Taken (Book Six) (Fated Saga Fantasy Series) (20 page)

“
Yes. You must,” he agreed, finding his voice again. “Although, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it pains me to see you leave.”

She leaned in and hugged him again.

“So grown up,” he muttered lovingly. “I knew it would happen, but to see it all at once, like this. You’re
sixteen
tomorrow.”

“Sixteen! It feels more like forty!
”

He laughed.
“I miss you, and Colin. So much. I worry about you every moment I’m awake and I dream worry about you every night in my sleep.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice to just be back in the t
railer, pulling in to some new campground getting ready to roast marshmallows?” she said whimsically. “I know, not going to happen, but a girl can dream. I can’t believe how much I miss that life right now. I really am sixteen going on forty!”

Arnon felt exactly the same as the moment he had found out that Colin’s and Meghan’s lives were about to change. He had wanted to run away with them, hide them from the horrors to come. He wished more than anything he could take them away from this nightmare.

“Hey, don’t go too far okay,” he said. “I’m going to go check in with Kanda and see what’s happening.” As soon as Arnon stepped away, Ivan and Sebastien hopped over.

“We have given
Nashua and Kanda all the info we could about Juliska,” said Ivan. “We figured it was best they knew everything that we did, all that’s going on. Amelia’s followers are a little confused and frightened, but I think they have come around to seeing reason.”

Sebastien shook his head in agreement
with what Ivan said. “So, what now? This,” he waved his arm around, “could take days.”

“I’m not waiting that long,” said Meghan. “I need to get back to the cave.”

Nona purred at Meghan’s feet. “I can take you back.”

“And what about after? After you meet your mother, what then?” asked Ivan.

Meghan sighed, glancing at her uncle, Kanda and Sebastien’s parents. “I know they won’t approve but... everyone knows what Colin is now. I have to help him. I have find a way to save him. My real brother or not, I just have to find a way. And Colby, I actually thought that maybe I could save him, but I’m starting to think his father’s,
our father’s
, claws are dug too deep. But I don’t want to give up.”

“So, plan one, get back to the cave,” said Sebastien.

“You guys are really going to come with me?” she asked, looking quite serious. “Are you sure you should? I have no idea how dangerous things might get.”

“Which is exactly why we’re c
oming with you,” said Ivan matter-of-factly. Sebastien eyed him sternly; a part of him still disbelieving that Ivan was not in love with Meghan.

“I have
to help,” Sebastien told her. “Colin is my oldest friend besides you and no matter what, we’re sticking together through this one.”

Meghan grinned. She couldn’t help it.

Sebastien hoped this was a sign that maybe, just maybe, she could forgive him for all that he had done.

“C’mon. Let’
s just sneak away,” she suggested.

“Good idea,” agreed Se
bastien. “If we try to say goodbye we’ll never get out of here!”

Nona stepped out in front, saying, “
Follow me, there’s a way out in this direction.” They walked toward the backside of the camp, past burnt buildings that still smoldered.

“I can’t believe I did all of this,” said Meghan.

“You were under a spell,” reminded Nona.

Meghan shuddered. “I so hope that never happens again.”

As they reached the edge of the hideout, Nona stopped, her ears perking up.

“What is it?” asked Meghan.
“Oh, I hear it too.”

Someone was shouting, not too far away.
They raced toward the voice fearing it was someone that needed help, stopping in front of a tall wooden fence. There seemed to be no way to get inside. It took all three of them to break through.

What they saw shocked them all.

Meghan’s legs faltered but Ivan and Sebastien caught her, although they had trouble keeping their own balance.

“Is it really you?” she asked the figure.

“Wh-what are you guys doing here?” Jae Mochrie asked, equally shocked.

Meghan responded by racing forward and flinging her arms around him. “You’re alive!” she
said repeatedly. “I can’t believe it.”

Another figure stepped out next to Jae. He was quite concerned with what was happening f
urther into the encampment.

“You mind what we’ve talked about,” he told Jae, patting him on the shoulder.

“I will, Curtis. Thank you.” The man nodded toward the others and scurried off.

As soon as Meghan let go
of Jae and backed away, she gasped.

Ivan lunged in and bear hugged Jae, who stiffened a little, throwing a look a Meghan. She just bit her lip and held back the jokes hanging on her lips.

He stepped back and straightened out his jacket. “Sorry, just never been so happy to see someone.”

“Um, thanks,” said Jae. “What the heck happened out here anyway? It sounded like a war zone.
Now that I can see it, it looks like one too.”

“Pretty much
exactly that,” said Meghan. “Amelia Cobb is dead,” she told him. It’s all kind of a long story.”

“So she won’t be returning magic?”
Jae asked.

“No,
” said Ivan.

“Well at least something went right.”

“How exactly did you get here?” asked Ivan. “We all thought you died.”

“Amelia,” he breathed out. “I jumped
over the cliff and somehow she knew and captured me, been holding me here ever since. She wanted information about Juliska, the island and you and Colin,” he said to Meghan.

Meghan rolled her eyes, about to start in wh
en Ivan said, “How about we move catch up time somewhere else? We were about to split and I think we should stick to that idea.”

“Yeah, we should get outta here
before we get sucked back in,” said Sebastien.

They made it outside of the hideout in the northern
Maine woods and Meghan snapped her fingers, starting a fire. They each took hold of Nona and the Catawitch jumped into the flame, pulling the foursome along with her.

This time, they landed deeper into the woods.

