by John Corwin
Evadora pointed a finger at one moon and spun on her heel. "Not planets, Conrad. Those are realms."
Max gasped. "Realms like Seraphina?"
Though the cloud cover blocked a good view of the surface, I noticed at least two of the worlds had nearly identical continents to Europe. One looked nice and green, while the other was the beige of desert sand.
Evadora pointed them out. "Eden, Seraphina, and Sturg." She whirled a finger. "Aquilis and Draxadis are on the other side."
"What about that white one there?" Max said.
She shook her head. "Some are dead."
"That's not all of them," Max said. "What about all the others?"
"Some are dead," she replied. "Some we do not know what they are called."
"What in the world is that—a black hole?" Ambria pointed to a swirling darkness directly above the moon.
"The Abyss," Evadora replied in a hushed tone. "The old gods are trapped inside."
I felt as though the longer I stared at it, the more something within stared back out at me, as if the prisoners could see the tiny speck I called a body.
"Can you go to the other realms from here?" Max held up a hand as if he could touch the moon. "It looks like you could climb to the top of that mountain and touch the moon."
Evadora giggled. "From the mountaintop, you can see all the realms hanging in place, but you cannot reach any of them." She plucked a blade of the purple grass. It struggled in her hand like a snake, much to her amusement.
Ambria shrieked and hid behind Max. "I don't like this place one little bit."
I stared at the mountain, fascinated with the nameless realms slowly orbiting the great green moon. Had people once lived in all of them, or were they born lifeless when the gods sundered the world? It made me feel even smaller in the grand scheme.
"Where did the tunnel between our worlds come from?" Max asked.
"The old man cracked the world," Evadora said.
I looked away from the moon. "My father did this?"
She shook her head. "No. Your father made the hole bigger. The old man cracked the world so he could find help here. Help against the Seraphim."
"Justin Slade?" Ambria said.
Max grunted. "Justin Slade isn't that old."
I sucked in a quick breath as another name came to me. "Was it Galfandor who made the hole?"
Evadora's forehead pinched. "His name was Moses."
"Whoa." Max looked back at the crack. "He must have done it during the First Seraphim War."
Ambria shrunk away from the long grass. "Can we please leave this awful meadow and go to the queen?"
"Yep!" Evadora pointed toward the crooked mountain. "She lives up there." Without another word, she skipped through the grass toward the dense forest. At the last minute, two trees uprooted and stepped away from each other.
Ambria jerked to a halt. "Those trees just walked!"
Max didn't look too surprised. "Just like the ones in the Fairy Garden used to."
"Walking trees?" Ambria regarded the forest suspiciously. "Can they grab us with their branches?"
Evadora petted one of the trees like a cat. "They move for us. They will not hurt you."
Why are my friends so frightened? By now, Evadora had plenty of chances to hurt us. I walked over to the tree and touched it. The bark felt strange—like chitin on a bug, but jagged. "The trees won't hurt us. Let's go."
Max took Ambria's hand and led her forward. I turned back to our guide. "We're ready."
Evadora clapped her hands. "This way." Past the glade, a curving path, lit by what looked like large pulsating mushrooms, wound through the dense forest. Unsettling chittering and clacking noises emanated from the darkness, and shadowy shapes skittered across the way.
Ambria screamed and grabbed her hair. "Something touched me."
"Stay on the path, the path, the path," Evadora sang, seemingly unconcerned about the creatures hiding in the forest.
Max and Ambria huddled together and walked slowly. I couldn't stop thinking about the queen and how Evadora knew about Cora's green pebble. The desire for answers burned in my stomach and subdued my fear. I had to know more.
The quest for knowledge is the quest for power, Vic said.
Della added her own thoughts. The weak fear treading the path to glory. Perhaps this boy is worth saving after all.
Perhaps, my father replied. We shall see.
I'm in here too, you know, I said to the voices in my head. Just because you were parts of my parents' souls doesn't mean you have to be like them. You could be better.
They didn't answer.
