Broken Read online

  The ground slowly began to stabilize again. The rumble dissipated.

  Outside of the tent, they heard voices calling out, asking if everyone was okay, and people scurrying to check on loved ones. Colin stuck his head out of the tent again, and it seemed that everyone was uninjured. A few things had fallen over, but overall, everything was okay.

  He felt Meghan reaching into his thoughts and opened up the block.

  “Are you guys okay?” she asked.

  “Yes!” he replied quickly. “And you?”

  “Fine. Was that freaky or what? We’ve never experienced a quake before.”

  “Not in a hurry to have it happen again,” Colin replied. “Since you’re in my head, though, thanks for the warning.”

  37

  “Nona thinks I pretty much scared you to death. Sorry. I just meant for you to be extra careful. They are watching everyone right now, Colin! Its like everything is falling to pieces.”

  “Yeah, that’s kind of what it feels like here, too,” he admitted. Hearing Meghan’s voice calmed him. He was wrong to get so upset. Somehow, things would work out.

  “I gotta run, Col. Just glad you’re all right.”

  “You too, Sis.”

  He felt her mind go blank and put his own block back in place. Colin explained to Catrina that his sister’s warning might have come across a bit heavier than she had meant it to.

  “Maybe I should go see if anyone needs help,” he said, feeling the need to keep busy.

  “Yes, go. I will be okay here.”

  Colin looked pained at leaving her.

  “Really, Colin. I am fine. We are fine. We will just be careful. If I have to, I’ll stay in this room, until its safe to leave.”

  Colin nodded in begrudging acceptance. However, when he opened the tent to leave, he jumped back, startled.

  “Ivan!”

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” Ivan replied, stepping inside.

  “I was just coming out to see if anyone needed help. Does that sort of thing happen here a lot?”

  “Never been here before, don’t know much about the place,” Ivan replied. “But everyone is fine. A few broken things, tents that need reinforcing, but nothing serious. You both fared well I presume?”

  “Yes. We’re fine. I’m glad no one was hurt,” Colin said.

  “But that’s not why Ivan’s here,” Catrina then said, from behind Colin.

  “Is she here?” Ivan then said, confirming Catrina’s suspicions.

  “Colin, could you lift the spell so Ivan can see and hear me, please. I assumed he would want to speak with me at some point.”

  “Let’s go into our room first, just as a precaution,” he advised.

  Colin motioned for Ivan to follow.

  Once inside Colin lifted the spell and Catrina materialized.

  “I have some questions,” he started right in.

  “Of course,” Catrina said.

  The first question, however, was not what Colin expected. He had assumed Ivan wanted to know more about his mother.

  “How did you end up in the cave?”

  Colin listened intently, as they had not yet discussed this very intriguing issue.

  “To be perfectly honest, Ivan, I am not totally sure. All I remember is taking a walk and then the next thing I knew, I’m waking up in a strange room. A hospital room, I think. I was surrounded by faces I did not know,” she stopped, and then clarified her last statement.

  “That’s not completely accurate. I did recognize one face, but only from pictures. You are not going to like it, Ivan.”

  38

  “I assume you’re going to say Banon Blackwell,” he said.

  Catrina nodded yes.

  “She is the only person I assumed you would have photographs of,” he added.

  “I know you probably want to know why, but I do not know, Ivan.” Her voice echoed confidence. “All I am sure about is that I was given a drink which made me sleepy, and then I was put into the coffin. After that, everything is a bit foggy. All my memories are from dreams. Dreams that somehow found Colin Jacoby, while he slept in his own coma.” Colin could hear Ivan’s teeth grinding as he contemplated what Catrina told him.

  Listening to her talk was both satisfying and terrifying for Colin. On the one hand, these were questions that he had desperately wanted to ask himself, but had not yet dared, for fear it would upset her. Somehow, though, he also had the nagging suspicion that Catrina did not speak the entire truth. That she held something back from Ivan. Perhaps, when she was ready, she would tell him.

