by John Corwin
"Yes, and they will kill me," I remind him.
"Moses, as Ezzek Moore, was your grandfather. You share his blood. Somewhere in that lovely soul of yours flows the power of the first Arcane." Victus offers his kindly smile again. The kind he uses to get what he wants. "I believe the guardians will let you pass."
"The first power." Serena steps between us and looks up at me with curiosity. "Do you really think she can touch it as Moses did, even with the demon stains on her soul?"
"I am certain. That is why I allowed the demonic taint to fade from her." Victus pushes me onto the invisible bridge. "She will survive."
The wail of the guardians echoes faintly through the stars as they notice my attempt at trespass. My legs freeze, but Victus shoves me hard. I fall and scrape my knees on the invisible stone.
"Go, woman!" Victus motions me on.
I stand. Blood trickles from the wounds in my knees. A few steps more and I'll stand where the guardians vaporized the demon. A barrier forms at my back.
I spin and try to go back, but Victus extends his wand, using a shield spell to force me onward.
"Please, no!" I pound on the invisible barrier. Tears stream from my eyes. "Victus, stop!"
The guardians swoop down. I press my back to the shield and face them as their wails reach fever pitch. Arcs of plasma surge toward me.
Something snatches me backward. I land hard on the bridge. Rough stone skins my elbows and hands. Tears drip from my eyes and blood pools beneath my new wounds.
Victus sneers down at me. "Useless woman."
"Completely removing the demon influence might allow her to touch the first power, Victus." Serena looks down at me dispassionately—the gaze of a scientist at a lab rat. "With that power, you would be unstoppable."
"I don't want her to have it." Victus jabs a finger at his chest. "I want it for myself."
I try to crawl between them. To escape my tormentors. But Victus cuffs me on the back of the head. He fastens the choker around my neck—the infernal totem. Needles press into my skin. The nauseating sensation of demon essence seeps into my veins. Soon, I'll be his little monster again.
I jerked from the memory, my face wet with tears that still trickled down to my chin and dripped off. Mom, I'm so, so sorry you had to live like that. Victus nearly killed her in his attempts to cross into the Glimmer. I really wanted to know more, but if it meant reliving another horrible memory, I didn't think I could do it.
The void. Those words stirred Lulu's words from my memory. You stand alone at the void of the rift…or something like that. Did it have something to do with the rift between our realm and the Glimmer? Or had her words been metaphorical? I tried to work through it with logic, but the memory of my mother awakened more terrors from my past.
Images of her holding a knife to my throat, of my father gloating, flashed into my mind's eye. I gasped in fright and wiped tears from my face. I needed to recover with something mindless.
I composed myself and went into the kitchen. I wasn't hungry, but I didn't want to be alone anymore. There was only one person who could cure this melancholy feeling. I made a couple of brisket sandwiches, and poured some water into the canteen. Stan helped me find two pairs of galoshes and raincoats and let me borrow his biggest umbrella.
I found Ambria lying on the couch reading while Natalia played Monopoly with Nightliss and Ivy in the middle of the family room. I waved at Ambria to get her attention. "Are you hungry?"
She sat up and groaned. "Not really, but I suppose I could eat."
When we got into the kitchen I handed her raincoat and pointed to a pair of galoshes. "Put those on."
Ambria raise an eyebrow. "Were going out in the rain?"
I nodded. "I thought it would be nice to go out for a walk."
She smiled. "I think anything is better than listening to Ivy yell at everyone when they're beating her at Monopoly."
Ivy screamed in the other room. "I will not go to jail again!"
We looked at each other and burst into laughter.
I put on a pair of galoshes and a raincoat and opened the back door. It was raining quite heavily, the water flying sideways in sheets. "Ladies first."
Ambria giggled. "Aren't you the gallant one?" She pulled the hood of the raincoat up over her face and hunched against the wind as she stepped outside. Thankfully the long raincoat and tall galoshes seemed to protect her from the elements.
