Taken (Book Six) (Fated Saga Fantasy Series) (14 page)

Everyone just
stood and stared at the book as the pages flipped back and forth, finally stopping. A shimmering leaf lifted off the page, its edges glimmering in silver. It landed in Colby’s hand.

“What is this?” he asked.

“My offer to you. Seeing as you have not had any proper training and also that you are not wired for this power, I offer my services. I am curious to see just what you’re capable of.”

Meghan cast a worried look at Ivan
and Sebastien. Was this okay? Should they allow this to happen? The book answered their questions before they could voice them.

“As it just so
happens, I am an asset to any Projector. I am what keeps a Projector’s abilities from overpowering them, and I daresay you are in need of my help and in no position to turn it down.

“
No doubt, young Mr. Jacoby has already received this help; therefore I am free to offer you mine. You see, I can give you all my expertise and knowledge, carry the burden of your streaming consciousness and help you learn control. You will need this! Otherwise, you will not be able to do this on your own, no Projector can!”

T
his idea seemed wise. Keep Colby from losing it. On the other hand, giving him access to all the knowledge inside of the Magicante, and therefore giving it to Fazendiin as well, did not seem so wise. Equally, did they have a choice? It sounded like this was something Colin had already done and something that needed to happen to Colby as well.

“I’ll do it,” agreed Colby
, before anyone could debate the issue.

“Wonderful,” said Magicante
, in a voice that if the book had had hands, it would be maniacally rubbing them together.

“Are you sure about this?”
Meghan asked Colby.

“I don’t think I have a choice,
Sis
,” Colby replied. “It’s this or go crazy.”

“He speaks the truth,” said Magicante. “He will not be in control without the help of Magicante. It is what I was created for.”

“Okay,” said Ivan. “It sounds like there is no choice. How long does this take? We should probably not stick around here for too long in case there’s more of those Trackers out there.”

“It takes but a moment,” said Magicante.
“You must repeat the words on the leaf.”

Colby read it aloud. “Become my second soul.”

“Okay,” said Magicante.

“That’s all I have to say?” asked Colby.
“Seems like it should be a little longer or something.”

“
When I said okay, I meant you’re finished. No need to say it again, it’s done.”

Everyone looked at each other.

“Why is it that everyone always thinks there’s going to be thunder, lightening or some magical phenomena when this spell is performed,” said Magicante with its normal impatient banter.

“So what now?” asked Meghan
, ignoring the book. “Is he just okay now?”

“Not exactly, but I’ve now bonded with his soul and can therefore assist and train. Now if you don’t mind, you must take me with you,” reminded the book as the leaf lifted off Colby’s hand and reattached itself to its page. Colby leaned down and picked it up, closing it.
A wide grin spread across his face.

“My father always wanted this book and now, I finally have it. Wasn’t my plan when I came here but it’ll definitely do.”

“So what? You’re just going to crawl home to Daddy now?” said Meghan.

“Yes.
Minus the crawling part. You could come with me,” he suggested charmingly.

“
Um. How about no? Did nothing we discussed make any difference to you?”

“Look,” Colby
said. “I admit that I’m a little mad at him, but so what! He’s still going to make me the ruler of the world,” he said, as if the deed was already done and sealed. “He’s my father. He’s given me this gift. I won’t turn away from him now, or ever. You’re going to have to choose sides, Meghan. I’m in this for life. My very long life.”

Meghan folded her arms. “
I will never choose your side and I will find a way to stop you... him. Both of you!”

“
How? You can’t stop us. My father made me the most powerful person in the entire world, even more powerful than your brother, or whatever he is. Colin’s got
nothing
on me. Especially now that I have this.” Elisha jumped up, sitting atop the Magicante, hissing at them.

The book was
now Colby’s possession.

H
e waved tauntingly, casting an arrogant smile as he and Elisha dissolved into thin air leaving Meghan, Nona, Sebastien and Ivan alone again.

“Somehow, I don’t know if we are better off or worse off than we were before all that just happened,” said Meghan. “I guess since I’m not still his prisoner and that he left me here with you makes it slightly weighed to the positive side.”

“What exactly happened, anyway?” asked Ivan. “You were gone for a week.”

“A week! I had
no idea how long it had been. It felt more like hours.” She took a few moments to explain, the best that she could, about how his thoughts worked and the memories they relived.

“These last few days just feel like a terrible nightmare. But I don’t think Colby is a lost cause. He’s not
all
bad. He has done some very bad things,” she conceded.

“Per
haps this will somehow prove a good thing,” suggested Sebastien. “The truth, as much as it sometimes sucks, has got to be better to know. Maybe the Magicante will help him? Maybe take him on a better path?”

Meghan didn’t reply. She didn’t think any of them actually believed that. The Magicante seemed way too eager to see what exactly Colby was capable of.

“So, what now? We are back where we started,” noted Meghan. She turned and looked into the distance and the cave entrance.

“No time like the present,” said Ivan. “Why don’t you go ahead
and we will wait here.” He tried not to sound annoyed by the fact that they would be waiting, again.

Meghan agreed
, but had taken no more than a few steps when she gasped, doubled over and fell to the ground. She felt a pull, coming from somewhere far away, yanking her to some place she didn’t want to go. Was it Colby? Was he not going to leave her behind after all?

