by John Corwin
"Oh, Ron, what did you do to your face?" the mother said.
Evadora pressed the bottle to the woman's cheek. "Cry for me, mother of Ron."
The woman jerked her head back as a tear shaded the bottle blue. "What are you doing, child?"
"This girl is beyond mental," Blue said in a low wavering voice. "She frightens me."
"I don't know what to make of her either," I said. "But I need her help if we're to stop my parents."
Shouts from Ron's father chased Evadora away from the scene. She raced past us and hid on the other side of the hedge. "Need more tears."
"So your people can feel again?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Did you make that boy trip?" Blue asked.
Evadora smiled. "I helped."
The lycan girl's forehead creased. "That was terribly cruel. He was bleeding!"
I could tell we didn't have much time before Evadora sprinted away, so I tried to bargain with her. "I will give you a lot of tears if you help me understand your people and why the man wants to free them."
Evadora's large eyes fixed on me. "All kinds of tears?"
"All colors of the rainbow," I assured her.
"Ooh," she said, her lips forming an O. "I will help if you help and we help each other get help."
Blue shook her head like a wet wolf shedding water. "What did you say?"
"She'll help," I said.
"For tears?" She backed away. "I won't cry for this strange little monster."
"Let's find the others," I said.
"But what about the picnic?" Blue said. "We didn't finish talking."
From what I remembered we hadn't been talking about anything important. "Do you need help cleaning up?"
Blue's expression went flat. "No, I'll clean it up." Her eyes narrowed at Evadora then she turned and stalked away.
"Aw, I thought she would make tears," the strange girl said. "It looked like she wanted to."
I felt guilty although Blue told me she didn't need my help cleaning up the picnic. Though I wanted to fake ignorance, I had a feeling Blue wanted more than friendship. I didn't need the inner voices of my parents to see what the purpose of the picnic had been. Blue was pretty and I enjoyed being around her, but I didn't know what else she expected of me.
"Let's find my friends," I told Evadora, and walked down the path to the main hall.
Evadora skipped along beside me, eyes bright. "What are friends?"
I stopped outside the door. "Friends are people you like to be around and they like to be around you."
She tilted her head to the side. "Strange. I do not have any of these friend people."
Perhaps it was a concept someone like her couldn't understand. I went inside and made sure she followed me. The long line for the school uniform fitting was considerably shorter, but the crowd had simply moved down the hall to the dining room. Other students cast curious looks at Evadora whose large eyes, green hair, and shimmering dress cast her apart from everyone else. Thankfully, her skin wasn't silver like the first time I met her.
Evadora noticed the attention and stared back at the onlookers.
"I could get a lot of tears here," she said.
"What kind of tears?" I asked, looking around for Ambria and Max.
"Mostly pain," Evadora replied. "I do not know how to make happy or sad tears."
"Does your bottle separate the tears?" I stepped into the dining room and spotted my friends near the back.
"Oh, yes. It makes them different." She took my hand. "So many people. So much noise."
"We'll leave here soon," I promised her.
Ambria flinched when she me and my guest. Max's eyes widened with concern.
"What in the world are you doing with her?" Ambria said. "Did Blue take you to see Evadora?"
I shook my head. "No, Blue took me on a picnic."
Ambria sniffed. "The nerve of that girl. She hardly even knows you, but acts like she's your best friend."
"I like picnics," Max said. "What kind of food did she bring?"
"Ham sandwiches." I waved off the topic before Max got his hopes set on ham. "Evadora came along after we finished eating. She wants more tears."
Max grinned. "Do I need to kick you in the knee, Conrad?"
"No, thankfully." I noticed curious looks from other students and felt uncomfortable remaining here. "If you're finished eating, let's go outside and talk about this."
"I sort of wanted dessert," Max said.
Ambria stood up. "Then sit here and gorge yourself. We'll be outside."
Max got up and grabbed his clothing parcel. "I didn't say I wasn't coming."
