Firemancer Collection (Fated Saga Box Set Book 1) (34 page)

Colin thought of the sick girl he had seen there. Who was she? Was she better, and if so, why hadn’t he seen her around? His face reddened thinking about the girl. Meghan gazed oddly at him, attempting to invade his thoughts. He didn’t allow it.

At noon, three guests arrived for a pre-feast gathering. They included Billie Sadorus, plus the Jackal sisters, owners of The Jackal Lantern. They were dressed in their usual 1930’s style dresses, acting prim and proper, that is until they downed Sheila Mochrie’s pumpkin brandy (known to be the best in the village).

“If we’re lucky, mom’ll let us try a little,” said Jae, licking his lips.

“Could I get one of you youngsters to bring a plate down to Corny,” asked Mrs. Mochrie. “I wish I could get him out of that dark cellar and up to the table, he’s just so darn stubborn.”

Meghan arrogantly volunteered.

Jae snickered. “Be careful, he might bite if you get too close.”

The way Jae said it gave her the creeps.

“You’re coming with me,” she said, dragging Colin along. “It’s a shame he won’t come up, he’s missing all the fun. Of course, fun doesn’t ever last too long around here.” They climbed down the ladder into the dank basement; one single candle was lit in the far corner. Meghan held her skirt off the dusty floor. Colin held the tray.

“Where is he?” she asked, straining her eyes to see. He wasn’t on his bed. Colin quietly put down the tray and tiptoed back to the ladder, hoping to escape without seeing Corny. “Maybe he’s out?” Meghan suggested, turning to face her brother. “Colin! Don’t move,” she whispered with a voice that always wanted to make him run.

“Hi there, Mr. Corny, sir. We brought you some Thanksgiving Dinner, still hot, over there,” she pointed toward the tray.

Colin felt Corny’s hot, tobacco-stenched breath on his neck and decided to take a slow step forward before turning around; he could not stand the thought of having the man behind him, out of his sight.

Corny’s face hid in the shadows, but his gritty teeth poked through his unkempt beard. He stepped forward into the light holding a tablet of paper in his hand; he ripped out a page and handed it to Colin. It was covered in non-coherent scribbling.

“Thanks, Corny, I’ll… hang it in my room,” stammered Colin, trying to be nice. The old man tore out another page forcing Colin to take it; it was covered in the same scribbling. “We have to go now,” he told Corny.

Colin grasped the pages and followed Meghan, who was already half way up the ladder. As his head poked up into the house there was a pull at Colin’s leg and he slipped down two rungs, coming face to face with Corny’s sour-breathed tobacco mouth. Colin tried to hold his breath, and heard the tearing of another page. Corny vigorously forced it into Colin’s hand and then shuffled back to his bed, ignoring the holiday dinner. Colin scurried up the ladder. Meghan sat laughing in the hallway, explaining to Jae that Colin apparently had a new best friend.

“Ha ha, very funny, Sis. Don’t think you’d be laughing if it were you.”

“No, but I would,” laughed Jae. “Sorry, but Corny taking to anyone, is pretty funny. You’re the first person he’s gotten close to since he came to live with us.”

“Great! Thrilling! Can we eat now?” he asked through his teeth, laying the scribbled pages on the stair.

“We don’t eat here,” said Jae, still laughing. “We all gather together for the real feast, later tonight,” he added, getting more serious.

“Is this one of those occasions we dress up for?” hoped Meghan.

“Definitely,” replied Jae.

Back in the sitting room, the supply of pumpkin brandy dwindled. Sheila permitted the twins and Jae to try a small glass. It was like drinking pumpkin pie, but with a warming tingle at the end.

Irving, Sheila, Billie and the Jackal sisters sat around the fire, with brandy loosened tongues. Sheila listened intently to a story being told by the Jackal sisters. Meghan watched as Ivan glanced over the sisters, one of whom caught his eye and winked; he shifted away, frowning smugly.

