Embrace (2 page)

Regardless of what is screwing up their magical powers, or that my brother’s seem to be supercharged, the use of magic is strictly forbidden here in the E Valley, except in a life or death situation.

So far, the first two weeks here have proven hot, dry and boring. All of us non-initiated types must keep ourselves entertained while the initiated attend regular meetings. By entertained, what I really mean to say is that we are supposed to be keeping up on our studies. Not my idea of a good time!

Anyway, they never tell us what goes on in these meetings. However, even I, still a newbie to the Svoda world, can tell that there are a lot more meetings than normal, and something is definitely causing a panic. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to overhear….

“Ick, Nona,” said Meghan Jacoby, putting aside her journal. “Why are you always so keen on licking my feet? I suppose that’s enough catching up for now anyway.” Just then, a noise disrupted Nona’s licking. She froze like a statue, her Catawitch eyes blazing toward the door. A moment later, satisfied it was nothing potentially harmful she relaxed and returned to licking Meghan’s feet.

Meghan leaned against the red rock wall of her new temporary home. Here in the E

Valley, they did not have the luxury of the wagons (which inside resembled Bedgewood Harbor, the Svoda’s island off the coast of Maine). Instead, they lived at the bottom of a towering canyon wall, inside carved out cave dwellings.

Meghan and Colin still shared a room with Jae and Mireya Mochrie. They had even less privacy than while staying in the Mochrie’s cottage. There were four holes punched into the rock wall, just large enough for a mattress, and someone to sleep in, without getting too claustrophobic. They had to share a stone partition for dressing.

5

Outside of their bedroom was a main room, which included a combined living space and kitchen. Five doors lined the walls. The first was the youngster’s bedroom. The second belonged to Sheila and Irving. The third opened to a large closet, which Corny Tibbett decided to take over upon arrival. The fourth led out into the valley and the fifth, opened to a tunnel that led deeper into the canyon.

This tunnel connected with other tunnels, and cave dwellings, like an underground web, that eventually led to a large open dome in the center. Meetings took place here.

Only a few of the Svoda businesses remained open: The Steel Gin, Balloch Flummer’s bookstore, the bank and a mercantile on wheels.

Ivan had chosen to move out of the Mochrie’s and get a place of his own.

Mireya had slipped out of the room, unnoticed. Meghan tried to read her brother’s mind but the only thought she caught onto was a dream that was ending. Even in his sleep, she could not penetrate his thoughts any further.

Meghan’s heart nearly stopped then, as Jae Mochrie abruptly jumped out of bed, frantically dressing.

“I’m so in trouble. I was supposed to be up thirty minutes ago.” As if Irving Mochrie knew the perfect moment to rub in his son’s forgetfulness, his voice echoed into their shared room.

“Jae! You had better be ready. I’m leaving in two minutes.”

“Coming, dad! Be right there.”

“Better be. We have to finish work early today. Ivan’s initiation ceremony is tonight.”

“As if you’d let anyone forget,” muttered Jae. He then departed without so much as a hello or goodbye, leaving a shadowy trail behind as he bounded out of the room.

“When was the last time we actually had breakfast with Jae at the table?” asked Colin Jacoby, now awake.

“More like, when was the last time we ate with Jae, period!” said Meghan. “Seems like everyone is super busy, but doing what exactly? It is a dry, dead valley out there. And we’re not in school, so why does his dad have to bring him to work every day?” Colin refused to answer. He knew his sister was slyly prodding for information on what had been keeping him so busy lately.

Colin had been having dreams about the girl named Catrina. He felt there was some message she was trying to send him, but he was not yet able to piece this message together.

His impatience escalated at the lack of new clues. Yet all the while, he heard a counter going off in his mind. He only had so much time to find her or it would be too late.

“You ready for some breakfast, Col?” asked Meghan, seeing he was not going to divulge anything new.

“Yeah, sure.” Colin shivered while dressing. The stone walls kept the room chilly.

Sheila Mochrie’s absentminded voice chimed good morning as they entered the kitchen.

6

“Breakfast is on the stove. I’ll be off in a minute to a Zone meeting.” She then disappeared into her and Irving’s bedroom, as Mireya emerged from Corny’s closet-sized room with an empty tray.

