by John Corwin
I followed him in and saw glass cases displaying swords, suits of armor, various articles of clothing, and more. Placards described the contents.
"Wow, this is the staff and wand of Giuseppe Garibaldi," Max said, pointing at a case with a crooked black staff inscribed with symbols from top to bottom, and a twisted wand with a splintered end. "Garibaldi tried to stop Moore from founding the Arcane Council."
Ambria read the placard at the bottom. "I assume Moore won the fight."
Max grunted. "Obviously."
The first floor was a museum filled with artifacts collected throughout Ezzek Moore's long life, some dating all the way back to the fall of the Roman Empire.
Max nudged me. "Is it weird knowing this guy was your great-great-great-great-a bunch more greats-grandfather?
His comment struck me like a bolt of lightning. "I never even thought about it."
"Well, you only just found out who your parents are," Ambria said. "You haven't had a lot of time to get used to it."
"It was in my pedigree information the Goodleighs had." I still had a copy of the information on my phone, but I hadn't looked at it since fleeing the orphanage.
Ambria wandered down the aisle of displays. "I think I found our mystery painter, Conrad."
I jogged down to a case displaying several worn paintbrushes and the portrait of a man with a mischievous smirk on his narrow face.
"Serpus Mandracorn was an Arcane, a painter, and a founding member of the Arcane Council," Ambria read. "All of his paintbrushes were actually wands with different kinds of animal hairs affixed to the ends. As a result, his paintings were ultra-realistic. Some people claimed if you looked long enough, you could see the images in the paintings actually move."
"That's rubbish," Max said. "I think I'd notice if the people in the paintings moved."
"Oh, shush." Ambria gave Max a playful push and caught him off balance. He flailed and made a mad grab for the display behind him to stop his fall. Unfortunately, his hand grabbed a sword on display with a suit of medieval armor.
Max yelped, let go, and fell on the floor. He looked at the blood pooling in his hand and gave Ambria an accusing look. "I cut myself."
"Oh, Max, I'm so sorry." She knelt and looked at the wound. "We should get you to the healer right away." She took off her black-and-white checkered knit scarf and wrapped it tightly around Max's hand.
He rose with a grunt. "I hope this blood comes out of your scarf otherwise it'll have Tiberius red on it."
She shrugged. "I can always get another."
We left the keep and went through the front entrance in the university and down the hall to the healing ward. No one was in the lobby, so we walked into the main ward and saw Percival mixing a potion on a table. He did a double-take when he saw us.
"Ah, you're the children who brought Mirjana to me." A smile replaced the confusion. "Have you come to check on her progress?"
"Actually, we're here because this silly boy cut his hand," Ambria said as if it were completely Max's fault.
The healer's smile stretched into a pleased grin. "Ah, my first wounded student." He unwrapped the scarf and looked at the deep cut. "Wonderful, just wonderful."
Max's mouth dropped open, aghast. "There's nothing wonderful about slicing open my hand."
"Just so happens I have a new potion I've wanted to test." Percival reached onto a shelf filled with vials and removed one with sparkling red liquid.
Max held his hand protectively. "I'm not going to be your lab rat."
"It's not precisely an experiment," Percival said. "I used it to heal a cut on my finger, and it worked marvelously."
My friend narrowed his eyes at the healer. "Really?"
"Absolutely," the healer replied. "Just hold out your hand."
Movement in the back of the room caught my attention. I felt my jaw go slack when I realized the Lady of the Pond was sitting up in her bed looking at us.
"This might sting just a little," the healer said.
Max's screams jerked my attention back to him. He ran in circles holding his hand, all the while crying out as if he was being murdered in the most painful way possible.
Percival nodded sagely. "Unfortunately, extreme pain is a negative side effect. But that's the price for a proper healing."
Ambria backed away from Max, her teeth clenched in an empathetic grimace. "Good lord, what have you done to him?"
A moment later, Max slumped against a nearby bed, breathing heavily and sweating. A stupid grin spread across his face.
"Now enters the euphoria," Percival said.
