Firemancer Collection (Fated Saga Box Set Book 1) (5 page)

   “You like Sebastien. You like Sebastien.”

   Meghan’s temper was instantly hot, but she ignored him.

   After awhile, chirps and buzzing, from frogs, insects and birds, replaced the rolling fog. Thankfully, the sun beaming down frightened away the mosquitoes. Otherwise, they would have spent the entire day swatting instead of paddling or relaxing.

   “So, we heading in any particular direction?” asked Jae, after they reached the lake’s center.

   “My votes for the marshes,” said Sebastien. “Sometimes there’s large lake turtles in there.”

   “Turtles?” questioned Jae tensely. “How large exactly?”

   “I’ve seen a couple close to two feet,” boasted Sebastien.

   The smugness returned, with Jae’s under-his-breath reply, which none of the three could decipher.

   “What was that, Jae?” asked Meghan.

   “Hope we get to see one,” he stated, clearly not repeating what he had actually said.

   “Be careful as we get closer, it’s easy to get tangled in the plants,” Sebastien warned.

   Jae signaled back, okay.

   Meghan lifted her hand out of the water, which had been skimming the surface, having no desire to feel slimy plants against her skin.

   “So, Jae,” she started, “where is your caravan from?”

   Colin was glad she had finally asked, seeing as he had wanted to, but had not dared.

   Jae answered the question as if he had rehearsed the answer a hundred times.

   “Traveling is our life. We are not from any
one
place.”

   “Have you always traveled around? Because we have since we were two, with our uncle,” explained Colin, growing more comfortable with the new stranger. 

   “I can’t believe you would do so by choice,” said a clearly baffled Jae. “Wouldn’t you rather live in just one place?” Disbelief now replaced the arrogance in Jae’s voice. Then, again, he changed his mind. “I mean, I can understand why your uncle would choose to travel, there really is no better way to live.”

   Meghan, Colin and Sebastien were mystified by Jae’s incessant turns in attitude. Colin explained his own position on the subject.

   “Cobbscott is the only place we visit for any real length of time; four entire months every summer. It is definitely my favorite place, but living here year round would not be fun at all. Once the campground closes for winter, the town shuts down. It would be quite boring, cold and snowy. Mostly, though, I like traveling because that means Uncle Arnon is my teacher, and I do not have to attend normal school.”

   “Definitely right on that count!” agreed Meghan, adding, “I have no idea how people survive real school. Although, I suppose one day it might be nice to live in just one place, when I’m older maybe. Can’t imagine where I’d want to live, though.”

   The conversation ended and the rowing ceased as the boat came to a slow stop. The foursome listened and watched for anything interesting in the water, the surface of which was still and glass-like. Colin noticed that all the minnows and lake spiders had disappeared.

   “Ah let’s go! This is boring,” blurted out Meghan after too many minutes of nothing. They all agreed.

   Sebastien and Jae started to paddle, but the boat refused to move.

   “What’s going on?” asked a frustrated Sebastien.

   They searched the water below, anxiously. A low moan echoed from underneath the boat. Meghan sat down, grasping her seat.

   “What was that?” she muttered.

   “Nothing to worry about, I’m sure,” reassured Sebastien, still looking over the boat’s edge, alongside Colin.

   “We need to get free!” yelled Jae, suddenly sounding panicked.

   Meghan, Colin and Sebastien started to reach Jae’s level of panic when bubbles of foamy water began surging up the sides of the boat. The surge splashed Colin’s face, which daringly still dangled over the boat’s edge.

   “There’s something down there,” he said, stumbling sideways as he tried to sit back down.

   “Grab him!” shouted Meghan. “He’s gonna tip the boat!” Jae gently lunged forward and steadied Colin, stabilizing the boat.

   Sebastien picked up his paddle and attempted to get the boat moving. Jae joined him, but the boat did not budge.

   Colin stood back up and from a more distant vantage point, carefully looked into the water. More bubbles burst to the surface. “There
is
something down there!” he insisted, plunking down onto his seat.

   “What exactly do you mean by something down there?” asked Jae, with growing agitation.

   “Look for yourselves!” Colin challenged, gripping the edge of the boat, hoping not to fall out.

   “There’s nothing in these waters, it’s a lake,” argued Sebastien.

   “Just telling you what I saw,” said Colin, determined not to move from his seat.

   Meghan sat next to Sebastien, her eyes peering over the edge, afraid she might actually see something down in the water, but was straight back in her seat when the boat began rocking violently.

   The moaning below the boat resonated so much that it felt as though the boat might vibrate into shreds. More bubbles escaped to the surface, boiling around the walls of the boat. Sebastien and Jae stopped paddling. They needed all their strength just to stay seated.

   Jae looked as if he might be sick.

  “This is my fault,” he mumbled. “I shouldn’t have come.” No one responded. They were too frightened to care what Jae meant.

   The boat began to rise up out of the lake. Water seeped in through a crack forming in the bottom. Meghan screamed and fell into Sebastien’s lap as the boat lurched to the side. There was no time for embarrassment over falling into his lap, as seconds later, the four passengers were tossed out of the boat and into the frigid, slimy-plant and leech-filled water.

   Meghan and Sebastien surfaced beside each other, looking more plant-like than human. Meghan choked on a slimy weed that found its way into her mouth.

   Jae had already started swimming to shore.

   Sebastien helped Meghan clear the tangle of plants surrounding her and they followed Jae.

   A voice rang out in Meghan’s mind. “Sis,” it called, hesitantly.

   “Colin!” She sensed fear in her brother’s mind and swam faster. Sebastien made it to shore with Meghan right behind. He started to help her out of the water when his hand dropped, his eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

   “I know I look like crap right now, but give a girl a break, huh!”

