The Map, The Dagger, and The Vampyres (Fated Chronicles Book 2)

by Humphrey Quinn

  “It’s been me all this time. I’m the Projector everyone’s trying to hunt down, and kill. I am dangerous. Not you.”

  “But you saved me,” she reminded. “I would still be sleeping away my life in Eidolon’s cave if you had not heard my cries for help. Cries only someone with your powers could have heard.”

  He stepped back from her, suddenly afraid to touch her.

  “Will I hurt people?” By people, he meant Catrina. At least this minute. He shot a glance at Jasper and back to Catrina. “When I thought it was you, I didn’t care. I just wanted to help even if that meant I might get hurt. But I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”

  Catrina sighed. “Shouldn't that be my choice, Colin, like it was for you?”

  He just stared, no idea what to say to that.

  “There are many things to consider,” addressed Jasper.

  Colin jerked his head in Jasper’s direction, his eyes wide, heart, pounding like a hammer.

  “First, this is why I brought you here, to this boat,” the man explained. “This vessel is cloaked from the outside world, untraceable. Second, the reason you were asleep for such a long time is because I needed to examine you. Your mind that is. I will explain more about this later, suffice it to say it was necessary. And you were perfectly safe, just in a stasis of sorts.”

  “Not so unlike the one I was in,” explained Catrina.

  Jasper nodded. “Lastly, Colin, you are just over a year from your sixteenth birthday.”

  A day normally to be celebrated. Somehow Colin did not think that was the point here.

  “You have until that time to get your powers under control. The closer you get to your birthday, the more uncontrollable your powers will become.”

  “And if I fail?” Colin asked in desperation.

  “There is no reason to think you will fail. However, I will not spare you from the truth. If you cannot, or do not succeed, you will force my hand, Colin Jacoby.” Jasper's stare warned of severe and succinct consequences. “You must learn control. If you do not, you will not be let loose upon any world.”

  Colin sucked in a breath, the frightening reality breathing up all the oxygen.

  The boat was his prison after all.

  A prison he might never leave alive.

  CHAPTER 39

  “Jae missed school today,” Meghan made note as she jotted down the words into her journal. She sat in the school library, which was closing soon. It was currently empty of students. “If Colin could see me now,” she mumbled sarcastically. She had spent the previous days, after school, in the library researching Svoda history, mainly regarding Juliska Blackwell, but had found nothing useful in regards to whether the Gypsy Queen had ever had any children.

  She did learn that Juliska Blackwell was not born on the Svoda Island. Similar to her and Colin, Juliska came to the Svoda when she was a young girl of twelve and had been placed into a foster family with the name of Cobb. Suddenly, she was the middle child of five, two younger siblings than herself and two older. Juliska had been found living a desolate life with no memory of her family or where she had come from. At the age of sixteen, she had officially been made an apprentice of another seer, named PanSofia, the Watermancer Juliska had spoken of previously, who was now deceased.

  “Cobb?” questioned Meghan thoughtfully. “Where do I remember that name from?” It took her a moment to find the memory. “Amelia Cobb, leader of the banished Svoda.” Meghan wondered if Amelia had once been in Juliska’s foster family. She made a note about it in her journal, planning to research more about it.

  The similarities between Meghan and Juliska’s stories were interesting. Their lives following almost matching paths in some ways. Both found by the Svoda, both put into a foster family, and eventually, both becoming apprentices to the current seer. The main difference being Juliska was also the Queen.

  Perhaps it is why Juliska had taken such an instant liking to her. Too bad she hadn’t done the same for Colin. It was strange, almost like Juliska did not like him from day one. Which along with a thousand other things, made little sense. But the disdain had been mutual, Colin never liking or trusting Juliska, either.

  “Sorry Deary,” a woman called out softly, interrupting her train of thought. “Closing up for the night.”

  “Oh, yeah. Sure, of course,” said Meghan. “I’ll just put these away and be on my way.”

  “Closing us down nearly every day. Good to see a student with such drive.”

