by John Corwin
Instead of healing her wound, I felt Della stirring inside me.
It's time for me to go, son.
I flinched at the sound of her voice. What do you mean?
An image of her formed in my mind, looking down at me with teary eyes. "We have to leave you, son."
Delectra spoke in unison with Della. "You cannot save my life, but you have already saved my soul." She gripped my hand tightly and kissed it. "Lean down and give me a kiss goodbye, Conrad."
I couldn't stop blubbering like a baby. "No, I can't let you go now."
"Do it quick," she gasped.
I bent down and kissed her forehead, her cheeks. "Please don't die," I whimpered.
"I cannot live remembering the monster Victus turned me into or the horrible things I have done," she rasped. A sad smile flickered on her lips. "Death is my peace."
"No, no, no." I pressed my forehead to her lips. "Stay with me. Be my mum."
"I am and always will be." She kissed my forehead. "Now go, son. Go find her." Delectra released one last breath and her body went limp.
I left you something, Della whispered, her voice fading. Goodbye.
I suddenly felt all alone inside my head and out.
I looked up. Ambria and Max were on their knees next to me, tears streaming down their cheeks. Evadora huddled in Treek's lap, face red and sad. Gwyneth stood a distance away, her eyes on the fallen Glimmer Queen.
For a moment, I considered tracking down Victus and killing him, but it would be foolish. He could still kill me or my friends. For now, there was only one place to go.
My heart felt so broken, I didn't think anything could mend it, but I had to try. I walked over to Naeve. She looked so fragile, a small pretty thing with an ugly heart. She truly was a reflection of Cora, but reversed in every way that mattered.
Fighting back more tears, I summoned Treek. "Can you carry her?"
He nodded slowly as was his way, and touched me gently. "I am sorry for your loss."
Fresh tears broke free. I put my hand over his, rubbing the rough bark. "Thank you, Treek."
I turned to Gwyneth. "Where's the equipment?"
"Everything is in the satchels in the room you found us in." She looked fearfully down the hallway. "Do you think Victus is still there?"
"He probably took another exit," Evadora said.
"I will retrieve the equipment," Shushiel said.
"I still can't believe you survived," Max told the spider. He looked at me, hope buried in his gaze. "I know it feels awful right now, but we have a lot to be thankful for."
"Yes," I said numbly. "We do." Where was the burning anger, the crushing sorrow I should have felt in that moment? I didn't know. I felt empty, numb. I had lost my mentor and my mother all in one terrible blow. Perhaps I was in shock, or perhaps losing the voices in my head had scrambled my emotions. I felt certain that when it hit me it would be a terrible tide.
Shushiel camouflaged and returned moments later with the satchels. Gwyneth retrieved the lost room relic from within and summoned the door. Treek placed Naeve and Delectra on the flying carpet. Evadora climbed on board and steered it.
We should have rested, but I didn't want to chance Victus returning, nor did I want to waste any time. We took the levitator down where Plinth waited. I told him what had happened and that my soul was officially cleansed of my parents' soul shards.
"So you did find the heart!" Plinth said in an accusing tone.
"And the world didn't even end," Max shot back.
Ambria tapped a finger on her chin. "In a way several worlds ended." She flashed a sad smile. "The small planetoids were all destroyed."
Plinth stared blankly at her for a moment. "I supposed that's one way to interpret it."
Gwyneth glared at the man. "Just stay out of our way from now on."
"That will not be a problem," he said.
I motioned forward and we began the trek south. With Naeve in our presence, the beasts stayed far away, but our group stayed close just in case.
"I wonder if Naeve was the reason Evadora had problems controlling the animals here," Ambria wondered. "Maybe Victus captured her and was trying to control the Glimmer."
Evadora smiled. "I think you're right, because the world feels different now."
I couldn't stop looking back at Delectra's still, pale form. She was beautiful, even in death, like an ice princess under a spell. I could hardly believe I'd found my mother and so quickly had her taken from me. It made me treasure the moments I'd had with Esma even more. Her actions and reactions made more sense in retrospect. She'd tried to remain distant, but something had grown between us, something too powerful for even her to resist.