That reminded me I'd left my parcel with the picnic. I hope Blue holds onto it for me.
We went back outside to the Unicorn Garden and all the way to Colossus Stadium so we could be alone.
Ambria stopped when we reached our practice area. "So, what's this all about, Conrad?"
"I promised Evadora more tears if she helps us understand what's going on with my parents and her people." I looked at the odd girl. "Isn't that right?"
She nodded. "More tears for more help."
"Well, then," Ambria said. "Let's get started."
"Starting with what kind of supernatural you are," Max said.
Evadora clambered atop the large golem head, using the cracked crystal eye for a foothold. The rest of us followed until we all sat on top of it.
"I thought about your question. I asked what our people were called before the separation." Evadora traced a finger down a large crack in the head. "They called us Lyrolai."
Max frowned. "I've never heard of them."
"What's the name of your land?" I asked.
"It lost its name," she said sadly. "Once it was part of this world."
I scratched my head. "But this place is a pocket dimension."
"It is part of your world," Evadora said. "It touches our realm. This is what the queen told the people from Eden."
Ambria gave her a perplexed look. "The queen? What else did she tell them?"
"The man said he had read ancient texts about our world. He said he knew what the queen wanted the most." Evadora shook her head sadly. "He wants to help, but I do not think he can."
"I'm sure there's a price for his help," Max said. "What does the queen want the most?"
"To leave our world."
Ambria frowned. "What's keeping her there? You don't seem to have a problem crossing over."
"She will grow old and die in this world." Evadora closed her eyes and tilted her face to the sun. "I think it would be better to live this life and die than live forever in the Glimmer."
"The Glimmer?" Max and I said at the same time.
Evadora kept her face to the sun. "It is the after name, not the before name."
"Whatever that means," Ambria grumbled. "I take it the queen is immortal if she stays in the Glimmer?"
"Yes. She sent others to this world long ago, but they all died." Evadora looked away from the sun and blinked her eyes open. "One by one by one. She made them do things to see if they lived, but they died."
Max grimaced. "Of old age?"
Evadora stared at him. "Old age?"
"Yeah, when you get wrinkles on your skin." Max pinched his skin.
"Oh, yes." Evadora giggled. "Some people came back with all the wrinkles. They begged the queen to let them stay, but she sent them back, sent them back to die." She made a shooing motion with her hand then sang, "Go away and die, wrinkly man. Go away and die."
Ambria's mouth dropped open. "That's awful! She sent her own people back here to die?"
"Yes. All but my mummy." The girl's eyes went distant. "She lived the longest of them all. When she died, wrinkly old age did not take her."
"I'm so sorry to hear that, Evadora." I reluctantly put a hand on her shoulder. "How long did your mother live?"
"The queen called them centuries." Her hands rubbed frantically on her bottle. "Mummy came back after she had me. She left me with
the queen, but I ran away. Mummy came back again when she was sick. The queen told her she could never come back." Lips trembling, Evadora twisted the cork. "No, no, no. Do not waste emotions. Do not waste them, silly girl." She tucked the bottle somewhere back in her dress.
"The queen sounds like a monster," Max said in a rough voice. He looked at me. "If your parents are working with her, this is even worse than we thought."
I thought back to the dire warning from the Lady of the Pond and wondered if it had anything to do with the Glimmer. "Evadora, someone told me the anchored world must not be freed. Do you know what that means?"
Evadora sucked on her hair. "The Glimmer holds the realms together." Her eyes perked. "It anchors them."
Ambria looked confused. "How does it do that?"
"It just does." Evadora leaned down and rubbed her nose on the boulder. "The Glimmer is cold and numb. It has no feelings like Eden."
"If she's telling the truth, we just solved one of the oldest mysteries in the Overworld!" Max jumped to his feet. "Everyone's always wondered where the pocket dimensions came from and where they're located." He jabbed a finger toward the crack in the world. "The answer is right over there somewhere."
"I'm certainly not going into that rift thing," Ambria said. "You go right ahead if you want the glory."
