After a few more quiet minutes, Aloyna got up and poured them some tea. When she reclaimed her seat, she finally spoke.
“I can smell your blood, and Jasper says you speak the truth, but even in all the magic I have seen, I’ve never seen anything like this. You say you are my granddaughter, from far in the future?”
“Yes. I am. The situation is complicated.” How much she was permitted to share, without altering the course of the future, she had no idea. “We were, um, sent here either by a curse, or I think, by someone trying to stop that curse. That’s a guess and an oversimplified explanation of how we got here.”
Aloyna dropped her head. “It was my son, wasn’t it? He had something to do with this?”
“How-how did you know?” Sebastien shouldn’t have been surprised by this. They were fighting Fazendiin even in this time.
Aloyna got up and paced. “Because somehow, my son is always involved. Even so far into the future.” She stopped pacing, staring into air. Her voice held only pure disbelief and regret that so many years in the future, her son was still a threat.
Jasper got up and rubbed her shoulders.
“Perhaps they’ve come here for a purpose.”
“To stop him? I’m starting to wonder if that’s even possible.”
Meghan let out a disgruntled clearing of her throat, which didn’t help any. Because it meant she agreed with that sentiment.
Jasper retook his seat, rubbing his hand across his chin deep in contemplation. Or actually, as Meghan watched him, he thought his actions were more like Colin’s. He was a Projector after all. He had to keep his emotions in check so they didn’t overwhelm his magic and turn it all skitso! Meghan gave him the time, having nothing else to say anyway, other than adding more doom to the gloom. And having no viable reason for why they were here.
It also sucked beyond measure that Jasper wasn’t even alive in her future. He’d died at her brother’s hands. Colby had killed him, and stolen his Projector’s powers. Man, it sucked to have him alive and sitting here like this. The one man who could help her other brother. Well, her non-brother by blood, but Colin would always be her brother no matter what. If only there was some way to keep Jasper alive.
He slid back to the present and passed his gaze between Meghan and Sebastien.
“You’ve met us both, in this future, haven’t you? You recognized us.”
Meghan nodded, about to explain their relationships better when Jasper raised his hand to stop her.
“Don’t say too much. We can’t chance messing up the future.”
“So we do have to worry about that?” Meghan stated grimly. “I was hoping that was just a thing of fiction.”
“Afraid not. Messing with time, that is a scary business right there. This is new magic to me. I cannot even fathom the consequences of it.”
“It’s not like we had any choice,” grumbled Sebastien.
“No, not from the sounds of it,” Aloyna agreed. Her eyes got glossy and she reclaimed her seat. “My granddaughter. I have a grandchild. And you are so very much…”
“Nothing like her father,” finished Sebastien on their behalf.
Meghan added, “But I’m guessing, trying to do the same thing in my time, that you both tried to do in yours. Trying to stop him.”
“So that has not changed,” Aloyna spoke dismally. “Well, that is a depressing thought.”
“And probably enough information,” warned Jasper. “We can’t let the potential future stop us today,” he reminded.
“Unless somehow we’re meant to change something?” It slipped out of Meghan’s mouth without her thinking first.
“Like what?” asked Sebastien.
“Well… um… I can’t honestly say. But, we were sent to this time for a reason. Right?” She turned to Aloyna and Jasper. “Okay, so I think I can tell you this part without risking the future. I was doing a spell which should have allowed me to look at past memories from my own bloodline. I was hoping to look into my father’s past. Instead, something weird happened. Like he always seems to, he expected I might try such a thing, and he was ready for me. And I’d swear he was about to get my brain permanently locked into some memory of his choosing.”
Her hosts listened, hanging onto her every word.
“But just as this was happening, something interfered. I won’t go into too much detail, but it was someone I’d met before. They sort of showed up, and saved me from my father’s curse, but then sent Sebastian and me, here, instead.”
“Almost like she’d been waiting to do it,” added Sebastien.
“Yeah. And that.” Meghan shrugged, as in, what do you make of that?