I wondered how much knowledge those soul fragments held. Did they still have a link to my parents, or were they limited to me? Could my parents still sense them?
"Oh, this is the lovely part." Evadora bounced on her toes and pointed to a light at the end of the forest tunnel. "You will like this so much."
"Thank goodness," Ambria said. "I can't wait to get out of this unbearable place."
Max stepped up the pace, guiding her with him. "Me either."
"Come!" Evadora loped down the path.
I ran after her, the others close on my heels and skidded to a halt at a precipitous ledge. My stomach felt as though it had dropped into a bottomless pit. Staring back at me was a chasm of nothing but space and stars. A giant tree arched over the infinite drop and met another tree in the middle, where they twined together and rose into a majestic umbrella of crimson leaves.
Ambria's lips peeled back in a silent cry of terror. Max got down on his hands and knees and peered over the cliff. "There's no bottom," he whimpered. "What happens if you fall?"
Evadora looked down. "Why would you fall?" She pointed to the tree trunk. "There is a bridge."
The tree had a gradual incline so as to be almost flat except where it curved directly up in the middle with the other tree. The trunk looked wide enough to accommodate a car. I looked toward the mountain. The answers are there. Without waiting for Evadora, I stepped onto the tree bridge, my vertigo rinsed away by impatience.
She jogged up beside me. "You are not afraid, Conrad."
"Why would I be?" I asked. "You promised not to chew on my bones."
Evadora nodded vigorously. "Yes. I will keep your bones safe." She pointed up at the tree tops in the middle of the bridge. "From there you can see everything."
"How far are we from the queen?" I pointed toward the crooked mountain.
"Not far." We reached the top of the bridge.
I looked out, filled with wonder at the sight spreading out below. The land looked as though it had been shattered into islands and set to drift in outer space. As with this island and the next, giant trees bound the broken shards together.
Evadora looked back and laughed. "Your friends are so frightened."
I glanced at Max and Ambria. Though their faces were pale as ghosts, they hurried to catch up with us.
"Conrad, please wait," Ambria said, voice trembling.
Max looked from side to side, eyes blinking with disbelief. "This world is broken." He pointed to other floating islands with tree bridges in the distance. "It's not shaped like a planet at all."
"The anchored world was crushed by the other realms," Evadora said. "It was broken to keep the others whole." She resumed walking.
"How many people live here?" I asked, trying to make conversation so the others wouldn't think about the endless void beneath us.
"Many," Evadora said. "But not so many as Eden." She sighed wistfully. "The people are in the unbroken land on the other side of the mountain, but I never see them."
"What does the queen think about you running off to Eden?" Ambria asked.
"She does not care." Her huge eyes filled with pain. "The queen looks so alive." She touched my arm. "She feels warm to the touch like you." Her fingers traced my lips. "She feels soft." Her gaze found mine. "Do not be fooled. She is dead inside."
Ambria shivered. "Is she really so cold and emotionless?"
>
The other girl nodded. "Yes. Everyone who lives here is like that." She proceeded to the middle of the bridge where the two trees met and walked along a thick branch that curved around to the other side. Though the branch was wide, it was only half as wide as the rest of the bridge and even I felt the pull of vertigo on my senses.
In the distance, a dark cloud of birds swirled into the air and funneled in our general direction us, the flock changing directions seemingly at random.
"You have emotions," I said.
Evadora skipped along the branch, completely unconcerned, or perhaps supremely confident in her ability to stay balanced. "Because I go to Eden. I gather tears in my bottle."
I followed slowly, glad there was no wind to threaten us. The birds whooshed by overhead with a cacophony of warbling shrieks. Several of them gathered in the branches and stared at us curiously. With furry webbed wings and feline heads, I realized these were more like bats than birds. They took off nearly as quickly as they'd landed, vanishing into a forest of spiky trees.
Ambria watched the last one take flight. "What were those things?"
"More importantly," Max said, "do they eat people?"
Evadora laughed. "Mewlies eat anything. I saw them swarm a pony and strip it to bones in no time."
