Chosen by Shay West Page B

her shoulder.
    “Can someone please tell me what is going on? Kaelin, what could you have done to drive Jon away?” Mistress Stone said. Kaelin took a deep breath to still her sobs and blew her nose on a delicate lace handkerchief. She tentatively met Mistress Stone's eyes and seeing only worry and concern in their blue depths, she felt a little better.
    “I didn't mean to drive Jon away, honest! Well, I did mean to drive him away, from me, but…” Her breath hitched with emotion “I didn't know he would run away”
    “Why would you want to send Jon away?” Master Brok moved closer to the distraught girl and laid a hand on her shoulder. He could feel her trembling. Whatever had happened, this girl truly blamed herself for Jon's disappearance.
    She kept her eyes glued to the ground as she told everyone how Jon had been behaving since the incident with Saemus and her at Midsummer Festival. She thought she was to blame for his unwanted attention, and she felt ashamed. Why, she couldn't say, but she felt it all the same. She explained how she had talked with Jon and made her feelings clear.
    “The conversation happened eight days ago, Mistress Stone.”
    Master Brok turned and gazed across the Town Center, trying to gather his whirling thoughts. He had been given a sacred duty to watch over the Chosen, and one had run away. Over a girl! He shook his head in disgust, more at himself than at the boy. His heart raced as he imagined Jon injured or perhaps dead. How could I have missed his being absent for a week? . He turned abruptly as he heard Beth speaking.
    “—and I will need all of you to run and gather the Village Council at Town center. We shall have to begin searching in the Stone Mountains, as that is our only clue….”
    I must put a stop to this! The last thing he needed was to be saddled with a bunch of men who all thought they would know best where to look for the boy.
    “Wait!” Brok's voice cut into the excited chatter of the young people, who were all too glad to have something to do that might help find their classmate and friend. “I have a better idea.” Brok turned to Beth. “Let me and the others go in search of Jon.” He indicated the students, who now stood open-mouthed at his suggestion. “We all have use of magic and will be better able to find him. The truth of the matter was that Brok could not afford to allow the Chosen out of his sight. What if the signs appeared while he was out searching? What if something happened to one of the Chosen while he was gone?
    “Well…I'm not sure…” Beth chewed her lip as she looked at the faces of the four students.
    “My students are more than capable of handling whatever we may face on our journey.” The Chosen all stood a little taller. Praise from Master Brok was a rare gift. “And they shall be with me; no harm will come to them.”
    Beth seemed to take Master Brok's words to heart. All the young people did know magic. She would not soon forget the day that Saemus and Kaelin had healed that little boy. Since then, their combined powers had been tested several times and what they could achieve together was extraordinary.
    She began to see the wisdom in the Mystic's idea. This meant that none of the menfolk had to be gone during the harvest. There was no telling how far Jon had gone in a week. He could be on the other side of the Sea of Solace by now.
    “Go now, Mistress Stone, to Master Cawlins and tell him all that has transpired here. Tell him of my decision to take the students and go after Jon.”
    Mistress Stone nodded and took her leave. Brok hoped this story would have a happy ending.

    * * *

    Brok and the Chosen were ready to set out. The other parents had to be convinced of the wisdom of Master Brok's decision to take his students along. It was especially difficult for the Barlow twins and Keera Flint, whose parents lived in Willow Haven and Oak Brook. The old Mystic had personally traveled to each village, giving assurances that