Control (Book Seven) (Fated Saga Fantasy Series) (2 page)

“I thi
nk some part of me did know,” Ivan continued, his eyes never leaving Meghan. “She looks so much like you, but I just thought it was chance. I couldn’t see how it was possible.”

Megha
n smiled weakly at him, firing off a look that said, “Surprise!” and “You’re stuck with me now.”

He shook his h
ead; a bit of the Ivan she knew, returning. He rolled his eyes, mumbling, “It would have to be you.”

“Ivan,” Meghan
said, letting out a nervous laugh. “If I was ever going to find out I had a half-brother I didn’t know about, I can’t imagine anyone else I’d want it to be. Even though I totally hate you most of the time and you drive me completely crazy!”

She stepped outside to see him better.

He lowered his head for a moment, amused, but when he looked up, he shrugged his shoulders, looking lost. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.”

Sebastien and Jae stepped out behind Meghan.

Nona trotted in the woods nearby, keeping her ears and eyes open to anything unusual.

“I don’t know about you,” said Meghan,
“but there’s still the matter of a mad woman named Juliska Blackwell who needs to be dealt with. We must find some way to help Colin, and,” she turned to Jae, “we need to find some way to fix you.”

“Then there’s just Colby and
Fazendiin and the Immortality Stone, and the rest of the Grosvenor,” chimed in Sebastien, with a sarcastic smile.

Meghan let out a frazzled sigh. “Yeah, and all of that.”

Isabella looked curiously at Jae. “What needs to be fixed about you?”

“I, um,” he gulped,
his vocal chords suddenly not wanting to work right. “I let J-Juliska turn me into one of her Scratchers. She thinks I’m dead, but she will eventually find out I’m not and when she does...”

“She will force him back into her service,” finished Ivan. “We cannot allow that to happen. Jae ma
de a mistake but, we have to find a way to fix it.”

Meghan turned to Isabella. “Amelia Cobb, before Colby killed her...” she was cut off.

“What?” said Isabella sharply.

Meghan caught herself, realizing she had not informed her mother of Colby’s actions. “Sorry. We hadn’t really gotten to explaining that yet.”

“He killed someone?” Isabella’s voice faltered as she spoke.

“Yes. He did. But I stand by what I said before,” insisted Meghan. “I still think he can be saved. And truth be tol
d, if he hadn’t killed Amelia, someone else probably would have. She was out of control.”

“But someone else didn’t,” muttered Isabella. For the smallest of moments she
held a look on her face that said all was lost. Hopeless. That all she had sacrificed to give Colby a fighting chance to be good, was all for nothing. That she had failed. She let out a deep sigh, wiping away her worry and cast a short grin.

“Don’t give up
on him, Meghan. We cannot give up on him.”

“I don’t intend to,” Meghan told her. “Fazendiin’s claws are deep, but I really think there’s still hope. I can’t,
won’t
give up.”

Isabella nodded, clearing her throat.
“You were saying something about Amelia,” she reminded in a soft voice.

“Right, um, she mentioned there might be a cure or a way to break the bond betwe
en Jae and Juliska,” said Meghan.

“There is,” Isabella replied
without hesitation.

Jae perked up eagerly, as did Sebastien, Ivan, Meghan and Nona.

“There is a way?” Ivan questioned, thrilled his mother might know the answer to at least one of their problems.

“The bond can be broken and you can be cure
d, Jae,” Isabella said.

“How?” Jae
asked. “What do I need to do? I’ll do anything to fix what I’ve done.”

“
Anything?” she asked him. “The magic used to create the Scratchers is some of the most powerful and dark magic in existence.”

He s
wallowed hard, having trouble finding his voice again.

“Yes. Anything,
” he affirmed, though shakily. “No matter the cost, I have to. I don’t want to go back to her. I
won’t
hurt for her. I
won’t
kill for her. I may be a stupid idiot, but I’m not a killer... and I can’t live like this. I need to get rid of this thing inside me. It wants out, all the time... I’m afraid whether under her control or not, I will eventually hurt someone.”

She nodded, seeing his determination.

“
There is only way one to break this type of magical bond. The creator of the magic must die.”

Jae nodded, unable to vo
calize what he was thinking.

“We have to take her do
wn anyway,” said Meghan, her voice higher than usual. The thought of actually killing someone, or even working towards actually killing someone, turned her stomach. Juliska was evil. There was no doubt about this fact. But shouldn’t she stand trial and be judged by all? Shouldn’t she be forced to face up to and pay for the crimes she committed?

“I know
she’s evil,” Jae finally spoke somberly. “Juliska Blackwell frightens me more than anyone I’ve ever known. Before she did this thing to me, I would have done anything she had asked of me, even died for her if I thought it would be for the greater good. But now, even after what she’s done, the thought of her dying for some reason just makes me feel sick.”

“It is sick
,” said Sebastien. “And sad. She has wasted her life filling it with hate. And we don’t even know why! She
was
a good person, once. Like Amelia,
she
wasn’t always crazy either. But I think Juliska is beyond saving.”

“Everything
she’s done set aside,” started Meghan, “do we even have the right to decide her fate? She’s hurt
so
many people. Not just us.”

“She deserves to die,” said
Ivan, as if he were ready to deal Juliska a death blow that very second.

Isabella sighed, her eyes saddened. “Juliska’s death
cannot be by your hand, Ivan.”

At first, Meghan thoug
ht she had said this because Isabella feared that Ivan was latching on to any new purpose; that he needed to have one to feel whole. But Isabella’s gaze landed back on Jae.

