Sebastien lost his grip on Meghan, she twisted around, needing to see what was happening.
Catrina stared back into Colin’s eyes, searching for any sign that he was still present. “You have to want to be good,” she reminded him. Her entire being pleaded for him to remember what Jasper had taught him.
He looked down at his hands and then down at Freyne, who was trying to crawl his way out of the barn.
Colin stumbled backwards.
“What... what have I done?” He fell to his knees as if suddenly deflated, with nothing left to give. His brain a series of misfires as the Magicante attempted to regain some measure on control.
He saw the pile of bodies that had once been the Grosvenor.
He didn’t feel sorry they were dead. They deserved it.
But why did they deserve it? Because he decided so?
No, he told himself. They were evil. Not on the side of good.
“What side am I on?” he mumbled. Am I still good?
He climbed to his feet taking a few disoriented steps towards Catrina.
A spell whizzed by his ear, buzzing as it zinged by, hitting the nearly invisible wall still imprisoning Catrina, with a smack. It crackled against the dust-bone wall, spreading like electricity across it, down to the ground and up to the ceiling.
Colin heard a laugh, which he knew at that very moment, would be Freyne Rothrock’s last.
“I’ll teach you to mess with,” Freyne didn’t finish his sentence.
Colin spun around and thrust out his arm, the action flinging Freyne’s body through the air, slamming him against the Immortality Stone.
Good. Bad. Those things didn’t matter. All that did was saving Catrina, and ending Freyne so he never did something like this again.
Colin reactivated the Stone.
Streams of light reached out of the Stone like tendrils, ripping into Freyne’s body. He bellowed hideously, kicking and flailing his leathered arms and legs as the light stole away his immortality.
But it wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t kill him.
Colin let the light rip him apart, tearing into Freyne’s very soul, piece by piece until there was nothing left. The moment his life ended, the dust-bone wall surrounding Catrina quivered. It was breaking up. The magic must have been tied to Freyne’s life. It wouldn’t break until his death.
“If it explodes and hits Colin,” said Meghan, stopping as she suddenly could not vocalize what she was thinking. She had to ask herself what she wanted to let happen.
Let the bones hit Colin, and maybe, just maybe, they’d take away Colin’s Projectorism? She didn’t think it could actually kill him. Colin was immortal, a true immortal, unlike Jasper Thorndike.
Or was she just kidding herself, thinking these bones could do the job she could not bring herself to accept she might have to do.
No. Colin would always be her brother, no matter what. She had made him that promise. She wouldn’t see him harmed. She refused to accept that her vision might ever come true. Or that he couldn’t control his power. He’d come close. So very close. But he’d stopped.
She raised her palm and cast a defensive spell, putting up a shield around the prison. Ivan and Sebastien followed her lead. How would they allow the spell to break, keep Catrina safe, and not let the bone dust hurt Colin in the process?
“Catrina!” shouted Colin behind them.
With all the power he had at his disposal, he was utterly powerless against this one stupid thing. These bones.
Meghan dropped her spell, allowing Ivan and Sebastien to hold theirs.
“I want to try something,” she told them all.
“Meghan,” called out Colin, his tone, pleading.
She just threw him a look that said, trust me.
Meghan stood in front of the nearly invisible wall and placed her hands up to it. She felt a light zap when her hands sank into it.
“What are you doing?” asked Ivan.
“I’m going to burn the bones,” she replied.
A fire spread out from her hands, expanding, almost as if eating the bone as it licked its hot tendrils against the dust-bone wall. Meghan concentrated hard, making sure the fire spread only where she wanted it to.
The fire circled back around to her, the wall completely eaten away. She let go with an exhausted groan.
It had worked. The bones were gone. The prison was no more.
Catrina came rushing out, the prison walls broken.
Colin came rushing forward.
They wrapped themselves around each other.
“I will never, ever, ever let you out of my sight again,” Colin swore to her.
