L.O.S.T. Trilogy Box Set

by R. S. Collins

  With that, he flipped me off and stalked away.

  For a moment I just stared at him, wanting to kick his butt, but at the same time I wanted to figure out how to get through to him. He was becoming a powerful witch in his own right, and if he didn’t learn to control that power or his anger, not to mention all the creatures he was trying to strengthen and repopulate, he could get us all into some serious trouble.

  Todd vanished behind a grove of trees, in the direction of the keeping grounds and slither training compound, and I set about cleaning up the mess in the village. With a flick of my sword, I sent the klatchKeeper and her klatchKoven back to their lair. I even cleaned up all the damage the slither had caused and repaired the pumpkin cart.

  My heart paused as I remembered that time in Shallym when Jazz had saved me from the witches and oldeFolke, and then she had repaired that applecart. At the time I’d been majorly pissed at her, but right now I’d give anything to have her back and griping at me for being so messy.

  The door lies in lands forgotten. The living shall not cross. Those who search forever wander. I sighed. “Beware the Guardian. Only the old blood may pass, and I need to find some kind of true but unwilling guide.”

  I wanted to start right that second, but I couldn’t. I was so exhausted I could barely think. Using so much magic wore me out and I had to rest before I allowed everything to resume. Even if it pissed off the hags. OldeFolke really, really hated being spelled, especially by a modern witch. They acknowledged me as king, but only because my magic was stronger than theirs. A halfblood ruler of modern stock was definitely not what they wanted—and I was Nire’s son, on top of everything else.

  I stared around me at the frozen hags, elflings, and witches, and shook my head. What was going on in L.O.S.T.?

  Since that day beside the pond, the day I sensed Jazz so clearly, everything had gone berserk—more than usual. Todd had always caused trouble, but this was over the edge, even for him. It was as if the whole place knew I needed to leave L.O.S.T. to find Jazz, and everyone was doing their best to keep me here.

  The thought made me scowl. I’d get everything back to normal and then I’d leave, just like I’d planned. Jazz needed me, and I was going to figure out my clues and bring her back.

  I held up my sword and shouted, “Resume.”

  Once again wind blew and people moved. Some landed on their asses from being struck by the slither’s wings right before I caused everything to freeze and sent the slither back to where it came from. Voices filled the village from those who had been in mid-conversation, and dogs barked and cats yowled. My dad stood up, blushing, brushing dirt off his jeans as Dame Corey glared at him. Everyone stopped and their gazes riveted on me and my sword. I could almost hear the witches gulp and the oldeFolke grumble beneath their collective breaths.

  “Settle down or you’ll have me to deal with.” I made my glare as menacing as possible.

  The oldeFolke glared right back before returning to their business, and the witches scurried out of my path. Even the hag Todd had almost beheaded departed without incident.

  It was good to be king. The corner of my mouth curved and I almost laughed. Some king I was.

  The breeze grew colder and smelled of the oncoming storm. Soon the winter solstice would be here, and everything would be so cold. But by solstice, I intended to have Jazz here, with us, and just that thought warmed something deep inside me.

  I frowned at the sky before heading to the kitchen where I was sure I’d find Acaw. Maybe he would know something about the hints I’d been able to find. Rol certainly wouldn’t be any help.

  The elfling was stirring a pot of something that smelled really good—like chicken dumplings—and my stomach growled. Smells of fresh baked bread and honey cakes only made me hungrier, but I figured if I took a bite, they’d taste all flat and boring like most everything had since Jazz died.

  What I would give for a couple of double cheeseburgers and fries right now. I’d tried teaching Acaw and the other elfling cooks how to make them, but they couldn’t begin to get close to Mickey D’s.

  Acaw’s crow-brother gave a loud caw from the nearest windowsill, and its glare was nearly as bad as Acaw’s.

  “Too much flour,” the elfling growled, and I knew he was blaming me for freezing everyone. By the limp burlap bag in his hand, and the white stuff dusting the floor and Acaw’s apron, he’d apparently been pouring flour into the dumplings to thicken them. But when I’d allowed the village to resume, a good portion of the bag had dumped into the pot before he could stop it.

