He dove into the water, swimming along at a quick pace.
Nothing.
Not a single living thing within view for miles upon miles, except...
What is that? There was something far ahead. It left torrents of water dispersing in tremendous wakes behind it.
Something above the water’s surface caught his eye. He let the Aspectus spell lift him back above the water.
A great swarm of roundish, web-like creatures bounded across the surface, all moving towards the same destination: a ship.
An old looking ship, thought Colin. An ancient looking ship. I know Maine has some old ships around, but this one is… it dawned on him.
Suddenly he was flung back inside his body, standing on the beach.
“That ship is from the magical world. And those things in the water... that ship is under attack!”
Many thoughts wound their way through his mind in a matter of seconds. I should help them. I can’t leave Catrina. It’s the first time she’s slept this well in far too long. What if the people on the ship don’t deserve saving? What if they are trying to hunt me down? What if they are good people? I can’t let them die out there! Even with magic, they stand little chance against all those things.
Colin thoughts raced at full speed, but he took deep breaths to calm himself, allowing the Magicante to kick into overdrive and keep up with him. “Aspectus Remotus,” he whispered, using his mind’s eye to peek in on Catrina without taking a step.
She was still sound asleep.
He let go of the spell and stared out to sea. From where he was standing, he could not see them. He imagined the passengers on board, watching helplessly as those spiders spun closer.
“I have to help. I’ll come back as fast as I can. Before she wakes.”
He used his Projector’s power to magic himself to the deck of the ship, keeping himself cloaked and hidden once on board. He didn’t want any unexpected surprises.
His landing on the deck was hindered by an immediate need to dive to the floor, a harpoon like foot nearly stabbing him. The spider hurled its body, spinning through the air like an unstable frisbee towards another part of the ship.
Being cloaked, the spider could not see Colin. Nevertheless, another one flitted right by him at full speed, straight into... Billie Sadorus!
Colin could not believe he was looking right at her. She fought off the creature using the fresh water spell, Viridatas, which Colin had heard during the retelling festival, while back in Grimble.
It seemed so long ago now that he had attended the retelling festival and watched the movie in the sky, his first introduction to these creatures. He had somehow hoped that in person, they wouldn’t be so formidable, but they were more so. Moving at speeds no one could outrun. Except maybe for him.
He wished himself to the spider, suddenly standing right behind it, his palm so close he was nearly touching it. He drove an invisible spell into the spider’s body sending the spindly monster splashing into the ocean.
Billie spun in circles, wondering where the spell came from.
Another spider crawled over the opposite side of the ship, reaching out its legs to enclose around a woman Colin did not recognize. Billie hurried to the rescue, shooting the fresh water spell at the spider, knocking it off the side of the boat.
A thunderous thump thwacked the bottom of the ship.
Billie grabbed hold of the ship with one hand and the woman with her other, trying to keep them both from falling.
“They’re never going to make it,” realized Colin.
Something below the ship was trying to tear it apart. They’d sink before they’d have a chance to escape. Colin saw no emergency boat on deck.
The ship leveled itself and Billie let go of the woman and the ship, dashing to the side of a man Colin did recognize. Noah Flummer. He shot spell after spell at a spider chasing a young woman across the deck. She slipped and fell, the spider poising to strike.
Colin threw a spell.
It whizzed by Noah’s head, slamming the spider into the side of the ship. It hit so hard, its mangled body crumpled like paper.
“That’s the second time,” said Billie, looking for the culprit that blasted it away. She had no choice but to shake it off and forget about it. The onslaught wasn’t stopping.
Noah helped the young woman stand, pushing her long brown hair away from her left shoulder. She insisted she was okay, but was clearly in pain. Colin could see a gash on her arm, her coat sleeve cut so badly it was hanging by just a thread.
Colin concentrated on her arm and used his magic to fix her injury. He didn’t wait around to see her response. He moved with instant speed to the other side of the ship, casting another spider over the side.
When he turned, he saw Billie and Noah fighting back to back, trying to fend off the spiders now crawling towards them from all directions.
Behind them, a long, scaly body emerged from the water, crawling up the sides of the ship. It was the Amphivena. The snake-like creature who had an extra head where its tail should be.
Colin felt another thud on the bottom of the ship.
Slopikes had to be causing those. Colin pictured their hard, spiked shells barraging the bottom of the wooden ship. He knew if he did not intervene, the ship would be lost, and fast.
Should he reveal himself? Both Noah and Billie had helped him and Catrina escape.
He decided it was best to remain hidden. Take no chances.
Yes, they helped him escape but that was before they knew he was a Projector. And he did not want to chance them trying to take Catrina away from him.
Plus, if asked, they could say truthfully that they had no idea who had helped them. Fewer people knowing where he had been seemed like the smarter move. He hoped Catrina would agree. His heart skipped a few beats as he thought about her, hoping she had not awakened to find herself alone. She’d be so worried. Why hadn’t he at least left her a note? “Stupid!” he chastised himself.
Another thump, this time followed by a crack.
Someone came up the stairs from below deck, shouting, “We’re taking on water.”
