Firemancer Collection (Fated Saga Box Set Book 1) (7 page)

   “There is no way they are leaving through there. They must have been talking about preparations to leave, while on a hike or something.”

   “I don’t think so, Sis,” Colin retorted. “No hiking gear. Couldn’t have been going far, could they?”

   “You know, that’s true. Why don’t we walk in a little ways? See what’s in there.”

   “Uncle Arnon expects us home, we should get back,” he reasoned, wishing he had kept his mouth shut.

   “No weaseling. It will only take a sec. Like you said, it can’t be far.” She took off down the path.

   Colin knew he would never live it down if he went back to camp without her. Tentatively, he followed. After just a few steps down the path, the pine trees were so thick that no sun could filter through. It was as if the sun had suddenly set.

   “We better not get lost,” said Colin, nervously.

   “Shh. Use your inner voice,
just in case
.” Meghan said through her mind.

   “We better not get lost,” he repeated with his inner voice. This time Meghan ignored him.

   Fifty steps or so in they came to a small clearing where a fallen pine tree lay on the ground. Surprisingly, most of the needles were still intact on the tree’s long limbs.  

   “This cannot be where they were coming from,” muttered Meghan, noticing fresh footsteps circling the tree.

   “Inside voices please,” shot Colin to her silently.

   She scowled her reply.

   “The path ends here, as well as the footprints,” sent Colin.

   The fallen tree had nine hidden spaces; each created by the way the pine branches had fallen. A few people could easily fit into each space at the same time.

   “This would make an awesome fort,” mused Colin, accidentally out loud. He corrected the mistake before Meghan could remind him about inside voice. “You could throw a lot of snowballs from this hideout,” he added in his silent voice, while daydreaming of getting back at the camp bullies. Meghan did not let him linger in the daydream long.

   “We better get back, Uncle Arnon’s gonna worry if we don’t get home soon.”

   Colin frowned. He had just started to climb through the tree. Meghan reached to seize his leg and pull him down, when overhead, they heard the distinct sound of heavy wings snapping against the air.

   A tremendous shadow cloaked what small streams of light were trickling through the clearing.

   The twins froze in position. Colin, clinging to a branch with one hand while sitting on one below, and Meghan, with her hand seizing his leg. Without moving, they tried to see what had landed.

   “I’ve never heard wings that large before,” sent Colin nervously. Something hovered over the tree. Something with red eyes that blazed brightly in the darkness. 

   Outside of their hidden tree room, a skidding thud brought them out of their frozen stupor. Whatever it was, it had landed!

      “I knew this was a bad idea,” Colin sent, with an,
I told you so
tone. Another pair of wings swooshed above, landing just a few feet away.

   Colin squeaked. Meghan yanked on his pant leg motioning for him to shut up!

   Whatever was outside the tree was walking the perimeter, repeating the twins’ movements from a few minutes before; which meant before long it would find their secret room!

   The shadow stopped and sniffed the air, like a dog.

   It was close enough now that the twins could see directly into the piercing red and black eyes of the creature. Colin held his breath, afraid he would give away their hiding spot if he opened his mouth.

   “Okay, I will
never
, not listen to you again,” sent Meghan to her brother. Normally, Colin would have relished such a moment. Fear, however, gripped the occasion, as one of the creatures lunged to the top of a granite rock on the opposite side of the clearing.

   “Where is the other one?” sent Colin. They searched frantically, without moving their bodies, but could not see it.

   Finally, it joined the other, standing on the ground below the rock. From what the twins could see, the towering creature was hairless and gray skinned.

   The wind picked up and the sky drew the two creatures’ attention. The one on the ground lifted off, hovering just a few feet in the air. This gave Meghan and Colin a much better view of the body.

   “What are they, Colin?” asked Meghan, stunned by what she was seeing.

   “If I had to guess, I would say they are oversized… bats,” he stammered silently, into his sister’s mind.

   “There are no bats that large!” she argued. “How is this possible? It’s not!” she answered herself.

   Colin gulped, not replying. The wind picked up even more, blowing leaves and branches off the ground, and violently shaking the fallen tree. Luckily, the needles held fast and did not fall off, keeping the twins’ location to the intruders outside a secret. 

   The wind died quite suddenly, and with its end, someone else arrived; someone appearing to be human, but disguised in a dark cloak. The cloaked figure spoke, but the voice was deep and distorted, making it impossible to tell if it was a man or woman.

   “Tonight, you will do what must be done,” the figure spoke. “At midnight they will come. You will wait until the time is right, and then you will strike!” At the word strike, both creatures lifted up their wings, which measured at least ten feet across, and let out a ferocious snarl.

   The creature on the rock sprung into the air, landing just a few feet from the twins. Their eyes popped open wide with disbelief and fear.

   The face of the creature resembled a wolf, with long knife-like fangs. The wings looked like a flexible sort of webbing, with hook-like fingers that curled and clicked against each other, attached to thin, but muscular, arms that extended at least two feet beyond the web-like wings. The bottom half of the creature appeared more human than animal, with the exception of the toenails, which were long and jagged like rusted, broken, saw blades.

   The twins reacted by leaning back into the depths of the tree, hoping to remain hidden.

   “We need to get out of here,” Colin managed to croak.

   “How do you suggest we do that? There is no way we can outrun those things!”

   Colin had no ideas and shifted on the branch. As he did so, his new book fell out of his sweater. Meghan caught it before it landed, but the book opened in her hand. The pages glimmered slightly, like bright dust settling.

