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

by Humphrey Quinn

  “No.”

  Colin sat back quickly, not realizing how forward he had been leaning. He didn’t know if this was a relief or should cause further concern. Who wouldn’t want to be immortal? On the other hand, what if he couldn’t handle his Projector’s powers? What then? How would he be stopped if no one could kill him? Jasper had died, Colin had assumed he could as well.

  Perhaps he was truly fated to battle Meghan and Colby. Perhaps they would work together to try to stop him, and fail! Perhaps he really would destroy the world. He didn’t want to die. But he also didn’t want to tear the world apart. But if no one could kill him, how would he be stopped, if it came to that?

  The chain of thoughts sped up, he tried to calm himself and keep to the task of talking with his uncle.

  “If we showed magical abilities as infants, why is it we didn’t have any magical abilities until we were almost thirteen?”

  “This is because we devised a spell that would temporarily bind your powers until you were old enough to handle them. We decided that...” Colin cut him off.

  “Um, sorry, who is this “we” you keep talking about? You had help in all this?”

  “Sorry, I should have explained that better. The we is actually a group of people made up from the Tunkapog, Kanda’s people, and fellow Svoda, or you would know them today as the banished Svoda.”

  “Oh. Okay. So back to the power binding spell.”

  “We had a hard time deciding what to do with you two. We wanted to protect you, keep you safe, but to do that we had to bind your powers. It took a few drops of your blood and very powerful magic. We decided this was best seeing as one, you were going to be raised in the non-magical world, and two, infants using magic… those would be some hard messes to clean up.”

  “Or hide,” finished Colin.

  “And on my part, I wanted you to grow up with a normal a life as I could provide for you. At least until the day came when destiny found you. And when that happened, the spell we cast when you were infants would break. Magic would awaken inside you.”

  “That happened when we came to Cobbscott a couple of summers ago, didn’t it?”

  “Yes, and in a terrible fashion for Meghan I’m afraid.”

  “Why was that?”

  “Normally, magic grows and expands along with you. We assumed that the sudden return of magic would not do any real harm, we expected a few unexplained accidents, but unfortunately, with Meghan, we had no idea she was descended from a Firemancer’s bloodline. This particular magic came on strong and fast. I’m afraid it was excruciatingly painful for her. I’ve had no bigger regret in all of this, than not knowing that one thing.”

  Colin had known Meghan was deathly ill and had suffered greatly, but this was the first time he knew just how much she had suffered during that time.

  He sighed. The time had come, the moment he had dreaded more than any since this conversation had begun.

  “Uncle Arnon, as unbelievable and overwhelming as all this is, and trust me, even though I’m not showing it, I really am shocked, it’s just that...” he didn’t know how to say the words. Even many hours later, after Jasper’s death, and after reuniting with his uncle, the calm numbness was still keeping him from freaking out. Too badly, at least. The Magicante’s connection was strong and Colin was beginning to sense how to let it work and not fight against it.

  “Whatever it is, Colin, I cannot judge you. Will not judge you. You are living a destined life. I raised you the best I could until that day came. But now, even though I will always think of you like a son, I have to let you go. I have to let you live out your destiny.” Arnon gave a clipped laugh.

  “Sounds like you’ve rehearsed that a few times.”

  “A few. And though I mean every word, it’s nowhere near as easy to do as just saying the words. I am always here for you, but the reality is, you’re not really mine even though I think of you as such. And there’s not necessarily a lot I can do to help you. But if I can, I’m ready.”

  “Well, um,” Colin lost his nerve.

  “Go ahead,” Arnon encouraged him.

  Colin was going to have to tell him, but it was not easy to get the words out. His shoulders lifted visibly, his breath deep and reaffirming and he went dead serious and found the courage to say what he needed to.

  “This thing I have to tell you might change how you see me,” he warned first. Might make you run away. Might make you regret everything you just said. His unspoken features added.

  “Colin, after everything you’ve been through, there is nothing, I repeat nothing that could ever make that happen.”