Max shook his head. "No, that's not what I'm saying. We should go tell someone right now—someone like Galfandor who can explore it. Once he confirms everything, we'll get the credit for the find."
I shook my head. "There's only one thing we should be worried about right now, and that's what my parents are up to with the queen."
"You are wrong, Max." Evadora spread her arms and turned in a circle. "This is Eden, not the Glimmer. This is where your world touches mine." She leapt off the golem head and grabbed a handful of pebbles from the ground. The strange girl cleared a patch of sand and packed the pebbles together while the rest of us climbed down after her.
"What are you doing?" Ambria asked.
"Showing you." Evadora touched the pebbles. "Once there was one land ruled by a mighty being."
"By a god?" Ambria asked.
"God?" Evadora tried out the word a few more times. "God, god, god."
Ambria huffed. "Yes, a supreme being with incredible powers."
"Mummy said this word once when telling me the story," the other girl said. "Kathazal and the others of its kind were like gods."
Max fumbled the name. "Uh, so Kathazal was the one in charge?"
"Yes, it was." Evadora ran her fingers through the sand and shivered. "Other beings like it wanted control. Their war shattered"—she smashed a fist into the pebbles and scattered them across the sand—"the land. The realms drifted apart, lost from one another."
I dropped cross-legged onto the sand. "All the other realms were once part of Eden?"
"Oh, yes. Mummy called it the Sundering." She moved the pebbles into a circle. "Many mortals died and the gods were cast apart. Some realms had no god while others had one or more."
"This is amazing." Max rubbed his hands together. "There's a theory that all the realms were once one and Evadora can prove it! We're gonna be famous."
Ambria regarded Evadora with suspicion plain in her eyes. "Are you sure you're not making this up? It sounds like a fairy tale to me."
"Ask the queen," Evadora said. "She will tell you."
Max's enthusiasm waned. "I'm not so sure about talking with your evil queen." He looked at me. "Maybe we should just tell Galfandor and leave it at that."
"The queen is not evil; the queen is not good," Evadora said. "The queen just is."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I said.
"I told the queen about you."
My heart nearly stopped beating. "What do you mean you told her about me?"
Evadora tilted her head. "She knows who you are, Conrad. She wants to meet you."
Chapter 11
I jumped up and backed away. "Why does the queen want to see me?"
"I did not ask why." Evadora approached me, huge eyes blinking innocently. "You have so many questions. Maybe it is a good idea."
"You don't trust her do you, Conrad?" Max stepped in between me and the girl. "She's mental."
Ever since Evadora changed her skin to a peach tone, I felt a sense of déjà vu whenever I looked at her face. I shook from my thoughts. "Oddly, I do trust her. Her tale about the realms seems too strange to make up."
Max blew out a breath. "You're crazy if you go with her."
"I hate to agree with Max," Ambria said, "but in this case, I think he's right."
Max frowned. "Thanks, I think."
Evadora grabbed my hand and tugged. "Come, Conrad, come!"
Ambria grabbed my other hand. "Stay, Conrad, stay!"
"Leave him alone." Max tried to pry Evadora's fingers off mine.
Evadora abruptly let go, and Ambria and I tumbled to the ground. The Lyrolai girl knelt next to us and whispered, "I promise I won't ever chew your bones, Conrad. I promise all the way to the top."
"Chew his bones?" Ambria shrieked. "You're a little monster."
"No," Evadora shook her head vehemently. "I am not a monster." She touched my knee. "I know you want to come, Conrad."
I desperately wanted to meet the queen, but Evadora's promise about chewing my bones unsettled me, to say the least. "I don't think I should."
Her eyes narrowed and air hissed between her teeth. "I see right through your skin, Conrad. Your words are lies."
I gulped and backed away. "Now I definitely don't want to come with you."
Evadora frowned and stood up. "If I make the way safe, will you come?"
"Even if there weren't creepy light guardians in the rift, I'd be scared to death of you," Max said.