  “And what about my mother?” Ivan suddenly blurted out. “How is it that she would leave this message with you, so many years ago, as a small child, to deliver it to me now? So many years past her death. And why you?”

  “These are things I really cannot answer, Ivan. I wish I could. I really do. But, now that we have the time, I can tell you the entire message.”

  “Please,” he begged. “Tell me!”

  “I am sure you recall the first part, ‘Find my hidden treasure and you will find the answers you seek,’” she started. “This is the rest: ‘To find my hidden treasure, you must seek the possession I held close to my heart.’”

  “Another riddle! Why can’t people just say what they mean?” he nearly shouted.

  “I am truly sorry, Ivan. This is obviously something important, and I wish I knew more.” He eyed her as if she was holding back some vital part, something that would explain his late mother’s message.

  “I do not know what possession she speaks of,” he sighed. “Many of the people who knew her are either dead or in another caravan. Are you sure there is nothing more?” he demanded.

  “Ivan, I’m sure she told what she knows,” Colin spoke, coarsely.

  “Yes, that is all Ivan,” Catrina affirmed, again. She then gently touched his arm. “Perhaps now is not the time for you to discover this answer,” Catrina then added, speaking wisely.

  “You’re a strange girl, Catrina Flummer,” Ivan replied, in a calmer voice. “I will keep silent about your presence here, but I feel it only wise to warn you,” he turned to Colin, “that with everything going on, keeping this secret will get harder each day that it continues.”

  “We don’t need any more reminders about that,” Colin exclaimed.

  Ivan then took his leave, once again leaving Colin and Catrina alone. Colin’s first thing to do was redo his spell to hide her. He then took out the Magicante.

  “What are you doing?” Catrina asked him.

  “Heeding the warnings and getting us all the protection we need,” he assured her.

  She came and sat next to him and watched him open the book.

  39

  “Please, can you help me?” he then asked. “I need to protect this tent, especially this room.

  I want it to be as if we don’t exist to the outside world while we are in this room!”

  “Hmm,” its cranky, tired voice replied. “It does appear that drastic measures are required in this matter.” The books pages then began to flip back and forth. Magicante did this repeatedly, offering various spells to help conceal the space and keep it safe. After thirty minutes, the Magicante flipped shut.

  “There,” Colin said, relieved. “It is as secure as we can make it!” Feeling bold, he questioned Catrina. “So… Can I assume you did not actually tell Ivan everything?”

  “You are right,” she sighed. “Everything that was pertinent to Ivan, he now knows. As for the rest, I think it needs to remain secret. At least until I know, for sure, what exactly did happen to me and why. Even with my suspicions, I do not want to pass judgment before it is due. Is that okay?” she asked timidly.

  “You know, I have to agree with Ivan,” Colin then said. “You really are a strange girl. No, not strange… unique … in a very good way,” he added, hoping he had not offended her.

  “I just don’t want to make things worse than they already are,” she insisted. “I don’t actually wan
t to be strange,” she smiled, taking his hand.

  “I don’t mind, really,” he said. “I mean, being strange or not telling me everything,” he clarified. He desired greatly to lean forward and kiss her, but kept his distance, his nerves getting the better of him.

  Catrina, however, did not have this same fear. She leaned in and gently kissed his lips just for a moment, and then rested her head on his shoulder.

  “Your heart is beating quite fast,” she whispered.

  “Is it?” he stuttered.

  Colin said nothing more, wishing he could stay in this moment forever.

  7

  Sebastien Jendaya stood at the entrance of a cave.

  “I can’t believe I am doing this,” he muttered, looking as deeply as possible into the darkness that awaited him. “I can’t believe this place is real,” he added.

  The dream had seemed so real though… Real enough that he knew the moment he awoke that he had to find this place.

  A voice echoed in his head.

