She did not deserve to be happy.
The furious wail that came out of him sent a shockwave of energy outward which shook the boat and pulsed against the magical cloak protecting them from the outside world.
“Colin!” Catrina shouted. “Listen to Jasper.” She landed her gaze on the man who was staring at Colin with doubt in his eyes.
Find a new thought, determined Colin.
No. His rattled brain denied.
It would only be more of the same.
All the times Meghan had come to his rescue. Because he needed her to. Because he wasn’t big enough to fend for himself. Not strong enough to stand up for himself. He’d always needed her. And she had always been there and promised she always would be. And then she broke that promise.
With a final stutter, the Magicante stalled out, unable to keep up with Colin’s ravaged spiral of anger. His thoughts went haywire until everything just froze. The hum hovering on one single realization.
He wasn’t that small, helpless boy any longer.
He climbed to his feet. Body heaving in breaths raggedly coming out of him.
He stared right through Catrina and Jasper like they were not even there. He was blind to everything but this one thought.
I am not that person anymore.
I don’t need my sister to fight my battles.
I don’t need anyone…
Jasper charged to his feet. He recognized that look.
The translucent bubble of magical energy, cloaking them and the boat from the outside world, started to crack. Catrina gasped. Jasper flicked his wrist intending to fix it.
“No.” Colin stared down Jasper.
“Colin, stop this at once,” the man warned. “Do not make me hurt you.”
“You can’t.” It wasn’t Colin speaking. Not really. It was like he’d been replaced by some cold, non-human version of himself.
“Colin?” Catrina called out softly pleading.
The pulsing increased, the cloak flexing outward like an invisible hand pushed against it.
Jasper had not expected this outcome. It was too soon for this kind of power. He’d only wanted to show the boy what it felt like to have the Magicante struggle to keep up. And how to rebuild the connection if broken. A vital lesson. This… something had snapped inside the boy.
It was too soon. It shouldn’t be like this.
“I’m sorry, Colin.” Jasper had to end it.
“No,” Catrina cried out.
Too many things happened all at once.
The pulsing energy field exploded outward into millions of tiny bursts of light. The protective cloak, blown to smithereens.
Catrina flew backward out of the boat. Jasper flew in the opposite direction but was able to react fast enough to stop himself mid-motion, as well as stop Catrina from hitting the riverbank in an impact that would have killed her.
A blink later she was back on the deck, gasping and steadying herself.
They both stared blankly at the spot Colin had been.
He was gone.
“What happened?” she pushed out. “Where did he go?”
“I have no idea,” said Jasper, his face a canvas of impending doom. “I… he… this should not have happened.” He gazed overhead, befuddled by the protection cloaks demise. “This is very, very bad.”
Colin materialized in a place that looked familiar, but he did not recognize it right away. His emotions were stuck rolling over this same reality… that he was in charge of his own life. That he did not need Meghan, or anyone, to come to his rescue.
His breath came out in heavy torrents.
Where had he come to?
It was familiar, and yet it wasn’t clicking into place.
How had he gotten here?
Where was here?
He wheeled around in numb motions, eyes blinking hard, thoughts still racing like mad.
He let out a gasp.
He’d returned to where it had all started. For him at least.
The first place and time he’d ever used magic.
The old twisted oak tree in the Cobbscott Campground. When he had saved his sister.
This, at last, was the one thought his addled brain latched and held onto.
It seemed like another lifetime ago that had happened. She’d gotten sick, they didn’t know why. Ends up it was because she was a Firemancer. But he had saved her, gotten her home using magic he didn’t even know he possessed. Because the thought of her dying and leaving him was the most terrifying thing he’d ever experienced.
Her betrayal had felt like that. Like she’d taken herself away from him. She’d chosen to leave him, and let him fend for himself. She abandoned him when he needed her the most.
And that was a hurt he could not simply wish away.
He fell to his knees, a sudden exhaustion coming over him.
The Magicante sensed the change in him, the calm returning. It took over filtering all the crap out of his polluted mind.
He had not believed she’d do it. It had cut him open and he wasn’t sure how to repair the wound her betrayal had left inside him.
This had all been a test. Jasper had tested him. And he had failed, miserably.
What had he done?
And how was he going to get back to Jasper and Catrina, and damn it, had he hurt them?
There was a loud pop behind him and he spun around.
“Colby?” he called out in surprise.
“Gotcha,” Colby grinned wickedly.
Someone else popped in next to Colby. Colin recognized him as the Striper leader named KarNavan.
“What’s going on? Why are you here?” Colin expected an answer, but they just smiled, smugly, like they were waiting for something.
Colin considered fighting it out with Colby, but in his current state of mind that might not be the smartest idea. The best idea was to return to Jasper. He would reform the magical cloak and they’d go back into hiding. He needed a lot more practice before he was ready to venture into the world.
The smug silence was getting on his nerves.
Before he returned, he wanted to know why they were here… duh! He already knew why. They were tracking the Projector. They were tracking him… well they were not going to catch him!
Colby’s smugness was wearing off, a look of hurry up already shooting out at Colin.