In the end, no infernal force or work of man had been able to overpower the bond between mother and child. I just hoped the same could be said for Cora.
Max looked uneasily at Naeve. "If we don't bring back Cora, then what?"
Ambria met my eyes, her own deeply troubled. "We can't set her free, and we can't hold her prisoner. Keeping her in the reflected world must have been absolute torture, slowly wasting away like that."
"She's a reflection," Max said. "I don't understand how staying there would hurt her."
"Because she has a soul," Treek said. "Souls do not abide well in the reflected world. It is a place for the hollow, the fake."
"What he said," Evadora added.
Max pursed his lips. "So, I guess Naeve didn't have a reflection in that world."
"Another copy?" Evadora raised an eyebrow. "I don't think people have more than one."
"Actually," said a voice that I hadn't heard for quite some time. "It's possible—" I shot a glare back at Plinth. He stopped talking and looked down at the road, drifting further back from the group.
Gwyneth spoke as if she'd resisted asking a question for too long. "When are you going to tell us what happened out there in the asteroids?"
I stopped walking and turned to the others. "I found the heart." I removed it from my satchel and held it in the palm of my hand.
"Ooh, pretty," Ambria and Evadora said simultaneously.
"That's a big diamond," Max said. "Too bad it's cracked."
Gwyneth stepped closer. "I'm sorry for your loss, Conrad, but now that you've found the heart, Underborn will help you find the Broken Relic."
I offered her a sarcastic smile. "He doesn't need to. I already have it."
Ambria and Max gave me confused looks. Evadora's mouth dropped open in delight.
I ran a finger down the crack. "The Broken Relic is the Broken Heart of Jura." I stared hard at Gwyneth. "You knew it all this time. You probably hoped I wouldn't find out until Underborn revealed his little trick."
Gwyneth backed away, jaw hanging open in shock. "B-but no—that can't be true." She leaned against a tree, eyes losing focus. "That bastard lied to me."
Evadora burst into laughter. "Ha, ha, ha! He tricked everyone."
Gwyneth shook her head. "I'm sorry, Conrad. I truly thought—" she looked at the ground. "I didn't know."
I tucked the heart back in the satchel. "I believe you."
She looked up hopefully. "You do?"
"Yes." I looked to the east. "No matter what happens over there, Underborn can have the heart when I'm done."
"You're just going to give it to him?" she asked incredulously.
I smiled, nodded. "Yes, because I doubt he has the ability to operate it." I wiped at my suddenly wet eyes. "It takes the most powerful kind of magic to work the heart."
"Love," Ambria breathed.
I nodded. "I doubt Underborn knows the meaning of the word." I took a deep breath, turned, and started walking again.
Evadora giggled. "I love you, Conrad. You're the best."
Ambria took my hand. "I hope with all my heart you can bring back Cora."
"Me too," Max said. "Me too."
We reached the Soul Tree a day and a half later. Its branches spanned the sky, wispy white leaves streaming in the breeze, the ghostly remai
ns of Glimmer folk. Cora's leaf was up there somewhere, precious memories, and hopefully a part of her soul. My body trembled with fear. What if this doesn't work?
My thoughts seemed to echo in my head, a tiny voice all alone in a house that had once held three. It was as if roommates had packed up and left unexpectedly. Despite his dark soul, I even missed Vic's occasional commentary.
A huge beast with shaggy white hair loped down the side of the tree and met us near the bottom. It stood on hind legs and tenderly took Evadora in its arms.
"Oh, Yoghra, you're too sweet," the girl said with a giggle. She ran her fingers through his fur. "We're here for Cora."
He grunted and pointed up the tree, speaking in a rough language I didn't understand.
"We have to go up there," Evadora said. She clambered onto Yoghra's back. "You'll probably want to fly up."
"I will climb as well," Shushiel said.
I walked over to the flying carpet where it hovered with its silent riders. Naeve stirred and mumbled, as if suffering a bad dream. We'd kept her asleep with spells, knowing if she woke up, she could unleash havoc.
I'd need the carpet to fly her to the top. "Can someone help me with Delectra?"
