Broken (6 page)

Meghan tried to understand but still felt as though she was spying on her neighbors.

“The key, Meghan, as with any power we are handed, is how we choose to use that power.

As a leader, I must make choices that from the outside do not always appear fair. In time, you’ll come to understand what I mean.”

“What you say makes sense, I just …”

“Feel creepy? Nosy? Intrusive?” Juliska asked, knowingly.

“Yeah, that about says it,” Meghan sighed. “I think I do understand though,” she added. She did feel that she understood, but still did not feel comfortable spying on people. Her thoughts instantly strayed to Colin and Catrina. How could Juliska not have noticed something odd?

“So what are these other candles?” she asked, moving forward.

“My greatest assets, Meghan. Fire is our most valuable tool, weapon and mode of communication. I assume you read the chapter on calling?”

“Repeatedly,” Meghan answered.

Juliska motioned Meghan to approach a candle.

“Is that… is that Pantin Hollee?”

“Yes. When I need my Pantin, I simply go to her flame and call for her. This can be tricky, as most people are unaware of the Firemancer’s call. They hear it as more of a distant echo or 30

thought, like a dream. Hollee, however, is aware of calling, and expects it at any time, day or night.”

“Can you call her now? So I can see?” Juliska smiled and let her gaze fall into the flame above the Pantin’s candle.

“Hollee,” she then spoke, just as if she were standing in the same room.

Hollee’s head did not move, but she did call out.

“Yes, Banon Blackwell.”

“How close are we to being ready with those announcements?”

“Within the hour!” she replied, still working.

“Thank you, Hollee. I will let you get back to work.”

Juliska turned to Meghan.

“There. See.”

“That is amazing!” Meghan said. “How long did it take you to master Calling?”

“To be honest, it took awhile. Some parts were very easy for me, others, took many months of practice. And it goes so much farther than what I have just shown you.” Meghan now began to see the benefits of the room, beyond the initial fear of spying. Many sudden thoughts clouded her mind at this moment, however. Did Juliska have a candle of her, or Colin? Could she master this power and call home? Could she speak to Sebastien? Or Kanda Macawi? Could she find out their Uncle Arnon’s fate?

She also realized that while in Limbo, she had unknowingly Called Sebastien. She had actually made contact with him. That really did happen. I need to master this as soon as possible! Maybe I can’t go home, but maybe I can call home!

The look on Meghan’s face caused Juliska to chuckle.

“If I had a picture of my own face, when I was first shown the possibilities of my power, you would notice an extreme likeness to the look on your face right now.”

“Sorry, it’s just… overwhelming. I don’t really know where to start.”

“We start at the beginning,” Juliska then said. “Practice. Study. And more practice.” Juliska then handed her a candle.

“I made this for you, yesterday. This will get you started.”

“It’s me!” cried Meghan.

“Yes. It is how I learned and how you will learn, without the fear of unnecessary spying.

All you will see, if successful, is yourself!”

Meghan did feel relieved, and then at the same time, worried. This meant Juliska might well have other candles of her, or Colin. He needed to be extra careful.

“One day,” said Juliska, “I will teach you how to create the candles, but for now, I want you to practice diligently with this single candle. If you have questions, write them down. We will discuss them in our next session.”

“Okay,” Meghan replied, dreamily staring at the candle.

“I am afraid that once again, duty calls and our training will have to continue another time.

I can hear Pantin Hollee Calling me.”

“She can do that, too? It works both ways?” Meghan asked in awe.

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Juliska laughed lightly.

“Welcome to a larger world, Meghan… Welcome to the life of a Firemancer.” 6

Colin and Catrina awoke to the sounds of Billie Sadorus rummaging through belongings.

Colin could not make out what she was saying, but could hear panic in her voice.

“I’ll go see what’s up,” he said. Outside his room, he noticed drag marks leading into the tent. Billie sat over an open trunk, crazily pulling out item after item.

“Not her. Oh please not her,” she repeatedly whispered.

“Can I help you find something, Billie?”

The normally controlled Billie jumped, apparently forgetting that Colin was there. Her face gave away her fear, but she quickly got to her feet.

“Everything’s fine,” she told him. “Nothing to fret about!”

