Taken (Book Six) (Fated Saga Fantasy Series) (8 page)

“
I was angry at first, I’ll admit that. But he’s not what you think, Meghan. He’s not the pure evil you believe him to be.”

“
He really has you brainwashed,” she said.

“Not at all, he’s just given me a very broad view of the world. Can you say that?”

“Maybe I haven’t learned everything there is to know about magic and the magical world, but I still think what he did to you is wrong. Look at what’s it’s doing to you. You’re stuck grasping onto memories in order to keep some kind of control on yourself. What happens when we leave memory lane?”

The memory shifted again, but only slightly this time. They were still in the E-Valley, and Eidolon was ta
unting them with the velvet bag and informing them that the man they had come searching for was dead.

“I’m still pissed that I didn’t get that bag,” Colby noted.

“I thought you were after Colin’s book?” Meghan asked haughtily.

“Yes, but I planned on taking the little bag with me too. I don’t like to leave loose ends.”

“Well whatever was in there is in the hands of Juliska Blackwell now. Ivan handed it over to her when we returned.”

“My...
our
... father gave it to her anyway. Only right it should have been returned to her.”

“What do you mean?” she demanded.

“See, here we go again. You don’t know
anything
.”

She ignored him and asked, “Are you telling me that Juliska and our
father
were working together?”

“Were. Are.
”

Meghan’s head was too full, she felt like she was spinning out of control.
Why should she be surprised? Juliska was evil, so why not be working with Fazendiin. Her father...

“Did Juliska
know about us?” asked Meghan.

“Don’
t think so. Think Dad kept a pretty tight cork on me being around and you... we just found out about you quite recently.”

Meghan didn’t say more but she knew how it had happened. When Fazendiin had shown up to threaten the Svoda he had smelled her blood. He discovered who she was right then.

Colby looked longingly back toward the velvet bag, now currently being taken by Ivan Crane as the group battled the goblins.

“What’s inside?” asked Meghan.

“A weapon. A magnificent weapon.”

“I don’t know as I’ve ever heard the words magnificent and weapon used in the same sentence. If it’s so great,
why did Juliska let it out of her sight?”

“Dad gave it to her because she needed a way to silence that Flummer girl! She’s a trouble maker if I ever saw one. So Juliska was given a weapon to make that happen. Once I learned that Eidolon had stolen it
, I came up with the clever idea to pretend to tell him what it did if he helped me steal Colin’s book. Especially after I spied Colin wandering into the valley in search of the Flummer girl. I thought it would be a nice, easy way to get the book and also steal back the stone...” he stopped, biting his tongue.

“Stone? That’s what’s in the bag, a stone?”

“Not just any stone,” he continued. “One that can do wicked things, if in the right hands.”

“Perfect, and Juliska has it now.”

“She probably doesn’t even know what it is and what it’s truly capable of. From what I heard about her reaction from Karnavan when they were in that meadow...”

Suddenly the scene around them changed again.

Sucked into a new memory.

“I think I’m getting better at this,” said Colby. “This is exactly where I wanted to go.”

They were back in the meadow with the field of pyres. Karnavan and Juliska were speaking closely. She was upset over a special weapon that Karnavan had been given.

“I don’t think she knew what she had that whole time,” said Colby. “That might have changed by now.”

Meghan worried about everyone still on the island. What had happened after Jae had thrown himself to his death? They had fled the island thanks to Sebastien and her mother’s candle.

Had everything just gone back to the way it was before
Jae had jumped? Or was something much, much worse happening now?

She also worried about being in this memory, as she did not want to relive her betrayal to Colin. Her eyes widened.
Oh no. If this memory goes on for too long, Colby will find out he’s the... 
she hoped she had hidden the thought from him, but nothing worked right in this bad memory trip. He at least didn’t act like he had picked up on her thoughts.

H
e started laughing. Shaking his head.

“You think I don’t know. You really are a stupid girl, sister or not.”

She bit her lip, hoping it wasn’t what she feared.

“I already kno
w your dear non-brother, Colin is the Projector. I tracked him. Killed his teacher, that’s how I got this scar.” He pointed to his chest.

Meghan backed away, the look of horror on her face.

“This is what makes you a bad person, Colby. You killed someone.”

As horrified as she was by this she wanted to burst out and ask if her brother was okay. And Catrina, was she okay too? What had happened to them? And her brother had a teacher? How? And what was he being taught?

“I do what I am ordered to do,” Colby said firmly.

“You’re just a puppet. Nothing more.”

“An invincible puppet that can do anything I want to. No one can stop me. Not even my father!” His voice frightened her.

She turn
ed and ran. She didn’t know why. It wasn’t like she could hide inside their memories.

“Where are you going, Sister? You can
’t hide from me in here!”

She stopped and shouted, “You will never be my brother! Never! I will never w
ork alongside of you! Colin, true brother or not, will be more of a family to me than you will ever be!”

“But I haven’t even told you the best part yet,” said Colby, as the memory changed yet again.
They were on a wooden boat. This was not one of her memories, this had to one of Colby’s.

Meghan
gasped as she watched Colby shove a blade through the body of an elderly looking man. A man it took her a moment to recognize.

“Jasper Thorndike.”

“Otherwise known as the last living Projector, until your brother came along. We thought Jasper had died years ago. Hid very well. But he made the mistake of taking in a student who was stupid. Careless.” There was no compassion in Colby’s voice.