  “Oh, sorry.” I rocked onto the balls of my feet. “Listen, I need to know more about this Talamadden place. The old scrolls and the Wytches Book of Tyme are about to drive me nuts with their riddles and the weird language. But the last scroll I read told me how elflings are wise about death’s haven. So, I’ve got this much.” I took a deep breath, dug the parchment out of my pocket, and handed it to him. “Does any of this make sense to you?”

  Acaw’s shaggy eyebrows drew close as he studied the sentences I had scrawled. As he read, he absently called forth a bucket of water from beneath the pump in the corner, then poured the water into the cauldron.

  “Only peril lies in the place where one is neither alive nor dead,” he finally said. I drew closer to him, and Acaw’s crow-brother squawked again and ruffled his black feathers.

  “Don’t give me the crap about it being too dangerous.” I rested my hand on my sword hilt. “I’m going after Jazz and nothing is going to stop me.”

  Acaw sent the now empty bucket back to the water pump and began stirring the dumplings. “Not even your responsibilities as King of the Witches?”

  “Don’t start with the guilt trip.” The tingling started in my cheek again. I’d been feeling it more and more since that day by the pond, and I resisted the urge to rub the scar Nire had left me. “I’ll make sure everything’s back in order, and that everyone is safe before I leave, so I’m not neglecting my duties. Besides, I won’t be gone long. Rol, Dad, Dame Corey, and Todd can keep an eye on things.”

  Acaw stopped stirring the dumplings and a small tin of herbs appeared in his hand. He took a pinch of the dried green leaves and seeds and tossed it into the brew before answering me. It smelled of parsley and basil. “Your timing is ill-fated,” he said.

  I gritted my teeth. “I’m going to find Jazz, and I want you to help me understand how to do it. What does all that stuff mean—the door in lands forgotten, and the living shall not cross. Wandering forever, the Guardian, the old blood, the guide—I don’t know what any of it means.”

  “Are you commanding me to assist you?” the elfling asked even more quietly than usual.

  “Well—I—no.” I rubbed my palm against the hilt of my sword. Anyone but Acaw. Rol even. I could have commanded Rol.

  The elfling sniffed. “If I am not under bond of command, then I do not choose to aid you in this folly. One who enters Talamadden risks possession by confused and angry spirits. Beyond that, I have negative feelings about our future on this side of the barrier between life and death.”

  I didn’t think I had ever heard him say so many words at once, and he wasn’t even finished.

  “You have no way of knowing if Her Majesty Jasmina has been able to summon her former physical body. It is possible you would seek her only to find a sparrow or a vulture.” His eyes flicked meaningfully to his crow-brother. “Fate can be cruel.”

  I frowned. I couldn’t and wouldn’t believe Jazz would just be a ghost. “Crossing that barrier into Talamadden—it’s possible, right?” I rubbed at the scar on my cheek and tried to imagine the place where Jazz was trapped.

  Acaw made the tin of herbs disappear and resumed stirring the pot. “Only the strongest souls retain awareness of their individual ba—their spiritual energy. They leave their ka, the body, never to return. Not even oldeFolke, who have the ability to resist possession, would dare to enter Talamadden. Most could not find it, even under duress.”

/>   “Whatever.” I eyed him square on. “Elflings have risked it, haven’t they? That’s what the scrolls meant about you being wise about death’s haven.”

  To this, Acaw said nothing. His eyes sparked, and he turned his attention back to his smoking pots. Something wasn’t quite right. I never could read him. He was like a closed book. No, wait. A closed book wrapped by a chain, padlocked, and tossed into a river. The things he said meant nothing—and everything.

  Still, I didn’t want to command him. It seemed wrong. At the same time, it seemed like the only way.

  “I want you to show me the way to Talamadden’s entrance,” I said, doing my best to sound calm, like Acaw always did. “When we get there you can go in with me or stay, I don’t care. But I’m going in.”

  Acaw’s crow-brother squawked, an angry, haunting sound, but the elfling still said nothing at all.

