Firemancer Collection (Fated Saga Box Set Book 1) (4 page)

   “It’s always dark in the woods! Maybe it messes with their day and night radar!”

   The conversation ended with Meghan rolling over and facing the wall. She hid her true feelings from her brother, so as not to frighten him more than he already was. More so, she had a nagging feeling that the screeching howls had something to do with the Gypsies. Come tomorrow, she was determined to find out why.

   Unbeknownst to her, Colin was having a similar hidden thought, however, slightly altered.
How come I have a feeling Meghan’s going to be dragging me along to spy on those Gypsies, again?
He tried to put the thought and the day out of his mind, pulled the covers over his head, and eventually fell asleep.

   Meghan found herself dreaming in no time.

   She skipped through the woods hand in hand with Sebastien. He did not speak, but simply smiled his hypnotizing smile. Fog covered their path suddenly and Sebastien tripped, letting go of her hand, vanishing into the fog.

   Meghan, now alone, fought through the thick fog trying to find her way. She panted heavily, losing her breath. Poisonous fumes threatened to fill her lungs. She realized she was not breathing fog, but smoke!

   A silhouette emerged from the smoke. Meghan shouted for help. The figure was holding a handkerchief over its face. As it came closer, Meghan realized it was Colin.

   “How did I get here? Am I in your dream, for real?” he asked, dragging his sister lower to the ground, hoping for clearer air.

   Meghan started to panic. It was the most life-like dream she had ever had, and now, Colin was stuck in here with her. She kept repeating to herself that it was only a dream.

   Colin motioned for her to follow. Surprised at his relative calmness, she crawled behind him. Soon, scorching heat replaced the smoke. It forced them to stop crawling and stand up.

   Twenty feet in front of them a tree burned, smoke billowing from the top, and to the twins’ horror, a young girl sat in one of the branches, appearing not to care that fire was about to engulf her.

   “This is only a dream,” panted Meghan.

   “Of course it is,” agreed Colin, beginning to lose his nerve.

   Meghan took a step closer, ignoring the urge to scream at the girl, and instead calmly coaxed her.

   “Hey, little girl, you should get down from there.”

   The pale faced girl stared down at them from her perch. Her deep-red, nearly black hair shifted in the fire’s wake. Her eyes never left contact with Meghan’s, but her arm raised and pointed. The twins’ gazes turned and focused on where she was pointing. A moving ball of fire blustered toward them. Meghan twisted in circles searching desperately for a safe passage out of this fiery mess but the fire and smoke were too thick.

   “What is that?” asked Colin sharply.

   “I must wake up. Please someone wake me up.”

   “Yes,” agreed Colin, “Please someone, wake you up!” He clasped her hand in his but instantly let go, covering his head instead, in attempt to protect it from the ball of flame gliding closer.

   Meghan turned away.              

   Colin muttered desperately, “Wake up already!”

   “Still no idea how to accomplish that feat,” she yelled back, at the same time noticing that the little girl in the tree had disappeared.

   “Hey, the little girl, she’s go…” Meghan did not complete her sentence as Colin gasped and made a small, half attempt at a tug on her arm.

   Colin stood beside her, his eyes wide with fear. Meghan turned around, one slow step at a time, afraid of what she would see.

   There in front of her, staring back through the ball of flame was Meghan. She froze, horrified, as she watched the other her engulfed by the flames. Although the other her did not seem to be in any pain.

   Meghan could not believe what she was seeing! Her image edged closer, extending her burning arm. Meghan backed away, shaking.

   “Colin!” she called out.

   There was no answer. She hastily glanced around. He was gone.

   The on fire Meghan was nearly engulfing the real Meghan, who discovered she had backed into a tree. A voice, her voice, echoed out of the flames.

   “Do not be afraid. These flames will protect you.”

   “Protect me from what? The only thing I need protection from is you. Oh why can’t I wake up?” she said, exasperated.

   The flames thrashed at her skin, but to her amazement, they did not burn her. She closed her eyes, waiting to feel herself burning alive in her own dream.

   When she finally dared open them, the second Meghan was gone and she alone stood with the flames engulfing her. She stretched out her arms examining the flames licking at her skin, amazed that they did not burn. Even more confusing was that the flames felt like a protective shield that coated her entire body.

   “This is by far, the strangest dream I have ever,
ever
had!”

   Meghan jumped, startled, when the little girl suddenly appeared in front of her. She held out her hand to touch Meghan.

   “No, you’ll hurt yourself,” screamed Meghan, backing away. The girl laughed, her own hand bursting into flame.

   “Now, I am no longer alone,” she said playfully. “I am sorry, though,” she added, her face turning sour.

   “Sorry?” questioned Meghan, confused.

   “For what comes next,” she whispered gravely.

   A speechless Meghan watched as flames engulfed the girls’ body, and seconds later, her silhouette dissolved into the smoke and flame, leaving Meghan alone.  

   Meghan closed her eyes again, this time hearing voices in the distance, calling her. Her mind followed them and when she opened her eyes, she was awake and on the floor of her bedroom, drenched in sweat. Uncle Arnon knelt on the floor next to her, with Colin beside him, looking half frightened to death.

   Meghan struggled to find her voice, asking for water. Colin ran for a glass. Her uncle helped her sit up and examined her arms and legs.

   “What are you looking for?” she managed to ask, still catching her breath. She wondered if Colin had told him about the dream. Then, she wondered if Colin had actually been there at all.

   “You fell off the bed, just making sure nothings broken. Must have been some dream. You okay?”

   “Yeah, except, I feel kind of beat up.” Every muscle in her body ached, and flames still burned hot in her mind.

   Colin arrived with the water.

   “I made it
extra
cold.”

