Divided (Book Five) (Fated Saga Fantasy Series) Read online

  Inside the school, students were abuzz. Another group of traveling Svoda had been tracked down and told it was time to come home; they were due to arrive in a week’s time, when the right door back to the island would open.

  The students wondered which group it would be and if they would know anyone. Would it be friends or family they had not seen in almost fourteen years? Most of the students were too young to even remember those traveling in other groups, but were excited just the same.

  Grownups and older teens worried about who would not be returning. They wondered just who had survived the previous year's journeys and who had not. Inevitably, there would be deaths they did not know about. Inevitably, over the coming months as the groups received their messages that it was time to return home, people would discover they had lost both friends and family.

  Meghan did not care. Not that she wasn't happy for those that would once again be reunited with friends and family, or sad for those that would find out they had lost friends and family, whom they had not seen in as nearly many years as she had been alive… but she had much bigger concerns to deal with.

  ##

  Across the road from the school, the bird-human sat perched on a tree limb. His dark beady eyes peered down at Ivan Crane, hiding behind the trunk of the tree. Ivan looked up, at Bird, and then back down, speaking, as if talking to the tree in front of his face.

  “I'm sorry, but for now you're stuck here,” he told Bird. “Security is tighter than I've ever seen it. Nothing can get onto or off the island without the Balaton knowing. They’ve put up a protective barrier, one like I have never seen before. I don’t know how to get through it so you’ll have to be careful. If you get caught...”

  Bird chirped to reply that yes, that would be very bad.

  “Plus, with you being stuck here, I've lost my last connection to the outside world...” Ivan added, rolling his eyes at Bird, who chirped a haughty reply. “I know it’s not your fault,” Ivan conceded. “It's just bad timing. I could have really used someone on the outside right now.”

  Bird looked at Ivan questioningly.

  “Because,” Ivan continued decidedly, “I've thought over what you suggested, and,” he sighed, resigning to his choice. “I have decided that you're right.”

  Bird nodded politely as if to say thanks and your welcome all at the same time.

  “I only agree because you know my secret, and I now know yours. Just the same, it’s going to take some getting used to. I've always worked alone, taking on an actual partner is going to be very strange. You're right, though, it’s only logical based on what we both know, to work together. That said and agreed to, bringing Meghan into all of this is going to have to be done delicately. I can't believe you talked me into working with her!” Ivan whispered incredulously. “I only stayed close to her because she's clearly Juliska's favorite and that got me closer to Juliska too. Meghan is like the irritating little sister I never wanted! She squirms her way in and you just can’t get rid of her.”

  Ivan glanced around to be sure he could not be overheard by anyone. Less harshly, he added, “I understand why you've been protecting the Jacoby's. Although, it is hard to believe. Frankly, it is frightening to believe. I do agree though, we have to tell her. Everything. I think she's ready, but regardless, we're running out of time. She's getting very comfortable around Juliska. I need to end that relationship before it’s too late.”

  Bird nodded again, this time as if to say yes, he agreed, but even in bird form, he looked worried about how Meghan would react as well.

  “Things are moving very fast right now,” Ivan continued. “Once I explain everything to Meghan and she accepts it as truth, it’s just a matter of time. We'll need to be ready to flee at any given moment. Of course, I have no idea how we'll safely get past the island’s defenses... yet.”

  An unexpected relief spread through Ivan, even with his task still looming frighteningly ahead, and having no idea if he would actually succeed. At least if I fail, someone else knows and believes the truth... the truth will not die with me.

  “Be careful,” Ivan warned Bird again, realizing he could not afford to be complacent. He walked away, their conversation finished for now.

  Bird remained perched in the tree, satisfied with the outcome of his meeting with Ivan Crane. Things could finally move forward, and although he was currently stuck on the island, and unable to locate, protect or help Colin Jacoby, at least he was still able to watch over Meghan. He stayed in the tree, keeping a watchful eye as he waited for school to end.