  Meghan just smiled weakly and returned her books to the shelf. She collected her belongings and left the library, deep in contemplation during her walk home.

  Leaves were full color on the maples and birches that dotted the island, in between the large blotches of lush green pine. Hints of chill made her shiver. She was not looking forward to a long, cold winter on this island.

  “Meghan! Hold up!” She gasped, the shout from behind catching her off guard. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “Seriously, Ivan? You’re sneaking up on me now?”

  “Honestly, not on purpose.” He sounded genuinely apologetic.

  “I’m extra jumpy lately.” She blew it off.

  He nodded, indicating being jumpy was somehow perfectly expected, and sadly, acceptable.

  “Listen,” he pulled her off to the side of the road so they were out of sight of any prying eyes. “You will probably run into him at some point, but you should know, Bird is here on the island.”

  “Really?” Somehow, this knowledge relieved some of her anxiety. “I’ve been wondering what became of him.”

  “Yes, well, he’s here, but that’s not all.” Ivan lowered his voice. “He’s stuck here. Like all of us, because of the tight security. He cannot get off the island without getting caught.”

  “What can we do?” Meghan asked him worriedly.

  “Not much, I'm afraid,” he replied matter-of-factly. “Just keep an eye out for him. We’re his only protection here.”

  Meghan eyed Ivan suspiciously. “Why is it you care all of a sudden?” She got no answer because like he’d been wished to the scene, Bird suddenly swooshed onto a nearby tree limb. He nodded toward Meghan and Ivan.

  “I’m sorry you're stuck here,” mouthed Meghan.

  “The Balaton will be searching for anything out of the ordinary. Now that we are back on the island, our old magical tracking system is back up and running.”

  “The one built by Corny before he went mad?”

  “The very same. They say it’s the best. Which means they can track any magic used, anywhere on this island. Although, I'm not sure if he were to transform if that would raise any alarms. But I am going to look into it.”

  “Well, I’ll leave my window cracked open,” said Meghan. “If you ever need to crash, eat, or whatever...” she wasn’t sure what Bird would need. But he nodded his beak in thanks, and flew away into the woods.

  “It is nearly curfew,” reminded Ivan stiffly.

  “Right. Yeah, guess I’d better get going.”

  To her surprise and annoyance, Ivan walked alongside her.

  “So, how’s your search coming? For your mother’s treasure?” she asked him, seeing as he wasn’t going to leave her alone. Ivan let out an exasperated breath. “That good?” she quipped.

  “Honestly, I was hoping once we were here on the island, I would find something. Anything. Some clue as to what she meant by a treasure close to my heart. I went through all our old belongings… the Mochries put all my family’s old things into storage, in case I wanted them later. But I found nothing.”

  “That was nice of them to save all that stuff for you.”

  “Actually, yes it was. I never imagined I’d want to go through any of it. There were pictures I had not seen since I was four. Oddly enough, seeing my mother's face, I thought for a strange moment that I was looking at…” he had turned to look at Meghan, but stopped when interrupted by an announcement echoing through the air.

  “This is your thi
rty-minute curfew warning.”

  Meghan, startled again, dropped her bag. When she bent over to pick it up, she felt the stinging prick of a thorn from her locket. And sudden inspiration hit.

  “Ivan, your mother might not have meant a metaphorical treasure close to her heart.”

  He looked at her funny, not getting her meaning.

  “What if she meant something more literal? Like something she wore that would have been close to her heart. Like a necklace, or locket. It just came to me because I wear a locket that belonged to my own mother.” She tapped her chest, “and it’s in front of my heart.”

  Ivan looked perplexed. “Um. I can’t believe I never thought of that. That’s actually a brilliant deduction,” he appraised curiously.

  He threw his hands up in the air.

  “What?” she demanded.

  “Now, I really can't believe I never thought of it. My dad, right after my mom died, I heard him tell the Balaton about a piece of jewelry that had been stolen from her. I don’t know if it was a necklace, but it’s definitely worth checking into.”

  “Well, to your credit, Ivan, you were just a little kid at the time. You can’t remember everything.”