“Something tells me those sisters aren’t so prim and proper,” said Meghan.

“They are are quite proper, but the brandy does tend to bring out a sinister side,” whispered Jae.

Billie smiled at them, tipping her glass in their direction, catching it just before the brandy dripped over the edge. She made a funny face and put her fingers to her lips mouthing, “Oops…” and then nearly did it again.

“They’re looped,” said Colin, feeling cheerful.

Ivan left the room without a word. The sisters and Billie were laughing hysterically; the older sister named Kalila was finishing a story.

“And to think, I came that close,
that
week, of publishing
that
story as our moral of the week.”

“I caught it just in time,” yelped the sister named Kalida. “It was already headed to press.”

“I say, that would have been mighty funny to see the look on Garner and Ravana’s faces, if that story’d been published,” exclaimed Irving Mochrie, in tears from laughing so hard.

Sheila slid out of her chair.

“No offense, Billie, being he’s your brother and all,” Irving wailed, uncharacteristically happy.

“What’s a moral of the week?” asked Colin.

“It’s an article in The Jackal Lantern, a small story each week. There’s always some moral at the end, something we’re supposed to learn.”

It reminded Colin of Kanda Macawi’s fireside stories. He was also surprised the Mochries held no ill feelings towards the sisters, after they’d allowed a story to be printed in their paper about Jae, after he’d been demoted in school. There was so much about this world that made no sense.

Kalida Jackal excused herself and wobbled her way to the spider filled outhouse. It seemed a long time before she returned, and when she did, her sister Kalila accosted her.

“Did you take a wrong turn, sister? Fall in perhaps? Maybe find a handsome young man along the way?” she winked, perniciously.

“All… of the above,” Kalida responded, her speech slurred. This caused the adults to roar again, this time so much so, that Meghan, Colin and Jae decided it was time to leave the room. As they exited, they ran into Ivan coming in from the backyard .

“Are the festivities ending, then?” he asked.

“No,” answered Jae. “More like just getting started.”

Ivan opened his mouth to speak then closed it, instead heading upstairs.

“I’ll be down for the festival later,” he said, glancing over the scribbled pages Colin had set on the stairs.

“He is a strange cat,” thought Colin, as they followed him up the stairs a moment later. Meghan caught onto that thought.

“Speaking of cats, I haven’t seen Nona all day.”

“Sorry, Sis, haven’t seen her,” Colin sent back.

“She’s come to spending more time on her own these days. She’s probably out scrounging for a nice juicy Thanksgiving mouse.”

“Ick,” Colin thought as they entered the bedroom.

An hour later, Sheila, slightly more stable, announced it was nearly time to depart for the feast. The boys and Mireya were finished, and astonishingly, so was Meghan. Mrs. Mochrie had sewn Colin’s jacket, and it now fit perfectly. Downstairs, the company had gone, and Irving and Sheila had also changed into their holiday best.

It had been decided in Sheila and Irving’s weekly SLC meetings (Svoda Liberation Committee), that this year their zone would bring the pies, after Sheila Mochrie’s somewhat slurred suggestion on Halloween. Sheila and Mireya had been baking all the previous day. They each grabbed a pie and headed to the feast.

Along the way, they met up with neighbors the twins had never properly met before, all holding various food items. Unsure of where they were heading, the twins let the Mochries lead the way; soon they had arrived at a cliff-side near the ocean, where they stepped into a deep cavern. Hanging candle chandeliers lit up the room brightly, also making the temperature inside nice and toasty.

Two long tables crowded the cavern; the first was laden with food, and the second, lined with chairs. They worked their way to the food table, setting down their pies. The twins were shocked at the variety of foods already there; turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes (cooked in brown sugar), and cranberry sauce, along with marshmallow salad, a strange large noodle, and at least seven different sorts of pies, and best of all, ployes! The twins could not believe it, seeing as it was a staple at many meals back home, and yet not a well known item elsewhere. Then they remembered that the Svoda’s island was off the coast of Maine, and were grateful that ployes were a staple during Maine meals.