"We can put her in the room," Gwyneth said.
I nodded and wished we'd thought of that earlier. Gwyneth opened the door and Treek gently cradled the body of my mother and carried her inside. He placed her inside a sleeping bag and put a pillow under her head.
"She looks comfortable," he said softly. "So peaceful. Sometimes I wish for death, if only to end my freakish existence."
I squeezed his arm. "Maybe Cora can fix what Naeve did to you."
Treek ran a hand over his rough tree-bark skin. "It is my hope she can restore me to my normal form." Treek rested the same hand on my shoulder. "I wish you success, Conrad."
I swallowed the knot in my throat. "Thank you." I walked outside and climbed onto the carpet.
Ambria and Max drifted over on their brooms.
"We'd like to come," Ambria said.
Max nodded. "If that's all right."
"I want you there with me," I said, my throat suddenly dry. "I'll need all the moral support I can get."
We flew up and around the massive tree and found Evadora near the top with Yoghra, waving her arm to get our attention. I parked the carpet just beneath the wisp Evadora pointed to.
"How do you see memories?" I asked her.
"You simply have to touch it." Evadora balanced on the thick bough, completely unafraid of falling. "Would you like to see her memories, Conrad?"
I was so eager, I reached out and touched it without answering.
I watch the small boy walk down the gangway with his father. He is so precious, but a dark influence hovers over him. I do not trust this Victus, or Delectra. They are doing something to the boy. If I could, I would take him with me now.
The memory faded and I was back next to the tree. "That's amazing."
"I know!" Evadora looked at Naeve. "I hope this works, Conrad." She held onto a branch over her head and swung closer. "Yoghra says that the wisp holds part of the soul, so if this works, the wisp will vanish."
"Well, at least we'll be able to see if it works," Max said.
I probably could have relived Cora's memories for hours, but Naeve wouldn't remain asleep forever. I had to do this now. I took the heart from the satchel and held it in my hand. I touched Naeve with that hand and Cora's wisp with the other.
After so much searching, Conrad is my foster son! He looks up at me with his great innocent eyes and my heart melts. I will be the best mother for him, and one day I will adopt him.
For the first time, Conrad smiles at me. I have finally reached through the dark haze around his soul.
I saw Cora giving me ice cream. Saw us stealing food from a grocery store. Watched Cora kill the man who abused her.
Love swelled inside me as more memories drifted past, some with me and some without. The heart blazed white and the crack began to heal. Naeve groaned and made retching sounds. Green smoke poured from her mouth, as the heart cast out the wailing demon Victus had used to control her.
Ambria and Max cried out with surprise, but Evadora watched with amazed curiosity. Yoghra gripped her hand to keep her from trying to touch the demon before its smoky form vanished.
The heart dimmed to a dull yellow glow and the crack reworked its way through the diamond surface. More memories flashed into my mind, but Cora's wisp remained on the tree. "It's not working." I loved Cora with all my heart, but it wasn't bringing her back from the dead.
I closed my eyes and pushed with my entire soul, remembering Cora's warm smiles, the sacrifices she'd made for me, and her gaunt form as she breathed her last. "Please come back," I sobbed. "I love you Cora." I opened my eyes and looked at the heart. The glow had faded to nothing.
Chapter 35
I failed. Sobs racked my body, but I didn't stop trying, didn't stop pushing. Somehow, I had to make this work.
"I'm so sorry." Ambria drifted right next to me and touched my hand where it rested on Naeve. She wiped tears from my face with the other hand. "You saved my life when you could have left me to die, Conrad. I love you with all my heart."
The Heart of Jura flickered and pulsed a deep red glow.
Max came to my other side and pressed his hand over Ambria's. "Before I met you, I never had a best friend or anyone who really cared about me." Tears filled his eyes. "I love you too, Conrad." He smiled. "And I know I'll love Cora too."
The hard diamond softened and began to pulse in my hand.
Shushiel touched my hand with her leg. "I love you as well, my friend."
The pulse quickened.