  Over the next several days, I worked on weaving spells to protect the Path. I needed to ensure it would be safe from any kind of invasion from an evil being like Nire—if there was such a thing now that she was out of commission. A guy couldn’t be too cautious in this strange world of witches and oldeFolke.

  I also worked on re-establishing peace in the Sanctuary, but it wasn’t easy. It seemed like everyone and everything was out to keep me from leaving to find Jazz. Eventually we came to agreeable terms. Jazz’s mom, Dame Corey, served as intermediary. She was great at the politics, but I was angry with her for telling me over and over that I shouldn’t go to Talamadden, just like everyone else. I was going after her daughter, and if she cared anything about Jazz, she should have been encouraging me and telling me what I needed to do to rescue her from a death that didn’t have to be permanent.

  In the meantime I did everything I could to learn about my clues. I even bugged Rol until he threatened to turn me into a donkey like Jazz had done when I was first learning the craft, and I promised to turn him into a baseball bat and swing him at every pumpkin I could find. Maybe a rock or two. Finally he gave in when I wouldn’t give up, but what he told me was basically the same as Acaw—that I was nuts, doomed to failure, and I was neglecting my responsibilities as King of the Witches.

  “The doorway is hidden to all but a few,” he finally allowed. “In one of the forgotten places. Even if you found it, you could not pass through to reach Jasmina—in whatever form she might present—unless you died yourself. Besides, the Guardian would kill you along the way.”

  “I can take the Guardian, trust me.” I tapped the hilt of my sword. “You trained me well.”

  For a few seconds, Rol actually looked afraid. Now, that was something I had never seen before. “The Guardian is evil,” he said through clenched teeth. “It fights you where you do not expect, when you do not expect. Once engaged, the battle is never finished.”

  “Until?” I shifted, thinking about drawing my sword for a little practice. “Until I rescue her, right? Or kill the Guardian.”

  “No.” Rol actually shivered as he turned his back on me. “Until you are dead—or wish you were.”

  That was it. He wouldn’t say any more, no matter how hard I pressed. He even drew on me and I had to fight my way out of the practice arena.

  When I got back home, Dad came next, pleading with me when logic failed. “Todd doesn’t need to lose you, too. Neither do I.”

  “I know what I’m doing, Dad. I can save her.” I fisted my hands in frustration. “I’ve studied the scrolls, and I can use my magic to break through the barrier between the living and the dead. I’m the most powerful witch on the Path.”

  “Well, you’re sure the cockiest.”

  I glared at him. “I defeated Nire, didn’t I?”

  He glared at me in return, and the rest went unsaid. Yes, I had defeated Nire, with Jazz’s help. With the transfer of her magical power to me. And everyone had almost died.

  “She’s gone, Dad.” I reached for his arm, and he didn’t pull away. “The worst is over now. Nothing will happen if I’m gone a little while, and I’ll be fine.”

  That earned me a brief hug, and Dad’s silent exit from my house. He didn’t come back that night, and neither did Todd.

  Every day that passed, I grew more anxious and more obsessed with leaving and rescuing Jazz. It took the whole second week after I had sensed her to finish securing everything in L.O.S.T. so I could leave. By then, I was so desperate to get going that I could hardly stand still.

  The hardest part, I figured, would be the first couple of steps. Doing two things I really, really didn’t want to do. I grabbed my backpack that had been filled with food for the journey and made sure my sword was secure in its sheath. I trudged through mud and water to the slither training grounds beyond the grove of trees behind the store.

  It had been raining almost continuously for two weeks straight and the sky was overcast and threatening to rain again. The air smelled fresh and clean, but I could have done without the chill that made my nose run. Acaw, who barely spoke to me unless I made him, said it was so stormy because the Sylphs, air elementals, were displeased with me for planning to leave, but I figured it was another one of his tactics to keep me from going to Talamadden.

  Not surprisingly, I found Todd talking with Sherise at the slither training grounds. Both were perched on wooden railings encircling the field that reminded me of rodeo grounds. Any minute now I expected a slither to charge across the grounds, its dragon-like wings flapping, the earth shaking like a 3.0 on the Richter scale, and the beast racing around striped rodeo barrels.

