colin,” added Nona with a tone of shock.

  “And probably much more unstable,” Ivan chimed in. “He didn’t come by these powers naturally. I cannot imagine how he will be able to control them, even with time.”

  They grew silent for a moment, lost in the hideousness of what had been done to Colby. Good guy or bad guy, they would not wish this nightmare on anyone.

  Ivan’s stomach turned. What kind of parent would do that to their child? Willingly! And to come by these uncontrollable powers in such an unnatural way; he dreaded to think how this might change a boy who already had a penchant for wreaking havoc.

  Sebastien wore a look of equal loathing. What exactly had the world of magic come to? When a father could so easily ruin the life of his own son? Was magic making everyone go crazy? No, not magic. Just the whacked out idea that for some reason, they needed more of it than anyone else did.

  Sometimes, he wondered if magic needed to be wiped out for good. Rather than returned, like Amelia Cobb wanted. Just get rid of it all. No more magic, and no more war because of the desire to have more of it.

  Nona had similar ideas swimming around her mind as well. But her biggest concern lay with reuniting with Meghan. Being away from her felt wrong and empty, like a gash had been seared into her heart when their connection was severed.

  “Elisha,” said Ivan slowly. “Just who is Colby’s father?”

  She hissed, “Like you don’t already know. Why do you think Colby came here?” She plunked down, pouting. She wanted to leave, but where would she go? She eyed her new companions with contempt. Unfortunately, she needed their help to find her Master.

  Ivan let out a deep sigh, thoughts and theories falling into place.

  “Colby’s father is Jurekai Fazendiin, isn’t it?” Just the look on Elisha’s face confirmed his theory.

  Sebastien let out a gagging sound, which Elisha ignored. She wasn’t a fan of Fazendiin’s right now either, but if Colby could manage to control his new gift he would return to his father an insurmountable weapon, ready and willing to carry out any deed Fazendiin wanted done. And she would remain by Colby’s side, without question.

  “That’s why Colby came here, to find Meghan?” surmised Sebastien.

  “Actually,” spoke the cattish voice of Elisha, “He came here to see his mother. Meghan just happened to be a stop along the way.”

  “Right, that makes sense. They share the same mother and father,” said Sebastien, the final pieces slipping into place.

  “My head hurts,” said Ivan, shaking it. “So this kid Colby, and Meghan, are actually brother and sister, children of Jurekai Fazendiin. What about Colin? What are they? Triplets?”

  “Yeah, um, about that,” mumbled Sebastien. “I sort of hadn’t had the time to mention that Colin is not really Meghan’s twin. I don’t think they’re even related.”

  “What? Really?” said Nona. “But they can hear each other’s thoughts and...” she trailed off. “She will be so devastated.”

  “How would she be devastated?” spouted Elisha. “Didn’t she betray Colin?” She slammed her yapper shut realizing she probably shouldn’t bring up that subject. These people had no idea what Colby had done not hours before when he’d killed Jasper Thorndike. “Colby overheard,” she explained.

  Nona hurled a low snarl at Elisha.

  “Colby was dangerous, now he’s… potentially the most powerful person alive. He’s an immortal son of the Grosvenor. And now with Projector’s powers.” Sebastien shook his head, doom written all over his face.

  “And he now has Meghan… his sister.”

  “Somehow, I have a suspicious feeling no family bond will save her.” Sebastien and Ivan stared each other down. They’d gotten into another helpless situation before they’d even recovered from the last one.

  Elisha groaned impatiently. “If you’re all done catching up on the doom and gloom, I think Nona and I have some business to get to.”

  Nona cast a nasty gaze in Elisha’s direction. “Like I’m going to work with you.”

  “If you want Meghan back you will.”

  Nona snarled. She trusted Elisha about as much as she trusted Jurekai Fazendiin. Unfortunately, she saw no other alternative to finding their respective Masters.

  “I don’t look forward to this either but seeing as we’re family now, you’d better get used to working together.”

  Nona gagged, choking out her words. “Family! Family! It takes more than blood to make a family!”

  Elisha took a step toward Nona with her front right paw ready to take a swipe at her face.

  “As fun as this is not,” barked Ivan, intervening. “I think we need to stick together. All of us. You two going off on your own is a bad idea.”

  Sebastien nodded in hasty agreement.

  “I will agree,” attested Nona. “Three to one vote,” she threw at Elisha.

  “Fine,” she conceded. “But just beware that in his current condition, he might just kill you all in the process.”

  It was clearly meant to frighten them, but sadly, it was also true.

  “It’s a chance we’ll just have to take,” said Sebastien. “We cannot leave Meghan with Colby, not in the state he’s in. It’s too dangerous.” He not only feared for her immediate safety, but worried that somehow Colby would figure out how to use his new powers to change Meghan, to turn her to darkness, dragging her into the depths of the world of the Grosvenor, either as a prisoner or as an ally. He could see the same concern in Ivan’s eyes too.