  “Please. Enter, Sebastien. I have been waiting for your arrival.” He stepped confidently into the darkness. After a short distance, he came to a dimly lit room. Sun shone down from a source above, but it only lit the center of the room. A dark-40

  haired woman stood with her back to Sebastien, removing a whistling kettle of water from a stove. Even in the dimly lit space, he could see that her hair was a deep black with hints of red.

  “Tea?” she asked.

  “No. Thanks.”

  “Take a seat then,” she said, nodding her head toward a wooden table off to the side. He sat, breathlessly, waiting for her to join him. As she turned to face him, he gasped. She looks just like … he did not dare finish the thought. Her eyes. He shook off his thoughts, as there could be no truth to them. Her eyes were bright blue, like a sparkling ocean, and even in the dim light of the cave, they were piercing against her pale skin and dark hair.

  Sebastien did not wait for her to speak.

  “Why have you brought me here? Who are you?”

  The woman took a deep breath.

  “I suppose the truth will have to suffice here, won’t it? Although I have not spoken the truth in such a long time, I fear I can scarcely remember it.” The look on Sebastien’s face translated to impatience.

  “Let’s start with your second question. I am, or once was, a member of the Svoda Gypsies. I left the island shortly before the mass exodus; you would have been but an infant at the time.

  More importantly, I am a Firemancer.”

  “You’re Svoda? And a Firemancer?” Sebastien replied, shocked.

  “And a dead one!” she added humorously. “And for now, must stay so!”

  “Why? Why pretend you are dead?”

  “Look into my eyes, Sebastien. I know you recognized them the moment you saw them.” Sebastien lost his breath. He could not speak, but only shake his head. He jumped up from the table and paced the room.

  “You can’t be!” he finally mustered out. “How?”

  “It is a very long story. One I am not yet prepared to tell. Moreover, it is not why I called you here. I need your help. Help only you can give me, Sebastien.”

  “Why me? What help can I offer you? Why not go to her yourself? You’re all she’s ever wanted,” he said, retaking his seat. “She’s never admitted it, but I know.”

  “Which is why only you can help me, Sebastien. You know my daughter better than anyone. Except, perhaps Colin.” She paused, biting her lip nervously. “There is something I need to show you.”

  “I’m sorry,” Sebastien interrupted. “This is just… crazy! I mean, I can see it, yes, it’s obvious. You are Meghan Jacoby’s mother. She looks just like you. And she’s a Firemancer, too!”

  The woman’s face looked sad, confused and anxious all at once.

  “Believe me, Sebastien, when I say that what I have done, I have done for the greater good.

  I do one day hope to set things right. However, for now, there are things happening that are much larger than either you or me. Perhaps you need a different perspective,” she said, 41

  breathing heavily. “You’ve spent your entire life as friends to Meghan and Colin. You never once told them about magic, even after magic came into their lives. Why?” Sebastien slumped in his seat.

  “Since I was little, I was told over and over again that they were special. That they needed protection. That they could not find out about magic, and if the time came when they did, I could not expose who I was. I was to be their friend. That’s it.” Sebastien’s face ached with pain. “I never knew what was to happen. I had no idea what special meant until it was too late and they were gone. If I had known what kind of dangers they would be faced with, I might have chosen not to be so secretive,” he admitted. “But, at the time, I thought it was the right thing.”

  “Then you understand why I have done this terrible thing. My sacrifice has the potential to save countless innocent lives, Sebastien, including my daughter’s. I have foreseen it! Besides, I am not the only one with secrets,” she added, winking. “I know more about you than you might think.”

  “I-I have to do what I can,” he stammered.

  “Which takes us back to the reason I called you here. There is something I need you to see, Sebastien.” She arose from the table. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.” She came back seconds later with a candle, in the shape of Meghan Jacoby. She put the candle on the table and lit it.

  “I must warn you, that what you are about to see might be difficult to stomach.” She then showed him the vision of Meghan killing Colin and Catrina.

  When finished, Sebastien sat silently. Stunned.

  “Is that really what will happen?” he said after awhile.