"Is that part of the medicine as well?" Ambria asked.
He shook his head. "No, that's a natural reaction of the body after experiencing so much agony."
The cut on Max's hand had faded to a thin line. "Well, it certainly heals quickly," I said.
"It's worth the pain," Percival assured us.
Max groaned. "I don't know about that."
While Max recovered, I walked to the back of the room. Mirjana watched my every step, but said nothing until I reached her.
"I must thank you," she said in a hushed tone. "You saved me." A tear trickled down her cheek. "I fear I am the only one who survived the massacre in the Fairy Garden."
"What happened?" I asked. "Who killed all the trees?"
"Victus Edison," she said in a voice rough with anger. "He and two men I did not recognize."
I squeezed the railing on her bed and clenched my teeth. A gentle touch on my cheek brought my eyes up to meet Mirjana's.
"What your father did is not your fault, young man." She smiled.
"How did you know he's my father?" I asked.
"Galfandor informed me." She nodded toward the door. "He was here last night when I first woke from my coma."
"Why did he do that? Did it have something to do with the Glimmer?"
Mirjana nodded. "The juxtapositions the mortals refer to as pocket dimensions are, in fact, the places where Eden is rooted to the Glimmer."
"Juxta-what?" I asked.
"Where Eden intersects the Glimmer." She looked behind me.
I turned and saw Max and Ambria had joined me.
"Remind me to never trust that healer," Max said.
"How are you feeling?" Ambria asked Mirjana.
"I'm fine, child." She nodded at me. "I was just explaining something to your friend."
"Please continue," I said.
Mirjana folded her arms across her stomach. "Though Eden touches the Glimmer in many places, the wall is the thinnest here in this place you call Queens Gate. Many centuries ago, the one you called Ezzek Moore divined this location and broke the seal." A troubled look flickered across her face. "He later told me he was merely searching for the creators of the pocket dimensions."
"In other words, we're not really in another realm, are we?" I answered my question without waiting. "Queens Gate is still a part of Eden."
She pursed her lips. "In a way, it is part of Eden and a part of the Glimmer that was preserved even after the Anchoring."
"Are you from the Glimmer?" Max asked.
"No." Mirjana didn't elaborate and went back to her story. "Once Ezzek discovered the Glimmer and realized the danger, he sent his people to all corners of the earth looking for one of us."
It was then that I knew what Mirjana was. The answers had been there before me already, but I hadn't given it much thought. She lived underwater, for goodness sake. Why hadn't I put the pieces together already? "You're a Siren."
She offered me a faint smile. "Yes."
The next question left my mouth before I even thought to ask it. "Did you help create the anchor stone?"
She laughed. "No, I am not that old, nor am I that powerful. My parents were but peons in our society, left here in this realm to keep an eye on its inhabitants. I was born during the First Seraphim War. My parents died in the war, fighting to help the mortals since Aquilis decided to take no part in the battle."
"Seems stupid they'd
let the Seraphim take over Eden," Max said.
Mirjana blinked, conjuring tears that trickled down her cheeks. "I met a mortal man several centuries after the war and gave him the gift of the sea so he could live with me in the water. It was around that time when one of Ezzek's people found me." She wiped the tears away. "Though Ezzek tried to seal the passage, I thought it best to remain guardian over this place. Some creatures still managed to leave the Glimmer. I bound them to the Fairy Garden where they remained happily until their foul murders."
"The trees and dryads," Max said, a deep ache in his voice. "Victus tried to kill you because you were guarding the crack in the world?"
She nodded. "I fear my beloved Klave is also dead."
Ambria's eyes welled with tears. "Is he the mortal you fell in love with?"
"Yes." Mirjana tried to sit up straight, but fell back with a groan. "I must go to the pond and find his body. Only then can I feel peace."
I felt awful about the massacre, but one part of Mirjana's story stuck in my head. "If Klave was mortal, how did he live all these centuries? Did you make him immortal?"
The Siren shook her head. "I am not powerful enough to grant such a gift. I used what the builders created to keep him alive."