  “I wouldn’t bet my life on that.” His tone frightened his uncle.

  Arnon leaned back, a chilling shiver climbing his spine.

  “Have you heard about the Projector?” asked Colin.

  “The Projector? Yes, I have. I do believe there is quite the uproar over that young child right now. I fear the child’s fate is sealed, if not by one hand then surely another. There is no happy ending for that child. A sickening reality.”

  “There’s a lot of that going around,” Colin muttered, already losing his nerve.

  He had to stop the fidgeting of his hands and remind himself to stay calm and let the Magicante do its job.

  “Uncle Arnon, what if I told you it was me? That I am that child whose fate is sealed?”

  “Why on earth would you think this? You are the child of an immortal and that blood surges through your veins makes you powerful... I have no doubt more powerful than almost anyone, but a Projector, the odds...”

  Colin had to get up and pace off his nerves.

  “At this moment,” he began, stopping to eye his uncle, “I am cloaking this house. No one can get in, or out, unless I allow it. I arrived here with my dead mentor’s body. Jasper Thorndike. The last living Projector and the man who sold me the Magicante back during the Blue Moon Festival two summer’s ago.”

  Arnon stared, unable to formulate words.

  “It is me. I am the Projector. It’s a lot, I know. I’m barely used to the idea myself. But what I’m honestly most freaked out about right now is that everyone, including Jasper, warned me I might fail. I might be dangerous. I might not be able to control my powers. And you’ve just told me I am immortal and cannot die… I can’t be killed… not that I want to die,” Colin got quiet. “But I don’t want to be responsible for the destruction of the world, either.”

  Arnon said nothing. The words and their meaning taking some time to sink in.

  Colin took his seat again unable to look his uncle in the eye. He didn’t want to witness the disappointment or fear he was sure had to be there.

  “I, um… I honestly have no words,” Arnon admitted after a tortuously long minute. “I would offer some sort of encouragement or comforting advice but…”

  “There is none.”

  Arnon sucked in and was suddenly on his knee forcing Colin to look at him. “That’s not true. You just caught me off guard with that one. There is always hope. Always. And I stand by what I said before. Nothing you ever tell me can make me think any less of you. And I swear, I will help in any way I can.”

  “Jasper said that too, and now’s he’s dead. And made Catrina swear she’d end my life if it became necessary.” Arnon winced at those words, retaking his seat. “I really don’t want to die,” Colin said again. “But what if in the end that’s the only choice? The noble thing to do for the good of everyone else. And it’s not even a choice I can make because...”

  “Colin.” He lifted his head to see Catrina standing in the doorway, looking sullen. His uncle fared no less, fighting the tears threatening hard to stream freely. Kanda was just inside the room, and smiled kindly.

  “This always was a small house,” she said. Her meaning, they’d heard everything in the end. Catrina joined him, taking the seat next to him. She reached out and entwined her hand in his, the effect instantly calming, which he needed.

  “So, um, there’s one other pressi
ng issue about it all,” Colin continued to explain.

  “Which is?” asked Kanda.

  “How much time I have? Before I potentially become that unstoppable force of uncontrolled magic. When I first heard about Projectors, it was mentioned that seventeen was the magic number, the age in which a Projector reaches full maturity, I guess, full power. But during my time with Jasper, he said sixteen.” He shrugged, unsure what else to say other than the obvious. “Sixteen is a heck of a lot closer than seventeen.”

  “Colin,” Kanda spoke softly. “I think it is important for you to not give up on yourself. I can’t say with any certainty which age is correct. However, peoples’ memories are fickle. History tends to remember the bad, not the good. And as I hope you heard from your mentor, Jasper, Projectors are not automatically doomed to hurt or kill everything around them. Yes, there is the potential for that. There’s no point in smoothing over this fact. However, I’ve known you nearly your entire life and the young man I see before me now, may have grown and changed, but you’re still the Colin Jacoby I always thought you’d become. Strong. Brave, and wise far beyond your years.”