  “If we do not intervene, then yes. I am afraid that it will.”

  “I don’t understand, though. How could Colin turn evil? He’s so….NOT!” he said for lack of a better term.

  “I have not been able, yet, to see what causes this path. Firemancy is not all seeing and all knowing. Helping my daughter is the most important thing I can do.” Sebastien noted something then.

  “So far, you keep talking about your daughter this and your daughter that. Have you no concern for your son, too? I will not allow him to turn evil!”

  “Oh. I surely hope that you can save Colin!” she said fervently. “Doing so will not only save lives but prevent years of havoc and heartache!”

  She stopped and looked into Sebastien’s eyes.

  “Colin Jacoby is not my son.”

  Sebastien nearly fell out of his chair. Of all the things this woman had told him, and shown him, this was the most shocking news of all.

  “I am confused as to how it’s believed that he is Meghan’s twin. I honestly do not know who Colin Jacoby is, or where he comes from.”

  “But they can hear each others thoughts… finish each other’s sentences… I was told they were discovered in the same crib, at an orphanage.”

  42

  “The orphanage is part of that long story I do not yet wish to tell,” Meghan’s mother spoke.

  “Perhaps there is some connection I am not yet aware of. Colin has some aura surrounding him. Something I cannot break through. I can only see him, when it involves Meghan. I have not been able to see his past, present or future, when she is not in the picture. It is something I have experienced only one time, previously,” she added, as if she were not sure she wanted to continue.

  “What do you mean?” Sebastien asked.

  “I dare not speak it,” she then said, fervently changing her mind. “I am most likely wrong anyway,” she added, standing up from the table. “Save your friends, Sebastien, and none of this will come to pass!”

  “What must I do?” he asked slowly.

  “I need you to deliver something to my daughter.”

  “How? I would have to show myself to her. She would know there are other doorways.

  Other ways to come home.”

  “And I know w
hy you are afraid of this truth. But we all must be willing to sacrifice for this cause.” She stood and took out a small white candle and handed it to him. She stroked his face lovingly.

  “You have already sacrificed much for such a young life. Nevertheless, I must ask you to risk my daughter never forgiving you, in order to save her life. She will not be able to live if she kills Colin. Regardless of blood, he is her brother.” Sebastien took hold of the candle.

  “I’ve already betrayed her. Will it truly matter if she finds me out now, or later? I will have to face her, someday.” He sighed deeply. “You haven’t by chance, happened to have seen if she forgives me or not, have you?” he asked nonchalantly.

  “I am sorry. It is a future still undetermined. I will say this. I do hope that she does. My daughter deserves someone as smart, compassionate and courageous as you, Sebastien Jendaya.”

  He stood up from the table as well.

  “What do I do with this candle? Just hand it over?”

  “You will deliver it, and you’ll know when the time is right to do so, and she will know what to do with it. Meghan is a Firemancer after all.”

  “Maybe someday, she’ll forgive me for the secrets I hid from her. But not telling her you’re alive…”

  “I know. And for asking it of you, I am truly sorry for what it might mean.” Sebastien nodded, and then departed.

  There was another stop he needed to make, before beginning this new quest.

  43

  8

  Meghan and Juliska studied quietly in the candle room. A strange scratching sound startled Meghan and she jumped, when Pajak, Juliska’s pet spider, scratched and clinked its way by her, crawling up Juliska’s dress, coming to a rest on her shoulder.

  “Ah, my pet. Good hunting?”

  The spider touched one of its glassy feet to her chin. Juliska’s eyes widened, as if the spider had told her interesting news.

  “Let’s take a lunch break, Meghan,” Juliska then decided. “After, I want you to practice on your own, and then later tonight, we’ll do some more hands on practice together.” Meghan did not wish to leave the candle room. It already felt like home and she desired greatly to make her own. Nevertheless, she obligingly stowed her study supplies and grabbed her book. She gently awoke Nona, as she had fallen asleep while watching Meghan study.