  He shook his head in personal disappointment anyway.

  “If you're right though, I'm one step closer, minus the issue of it being stolen of course. Um... thank you, Meghan.” He was overly gracious, gaze fixed on hers in some weird stare that made her cheeks hot. What was he looking at? And why wasn’t he stopping?

  “Well, um, you know, one step at a time, I guess.”

  “Yeah.” He tore his gaze off her but started moving again. “Got to get you home,” he reminded. Almost like he cared that she made it home. It did not take long to reach the driveway. Ivan followed her all the way to the porch, which wrapped around almost the entire house. But his eyes kept landing on her, a befuddled look rattling his features, like he was… searching for something.

  Meghan wasn’t having it. “What on earth is wrong with you today?”

  He raked his hand through his hair, opening his mouth to speak but shrugged instead.

  “You’re being all nice and stuff. To me. To Bird. Like you suddenly care.”

  He just stared in idiotic silence.

  Meghan noticed Juliska standing on her bedroom balcony, waving down to them two stories up. She beamed upon seeing Meghan and Ivan talking. She must have missed the arguing part. Or the Meghan shouting in a loud whisper part.

  He nodded at Juliska and looked back at Meghan, set his jaw in total Ivan fashion and left without further explanation.

  Meghan, frustrated, stomped up the stairs, across the porch and into the house where Juliska was just stepping down the spiral staircase from upstairs.

  “Another long school day I see,” she noted upon Meghan’s heated entrance.

  “Yeah. Loads of schoolwork.”

  “Ivan helping you?” Juliska prodded.

  “Ivan? Um... no,” she answered, adding under her breath, “Just being his usual obnoxious self.”

  “Ah, well, I'm sure he would help if you needed it.”

  “Won't be asking,” insisted Meghan.

  Juliska shrugged. “And not to add to your workload, but I wanted to squeeze in a Firemancy lesson tonight, too. I won’t have any time over the next few days since we’re so busy prepping for the arrival of the next group.”

  “Okay. I’ll just go put all my stuff away.” Meghan really just wanted to hide all of her research on Juliska. Her hand shook a little as she grabbed the staircase banister.

  “Oh, we’ll have supper before the lesson,” Juliska added. “I’ll see you in the dining room.”

  Meghan let out a breath she'd unknowingly been holding in since walking into the house.

  Upon arriving in her room, Nona awakened from a nap and set into stretching and licking her paws. Meghan tussled the tuft of white hair on Nona’s head to say hello. The catawitch purred a contented reply.

  “Going for supper, you want me to bring you back anything?” asked Meghan.

  Nona sleepily nodded no. “I’ve had my fill today.” She smacked her lips together, which spread into a crafty grin.

  “I so don’t want to know any more,” laughed Meghan. “See you in a while. Doing a lesson after supper.” Nona just went happily back into napping mode.

  During dinner, which consisted of a hearty root vegetable stew and buttered ployes, Juliska again asked Meghan about school. “So what are you learning this week?”

  “Mostly a lot of history,” Meghan lied. Truth be told, she had been doing so much research on her own, she couldn’t even remember what they had been learning in school.

  “You are distant tonight,” Juliska noted, catching Meghan off guard. “I hate this. I’m sorry, Meghan. I may be new at this parenting thing, but I can see something is bothering you.”

  Meghan crammed another bite of food into her mouth, motioning sorry, can’t speak.

  “Is it your brother again?” Juliska asked, her voice turning sour. “I’m sorry. I truly am, but your brother chose his own path. It cannot be helped now.”

  Meghan swallowed, her food clumping tightly in her throat, still not replying to Juliska.

  “And there! I’ve done it again. I was never much good with the whole sibling thing, and clearly even worse at parenting.”

  Meghan observed it odd that the subject of her siblings would come up after she’d just read and written about them in her journal. But she moved beyond this and tried to act interested in the conversation, careful not to blurt out the words, I think you're my mother...

