Shifting (14 page)

“What are you looking for?” asked Colin.

“Just being careful. I didn’t bring it up, but last time you were here, Colin, I thought I caught someone watching us.” The twins glanced around, hoping Eddy was wrong. Their thoughts strayed to the Three D’s. “I’m sure it was my imagination,” he added. “Do be careful, though, and remember what I have said today.”

Timothy floated alongside, as always, entertaining the duo playfully, as they worked their way homeward. They were caught off guard as a hideous looking ghost floated unexpectedly in front of them. Warts and scars covered his face and his clothing was torn and burnt. Timothy floated away, taking cover behind a nearby tree limb.

“It’s Duppy, the mean one.”

“Give it to me, now!” the ghost named Duppy snarled. Colin, as usual, froze up at the sight of the confronting ghost.

“Give you what?” replied Meghan.

“You know what I want! My employer won’t be happy until I have delivered it.” Meghan began to move as if she meant to walk straight through the ghost, grabbing Colin to get him moving with her.

“Honestly, unless you can be more precise, you’re wasting our time.” The ghost then floated right up into their faces.

“The book, the Magicante,” he accursedly grunted. “I want it now!” Meghan and Colin panicked over the knowledge that this ghost named Duppy knew about Magicante.

“Col, ghosts can’t use magic on us, right?” she sent him.

“No, at least, that’s what Jae said when we first met Uncle Eddy.”

“Better get Timothy outta here, then.” Meghan then shouted, “Timothy, go find Uncle Eddy.

Tell him there’s a ghost who wants our book.”

Timothy was gone instantly and the ghost began backing away.

“What? Afraid of our uncle?” egged Meghan. “Been waiting to get us alone, have you?” 68

“You wait long enough and my employer might decide to handle matters… differently.” The ghost floated through Meghan; she ducked, but could not stop the eerie coldness from touching her as Duppy stabbed through her body.

Just then, their uncle arrived and with his ghostly hands, threw what resembled a ball of light at Duppy, exploding him into a million tiny ghostly bits.

“Are you both all right?” he asked hurriedly.

“Yes,” they answered.

“And the…” he said softly, hinting at the book.

“It’s fine. What did you do to him? Has he moved on?” asked Colin.

“No. Going to take him some time to put himself back together, though. You can’t kill someone who’s already dead, and you can’t make them move on, either.” He paused, and then added, “It’s called Sphaera. Saying the word allows magical energy to collect in the form of a sphere, or in my case, ghostly energy, and this energy can then be thrown, subduing your opponent. It does some serious damage, as you can see. In the world of the living, you would only want to use this spell in dire circumstances.”

“Pretty amazing,” replied Meghan.

“Double amazing!” added Colin.

Eddy chuckled with a hint of concern in his voice.

“You’re close to home now, so I’ll leave you,” he said. “But first. Keep that book hidden. Show it to no one. And don’t come back to Grimble until I have sent word that it is safe to do so.”

“But when will that be?” protested the twins.

“Not until I figure out why Duppy is spying on you and why he wants that book! Now go, quickly. And thank you for your help today, Timothy,” added Eddy.

Timothy floated alongside the twins, leaving them at the wagon’s entrance. They stepped inside, secretly afraid that it might never be safe for them to return to Grimble.

8

The twins were vexed. An entire week went by without a word from Uncle Eddy. Their classes were getting more difficult as exam time rolled closer, although their tutor turned out to be Teacher Lindy; she’d taken a liking to the twins, especially Colin, who was excelling in all his subjects, unlike Meghan. The only time they saw Jae was in school; otherwise he was with his father, or on occasion, Ivan. Some nights he did not come home at all.

“I’m concerned about Jae,” said Meghan one night before bed, noticing once again, he was not home.

“Yeah, me too,” agreed Colin. Meghan grabbed her journal and scribbled a few notes down.

“What are you writing?”

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She answered hesitantly.

“Something bad is happening to Jae.”

“Can you use Firemancy to find out what?” he asked her.

“Maybe, but I’m not sure how yet, which leads me to the journal. I started writing things down as they happen. I thought it might help me decipher what I see,” she lied, feeling guilty for not telling him it was Juliska’s advice. For some reason she felt protective of that knowledge.

“Why couldn’t you tell me that before?” Colin questioned.