"Oh my." Ambria's knees wobbled. "I'm glad they didn't attack us."
"They usually don't eat people because the queen keeps them away." Evadora hopped to the wider section of the tree bridge.
"The queen controls them?" Max asked.
The girl nodded. "She can if she wants."
That ability reminded me uncomfortably of Levi Rax mind-controlling a flock of sheep and ordering them to stomp me to death, so I pushed away such thoughts.
We reached the other side of the bridge and walked down it toward the next island. Below, wind traced patterns in wide fields of grass. Herds of miniature ponies galloped across the land, pursued by sand-colored elephants only a little larger than their prey.
"They're so cute," Ambria said. "Look at the tiny horses and elephants." For the first time since entering the Glimmer, she smiled.
One of the ponies turned on the elephants and opened its mouth to reveal rows of jagged teeth. It bit into the other creature and a fierce fight ensued. The elephant's trunk coiled around the horse like a snake, fangs burying themselves in the pony's hide. Black blood sprayed across the grass and the equine whinnied horribly, going silent and limp.
Ambria shrieked and looked away.
Max gasped. "This place is filled with little monsters."
"Monsters are good," Evadora said and continued walking. She led us around the field and to another tree bridge. The crooked mountain sat on the other side, lights glittering at the top. "The queen is there," she announced.
We walked across the chasm and reached the base of a steep cliff on the other side. Evadora walked right up to the shiny black rock and pointed at her feet. "Stand next to me."
We did as instructed.
"Is there a door in the cliff?" Max asked.
Evadora ran a finger on the rock face and we suddenly hurtled straight up with nothing below us. Ambria gripped me frantically and buried her face in my chest. Max shouted and squeezed his eyes shut. Wind whipped our hair about our faces and made my eyes water.
I met Evadora's calm unblinking gaze. She grinned. "Before the tears, I never knew how much fun this is."
It took everything I had to keep my knees from turning to jelly. Despite my earlier bravado, flying straight up a cliff without any visible means of support terrified me. I held onto Ambria and drew as much comfort from her as she seemed to from me.
Seconds later, we drew level with a wide stone terrace. I quickly stepped onto visible rock and just as quickly stopped, stunned by the mesmerizing view. The entire Glimmer spread out before me. Huge portions of unbroken land spread out to one side of the mountain, while the area we'd come from looked like an unfinished puzzle held together by bridges of living trees.
Herds of unidentifiable animals swept across a barren plain in the distance. A flock of birds erupted from the trees of a dense forest. Something that resembled a large blue whale lumbered peacefully in the sky above a crystal sea. The huge moon hovered directly overhead. I looked up at the peak of the mountaintop and wondered if I could climb one and touch the big glowing sphere.
Ambria looked around with wide eyes. "It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen."
"I wouldn't say that," Max replied. "It's the oddest place I've ever seen."
The realms hovered overhead like sparkling jewels around the moon. Again I wished for a telescope to see if I could actually view the inhabitants of the different realms of Earth. "Are we at the center of the Glimmer?" I asked.
Evadora nodded. "The middle of everything."
"You have brought him," said a cold feminine voice.
"Yes, Queen," said Evadora.
I turned around. My heart stopped and my mind went blank.
One word squeaked from my mouth. "Mum?"
Chapter 13
The queen's flaming orange hair framed her fair face and journeyed down both shoulders all the way to her waist. Brilliant green eyes sparkled like gems as they gazed upon me, but the queen's expression remained flat. The hem of her silky black dress trailed several feet on the ground behind her.
My stomach felt as if someone had punched me. I took a tentative step toward her. "Cora?"
Her full lips curved ever so slightly up and fell back into a flat line, trembling as if she were trying to smile, but couldn't. "I am not the one you call Cora," she said in a flat monotone. "She was my sister. I am Naeve."
Evadora pranced over to her and held up her bottle. "I have many tears for you, Queen."
