by John Corwin
Ambria clapped her hands together. "Oh, I know just the perfect thing."
The guard groaned and likely wished he could send them along with me.
I followed the instructions and reached the green door without too much trouble. Esma didn't answer my knocks at once, which made me wonder if she'd fallen asleep or was feeling worse today. The door creaked open to reveal a very pale and tired woman in a pink bathrobe.
Esma managed a weak smile. "Come in, Conrad." Black lines underscored her eyes, and her usually round cheeks looked sunken. Even the color in her eyes had dulled.
I couldn't help it. Seeing her like this reminded me too much of Cora, and sent sharp pains into my heart. I wrapped my arms around her and pressed my face into her robes. "Please, Esma, don't die." Hot tears stung my cheeks. "You can't die."
She stiffened for a long moment, and then it was as if her defenses finally broke. Esma put her arms around me and squeezed me tight. "I'll do my best, son."
I looked up at her and couldn't help but smile. "Son?"
Her smile and tears were at once replaced by a mask, a shield slamming down. "A figure of speech. I'm sorry, I meant to say Conrad." Esma gently separated from me. "I'm not going to die." She offered a tiny smile. "I'll be back to class soon. I have a chronic condition and the only cure is bedrest."
I didn't care if she wanted to protect our student-teacher relationship by pretending not to care. She was my mentor and seeing her so sick made me feel like a frightened little boy in the hospital all over again. "I know I shouldn't tell you this, Esma, but I care for you so much." I wiped away tears. "You're like a mother to me."
A breath caught in her throat and she looked away. "I don't deserve that distinction, Conrad." She squeezed shut her eyes and paused. When she opened them again, she was all business. "I hear you've embroiled yourself in yet another dangerous situation."
I told her about my two problems. "At first, it was only Professor Sideon who wanted to go with me in search of the Broken Relic. Now Underborn is involved if I go into the Glimmer and retrieve the Heart of Jura."
"What does the heart do?" she asked.
"It heals scars." I shrugged. "Underborn said it may heal more, but he'd have to test it." I tried to touch her hand, but she backed away. "Maybe it can heal your illness."
Esma seemed lost in thought, a blink the only indication she'd heard me. "Underborn is not one to be trusted. Tell me every detail of your encounter."
I recounted my memories the best I could, including how Della had helped me.
"Della has had quite the change in heart," Esma said. "Can she be trusted?"
"She helped me a lot with Underborn." I shrugged. "Maybe she really has changed."
I waited for some confirmation from Della, but she didn't offer an opinion.
"I'm proud of you, Conrad." Esma praised me in a dull monotone. "It is vital you not let Underborn know about the Nose of Jura and that you tell him and his surrogates as little as possible."
"That's what Della said."
Esma sat on a plush divan and seemed to sink into the folds of her robe. Dark veins and bones pressed against the thin skin of her hands. "Perhaps she can be trusted."
"She's been surprisingly helpful," I said.
"Does she trust me?" Esma asked.
Yes, Della said firmly.
I couldn't help but grin. "She said yes."
Esma gave the barest of nods. "Conrad, I advise that you delay visiting the Glimmer for as long as possible. Use extreme caution if you test your welcome in the reflected world. Naeve has had plenty of time to lay traps for you there."
"I know." I resisted the urge to step closer to her. "I don't even know how to get in yet anyway."
"Promise you'll let me know your plans." Her eyelids fluttered. "Don't do anything without telling me, please."
"I promise." I knelt next to her chair and gently took her hand in mine. "May I visit again?"
She nodded. "Next week." Took a ragged breath. "I will help you plan." Esma pressed a hand to my cheek. "Don't worry, Conrad. I'll be better soon."
I reluctantly left her apartment and closed the door behind me. When I got into the hall, all the strength vanished from my legs. I slid down the wall and choked back sobs. Esma looked worse than I wanted to admit. It looked as if she was dying, and it tore me apart inside.
Chapter 19
When I caught my breath, I smoothed over my emotions and dried my face. By the time I returned to my waiting friends, I hoped it wasn't obvious that I'd been crying. Ambria gave me a worried look and a big hug.