“Um. Okay.” He noticed that she clutched a picture frame to her chest as she spoke. She gently dropped the frame into the trunk and disappeared into her room. Colin took a glance at the picture.

Catrina stepped up beside him.

“I know this picture,” he told her quietly.

“You know who this is?”

“Well, no, not who. But this is the same woman, in another picture, that I saw at Billie’s a while back.”

“She must mean a lot to Billie then.” Catrina then noticed the drag marks. “Colin, where did this trunk come from?”

“I think it came from the meadow. I think…”

“That it belonged to the woman in the picture…” Catrina finished with a sigh.

“Poor Billie. Poor everyone,” Colin whispered. “Chances are everyone in this caravan knows someone from the missing group.”

“Yes, it is quite sad,” Catrina agreed.

Just then, footsteps ran by the tent, just outside. A voice called out.

“Meeting! Meeting! Right now! Everyone must attend!”

More footsteps followed as everyone eagerly hurried to attend. Billie came out of her room, seeming back to her normal self again, and they followed her. Everyone gathered in the cantina, in the center of the meadow.

Colin avoided the crowd, and stayed at the edge of the group, with Catrina at his side.

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Whispers raced through the crowd.

“I heard that the hunting party never returned!”

“Really?”

“When did they leave?”

“Last night I think,” someone said back.

“What hunting party?” another person asked.

“Do you ever know what’s going on?” someone nearby shouted.

“Maybe they have found out some other news,” another voice muttered.

Jae then sidled up next to Colin.

“My guess is the hunting party,” he whispered. “They supposedly left yesterday and were supposed to be back by dark. There’s been no sign of them. At least that’s what I heard my dad tell my mom this morning.”

“That can’t be good,” Colin muttered back.

Jae shuffled his hand through his hair, pulling it away from his face. Catrina nudged Colin’s arm and then pointed to Jae’s face.

“What happened, Jae?” asked Colin, seeing a bruise on his chin.

“Huh?”

“Your face, there’s a huge bruise on your chin.”

“Oh, that. Fell, chin first, into the corner of my cot.”

“Bummer,” Colin said.

“That bruise is not from hitting his cot,” Catrina said. “It’s much too large.” Colin shrugged, unable to answer her without someone overhearing.

“You know what, I forgot something I gotta take care of,” Jae suddenly said. He took off and was out of sight in seconds.

“I thought this was a mandatory meeting?” Catrina whispered.

“Yeah, me too,” Colin muttered under his breath. “Jae knows what he’s doing I guess,” he added softly. They turned their attention back to the meeting, as Pantin Hollee jumped up onto a table, so everyone could see her as she spoke.

Colin noted Kalila and Kalida Jackal near the front, ready to take notes for their next addition of the Jackal Lantern.

The crowd instantly silenced, waiting for the Pantin to begin.

“I speak, today, for Banon Juliska Nandalia Blackwell,” she said first. “You may have heard that we sent out a hunting party, in search of food. I can confirm that as of this time, they have not yet returned.”

Worried murmurs spread like wildfire.

“Though we are of course concerned, we do not yet believe anything unfortunate has occurred. They could simply be lost.”

A few people agreed with this reasoning, but most clearly believed something unfortunate and sinister had occurred.

“The most likely scenario is that they are delayed. However, as a precaution, the Viancourt has seen fit to enforce the following rules, effective immediately!” 33

She paused and then unrolled a scroll and began reading.

“One: Absolutely no one is permitted to leave the meadow. Two: Magic will continue to be prohibited, so the investigation into the whereabouts of our sister caravan can continue, unimpeded. Three: Each and every member of this caravan will be expected to report, directly to the Viancourt, any suspicious activity!”

Hollee then rolled up the scroll.

“The curfew is lifted, for now,” she added, “but we impress upon each and every one of you to be cautious when out after dark. That is all.”

“What do you mean by suspicious activity?” Kalila Jackal then asked. “Is it believed that someone here is responsible for the devastation in the meadow?”

“No. No. Of course not!” Hollee replied compassionately. “But to be blunt, we need all eyes and ears open! We are each equally responsible for our own actions as well as reporting the actions of others, that could potentially be dangerous to the group as a whole.”