Noah shot off a spell, hitting a spider head on, throwing it over the side of the ship. A moment later it had righted itself, spinning back towards the boat.
Billie called out and Noah came running over.
“We can’t hold them. We’re too few.”
Noah pushed Billie aside, lunging to get out of the way of a giant snakehead slithering across the deck. It stopped halfway through, punching its long fangs towards Billie’s legs. She yanked them out of the way, the fangs missing her skin by inches.
Its counterpart, the second head where the tail should be, slithered across from the opposite side of the ship, entwining its head around the other head, as if tying a knot.
Colin needed to act.
He took a deep breath and focused on the snake-like heads busy knotting themselves together, tightening their grip on the ships hull with each knot they added.
He put his arms out in front of him and tightened his fists as if squeezing something. Tighter and tighter.
Suddenly the Amphivena loosened the grip on itself, its massive heads unwinding. It let out dual choking noises, each head floundering across the deck as it struggled to get any air.
A moment later, it fell to the deck, unmoving.
Billie and Noah stared in disbelief. They glanced at each other.
“It wasn’t me,” he said to her, and she to him.
An older man behind them shot off a spell, missing its target, which still hurtled itself through the air, preparing to land right behind Billie and Noah.
Colin again raised a hand and closed his fist; the spider was crushed as if mere paper to be discarded. Its body slunk to the deck in a bundle of webbed skin.
The ship shifted. This time, not because of the Slopikes, but because it was becoming lopsided with the intake of water below.
“Enough,” Colin spoke darkly. He pictured the Sa
lt Spiders crushed and sinking to the bottom of the sea. When he opened his eyes, hundreds of spiders cried out, their bodies crushed by an unseen foe. Colin swooshed his arm as if sweeping off the deck and the bodies flew over the side of the ship.
The ship’s inhabitants huddled together on the deck.
They were disheveled and battered; a few looked to have serious injuries. All were out of breath and exhausted. And all were now aware that they were not alone; someone was there, helping them in secret.
He heard a gasp and looked up just in time to see the body of the Amphivena sliding off the ship. It took a good chunk of the deck with it as it slid over the side and into the water.
“What are we going to do?” asked a desperate Billie, to no one in particular.
“We’re going to have to abandon ship,” said Noah.
“How?” asked Billie. “There’s no emergency boats on the ship. We can’t defend ourselves while trying to keep our heads above water.”
“The ship is sinking,” a woman standing by her side said. “Magic is weakening. We need time to recuperate.”
“We’ll sink before that happens,” said Noah.
Colin thought hard on what to do. How to save them. It was a funny thing he suddenly thought. Supposedly, he could do anything he could think of, and yet thinking of the right thing to do was not so easy when it had to be done at the spur of the moment.
They needed to get off the boat.
They needed to get somewhere safe.
Where was that?
He wanted desperately to ask them why they were here... why they were not with the rest of the Svoda? And how they had gotten back here. Last he knew, they had been in a meadow and could not get through a portal back to this world for some time.
But he held his tongue, kept his silence.
Uncle Arnon... I can take them to Uncle Arnon. He can help them, whatever it is they are trying to do.
“Now, how exactly do I move an entire ship?”
Meghan gave up trying to sleep. She left Nona curled up on the bed and tiptoed out of the bedroom. She was surprised to see wisps of daylight sneaking through the windowpane.
She wrapped a thick sweater around her body and stepped outside.
The village was quiet with an almost deserted feel to it. After a few minutes she caught a couple wandering down a path some distance away, but it appeared everyone was still snuggled up inside. She hadn’t looked at the time, but it must have been early, not too long after sunrise.
She decided to take a walk.
A walk sounded good.
After just a few minutes, she drew the sweater tighter around her body, letting the sleeves dangle over her hands. She hadn’t thought to grab gloves.
“Hey,” a voice called out, startling her.
She turned and saw Ivan leaning against a tree trunk.
“Oh. Hey. Um, have you been out here all night?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you do that? You must be frozen solid!”
He ignored her and asked, “What are you doing up so early?”
“A walk sounded good. Tried to sleep, just didn’t happen. I am tired. Just can’t sleep. Maybe tonight,” she added, not hopeful in the least.
“Let me know if that works for you,” he replied, sounding as though he was nearly asleep on his feet.
“We could resort to drinking one of Kanda’s special teas, knock us right out.”
“Really?” Ivan almost sounded interested.
“Yeah. She is really good at that.”
“I don’t like the idea of being knocked out,” he decided.
“Well, if we get desperate enough, at least it’s an option. Regardless, I still think you’re nuts for standing out here all night. What were you doing?”
He shrugged. “Walking. Thinking. Oh, um, happy birthday, by the way.”
“Nice change of subject,” she rebuked. “Thanks though. I’d completely forgotten about it.”
“You don’t look any different,” he said with a wary exhale, that teased lightly.
“Funny,” she retorted.
An unusual sound caught both their ears and they listened for where it was coming from.
“You can hear that, right?” Meghan asked Ivan, just to be sure.
“Yeah. What is it?” He shook his head as if trying to get the noise out of his head.