She just whimpered softly, relieved to be back in his arms and out of her cage. Relieved that she had not lost him.
The Grosvenor were dead, except for Fazendiin.
Colin had not completely crossed a line he could not come back from. But the power he’d experienced, and the darkness he’d fallen into, were prevalent in his mind, even now. It both exhilarated him, and frightened him. Which he guessed was probably not a good thing. He really needed help. But he didn’t have anyone to help him. Jasper was gone.
But they were all alive. They’d survived.
They were not exactly okay. They were injured, exhausted, battered, and in some ways, broken. But they were alive and it was over.
Someone clapped behind them all.
They turned to see Jurekai Fazendiin sitting on top of the Immortality Stone. “I must say, nicely done.”
They heard what sounded like a growl escape Colin’s lips, followed by Catrina whispering something inaudible in his ear.
“I always knew the Stone would come in handy,” Jurekai continued. “Oh, I always knew where it was. Jasper thought he had me fooled, but hey! Why spend my time and energy protecting it? Jasper did all the hard work for me.”
“That seems to be your number one theme,” noted Colin. “Letting others do your work for you.”
“Why mess with a working system?” he returned. “For example, you just finished off my competition and all I had to do was give up the Stone for a few hours.”
“I won’t let you take it back,” said Meghan insistently.
“Ah. My daughter. Such a pleasure to see you again,” he said with fake enthusiasm.
Ivan and Sebastien took protective stances in front of her.
“Tsk tsk boys! I can’t speak to my own daughter?”
“I have nothing to say to you,” Meghan retorted.
“You know,” started Fazendiin arrogantly, “I always knew you were alive. Your mother may have believed you dead. But I knew otherwise.”
Her face gave away that she was curious as to what he meant, but she refused to ask.
He continued regardless, turning to Colin. “I always knew you were out there somewhere too. I never told anyone, of course. Would have ruined everything. And everything, has gone exactly. As. I. Planned.” He spoke clearly and precisely.
Some part of Meghan rejoiced in the fact that Aloyna had been right. Her son had tried to manipulate the prophecy. Make it work for him instead of for the side of good. Her rejoicing dimmed when she realized that her father was still winning. And that they had helped him do so.
It had been his plan all along. To use them to finish what he could not: to kill off the remaining Grosvenor.
Meghan pounded against the block in Colin’s mind until he opened it. She shared this with him, instantly regretting her choice. Colin put the block back in place and took a menacing step towards Fazendiin.
“Ah ah ah,” he warned. “I would not do that if I were you.”
Colin relinquished only slightly.
“You know,” said Fazendiin, “you were a surprise I did not expect, the night I set fire to that pathetic human orphanage.”
Meghan’s mouth turned down in disgust.
“I knew you were alive,” he continued with Meghan, “but your mother had hidden you from me. What luck, that when I traced my daughter, Colin just h
appened to be sleeping in the crib next to her. It should have been obvious I suppose. It was the only orphanage around. Where else would one safely hide a child?” He looked extremely pleased with himself. “And besides, it worked. The fire separated you from your mother,” he aimed at Meghan.
“You,” mustered out Meghan. “You murdered innocent children.” Her thoughts were on the ghost boy Timothy, whom she and Colin had befriended while in Grimble. She stepped out in front of Ivan and Sebastien, being sure to look her father directly in his eyes.
“Do not ever call me daughter! You will never be my father. Your blood might run through my veins, but you’re not worth the breath to say the word.”
“Fiery,” replied Fazendiin. “There’s hope for you yet.”
Colin leapt forward again, out of Catrina’s grasp.
“Ah yes, get mad! Colin Jacoby. The lost little lamb. Doesn’t know who his mommy and daddy are,” mocked Fazendiin.
Catrina grabbed desperately at Colin, pulling him back.
Ivan and Sebastien did not weaken their stance, forcing Meghan back behind them.
Nona, as usual, was weaving around her legs.