“Beautifully spoken,” Kalida replied. “I’m going to quote that.” The Pantin nodded her approval.

“Now disperse! Zone leaders, gather your members. Meetings will resume in an hour’s time. Be safe! Be cautious! Be alert! That is all, for now.” The Pantin then hopped down from the table and continued on her way to fulfilling her next duty.

Colin let go of Catrina’s hand, attempting to look like he walked alone, as the crowd dispersed across the meadow. Each conversation he overheard was about either the missing hunting party or the missing caravan. He nodded hello as he passed by the Jackal sisters, scribbling notes, for what was sure to be a special edition of the Jackal Lantern.

While walking back toward Billie’s, they stumbled into a group of youngsters. Darcy led the conversation.

“I can’t believe we still can’t use magic! What the heck are we supposed to do all day?”

“I know, right,” Dulcy agreed. “I mean, if I have to style my own hair one more day, I am going to freak out!”

“Dulcy,” Darcy spoke dryly. “Shut up! Listening to you speak is starting to irritate me.” The youngsters laughed, but then suppressed it after the look Darcy threw at them.

“It is a pain,” another boy added. “I’m sick of spending all my time cleaning the meadow, and by hand.”

“And not playing any games,” another girl chimed in.

“Yeah, I’m bored out of my mind!” a boy next to her agreed.

Colin debated taking the long way back to Billie’s, to avoid the group, or mainly, avoid Darcy, but stopped when Jae emerged from around the corner. To Colin’s and the group’s surprise, Jae confronted them.

Something about the expression on Jae’s face frightened Colin.

“You’re really going to complain about not using magic?” Jae asked in a composed manner.

Darcy spun around and confronted Jae.

“And what are you going to do about it?” she spat out.

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Jae did not reply. He just stared into Darcy’s eyes.

After a second, her eyes narrowed, filling with fear, confusion and then, denial.

She blew it off, grabbing Dulcy.

“Whatever, weirdo!”

Colin noticed that she turned her head, just enough to glance at Jae curiously, as she walked away.

“There’s something seriously wrong with that guy,” she whispered as she and Dulcy passed by Colin.

“What are you looking at?” Darcy then barked at Colin.

He replied by smiling back at her, as if to say have a nice day, which of course, just infuriated her even more. Rather than retorting, she just huffed and stormed away.

“As for the rest of you,” Jae then spoke, “isn’t there something more important you could all be doing?”

Colin was not the only one to notice the change in Jae’s attitude, but no one questioned him. The group went their separate ways, leaving Jae behind. He then walked straight past Colin, as if he were as invisible as Catrina.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Colin couldn’t help but admit, “but I have to agree with Darcy on this one. Something about Jae isn’t right.”

“How long has this behavior been going on?” Catrina asked.

“I forget you haven’t known everyone that long,” Colin said. “It’s hard to say, really. I mean, my sister has had terrible visions about Jae, but she has never really gone into depth about them. Only that she’s very worried.”

“Maybe its nothing,” Catrina suggested. “Perhaps he is just trying to do his part… you know, spying on his neighbors and all,” she said mockingly.

Colin rolled his eyes.

“That’s not going to make our lives any simpler, is it? Still, I should try to get Meghan a message. Let her know what happened, just in case.”

Seconds after stepping into Billie’s tent, Nona bounded in behind them.

“Colin, I have a message from your sister,” her cattish voice spoke.

“Oddly enough, I have one for her as well,” Colin replied, glad of the Catawitch’s timely visit. “How is she doing, Nona?” he asked first.

“She is fine. However, she tried to reach your thoughts, but was unable.”

“Oh, how strange. I didn’t even feel her try,” he said truthfully.

“Actually, this proves a theory,” Nona then told him. “There is a room in which Meghan does her training, and while she’s in there, no one can hear or see what happens. We can still hear each other’s thoughts while she is in this room. However, it appears that whatever magic protects this room, blocks your telepathy.”

“But you guys can still hear each other?” Colin confirmed. “Nothing has ever blocked our telepathy before, except for us.”

“Yes. It is a disconcerting situation on my part, as I feel more confident knowing that Meghan can always reach you, if needed.”