   “Did you see that?” she asked.

   “Let me have it,” he replied.

   “You want to read it, right now? When we are this close to having our heads chewed off by whatever those things are?”

   He grabbed it from her, making strange faces as he read. Meghan tried to tune in but his thoughts were incoherent.

   “I need to get down from this branch,” he sent her.

   Meghan took the book, closed it, laying it gently on the soft ground, and then carefully and quietly helped her brother out of the tree and onto solid ground.

   “Stay low, Sis. Less chance of catching that thing’s eye,” he said, sitting down, cross-legged. Meghan followed Colin, sinking to her knees. Her thoughts wandered.
We should have been home ages ago! I hope Uncle Arnon doesn’t come looking for us
. Colin’s heart raced, nearly bursting from his chest as he thought about their uncle happening unexpectedly upon these creatures.

   Outside the tree, the voice spoke threateningly.

   “Do not be seen, or heard, until the determined time!” The creatures were growling and clicking in a high-pitched screech, in what the twins could only assume meant agreement.

   Colin sat on the ground with his new book, Magicante, but the strange shimmering that had been there moments ago had disappeared.

   Another lofty breeze swept through the clearing setting off a chain reaction of events. First, this breeze sent the twins’ scent to their unaware captors, and second, the pages of the book began to flip back and forth, the leaves on each page shimmering as if golden sunlight were beaming onto each leaf. Thirdly, the pages of the Magicante stopped flipping and to twins’ surprise, words began forming on the leaf attached to the open page. It appeared in the form of fiery gold print.

   “If you are capable of reading this, then you obviously need my help. You must ask for what you need.”

   “For what we need,” repeated Colin.

   Meghan shook her head, still disbelieving what she was seeing.

   “Does it need to be specific?” Colin asked the book, trying to understand.

   “Look!” pointed Meghan.

   “Yes, of course specific. Since it appears you have no clue what you’re doing, I suppose I will have to give you an example.”

   “Kinda rude isn’t it,” humpfed Meghan, realizing what she was saying. “This is ridiculous! This is some kind of stupid joke book, Colin. We need a real, safe and fast way outta here and back to camp.”

   A new message appeared on the leaf.

   “That’s the ticket! Knew you would get there eventually. So if you two are ready?”

   Outside their hiding spot, the creatures were on the move, sniffing the air around the tree. The sniffing blended into growling and clicking noises, which the cloaked figure must have understood, as it swirled around, shouting angrily.

   “Not alone?” the voice demanded. “FIND THEM! NOW!”

   “I think we are about to have company,” Colin spoke, his voice easily an octave higher than normal. In that same instant, a thought dawned on him. “Do you think these creatures are the ones scaring the Gypsies?”

   “I somehow have a sneaking suspicion the answer is yes, but this is not the time, Col. We gotta get out a here!” 

   “I think the book is our only option,” he said.

   “What! Are you nuts?” asked Meghan. “You seriously think this book is going to just magically fly us away from here?” Meghan’s fury was near equal to her fear of the creatures discovering their hiding spot.

   “Maybe not, but do you see any other options?” Colin was not sure why he was defending the book. His gut told him to believe it. Ever since he could read, Colin had read book after book about magic. In fact, his uncle even encouraged his research on the subject, having given him numerous books on the topic himself.

   The creatures methodically searched each open cavern in the fallen pine tree, edging closer and closer to where the twins were hiding.

   “If this works,” said Meghan, “I will never call you Little Bro again.” She shook her head, her thoughts screaming,
I cannot believe I’m doing this!

   Colin wanted desperately to relish his sister’s promise, but time was not on their side. The creatures were nearly upon them.

   “On the count of three then,” he sent to her. “We’ll say together, take us to camp.”

   “And when it doesn’t work?” she whispered. They held hands, with each of them grasping the book. 

   “Then, I guess…” he gulped deeply, his throat too dry to continue.

   The creatures were at their room now, clicking and growling as their wolf-like faces started to poke inside. Smelling, and then seeing, the twins sitting on the ground set off a fury of howling and screeching. The cloaked figure ordered them to back away and strode toward them.

 
Here goes nothing!
Colin thought to himself, unsure of whether anything would come out when he tried to speak. The twins jammed their eyes closed and counted.

   “One… two… three ... TAKE US TO CAMP!”

   They kept their eyes shut, fully expecting to be yanked from their hiding spot and hurled into the air, or mauled by the ferocious fangs of the hideous creatures outside.

   All went quiet, neither twin breathed, and they kept their hands held together still gripping the book. The growls, clicking and screeching howls were gone. All the twins could hear was music; guitars playing somewhere not too far away. Meghan was the first to open her eyes. She did so slowly, and just one at a time.

   “Holy crap!” she exhaled, hitting at her brother’s arm.

   He peeked through one eye, then the other.

   They were sitting on the ground, a few feet into the woods behind the Jacoby travel trailer. The music they were hearing was from the Gypsy caravan.

   “I am…” Meghan could not finish the thought.

   “This is… ” Colin shook his head, unable to think of a word strong enough to describe how he was feeling. He opened the book, stroking the pages with a fond new reverence.

   To their further bewilderment, there was another message. However, this time the book spoke it.

   “Those tremendous votes of confidence might well be enough for me to give up all of this
fun
, and retire,” it said rather snidely. The twins sat in utter disbelief again, their eyes glued to the book.

   “How… can… you… talk?” Meghan asked, as if she were talking to someone who spoke another language and could not understand her.