Awaken (16 page)

“C’mon, this way,” urged Jae. “Stay together.” The shrieking grew closer and the foursome started to run.

Sebastien grasped Meghan’s hand, helping her along.

Seconds later the foursome fell forward onto the ground, as a webbed wing of one of the Scratchers knocked them over. The group got up and scampered out of the way, as another of the Scratchers came diving down for a second swipe. Meghan, Colin and Sebastien ducked out of its way, but one of its claws grazed Jae’s shoulder. He screamed and fell. The other three ran to his aid.

“I’m fine,” said Jae. “It’s not deep.” It may not have been deep, but it bled heavily. Jae left behind a bloody puddle as he got up.

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Meghan hoped desperately that this was the all the blood that would be shed.

Two Scratchers flew high overhead and the other three circled the foursome, creating a forceful wind each time their wings beat against the air. The creatures howled and clicked, as if talking to each other, planning their attack.

Jae pushed through the other three, rushing forward. He held out his hand, palm forward.

“Emissio!” he yelled furiously.

A blast of heavy air broke the circle, forcing the Scratchers to retreat, but only long enough for the foursome to run a short distance down the road. Another dove, separating the group, and knocking Sebastien to the ground. He picked up his head in time to see another of the Scratchers diving.

“Meghan, behind you!” he warned.

Colin heard Sebastien yell and watched as the claws of the creature opened wide and enclosed around his sister, lifting her off the ground.

Jae raced to Sebastien’s side.

“We cannot let it wrap its wings around her.”

“What happens then?” Colin asked, afraid of the answer.

“She’ll die!” Jae confirmed.

Colin watched the Scratcher lifting Meghan’s body higher off the ground, thankfully not in the right position to be wrapped in its wings.

Jae furiously talked to himself, trying to figure out what to do.

“I’ve got it!” he suddenly shouted. “I’m gonna do a spell to pull it forward.” Before Jae had the chance, the remaining Scratchers had them surrounded. Meghan was 142

now fifteen feet in the air, kicking and trying to free herself.

Colin’s mind was overwrought with fear and something inside him changed. From his toes to his fingertips, he felt a power surging through him. A power so strong he was afraid he might explode if he did not use it.

“Jae,” he yelled, “I will hold these ones off,” he said firmly. “You get my sister back!”

Jae started to question him, when Colin interrupted.

“Just go.” Colin faced the circling Scratchers. His knees shook uncontrollably. Hoping he had not made the biggest mistake of his life, and, not being sure if he was doing it right, he faced his palm outward.

“Emissio!” he shouted. He could feel the energy raging through his body pouring into his palm, but nothing happened. He planted his feet firmly against the ground, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

“Emissio,” he repeated.

This time, the force of energy was so strong he could barley keep his feet planted on the ground.

It worked!

The creatures retreated.

Behind him, both Sebastien and Jae watched in electrified awe. A scream from Meghan regained their attention. The Scratcher was struggling to hold onto her and she was now grasping it firmly, trying not to plummet to the ground far below.

“I’m going to try and pull it down, Sebastien. When I do, grab her, and hold tight.”

“That’s your plan?” yelled Sebastien. “Grab her!” Jae ignored him, focused on his task.

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“Valeerea,” shouted Jae, his hand shaking. The spell caught the beast, causing him to howl viciously, nearly dropping Meghan, again.

Behind them, Colin repeated his spell. The Scratchers backed off, also strangely appearing caught off guard by Colin’s use of magic.

Jae pulled his imprisoned creature toward Sebastien.

Every muscle in his body raged with power and the fortitude not to give up. He exhausted so much magical energy that his appearance-changing spell stopped working. His normal stringy hair returned, hiding his determined eyes.

Sebastien could see Meghan’s strength waning.

“Hold on Meghan! I can almost reach you,” he shouted.

Her legs dangled in the air as the flying beast held onto her by her shoulders; its claws digging in. Meghan tried to force the claws out of her, but she was too weak. She dangled four feet from the ground now, which meant that the creature’s wings were a danger to Sebastien.

