“But if he can’t?” questioned Sebastien. “The entire magical world is about to start the largest manhunt ever. They don’t even realize he might not be killable, because of the whole possible immortality thing. Colin is one of my best friends, but...”
“We may have no say,” said Ivan. “He’ll either kill us all, or we’ll have to...”
“Find a way to kill someone, a friend, who cannot die,” finished Jae for them, horrified by the thought.
“How long do you think Meghan’s going to be?” asked Sebastien. He stood and started pacing, eager to be on the move.
CHAPTER 20
Colin Jacoby knelt before the great oak tree, where the body of Jasper Thorndike had been laid to rest. Colin had taken them back to the campground in Cobbscott. It was the only place he could think of when they’d had to flee.
Catrina knelt down beside him. They were alone now. Just the two of them. There was no one else they could trust.
“I want to get Jasper’s book,” Colin told Catrina. “I think it might contain some answers. Might even be like having a bit of Jasper still with me. Us,” he corrected.
“Okay,” she answered.
“You’re really okay with that?” he asked her. He turned his head to see her speak.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be? It should not be left in the hands of the Grosvenor, even if you didn’t want it.”
“It will be very dangerous. I know what I am, but I’ve never gone up against the Grosvenor. Never mind that I’m now the most wanted man in the magical world.”
“You cannot die,” she reminded him calmly.
“I know. I know that’s what everyone believes. I just don’t know as I fully believe it yet. And,” he paused, nervous to say the rest.
She reached out and took hold of his hands.
“I need to know if you feel safe with me?” he said. “I could never forgive myself if I hurt you.”
“Do you wish me to leave you?”
“No,” he answered quickly. He feared, too quickly. He wanted her to know how he felt, but wanted her to be honest, and to leave him if she truly wanted to. He did not want her living in fear of him.
“I always want you to be with me,” he admitted, his voice shaking as he spoke. “I just need to know that you are sure. And if you’re not, I could never be mad at you. I could never blame you. I don’t know what I will be like soon. I might not be someone you want to be around.”
She answered by leaning in and kissing him. She wrapped her arms around him, and let her forehead lean on his.
“I’m afraid, Colin Jacoby, that you’re stuck with me. For as long as you’ll have me. You should know by now that I don’t give up that easily. I love you. And that’s enough for me.”
Hearing Catrina say those words set his heart strumming. The truth was, that being alone frightened him more than anything.
More than how he might change.
More than any battle he would inevitably find himself in.
So much had been said over the previous days. So much learned. He owed Catrina the truth about how he felt, and a chance to change her mind even if it meant letting her go.
He needed her to know that even though he was immortal, powerful beyond imagining, and feared by nearly everyone, the thing he feared most was losing her.
“I don’t want to end up like Jasper,” he admitted somberly. “Facing a life in hiding, on the run for hundreds of years, and alone.” It was hard to admit aloud, but he needed to.
“You’ll never be alone,” she whispered with certainty. “You will always have me.”
He closed his eyes, his lips finding hers once again. After a moment, he pulled away, searching her eyes for any signs of doubt.
He saw none.
“You don’t believe me?” she asked.
“Yes. I do believe you,” he replied assuredly. “And now that I know I have you, Catrina Flummer, I’m ready to face forever.”
CHAPTER 21
“You’ll be fine,” said Nona, coaxing Meghan to take a few steps deeper into the cave.
“I’m not scared, not in that sense, just, scared because this is like, my mother!” She took a deep breath. “Okay, doing it. Here I go.” She started walking. The path was clear of rocks and such, just a layer of fine sand, but it got dark fast. She was about to snap a fire in her hand so she could see, when flames burst to life just to her side; torches on the cave wall. They began to light up all along the walls, illuminating her path.
With each step, she knew she was closer and closer to meeting the one person she had always dreamt of meeting. Her heart skipped a few beats every time she took a step.
She rounded a corner and froze.
“Hello, Meghan,” a voice called out softly in greeting.
She only managed to muster out a weakened squawk in reply.
“My name is Isabella. I am your mother, and I’ve been expecting you.”
Meghan couldn’t move. Her legs refused to cooperate. A hand reached out to her, motioning for her to come inside, but Meghan just stared. It was like looking at an older version of herself.
“If I look like you when I’m your age...” Meghan was blown away by her mother’s smooth milky skin, framed by red hair so dark, it was nearly black. “Oh, I said that out loud, didn’t I?”
Her mother smiled, widely. “I’ll take that as a compliment, although truly, it’s just lack of sunlight,” she said, making light of her self-imprisonment.
Meghan finally found her legs and walked inside her mother’s home. It was small and dimly lit, but cozy.
“Tea?” asked her mother.
“Okay,” she said, glad of something to do with her hands.
After pouring two cups of tea and Meghan taking a few sips, they slipped into an awkward silence, with Isabella unable to take her gaze off Meghan.
“I’m sorry,” she said after a moment. “I just needed to see you. Really, see you. To accept that you are truly sitting here in front of me.”
“Totally get that,” replied Meghan, breathing for what felt like the first time in minutes.