“You waiting for me to strike first?” assumed Colin. “Not going to happen. I’m not fighting you today. And I don’t have that book you’re always trying to steal so you’re wasting your time.” He had no fight left. Instead, he focused on returning to Jasper and Catrina. Picturing himself on the deck of the boat. An odd sensation of being carried away with the wind was interrupted by Colby sneering, “See you soon.” And smiling wretchedly.
What did he mean by that?
Whatever. It didn’t matter. A blink later his feet were firmly on the deck of the boat.
He’d done it. Gotten himself back.
“Colin!” Catrina rushed forward, wrapping her arms around him.
Jasper sighed in massive relief. “You really had me scared for a minute there, kid.”
“I don’t understand what happened. I thought I couldn't leave the boat.”
“Yeah, we need to talk about that. First things first though…” he waved his arms over his head beginning the repair of the magical cloak.
“The oddest thing just happened,” Colin started, deciding to tell Jasper about Colby and KarNavan. Although he did not want to freak out Catrina.
A voice echoed over them, from the highest point of the deck.
“That depends on whose point of view you’re looking from.”
The trio spun around their eyes pinning on Colby, his catawitch, Elisha, and KarNavan plus a few of his treasure hunting gang who were poised and ready to attack.
Jasper chuckled. “You were tracked.” He didn’t sound overly concerned.
“I'm sorry,” Colin said. “This is all my fault.”
Jasper wave
d it off. “Just stay with Catrina.” His meaning, let him handle this.
Colin used himself as a barricade between their invaders and Catrina, instantly wondering whether he might be more harmful to her than Colby if he lost control again. Jasper did not act concerned, but he did not like the way in which Colby was ogling the two young people currently in his charge. He waved his hand and the magical cloak he’d nearly reformed, went up around Catrina and Colin.
They had no idea, but a second later Colby was demanding, “Where did they go? What did you do to them?”
KarNavan and his gang of treasure hunters searched the boat to no avail.
“You won’t find them,” Jasper advised. “Not unless I want you to.”
A blink of time later, Colin and Catrina gasped, finding themselves off the boat and standing on the riverbank.
“Jasper put the cloak around us,” Colin snapped out. “This is completely my fault and now we can't even help.”
“You got in and out before, do it again.” Catrina nodded in encouragement toward the boat.
“Um…” Colin stalled. “I was really, really angry. Like years worth of buildup angry. Even if I could copy that anger, I’m not sure how I did it before.” And now he was panicked, which never worked in his favor when it came to magic.
“Try,” she said calmly. “We have to try.” They trekked along the mossy shore, following the boat as it lazily floated down the river. Which for two people of shorter stature was still a quicker pace than they expected.
Back on board, Colby was making a snide remark toward Jasper. “It’s you we came for today, anyway.”
Jasper raised an eyebrow. “I'm not going to make it easy for you.” With his next breath, the weapons carried in the Striper's hands dissolved to sand, seeping through their poised-to-fight fingers to the deck floor. They looked at each other as though to ask, “What do we do now?”
“I do not want to kill you,” addressed Jasper. “But if you force my hand I will not hesitate.”
“That's why I brought a little leverage,” announced Colby.
A face Colin recognized suddenly appeared on the boat deck.
“Meghan,” he muttered. “They couldn't have.” Yes, they could have. Colby had tracked them before. Many emotions flitted through his mind like a moving picture of memories and fears and… one simple truth. He loved his sister no matter what she’d done and refused to let her die. That admission settled the matter. Forgiving her might not be so easy, or possible today, but she did not deserve to die. Only one problem, he was still stuck inside the magical cloak.
“Colin?” Catrina questioned apprehensively.
“I’m okay.” He nodded, confirming his words. “I’m good. I’m going to figure some way onto that boat.”
“Let’s not forget that Jasper is also quite capable.” She wanted back on the boat too, but didn’t want Colin to lose it again, trying.
KarNavan shoved Meghan in front of them. She was bound and gagged.
Jasper willed Meghan to his side and pushed her behind him for safety, using his own body as a shield.
“You were saying something about leverage. You really should have put a little more thought into this plan.” He’d not attempt to put Meghan into the magical cloak with Colin and Catrina. That would make the two of them vulnerable and tempt Colin into action he was not prepared for. He’d saved the young man’s sister, so this would all be over soon enough. He willed Meghan’s bonds undone so she was able to fend for herself.
Colin shook his head. Something wasn’t right. Meghan was their prisoner in exchange for what? Colby claimed they’d come for Jasper. Not him. It was his fault they’d been tracked. If they’d come for Jasper, why take Meghan prisoner? It wasn’t entirely logical… unless...
“It’s a trap,” he gasped out.
“What?” Catrina’s word had barely been spoken when the trap was sprung, the action swift and succinct.
Jasper choked and staggered. His stunned gaze sliding downward to the red mess seeping through the front of his shirt.
This could not be. Meghan may not be perfect, but she was no killer.
Where Colby had been, suddenly was someone else. Another Striper.
And where Meghan had just been willed to behind Jasper, now stood Colby.
Jasper fell forward but managed to stay on his knees. A long white blade stuck out of his back, blood pooling around the wound.