Evadora beamed brilliantly through her own tears. "I barely knew my mother, Conrad, but you helped me know how much she missed and loved me even after Naeve banished her." She knelt on the branch and touched my hand and Cora's wisp. "I love you and I love her."
The heart burst into a brilliant red glow, and beat with a steady thumping so loud it was all I could hear as the broken heart began to heal. The wisp dissolved like water, coursing down mine and Evadora's arms and into the heart. Naeve gasped, eyes flaring open. Her skin glowed a golden color that soon faded.
The beating heart grew slower and slower, the glow fading, until once again, it was a hard, cracked diamond in my hand.
Naeve—Cora?—blinked slowly and looked up at us. "Where am I?"
"Cora?" I asked, fear crackling in my voice.
She smiled. "Yes, that is one of my names." She sat up and looked around. "Why am I at the Soul Tree, and who are all of you people?"
Evadora touched her hand. "I'm your daughter, Evadora."
Cora's eyes flared. "But—but you're too old to be my daughter."
"You died, Mommy." Evadora patted her arm. "I grew up while you were dead."
Cora stopped breathing for a moment and then saw the great white beast on a branch nearby. "Yoghra, is this true?"
He nodded and spoke in his language.
Cora replied and touched her head. "I'm so sorry, but I don't remember dying or much before that."
Evadora bit her lower lip. "I know you don't know me, but could I have a hug?"
The resurrected Glimmer Queen smiled broadly. "Of course, my sweet."
I slid aside, feeling somewhat awkward as Evadora leapt into her mother's arms and squealed with delight. "Oh, Mommy, I hope you remember me soon. I have so much to tell you."
Cora looked at me. "Don't I know you?"
I nodded. "It's me, Conrad."
Her eyes filled with regret. "You look familiar, but I'm sorry, I don't remember you."
I choked back a lump of sorrow and forced a smile. "It's okay. All that matters is that you're back." Cora is alive! I tried to take comfort in that, but couldn't help feeling immensely sad that she didn't remember me.
We flew back down to the ground where Gwyneth paced expectantly. She looked at Cora and then at me, an unasked question in her eye
s.
I gave her a wistful smile. "She's alive, but she has gaps in her memory."
Gwyneth's forehead pinched into a sad look. "Give her time, Conrad." She blew out a breath. "It's absolutely mind-blowing that you resurrected her from the grave in the first place." Gwyneth squeezed my shoulder. "I'll bet once she has some time to recover, memories will start flooding back."
I hoped she was right.
We spoke with Cora for a while, trying to help her remember, but she quickly grew tired.
"I must sleep," she said. "I suppose being raised from the dead is quite tiring." She curled up in the roots of the Soul Tree, and Yoghra covered her with a blanket that looked as if it were woven from his own fur.
I saw Plinth looking around, probably trying to find the dagger he'd lost in the roots. I gave Ambria the Nose of Jura and she sniffed it out within seconds, lodged too deep between the huge roots for us to reach. I didn't tell Plinth where it was, instead asking Evadora to make sure it stayed there, safely away from most hands.
I would have dropped the heart in as well, but I'd made a deal with Underborn.
Since there wasn't much else I could do here and Cora needed time to remember, I decided it was time to return to Queens Gate.
I hugged Evadora goodbye. "Take care of our mum," I told her. "I'll be back to check on her soon."
The girl smiled hopefully. "She'll remember, I just know it."
"Does anything feel different about the Glimmer now that Cora is back?" Ambria asked.
Evadora closed her eyes and held out her hands. After a moment, she nodded. "I don't know how to explain it, but everything feels better—like the madness is going away."
I hoped she was right. For now, I felt happy just to know Cora was alive and well. I looked up at the great tree silhouetted against the moon. The Glimmer was beautiful and peaceful here and I realized there was one more thing I should do before leaving.
"May I bury Delectra here?" I asked.
Evadora nodded. "Of course. Would you like me to do it?"
"Yes, just tell me where."
Evadora led me to a grove of trees that stretched into the distance. Every tree was distinct in its own way, whether by the color of bark and leaves, or the unique shape of the trunks. None were much taller than me, and some were barely up to my knees.