"Everything will be all right," she said. "We're here for you, Conrad."
"Yep." Max patted me on the back.
Ambria sighed. "Boys are terrible at comforting."
The guard chuckled. "That's the truth."
I told the others about my conversation with Esma on our way to the dining hall. "Maybe the heart can heal her condition."
"Worth a shot," Max said. "Hopefully Underborn will let you use it."
"First things first," Ambria said. "How are we supposed to get into the Glimmer?"
"No idea," I admitted. "I need to talk with Evadora."
"Evadora," Ambria said softly. She stopped in the middle of hall and clapped her hands. "Evadora!"
"Uh, that's her name," Max said.
"Shush, Max." Eyes glittering with excitement, Ambria grabbed my hand. "I just came up with a brilliant plan you're going to love!"
Even Max was impressed by the simplicity of her idea and we were beyond excited to try it out. We went to the Fairy Garden after dinner but Evadora wasn't there. We checked for her the next day and the next, but by the end of the week we hadn't seen a sign of our friend.
We finally found her the following Tuesday, once again dancing among the recovering forest. She jumped up and down, waving happily as we circled in for a landing.
"Isn't it pretty?" Evadora ran her fingers along newly formed branches. The stumps had grown taller by at least a foot.
"How wonderful!" Ambria said. "Will the entire wood recover?"
"I think so." Evadora danced and spun. She circled behind Max and leapt high enough to land squarely on his shoulders. "You're bigger!"
Max grunted and stumbled but kept his balance. "So are you!"
Evadora kissed him on the cheek and hopped off, nearly shoving him to the ground in the process. "Big Max and Pretty Ambria. It's lovely to see you again." She curtseyed and burst into laughter.
Ambria blushed. "You think I'm pretty?"
Evadora nodded enthusiastically. "Inside and out."
"Dunno about inside," Max said. "She's kind of mean."
"Maxwell Tiberius!" Ambria pushed him.
Max's eyes widened innocently. "See what I mean?"
Evadora laughed.
I tried to be patient, to let the fun moment continue, but I was too worried about Esma and too preoccupied with finding the heart. I couldn't wait any longer. "Evadora, there's a Relic of Jura in the Glimmer that I need to find."
She snapped her attention to me, forehead arched with curiosity. "A relic?"
"Yes, the Heart of Jura."
Evadora wrinkled her nose. "Ooh—I did not know there was a heart. What does it do?"
"It heals scars." I told her about my deal with Underborn and then told her Ambria's brilliant plan for retrieving it. "The Nose of Jura seems to smell other relics. Can you go back to the Glimmer and use it to find the heart?"
Evadora jumped up and down, clapping her hands in glee. "Of course!"
Max and Ambria cheered.
"I can't believe we didn't think of it sooner," Max said.
Ambria sniffed. "You never would have thought of it."
I took the nose from my pocket and instructed Evadora how to use it.
Evadora inspected it curiously, rolling the stone nose in her fingers. "Does it hurt?"
I shook my head. "No, but there's a strong odor when you first put it on."
She hesitantly held it up to her nos
e. The stone molded to her face like clay, retaining the marbled look even as it covered her nose. Evadora's forehead creased and her eyes watered. "Oh, it smells terrible!" She danced from foot to foot, face twisted in pain. "When does the smell go away?" Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she endured what I imagined was the strong acrid odor.
Nearly a minute passed and Evadora began gagging. "Smells like death." Whimpering, she practically tore off the nose and dropped it on the ground. She sat on a stump and inhaled deeply, sighing in relief.
"Didn't you sense the relics?" Ambria asked.
"Do they smell rotten?" Evadora said. "It was like putting my nose in a dead animal with maggots and flies."
Max gagged and put a hand over his mouth.
"That's not what it smells like," Ambria said. "At first, it's like something sharp and burning, then that goes away and the relics are a distant odor."
Evadora shook her head. "No, it was terrible."
Ambria put the nose on and sniffed experimentally. "I don't smell anything rotten."