“It is so creepy in there and it’s supposed to be a closet. I cannot believe he just won’t come out.” She shuddered, watching the twins sit down to eat a bowl of oatmeal.

“He didn’t have anything for you to give me, did he?” asked Colin.

Mireya shook her head no, looking confused.

Colin often asked this now, but never explained why. He took it as a good sign, though, if Corny had nothing to give him.

“Did I hear Jae a minute ago?” Mireya asked.

“Yeah, he was in a rush. Left with your dad,” answered Colin.

Mireya nodded, taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, immediately hiding her face behind a book. A minute later, Sheila bustled out of her bedroom and shot down the tunnel leading to the small town center.

The twins finished breakfast and headed outside of their cave dwelling, where blinding sun, along with dusty dry air, greeted them. Their skinned warmed quickly in the heat.

The cave dwellings were located at the very edge of Eidolon’s Valley. A place they had been strictly forbidden to enter.

As far as the eye could see, rust colored, Goblin-like formations littered the valley floor; if you stared at them long enough, they seemed to sway with the dusty whirlwinds that swept across the ground.

A few other younger Svoda had gathered nearby, most reading or talking. Colin climbed to the top of an empty nearby rock formation, and sat gazing into the valley. From his vantage point, it looked as though the valley just went on, and never ended.

Meghan joined him, but positioned herself in the opposite direction, gazing at Juliska Blackwell’s abode, which was a castle-sized carved stone, wedged between two canyon walls high above the Svoda cave dwellings. A steep path gutted into the red-rock canyon wall led the way from the ground to the castle. Meghan could not wait until her next lesson with Juliska, and took out her journal, although she no longer had the desire to write.

After a while, she glanced at her brother, who was still gazing out into the valley. She watched him closely for a full minute. He did not blink, even once.

“What are you doing?” she whispered. “Does that really pass the time? Staring into nothing?”

Colin frowned.

“I’m trying to focus.”

“On what?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” he said.

“Oh, of course. I’m too stupid with magic to understand,” she mocked.

“That’s not what I said.”

“Might as well have been,” Meghan spat.

7

“It’s just complicated. Something I read in Magicante,” he then admitted quietly, not wanting anyone to overhear.

“Whatever,” she said, reminding him, “Better not get caught doing magic.” She turned her attention back to her journal, going over past lessons she’d had with Juliska.

Colin did not hear her. He was attempting something he had learned from the Magicante, and it was definitely breaking the no-magic rule.

Magicante had told him upon their arrival at the E Valley, that this magic could prove most useful and put him to work learning it straightaway. Magicante explained that this particular bit of magic would allow him great sight. Not a vision like his sister. Not seeing the past or future, but for his eyes to see far into the present, to distant locations. The vastness of the E

Valley seemed the perfect place to practice this magic.

The sun moved through Eidolon’s Valley changing the shapes of the Goblin-like formations; after awhile it began playing tricks on Colin’s eyes, as he swore the formations were actually moving.

Frustrated that he could not make it work, he breathed heavily and opened his eyes.

Magicante’s words rang in his mind.

“You must quiet your thoughts and focus only on the place you want to see.” The only problem was all Colin could think was, rock formation, or cave, as he did not know any specific locations in the E Valley. He closed his eyes and concentrated, whispering the words Aspectus Remotus, but inevitably, his thoughts strayed to Catrina.

Colin sucked in deeply, as his vision no longer focused on the E Valley itself, but rather raced through the valley, flying past canyon walls and whirlwinds of dust. But to what destination?

He felt the rock beneath him as he sat on top of it, his body unmoving, but his eyes clearly saw the entrance to another cave, which in reality existed many miles away. He had hoped for something more exciting, but at least his attempts were improving.

A voice called out his name, startling him.

His trip stopped for a moment, once inside the cave.

The voice called out again.

“Colin? You must find me!”

His vision took him spinning through the cave, searching into the darkness for the source of the voice. Then he saw it: A glass coffin with white light emanating from within. He rushed toward the case, where the sleeping body of a young girl lay inside. The same girl Colin had seen in the hospital back in Grimble. The same girl that haunted his dreams, nightly.