“I thought that perhaps some better cover might be a smarter move,” said Nona, spying a run down shack. “You three,” she said to the young men, “can wait here. I will take Meghan just inside the cave and make sure she gets there this time. I’ll wait there until she’s ready to return.”

“That sounds perfect,” said Meghan nervously.

Nona took Meghan to the cave and while they were away, Ivan and Sebastien filled Jae in on all that had happened. And he, all that had happened to him.

“Jae,” said Ivan after they had finished, “I just need to say thi
s, no matter if you get angry. I knew what was happening to you. I knew that Juliska was working on recruiting you. But I couldn’t chance her finding out that I was trying to take her down. I had to stay loyal to her. I wanted to warn you, to tell you to stay way, that you didn’t know what you were getting into...” Jae stopped him.

“And do you think that for one minute I would have listened to you? All I ever heard these last years were Ivan this and Ivan that, the boy that could do no wrong! I...” he stumbled over his words. “I sort of hated you.”

Ivan nodded.

“The real issue is that I’m still a monster,” said Jae. “
If Juliska finds out I’m alive, I’m dead. For real.”

“Did you believe Amelia?” asked Sebastien. “When she told you there was a cure? Or a way to break the bond?”

“She seemed genuine when she said it, but seeing how crazy she was... the man I was with, Curtis. He knew her better than I did and he seemed to think she spoke the truth. Told me to keep looking.”

“Then that’s exactly what we’ll do,” said Ivan decidedly.

Sebastien agreed. “I guess we know what’s next then, other than helping Colin.”

Ivan sighed. “I would never, never say this to Meghan, but I have no idea how to save him. If he got
enough help and can keep it in control, I don’t see why he can’t just live like he is, in hiding. It’s not a great life, but it’s
a
life.”

“But if he can’t?” asked Sebastien.
“The entire magical world is about to start the largest manhunt ever. They don’t realize he cannot be killed. Colin is one of my best friends, but...”

“We may have no say,” said
Ivan. “He’ll either kill us all or we’ll have to...”

“
Find a way to kill someone, a friend, that cannot die,” finished Jae, horrified by the thought.

“How long do you think Meghan’s
going to be?” asked Sebastien. He stood and started pacing, eager to be on the move.

Chapter 8

Colin Jacoby
knelt before the great oak tree, where the body of Jasper Thorndike had been laid to rest. Colin had taken them back to the campground in Cobbscott. It was the only place he could think of when they’d had to flee.

Catrina knelt down beside
him. They were alone now. Just the two of them. There was no one else they could trust.

“I want to get Jasper’s book,” Colin told Catrina.
“I think it might contain some answers. Might even be like having a bit of Jasper still with me. Us,” he corrected.

“Okay,” she answered.

“You’re really okay with that?” he asked her. He turned his head to see her speak.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?
It should not be left in the hands of the Grosvenor, even if you didn’t want it.”

“It will
be very dangerous. I know what I am, but I’ve never gone up against the Grosvenor. Never mind that I’m now the most wanted man in the magical world.”

“You cannot die,” she reminded him calmly.

“I know. I know that’s what everyone believes. I just don’t know as I fully believe it yet. And...” he paused, nervous to say the rest.

She reached out and took hold of his hands.

“I need to know if you feel safe with me?” he said. “I could never forgive myself if I hurt you.”

“Do you wish me to leave y
ou?” she asked.

“
No,” he answered quickly. He feared too quickly. He wanted her to know how he felt, but wanted her to be honest, and to leave him if she truly wanted to. He did not want her living in fear of him.

“
I always want you to be with me,” he admitted, his voice shaking as he spoke. “I just need to know that
you
are sure. And if you’re not, I could never be mad at you. I could never blame you. I don’t know what I will be like soon. I might not be someone you want to be around.”

She answered by leaning in and kissing him.
She wrapped her arms around him, and let her forehead lean on his.

“I’m afraid, Colin Jacoby, that you’re stuck with me.
For as long as you’ll have me. You should know by now that I don’t give up that easily. I love you. And that’s enough for me.”

Hearing Catrina say those words set his heart strumming.
The truth was, that being alone frightened him more than anything.

More than how he might change.

More than any battle he would inevitably find himself in.

So much had been said over the previous da
ys. So much learned. He owed Catrina the truth about how he felt, and a chance to change her mind even if it meant letting her go.

He needed her to know that
even though he was immortal, powerful beyond imagining, and feared by nearly everyone, the thing he feared most was losing her.

“I don’t want to end up like Jasper,” he admitted
somberly. “Facing a life in hiding, on the run for hundreds of years, and alone.” It was hard to say aloud, but he needed to.

“You’ll never be alone,” she whispered
with certainty. “You will always have me.”

He closed
his eyes, his lips finding hers once again. After a moment, he pulled away, searching her eyes for any signs of doubt.

He saw none.

“You don’t believe me?” she asked.

“
Yes. I do believe you,” he replied assuredly. “And now that I know I have you, Catrina Flummer, I’m ready to face forever.”

##

“You’ll be fine,” said Nona, coaxing Meghan to take a few steps deeper into the cave.

“I know, I’m not scared, not in that sense
, just, scared because this is like, my mother!” She took a deep breath. “Okay, doing it. Here I go.” She started walking. The path was clear of rocks and such, just a layer of fine sand, but it got dark fast. She was about to snap a fire in her hand so she could see, when flames burst to life just to her side; torches on the cave wall. They began to light up all along the walls, illuminating her path.