Naeve stared long and hard at the bottle then shook her head. "I will not taste those tears, little one. I will not tempt insanity for a fleeting moment of ecstasy."
"Do the tears drive you mad?" Ambria asked.
The queen turned her unsettling gaze to my friend. "Imagine a spark of heat after an eternity of cold void."
Ambria gulped. "Yes, I see your point."
I couldn't stop staring at the ghost of my beloved foster mother. She looked the same but lacked the warmth and love. Tears blurred the painful sight and sadness lodged in my throat. I wiped my face with a sleeve and took deep calming breaths. At last, I freed my voice from the pain. "Why did you want to see me?"
"Cora came to see me shortly before she"—Naeve stared blankly for a long moment, then spoke again as if she had never stopped—"and told me about you. I wished to see if she had succeeded."
My stomach clenched at the unspoken word. She died. I recovered and asked another question. "Succeeded at what?"
"If she nudged your course from fate." Naeve stepped closer and touched my face. "You are alive and healthy." Her eyes betrayed no hint of happiness. "She succeeded or at least delayed the inevitable."
"That's really the only reason you wanted to see me?" I said.
Naeve walked to the edge of the terrace, her long black dress trailing behind, and waved a hand at the realms. "Your parents are ambitious, Conrad Edison. They wish to answer our ancient dilemma and release me from this tomb." She gazed at the moon. "I once thought I had the answer, but it slipped from my grasp."
Max meekly spoke. "You mean immortality in Eden?"
"Precisely." The queen turned back to us. "Even now an Abyssal god walks Eden. I told your parents it may have the answers I seek."
"An Abyssal demon?" Max stumbled back a step. "How did he escape?"
"With the help of the only one powerful enough to completely draw him through," Naeve replied. "Justin Slade used him as an ally. The Abyssal fed on many souls that day and has wandered Eden ever since."
"I'm surprised he hasn't tried to take over the world," Max said.
"After millennia in the Abyss, I am certain a few centuries would not be much delay for him," Naeve replied. "It is likely he hunts for those who imprisoned
him, so they cannot put him back."
I had so many questions about Justin Slade and this Abyssal god. Unfortunately, story time would have to wait. "My parents think they can give you immortality outside the Glimmer?"
"That is their belief, yes." She touched a finger to her cheek. "Cora thought she had the answer. She searched the void and found a fragment of the anchor stone."
I pulled the pebble from my pocket. "This?"
Naeve stepped closer but made no move to touch the stone. "Yes. She used it to escape. The last time she visited me, she was emotional." Light flickered in her eyes, and her lips parted. "Eden gave her the gift of life in full bloom. She told me how wonderful food tasted, of the sickening depths of sadness, and the soaring heights of love." The void of expression on her face told us she had no understanding of what Cora had told her.
"What did she think would solve the problem?" I asked.
"The stone you hold in your hand," Naeve replied. "Obviously, it did not protect her."
I bit my lip to hide the pain her comment caused me.
"The Glimmer preserves," Evadora said. "Stay here, live forever." She gripped handfuls of her hair, squeezed her eyes tight, and screamed, "Why did you make Mummy leave? Why didn't you let her stay?"
My legs went weak and I stumbled backward. Max caught me before I fell.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
I stared at Evadora and realized why she looked so familiar. "You're Cora's daughter."
Evadora opened her tear-filled eyes and nodded. "Your curse killed Mummy."
My gorge rose and I gagged on remorse. I killed her. Salt stung my eyes. I wanted to throw myself off the terrace and let the void swallow me whole. The curse of an orphan boy had taken Cora from her true daughter.
Someone hugged me. "Conrad, I'm here," Ambria said. "Everything will be okay."
Hot tears stung my eyes and flowed down my face.
I felt a bottle against my cheek and looked into Evadora's pain-filled eyes.
"Get that away from him!" Ambria shouted.
I held Evadora's wrist and pressed the bottle to my cheek. "These belong to you," I said.
Her eyes misted, and she nodded solemnly. "They are tears for our mother, Conrad. They are ours. You are my brother."