  Nona stood, ready and eager to depart. “I will gladly give all my nine lives to save Meghan.”

  Elisha’s smug smile turned into a dark grin. “And I will gladly keep that in mind.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Colin sucked in a deep breath and let it out exhaustedly. He hadn’t stopped for air in what seemed like days. He’d spent hours explaining everything that had happened to him and Meghan since the last time they’d see Uncle Arnon and Kanda Macawi. Who’d listened patiently, but the side glances, shock, and hints of dismay in their features did not go unnoticed.

  Though a reunion long overdue, it wasn’t going to stay sweet for long. There were serious issues Colin needed to discuss. The biggest being his new secret, that he was a Projector. Would they disown him right after? He supposed he’d find out soon enough.

  “So you don’t recall an Uncle Eddy?’ Colin was asking Arnon. After explaining the ghostly tutor from Grimble who claimed to be his and Meghan’s uncle.

  “An Uncle Eddy,” mumbled Arnon with a shake of his head. “I don’t know such a person, then again...”

  “What do you know?” asked Colin after a quiet moment, before things got tense.

  Arnon tossed his gaze aroun
d everyone. And here they’d finally get down to it. The truth, all he knew of it, at least. Kanda rose from her chair and touched Catrina’s shoulder gently.

  “Care for a hot drink?”

  Catrina got the hint and joined Kanda in her living room next to the toasty fire, to give Colin and Arnon more privacy.

  “You’re so grown up now,” Arnon said tenderly. “Colin, I… I imagined this conversation so many times and now that’s we’re about to have it, I find myself…” he eyed Colin in such a way that made him smile. The memory his uncle’s grin a pleasant one.

  “It would be a lie to say I was dreading this a bit,” Colin told him. “Or that I’ve had moments in the last couple years where I was really angry. But I think in the end, I just want the truth.”

  “Which you deserve,” Arnon replied, readying himself. “I have not always been proud of what I’ve done in this life, but saving you and Meghan the way I did… I would never go back on that choice. Ever. I just want you hear that, from me, Colin.”

  He nodded and let Arnon continue.

  “First thing you need to know, I am no more a blood relative to you than this Uncle Eddy most likely is, or was.”

  “I had kind of assumed at this point that might be the case. But really, no Uncle Eddy either?” That was actually disappointing. “I wonder why he’d lie?”

  Arnon shrugged as if to say, I can’t judge him. “I am grateful, whoever this Eddy is…” he paused for a minute, like something might be clicking into place. Colin waited. But then he let it go like the calculation didn’t work. “At least this ghost was on your side.” It was impossible not to see the disappointment in Colin’s features. “I suppose it’s always possible he could be family. Family we don’t know of. He did wait in Grimble for you, there’s something to be said for that. Blood ties can often keep us from moving on after death. Suffice it to say that for now, you can’t rule out he might actually be family.”

  “Yeah. So, anyway, who are you?” Colin scrunched his face. “That sounds so bizarre to ask?”

  “Arnon Jacoby is my real name. No deception there.”

  “Oh, um, this might not make sense I have no idea, but were you at one point friends with a man named Cornell Tibbitt?”

  Arnon plunked back his chair with a start. “Cornell?” he breathed out.

  “I take it that’s a yes.”

  Arnon took a moment. “Um, that is a yes. Cornell was… my closest friend. Someone I worked with, and trusted with my life. Up until I…”

  “Left the Svoda?” assumed Colin.

  “You already know much more than I expected.”

  “Not really. What I just told you about sums it up actually. I hate to tell you bad news, but, Corny, I mean Cornell, everyone called him Corny these days, but he died a few months ago.”

  “He made it that long? I hadn’t expected he was still alive all this time.” Arnon’s gaze got a little blurry.

  “Everyone thought he was crazy. Had lost his mind. And while he was undoubtedly off his rocker most of the time, he was also kind of brilliant.”

  Arnon eyed him, asking what he meant.

  “Underneath all the crazy I think his mind was still there. Just a little bit. Enough to save my butt more than once. He um, spoke to me, right before he died. I don’t know what he meant but he was pointing at his head and saying something about, she doesn’t think I remember.”

  Arnon thought about that for a minute, wondering what his friend meant by that.

  “He also mentioned you.”

  His uncle’s eyes popped wide.

  “I think he wanted you to know he hadn’t forgotten about you. Somehow, he was aware I knew you.”

  “Which does not make a lot of sense,” Arnon admitted. “But the fact that he remembered who I was is nothing short of a miracle. His brain got seriously scrambled one night, and he was never the same after that.”

  “No one was ever sure what happened.”

  Arnon looked Colin right in the eye. “Juliska Blackwell happened.”

  Colin lost his breath for a few seconds. He hadn’t expected that. And yet it did not surprise him.