I stepped up behind her and closed the door. Hooking an arm in hers I guided her down the gravel path toward the pasture. Despite the raincoat, water still got in past the hood and trickled down my neck. Some of Ambria's hair drooped wetly out of the edges of her hood. We walked for about five minutes and finally reached the tree where I had prepared our picnic.
The large umbrella had blown away and now lay in the middle of a flock of curious sheep. The soaked picnic blanket covered the basket with the sandwiches. I ran over, peeled away the blanket, and opened the basket. Aside from the canteen of water everything inside was a soggy mess.
Ambria burst into laughter. "Did you really try to arrange a picnic in the middle of a thunderstorm?"
I closed the basket and nodded. "It wasn't raining this hard when I arranged it. I thought it would be nice."
Ambria wiped her eyes. "Besides saving me from a lifetime of slavery at an orphanage and rescuing me from all sorts of other evildoers, this is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."
I laughed. "Well, you and Max have saved me plenty of times." I rolled up the soggy blanket, and picked up the basket. Ambria and I walked toward the sheep. The woolly creatures walked toward us, bleating, bells jingling on collars around their necks.
"They must think we're bringing them treats," Ambria said. She reached into the basket and pulled out the soggy sandwiches. "I wonder if sheep like brisket."
"I doubt it but they'll probably eat the bread." I took one of the sandwiches and tossed it to the sheep. The lone ram of the herd trotted over and nibbled at the bread.
Ambria threw hers in the opposite direction and laughed with delight when the rest of the flock chased after it. She splashed through the mud and grabbed the large umbrella as the wind threatened to blow it away again. When she picked it up, a strong gust nearly lifted her off her feet before she was able to close it.
We stood in the gusting rain watching lightning split the horizon and feeling the rumble of thunder in our bones. Ambria took my hand and kissed me on the cheek. "Thank you, Conrad. I know things didn't go exactly to plan, but I've had a wonderful time."
Warmth spread through my cheek. I looked over at the one person who'd been with me every step of the way since our escape from Little Angel Orphanage. She'd blossomed into such a pretty girl. She was like a sister to me. Without her, life would be unbearable.
I wanted to say something, wanted to let her know how I felt, but a sudden buzzing in my pocket startled me. I fished inside the raincoat and pulled out my arcphone.
At last, the call I'd been waiting for was here.
Chapter 7
"It's Gwyneth," I said.
Ambria blinked rapidly. "Oh, finally." She sounded disappointed for some reason. She took out her wand and cast a shield spell to keep the rain off the phone.
I looked at the shimmering barrier and snorted. "Maybe I should've used magic instead of an umbrella to protect the picnic."
I answered the call. Gwyneth's face appeared on the screen. Purple and blue underlined her left eye. A long scratch down her cheek on the same side hinted that her quest had not entirely gone to plan. "Are you okay?"
She nodded wearily. "It could've been much worse, believe me. The worst part is there wasn't even a relic there. It was all part of an elaborate trap designed to mislead anyone else looking for the relic."
Ambria's forehead wrinkled with concern. "A trap? What hit you in the face?"
"A small rock, thankfully." Gwyneth touched her left eye and winced. "If a much larger one had hit me I wouldn't be speaking
to you right now." She held up a hand as if to ward off further questions. "Look, I can tell you all about it when I see you. For now, I need to know how to find you."
I wasn't quite ready to trust her with the location of Stan's house, so I gave her a location that was a comfortable distance away, but still easily reachable for us by regional train. "Meet us at the leaning Tower of Pisa."
Gwyneth hesitated, nodded. "I can't blame you for not entirely trusting me, Conrad, but I promise I will do all I can to help you."
"When can you meet us there?" I asked her.
"How does six o'clock this evening sound?"
I did some quick calculations in my head. Nodded. "We'll see you on the south side of the tower at that time." I ended the call and sighed with relief. "Thank goodness she survived."
Ambria looked at the time on my phone. "How long will it take us to reach Pisa?"
I'd already looked at the train schedule online. "About four hours by regional train."