  ##

  Inside the school, Jae led them down a dimly lit corridor and into a classroom. It was similar to the one they had lessons in while in Grimble. There was a circle of pillows, with one pillow for the teacher in the middle, floating and rotating a couple of feet in the air.

  Jae motioned for Meghan to follow and he sat down on a pillow, motioning for her to sit next to him. On the opposite side of the pillow circle was Daveena Troast. Apparently, somehow, she had been moved forward from beginner’s class to intermediate.

  Although still looking as though she had the potential to do great harm, she had lost that demeanor which caused fright just at her mere approach. Meghan wondered where her counterparts were. Was it possible they were in another class?

  The classroom door rushed open, two girls entering.

  “Oh, of course not,” moaned Meghan, her hopes dashed.

  Darcy Scraggs and Dulcy Hadrian were sure to make enough noise to be noticed as they stalked for open pillows to sit on.

  What surprised Meghan most, however, was that they did not take seats next to Daveena. And just as odd was that Daveena didn't seem to expect it either. They walked right past her and she did not give them a second look. Had she left Darcy's little trio? Were the Three D's now just two?

  Meghan's gaze followed Darcy and Dulcy as they rounded the room, scoffing at each student they passed by... until they came to Jae. Darcy stopped, making an extra noisy scene as she took the pillow next to his, and Dulcy the one next to her’s.

  “Hi, Jae,” spoke Darcy, in a voice that insinuated they had seen each other recently. Her eyes cried out wasn't that a great time we had, and her mouth turned up into a sly smile.

  Meghan had to work at keeping her jaw from dropping to the floor, while pretending not to notice.

  Jae replied to Darcy's greeting by flipping his hair so that it dangled in between him and Meghan, then tossing Darcy a sideways sneer.

  Meghan tried to catch Jae's eye but he refused her gaze.

  What didn't she know? What had happened to make Jae Mochrie and Darcy Scraggs, two people known to hate each other, act as if they were now friends?

  Were they now friends?

  Moreover, how would this have happened?

  Jae despised Darcy!

  Even Daveena seemed confused by Darcy's choice and threw Meghan a look that said, huh? Really?

  Meghan needed to have an in depth conversation with Ivan Crane, preferably, sooner than later.

  Part Two

  Sunlight beamed through stained glass windows, sending streams of colorful light dancing over the floor of the classroom in which Colby restlessly sat behind a desk. His piercingly blue eyes followed the dancing lights, rather than read the next question on his test.

  Jurekai Fazendiin, his father and teacher, cleared his throat from the front of the room, where he stood, arms folded, austerely overlooking his son’s progress.

  “Sorry, Father,” Colby instantly responded, turning his attention back to the test lying in front of him.

  “You only have ten minutes remaining. I suggest… focus.”

  Colby tried to focus on the test, but he was much more interested in the dancing lights as well as voice he was listening to in his mind: the voice of the girl, Meghan Jacoby. He had successfully been blocking this irritating girl’s voice for weeks, but suddenly today, he could not seem to tune it out. Irritating or not, her conversations are way more interesting tha
n world history… And why do I need to learn this stuff? It’s got nothing to do with magic!

  “Five minutes,” his father spoke sternly.

  Colby forced Meghan’s voice out of his thoughts and furiously finished his final answer, finishing with only seconds to spare. When he finished, he stood and handed the test to his father.

  “You can have a seat while I grade it,” Jurekai advised.

  “You’re gonna grade it now?” Colby whined.

  Jurekai did not reply but with a severe look motioned for Colby to sit.

  He plunked down, realizing he was on a sharp edge. “Sorry, Father,” he said again.

  Without looking at his son, his father said, “One of these days, possibly many years from now, you will understand the meaning behind these lessons, son. But believe me when I say, I have been around long enough to know that even the seemingly mundane or useless knowledge will one day prove needed.”

