Taken (Book Six) (Fated Saga Fantasy Series) (2 page)

“Don’t say that,” Colby shouted angrily.

Elisha backed away, afraid.

“What’s go
ing on? Why are you here?” injected Meghan, stepping closer. She motioned for Nona, Sebastien and Ivan to keep their distance.

Colby still did not speak
to her. She reached out and touched his shoulder, jumping when his body jerked. He jumped to his feet, peering down at her with a lethal gaze.

It took her breath away.

“Colby,” she choked out. “What happened to you?”

His eyes narrowed as if he was trying to
understand what she was saying, but could not.

The non-stop stream of thought from Colby’s mind crept into her own again.

“You have to stop, Colby,” she shouted into his mind. “Stop!”

This caught his attent
ion, although not in the way Meghan had hoped.

Elisha tried to jump into his arms, thinking she could calm him. He
saw her flying toward him and thrust out his palm, shooting off a defensive spell, which threw her body into a tree trunk, snapping her neck. She slid down the tree, lifeless.

Meghan gasped. She didn’t know a lot about this boy, but she knew about the
bond between a Catawitch and its master.

“Elisha,” Colby shouted, instantly horrif
ied by his actions. The strumming of incessant thought stopped, focused now on what he had done.

“No!
Elisha! I have to stop this!” he said, grabbing his head again.

Meghan caught a glimpse of
Ivan and Sebastien leaning in closely, having an in depth conversation. They obviously had no idea what was happening anymore than she did.

“Aah,” she cried out,
unexpectedly falling into Colby as the ground under their feet started shaking again. He grabbed her shoulders, gripping them tightly.

“You’re coming with me,” he said in a low voice.

The ground began to melt away, leaving behind a cavern of deep nothingness. She held onto him tighter so as not to fall into the nothingness.

She heard Sebastien, Ivan and Nona calling out to her, but they had no way to reach her.
They could not jump over the ever-expanding chasm and were forced to retreat back into the woods.

She cast a quick look for them but they looked tiny, like insects flittering far out of sight. She looked down at her feet and caught her breath. She and Colby stood on but a round, three-foot wide patch of earth, which moved farther and farther away from her friends.
Away from the mother she was starting to think she would never meet.

##

Ivan, Sebastien and Nona watched in horror as the earth surrounding Meghan and Colby dissolved, leaving a deep, dark pit of nothing, and no way to reach them. They shouted but had no idea if Meghan could hear them.

They watched Colby grab
her and in the next moment, everything returned to normal, except that the spot where Meghan and Colby had stood was empty.

They raced forward but there w
as no trace of them. They were gone.

Nona darted around in circles, wildly.
How had she not been able to go with Meghan? She sensed out for her master, feeling only emptiness where Meghan was concerned, as if their bond had been broken.

“Make a fire,” she demanded. “I’ll find
her!”

But when Ivan magicked her a fire and Nona
jumped in, she slipped right back out, bouncing onto the ground. It was as if Meghan no longer existed.

“It won’t work,” a cattish voice called out from behind them.

They turned, bewildered to see Elisha cleaning herself off.

“That’s my
second life gone,” she mused in a dismayed tone. “Only seven lives left.”

“Wh
y won’t it work?” demanded Nona, ignoring the fact that Elisha had died and come back to life. “We are one with our masters. Nothing can break that bond.”

“
A new gift,” Elisha said bitterly. “Colby’s father changed him. Made him something better, stronger and yet weaker. He cannot control this new gift. ”

“That much is obvious,” said Iva
n. “He killed his own Catawitch and kidnapped our friend.”

“It is not his
fault,” insisted Elisha. “His new powers will become stable in time.”

“W
hat exactly are his new powers?” asked Ivan, wanting to know what they were up against.

“Stabbed him
, he did. With a blade made of bone.”

“Co
lby’s own father stabbed him?” clarified Sebastien.

Before Elisha could answer him, Ivan interrupted.

“The blade was made of bone, what kind of bone?”

Her eyes blazed with devotion as she spoke.
“The bones of a dead Projector.”

“Seriously
?” Sebastien exclaimed.

“Meaning he has the powers of a Projector now?”
questioned Ivan, making sure he understood what this meant.

Elisha
nodded. “Master was already strong, but once he learns to control these news powers, he will be...”

“Unstoppable,” finished
Sebastien.

“Even
more powerful than Colin,” added Nona with a tone of shock.

“
And most likely unstable,” Ivan chimed in. “He didn’t come by these powers naturally. I cannot imagine how he will be able to control them, even with time.”

They
grew silent for a moment, lost in the hideousness of what had been done to Colby. Good guy or bad guy, they would not wish this nightmare on anyone.

Ivan’s stomach turned
. What kind of parent would do that to their child? Willingly! And to come by these uncontrollable powers in such an unnatural way... he dreaded to think how this might change a boy who already had a penchant for wreaking havoc.

Sebast
ien wore a look of equal loathing. What exactly had the world of magic come to? When a father could so easily ruin the life of his own son? Was magic making everyone crazy? No, not magic. Just the whacked out idea that for some reason, they needed more of it than anyone else did.

Nona thought all these things as well, but her
biggest concern lay with reuniting with Meghan. Being away from her felt wrong, empty, as if a gash had been seared onto her heart when their connection was severed.

“Elisha,” s
aid Ivan slowly. “Just who is Colby’s father?”