  Arnon smiled. “You always know how to say what I’m thinking and cannot voice myself. And she is right, Colin. Life is about choices. We don’t always make the right ones. You might not always make the right ones. I’m sure Jasper made a few bad choices in his life, but he did live.”

  “Yeah, in hiding, and alone for hundreds of years,” reminded Colin.

  “People won’t understand, generally speaking,” warned Kanda. “They fear what they do not understand, or in this case, what they do not remember, which is that Projectors were once greatly trusted, revered even, like kings.”

  “But they also had other Projectors around to help them. I don’t. So what do I do? And what if it’s really sixteen, not seventeen? And what if the day comes when I lose it. Go insane. Berserk. Need to be stopped? And I can’t be?”

  “You live in the moment,” said Catrina sweetly. “Like Jasper told you. Don’t think about the future. Don’t get stuck in the what ifs. Forget all that has happened, all that you cannot undo. Live in the now.”

  Colin smiled weakly and shook his head.

  “I really like her,” mouthed Kanda.

  Colin blushed because, so did he. And was starting to wonder how he’d ever survive a day without her. He intended not to.

  Kanda started maneuvering around the kitchen. “I’m going to start dinner. I think a good solid meal is just what the doctor ordered.”

  Colin’s mouth watered at the mere idea of eating some of Kanda’s delicious home cooked food.

  “Can I help?” asked Catrina eagerly. She and Kanda set in while Colin and Arnon finished their conversation.

  “I don’t quite know where to go from here.”

  “Well, food sounds pretty awesome,” said Colin.

  Arnon reached out and ruffled his hair. “You’re a remarkable young man and you need to remember that, Colin.”

  His face burned flush. For a moment, he felt like he had gone back in time. Back to before he had known that magic existed. To when he was just Colin Jacoby, target for bullies. Always needing someone, usually Meghan, to come to his rescue.

  “So,” started Arnon. “We haven’t fully caught up yet, but where is your sister? Where’s Meghan? Why isn’t she with you?”

  Hard reality slid back in a flash. The Colin Jacoby those bullies remembered no longer existed. Moreover, for the first time in months, the topic of his sister didn’t send him into an instant fit of rage. It had morphed into it all being his fault, in getting so angry at Meghan that Jasper was dead.

  But he’d come to some sort of peace with this and remained calm.

  Even so, Catrina made point to stop what she was doing and give him a look he understood completely. “I’m fine,” he told her. She nodded and returned to helping Kanda.

  Colin proceeded to explain the rest of what had happened. How he discovered Catrina and that she was a Song Spinner, and how certain Svoda had helped them escape when Juliska Blackwell had found them out. And lastly, how it had been his own sister who had turned him in because she had mistakenly believed Catrina was the Projector and a danger to Colin, and everyone.

  “When I left, she was living with Juliska Blackwell. Training with her, at her side all the time. You know Juliska is a Firemancer, right?”

  “Yes, I am aware of that.”

  “Well, you know Meghan and how she thrives on attention. I think Juliska thrives equally in giving that attention at just the right times. Meghan soaked it up, loved every minute of it. In her defense though, with the whole betrayal thing, I know she was just scared. I was really angry with her, pretty much right up to now,” he added, slightly ashamed. His sister had always looked out for him. Somehow, accepting this fact made him miss her, terribly. He didn’t know if he could ever fully forgive her, but he wondered if she was okay. Wondered what she was doing just then.

  Colin toyed with opening his mind connection to her and reaching out, but decided against it. He had no idea where she was or what she was doing and for all he knew she could still be sitting by Juliska’s side, still blind to the truth. Yeah, not ready to completely forgive her, just yet.

  Kanda called out that dinner was prepared a little while later. They ate in silence, Colin licking up every bit of delicious food. He had missed Kanda’s cooking immensely.

  After it was finished and the mess cleaned up, Kanda and Arnon tossed each other knowing looks, which both Colin and Catrina caught.

  “What?” asked Colin, as it was clear they had something else on their minds. “If you’re trying to tell me that you guys are a couple, I sort of figured that out already.”