“You will want to think twice about killing me, Colin.”
“Why?”
“I guess that depends on how desperate you are to find out who your parents are.”
“And you know?” assumed Colin.
Fazendiin’s jeering grin hurled down at them like waves of hate. “Of course I know who they are. You don’t seem to be comprehending what I’m trying to tell you all. I am the one pulling the strings. I am so many steps ahead of this game. You cannot win.”
“You might not think we’re much of a threat to you,” shouted Meghan, “but what about your dear old mummy?”
“My mother,” he laughed again. “She has no power in this world. You know nothing of her.”
“I might know just a little bit more than you’re thinking, Dad,” she added in the most smug tone she could muster. She had inched her way in front of Ivan and Sebastien again; she heard them both groan when she egged her father on. She realized pissing him off probably wasn’t the smartest idea.
Catrina struggled to keep Colin calm. She didn’t want him killing anyone else today. He’d done enough. He’d taken enough steps toward darkness.
Meghan looked back up at her father.
“You know what? I think you might need to take a little trip home. I think, you’re about to discover you’re not quite as many steps ahead in this game as you might believe.”
The look on her father’s face did not immediately indicate whether he believed anything she said or not. But then she saw it. A glimmer of doubt. A hint of fear.
He didn’t say a word.
In a flash, he and the Immortality Stone vanished.
It took a moment for them to realize they were once again alone.
Meghan let out a long sigh, feeling exhilarated; she had told off her dad. It was followed by dread; she had told off her dad.
What consequences would it all bring? Had she made things more difficult for Colby? Exhilaration degraded into guilt. She had been so worked up and felt such a need to pull one over on her father, she hadn’t even thought about how this might affect Colby.
Ivan leaned against a beam, closing his eyes.
Sebastien slid to the floor, lying onto his back and covered his face for a moment.
“I don’t think we should stay here,” they heard Colin saying.
Meghan looked up to see Catrina agreeing with him.
“No, we should get back to the banished camp,” agreed Meghan.
Ivan seconded the motion and Sebastien threw in a hearty agreement of his own.
Colin sighed.
Meghan realized he had not been speaking of all of them. Just himself and Catrina.
“Do you have to go?”
“I don’t see that I have any other choice. Regardless of what’s happened here today, the Grosvenor being dead except your father, I’m still not going to be accepted back into your world. Most of them still want to hunt me down.”
“Even if they did, they can’t kill you,” reminded Meghan.
“No. But it’s not just me. And frankly, I’d rather be in hiding and have some kind of life, than try to live in your world, where I’m despised.” And maybe I should be, he added silently. Today was almost certain proof that he wasn’t capable of living in the outside world any longer.
Meghan didn’t like how he used the term your world. It was so separating. And after all she’d witnessed from him, it was hard to argue. He’d taken steps toward that darker path tonight.
“Just promise me, you’ll check in now and then. Let me know you guys are okay.”
“We will,” he replied. “Things will be different from now on. I promise.”
“Where will you go?” asked Sebastien.
Colin cast a worried look toward Catrina.
“I have no idea. Somewhere remote, where no one can find us. Maybe somewhere in a city? Get lost in the crowd.”
“A city,” mumbled Sebastien, deep in thought. “If you want the city, I know where you can go. Amelia has safe houses set up all over the place, for the banished that were working in the non-magical world. They’re all abandoned now. You’d be safe. The closest one’s in Portland, Maine. Not a real busy city to get lost in, but there’s another one right in the heart of Boston.”
Colin and Meghan had been to Boston a few times during travels with their uncle. It was a much busier city. Much easier to get lost in.
Sebastien explained where it was.
Meghan felt a bit of relief come over her. At least she’d know where he was. She knew he’d have the place cloaked and be impossible to find, but at least he’d be somewhere safe.
Ivan came over and wished them luck.
Colin patted Sebastien on the shoulder, thanking him.