“He was helping Colin
,” Meghan muttered.

“If you can call it that. I took him out pretty easily so I don’t know what good he
could have done, or how he stayed alive all these years.”

Somehow, this
Jasper had known what Colin was long before anyone else, and he had sacrificed his life trying to help him.

They did not stay on the boat long.
Meghan closed her eyes, for a moment thankful to know that Colin hadn’t just been on the run and in hiding and afraid. He had not been alone. When she opened her eyes, they were in a new place. A vast estate nestled at the top of a hillside.

“And where are we now?” she asked wearily. “I know we are no longer in my memories.”

“This is my home. A home you could share with me.”

She shook her head.

“You might just change your mind one day, Sis. If you haven’t realized it yet, you’re going to live a lot longer than the average person. Once all your friends are old and dead, me and Dad, we’re all you’ll have left.”

“I’ll still have Colin,” she told him.

“Do you know how many people are hunting him down as we speak? He won’t make it to his next birthday.”

Meghan hoped desperately that it wasn’t true.
She gasped quite suddenly as a startling sight caught her off guard. Jurekai Fazendiin was walking towards them. He towered over both of them, his stare penetrating, almost as if he could really see her even though this was just a memory. But he walked straight through and past them.

Colby, as if it were just another regular day, started to walk toward the palatial home. “Would you like a tour of your future home?”

She wondered if she threw up in this memory if she threw up for real...

##

A long, jagged crack slit across the mirror belonging to Romul Vaskvol, the sixth Grosvenor to be created, now dead. Freyne Rothrock summoned the remaining immortals, and one by one the other six materialized. They were not surprised to see the crack in Voskvol’s mirror.

“It is done then?” questioned Narona Fentress. “I gather the stones I gave you permitted you to drain Voskvol?”

“My dear Narona, it’s lovely to see you too,” said Freyne.

“Since when did we ever exchange pleasantries?”

“Business then,” he agreed. “Yes, the deed is done. He is gone. His powers are now in the stones.”

“Do what we came here to do then,” another voice mumbled. “Let us be done with it.”

“Once done, it cannot be undone,” Freyne spoke expeditiously.

“Fazendiin betrayed us,” Narona responded
.

“Very well.”

From out of Freyne’s mirror, a pasty, thin-skinned arm stretched forward, reaching towards the empty mirror of Jurekai Fazendiin. A fine mist emanated from the outstretched arm, forming into a thick smoky cloud, which covered the mirror. The outstretched arm retreated into Freyne’s mirror as Fazendiin’s began to shake violently. A moment later, it shattered, spewing shards of glass throughout the cave.

“It is done,” said Freyne. “Fazendiin’s connection with us is broken.”

Snarls of sickly celebration resounded from the remaining Grosvenor.

“Now that the connection is broken, we can speak freely. What is our next move?”
asked Narona.

“We need more stones,
more power,” said one of the ghostly mirror faces.

“Yes!” agreed another.

“The problem is, there are few remaining. We will never collect enough to recreate the Immortality Stone,” said Freyne.

“Then what do you suggest?” asked Narona.

“The boy. Fazendiin’s precious offspring.”

“What about him?”

“We find him. Take away Fazendiin’s edge.”

“But the boy is not killable! He was born immortal.”

“Did I say kill him?” spouted Freyne. “No! We take him and we turn him! Use him against his own father.”

“I don’t see how this will be possible.”

“I will see to it myself,” said Freyne. “I’ve devised a plan.”

“If you capture the boy and prove that you can hold him prisoner, then and only then will I agree to try this,” said Narona. The others agreed
with her.

“He will prove too powerful
to control,” a voice called out in warning.

“Just leave it to me.
” Freyne’s figure dissolved, followed soon by the rest. He reached into his cloak and pulled out a vial filled with thick red liquid.

“A drop or two
of Fazendiin’s blood should do,” he said, his eyes wild. He stepped towards two rocks seeping up through the ground in craggy mounds and gently tapped one drop of the red liquid onto each one. He put the vial safely back into his pocket and raised his arms over the rocks. They began to pull out of the ground and as they did, they came to life, forming a head, arms, torso and legs. A crack sliced across each head forming a mouth with teeth that protruded outward, moving in a motion meant for cutting and digging.

The stood before Freyne.

“Find the boy. His father’s blood formed your bodies. Go. Hunt. Find him!” Freyne ordered, his voice holding an edge of frenzy. The rock creatures sank into the ground, burrowing their way toward the scent of Fazendiin’s son.

##

“How long have they been gone now?” asked Sebastien.

“About five minutes longer than the last time you asked,” retorted Ivan.

“It’s been over a day!” said Nona. There was urgency in her voice.

“Nona, it’s going to be okay,” ins
isted Ivan. He felt bad for her. He couldn’t imagine how lost she felt. Even Elisha was showing signs of breaking down, having had no contact with Colby.

“We are getting nowhere. We have walked around for hours and we are no closer to finding them than we were!” Elisha exclaimed.

“Quite aware,” noted Sebastien, dryly. “It feels like we are just walking in circles. We have no idea how to track them. And if their own Catawitch’s cannot sense them... wow! We
are
literally walking in circles.”

“We are back at the cave,” mumbled
Ivan, his shoulders dropping in disappointment. “I cannot believe this is the best we can do!”

“You’re up against magic you don’t understand,” remind
ed Nona. She shuddered, thinking of Meghan stuck with Colby. “If he so much as harms...”