Meghan felt the need to do the same. The noise was powerful. Becoming overwhelming to hear. Like the sound was suffocating them from inside their own heads.
A crack rent the air and out of nowhere, a ship appeared, nestled between two trees just like it had always been there. The thick tree trunks kept the ship from falling to one side or the other.
The ship was damaged badly, the wooden hull cracked underneath and great chunks of the ship missing completely. It looked like they’d been torn off.
Villagers emerged from their dwellings, with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. When each saw the ship, they froze, not sure what to think or how to react.
Meghan wanted to go closer but held back.
There was someone familiar close by.
Someone knocking at the locked door in her mind... Colin?
He did not reply to her. He allowed his guard down only enough to let her know he was near. She heard the words, “I needed to make sure they were safe.” His block reformed itself and he was gone.
“Ivan, I don’t know what this is, but Colin brought this here.”
“Colin did this?” he confirmed in astonishment.
“Yeah.” She had never seen anything like it. A ship now ported in the middle of the woods, nowhere near the ocean it must have been plucked from. How had Colin accomplished such a thing?
“Did he say anything else?” Ivan asked her.
“No. Just disappeared. Didn’t really talk to me directly. It was more like, just letting you know this was my doing.” So sad that this was their first connection in what felt like forever, but it wasn’t really even aimed at her. She just happened to be able to hear his thoughts. It was convenient, and that was all.
They, along with a growing crowd of onlookers, edged closer to the ship, only to gasp simultaneously as shapes moved on the deck.
A face lifted over the edge, peeking out. Whoever this was, they clearly had no idea where they were, any more so than the villagers had any idea who was on board the ship.
“Um,” said Meghan, recognizing the face peeking over the edge. “Billie?” she rushed towards the ship now. Ivan at her heels.
Billie stood up, making a motion that it was okay for everyone to join her. She looked stunned and there were numerous rips in her clothing.
“Meghan? Ivan?” Billie responded, her voice shaky. “Jae Mochrie,” she added, stunned at not only seeing him, but seeing him alive.
Jae sidled up alongside Meghan and Ivan. Meghan noted, somewhat jealously, that Jae looked rested.
“You... You’re dead,” stuttered Billie to Jae.
A man Meghan recognized as Noah Flummer appeared, holding someone appearing to be unconscious. “We need help,” he said. “She’s injured badly.”
Villagers raced forward to help the weary and stunned travelers. Seemingly, the fact that Meghan, Ivan, and Jae knew these people and were not afraid of them, meant they were friendly and it was okay to help them.
Ivan climbed up the side, offering help to a young woman trying with all her might to hold someone up. Her long dark locks were a tangled mess. When she turned, she nearly dropped the man she was holding. “Ivan Crane?”
“Maria,” he replied, equally shocked. He cleared his throat and grabbed hold of the man.
“Thank you. I didn’t think I would be able to hold him up much longer. He was stabbed in his back,” she explained, adding, “What are you doing here? Wait, strike that. Where exactly is here?”
“It’s a long story, but you’re in the encampment of the banished Svoda.” He saw her give a little start. “It’s perfectly safe here. You’re sa
fe here.”
“Okay,” she breathed out. “I can’t believe you’re here. You. Of all people.”
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“Oh, um, just that you’re someone I know. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Right. Of course. Well, let’s get you off this ship and get this man some help.”
Ivan passed the man down to someone on the ground below, where he was whisked away to get treated for his injury.
He turned to help Maria off the boat and had to catch himself from letting his mouth hang open in the dread forming around his heart. Her coat was torn on one side, her shoulder exposed with blood trailing down her arm. There was an injury, but oddly, it looked to be healing already. Her coat was ripped to shreds and barely hanging onto her small frame at all. Like something had clawed at her, trying to dig into her skin.
What the hell happened to her? To them all?
He wordlessly got aboard and removed his own coat, then reached over and gently slid the remnants of her coat off and let it fall to the ground.
“You’ll freeze,” she argued as he wrapped his own coat around her.
“I’m fine,” he replied, shaken by what he’d just seen. He wanted to ask what had happened, but could not find his voice to ask. He started to climb down, Maria gladly accepting his assistance to get over the side and onto solid ground.
“I could just kiss the earth,” she whispered, finding her footing. “There were a few moments not too long ago, I didn’t think I’d ever set foot off that ship again.”
He had a difficult time letting go of her shoulders, afraid she might lose her footing and topple over. And he had this urge he’d never had before, to wrap her up and get her somewhere safe.
Billie strode over, patting Maria’s shoulder. “Thank you, Ivan,” she said. “Boy, it’s good to see a familiar face.”
He let go of Maria and she left to join other shipmates, now gathering nearby.
Meghan raced over. Billie saw her and they hugged.
“I- I don’t know how we got here,” said Billie, still stunned.
“Yes, that is a mystery,” said Meghan, lying. “But, Billie, can I just say how good it is to see you. We have been so worried about everyone on the island.”
The Spell, The Stones, and The Treasure (Fated Chronicles Book 3) Page 22