"Maybe it works differently for everyone," Max said. "Neither me nor Conrad could smell the relics as clearly as you."
"Please try again." Ambria held out the nose to Evadora.
The other girl sighed and nodded. Taking a deep breath, she put on the nose and sniffed. She coughed, made a choking noise and threw up. "Stinks so bad!" She endured it for several more seconds before taking off the nose again. "I am sorry, but it does not work for me."
"No!" Ambria wailed. "It was such a perfect idea, too."
"Back to the drawing board," Max groaned.
I couldn't believe it hadn't worked. I stared at the stone nose, guts twisting with regret. Evadora could have retrieved the heart in no time at all. I could heal Esma and then trade the heart to Underborn for the Broken Relic. Now it seemed we had no choice but to do this the hard way. I put the nose in my pocket and tried to ignore the churning worry in my stomach. "We need to get into the Glimmer, Evadora. Can you help us get past the guardians?"
She frowned. "They won't let you even if I ask."
"There must be some way," I said. "Can you make them go away like last time and we can run across?"
"Oh, they don't go away." Evadora stood and waved her hands in warning. "They are always nearby and would kill you before you could run halfway."
"What about if we're cloaked?" Ambria asked.
"The guardians do not have eyes." Evadora used thumbs and index fingers to hold open her eyelids. "They will sense you."
"Zap!" Max clapped his hands and made Ambria jump. "We'd be toast."
"What about a shield?" I suggested.
Evadora tapped her chin and looked up. "That might work, but it would need to be very strong."
Max looked doubtful. "How strong?"
"Very, very strong," Evadora said with certainty.
"That's not an answer." Ambria threw up her hands. "I don't know if even your strong shield is enough for the guardians, Conrad."
I didn't need to test my shield against the guardians to know she was right. That left only one route for us to take—the reflected world. While the landscape looked the same in that upside-down realm, the only inhabitants were reflections of people in the real world who would steal part of your soul with a mere touch if you were foolish enough to brave their realm. The rift in that realm was free of guardians which meant you could cross the divide and then return to the normal world once you reached the Glimmer.
Unfortunately, Naeve might be waiting for us.
"We have to visit the reflected world and see if it's safe." I rubbed Cora's green pebble in my fingers. As part of the anchor stone, it allowed the bearer to jump into water and travel to the other realm. "Is there a way I can look into the other side?"
Evadora nodded. "Say the words and put your head in the water. I will hold onto you so you don't slip through."
Max gave her a dubious look. "How long does the passage stay open after you say the magic words?"
"I think until you are all the way through," Evadora said.
"You think?" Ambria grimaced. "What if it closes while Conrad still has his head inside?"
Evadora slammed the side of her hand into a palm. "Chop! His head would come off."
"Gah!" Max made a sign of the cross and backed away. "You are a twisted girl."
Evadora giggled and hugged herself. "It's funny!"
"No, it's not!" Ambria shouted. "It's horrible."
The other girl kept laughing. "I wouldn't let Conrad get chopped up."
I touched my neck and tried to imagine my head rolling off in the mirror dimension and sitting on shore. Would that world be my last memory? I shook off the feeling and walked toward the pond sitting just outside the recovering forest. "Let me see what's on the other side."
Evadora skipped after me. "Chop, chop, chop, the head rolls off! The head rolls off! The head rolls off! Chop, chop, chop, the head rolls off—"
"Stop it!" Ambria shrieked.
Max grabbed Evadora's arm. "Want me to sing about your head getting chopped off?" He made a slashing motion with his hand toward her neck.
Evadora's eyes lit with delight. "Yes, yes, yes!"
He groaned and shook his head sadly. "You sure about this, Conrad?"
I took the stone in my hand. "Yes." I got down on my hands and knees at the edge of the water. "I'm ready."
Evadora grabbed my ankles and lifted me off the ground, holding me upside down and just above the water. She grunted. "You are heavier than last time. I won't be able to hold you long."
"I won't need long." I rubbed the stone and said the magic words. "As above, so below." The dark water met my face as Evadora lowered me. Instinct made me hold my breath, but there was no damp sensation, only a twisting in my brain and then I was looking at the same place, except this time I wasn't upside down.
