Control (Book Seven) (Fated Saga Fantasy Series) (3 page)

Colin let go of Catrina and
fell to his knees, the sand taking the brunt of the blow.

She
leaned down but he said, “Give me a minute. Please.”

She stepped back, taking in their surroundings.
Even though darkness was setting in, the sky was obviously overcast, and it was too cold for fog. Water crashed against the shoreline, but the waves were moderate, the weather calm.

At the end of the beach was what appeared to be a clo
sed down restaurant, built inside an out-of-use lighthouse.

“It was the only place I could
think of so fast,” Colin explained, joining her. “I don’t know if I took us far enough away. But we were cloaked so I know he can’t track us here.”

“Are you okay?”

He did not reply, but she saw disappointment in his eyes.

“It’s all okay,” she told him. “We’re taking this one day at a time, remember?”

“How about one hour at a time. Maybe one minute at a time. I’m sorry,” he added. “I didn’t mean to get so worked up.”

“I know. Why don’t we see if we can get inside the lighthouse? Maybe if we’re lucky we can stay here for the night, figure out where to go next.”

He nodded, adding, “I don’t know how, but we will need
to stop Freyne.”

“Yes,” she agreed.
“But we’ll prepare first. We’ll be smart about it. And even though it disturbing, we do at least know what he’s planning, so that should make it a little easier.”

“I don’t know as it makes it easier,” said Colin, as they trudged through the sand.

“No, I suppose not.”

Colin stopped, an odd look on his face.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked.

“Something I said. I know I was angry but... maybe I should let him take my powers. I
’m not Jasper. He can’t kill me. I don’t think.”

“Why
would you want to do that?”

“I could be normal. More normal. I’d still have that whole immortality thing but I’d just be Colin Jacoby. No more boy w
onder. No more being hunted.”

“You’d also be letting a very bad man get a hold of something he should not have.
”

“True. Okay. But is this
what our entire life is going to be like? Just day after day, month after month, year after year of running? Hiding? What kind of life is that? How can I ask that of you?”

“Colin, we’ve already been through this. You know how I feel.”

“I know. I’m sorry. It’s a stupid idea. Wishful thinking... and we both know where that gets me.”

“The idea isn’t stupid, Colin.
The outcome of it, on the other hand...” she said with a tone of sarcasm. “C’mon. It’s getting colder out here.”

“Yeah, those clouds
overhead are rather ominous. Could be in for the first snow of the season.”

“
Wouldn’t be a terrible thing, if we were snuggled up somewhere nice and cozy... so, where exactly are we?” she asked. “I assume you’ve been here before.”

“It’s a lighthouse. Not anymore. It’s a cafe now. When I used to summer
here in Cobbscott we would come here. I knew it would be empty this time of year. No one keeps businesses open in the winter. No tourists this time of year.”

“It’s nice,” Catrina said, shivering.

Colin noticed and within a few steps, sun-kissed warmth hit her skin.

“Another reason to keep your birth given powers,” she said with a smile. “Who else could warm me up
so fast, on a cold winter’s day?”

“Forget I even brought
up the idea,” he said, stepping up to the lighthouse door. “Just a passing thought.” He used magic to break the lock. Once inside, he used magic to light the stove in the kitchen. Its heat warming the place in minutes.

Cat
rina meandered through the kitchen and called out, “There’s still some food in the cupboards.”

“I’m not really
hungry,” Colin replied.

S
he shot him a look that implied,
I’m making something anyway and you’re going to eat it
. He heard the clanking of pots and pans as she moved about the kitchen and then heard something sizzling.

An enticing smell wafted under his nose.
He hadn’t felt hungry, but between the smell, and the sounds of sizzling food, his stomach growled intensely.

He waited
, staring out a window across the abandoned beach and off into the distance, watching the waves crash ashore. He could see for miles, even as the night set in. Nothing but blue-hued waves with wakes of spongy white as far as his eyes could see.

The smell of food stole his attention. He darted into the kitchen.
“Let me help.”

“Um, grab some plates,” she said, while flipping a pancake. “And I saw some maple syrup in the cupboard too. Fridge is empty, there’s no butter.”

“S’okay,” Colin replied, returning with plates and syrup. Catrina stacked a pile of steaming cakes onto the plates. Colin slathered his in syrup and took a bite. He felt the food land in his gut and fill him, as if it was filling in all the holes his fears were creating inside of him.

“I guess you were hungry after all,” teased Catrina, watching him take bite after bite.

“I guess this is why my uncle always called pancakes comfort food. We didn’t have them often. And Meghan always made them...” he trailed off after speaking her name, but then added, “I don’t know if her pancakes ever tasted this good.”

“
You’re welcome,” Catrina returned, accepting his praise and taking a bite of her own.

After finishing and feeling quite full and satisfied, Catrina decided to stretch
out on a sofa near the entrance, meant as a place for guests to sit and wait for a table.

“Pancakes
also make you very sleepy,” she noted, yawning.

“You should rest
,” insisted Colin. He magicked a blanket and covered her with it.

“You should too,” she told him sleepily.

“I’ll try, in a few minutes,” he promised. He leaned against the arm of the sofa, once again peering out of the window, staring into the great nothing that was the ocean.

He felt movement and saw feet slide down beside him. Catrina had sat up and was listening to something. She lifted the blanket and went to
the window, scrutinizing the beach.

“What is it?” asked Colin.