  Colby just replied, “Yes, Father,” and waited for his test results. He did not want to be stuck in this classroom, learning the history of a world he wasn’t a part of, and many years down the road or not, he could not see what use this knowledge would ever have to him. He stared blankly into the stained glass walls, watching the light fade as the sun moved too high to shine directly through.

  Stained glass walls now lined nearly every room of the Fazendiin estate, allowing Fazendiin Jurekai’s mother to move from room to room, along with them, as she remained imprisoned in the glass.

  The colors near the classroom door started to swirl and there was a soft rapping just outside the door.

  “Mother,” Fazendiin spoke softly. “Please enter.”

  His mother’s figure then swirled onto the glass where she nodded toward him.

  “My son. Someone approaches,” she announced.

  Fazendiin threw Colby’s test down and briskly hastened out of the classroom. Colby let out a sigh of relief, following his father to the front of the house, where they stepped outside into the crisp autumn air, and toward the front gate; the gate that required the blood sacrifice to enter.

  Only four people had ever entered through that gate: Colby, Colby’s mother (no longer allowed), his father and the gardener. Just outside of this gate, sitting to the left, was another building, also cloaked by magic. The location of this building was given to select few, and none were ever told that Fazendiin lived just a few steps away.

  Currently, only one person knew of this hidden meeting place, and his arrival meant one of two things: either his job was completed and successful, or more likely, that it had failed and there would be further delays.

  In order to keep his home secret, Fazendiin never used the blood sacrifice gate to enter this cloaked meeting place, which sat on a hillside overlooking a lake far below. The meeting place was circular in shape, windowless, and came to a point in the middle. To get to it, one had to climb a steep hill, following a narrow pathway from the lake to the top of the hill. But to see the pathway and the building, one also had to sacrifice blood.

  Colby trudged along, behind his father. Fazendiin may have been hundreds of years old, but he walked with the gait of a much younger man. He also stood over six feet tall, so his stride was longer than Colby's, and he had to take two steps for each of this father's.

  Fazendiin followed a hedge which ran alongside the front gate. Elisha, Colby’s catawitch, came sauntering up to his side, jumping into his arms.

  A few more steps along and they took a turn, inward, following a small pathway deeper into the gardens which surrounded the estate. Currently, every plant was in various states of decay, as frost had killed everything a week before. The gardener had been busy for weeks harvesting what both Colby and his father would eat that winter. Colby shuddered. Not because of the food. Not because of the impending winter, sure to come. He glanced back toward the estate. The thought of spending a long winter here, locked away inside with only his father and a grandmother that could only move from stained glass wall to another stained glass wall... it was just more than he wanted to think about.

  “You have me, don't forget,” Elisha shot into his thoughts.

  “Of course,” he said back to her. “But I know you don't want to be stuck here anymore than I do!” Colby secretly admitted he was glad of the irritating girl, Meghan, and that he could sometimes listen in on her thoughts, as this would at least provide him entertainment. Elisha grimaced, not caring for this new fascination of her master's.

  Fazendiin came to a stop in front of a towering rock, left behind from a glacier long ago. It was split in two and the tops were covered in prickly bushes, mosses and dying vines, which turned brown after freezing.

  The lower part of the split rock was sunken into the ground. Fazendiin walked to the center, where it had split, stepping into the crack, disappearing. Colby followed without hesitation. Upon his next step, Colby entered a circular shaped room. In the center stood a round wooden table, scratched and nicked from years of use. Six chairs surrounded the table. They were tall-backed with intricate carvings. Only upon close inspection could one decipher the carvings:faces, frozen in a single moment of extreme duress.

  Hanging over the table was an equal sized chandelier, which held hundreds of flickering candles.

  The room appeared to be empty other than the table, chairs and chandelier.

  Colby glanced back at where they had entered, but all he saw now was a bare wall.

  Colby took a seat, while Elisha hopped onto the table, sitting statuesquely to his side.

  Fazendiin took the seat next to his son, ordering, “Show yourself, KarNavan,” to their invisible visitor.