“Juliska’s
death alone will not cure you.”

Jae’s
already sickly face turned green.

“Her death breaks the bond only,
” she continued.

Jae opened his mouth but nothing came out.

Ivan asked the question Jae could not muster the courage to ask. “What must he do? How do we cure him completely?”

“
You
don’t,” she said to Ivan. “If you truly want to be cured, Jae Mochrie, you, yourself, will have to be the one that takes her last breath. You will have to kill Juliska Blackwell.”

##

Colin Jacoby sat on the ground next to Catrina. She had her head leaning against his shoulder. They were sitting just a few feet away from the tree where Jasper Thorndike had been buried. Colin was deep in thought about how he would get Jasper’s copy of the Magicante back from Freyne Rothrock, the Grosvenor who had stolen it just before his death.

“Freyne,” Catrina
heard Colin mumble under his breath.

When it
was followed by a resentful groan, she sat up, asking, “What is it?”

Colin’s eyes
switched from thoughtful to outraged in a flash. He glowered right past Catrina to something else.

She t
urned and gasped, stuttering out, “Oh. Freyne.”

Freyne Rothrock was
just a few feet from them, judiciously working his way towards the tree trunk that now resembled the face of the late Jasper Thorndike.

“Don’t worry
, he can’t see or hear us,” reminded Colin. “The cloak is still in place.”

“Good,” she breathed out
, adding, “What is he doing here?”

Colin
did not answer. Instead, he stood up, following Freyne.

The Grosvenor eyed the tree greedily
, taking each step cautiously, looking over every detail carefully.

“Stupid bo
y,” Freyne croaked. “Powerful perhaps, but stupid! Didn’t even erase the magic he used here. So easy to trace.”

Col
in’s eyes widened and he threw Catrina a questioning gaze.

“I didn’t kno
w you could do that,” she said.

“
I thought they could only trace me when I let down the cloak. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! There’s so much I don’t know.”

Catrina
reassured him. “Now that we know it can be done, we’ll figure out how.”

“
It’s too late now,” Colin responded miserably. “Let’s find out what Freyne is doing here. Maybe he has the book with him and I can end this whole thing right here and now!”

“Colin, no,” said Catrina softly. “You cannot confront him like this. You’re not prepared.”

“Maybe not, but it’s not like I can die,” he returned arrogantly.

“No. You can’t. But...” he cut her off.

“Maybe now is the perfect time! I can catch him off guard.”

“And then how will we find out what he’s doing here?”

Colin’s determined look dropped slightly.

Catrina reached out her hand and grasped his.

“We have to be smart, Colin. We need to take our time.
You
need to take your time. Rash moves don’t always end so well.”

Colin glanced at Jasper’s tree.

“You’re right,” he admitted dolefully.

He kept the cloak firmly in
place, watching Freyne’s every move. After a moment he stopped, eyeing Jasper’s bark-etched face.

“I learned a little secret,” Freyne
whispered to the face, as if somehow Jasper could hear him. “Your services will be much appreciated.”

Freyne
stepped back and lifted his arms over the ground, his palms facing the space where Jasper’s body was buried. The ground began to rumble.

“What is he doing?” asked Colin, aghast.

“Oh, no! I think I know.” Catrina’s face turned white as the realization hit her. “We need to leave. I’m sorry, Colin. You might have been right after all.”

“Why?”
he asked, but she didn’t answer him.

T
he ground where Jasper was buried started to shift, the dirt rolling back; something started to lift out of the ground.

“Are those...
” Colin gagged, unable to finish.

“Yes. Bones. He’s digging up Jasper’s bones.”

“Why would he do...” he paused again, looking more closely at the bones, which were abnormally bright white. They looked just like... “The dagger. The dagger that stripped Jasper of his powers... it was made from the bones of a dead Projector.”

He took a step back, taking Catrina with him.

“He wants to steal your powers,” Catrina said. “Like Colby did with Jasper. He’s going to use the bones to make his own dagger.”

Colin felt
immense hatred filling him.

How dare Freyne
disturb Jasper’s grave. How dare he steal his bones?

Catrina knew that this migh
t be too much for Colin and she urged him to stay calm.

“We should leave, Colin.
We are not prepared to fight this. Maybe he can’t kill you, but he could take your powers.”

Colin’s he
ad was swimming in thoughts. Vengeful thoughts. Things he’d like to do Freyne Rothrock.

“Maybe if he did take my powers it wouldn’t be so bad,” Colin suddenly blurted. “
Or maybe I’ll just kill him before he has the chance.” His speech was coming out in indignant waves, flooding his whole being with the desire for vengeance. “He can’t kill me. I’m immortal. He might get in a spell or two, but I can definitely hurt him!”

“Colin, please,” Catrina
begged. “What would Jasper tell you to do if he were here right now? Would he tell you to reveal yourself and fight without a plan?”

“I am supposed to liv
e in the moment,” Colin snapped his answer. His thoughts felt as though they were in overdrive. “So maybe that means I need to kill him now.”

Catrina took in a calming breath and grabbed hold of both his hands, forcing him to look at her. “Stop this, right now, Colin Jacoby! You know darn well that Jasper would
tell you to calm yourself. And not make any rash decisions. We just talked about this! Besides, you can’t kill him, he’s immortal, too.”

He let out a dissatisfied grunt.

However, a mere moment later they were no longer standing behind Freyne. They were now standing in a few inches of beach sand.