  “There wasn’t any evidence to prove it. But I am certain of it.”

  “She’s why you left the Svoda?” Colin put together.

  “More or less. It was, still is, a complicated situation.”

  “Because you have no proof,” Colin surmised.

  Arnon nodded. “I’d still bet my life on it.”

  “Me too.”

  A glum tension made the air a little thicker.

  Arnon had gotten the sense that’s how Colin would react, after all he’d told him during their catching up session.

  He cleared his throat. “So, anyway, you and Meghan came to live with me when you were infants. Back before the Svoda went into exile. Cornell was a magic tracker at the time. A darn good one. Possibly the best there ever was. He created a tracking system for us to use to locate lost magic.”

  “You mean magical families out there living in the regular world?”

  “Yeah. It was rare, but still happened now and then. We’d track them down, offer them a home on the island where they could live more openly. Most always though, even long before it was mine or Cornell’s job, it was usually only infants we came across. And that is how I first found the two of you. It was right after Cornell’s brain had been scrambled and I saw the blip on his tracking system and decided to check it out. Without going into a huge long story that’s of no current importance, there was a seer who had a vision, and insisted that the two of you needed to be protected and hidden from the world of magic.”

  “Why?”

  “The seer claimed you were special. Fated to be one of the three.”

  “One of the three what?” asked Colin.

  “Three children born of immortal blood who would play a vital role in bringing balance to the magical world.”

  Colin didn’t know what to say. A prophecy, about him? And Meghan? “And wait,” he said out loud, “one of the three... who’s the third?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “And is this balance good balance?” he inquired, unsure he was being clear as he wasn’t even entirely sure what he meant.

  However, Arnon seemed to get what he meant.

  “There is much debate over what balance means in this prophecy. It is not clear if this is a balance towards good, towards evil, or just a general balance between both.”

  Colin had no clue how he was supposed to bring balance into a magical world gone mad, especially now that he was a Projector. Something he had not yet told his uncle.

  “Now don’t panic when I say this next bit, it might sound alarming,” began Arnon, “but I promised to tell you everything.” Colin nodded to continue. “The prophecy went on to say that only one of these three children would succeed.”

  Colin wrinkled his face, unsure he understood.

  “Much debate has also occurred over what this means but the general consensus believes this to mean that you will each bring a different view of what the magical world should be and that...” he paused, swallowing hard. “And that there may be a battle between you.” His eyes glistened in sadness as he spoke these words. “We could be wrong. And visions can change. Be interpreted in many different ways.”

  “Either way you look at it though, it is,” overwhelming, he finished silently. He closed his eyes for a moment, allowing the Magicante keep control over the emotional flux. So far, although a lot to take in, Colin was remaining calm and in the moment.

  And when he looked back at these last few months, and all that had happened between him and Meghan, is this what was happening? Was their broken relationship fated to happen whether he wanted it to or not? Was he destined to fight the one person he’d always relied on. And she, him?

  “Colby,” he blurted out in a whisper.

  “Sorry?” said Arnon, having not quite heard him.

  “I think I know who the third is.”

  A
look of shock spread across Arnon’s face.

  “There’s this boy named Colby. I told you about him, that boy that keeps showing up and causing trouble. Trying to steal my book. He is a great fighter. Seems to know a lot about magic, plus, Meghan can hear his thoughts. I can’t, only her. But if I had to, I’d bet my life he’s the third.”

  “I suppose,” said Arnon, with an air of sadness mixed with surprise, “that if it is truly fated, of course this boy would come into your lives.”

  “So if this prophecy is correct, we all somehow end up battling each other over some kind of control over the magical world?”

  “Perhaps. I wish I could say for certain. Maybe if I continue telling my story, something will make a little more sense of it all.”

  Colin nodded for him to continue.

  “After this prophecy was made, we found you and Meghan side by side in a crib. There was a third infant in the crib, but that infant showed no signs of being magical. This begs the question now whether we should have taken that third infant, just in case. You see, infants don’t normally have, let alone, use, magic. It doesn’t normally show itself until a child is five, six, sometimes seven years old. But each of you had strong magic within you already, even as infants. This alone seemed to prove the theory that you were born of immortal blood.”

  Arnon took a sip from a cup of cooled tea.

  “There’s only one group of immortals that I’ve been told about,” said Colin. He kept secret that this was not entirely true, seeing as Projectors could also potentially live forever.

  “The Grosvenor,” revealed Arnon, confirming what he believed Colin was about to say.

  He nodded in agreement.

  “This is whom I speak of. The Grosvenor were created to be immortal, but can be destroyed -not easily- but any offspring born from them would be born with natural, true immortality. There is no known way that a child born into the world under these circumstances could be killed, ever. So you can see just how special you really are.”

  “So I can’t be killed?” asked Colin slowly.