“Perhaps the reason you’re here will reveal itself,” hoped Jasper.
“It cannot be to change anything,” Aloyna whispered.
“Why do you say that?” asked Jasper.
“Because in her future, the war is still going.”
“Maybe that’s what we came to change?” Meghan had no clue as to how.
“Changing the direction of things now, would change the future,” Aloyna warned darkly. “In ways you cannot even imagine, sitting here, only talking about it.”
“You mean things like, Meghan and I might not even exist,” assumed Sebastien. “Our friends or family might not.”
“But so might not my father,” Meghan put out there with a hard swallow in her throat. And maybe Jasper would. Perhaps she needed to save Jasper. If Colby was never born, maybe Jasper kept his powers and was able to continue fighting. Ugh, so many possibilities. How was she to understand what her purpose was here?
“Well this is a rather gloomy conversation.” It was none of the four who said it, and their heads swung around to see an older, scruffy looking man standing in the doorframe.
“Robert!” Aloyna got up and hugged the man. Jasper clasped his arm wearing a relieved smile in welcome.
“Welcome back, friend. It’s a load off to see you.”
“You as well. And I’m sorry, I did not mean to eavesdrop. Couldn’t be helped.”
“Do not worry yourself,” Aloyna insisted. She dragged the man to the table and rushed to get him a hot drink and a bowl of stew. “Anyone else hungry?” No one else was at the time.
“Oh, did I miss your cooking, Loy.”
Loy. Her grandmother had a nickname. There was so little Meghan knew of her blood family.
Aloyna smiled. “Oh, um, sorry, everyone. Introductions. Robert, this is Meghan and Sebastien.” He nodded at them. She turned, “And this is Robert Motley. He’s a good friend, and to be trusted.”
“Nice to meet you,” Sebastien greeted.
Robert nodded. “I guess I can see it in the eyes,” he aimed at Meghan. He’d heard a lot of their conversation it seemed. “I heard all of it actually.”
Meghan’s mouth dropped open, and she slammed it shut.
“Never fear, Red.”
Meghan frowned. Did this guy refuse to call anyone by their true name? And no one had ever called that before, even in all the years her hair had been red.
“You’re a Firemancer.”
“How…” she didn’t finish.
“Oh, Robert. Stop. You’ll give the poor girl a heart attack,” claimed Aloyna.
The man laughed. “I read minds,” he explained. “Not all the time. That’d give any man a complex. But I had to be sure this place hadn’t been compromised before I came in. Got here right after you all did.”
“But a Firemancer,” Aloyna noted, thinking hard about that.
Robert tossed Sebastien a glowing sort of grin. He cast his gaze downward, air getting trapped in his lungs. Robert smiled at him, and shook his head. “I’ll keep your thoughts to myself,” he jabbed.
Meghan got hot in the face. Just what was Sebastien thinking?
“Well, enough of the not so serious.” He pushed his empty bowl back.
“I might have found out where they are headed. They were using some pretty powerful magic. But I managed to break throug
h a little.” Robert eyed Sebastien for a second. “You’re wondering what I am. I’m a Projector, like Jasper. We’re not all freaks.” He laughed hard, at that. “Or like Jasper over here, needing all kinds of serenity to make it through the day.”
“Do you not have a second soul?” blurted out Meghan. “Sorry, if that’s a personal thing.”
“No. I’ve never had the need to have a second soul.”
“Robert has an uncanny ability to…”
“Not give too many cares about things, and let them go,” Robert finished Jasper’s explanation with a hearty laugh.
There was something comforting about the guy. Kind of a big, brutish, lovable teddy bear thought Meghan. Her eyes went wide. Crap, can he read what I’m thinking right now?
“Just don’t feed me any honey.” He winked at her. He really did just fly with things. She’d never met anyone like him.
“How do you do that?” she asked. “Just let things fly?”
“Natural born gift. I never really even had to try.” He slapped Jasper’s back. “This one’s always been jealous.”
Jasper grunted.
