Jae Mochrie felt the air rushing over his body as he plummeted towards the rocky coastline below. He was not afraid at all that he was about to die. He was relieved. Relieved that it would all soon be over… the guilt, the pain and his betrayal to friends and family. At least now they knew the truth. The truth that Juliska Blackwell, Banon, Gypsy Queen and leader of the Svoda Gypsies, had created the Scratchers. The hunters who had tormented and killed so many.

He
did not know whether he faced the ground or the sky, as he kept his eyes tightly closed, waiting for the impact he knew was soon to come. He drew peace from the fact that his life would end instantly. He would not suffer in death.

He breathed in and out,
trying to contain his fear, waiting. And waiting. “Shouldn’t I have hit the ground by now?”

He no longer felt the rush of the air biting at his skin; just a
cool salty breeze washing across his face. He opened his eyes cautiously, worried he would open them just in time to see himself crashing into the rocky coastline.

“Huh?” he breathed out
in shock. There was no ground before him, only a swirling mist of white. His body hovered over the swirling mist until the mist started to swirl faster, forming a vortex, which started to pull his body inside of it.

He cried out, fearfully,
as he was sucked deeper inside the vortex, his body whirling uncontrollably into the white mist. He had no idea what was happening, or where this vortex was taking him.

His worst fear: it was some trick of Juliska Blackwell’s. That she would not just let him die.
She would never let him go. She would force him to live, doing her bidding as the
monster
he had allowed himself to become.

Meghan Jacoby stood at the entrance of a cave. A cave in which her mother lived... a woman believed to be dead until Sebastien had informed her otherwise. She peered into the cave and heard nothing, seeing only a dim light far inside.

Just a short while ago they had fled the Svoda Island and Juliska Blackwell, Banon, Gypsy Queen and leader of the Svoda Gypsies.
They had no idea what had happened after their hasty departure, but imagined horrible things. Had the Svoda overthrown Juliska? Or had she overpowered them? Had they believed what Jae had said and shown them when he transformed into a Scratcher and killed Darcy Scraggs, before jumping to his premature death? Had enough people understood him? Or was it possible that Juliska had somehow discredited Jae’s outburst as some sort of treachery?

As Meghan tried
to gather the courage to step inside the cave, she could not help but take comfort in the fact that Juliska had turned out
not
to be her real mother. This was a huge relief; she had no idea how to deal with a mother that was evil. She was still struggling with knowing that Jurekai Fazendiin, the original and most feared of the immortal Grosvenor, was her father. She still had no idea what this meant in regards to herself, other than the same blood ran through her own veins.

She had stood at the cave's entrance for quite a long time now, for some reason unable to step foot inside.
Her mother was inside
. Her real, living mother. What would she be like? What kind of woman had a relationship with Jurekai Fazendiin?

Perhaps she’d turn out to be just as evil as Juliska.
Sebastien hadn't told her anything about her, only that she was alive.
Wouldn’t he warn me if he thought she was evil?
She hoped this was true, but as it turned out, she didn’t know Sebastien as much as she thought either. In all the years they had been friends, he had never told her he was from a magical family. She stopped her thoughts on the subject of Sebastien, she didn’t have the energy to be mad right now.

She shook herself back into the moment and took a short step closer.

Ivan, S
ebastien and Nona stood a ways behind Meghan, hidden amongst the shadows of the trees. While they waited for Meghan to meet her mother, they were devising a plan, what to do and where to go next. They had fled the island so quickly, their only thought had been getting off the island alive.

They
were not sure what the right move would be, other than they felt confident that they needed to help the Svoda on the island. The longer they thought about it, the more they feared that their friends and family could be in terrible danger, especially if Juliska had an army of Scratchers at her command.

Neither of the young men wanted to think about what was happening back there right now.
What was Juliska going to do to everyone? Could the Svoda find some way to overpower her? Somehow, they felt she would not be taken out of power that easily. This is something Juliska Blackwell had been planning and implementing for years. She would have a backup plan, no doubt. Probably even a few backup plans.

But
before they could decide anything specific, they needed to see what happened after Meghan met her mother, as their actions might change depending on this as well.

"What is taking her so long?
" muttered Ivan, his voice somewhat annoyed. "Is she just going to stare into that cave all day?"

"I can hear you, Ivan," Meghan retorted anxiously. N
ona hissed softly at him, sticking up for her master.

"Sorry, take your time," Ivan
told her, regretting his annoyed outburst. They had been through a lot in the last few days and he needed to remember that, regardless of the journey ahead.

They had just watched Jae Mochrie die, after jumping off a cliff. Meghan had found out her father was a Grosvenor and that her brother, whom she had betrayed, was a Projector (and not Catrina Flummer as originally thought).

And now, she was about to meet her mother. Of course she would be nervous. He tried to imagine how he would be feeling if by some miracle he was suddenly about to see his own mother again... this could not happen however, seeing as she had died when he was just a toddler. He was disappointed that he’d never had the chance to find the thing that was close to her heart, while on the island. He still hoped to find it one day, and see what his mother had left him, and what answers this thing would give him; although, he wasn’t even sure what the questions were that needed answering.