“Grab her now, Sebastien!” instructed Jae, beginning to tire. Sebastien took hold as tight as he could to her legs.

Jae took his free left hand and yelled (still holding the right one strongly), “Emissio!”

The creature, clearly in torment, let go of Meghan.

Sebastien carefully swung her to the ground and cupped his body over hers, protecting her from the creatures floundering wings, as it struggled to remain airborne.

A sharp claw scratched the entire length of Sebastien’s back. Meghan was terrified that Sebastien was seriously injured, but he kept his place protecting her, insisting he was fine.

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Jae could no longer hold both spells. He let go and collapsed, exhausted.

Colin stopped his own spell and rushed to Jae’s side.

The four got up and with every ounce of strength they had left, ran, leaving the Scratchers flying above, reorganizing for another attack.

“Hurry,” said Jae. “If we can get to the entrance, where there are people, I don’t think they’ll follow.”

“Can you be sure?” asked Meghan, leaning on Sebastien’s arm for support.

“I am not sure about anything anymore,” he replied, as they ran. They did not stop until they came into view of people; people completely oblivious to the danger that lurked overhead.

Children played kickball in the wide park entrance. Two runners left the campground, running in the opposite direction of the foursome, who left the roadway a few feet before the entrance, seeking the coverage of the trees and bushes. Once out of sight they crumpled to the ground.

After a few minutes of catching their breath and gathering their thoughts, Meghan jumped up.

“Sebastien! Your back!”

“I think its okay, it doesn’t hurt much.” She made him roll over and to everyone’s relief, the claws had gone through his shirt, but had not broken through his skin. A long swollen scratch etched from his right shoulder to his lower back. There was no blood.

Jae wanted to heal everyone’s injuries, but he needed time to recover. He turned to Colin.

“I guess I could let you try it, Mr. Magic Man,” he said pompously. Colin knew he had some explaining to do, but had no idea where to begin. The other three waited for his 145

explanation. Colin sensed Meghan trying to break into his thoughts.

“Will you give me a second?” he said aloud to her.

“Sorry,” she replied impatiently.

“Don’t you have some explaining to do, too?” he questioned. This was true, but Colin continued anyway. “I am not sure how it happened. Maybe it has got something to do with my new book.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Meghan asked angrily. “You did not think you could hide it from me did you?”

“You are just getting over being sick, and I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“Has this ever happened to you before?” asked Jae, with growing bewilderment and concern.

“Only since I bought the Magicante.”

“But that book was not with you today,” reminded Sebastien.

“Maybe it was working long distance?” Colin suggested, somewhat sarcastically.

“Perhaps,” said Jae, eying Colin with a new-found wonder.

Now it was Meghan’s turn. The three boys waited for her to explain how she knew the attack was coming. She now blocked her thoughts from Colin, trying to muster an explanation.

The only problem was, she did not understand it herself.

“I…” she stopped, and then said, “It was just intuition.” She knew that was a bad answer. Jae raised his eyebrow, clearly not believing her. Colin knew his sister was lying.

Then again, he had not really told the truth either.

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“Regardless of whatever is happening with the sudden breakout of magical powers,” said Sebastien. “We should probably get closer to home.”

“We certainly cannot go back looking like this!” said Jae.

It appeared as though they had been in a mini war. Their clothes were torn and their bodies caked with dirt and mud. Plus, all of them, minus Colin, had injuries from the creatures’ sharp talons.

“Since our injuries are small, I think I can fix them,” he said. “Everyone stand close by each other.” He waved his hand and said something inaudible for the rest to hear. In an instant their clothes mended, the mud vanished and their wounds healed. He did the same thing to himself, and then redid his appearance spell.

“I can’t believe I just did all that after a battle,” he said as they departed the woods. “My powers never renew so easily.”

Their gazes grazed the skyline as they walked deeper into the campground.

Meghan was deep in thought, and Sebastien, walking beside her, tried to feel his back, not believing the scratch had vanished. Jae held back, walking alongside Colin.

“I wish I wasn’t leaving tomorrow night. I would like some more time to look over that book again.”

“Do you think you could learn anything about it?”