  Todd and Sherise constantly hung around each other, and had been ever since the day we rescued her. The two had their heads close and were laughing, but when I approached, Todd’s smile switched to a frown.

  I hitched my pack up on my shoulder. “I’m heading out now.”

  Todd’s expression didn’t change, but he climbed down from the railing. “I can see that.”

  The girl smiled, and I could see why Todd liked her so much. “Like I said before, you’re doing the right thing, Bren.” Her white teeth flashed in the morning light.

  Sherise had been the only one in L.OST. who hadn’t told me I was a fruitcake for going to Talamadden, and I liked her even more for that. Yet whenever I was around her, I always had a peculiar feeling that I just couldn’t shake. Like now.

  “Yeah,” I finally said as I rubbed my tingling scar. “I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try to get Jazz back.”

  Todd’s blond hair ruffled in the breeze. “We’ll take care of things around here.”

  Out of a habit I’d had since I was a kid, I found myself pulling at the bindings on my leather shirt. I forced myself to stop. “Take care of Dad most of all. He needs you.”

  This made Todd grunt.

  Sherise slipped off the railing and into the mud. She came up to me, an even brighter smile lighting her face. She held out her hand and I took the stone she offered. It hung from a thick silver chain. “Moonstone. A Goddess stone for moon magic, safe travel, and intuition. I’m offering it on loan, so be sure to keep yourself safe and return it—and you—in one piece.” She smiled. “I’ll light a candle for you, too. And for Jazz to be in her body instead of her spirit form.”

  My fingers tingled as I slipped the chain and stone over my head. “Uh, thanks.”

  While smoothing her black hair behind her ear, she added, “Bring Jasmina back safely.”

  “I will.” I gave a nod to her and Todd, then turned my back and walked through the grove of trees toward the clearing where I knew Acaw had gone to pick some herbs.

  Now that the goodbye scene with my brother was over, I had to face this next part. Man. I so didn’t want to, but I didn’t see any other way.

  I found Acaw stooping over a patch of mint, arranging an unusual amount of spices, herbs, and salves in his bag. He held a long walking stick with symbols of all four elements engraved upon it—earth, air, water, and fire. Strung through a hole in the staff were a hawk feather on a yellow string, a hematite with a h
ole through it on a green string, a dragon’s scale on a red string, and a seashell on a blue string. Charms for power, to heal, for courage, and for second sight. Including his pointed hat, he was clad in leathers of brown and green that blended with trees and ground, and his crow-brother perched on his shoulder.

  All in all, he looked ready to travel. I was stunned. “You knew, didn’t you? That I would command you after all.”

  Acaw’s crow-brother gave a squawk and ruffled his blue-black feathers as he glared at me. The bird’s expression was only slightly kinder than Acaw’s. I sighed. Maybe I should be taking Sherise instead of Acaw since she was the only one who had expressed any kind of faith in me. But Sherise had no more idea than I where to find the hidden entrance to the land of the dead. It had to be Acaw.

  I faced the elfling as Rol came through the trees and strode over to us. He stopped beside Acaw and folded his powerful arms across his massive chest. As always, his ebony skin was well oiled, like a professional bodybuilder’s, and he looked like he could pound telephone poles into the ground with his fist. No doubt he could.

  At the moment, Rol looked like he wanted to hex me into a statue to keep me from leaving. “You are making a foolish mistake,” he said in a growl, and then, “Your Highness.”

  I was so tired of constantly being told I was an idiot. I was ready to take Rol on barehanded, even though he was built like a brick house.

  My dad came next, hands in pockets, wearing a serious expression on his bearded face. “I want you to reconsider, Bren.”

  “I’ve made my decision.” I gritted my teeth before I spoke again. “You already know that I’ve reinforced the Path, and I’ve ensured the treaty with the oldeFolke will keep them from stirring up trouble. Dame Corey can handle them.” I was really getting sick of repeating myself.

  “It’s clear you intend to go on this mission.” Rol flexed his huge biceps. “But it is likely you will not return to us.”

  I clenched my fists. “Thanks for your faith in me, big guy.”