She hissed, “Like you don’t already know.
Why do you think Colby came here?” She plunked down, pouting. She wanted to leave, but where would she go? She eyed her companions with contempt. She needed their help to find her master.

Ivan
let out a deep sigh, thoughts and theories falling into place.

“
Colby’s father is Jurekai Fazendiin, isn’t it?” Just the look on Elisha’s face confirmed his theory.

Seb
astien let out a gagging sound, which Elisha ignored. She wasn’t a fan of Fazendiin’s right now, but if Colby could manage to control his new gift, he would return to his father as an insurmountable weapon, ready and willing to carry out any deed Fazendiin wanted done. And she would remain by Colby’s side, without question.

“That’s why Colb
y came here, to find Meghan?” said Sebastien.

“Actually,” spoke the cattish voice of Elisha, “He came here
to see his mother... Meghan just happened to be along the way.”

“Right,
that makes sense now. They share the same mother and father,” said Sebastien.

“My head hurts,” said
Ivan, shaking it. “So this kid Colby, and Meghan, are actually brother and sister, children of Jurekai Fazendiin. What about Colin? What are they? Triplets?”

“Yeah, um, about that,” mumbled Sebastien. “I sort of hadn’t had the time to mention that Colin is not really Meghan’s twin. I don’t think they’re even related.”

“What? Really?” said Nona. “But they can hear each other’s thoughts and...” she trailed off. “She will be so devastated...”

“How would she be devastated?” spouted Elisha. “Didn’t she betray him?”

No one answered but Nona hurled a low snarl at Elisha.

S
he ignored it, growing bored and impatient. “If you’re all done catching up on the latest news, I think Nona and I have some business to get to.”

Nona cast a nasty gaze in Elisha
’s direction. She trusted this Catawitch just about as much as she trusted Jurekai Fazendiin. Unfortunately, she saw no other alternative to finding their respective masters.

Elisha picked
up on Nona’s sentiments and purred a low chuckle. “I don’t look forward to this either, but seeing as we’re family now, you’d better get used to working together.”

Nona
gagged, choking out her words. “Family! It takes more than blood to make a family!”

Elisha took a step toward Nona with her front right paw ready to take a swipe at her face.

“As fun as this is not,” said Ivan, hopping in between them, “I think it might be best if we all stick together.”

Sebastien nodded in hasty agreement.

“Yes! I agree,” said Nona, grateful of the company. “Three to one,” she aimed at Elisha.

“Fine,” she
conceded. “But just beware that in his current condition, he might just kill you all in the process.”

It was clearly meant to frighten them and sadly, it was also true.

“It’s a chance we’ll just have to take,” said Sebastien. “We cannot leave Meghan with Colby, not in the state he’s in. It’s too dangerous.” He not only feared for her immediate safety, but worried that somehow Colby would figure out how to use his new powers to change Meghan, to turn her to darkness, dragging her into the depths of the world of the Grosvenor, either as a prisoner or as an ally. He could see the same concern in Ivan’s eyes too.

Nona stood, ready
and eager to depart. “I will gladly give all my nine lives to save Meghan.”

Elisha’s smug smile turned into a dark grin. “
I will gladly keep that in mind...”

Chapter 2

Colin sucked in a deep breath, having not stopped for air in what seemed like hours. He was explaining everything that had happened to
him and Meghan since their departure from Cobbscott just over two years prior.

“An
Uncle Eddy
,” mumbled Arnon, as Colin explained their ghostly tutor from Grimble, the ghost town filled with spirits waiting to fulfill their unfinished business. “I don’t know such a person, then again...” Arnon paused.

“What do you know?” asked Colin after a moment.

He sat across from his uncle, close to a roaring fire, the two of them alone in Kanda’s small living room. Kanda and Catrina were having tea in the kitchen, giving the two of them space to talk.

“You’re
so grown up now,” Arnon said tenderly. “Colin, I must apologize to you. For not telling you about magic or who you are. I thought it was the best way to keep you safe at the time.”

“
There have been times that I’ve been a little angry about it,” Colin admitted, “but mostly, I just wanted the chance to talk to you again.”

“I’m going to tell you
everything
that I know,” Arnon said.

Colin listened eagerly.

“First, I’m no more a blood relative to you than this Uncle Eddy most likely is, or was.”

“I had kind of assumed at this point that might be the case.
But really, no Uncle Eddy?”

“No. Sorry. I wish I knew who this man was but at least we can be grateful that he was on your side.”

“I guess.” Colin had really hoped that Uncle Eddy had been an actual relative. Arnon read the disappointment in his eyes.

“I suppose it
’s always possible that he could be family,” he added. “Family we don’t know of. He did wait in Grimble for you, there’s something to be said for that. Blood ties can often keep us from moving on after death. Suffice it to say that for now, I don’t know this person but I guess you can’t rule out he might actually be family.”

Colin decided to keep holding out hope that maybe Eddy was family. He wasn’t ready to give up on tha
t yet. “So if we’re not related, hey wait! I’m still going to call you Uncle Arnon, is that okay?” he blurted out, getting sidetracked.

“That’s definitely okay!” Arnon replied, holding in a laugh.

“Good. Anyway, so if we’re not related, how did Meghan and I come to live with you?”

“A story I’ve waited a long time to tell you,” began Arnon. “Back when you were just an infant the Svoda all lived together,
in relative peace on an island just off the coast of Maine. It’s hidden with magic. Been that way for hundreds of years. And during our time there, we had a system in place that could track magical blips, anywhere in the entire world.”