Firemancer Collection (Fated Saga Box Set Book 1) (44 page)

Chapter Two

Journal entry, the last day of May.

Eleven months into our Journey.

By Meghan Chelcy Jacoby

I cannot tell if time is going faster or slower. On one hand, it is hard to believe that Colin and I have been traveling with the Svoda Gypsies for nearly a year now. In addition, it is even harder to believe that at the end of next month we will turn fourteen. It seems like just yesterday that we were waiting impatiently for our thirteenth birthdays.

Yet, time cannot move fast enough. We are still over two years away from getting the doorway to reopen: the one that will take Colin and me back home, to Uncle Arnon. We are still holding out hope that he somehow survived the Scratcher attack.

It is going to be strange not to celebrate our birthdays in Cobbscott, and even stranger without our uncle, Kanda Macawi or the Jendayas, especially Sebastien.

I think about Sebastien a lot, mostly wondering if he still thinks about me. I can’t believe I kissed him hours before I got stuck with the Svoda and never got to see him again.

After we moved on from Grimble, we traveled to a place called Beresford. It was boring in comparison. Frankly, though, I did not mind, as it was a nice break from the chaos of Grimble. We miss Uncle Eddy though.

We did not see much of Beresford, other than to know it was deep in a forest, as once again we had the luxury of staying inside the wagons. We also started school again. Don’t know why though, as we are on a break here in Eidolon’s Valley, or the E Valley as everyone calls it. From what I understand, we pretty much have to repeat the intermediate level once we start up school again. No wonder it takes everyone so long to graduate.

The only good thing during school is that Juliska has been teaching me about Firemancy. Darcy is totally jealous. I love it.
The Firemancer’s Pocket Guide
is proving a great challenge, but as long as I have Juliska to help me, nothing could be better!

One thing I have been worried about is the bird-human. I have not seen it since Grimble. Maybe it did not move on with us, which would be sad. It was a comforting thought, knowing it was a small memory of home. Never mind that he or she saved my life!

Speaking of saving lives, Ivan is as bad-tempered as always. We are at least on speaking terms, although barely. Juliska put his Initiation on hold until tonight. She told me herself that she needed to wait until we reached the E Valley, because she had a special challenge planned for him. I really wish she didn’t like him so much. I mean of all the people she could choose from … why Ivan?

Oh, and then there’s my brother. He spends most of his time alone these days. I have no idea what he’s up to because he is better than ever at blocking me out of his mind. His skill at magic is also improving, and apparently at a record pace. At least this is what I have heard people whispering behind our backs. There are also rumors spreading that the Svoda’s magical powers are weaker than they should be, and there seems to be no answer as to why this is happening. Just the other day I overheard Juliska discussing this with Pantin Hollee.

Regardless of what is screwing up their magical powers, or that my brother’s seem to be supercharged, the use of magic is strictly forbidden here in the E Valley, except in a life or death situation.

So far, the first two weeks here have proven hot, dry and boring. All of us non-initiated types must keep ourselves entertained while the initiated attend regular meetings. By entertained, what I really mean to say is that we are supposed to be keeping up on our studies. Not my idea of a good time!

Anyway, they never tell us what goes on in these meetings. However, even I, still a newbie to the Svoda world, can tell that there are a lot more meetings than normal, and
something
is definitely causing a panic. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to overhear…

“Ick, Nona,” said Meghan Jacoby, putting aside her journal. “Why are you always so keen on licking my feet? I suppose that’s enough catching up for now anyway.”

Just then, a noise disrupted Nona’s licking. She froze like a statue, her Catawitch eyes blazing towards the door. A moment later, satisfied it was nothing potentially harmful she relaxed and returned to licking Meghan’s feet.

Meghan leaned against the red rock wall of her new temporary home. Here in the E Valley, they did not have the luxury of the wagons (which inside resembled Bedgewood Harbor, the Svoda’s island off the coast of Maine). Instead, they lived at the bottom of a towering canyon wall, inside carved out cave dwellings.

Meghan and Colin still shared a room with Jae and Mireya Mochrie. They had even less privacy than while staying in the Mochrie’s cottage. There were four holes punched into the rock wall, just large enough for a mattress, and someone to sleep in, without getting too claustrophobic. They had to share a stone partition for dressing.

Outside of their bedroom was a main room, which included a combined living space and kitchen. Five doors lined the walls. The first was the youngster’s bedroom. The second belonged to Sheila and Irving. The third opened to a large closet, which Corny Tibbett decided to take over upon arrival. The fourth led out into the valley and the fifth, opened to a tunnel that led deeper into the canyon.

This tunnel connected with other tunnels and cave dwellings, like an underground web, that eventually led to a large open dome in the center. Meetings took place here.

Only a few of the Svoda businesses remained open: The Steel Gin, Balloch Flummer’s bookstore, the bank and a mercantile on wheels.

Ivan had chosen to move out of the Mochrie’s and get a place of his own.

Mireya had slipped out of the room, unnoticed. Meghan tried to read her brother’s mind but the only thought she caught onto was a dream that was ending. Even in his sleep, she could not penetrate his thoughts any further.

Meghan’s heart nearly stopped just then, as Jae Mochrie abruptly jumped out of bed, frantically dressing.

“I’m so in trouble. I was supposed to be up thirty minutes ago.”

As if Irving Mochrie knew the perfect moment to rub in his son’s forgetfulness, his voice echoed into their shared room.

“Jae! You had better be ready. I’m leaving in two minutes.”

“Coming, dad! Be right there.”

“Better be. We have to finish work early today. Ivan’s Initiation ceremony is tonight.”