The twins took seats alongside the Mochrie’s, and to their delight, Billie Sadorus sat next to them. Jae explained a short speech would be given before the feast began.

An announcement by her Pantin proclaimed the arrival of Juliska Nandalia Blackwell, and seconds later, she stepped into the cavern, in fine fashion. The three members of the Viancourt and their families sat nearest the Banon, and all Svoda rose from their chairs and bowed slightly as Banon Blackwell arrived, claiming the head seat at the table.

“Welcome all to another Thanksgiving Day,” her speech began. “We have much to be thankful for this year. First and foremost, that we are still here to celebrate another Thanksgiving Day!”

Cheers went up through the crowd. Banon Blackwell smiled, pleased.

“Secondly, that each and every day, we take steps that get us closer to celebrating this magnificent holiday in our true home.”

She paused as the crowd cheered again.

“And lastly, to knowing that whilst we are stuck in our ever shifting world, that magic still lives, as seen by the arrival of our newest Svoda, Colin and Meghan Jacoby.”

The crowd turned their heads unexpectedly toward the twins. Colin was red all over, but Meghan, determined that nothing would ruin her good day, nodded with great enthusiasm.

Darcy Scraggs, sitting next to the Sadorus’, brooded over the attention Meghan was receiving. Garner focused his cold stares on Colin, who leaned into a shadow to avoid them.

On Banon Blackwell’s cue, all Svoda raised their glasses.

“To our fellow traveling friends and family! One day, we
will
all raise our glasses together!”

An enormous cheer reverberated throughout the cavern and the feast officially began. There were no servers, except on behalf of Juliska Blackwell, whose Pantin took care of her every need. Soon, empty bottles of wine and brandy lined the table, along with dirty dishes and leftover food. After a few hours the crowd began to disperse and Sheila Mochrie, still a little tipsy, boasted about being glad that her zone wasn’t assigned to clean up the festival that year.

“Jae, what does your mother mean when she says her zone?” asked Colin.

“Each member of the Svoda Liberation Committee (SLC) belongs to a specific zone; it goes by where you live. I think we have nine zones here, so about fifteen people or so in each zone.”

“You said the SLC is an initiated Svoda thing?” questioned Meghan.

“Yeah, they attend meetings every week with other zone members, to keep up with news, announcements, work on ways to get us back home, stuff like that.” They reached the Mochrie cottage.

“I am full and tired,” said Meghan. “I think I might take a nap and change.”

“Don’t wrinkle your clothes,” giggled Mireya, dancing in circles. “You’ll want to wear them again later.”

“What’s happening later?” asked Meghan.

“The story of the
real
Thanksgiving,” she answered, dancing her way upstairs.

“Oh, right,” said the twins, in unison.

“You said our history has the story wrong,” reminded Colin. Jae was about to speak when another voice broke in.

“It’s the retelling festival.” Ivan Crane had said it. “It is actually quite interesting,” he boasted.

“Great,” teased Colin. “You’ll have lost my sister’s attention. She doesn’t go for
interesting
.”

Meghan was not given the chance to defend herself.

“Why would I give your sister
my
attention?” Ivan asked harshly. “She seems to have more than enough to go around.”

Everyone froze at Ivan’s icy reply, but none more so than Meghan, who stood in complete awed silence.

##

##

An hour later Irving Mochrie announced it was time to depart for the retelling festival. Meghan still fumed over Ivan’s insult, and was not even close to blocking her thoughts from Colin.

“Me, need attention? I’m simply trying to fit in and show people I’m not afraid! I do not
need
attention! Where does he get off?”

The ranting continued until finally, they arrived at the pathway leading to the festival. Magnificently carved pumpkins lit the pathway, pitched on tall spikes or hanging lanterns overhead. A short distance later, they arrived at an outdoor amphitheater. Irving and Sheila directed them to sit near the middle. A roped off section ran across the first row.