They watched Meghan take another step towards the cave.

“Even once she is inside, this will probably take awhile,” reminded Sebastien. “We might as well get comfortable and try to come up with some sort of move.”

“Yes,” agreed Nona.

Ivan nodded in agreement as well. Just as they turned to go deeper into the woods and find a safe, hidden location to talk it out, they heard a scream.

“Meghan,” shouted Nona.

When they turned around to see what had happened, they saw Meghan cupping her head with her hands and falling to her knees. They raced toward her.

“What’s wrong?” asked Sebastien.

She dropped her hands, using them to steady herself, motioning for them to wait.

“It’s not me,”
she muttered after a moment. Her head filled with strange visions, ones she knew were not her own. But the visions flitted through her mind so fast she could not catch on to any of them. They were out of control. At least the mind they were happening in was out of control.

“It’s Colby,” she whispered. Only Nona heard her.

What was wrong with him? He was obviously in a lot of pain and was scared. Meghan felt sorry for him, although she was not sure why seeing as he’d tried to kill both her and her brother on more than one occasion. Plus, he had actually killed Ivan back in Grimble, which had been followed by Colin’s book, Magicante, bringing Ivan back to life.

Whatever was happening to him was not of his own volition. S
he could sense something trying to take over inside him. Something strong. Something wild. Something he could not manage. Could she help him? Could she reach out to him? Most likely, he’d just ignore her as in the past.

It stopped.

Disappeared.

His rampant
thoughts no longer invaded her mind. Something had changed.

She looked up seeing the
intently concerned faces of her two traveling companions.

“Wha
t the heck just happened?” demanded Ivan.

“Not entirely sure
, it wasn’t me though. Someone else’s thoughts... problems... not mine.”

“Colin?” assumed Sebastien.

“No. Not Colin, actually. Colby.”

“That kid t
hat keeps showing up everywhere?” questioned Ivan.

“Yup. One and the same,
” she replied.

“Are you okay?” asked Sebastien.

“Think so, but Colby is definitely not.”

“I’m confused,” said Ivan.

“What’s new?” said Meghan.

They both waited for her to explain.

“I don’t know why, but I can hear his thoughts, like I can with Colin.”

“Really?” said Ivan. “Colby... huh.”

“Yeah, huh,” Meghan agreed.

“What was happening
to him?” asked Sebastien, helping her to her feet. She smoothed out her clothes before answering.

“It was like he suddenly couldn’t control his
thoughts; they went all schitzo or something. And there was this intense pain, like he had just been stabbed in the heart. I don’t know what happened but I’d say he’s having a very bad day.”

“
Frankly, this is something we don’t have time to worry about,” said Ivan. “He’s caused us nothing but trouble in the past. I say his problems are his problems.”

“
Sadly, I actually agree with you,” said Meghan. She once again turned her attention to the cave, now determined that it was time to enter and meet her mother.

“We’ll be waiting,” reminded Sebastien.

Meghan glanced back and tossed him a tight smile.

Nona stayed behind
as well, wanting to give Meghan her own time with her mother. As a Catawitch, she had the advantage of hearing Meghan’s thoughts too, and could keep Ivan and Sebastien updated on anything important.

Meghan stopped again. She
felt someone probing into her mind again. “No,” she told him haughtily, realizing Colby was back. She blocked him from getting into her mind but his presence was still there.

He was shouting now, not at her
but at someone else.

“Why did you do this to me?” he was asking.
“I can’t- I can’t...” he stopped speaking, seeming instead to be struggling to breathe. Colby’s thoughts zoomed in too many directions at once for her to latch on to anything specific.

She turned around and saw Ivan, Sebastien and Nona wat
ching her near the woods’ edge, throwing her questioning gazes.

“Stupid boy won’t stay out of my head and I’m having trouble blocking him out,” she shouted, her patience wearing thin.
She backed away from the cave, again. She couldn’t meet her mother. Not like this.

Before
her friends could approach Meghan, a low rumble echoed up through the ground they stood on, filling them with dread. The ground started to shake under their feet and Meghan darted to a nearby tree grabbing hold of the trunk for support. Her friends could not reach her without falling.

She heard them shouting her name, although they sounded distant. She tried to make a run for them, but lost her balance, falling to the ground.
The sky grew dark overhead, thick, swirling clouds covering the skyline.

The ground stopped shaking
but Meghan dared not move as the rumble still boomed, seemingly from everywhere.

Nona bounded toward Meghan but froze when a violent crack thundered over them and a figure appeared from nowhere.

“Colby?” Meghan asked, startled to see him.

He did not answer, but fell to his knees, cupping his head with his hands.

Nona came out of her stupor and jumped between Meghan and Colby, shielding her.

Elisha, Colby’s
Catawitch, jumped down from his back and swiped at Nona, who returned with a hiss and swipe of her own.

Colby screamed and started rocking back and forth, mumbling incoherently.

Elisha turned from Nona and raced back to him.

“Master, master,” she called out.
“Evil father, evil father,” she spat out in a snarling meow. “Might as well have killed you.”

BOOK: Taken (Book Six) (Fated Saga Fantasy Series)

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