   Sebastien could not speak. He could only point over her head, at the lake. She stood at the waters edge and turned around.

   “Impossible!” she whispered, nearly falling back into the water. The boat was broken, split down the middle and partly sunken, with Colin sitting upright, seemingly on the surface of the water.

   “I’ve landed on it,” he whispered ominously, pointing below the surface.

   “Keep very still,” said Jae with growing unease.

   “How do we get him out?” cried Meghan.

   The water around Colin began to bubble again.

   “Grab onto something,” ordered Sebastien.

   “What would you suggest I grab onto exactly,” Colin shouted.

   Something began to surface, lifting Colin completely out of the water.

   A monstrous set of antlers appeared, covered in lake plants, followed by a massive muscular body. Colin straddled the animal’s back. It had to be seven feet tall, the antlers nearly six feet wide.

   Recognition seemed to hit everyone at once.

   It was a moose, just a moose.

   “I should’ve known,” Sebastien said, relieved. “What else that big would be underneath the water around here?” The moose continued chomping on food, unnoticing of the boy sitting on its back or the youngsters standing on the shore. 

   “At least the sun is still shining,” he added. “Gonna be a long walk back home!” His laughter tripled as he helped the slime and now leech covered Meghan onto the bank. She pulled him back into the water for it, and then once on the bank, started pulling off leeches, grumbling with each new one she found.

   Jae fell onto the ground, rolling and laughing, seeming the most relieved of all. He bounced off the ground and swam back out to assist Colin, keeping his distance so as not to startle the moose.

   “I think it’s best to wait for it to go back under, and slowly slide off its back and into the water, Colin. It doesn’t even notice you’re there. You’ll be fine.”

   “Easy for you to say,” replied Colin doubtfully, while clinging onto the antlers to keep steady. “You’re not sitting atop a seven foot tall moose!”

   They waited, while the moose, still acting quite unaware of the human presence, munched on a lake plant. After a few minutes, it shifted itself around and began to sink under the water.

   “I’m not a strong swimmer,” Colin reminded the group, as the moose took him even farther from shore.

   “You’ll be fine. Do what Jae said. Let go and slide into the water,” his sister urged.

   “Remember to kick your legs once you’re in the water,” added Sebastien. Colin cautiously slipped off the moose and tried to maneuver his body so that he was heading toward the shore. Jae swam out and helped him. Once in shallow water Jae let go and they collapsed onto the bank, out of breath, and covered in leeches.

   “Unbelievable,” Jae said to the other three. “I’ve seen a lot of things, but that was definitely different.”

   “I’ve heard stories about moose surfacing next to people out fishing before,” said Meghan, “But to actually see it…”

   “I think what happened here might be a first!” Sebastien told her.

   The echoes of their laughter carried across the once again calm water.

   Meghan helped Colin sit up, and set in to peeling off his leeches.

   “Man these things find blood fast,” said Jae, finally plucking off his last one.

   As they slogged back around the lake looking for an exit that would take them to the road, the twins could not help but notice that Jae’s mood had improved, as they laughed and relived the moose adventure.

   The rest of the day passed quickly and in the late afternoon, the chill of evening rolled in along with patches of fog. Meghan shivered. They had finally come out of the woods, but there was still a good distance to go. Jae ran up to her and offered his somewhat dry jacket. He kept walking, not waiting for any response.

   “Thanks,” she said, lingering her eye on him.

   “Too bad we can’t get fully dry,” said Sebastien, regaining her attention.

   “Hm. Oh, yeah. I know. This humidity sucks. You can’t get anything dry in this weather.” They continued trudging down the road hoping a driver would come by, but it did not look recently used, as overgrown plants attempted to take over the open space. Late afternoon passed into evening and soon, it was nearly dark.

   The later and darker it became, the more Jae’s attention turned to the sky. Unease grew noticeably in his eyes.

   “What are you looking for?” asked Meghan.
Maybe we can find out more about those screeching, howly things.

   Jae stalled for a minute but finally answered.

   “Nothing. Nothing at all. Just not fond of the dark,” he insisted.

   The twins could not help but notice that his pace continued to pick up though, the closer they got to the campground.

   Many long hours after the moose ordeal had ended, they found themselves, at last, at the camp’s entrance. As they neared the Jacoby camp Jae stopped once again, standing with his arms folded.

   “It was an interesting day,” Jae said. “But I gotta run.” A bit of the arrogance returned as he hurried away.

   “Wait,” said Meghan, handing him back his jacket. “Thanks again for that. If you don’t get into too much trouble, maybe you could hang out again tomorrow.”

   Jae stammered for a moment, apparently taken aback by the request.

   “Wish I could, guys. It’s been great to spend the day with you all, but, you see, we are leaving tomorrow night, and I’ll have to help with the preparations.” He shrugged, then waved goodbye, vanishing around the corner before they could respond.

   “And just like that, he’s gone,” said Colin somberly. Meghan wondered if Jae’s apparent arrogance was blocking the same feeling she and Colin always felt: people never stay around too long, so why get to know them.

   “We need to get home,” reminded Sebastien, after a quiet moment. “Everyone’s probably going nuts worrying about where we are.”

   The twins rolled their eyes knowing he was right. The trio scurried toward the Jacoby campsite.

   As expected, a group had gathered at Arnon’s trailer. Four figures rushed them with instant questions and sighs of relief.

   “Where on earth have you been?” demanded Uncle Arnon, standing next to Kanda Macawi. “You were due home hours ago! We were about to put together a search party!”

   “Why are you all covered in mud?” asked Sebastien’s mother, when Arnon finally took a breath.