There was a question on the tip of her tongue, although now didn’t seem like the time. But she might never get the chance again. There were two Projectors sitting in front of her.
“Just ask,” Robert grinned out.
“Well, it’s um, without going into all the reasons why, in my day, Projectors are feared. Like people freak the hell out at the thought of one being in existence. But you guys seem, kind of, normal. I am confused.”
“I can’t say why everyone despises us so much in your future. But, there’s not many of us, and we tend to stick together,” explained Jasper.
“We are powerful, if let loose,” Robert continued.
“I’m not sure I get what that means.”
“Our powers have no boundaries. We are essentially freaks of magic. We didn’t get the typical natural born limits most everyone gets.” Jasper rubbed his chin. “The real problem lies in emotions and not living in the present. When we get overwhelmed, our magic gets overwhelmed.”
“And that’s when things get crazy,” said Robert. “But we don’t all need second souls to help control the chaos. Well, most do. It’s a smart idea. I may even choose to at some point.”
“The real danger lies in our own hearts. If we give in to the power. If we let the power take control of us. The more magic we let loose, well, there’s this addictive sort of high. If you let too much magic out, and give in to that high, you can lose yourself. And then…”
“That’s a bad day for everyone.” Robert got more serious then.
“Which is why we tend to stick together. Keep each other in check. Find things that anchor us to even ground.” Jasper’s gaze drifted to Aloyna.
“And why really, using magic is not always such a great idea. We train ourselves, and test ourselves. Our limits. And we stick to those limits if at all possible. And truthfully, less magic and less chaos equals a fairly stable life.”
“Which is hard in a time of war,” included Jasper. “We are tempted to try many things in order to stave off potential loss of life, or whatnot. In the end, it’s a bit like knowing you are one of the most powerful people in existence, but also knowing if you give in, and really let that power free, it will end up doing more damage than it’s worth.”
So this is what Colin and Colby had to look forward to. Colin, she trusted to try to do the right thing. Colby? He wasn’t lost yet, but he was close.
Robert had the look of trying to get into Meghan’s mind a little deeper and she twisted her mouth in a smirk.
“Okay, now. Robert,” started Aloyna. “Turn it off. Let’s all get back to business. You said you may have found out where my son is heading.”
Now the conversation was getting interesting.
Robert sat back. “Yeah. He’s got that Stone of his under heavy guard by the entire Vetala clan. Your son is on the move.”
“Wait,” Meghan found herself saying. “So the Immortality Stone is not created yet?”
The three adults stared at her, and she watched Aloyna’s hopes fade right before her eyes. Meghan realized she might have said too much. Broken one of the no talking about the future, rules.
“So he succeeds,” Jasper assumed.
“Yes.” She left out the part that she was immortal herself, and hoped this Robert guy wasn’t listening in. There’d be no secrets left about the future then.
“Could you have been sent here to help us stop the creation?” Aloyna wondered.
How did she know what the heck she’d been sent here to do? Everything was always a guess. Always some riddle wrapped up inside another riddle.
Maybe the future they’d come from no longer mattered. Maybe the future they’d return to, was nothing like the one they’d left. Sebastien had to be thinking the same thing because his hand had snaked into hers under the table. Whatever was going to happen, they were staying together.
“I’m sorry, child.” Aloyna reached out and grasped the hand she left on the table. “Clearly, you are caught up in the middle of a terrible mess. Dragged in because of who you are. Because of the blood that courses through your veins.”
This wasn’t the same Aloyna she was used to. Although, she hadn’t spent much time with the woman, and she had not yet spent hundreds of years imprisoned in glass.
That thought nearly made Meghan vomit. Neither she nor Jasper had promising futures to look forward to. Apparently, neither did this Robert Motley, as she’d never met him in the future. And he was a Projector, very hard to kill.
Sebastien tossed Meghan a side glance. How did this woman in front of them become the woman who created a prophecy that was the entire reason Meghan was even born in the first place? And it sounded like the war was just beginning, not ending. And if the Stone had not yet been created, neither had the Grosvenor. So Aloyna and Jasper didn’t know they were sitting in front of an immortal child born out of a fake prophecy, that she had created.