  “I’m just…” Meghan blew out a pocket of air. “It just feels a bit like starting over, again. New place. New people. Back to School. Firemancy, and yes, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about my brother, whatever he’s done.”

  Juliska nodded understandingly.

  “I didn’t know you had any siblings,” Meghan broke in, hoping Juliska would elaborate.

  “Yes. Four. A much younger brother and sister, and a much older brother and sister. Not related by blood. I, very much like you, came into the lives of the Svoda as a young girl. When they found me and brought me to the island, I overheard that it had been over fifty years since a magical child had been discovered as most magicals already lived here on the island. History tells of the time when the Svoda first came to the island, although, perhaps you have already learned this in class?”

  “Um, actually, I don't think we've covered this yet.”

  “Ah, good, I didn't want to bore you with repeat history lessons.”

  “No, not at all. I actually find it, um, interesting.” She spoke as if somehow embarrassed by wanting to learn history.

  Juliska released a clipped laugh, and continued. “Where was I then, ah yes... after the Svoda first came here, they knew there were still magical stragglers out in the world. Many still in hiding, seeking a place like this to call home. They set up a system to track down these magicals, and ask them to join us here. Over time, the tracking system found fewer and fewer magical blips. And years would pass with only the occasional blip, like when they found me.”

  “So they traced your magic? That's how they found you and brought you here?” asked Meghan.

  “Yes. I don't even remember using magic. For some reason, I don’t have any memories of my time before being rescued by the Svoda. I have always hoped that perhaps one day some of these memories would come back to me, but it’s as though they have been wiped clean out of my head.”

  Meghan shook her head in despondently. “That must be hard, not knowing where you came from.”

  “I can’t deny I don’t wonder about it, but I’ve put it behind me. The future is my life now,” Juliska spoke with certainty.

  Meghan wondered if she could do the same. Put her past behind her and move forward, living in acceptance of who she was today. A Firemancer, descended from a magical family she knew nothing about.

  Meghan wanted to keep the conve
rsation going. “So you lived with another family when you came here then?”

  “Yes, the Cobb family. Nice folk. Meant well. I didn’t fit into their mold. Let’s just say I liked to get into a little trouble. Not always my own fault.” Juliska winked.

  Meghan rolled her eyes in bemused response, wondering if she got her own trouble-making ways from Juliska? “Um, Cobb?” Meghan asked after a moment. “Do you mean like, Amelia Cobb? I remember reading about her in the Jackal Lantern. She is the leader of the banished Svoda, right?” Meghan hoped she wasn’t pressing her luck asking this question.

  Juliska sighed. “One and the same. My eldest sister. Clearly, we did not see eye to eye.” Her voice was strained, the topic a struggle to discuss.

  “Did you remain friends with the rest of the Cobbs?”

  “It’s hard to explain, a long, complicated story, but the short of it is, once I was deemed a Firemancer and started my apprenticeship, they were not really my family anymore.”

  “Oh, that’s a shame.”

  “Yes, but one cannot choose one’s family, can we?” Juliska stood to leave as she was finished eating. “You know, I hate to, but let’s postpone your lesson for a few days. It seems like you’ve got more than enough schoolwork already and I should probably get some more work done myself.”

  “Actually, yeah, I do have a lot to do,” agreed Meghan, afraid she had pushed too far for information. The Cobb topic was obviously a sour one.

  “Goodnight,” Juliska spoke, their conversation abruptly ending.

  Meghan waited for her to leave before racing up to her room. This info about the Cobb family would not help her cause (of finding out if Juliska ever had any children) but it made her realize how little she knew about the Svoda or Juliska Blackwell.

  Meghan walked over to her bed and fell exhaustively backwards, onto it. Too exhausted to do any schoolwork. She decided to snuggle up with Nona and sleep, planning to rise early the next morning to finish her assignments.

  She started dozing in minutes. A voice filtered into her mind and suddenly she was wide awake. “Colin?” she asked hastily, instantly recognizing the voice was not the one she longed to hear, but rather of the boy named Colby. She did not try to speak to him again since it appeared he did not notice she was eavesdropping. Or did not care.