"Then we better get going." Something gurgled. Ambria's eyes flared with surprise as she put a hand on her stomach.
I laughed. "Maybe we should eat some lunch first."
She nodded vigorously. "Yes, we should."
We went inside, had a quick bite to eat, and found Max playing checkers with Stan. Max looked at us expectantly. I nodded.
This is the tricky part. "Stan, we want to sightsee today. Could we get a ride to the train station?"
Stan looked out the window at the gray skies and pouring rain. "Not exactly the best day for that. Weather is supposed to clear up for tomorrow. Why don't you wait until then?"
"Uh, I don't mind the rain," Max said.
I shrugged. "Yeah it would just be nice to get out of the house even if it's raining."
Stan hesitated. Shrugged. "Sure. Let me get my raincoat."
While he was getting that the three of us grabbed our wands, satchels with extra clothes, and any other supplies we might need, then waited inside the black Range Rover in the garage.
"Wish we had brooms," Max grumbled. "Trains are slow."
Ambria sniffed. "I don't fancy flying in the rain, so a train is perfect. Besides, we left our brooms in Colombia."
Stan shuffled into the garage and hopped in the driver's seat. "Where you kids going today?"
"Just thought we'd ride the trains around," I said.
The garage door was already open, so he backed out. "You have money?"
I nodded. "I learned it's good to keep money on me in case of emergencies."
Stan chuckled. "I'll bet you've had a few of those." He steered onto the gravel road and headed toward town. "Do you have any Euros?"
"Um, a few." I hoped I could exchange pounds for the other currency somewhere.
We reached the train station about half an hour later and said our goodbyes to Stan.
The locks clicked down before we got out. Stan turned in his seat and gave us stern looks. "I know you're not going sightseeing."
"But—"
He shushed me. "I figure I can't do much to stop you if you really want to go chasing after Asha and Galfandor, but I would like you to listen to me for a moment."
Ambria sighed. "I know we're just kids, but we've been through a lot, Stan."
"Yes, and you know how to handle yourselves." Stan patted her hand. "You're not dummies, but you don't have a lot of experience. I think Asha and Galfandor know what they're doing. I think you'd be better off staying at home, but I know trying to talk you out of this won't work. Just think before you leap, and call me if you need any help, okay?"
"You probably could've told Natalia to keep us at the house," Max said. "She's stronger than all of us."
Stan snorted. "Natalia's got a mind of her own. She probably would've joined you."
I held out a hand. Stan took mine and shook it. "Thank you, Granddad Stan."
He squeezed my hand. "Of course, son. Take good care of yourselves."
Ambria leaned through the gap between the seats and hugged him. "We will."
Max shook his hand, and we got out. As the Range Rover pulled away, I realized I clenched something in my hand. I opened it and found a transit pass inside. "Stan must have slipped it into my hand," I said.
Ambria smiled fondly. "It feels good having someone watch out for us."
"Yeah, it's kinda strange." Max stared wistfully as the car vanished into the rain. "Hope we don't get ourselves killed now."
Ambria groaned. "Don't be so negative."
I went into the small train station and used the transit pass to get us three tickets to Pisa. We sat on a bench outside and browsed the Overnet on my arcphone for news of the Overworld. The official site of the Arcane Council flashed a hologram of my face with the word WANTED in all caps above my phone.
A young woman sitting on a bench across from us gasped in surprise. She asked us something in Italian, but I couldn't understand her.
Max grabbed the phone and banished the hologram. "They must've used a script to make it pop up like that." He growled. "I hate pop-ups."
"How did you do that?" the woman asked in broken English.
"Experimental phone," Max said.
She frowned. "What app?"
The trained squealed into the station and saved us from further questioning. The cars looked mostly empty so we chose one near the middle and sat in the back away from a lively group of old people. One of the men held out a bottle of wine to the woman on his right. She took a healthy swig and passed it on.
"Italians certainly know how to live it up," Max said. "It's the middle of a work day and they're drinking like it's the weekend."