“I suppose we should get all the nasty business out of the way,” Isabella said.
“Nasty business?” questioned Meghan. Now what? Was she about to find out something terrible? Was her mother trustworthy? She looked nice enough and was beautiful, but she didn’t know her and she had been tricked before.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you. I am speaking of the why did I abandon you, nasty business.”
“Oh, right, okay, so um, why is that exactly?” Meghan asked in a small voice.
“Come,” she said, rising and heading down a narrow corridor. Meghan followed and recognized what she saw. It was her mother’s room of candles. It was similar to the one she’d seen while training with Juliska. One like she hoped to create for herself, one day.
Isabella stopped at one shaped like Meghan.
“This candle sat unlit for many years. I came close to destroying it, believing that you were dead.”
“Dead?”
“Yes,” she stopped, a tear forming in her eye. “I have rehearsed how I wanted to tell this story so many times, but alas, I find myself forgetting everything I wanted to say to you.”
Meghan bit her lip. She was not going to cry, at least, not yet.
“When I was a young girl, I hid the fact that I was a Firemancer.”
“Why?”
“Because of a vision in which I told myself to do so.”
“It can work like that?”
“Seeing works a little differently for every seer,” she explained. “Not long after that vision though, I had another. This one much more frightening.” She paused, taking a breath. “In this vision, I saw a world lost to torment and chaos, ruled by out of control offspring of the immortals.
“Offspring, born of an immortal, would be stronger than a magically created immortal, which is why the Grosvenor forbade having children; for fear that one or another would rise t
o power. In this vision, I saw how it all began, with a woman having an immortal child for Jurekai Fazendiin.
“Sadly, this child’s mother died giving birth. She was a human woman, not strong enough to carry such a child. He was raised by Fazendiin; a terrible child with no moral compass, no compassion, or empathy. Intelligent, cunning, and powerful. So powerful that he killed his father leaving no one who could stop his reign of terror.
“This led to the other immortals bearing children, the world becoming overrun by the terror they left behind.”
Meghan followed as they headed out of her candle room and back into her living space. Isabella poured another cup of tea for each of them.
“I did not know what to do about this vision,” her mother continued. “I kept it to myself. At the time, it seemed wise. Time passed and I got a little older, got married. Not to your father,” she noted, seeing the question rising in her daughter’s eyes.
“A few years later I had another vision about the Grosvenor. In this one, I saw myself having Fazendiin’s child and when it was over, I realized why.”
Meghan shut her mouth, finding that she’d let it drop open.
“I realized that I could stop that first vision from coming true. I could intervene and change the course of the future. I could stop the immortal children from destroying the world. Or at the very least, give the world a fighting chance.”
“Change the future,” repeated Meghan, astonished.
“I knew what I had to do. I would have to be the one to bring Fazendiin’s child into the world. Because the terrible truth is, he would have found a way to have this child, one way or another. There was no stopping this from happening. I just needed to be sure I was the mother.”
“Why? Why you?”
“Because I knew I was strong enough to carry the child. I would not die in birth. My vision had told me that. I knew I would be allowed to raise the child for a time, show it love and compassion. Instill a sense of morality.
“So I left. I left my family behind. I sought out the woman I knew was to be the mother’s child and took her place. It was not an easy trick to pull off, but it worked. And Fazendiin was stuck with me after that.” There was an edge of satisfaction in her tone.
“I was careful,” she continued. “I cast an unbreakable spell. If I died before the child in my womb reached its eighteenth birthday, of anything other than natural causes, the child would die too. It was the best and only protection I could give myself, to be sure I was around to see this job through.”
“Job... I guess that’s one way to look at it,” Meghan lamented.
“That is what it was to me, at the time. Then the day came for the birth. I hid. You and Colby were born. I didn’t know I was carrying twins and neither did your father. I kept Colby, I knew his father would expect his heir to be a son, and I hid you, in the orphanage of which you’re now familiar.”
She took another deep breath before continuing, keeping on track with her rehearsed version of this story. Sadly, she was still unable to tell her daughter the complete truth. It wasn’t time for that, yet. And some of it was truth. The parts she needed to hear, today.
“Colby was taken from me when he was just five years old. But I filled those five years with as much love and goodness as I could.”
“I don’t know that it was enough,” revealed Meghan.
“My greatest fear,” Isabella replied. “That I would do all that I did, and still fail. Still see the world fall into chaos and ruin.”
“I don’t know, I’ve recently gotten to spend some time with Colby and I saw another side of him. It’s in there, deeply so, but it is there.”
Isabella nodded, trying to look hopeful.
“And you’ve still got me,” said Meghan with a tone of sarcasm. “I’d like to think I was brought up well. I certainly don’t have any intentions of ruining, or ruling, the world. But I pretty much suck at magic, so...”
Isabella bit her lip, trying to restrain a nervous laugh.
“Sorry, I think I’m just sort of numb to unbelievable revelations about my life anymore. I don’t know if that’s a good thing, or bad thing.”
“Meghan, I’m so sorry this has all happened to you, and seemingly all at once. If there were any way I could change it, I would do so.”