“Not everything I do has to be public knowledge,” she replied hastily. Not wanting to argue she added, “I just hope I figure it out, before it’s too late.”

“We can’t interfere with how things are done here,” reminded Colin. Meghan shrugged, departing the shared bedroom. She decided to take a bath, seeing as it was the only way to get any privacy, when she ran into the boy named Ivan. After a speechless moment, he disappeared into his room, saying only, “Goodnight.”

“Ugh, that boy,” she snarled, not noticing Ivan’s door reopening. His spying eyes followed her until she was behind the door.

Colin lay on his bed, but sleep wouldn’t come. A light rapping at the window startled him; a leaf was tapping gently on the glass. He opened the window and the leaf flew into his hand.

A message appeared.

“Timothy and I are fine. Still not safe to visit, so sit tight. There’s still time. Work hard for the exams and if anything happens, leaf me.” Colin wondered why Uncle Eddy did not sign his name on the leaf. He sent his sister a silent message, as she bathed.

“Meghan, Uncle Eddy is fine, he sent a leaf.”

“Great! Can we go see him?”

“Not yet.” He heard her sigh.

“Getting out of the bath, night, Col.” He grunted his reply. Meghan dried off and then sat in front of the fire. She did not want to fear it. Fire was supposed to be her ally. Nevertheless, as Meghan gazed into the flames there was no stopping the vision. This one was different, though, as Meghan was transported, as if taking part in it.

She knelt on a pillar in a dark cavern. Dim rays of light gave away the edges, not more than six feet away from her on all sides. She crawled carefully, peering over the edge. She gasped, falling back to the center; a dark abyss waited below.

“Hello,” she whispered, her voice bouncing off walls she could not see.

A noise from behind startled her. She slid around apprehensively. A few feet away, just out of reach, another dim light snapped on, exposing another pillar. A small shape lay on it, moaning.

“Hello,” she stammered. “Are you okay?” As the small figure rolled over, Meghan lost her breath; the body was shrouded in bloody gashes. An arm stretched out to Meghan, and a weak voice pleaded with her.

“Meghan, don’t let it come back! I can’t fight it!”

She searched in desperation for some way of getting to the other pillar, groping the edges of her own pillar, until she came face to face with the moaning figure again. The figure used its arm to shift the blood covered hair out of its eyes. Meghan felt her own blood drain to her feet and felt lightheaded.

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“This can’t be happening,” she muttered. “I don’t want to see this!” It was Jae Mochrie lying on the pillar.

“Please, don’t let it happen again, Meghan,” he repeated his plea.

“Jae, I don’t know what to do, please tell me what to do!” Her eyes met Jae’s, but were immediately frozen on something new: a faceless silhouette rising over him. Her eyes widened and she struggled to find her voice. Jae saw the fear growing in Meghan’s eyes and he rolled onto his back to look.

“No. No. No,” said Jae, putting his hands over his face.

“Leave him alone,” begged Meghan, but the figure did not stop. The silhouette fanned into a dark mass, drowning Jae’s beaten body. With failing breath he screamed out in agony.

“No! Not again! I won’t!” A new gash across Jae’s face appeared. His face jerked, staring directly at Meghan. She stared back in horror. His eyes had changed; they were not the same sad eyes she was accustomed to seeing. They were wicked. Then, they changed back to the eyes Meghan recognized. Jae was fighting it!

“Kill me!” he dared the shadow. “I won’t do what you want!”

Meghan did not want to watch anymore and collapsed.

The dark mass transformed again. This time, however, it became a faceless, living being. It picked up Jae’s limp body, dangling him over the edge of the pillar.

“Please don’t!” cried Meghan. Tears streamed down her face. She groped the edge of her pillar, trying desperately to reach out for Jae. “Why are you doing this?” she sobbed in helpless horror.

What purpose did her gift serve, if she could do nothing but watch her friend suffer and die?

Meghan took a daring glance at the being. Black burnished eyes pierced her own. She screamed and the hideous being dropped Jae into the black abyss.

Meghan’s screams grew distant; she lay on the bathroom floor, with one hand in the fire, panting. Sunlight was creeping into the room; somehow, it was already morning. Her eyes wouldn’t focus and she thought she might be sick. Someone lifted her off the floor, but didn’t speak.