   It was hint enough to confirm that he had indeed been stuck in her dream. After making sure she was not physically injured, Arnon sighed, relieved, and then ordered the twins back to bed. As soon as their uncle was back in his own bed, she sat up.

   “Colin,” she said through her thoughts.

   “Are your dreams always that fun?” he asked her.

   “Very funny, Col. It was so real. I never have such vivid dreams. You disappeared. What happened?”

   “Uncle Arnon woke me. You had fallen off the bed and he came running in. You were flopping around having some sort of seizure or something.”

   She wrinkled her nose at the thought of wobbling around on the floor uncontrollably as others watched.

   “What happened after I left the dream?” Colin asked cautiously, unsure he wanted to hear it.

   “The flames overtook me, the other Meghan disappeared and I became her, in the flames. Strange part is, the fire didn’t burn me. And then, the little girl came back and said…” she hesitated.

   “What, what did she say?” Colin asked impatiently.

   “She said, ‘I am no longer alone’ and something about being sorry about something.” It was starting to become fuzzy in Meghan’s memory.

   “What does that mean?”

   “How do I know?” she snapped back, silently.

   “Sorry.” He waited for her to continue.

   “If I had to, Col, I’d swear it really happened.”

   “I would say its official now, we have been at camp for a hardly a day and already it’s the strangest summer we have ever had.”

   Meghan could not argue with that fact.

   “I’m tired now,” she muttered. “Night, Col. Going back to sleep.”

   “Okay, and a, no more dreams, or at least, leave me out of it, huh?”

   She did not reply, and secretly hoped it would never happen again. She tossed and turned, the dream refusing to leave her thoughts, the heat of the flames still nagging at her subconscious. With each passing minute aggravation kept her from falling asleep and annoyance replaced confusion and concern. 

   Colin also had trouble falling back to sleep. His thoughts reeled through various topics, but none more so than how he had ended up in his sister’s dream. He must have hooked onto her thoughts while they were sleeping. It had never happened before, but their ability had changed over the years, so why not again?

   Then, an alarm went off in his head. How would they control this new ability if it happened while they were sleeping? Would and could this happen every night?

   It was a devastating thought. Not only because of the interruption in their sleep, or being forced to participate in his sister’s dreams, but that his dreams were the one place no one, including his mind-reading sister, could ever get into. It was his only safe place. The only place he was completely free.

   He could not allow it to happen again!

   “How do I stop it, though?” he whispered. “How do I control something that happens while I’m sleeping?” Unsure of how to control this new step in their abilities, he attempted to clear his mind, hoping it would be enough. He tossed and turned, pulling the covers over his head, and waited impatiently for sleep.

   Sebastien arrived the next morning and the trio headed to the lake, not too far from their favorite sideways growing tree. They looked forward to a morning boat trip. In minutes, they arrived and found Kanda’s boat, tied up at a dock near the shore.

   “It might take all morning just to get that knot out,” said Colin, sighing. 

   “Nah! I can get it out in no time!” Sebastien promised, setting in to untying the mess of rope that was keeping the boat attached to the dock. After fifteen minutes, he had made little progress, and the trio’s excitement waned.

   A presumptuous voice startled them from behind.

   “I could help you with that,” the voice called out.

   A boy the twins recognized, as the dangly haired Gypsy boy they had made eye contact with, leaned against a tree, with his arms loosely crossed.

   The trio gawked awkwardly at the scrawny boy, but did not answer.

   “Okay,” the boy said smugly. “Do you not need any help, then?”

   “Sorry,” said Meghan. “You startled us.”

   “It’s just that, I’m pretty good with knots,” the Gypsy boy continued.

   “I can’t seem to make any progress,” said Sebastien, stepping aside. “Be my guest,” he said, motioning for the boy to give a try.

   The boy knelt down, first looking over the knot, then hid the rope from view. Just a minute later he stood up, rope in hand. The stunned trio clapped their hands, astounded at how dexterously he had done it.

   “Wow! Thanks!” said Meghan, smiling at the boy.

   “Was nothing,” the boy insisted.

   “My name is Meghan by the way, and that is my brother,
my twin brother
, Colin. And this is our friend Sebastien.”

   “That’s cool, name’s Jae. I’m staying in the camp too. You might have noticed all the wagons.”

   “Yeah, we saw them,” piped in Colin. “We were eating breakfast when you guys arrived in the camp. I really like the music you play on those strange looking guitars, too.” Colin realized he had said a mouthful and was afraid he had given away the fact that they had been spying. His face turned beet red and he cast his gaze to the ground.

   The Gypsy boy did not seem to care.

   “We were about to paddle around the lake. Would you care to join us, Jae?” asked Meghan.

   His gaze shifted back and forth between the campground and the boat, apparently struggling with the decision.

   “Okay, I’ll come,” he finally answered. “But I can’t stay out for too long.” Sadness replaced any smugness in his voice. Then almost as instantly, the sadness disappeared.

   “How about I paddle?” he suggested as they hopped in. “I haven’t had the chance in ages.”

   The twins certainly did not mind. This meant they could sit back and enjoy the ride, as they knew Sebastien would insist on taking the second paddle.

   They shoved off from the dock, heading toward the middle of the lake. The water was clear and cool, with patches of fog still rolling off the surface, fighting to survive as the sun rose higher in the sky. Minnows swam near the surface, toying with the lake spiders as they glided across, leaving tiny waves of water in their wake.

   Colin sat in the middle of the boat, with Jae in the front, leaving Meghan and Sebastien sharing the back seat. Meghan watched him row, thinking to herself how well he did it. Every motion was smooth and effortless. She did not linger in her daydream long however, as Colin broke in, teasingly.