“I’m over it. Can’t really change who I am, can I?”
“None of us can.” Isabella exhaled deeply. “I’m sorry about this boy, Colin,” she said unexpectedly. “I wish I could tell you more about him, but all I know is that he’s not your twin. I’m sure you will always feel connected to him in some way.”
“He’s still my brother as far as I’m concerned,” Meghan told her. “And speaking of Colin, since we were found together in the orphanage, did Fazendiin find me out? Is that why the orphanage was burned down?”
“He did not know about you that I’m aware of. I do not yet understand why he was there that night. But it was Fazendiin that burned it to the ground. I guess he didn’t get close enough to you or he would have smelled your blood. He would have known and if he’d known he would have taken you. This is part of the story that I’m afraid I do not have all the answers to. All I know is that you were saved, found by the Svoda, because of that boy, Colin.”
“What? How?”
“Because of what he is. His powers were strong, even as an infant. Which is very unusual. They tracked his magic and found you, took you away from there with him. You had magic then, too. It was weaker than Colin’s, but still strong for such a young one. It worried me terribly.”
“Could Fazendiin have been looking for Colin?” asked Meghan.
“I don’t know. What I do know is that the night of the fire, the flame on your candle went out. I tried to reconnect to you and could not. Then I learned of the fire and thought you had died. It wasn’t until recently that I saw the vision of the Svoda taking you with the boy Colin. You were in the same crib, alongside a third infant. Until your flame ignited a few years ago, I lived thinking you were dead. I believe this happened because they bound your powers when you were infants. By doing so I lost the magical connection I had to you.”
Meghan didn’t realize until this very moment just how different her life could have been. If not for Colin, she might have died in the fire. If not for Colin, her father might have found her, taken her and raised her. She might have been standing right alongside Colby earlier that day, just as eager to please their father. Just as willing to kill simply because she thought it was right. Except, she was immortal, right? But even then, as a baby too? It was all so much to take in.
“So why keep hiding?” asked Meghan after a moment. “Why not come out of hiding and return to your husband once you had Colby and me?”
“Because of another vision.” Her voice sounded even more pained as she said these words.
“Do your visions always tell you what to do? Mine sure don’t!”
“As I said, it is different with each seer.”
“And what did this vision tell you?”
“That my actions had forever changed the path of another life. A life that needed to be on that path I had accidentally created for him, and if I returned his vital journey would not happen. Although, it saddens me to no end to think of the pain I caused him.”
“I’m sure if he knew what you sacrificed, he would understand. I mean, if his life is so important...”
Isabella’s head jerked up. “It is of the utmost importance. His path brought you to me. And his journey isn’t over yet. Neither is yours.”
“Wait, I know him?”
She just smiled weakly in reply.
“I say this next part with the full knowledge of how overwhelmed you must be right now,” her mother started. “Alas, I have had yet another vision.”
“Dare I ask what about?”
“There is a very troubling time ahead for us all. The Svoda you left behind on the island are in grave danger, their lives threatened. Juliska Blackwell must be stopped. Which is why
...” she paused, looking at the entrance of her home as if waiting to see someone arrive, “you will not be returning to your friends alone.”
Meghan sat in her chair, completely awed.
Her mother stood. “One day, I hope we can look back at these trying years as history.”
“That would be nice,” agreed Meghan, standing up.
“I’m so very proud of you, Meghan. If you take nothing else I’ve said, with you, please, know how very much I love you. How a day never went by that I didn’t think of you.”
The tears started. Meghan could not stop them. But for once, she did not hate herself for allowing it to happen.
Isabella opened her arms and Meghan was clasped inside them in a flash.
“I’m so glad you’re not evil,” she admitted, sniffling.
Isabella let out a whimper mixed chuckle. “I feel more evil than anyone I know.”
“You’re trying to do the right thing,” said Meghan. “Sometimes it just doesn’t turn out like we want it to.”
Meghan knew that being trusting had steered her wrong in the past, but she felt certain that this time her gut feeling was correct.
“It is time for you to return to your friends,” Isabella said, gently wiping away the tears from her daughter’s face.
Meghan now knew it all. So thought, at least.
Where her life had started, why her life had started, and what she needed to do.
She would find a way to save Colin. She would find a way to stop Juliska Blackwell. She would try very hard to save Colby and stop her father from creating the world her mother had sacrificed everything to stop from happening.
CHAPTER 22
Ivan Crane, Sebastien Jendaya and Jae Mochrie paced back and forth, their heads shooting up each time it sounded like someone might be approaching their hideout; the old, run down shack in the middle of the woods where Meghan had left them hours before. They were eager to leave this place and move on.
They peered into the growing darkness outside, through the lopsided rectangular frame that should have been a door. It had long since fallen off and rotted. The shack creaked and moaned when hit with the slightest of breezes. They didn’t know how it had stood for this long, and fully expected it might cave in on them at any moment. But they had promised to stay out of sight, and didn’t want to use magic unless absolutely necessary, for fear it might be traced.
The Spell, The Stones, and The Treasure (Fated Chronicles Book 3) Page 16