Catrina leaned down and pet Nona, thanking her again for her company during her imprisonment. She purred her response in a gracious meow.
Catrina smiled and stood up facing Meghan.
“Thank you,” Meghan told her. “For taking care of my brother.”
“I don’t mind,” she replied with a slight blush in her cheeks.
“Just the same. Thank you.”
She moved her gaze to Colin, not sure when she’d see him again.
“I will stay in contact,” he promised.
Looking at him, she had a hard time finding what she was searching for; a little piece of the boy she knew. There was a tiny glimmer of it in his eyes. She clung to that glimmer, forcing it to erase all the thoughts that terrified her.
“Be careful,” she told him. “Anything you need, find me. And, um, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but, perhaps it might be best if you don’t tell me where you’re going. In the future. I want to know. But with Colby being able to get into my mind, too,” she shrugged. “I can’t tell anyone something I don’t honestly know.”
He got the point. Once they decided to leave Boston, he’d not tell her where they went. It was the safer option.
He nodded, took hold of Catrina’s hand and in an instant, they were gone. Meghan held back tears trying desperately to escape. She wasn’t going to let the waterworks start. Man, did being sixteen and a chick, suck. All the wanting to cry over everything all the time was for the birds.
“Nona,” she called out, her voice husky. “I’d like to get out of here.”
“You light the fire, I’ll take us home.”
Meghan did so and she, Sebastien, and Ivan grabbed Nona’s back, disappearing into the flames, leaving the barn and what was left of the Grosvenor’s bodies to fall into decay.
This time, they popped out of a bonfire set in the middle of the banished camp. A few onlookers jumped, startled when three bodies and a Catawitch bounded out of the flames; but after recognizing who it was, stood down.
The three stepped onto a walkway, odd looks and questioning gazes thrown their way. They realized
they hadn’t even thought to use magic to repair their clothes or clean themselves up.
Meghan’s clothes were torn in too many places to count. Her red hair was a tangled mess of knots intermingled with hay and dirt from the barn.
Sebastien had blood running down his arm from a cut he hadn’t even seen until just now. And as he thought about it, he hurt all over. That fall he’d taken from the cross beams suddenly felt like it had bruised his entire body. For the moment, he accepted the pain, like a badge that he’d survived to see another day.
Ivan’s jacket and shirt were torn beyond repair. He also had a nasty scratch across his cheek; the bleeding had stopped, but he hadn’t even noticed it.
“Whatever,” said Meghan, in an I don’t care tone. She started towards home, no desire to do anything, say anything, or think about anything. She wanted to sink into a numbing sort of dream and just vanish for the rest of her life.
Sebastien followed; his home wasn’t too far beyond hers. He wasn’t ready to deal with the wrath of his parents. They’d be thrilled he was home and safe, but angry, nonetheless. No, not angry, just worried. He was tired of constantly being consumed by guilt. But it didn’t matter. He was in this until it was finished. He felt responsible for a lot of what Meghan was dealing with, and still had tons to make up for.
Ivan followed, but not on purpose. He didn’t know where he was headed. His mind felt blank. Empty. Except for this one feeling he couldn’t quite grasp yet. It was growing though. A need. A desire for something he could not place yet.
They hadn’t walked far when Meghan let out an “eew.”
Ivan and Sebastien tossed her a concerned look.
“Sorry,” she replied. “It’s just Nona. Her nose picked up the scent of a nice juicy rodent.”
“Ah,” said Ivan, his tone even.
“I’ll see you later,” Nona said. “I smell dinner and I’m famished.”
Meghan shook her head. “I really should just make her eat regular cat food or something, but she loves to hunt.”
“It’s her nature,” said Sebastien, sounding weary.
Meghan noticed Ivan, staring into nothing.
“You okay?”
“I think I’m going to... walk,” he said it like a question. “Will you be okay getting home?”
The Spell, The Stones, and The Treasure (Fated Chronicles Book 3) Page 40