This was magic like Colin had never seen before. They’d shifted into other people. Tricked Jasper into thinking he was saving someone and then…
“We have to get over there.” But try as he might he could not will them out of the magical cloak.
Colby kneeled down, gaze pinned to the white dagger, waiting for something. There was a tremor in his hand which he fisted, determined to finish this.
KarNavan grinned, wickedly. The kid might have killed, but he was no killer. Not at heart. Only for the approval of his father did the kid do anything.
Colby sucked in and out, evenly, watching at the handle of the dagger turned from white to a simmering hot red. At that moment, he yanked it out of Jasper’s back. The Projector slumped forward, hands on the boat deck. Colby drifted his gaze to KarNavan, whose smug smirk claimed, coward.
Colby glared and leaned down to Jasper. “You were saying something about planning… thank you for this gift. My father will be pleased.”
“I'm not healing, why aren't I healing?” mumbled Jasper in confusion.
Colby held up the knife and allowed Jasper to see it. “I have all your powers stored right here in this dagger. All that’s left of you is a dying old man.”
And if they needed some final proof of this statement, the magical cloak surrounding Colin and Catrina started to fizzle and weaken.
Jasper eyed Colby, unflinchingly, the understanding of what had happened, clear. He’d been outsmarted. After all these long years, a simple trick that played to basic human nature. His, not Colby’s.
They eyed each other, hard, for a few seconds that might as well have been a trip around the world. Neither blinked nor moved.
Colby, determined not to show fear. Especially in front of KarNavan.
Jasper, searching for something. And he caught it, a fleeting glimpse that brought a tight grin to his face.
“Why are you smiling?” Colby drilled at him.
“You’re a smart boy, I’ll give ya that. Trained well. Don’t like to fail. But it’s there.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Remorse. It’s deep, but there.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Poor disillusioned boy,” babbled Jasper, growing weaker. “A pawn in a game gone on for so long… you’re just another move. Another play on the board.”
Colby stared fiercely, no clue what the older man was talking about.
He had a job to finish. Orders to obey. There was no going home without the prize his father asked for. Which was in his hand so it was time to go.
Colin shouted from the shore. He hadn’t been able to magic himself and Catrina back onto the boat yet. Why was it his magic always worked at the wrong time? The cloak was weakening; he’d be able to push through soon. He prayed, soon enough. And then with a final crackle, it was gone and they reappeared on the shore, no longer hidden.
Colby raised his palm to battle it out but remembered his father didn’t want the young projector harmed. Yet. “Let’s go!” His body dematerialized, followed by Elisha, KarNavan and his hunters.
“Look,” pointed Catrina. There was a spot on the bank coming up that would be close enough for them to jump back onto the boat if they reached it in time.
Colin didn’t budge, his eyes wide and fixed on the boat.
“What is that?” Catrina chattered nervously.
A shape formed on the deck a few feet in front of the ailing Jasper. Who got himself up righted, and leaned back against the table leg. The form took the shape of a smoke-like body. The smoke swirling into a mass of flesh
and cloth. Withered, aged hands slid a hood back. A man, but no normal man. Beady coal eyes, leathered gaunt skin.
Catrina staggered. “Oh no. Oh no. Oh no… Grosvenor.”
Colin had only ever heard of the immortals. He’d never seen one. Had hoped never to cross paths with one.
“C’mon,” he ordered Catrina. He grabbed her hand and they ran full speed up the riverbank hoping to catch the spot they could jump back on board.
“We can’t fight an immortal! You can’t fight an immortal!” Catrina charged.
“Maybe not, but I can’t leave Jasper.” He was too panicked to trust any magic he tried would work right, the Magicante chugging along at full speed to keep him from jumping over another ledge. They made it to the spot on the bank and jumped back on board as soft-footed as possible. Both sank to their knees and crawled closer to Jasper.
To see him in his current condition, weak, bloody, eyes barely open… Catrina stifled a cry and covered her mouth. The Grosvenor stepped purposely, gaze coveting the floor next to Jasper where his book, his second soul, his Magicante, lay precariously out in the open.
Colin wondered why this was happening? It must have been because his Projector’s powers had been stripped away. The second soul no longer served any function and had removed itself from Jasper’s body.
The dagger had taken Jasper’s magic, but the book had kept its own.
Colin was about to magic the book away hoping he’d succeed without making a bigger mess of things when Jasper cleared his throat and straightened himself against the table leg.
“Take it. Take the damn book and leave already. Let an old man die in peace.”
The Grosvenor hissed, his approach of the Magicante, cautious. Expecting some trap to spring. Jasper took the Grosvenor’s distraction and flashed Colin a sharp glare that determined he was a dead man no matter what, so don’t you dare try anything heroic and get yourself or Catrina killed.
Colin’s heart sank to the bottom of the river.
It couldn’t end like this.
He had so much to learn.
Jasper was dying because he’d messed up.
Who would teach him once Jasper was gone?
“You don’t look long for the world, Thorndike.” The Grosvenor used Jasper’s last name like they had a history.
The Map, The Dagger, and The Vampyres (Fated Chronicles Book 2) Page 45