She motioned for him to be silent for a moment.

“Th
e underwater creatures, they all just started singing. Just now. All at once.”

She closed her eyes, listening as Colin joined her by the window.

“That’s part of being a Song Spinner?” he asked. “You can even understand what underwater creatures are saying when they sing?”

“
I guess so. It’s the first time.” She continued listening, her eyes closing, Colin content to watch her.

“Oh my.”

His contentment faded.

“
It’s a warning,” she whispered. “They are warning their kind to stay away. Something is frightening them. They are all leaving.”

“Something in the water?” Colin asked.

“Yes. Something is scaring them all. Even the largest of the whales is fleeing.”

“Maybe there really is
a storm coming?”

“No. This terror is
below the water, not above.”

Colin shuddered.

“Poor things. They’re so frightened.”

Colin didn’t want her to
worry about things they could do nothing about. “C’mon. Nothing we can do about it,” he said kindly. “Water is not really our terrain.”

He
tucked her back into the blanket, kissed her, and within minutes, she had fallen asleep. Colin was glad. She needed the rest. But try as he might, and even with a stomach full of carbohydrate heavy sleeping potion, he just didn’t feel tired.

He wond
ered what was in the water scaring away even the largest of the sea creatures. He glanced out of the front window, across the vast ocean.

Fog rolled in, which seemed odd. It felt to
o cold for fog.

It was completely dark now, sign
s of the sun setting long gone. Colin glanced upward; the sky was still overcast and there wasn’t a single star in sight. The water looked calm though, no massive waves, just the soft sway of the tides.

He looked away, sliding down to the floor in front of the sofa, leaning his head near Catrina
. He stroked her silver hair gently, so as not to wake her, hoping to surrender to sleep.

##

Jae Mochrie didn’t know whether to run back into the shack or to run into the woods and never stop running.
He opted for stepping into the woods, to get away from everyone. He knew running away was pointless.

“Jae,” called out Meghan softly.

He motioned for them to stay. He needed a minute alone to process what Isabella Crane had told him. Not only would Juliska Blackwell need to die, but die by his hand, for him to truly be free of the monster inside of him.

He had killed before. He had killed Darcy Scraggs. But that was in self-defense
, he had told himself. To keep her from hurting or killing his friends.

It wasn’t thought out, it had just happened.

Could he commit premeditated murder?

Even if it was the woman responsible for so many evil things, only one of which was doing this terrible thing to him?

In his next breath, he was asking himself just whom he was kidding. The monster inside was built to kill. To cause fear. To cause pain. To kill without mercy or fear of any consequences.

He felt his heart stutter a bit. Just talking about killing stirred the monster from its slumber.

“Are you sure about this?” Ivan asked his mother. “There is
no
other way?”

“I wish there were, truly. But no. It is the only way to break magic as dark as
what Juliska Blackwell has created. This curse is bonded to her. In order to break it, she must die. In order to be freed from it, Jae must be the one to break it.”

Ivan twisted his head so he could catch Jae out of the corner of his eye. “I’ll help you do this. I won’t let you go through this alone.”

Jae wasn’t ready to face it yet, but he nodded just the same.

Ivan turned around and addressed the rest of the group.

“I think it’s time we move on. I’m actually thinking we should return to the banished camp and see if any progress has been made there. I know they’ll be making battle plans to steal back the Immortality Stone from Fazendiin.

Isabella looked worriedly pleased. “My son. Such a smart young man you are.”

Ivan’s attempts to hide his blushing face failed. He didn’t feel smart and his motives were not entirely aimed at the battle to come. He felt a strange thing inside himself. Something he could not quite understand or describe. Something he didn’t want to understand. He needed to keep moving. Keep busy.

“Ivan’s probably right,” agreed Sebastien. “They won’t be able to sit back and let
Fazendiin keep control of the Stone.”

Jae rejoined them.

“They
could
opt to challenge Juliska first,” added Ivan. “Instinct tells me their top concern will be the Stone first, Juliska second. Mainly because we are not prepared to battle her yet; we don’t know what’s happening on the island right now. We’ll need time to prepare for that battle. The Stone however, cannot stay in the hands of the Grosvenor. So... back to the banished camp, everyone?” he asked, seeming to be in a hurry.

“I think this is a wise choice,” said Isabella.

Meghan, Sebastien and Jae agreed as well.

Nona purred her agreement in Meghan’s mind.

“My parents will be furious that I disappeared without telling them again,” said Sebastien. 

“I go where you guys go,” said Jae, with a complete lack of enthusiasm. Each step they took brought him one s
tep closer to Juliska Blackwell, a woman he never wanted to see again.

“Nona, would you mind taking us all to the banished camp?” asked Meghan.

“Of course not,” purred the Catawitch in response.

“Not all of us,” said Isabella with slight trepidation.

“What do you mean?” asked Ivan and Meghan at once.

“I know neither of you want to hear this, but I cannot go with you. Not yet.”

“Why?” asked Meghan.

“What will you do? Stay here?” asked Ivan.

“Yes, I will stay here. My cave is my home, for now. It will not be forever,” she insisted. “As to the why, it just isn’t time for me to go public yet. No, you don’t have to keep me a secret,” she added. “The timing just isn’t right for me to leave here yet.”

Meghan sighed. The thought of leaving her so soon didn’t feel right. She glanced at Ivan and though he did not voice it, she knew he felt the same.