All of this was starting to seriously hurt Meghan’s brain.
“You know,” started Sebastien. “We might be thinking about this all wrong. We’re always trying to figure out his plans, what he’s going to do next. Get ahead of him. Perhaps the real issue is, how does he stay ahead? It’s almost like he’s getting fed information.”
“A seer?” Meghan suggested, instantly poo pooing it. “A seer would be helpful. But they still wouldn’t be able to keep him that ahead of the game. And he’s smart, there’s no question about that. But yeah, it’s like he’s getting fed his information.”
“How?” Aloyna asked no one in particular.
“Do you think my father is traveling back in time?”
“That could be one crazy theory,” Jasper replied.
“If he was doing the time travel thing, wouldn’t he be messing with changing the future though?” Sebastien put in. “He can’t be right all the time. Sometimes plans backfire no matter what.”
“It’s a farfetched idea. And really, he’d need to be able to see into the future, not so much the past.” Jasper took on a curious frown.
“Is that possible?” Aloyna asked.
“If one can go to the past, why can’t one go into the future?”
“Even if he has somehow figured this sort of thing out, it does not help us tonight.”
And they were right back at square one.
“Why don’t you two get some rest.” Aloyna showed them to a room and shuffled them inside. There was a laugh from Robert. But he said nothing, only shook his head and belly-laughed while passing his gaze between Meghan and Sebastien as the door closed.
“I’m guessing he knows we’re not actually married,” glowered Meghan.
“He can read whatever he wants, I’m still not staying in another room. And that’s not me trying to be, you know, romantic or anything, it’s just… this is all…”
“Yeah. I know. And we need to stick together. Like almost literally
I think.” She plunked down on a not so firm mattress and bounced a little. He deflated a little, seeing that she agreed. He was afraid she might try to argue. “We can’t chance only one of us getting yanked out of the past, or something crazy.” She patted the seat next to her on the bed. He joined her there.
“This is so many levels of crazy, Meghan.”
“So many,” she agreed. “I wonder though, why we are here? Are we really meant to change the future? To a possible one that doesn’t include ourselves, in it?”
“What if we’re not meant to go back?” he posed.
“You mean, we’d live out our lives back in this time?” She hadn’t even thought about that as a potential outcome. Not going home. But he might be right. If they changed the future, there might not be a place for them to return to.
Well didn’t that kind of suck.
And wouldn’t Meghan eventually show up in the future again? She was immortal. If she lived forever, she’d eventually catch up with that life. Only much older. And perhaps, wiser.
Sebastien let out a telling exhale. Meghan got that sinking feeling again, he really wanted to talk. About them.
Part of her wanted to, and the other sort of no longer cared.
Part of her was angry and might always hold a little resentment, and part of her was thrilled he was back in her life again, because she’d missed him.
But reeling in this new reality, of them being stuck in time, or maybe even making themselves not exist, it did feel like the right moment to clear the air. They might not have another chance.
“Sebastien.” She decided to just get it over with. “I, um, get there’s stuff you want to say. The truth is, I don’t think I care anymore.”
He flinched a little. “I’m not sure what you mean by that.”
“I’m not even sure. I think it’s mostly I want to focus on the here and now. And the future, if we have one, and not so much the past. No pun intended,” seeing their current living conditions.
He chuckled. “I get that.” But he still had no idea how she felt about everything, or him, or if she was still angry.
“Sebastien, there’s a very small piece of my heart that’s always going to despise all the things you didn’t tell me. But it’s lumped together with all the secrets no one else told me, either. And I do understand, mostly. We’re all living out other people’s plans. You too. We’ve all been pawns in other’s people’s games.”
Sacrifice (The Wayward King, The Projector's Mother, and A Prophecy Reborn) (A Fated Fantasy Quest Adventure Book 9) Page 9