Catrina.

Her eyes burst opened.

“Colin, you must find me! I’m running out of time! Please hurry,” she begged. Her eyes then closed as if in a deep sleep.

8

At that moment, Colin lost his concentration. His mind felt an elastic-like pull as his eyes were suddenly staring once again across the dry, dead valley. He was back on the rock, sitting with his back to Meghan.

He stood up, ready to jump down off the rock and run, unprepared into the valley, swearing he would search each and every cave, and break every magical rule he had to, to find her.

“Who is Catrina?” Meghan then asked, curiously, catching him off guard. Colin frowned, reality setting in. He could not just disappear into the valley. He kicked the rock, disappointed that he had lost his connection with Catrina, and angry that he had not blocked his sister from hearing his thoughts. He slumped back down, hitting the rock with a low, defeated thud.

Meghan stared at him, waiting for an answer when her eyes opened wide and a huge grin spread across her face.

“Oh…” she echoed, her jaw dropping open. “You’ve been hiding your thoughts from me cause… you’re in love, with a girl, aren’t you?”

Colin did not deny her accusation, and thought, Well, at least she didn’t catch onto everything, but grew outwardly defensive anyway.

“I am not in love. And she’s no one.”

Meghan did not give in and persisted for the next twenty minutes, after which, Colin got up to leave.

“Oh, Colin. Get over it. Can’t I have a little fun? So you like a girl.” Colin did not answer, but sat back down. After a few minutes, she decided to try to get him to talk again.

“So, why won’t you tell me what’s going on in that head of yours? It can’t be just liking this girl that’s soaking up all your time.” Then, she recalled how many hours she had spent daydreaming about Sebastien Jendaya and changed her mind.

“Can I read your journal?” Colin responded haughtily. “No… didn’t think so,” he answered himself, seeing her determined face.

The days of not keeping secrets from each other had ended almost the moment it had begun. Already lost were the warnings from their Uncle Eddy, their dead ghostly tutor from Grimble, who had warned them not to keep secrets from each other. Ever!

3

“Gather around everyone, thank you,” said Balloch Flummer, the bookstore owner. His adult son, Noah, assisted him in ushering in the arriving crowd. Soon, Banon Juliska Nandalia Blackwell’s arrival would indicate the Initiation of Ivan Crane.

9

They gathered just outside of the cave homes, at the edge of the valley, in a bowl-like rock formation. It had an open roof, where the last of the day’s sun beamed small streams of light just over the canyon wall.

All of the initiated Svoda stood on one side of the bowl, while the not yet initiated stood on the other, gazing jealously, as they desperately wished they could be on the Initiated side.

Ivan stood alone in the center.

On the Initiated side, two members of the Viancourt stood at the front of the group. This included Darius Hadrian, and of course, Garner Sadorus. The twins ignored his deep, fierce stares.

Billie Sadorus waved at the twins, while standing next to the Jackal sisters. So different, they were, brother and sister, Garner and Billie.

The third member of the court was absent, which during an initiation was only acceptable due to extenuating circumstances. The news had spread quickly that Tanzea Chase was ill and had not made any public appearances in days. Moreover, being that magic is strictly forbidden, even in cases of illness, she was left to heal in the normal, slow way, rather than the faster, simpler magical way.

Meghan noted the jealous face of Darcy Scraggs’, as she glared at Ivan and the Initiated group, and secretly delighted over her enemy’s displeasure.

The twins assumed the ceremony would not be a long one, especially since evening approached, and the Svoda could not be outside of their cave dwellings after dark. Another strict rule of the E Valley.

Every noise doubled in level as the bowl-like amphitheater bounced echoes back and forth.

Meghan and Colin stood next to Jae and Mireya, as Balloch Flummer flitted to Ivan’s side and raised his hands motioning for everyone to quiet.

The echoes bounced around the bowl for a second longer, and then Balloch announced,

“Our Banon, Juliska Nandalia Blackwell.”

The crowd cheered and watched breathlessly for her to enter. And what a grand entrance she could make, thought Meghan, cheering as eagerly as everyone else.