"What if I know how to make you safe?" she asked.
Ambria shook her head. "At this point, I'm not sure anything you say would help."
Evadora looked at me. "Bring me the green pebble."
An image of Cora's lucky green pebble flickered into my mind. I sucked in a breath. "How do you know about that?"
"Bring it to me," she repeated. "I will meet you at the gate to the Fairy Garden tomorrow morning. I will show you the safe way." Evadora grabbed my hand and jerked me upright with ease. "Do not be afraid." She raced away in a flash.
"What's that about a green pebble?" Max asked.
"I've seen it," Ambria said. "You used to sit in the hall at the orphanage and rub it."
"It was Cora's lucky pebble. I kept it after she died." My vision grew blurry. "When Ambria and I came here, I put it in a closet with my other things at Levi Rax's house. I lost it after the house collapsed."
Ambria's eyes twitched at the mention of the brother she'd never known—the one who'd tried to murder me. My shovel to the back of his head had killed him instead.
Max scratched his head. "What's so special about a green pebble?"
I shrugged. "Cora, told me it was her lucky pebble." Images from the psychological test flashed through my head, sending a chill down my back.
Ambria put a hand on my arm. "She's the one you think of as your real mother, isn't she?"
I nodded and swallowed a knot in my throat. "Seeing her die was part of my test yesterday."
Max and Ambria grimaced.
"That's awful," Max said. "My brothers and sisters teased and beat me up in my psychological exam." He looked at Ambria. "What happened in yours?"
She glanced at me and her face flushed. "I'd rather not talk about it."
Max flashed a grin. "Let me guess—your hair was a mess and you had no brush."
Ambria put her hands on her hips. "Yes, Max, that's it precisely."
"I'm going to find the pebble," I told the others.
"That house is a wreck." Max tossed one of the pebbles against the golem head. "We'd have to dig through tons of rubble to find anything."
"Max is right," Ambria said. "How are we supposed to find something as small as a pebble in that mess?"
"I think I have an idea," I told them and headed back toward the university so I could get my broom.
"Well, I hope it's a good idea," Ambria said.
We left Colossus Stadium, walked back through the Unicorn Garden, and retrieved our brooms from the broom rack in the front hall of the university. After flying back to the house at the corner of Dowling and Bucket, I went upstairs to my room and rummaged in a bag of supplies Galfandor had previously given us. I found what I was looking for in the form of a black bottle.
"What is that?" Max asked.
"It's what destroyed Levi Rax's house," I said.
He stared with horror at the bottle. "You've been keeping that here all this time?"
"Conrad, where did you get that potion?" Ambria asked. "I thought Galfandor only gave us one rot potion."
"He gave us three bottles," I replied. "We only used one to destroy the Goodleigh's orphanage."
"I don't understand what you plan to do with it," Max said.
I went back downstairs and climbed on my broom. "Then I'll just have to show you."
We flew several blocks over and found the derelict house in the same condition we'd left it. While exploring a secret tunnel in the basement, we'd accidentally freed a massive frogre. The creature chased us into the basement and knocked over a shelf with a bottle of rot potion on it. The liquid had crumbled the wooden foundation and destroyed the house.
I landed next to the pile of rubble and estimated where my room had been. With a pop, the cork came out and I poured the rot potion liberally on the wood.
With a sound like a thousand termites gnawing, the rot potion smoked and turned the wood into brown sandy dust. We backed away and watched as the potion ate away at the rubble until only stone and piles of dust remained.
"Conrad, you're brilliant," Ambria said.
Max grunted. "Should have brought a sifter."
I hadn't thought of that, but at least we wouldn't have to worry about jagged wood and nails and could dig through sand instead.
"I'm surprised the city never cleared the lot," Max said. "Guess the government just doesn't care anymore."
"Most streets aren't lit at night, I never see Templars patrolling, and half the houses seem unoccupied." Ambria regarded a pile of rot ash. "I believe the government and everyone else stopped caring about this city a long time ago."