  Arnon laughed. “I do suppose that is kind of obvious. This is not about that though. You see, you’ve come back to us at a rather odd moment. Or perhaps, auspicious.”

  “When you first arrived, Colin,” said Kanda, “and saw me putting things away outside, that was not for winter. You see, we are leaving Cobbscott.”

  “Leaving? Why?”

  “Kanda must return to her people,” Arnon said. “And I am going with her.”

  “Return to who?” asked Colin, confused.

  “Colin, my place isn’t really here. Or not just here. You see, I serve my people, the Tunkapog, as a liaison of sorts between the magical communities. That’s actually how I first met Arnon, many years ago. But my time here is ending, at least for now, regrettably so, because we are nearing a time of war. Something we have not entered into for generations. The Tunkapog have always preferred to remain in the middle when it comes to magical disagreements,” she explained.

  “I guess I never really thought about it before, where you came from. I guess I just always thought it was here,” said Colin.

  Kanda smiled, speaking fondly. “This will always be my home, if I am granted a way to return.”

  “So where is this place?”

  “Would you like to see it?” she inquired.

  Colin glanced at Catrina, sending her a look that asked do you think it’s safe to do so?

  “Colin,” said Arnon. “You can come and go from this place as you see fit. You are not or will not be a prisoner of any sort. It is simply the home of the Tunkapog and where Kanda and I need to be right now. Personally, I would love for the two of you to join us, and I think you might actually learn some things while you’re there.” He gazed up at Kanda as if to say, how much should we tell him?

  “There is no more point in hiding more truths,” she declared.

  Arnon nodded. “Colin, your timing in returning to us might just be fate. I’m starting to hate that word,” he added with a frown. “Regardless, this war that’s about to begin, well, you and Meghan are sort of part of it.”

  Colin didn’t know how much more he could handle in one day. One day? How about one lifetime? He’d just lost Jasper Thorndike, been reunited with his uncle and Kanda, revealed to them that he was the Projector everyone wa
s hunting, found out he could not die even if he wanted to, and discovered how he had come to live with Arnon Jacoby.

  He still had many questions. He wasn’t ready to leave his uncle. Not yet. And now to top it all off, there was a battle brewing that he and Meghan were somehow a part of.

  So many answers, but so many more questions. He felt like they had barely scratched the surface of everything he wanted to talk about. And the unanswered questions, neither Arnon or Kanda had those answers.

  He was alone. One of a kind. He didn’t belong anywhere. A deadly freak in the eyes of nearly everyone, possibly including Meghan. Anger, fear, and confusion overwhelmed him. His mind started to feel cluttered, burdened with too much thought.

  Could he really do all of this without Jasper’s help?

  He could not stop the steady stream of doubt clamoring its way through his brain.

  It came on hard and fast. Starting with a low rumble that shook the house.

  Catrina gasped and shouted his name.

  But it was too late, all the calm he’d been keeping vanished. The numb space he’d buried himself in after Jasper’s death, dissolved into nothing but a host of emotions no one would be able to handle all at once.

  The shaking got stronger, things falling off walls and shelves.

  Thoughts swarmed in Colin’s mind, clumping together, becoming incoherent. Without realizing it, he started to rock back and forth.

  “Colin,” Catrina called out calmly.

  He had let his guard down. The book sputtered, unable to keep up with his thoughts. Deep inside his very core, he felt something welling up. Expanding. Needing to burst free. In the matter of a second he knew it was too late; he could not stop what was about to happen.

  At the same moment that this thing inside him freed itself, he ordered a barrier around Catrina, Arnon and Kanda. They were each confined inside an impenetrable bubble-like cocoon.

  At the same time each was surrounded by this cocoon, a wave of magical energy erupted out of Colin, shattering everything it touched. It started with a glass vase, shards flying into the air, followed by the furniture and then the windows of Kanda’s home. It flattened her walls, sending wood and belongings shooting outward, smashing into trees.