“As if you’d let anyone forget,” muttered Jae. He departed without so much as a hello or goodbye, leaving a shadowy trail behind as he bounded out of the room.

“When was the last time we actually had breakfast with Jae at the table?” asked Colin Jacoby, now awake.

“More like, when was the last time we ate with Jae, period!” said Meghan. “Seems like everyone is super busy, but doing what exactly? It is a dry, dead valley out there. And we’re not in school, so why does his dad have to bring him to work every day?”

Colin refused to answer. He knew his sister was slyly prodding for information on what had been keeping
him
so busy lately.

Colin had been having dreams about the girl named Catrina. He felt there was some message she was trying to send him, but he was not yet able to piece this message together. His impatience escalated at the lack of new clues.Yet all the while, he heard a counter going off in his mind. He only had so much time to find her or it would be too late.

“You ready for some breakfast, Col?” asked Meghan, seeing he was not going to divulge anything new.

“Yeah, sure.”

Colin shivered while dressing. The stone walls kept the room chilly.

Sheila Mochrie’s absentminded voice chimed good morning as they entered the kitchen.

“Breakfast is on the stove. I’ll be off in a minute to a Zone meeting.” She disappeared into her and Irving’s bedroom, as Mireya emerged from Corny’s closet-sized room with an empty tray.

“It is so creepy in there and it’s supposed to be a closet. I cannot believe he just won’t come out.” She shuddered, watching the twins sit down to eat a bowl of oatmeal.

“He didn’t have anything for you to give me, did he?” asked Colin.

Mireya shook her head no, looking confused.

Colin often asked this now, but never explained why. He took it as a good sign, though, if Corny had nothing to give him.

“Did I hear Jae a minute ago?” Mireya asked.

“Yeah, he was in a rush. Left with your dad,” answered Colin.

Mireya nodded, taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, immediately hiding her face behind a book. A minute later, Sheila bustled out of her bedroom and shot down the tunnel leading to the small town center.

The twins finished breakfast and headed outside of their cave dwelling, where blinding sun, along with dusty dry air, greeted them. Their skinned warmed quickly in the heat.

The cave dwellings were located at the very edge of Eidolon’s Valley. A place they had been strictly forbidden to enter.

As far as the eye could see, rust colored, Goblin-like formations littered the valley floor; if you stared at them long enough, they seemed to sway with the dusty whirlwinds that swept across the ground.

A few other younger Svoda had gathered nearby, most reading or talking. Colin climbed to the top of an empty nearby rock formation, and sat gazing into the valley. From his vantage point, it looked as though the valley just went on, and never ended.

Meghan joined him, but positioned herself in the opposite direction, gazing at Juliska Blackwell’s abode, which was a castle-sized egg-shaped stone, wedged between two canyon walls high above the Svoda cave dwellings. A steep path gutted into the red-rock canyon wall led the way from the ground to the castle. Meghan could not wait until her next lesson with Juliska, and took out her journal, although she no longer had the desire to write.

After a while, she glanced at her brother, who was still gazing out into the valley. She watched him closely for a full minute. He did not blink, even once.

“What are you doing?” she whispered. “Does that really pass the time? Staring into nothing?”

Colin frowned. “I’m trying to focus.”

“On what?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” he said.

“Oh, of course. I’m too stupid with magic to understand,” she mocked.

“That’s not what I said.”

“Might as well have been,” Meghan spat.

“It’s just complicated. Something I read in Magicante,” he admitted quietly, not wanting anyone to overhear.

“Whatever,” she said, reminding him, “Better not get caught doing magic.” She turned her attention back to her journal, going over past lessons she’d had with Juliska.

Colin did not hear her. He was attempting something he had learned from the Magicante, and it was
definitely
breaking the no-magic rule.

Magicante had told him upon their arrival at the E Valley, that this magic could prove most useful, and put him to work learning it straightaway. Magicante explained that this particular bit of magic would allow him great sight. Not a vision like his sister. Not seeing the past or future, but for his eyes to see far into the present, to distant locations. The vastness of the E Valley seemed the perfect place to practice this magic.

The sun moved through Eidolon’s Valley changing the shapes of the Goblin-like formations; after awhile it began playing tricks on Colin’s eyes, as he swore the formations were actually moving.

Frustrated that he could not make it work, he breathed heavily and opened his eyes.

Magicante’s words rang in his mind.

“You must quiet your thoughts and focus only on the place you want to see.”

The only problem was all Colin could think was, rock formation, or cave, as he did not know any specific locations in the E Valley. He closed his eyes and concentrated, whispering the words
Aspectus Remotus
, but inevitably, his thoughts strayed to Catrina.

Colin sucked in deeply, as his vision no longer focused on the E Valley itself, but rather raced through the valley, flying past canyon walls and whirlwinds of dust. But to what destination?

He felt the rock beneath him as he sat on top of it, his body unmoving, but his eyes clearly saw the entrance to another cave, which in reality existed many miles away. He had hoped for something more exciting, but at least his attempts were improving. His eyes stopped their distant search once inside the cave.

A voice called out his name, startling him.

The voice called out again. “Colin! You must find me!”

His traveling eyesight took him spinning through the cave, searching into the darkness for the source of the voice. Then he saw it: A glass coffin with white light emanating from within. He rushed toward the case, where the sleeping body of a young girl lay inside. The same girl Colin had seen in the hospital back in Grimble. The same girl that haunted his dreams, nightly.

Catrina.

Her eyes burst opened.

“Colin, you must find me! I’m running out of time! Please hurry,” she begged. Her eyes closed and she looked as though in a deep sleep.