In that moment, I knew Cora had been right about how to keep her immortality outside the Glimmer.
Chapter 22
My heart pounded in my chest. The anchor stone fragment should have kept Cora alive forever, but like Galfandor explained, it didn't make her impervious to death. My curse had overpowered its effect and killed her.
Ambria touched my arm. "You look a bit pale, Conrad."
I swallowed hard and looked at Mirjana. "The anchor stone fragments give immortality, don't they?"
"Yes," she replied. "Keeping a piece of it nearby will grant you long life."
Her confirmation filled my heart with such pain I could hardly bear it. Cora had lived for centuries in Eden and should have lived centuries more. My presence had killed her!
"Conrad, what's wrong?" Ambria cried.
I killed Cora.
I blinked away the tears and saw a look of concern on Mirjana's face.
"What is wrong, child?"
"My parents possessed me with a demon so they could preserve their souls and fake their deaths." I wiped at my blurry vision. "My foster mother, Cora, she was from the Glimmer. She had a piece of the anchor stone to keep her immortal, but my living curse gave her cancer and killed her."
Mirjana brushed my cheek with the back of her hand. "I am sorry for your loss."
It hurt to breathe. Pain inflated my chest until it felt ready to burst.
A lovely voice filled the air with song. It was like no music I'd ever heard, but it warmed deep into my bones, melting the icy sorrow, loosening the tightness in my chest. The tears dried, leaving a clear view of Mirjana softly singing.
She stopped and smiled.
"Was that a magic song?" I asked.
"It was a song of hope and love." Her hand squeezed mine. "No matter the terrible things life brings, one can always find something else to hope for, and someone else to love."
I thought of her recent loss and steely resolve filled me. "I'll go look for Klave. I'll let you know if he's…okay."
Her dark eyes flashed. "It would be a gift, child."
I nodded, suddenly unable to push words past the knot of gratitude in my throat. Her song had helped more than she could know.
The Siren motioned me closer, so I leaned in. Her hand gently touched my throat. "I will give you the gift of the sea. It will only last a few hours, so do not linger too long in the depths."
I didn't imagine it would take long at all to explore the small pond, but nodded. "Okay."
Once again, she sang, this time a different song with eerie tones and discordant melodies that seemed impossible for one throat to make. Obviously, the Sirens had the ultimate gift of song.
Percival walked to the other side of her bed and watched with awe. When she finished singing, he stared at me. "Do you feel any different?"
I felt my throat. "No. Do I have gills?"
Musical laughter tinkled from Mirjana. Suddenly she yawned. "I must sleep, child. Find my love and bring me his body if you are able."
I squeezed her hand. "I will."
Percival ushered us away from the slumbering Siren, then knelt and examined my throat, pressing his fingers under my chin as if checking for swollen tonsils. "I am extremely curious to know if you can actually breathe underwater." He dug beneath a table and pulled out a bedpan. "One moment while I fill this with water."
I held up my hands and backed away. "I'm not putting my face in that."
"It's quite clean, I assure you."
Max grabbed my arm and backed us away. "How about we tell you later, okay?"
The healer looked ready to cry. "Oh, if only I could come with you." He sighed. "Unfortunately, I can't leave this place unattended on the first day students are back." He nodded at Max. "You're proof of that."
Max cringed. "Yeah, nothing like horrific pain."
"But you're healed, yes?" Percival nodded toward Max's hand.
My friend looked at the thin line left where the sword had cut him. "Well, I suppose there's that."
"We're wasting time," Ambria said. "Let's go."
Something occurred to me. "Wait a minute. The pond is still poisoned. Even if I can breathe underwater, I don't want to poison myself."
"I analyzed the pollutants in the water," Percival said, "and brewed a potion to cleanse it from Mirjana's blood. Perhaps it will also cleanse the pond."
Ambria clapped her hands. "That would be wonderful."
He held up a finger. "One moment, please." He went to another table covered with glassware and lab equipment, then picked up a large bottle with a narrow neck and swollen round bottom. Clear blue liquid sloshed in the lower half.