Nona saw and felt exactly what Meghan was experiencing and shouted, “Make a fire, I’m not leaving you this time!”

Ivan and Sebastien acted quickly, taking hold of Nona, determined not to be left behind this time either.

Meghan snapped her fingers and threw the fire onto the ground where dead brush burst into flame. Meghan shove
d her hand into it and then fell to the ground, lying partly in the fire. Her eyes popped open and Nona cried out.

They were white. Pure white.

Meghan’s body dissolved, vanishing. She was gone. Again. Nona cried out her name but she did not answer. Nona hopped into the flame with Ivan and Sebastien in tow, blindly following to where ever Meghan was being taken.

##

Freyne Rothrock watched from the shadows as his Trackers were easily destroyed by the boy, Colby. He watched everything unfolding as the book, called Magicante, answered his biggest question: to what extent were the boy’s powers? And the answer: he was a Projector! And not born that way! Fazendiin, the scheming Fazendiin, had discovered a way to steal these powers and transfer them using the bones of a dead Projector. A secret he now knew.

And a
secret sister...

“How... quaint,” he murmured, watching them all disappear. He let out a disgusted grunt.

“Fazendiin may think he’s already won but he is far from it.”

His T
rackers showed him what he really needed to know. How powerful the boy truly was and that he had a sister, and that there was another way to gain more power.

“The only problem is, I need a
Projector...”

His dark silhouette began to swirl into stre
ams of black smoke and disappear into the darkness.

##

Colby made the obligatory blood sacrifice and entered the gate to his father’s vast estate. He hastened to the front door. He stepped inside and abruptly halted.

“Hello, S
on.”

Colby froze. “Hello, F
ather.”

“I see you have s
urvived and returned. You have questions,” he stated like it was fact.

Colby felt something welling up inside him. Something he’d never experienced before. “Why d
id you do this to me?” he asked, a tinge of anger in his voice. “Did you know I’d get help? Did you know what would happen to me? Did you know I would be okay?”

“You’re angry.”

Elisha sent to her master, “But you were so confident earlier. And you’re so much stronger now.” Colby refused to reply, keeping his eye contact on his father.

“I know you want me to be strong, but what if I hadn’t gotten help? I’d be out there destroying everything
I came into contact with! And just why is it that you don’t trust others with magic? Why destroy it all?”

“Ah, the crux.
People
are a funny breed. Reckless. Stupid. And greedy. When they are given a little, they inevitably want more. They have proven time and time again that they cannot be trusted with power or magic.”

Colby thought about it. This was true. He had learned about many battles over magic and the desire for more of it.
But some of that history belonged to his father, too.

“Someone has to be at the top,” continued his father.
“Someone has to take the lead. Make sure this problem is solved and does not return. It continues even today, this very moment. The magical community is at war, and over what? Magic and the control of it. Magic needs to be stripped from them, for good!”

“Except for us?” questioned Colby, clarifying.

“Son, I think you’re ready to see everything I have planned for us. He motioned for Colby to follow him into their secret, safe room. Once inside, Fazendiin waved his arms and the stained glass began to change, the colors shifting, forming into Fazendiin’s vision of their future.

Colby saw the world, a world where the people no longer controlled any magic.
He saw graves of the remaining Grosvenor, his father the lone victor. And himself on a throne by his father’s side.

“This is why I gave you the power. If we are to rule, side by side, I must make you as invincible as I possibly can. I must give you the strength both physically and mentally to rule. I also believed that you would return, unhar
med, after you stormed out. Am I not correct that you solved your own problem?” He nodded toward the Magicante.

“Yes, but...” he didn’t know what
to say. Seeing himself sitting on a throne, ruling over the entire world didn’t seem like such a bad thing.

“Son, there is a time in every child’s life when they must venture out on their own,
to learn their own strengths. Solve their own problems.”

“So you let me figure it out on my own. But I wasn’t alone,” he admitted.

His father threw him a questioning look.

“I found my sister.”

A look of understanding spread across Fazendiin’s face.

“And what did you think of her?”

“I... she’s not terrible.”

“
Not terrible,” laughed Fazendiin darkly. “Well there’s a review if I ever heard one.”

“I think I can win her over,” Colby added, believing that was what his father really wanted to
hear. “She likes to argue a lot, and she really thinks she knows
everything
.”

“It’s a trait that runs
in the family,” said his father, raising his eyebrows.

“
I guess we are a bit alike, but even as stubborn as she is, I really do think I can win her over,” Colby insisted.

“Do try, Son.”

Colby hadn’t expected him to say so.

“There’s
more to my plan that just sitting on a throne, Colby. I want to start a new family. Restore our bloodline.”

“You mean my mother will be returning?” he asked.

“No, that is not an option. Do you remember the Immortality Stone we spoke of before?” he added, bypassing the subject of his mother.

“Yes
, I remember it.”

“Good. Now that you have the powers of
a Projector, you can sense the stone. Locate it.”

“I thought we didn’t need it an
ymore, now that you made me a Projector.”

“No, we no longer need it for
that; however, I will be taking a new queen. I wish to give immortality to her, to reign alongside us as mother to a new generation of our bloodline.”

Colby could not help but feel regret over the fact that his real mother would not be a part of his father’s plans. “W
ho is this new queen?” he asked daringly.