“Dunno, but you guys have helped me out a ton. I wish I could return the favor.” There was silence between them for a moment, and then Jae added, “However you did it, Colin, that was an awesome show of force. It took me years of practice to do that. Whatever you do, be careful.

You do not want to make any enemies.”

“You mean, like the Scratchers?”

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“Exactly like the Scratchers.”

They were silent the rest of the way home.

“What do we do now?” asked Meghan, as they approached their uncle’s trailer.

“We go home and pretend that nothing happened,” proposed Sebastien, catching on quickly to the secret filled, magical lifestyle.

“Sounds about right,” frowned Jae.

“I think I could get used to this magic thing,” boasted Colin.

Meghan rolled her eyes, half-amused at his daring behavior, and half-afraid of what it meant.

A fire lit up the Jacoby campsite. Meghan did not trust the fire, unsure of what would happen if she looked into the flames. When she did finally dare to cast a glance, the flames cast no shadows or visions, just warmth.

“There you are, we were going to come searching for you all,” said Milo Jendaya. “We thought you might have gotten lost,” he joked.

They sat around the warm fire, thankful for the option not to speak, and simply stared blankly into the flames.

Meghan and Colin eventually linked their minds.

“I am nervous about tomorrow,” said Meghan. “What if something goes wrong and Jae does not get home.”

“He has to,” replied Colin.

“At least you can fight those things off if we need to get away, and you better remember that book this time.” Colin was not fond of the idea of fighting again, with magic at his side or not! His heart quickened at the thought.

“I will remember the book, but what if I can’t do that again, fight them I mean?”

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Meghan sensed his fear.

“Thanks, Colin.”

“For what?” he asked her.

“I know you, and what you did was, well, brave. If you had not tried it, I don’t want to think where I might be right now, or if I would even still… be.” Colin’s face went pink. A compliment from Meghan.

Brave. Him?

Once again, they lost themselves in the flames. Jae announced he was going home and said goodnight.

Meghan, Colin, and Sebastien watched as he walked away, for what should be his last night with them. They were sad and scared something would go wrong.

Colin began to doze off, leaning his head against his chair. Sebastien and the Jendayas departed. Uncle Arnon awoke the dozing Colin and marched him into the trailer.

“I will put out the fire tonight, Uncle Arnon,” offered Meghan.

“Are you sure you’re feeling up to it?”

“Yeah, it’s actually very relaxing.”

“Okay then. Just be careful.”

Meghan poked around, breaking up the burning embers, when something caught her eye, something moving in the fire. She stepped back, with the poker raised in her hand, ready to strike.

“What is this now?” she asked herself, wondering if perhaps she was just jumpy and had not actually seen anything.

Something jumped out of the fire pit, darting to the edge. Meghan stepped back, aghast, as it meowed at her. It was a cat, with one white eye and one black eye. It had a 149

slim body covered in fine, almost non-existent hair, similar to a Siamese cat.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Meghan asked boldly, realizing she was asking a cat to reply to her question. Then again, it did just jump out of a lit fireplace.

Meghan gasped when the cat did respond, actually speaking to her.

“My master wants to meet you Meghan Chelcy Jacoby,” a cattish, girly voice said.

“Your m-master,” Meghan had only heard this term used in movies. “And why should I do that?” asked Meghan, keeping her distance.

“Do not ask why. It is a great honor to be asked, little girl.”

“Little girl!” Meghan repeated, edging closer to the strange cat. “Now look here, you,” she said a little louder, blocking her mind from her brother, hoping not to raise any suspicion from inside the trailer. “I am not a little girl.”

The cat hissed and meowed back at her.

“You can tell your master that I’m not interested! What am I doing?” she berated herself. “Having an argument with a cat? What’s next?”

Meghan realized that she was so close to the fire pit she was nearly touching it, and was surprised that it did not feel hot, but rather quite comfortable.

“Suit yourself,” the cat hissed, pawing at her. “My master may choose to come and visit you, then!”

“Visit here? Why?”

Maybe she was putting Colin’s and her uncle’s lives in danger by not going with this menacing cat. Maybe this 150