Humming to himself, Percival dug around on a shelf and finally withdrew a tall glass flask, poured the concoction inside, and sealed it with a cork. "Pour this into the water, and wait for the poison to clear."
I gratefully took the flask. "Thank you so much."
He grinned. "Happy, as always, to help."
"Should we get our brooms?" Max asked as we hurried down the hall to the exit.
I judged the distance in my head and figured it would take us less time to walk to the pond, or about the same time as it would to go to the keep and get our brooms. "Let's walk."
When we finally reached the murky pond, I uncorked the flask and looked into the water. The liquid was so black, it looked like tar. Thankfully, the mirror image looking back at me didn't have empty eyes or an evil smirk. The pond was larger than I remembered, and I hoped there was enough potion to clear it. I poured the blue liquid into the pond and waited. The minutes ticked past, but the inky pitch remained the same. I set down the flask and stared.
"I'll have to figure out another way." Maybe I could wear a rubber suit.
Ambria tugged my arm. "Conrad, look!"
The water where I'd poured the potion turned light blue. The effect slowly spread across the pond, until nearly two-thirds of the surface looked clear. The rest of the pond remained filthy and murky, but the water on our side was so clear, I could see where the taint clouded deep beneath the water on the unclean side. I didn't see any sign of a body. Unless Klave's body floated in the filthy water on the other side, he must be deeper below.
Though the water was clear, it grew darker dozens of feet down and I couldn't see the bottom. I stripped off my shirt and shoes, but left on my pants.
"It'll be hard to swim in pants," Ambria said. "If it'll make you feel better, I can close my eyes."
I grinned. "I'll keep them on, thanks." I handed Max my wand. "Wish me luck."
He looked from me to the water. "Good luck, Conrad."
Looking over the edge, I noticed there was no gradual slope down into the deep water, but a steep drop-off. I automatically held my breath, and jumped in feet
first. I just as suddenly realized what an awful mistake I'd made. The water was absolutely freezing. A reflexive gasp sucked down a mouthful of cold water. My body thrashed with panic.
I flail blindly in the water until I'm rescued by gentle hands. Cora holds me up and kisses my forehead. "Don't fight the water, Conrad. You'll lose every time."
Coughing up water, I grip her tight. "Please don't let go again."
"Let the water caress you, dear." She pushes me to the side of the pool so I can grab the edge, then reclines in the water and floats. "If you don't fight the water, it will support you." She stands up. "You try."
I don't trust the water, but I trust Cora. If she tells me something will work, then it will. My chest tightens with anxiety, but I let go of the side of the pool with one hand and lean back. A little water splashes on my face. I fight back the panic that I'm about to sink and force my body to relax. Suddenly, I'm floating.
Cora takes my other hand from the side of the pool and releases it. "You're floating, Conrad." She giggles. "You're floating!"
Let go.
I forced myself to stop fighting and floated just beneath the surface of the water, still holding my breath. The urge to breathe became unbearable, but I couldn't make myself do it underwater. My body's survival instinct screamed that it was suicide.
Let go, Conrad. I pictured Cora's smiling face when she taught me how to swim.
Learning to breathe underwater shouldn't be any different. Fighting my instincts, I opened my mouth and sucked in a lungful of water.
My body thrashed and jerked, but instead of drowning me, the water filling my lungs felt no different than air, just a bit heavier. I rose to the surface and blew out a lungful of water.
"I can breathe water!" I gurgled. I ducked underwater and sucked down another lungful, then came up and spoke. Though my voice sounded strange, talking was no different other than a stream of water trickling from my mouth.
Ambria and Max grimaced.
"It looks and sounds awful, Conrad." Ambria knelt next to the pond and patted my head. "You should stop wasting time and find Klave."
My excitement had nearly overwhelmed my sense of duty. "I'll be back soon." I dove back underwater, kicking my legs and moving my arms in a froglike movement. Breathing the water became easier and easier as my body's reflexes stopped resisting. Clear vision was another effect of the Siren's song. Even though the surface light faded, my eyes adjusted to the darkness.