My body felt oddly disconnected from the rest of me, my clenching hands felt foreign, distant. I tried not to think about what might happen if the magic stopped working and twisted my head for a look around. There were no people as far as the eye could see. No malevolent trees or vines waited to attack, and no signs Naeve lay in wait. Everything looked exactly the same here as it did in the normal world.
I slapped my leg to signal Evadora and she pulled me back into the normal world. My brain felt as though it flipped upside down and then everything was back to normal. Evadora dropped me on the ground. I thudded onto my back with a grunt and got a good look at the blue sky.
Evadora stood over me and shook her arms. "That hurt. You eat too much, Conrad."
That earned a snort from Max.
Ambria knelt next to me. "What did you see?"
"It looks safe. I think we can explore further." I rolled onto my knees and pushed into a sitting position. "Evadora, do you have more fragments of the anchor stone?"
"Yes." Her head tilted. "Why?"
"We'll need three more for Ambria, Max, and Shushiel. I want to make sure we can all escape independently in case something happens."
Her head tilted the other way. "Shushiel?"
"Our giant spider friend," Ambria explained.
Evadora's eyes lit. "Oh, how wonderful! When can I meet her?"
"Soon." I stood up and brushed off my pants. "Will you be able to help us find the relic in the Glimmer?"
"Of course." She bounced on her heels. "I am still learning how to control the land since Naeve never taught me."
"Can you control the trees and vines?" Ambria asked.
"Yes, a little." Evadora bent over and touched a plant that hadn't reached full bloom. She squinted and clenched her teeth. The plant shivered and the flower burst open. "I am able to make the plants heal faster, but making the trees walk and the vines move is harder."
"You had those vines digging in the crack of the world," I reminded her.
"That was only a few vines," Evadora said. "Controlling more at once is very hard."
"What about the animals?" I asked. "You'll
be able to keep them away like you did the last time we went, right?"
She nodded. "Of course, but you must stay near me or they might attack."
"Well, that's a relief," Max said. "I hope this adventure doesn't take long."
"When can you bring me more stone fragments?" I asked.
"I will return in"—Evadora looked up and seemed to count on her fingers—"two weeks. I will bring more fragments then."
"Two weeks?" My voice rose with shock. "I need to find the heart sooner."
Her large eyes blinked with surprise. "I have many things to do, Conrad. When Naeve tried to kill you, she unbalanced the animals and many of them are in the wrong places. Unless I guide them away, travel will be very dangerous."
"Can't we just fly our brooms?" Max said.
"Naeve left commands so the creatures of the air will attack anything in flight," Evadora said. "Even I cannot keep so many away."
Ambria's eyes narrowed. "How much control over the animals do you actually have?"
Evadora looked down. "Not enough. That is why I must learn more and try to restore balance to the realm. Then it will be safer for you."
Two weeks. What if Esma's condition worsened? I couldn't stand the idea of waiting, but I didn't want to put my friends in unnecessary danger. I just had to hope Esma would be okay. There was one last matter on my mind. "Did Yoghra find anything on the Soul Tree?"
"Not yet." Evadora sidled up next to me and put her head on my shoulder. "There is so much to search that even Yoghra cannot find it quickly."
I looked down at my hands. "Please hurry. My friend might be dying and I need to find the heart to save her."
"If I can return sooner, I will." Evadora squeezed my hand. "I promise."
"How will I know if you return sooner?" I asked.
"I will find you."
I watched her go, my heart growing heavier with every step she took. If only Ambria's plan had worked. Esma's pale face and skeletal hands played back in my mind. If it came down to it, I'd go into the Glimmer alone and find the heart.
Do not risk going alone for Esma, Della said in a pleading voice. Your life is more precious.
Her tone was so caring it made me flinch. There was a vast gulf between Della's attitude now and how Delectra had behaved shortly after her resurrection. I remembered the sick, evil gleam in her eyes, the razor-sharp knife she aimed for my throat. All I saw in her eyes was endless dark.