  The Striper leader materialized, seeming to peel away from the wall, the reptilian stripes he was so aptly named for forming on his skin. “Master,” he bowed. “I bring news.”

  “Sit,” bid Fazendiin.

  KarNavan bowed his head again and took a seat on the opposite side of the table. As he did, he nodded toward Colby. “Young master,” he greeted.

  Colby frowned at KarNavan's use of the term young, but returned his greeting with a silent nod. He never spoke in these meetings. He held his breath, however, in anticipation, as it had been KarNavan that had taken over his mission; the one his father had recalled him from in order to continue his schooling.

  “I see no book,” Fazendiin spoke, as if unsurprised.

  “No. No book. As you warned, it is proving more of a challenge than we hoped.” He added, “We have by no means given up.”

  “Continue,” spoke Fazendiin, as if not interested.

  “The book is not why I am here, Master. There is news on the Projector front.”

  “You located the child?” asked Fazendiin, his tone more interested.

  KarNavan nodded apprehensively in reply.

  “Found and then lost,” assumed Fazendiin.

  “Located. Lost. But... a new discovery… perhaps equal if not more so in value.”

  “And what could be as valuable as a young Projector, or the book of a dead one?”

  Colby twisted in his seat eager to learn what KarNavan had to say.

  KarNavan's eyes danced with dark excitement. “How about a long believed dead, very much living Projector?” He took an arrogant breath, leaning back in his chair.

  “The Projector’s were killed off by those stupid gypsy hunters,” Fazendiin argued, waving his hand as if this was a preposterous notion.

  “Well,” began the Striper, flashing his bright teeth, “they missed one.”

  Fazendiin looked sternly at KarNavan as if to say do not waste my time.

  The Striper leader did not back down. “When the young Projector escaped our clutches, we tracked the magic of an adult Projector. Just a short blip. It disappeared as fast as it appeared. But there is no mistake. There is a very much living and breathing Projector out there… somewhere.”

  Fazendiin’s eyes flashed desire for the shortest of moments, indicating his belief in this statement. “Does anyone else know of
this discovery?” he asked with restrained calm.

  KarNavan shook his head, acknowledging dutifully, “We know the value of this secret, Master.”

  “A priceless secret,” Fazendiin conceded. “One you will be paid appropriately for, once your new mission is complete.”

  KarNavan’s eyes lit up, expectant of this assignment.

  “Colby,” started his father. “School is canceled… for the time being,” he added upon seeing his son’s exuberant response.

  Colby could barely contain his impatience to get started. A new mission. Anything is better than school…

  His father turned back to KarNavan. “Wait here. My son will return shortly with instructions.”

  KarNavan nodded and stood as Fazendiin, Colby and Elisha departed back through what looked like a bare, solid wall. Fazendiin strode toward his estate at normal speed, appearing eager but in no need to hurry, while Colby huffed along behind him. Soon they were back inside the house and he followed his father into the safe room, where again, Fazendiin’s mother waited for them in her stained glass prison.

  “Mother,” he spoke lovingly, “please retrieve it for me.”

  She swirled out of sight, not even needing to ask what her son needed her to retrieve.

  “We must not allow this news to be discovered by the any others, especially, the Grosvenor,” advised Fazendiin, while they waited for her return. “We must be the ones to locate this mature Projector. If we can complete this mission, there will be nothing left in our way.” Desire eclipsed his usual stern control, and he continued fervently. “If we can complete this mission, my son, we will no longer need the book I've had you chasing after these last two years, or the missing power stone. The stone, although powerful enough to give immortality is nothing compared to a living Projector!”

  Colby nodded that he understood, sucking in a nervous breath. He was getting bored of chasing after the boy, Colin Jacoby, anyway.

  “This will be the most difficult task I have yet asked of you, my son. But I have the utmost trust that you will not fail me.” Fazendiin’s face turned hard as he spoke.