She sat with her head between her legs and after a minute her eyesight returned and the sick pit in her stomach subsided. And, as if she needed another shock to her system, Ivan Crane sat in a chair near the entrance of the bathroom. She grabbed her robe and pulled it tightly around herself.

“Thanks?” she said dryly, as if asking a question.

“I’d gather a pretty bad dream.” His voice showed no concern. She didn’t want to discuss it, especially with rude stranger boy, who stared at her intently.

“I don’t remember,” she lied. “But I’m fine now.”

Ivan took the hint to leave.

“I’ve had bad dreams,” he mused, halfway out the door. “But nothing that ever made me scream like I was being murdered in my sleep!” His voice taunted her to argue, but she ignored it.

“Great!” she said. “Screaming in my sleep, and in front of weirdo boy of all people.” With exhausting effort, she made it to her bed, trying to forget the alarming vision replaying itself in her head.

71

Mireya got up and dressed. Meghan stayed quiet. After Mireya was gone she sat up, grabbing her journal furiously ready to write. Suddenly, she was not so sure about writing it down.

Somehow, it would make it real, plus, Meghan didn’t think it was possible she would ever forget the details of the vision. Still, she had promised Juliska. As she finished writing, changing the name from Jae to “unknown boy,” there was a knock at the door. She wondered who would be knocking, and hoped it wasn’t weirdo Ivan.

“Who’s there?” she answered tentatively. Her brother poked in his head.

“You up, finally?”

“What are you doing knocking? Usually you just invade my head.”

“I’m trying to be more… what Uncle Eddy said. More privacy.”

“Oh. That’s really nice of you,” she answered, caught off guard by his behavior.

“Breakfast is ready and it’s the Saturday, so no school or tutor today,” he reminded.

“I’d forgotten,” she smiled. She came close to telling Colin about her vision but decided to keep it to herself; besides, she didn’t want Colin to worry about Jae (more than he already was).

She fed Nona and ate breakfast. Spirits were good around the kitchen table, including Jae’s, so Meghan did her best to shake off the nagging nightmarish vision.

“That kitten is getting bigger fast,” said Mireya, playing with Nona.

“She follows me everywhere now, and sleeps on my feet at night,” said Meghan. Nona’s white eye gleamed. Meghan got the impression that Nona could look into her soul with that eye, seeing anything she had hidden in there, but never sensed any need to fret about it.

They took their books and went to the wharf to study. It was nice to be outside, as it had been raining for three days straight. A few other Svoda children were there, each studying or practicing magic. The threesome found an empty space near the shore. Mireya, being a level above the three, studied with another group.

The twins and Jae took turns questioning each other. They had to memorize the predetermined answers that the Svoda used while in the outside world, in order to retain their magical secret and their safety. Colin remembered the answers, but Meghan struggled. She wished she had Colin’s memory. They spent an hour reciting the answers.

Next, they needed to memorize the Svoda goals, also set in place to keep them safe and get them back home, permanently. Jae and Colin also had these down, so Jae questioned Meghan.

“The first one was something about secrets,” she replied, shaking her head in annoyance of her poor memory.

“Yes, it is,” encouraged Jae. “But you’ll need to be specific if you expect to pass.” Colin put the words own actions in her mind.

“Oh, right, I got it. As Svoda, we must make sure our own actions don’t divulge any magical secrets to the outside world, since that would compromise our safety.” Jae grinned.

“Good job. How about the second goal?” This one was easier, since it was an off shoot of the first.

“It is also every Svoda’s responsibility to watch over our fellow Svoda, and if compromises are witnessed, report it to the proper authorities,” she answered.

“You’re on a roll, Sis,” boasted Colin.

72

“Maybe we should stop while I’m ahead,” she joked.

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” agreed Jae. “This might be one of the last nice days of the year. We can do more memorization later. Let’s do some actual magic, shall we?” Colin was always up for magic practice. He had begun to draw small crowds of students, who could not understand how he never got tired. Although Meghan was glad Colin’s confidence was building, she unfortunately, showed little improvement.

They spent the afternoon balancing and moving items; they used rocks, driftwood and books, since they had no pillows. Meghan could not even get the items into a pile, never mind move them. And in the exam, she not only needed to move them, but do it neatly. Colin and Jae feared she would not pass the test.