"I've never seen much outside of England." Ambria leaned back in her seat and sighed.
"Uh, the Glimmer?" Max said. "The Grotto, Queens Gate? Should I go on?"
"I mean of the normal world, Max." Ambria folded her arms and delivered a cross look. "It would be nice to travel to a land where the wild creatures aren't trying to kill me for once."
Max grinned. "Then let's stay away from Australia."
His casual mention of the Glimmer returned my thoughts to Cora. I'd missed her terribly after she died—so much so that I'd traveled to the ends of the Glimmer so I could resurrect her. Now that she'd walled herself off from me, she might as well be dead again.
Max nudged me with an elbow. "What's the glum face for?"
I shook my head. "Just thinking of Cora."
"Yeah, what's her deal?" Max grunted. "We nearly died bringing her back to life and now she won't even see us anymore."
Ambria squeezed my hand. "I'm sure once she gets her powers back under control, she'll be happy to let us visit again." She let go of my hand and tapped my phone screen. "Let's look at something funny online."
"Yeah." I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to forget about Cora for the time being. I wasn't in the mood for mindless reading, so I opened a web browser and went to the Overworld News Network website. The video stream automatically started to play.
A lovely blond woman with glowing red eyes smiled into the camera. "Little Jimmy, his parents, and most of the church congregation are expected to survive the demon-summoning accident, and Custodians are onsite providing complimentary mind wipes to those who want to unsee the horrors a crawler can inflict on living beings."
A square-jawed man in teal robes chuckled. "You might say they had a hell of a time, Darcy."
Darcy giggled. "Yes, indeed, Dennis. At least we know little Jimmy got plenty of exorcise yesterday."
Dennis guffawed. "Along with most of the church congregation." He turned to the camera, the levity abruptly vanishing from his features. "In other news, Primus Tiberius has announced new school reforms. All history texts are now updated to the new standard, telling the true story of Justin Slade and how he engineered the downfall of the Overworld government."
"That's right, Dennis." Darcy looked down at a stack of parchment in her hands. "New reports indicate that had the Overlord not banished Slade and his minions to
another realm, they might even now rule us all as slaves."
Dennis's brow furrowed. "With more on that report, here's Blaine Stevens."
A picture of Justin Slade, his face morphing into demon form flashed onto the screen. "Corruption. Power. Absolute destruction." A young news reporter appeared, face grim. "According to revised history, Justin Slade was a hero. But students at Arcane University discovered a treasure trove of original documents revealing that this so-called savior, was anything but."
A young girl sitting in a chair read from a piece of parchment. "Justin Slade wanted absolute control of everyone. He liked to morph into demon form and eat virgins." She looked with worried eyes at someone behind the camera. "That's what it says on the documents we found."
The scene switched to that of an office. A man in gray Arcane robes sat before a shelf of leather-bound books and looked seriously at someone off-camera. "He was driven by greed, lust, and the need to destroy anyone who opposed him."
The camera switched to Blaine now sitting in a chair across from the man. "Do you think his people rewrote history to make him seem like a hero, Professor Hobbes?"
"Absolutely." Hobbes stared directly at the camera. "In fact, the same people rewrote history to make the Overlord, the man who actually saved us from Slade, look like the villain." He shook his head sadly. "It's time to put Arcanes first. I pray Primus Tiberius can fix the mess we're in now."
"Are you kidding me?" Max swiped the video off my screen. "What is that rubbish?"
"Isn't it obvious, Max?" Ambria scowled. "Victus is rewriting history. When he comes out of the shadows, he'll be welcomed as a savior."
Max scowled. "But who in the world would believe this rubbish?"
"The ones who want to believe." I stared out the window at the passing scenery. "We just have to hope people don't believe the propaganda."
"People are sheep," Max said. "They read something or see something and think it's true."
"Don't we have videos of our own we could get out there?" Ambria said.
"We can't exactly get it on the Overworld News," Max said. "Maybe one of the social websites would work, but I don't have many friends on them."