Dearest Mother of Mine (Overworld Chronicles)

by John Corwin

  We'd stopped it, but Jeremiah Conroy had stolen the rune right out from under our noses.

  "Cinder calculated that the arch's destination is in Antarctica or the North Pole," I said, giving her a confused look. "Why would we want to go there?"

  "We never actually explored it," she said. "What if it goes to another control room?"

  She brought up a good point. After surviving another close call, we'd all been busy enjoying life instead of carelessly throwing our bodies into the unknown. "I hadn't thought about it." My mind ran through the possibilities. "We'd have our own private control room full of gateways."

  "Exactly."

  I pursed my lips and regarded her. "Since when did you become the instigator of dangerous adventures? Usually, I'm the one ready to lead us off the cliff."

  "You've been slacking lately," she said, poking a finger in my ribs. "It's time to spice things up."

  "Oh, yeah?" I tickled her tummy, causing her to giggle and guard it with her arms. "I know how to spice things up."

  "I know you do," she said, and disarmed me with a kiss. Her smile faded. "In all seriousness, I think we should check out the arch in the cellar. I also think we should talk to Bella about putting together a small group to look at El Dorado."

  "You're just as curious as I am, aren't you?" I said.

  A smirk lifted the corner of her mouth. "Maybe."

  "You've been hanging out with me too long."

  Cutsauce yipped in agreement.

  I dispatched an email to my inner circle—Shelton, Bella, Nightliss, and others who'd been with my through thick and thicker—requesting a meeting for that evening. Nightliss was the first to show. She still looked a bit wan and pale from her ordeal with Daelissa's deadly curse despite Ivy healing her.

  I gave the petite angel a hug, and even Elyssa seemed glad to see her feeling better.

  "Have you felt any different since Ivy removed the vampling curse?" Nightliss asked me.

  I shook my head. "Aside from sprouting wings in front of the Lady of the Pond, I haven't noticed anything else to indicate my angels powers are ready to shine."

  She sighed. "It's frustrating. Instinct has guided me all this time, but made me a poor teacher. And even if I wanted to teach you, I am still too weak."

  "I feel fully recovered since Ivy healed me," I said. "Did the curse permanently damage you?"

  "Perhaps not permanently, though it may have set back my recovery from the Desecration by a few years." Her brow crinkled.

  I touched her hand. "You'll bounce back. Nobody comes that close to death and makes a complete recovery in a couple of months." Truthfully, though, I'd expected her to be back to full power by now. The Desecration had severely weakened her just as it had Daelissa, and it had taken them centuries to recover. Even half strength for an angel was like double strength for most Arcanes, and Daelissa only seemed to get stronger while my side lost powerful allies like Nightliss.

  Bella and Shelton walked through the front door, Cinder close behind. Adam Nosti and his girlfriend, Meghan Andretti, showed up shortly thereafter. Neither Katie nor Stacey could make the meeting so I decided to go ahead and start with the current group. I filled them in on my meeting with Mr. Gray, including his assertion that the Seraphim had not created the arches, and the importance of my mother.

  "This is unbelievable, Justin," Nightliss said.

  "You didn't know?" Bella asked.

  She shook her head. "The Desecration damaged my memory. I remember some things with uncanny clarity while others only seem to return with time."

  "Who built the arches if the angels didn't?" Meghan asked.

  I met Shelton's eyes. "Remember the omnidirectional arches?"

  "Yeah." A shrug. "It looked like the angels added them on later because they didn't fit with the original design of the room."

  "Right. What if the angels figured out how to build arches, or tried to make versions of their own?"

  He nodded. "Makes sense they'd try."

  "But the Grand Nexus leads from our world to the angel realm," Bella said. "What if there are arches leading to the realm of their creators?"

  "Or what if they created other artifacts that are even more powerful?" I said.

  Elyssa's gaze flicked to me. "The Map and Key of Juranthemon," she said.

  "Exactly." The key could be used to open a door to just about any location so long as a person used the map to activate the portal. Underborn had sparingly informed me about the ancient relics, but I had no doubt he'd omitted critical facts. The key changed its appearance depending on the expectations of the wielder. The map looked like old parchment but scrolled like the map on an arcphone or arctablet.

  "You mean the key you used to go from Bogota, Colombia back to Atlanta?" Bella said.

  I nodded. "The same. What if the beings who made the arches also made the key and map?"

  "What if there are more than just those two relics?" Shelton added.

  Several competing conversations broke out at once. I clapped my hands together. The room went silent. "Look, it doesn't matter right now. I've tried searching for information on those relics and found nothing. What we do have is a way to access an Alabaster Arch in El Dorado." I held up the memory card Lornicus had given me. "I say we go check it out."

  "You're insane," Shelton said, his face a mask of disbelief. "You need to toss that memory card in the fire and forget you ever saw it."

  "That would be stupid," Elyssa said. "We should let Lornicus think he's controlling our actions. Once we figure out what he's up to, we spring a trap of our own."

  "Terrible idea," Shelton said. "I think Michael proved you can't outthink these people, or have you forgotten how Underborn schooled him?"

  "I disagree, Harry," Bella said, raising an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "I agree with Elyssa. This merits investigation."

  "With extreme caution," Adam said. "After reading Cinder's account of what you went through in those caves last time, I suggest we take plenty of flashlights, batteries, and glowballs."

  Cinder nodded. Even though he'd improved with his gestures, he came nowhere near to Lornicus's mastery. "Justin, do you think these creatures could affect me?"

  I felt my mouth drop open slightly. I hadn't even considered such a question. "Can husks feed on a golem's spark?" I asked, looking at Nightliss.

  She shrugged. "I do not know."

  "A golem's spark isn't a soul," Shelton said, giving Cinder an apologetic look. "Sorry, buddy, but it ain't like soul essence. So I don't think those little freaks could do anything to you."

  "In other words," I said, a revelation coming into my mind, "Lornicus probably sent in gray men to scout the area. That's how he knows what's in there."

  "It is possible," Cinder replied. "If you ask, Justin, I will go to El Dorado alone and confirm this without putting any of you at risk."

  I shook my head without hesitation. "No, I'm not risking a friend like that. We'll go together or not at all." I gazed around the room. "So, who's with me?"

  Shelton was the only one who didn't raise his hand until Bella elbowed him in the ribs. "I'm gonna string Christmas lights around my body," he said.

  "Better yet," I said, "how about I glue glow sticks to a leotard and you wear that?"

  Adam snickered.

  Shelton glared at him. "Laugh it up, fur ball."

  "What about the arch in the cellar?" Meghan asked. "Is there a safe way to find out where it goes?"

  "After Justin banished the demon guardian from the arch, it apparently disconnected the arch from its destination," Cinder said. "There are no obvious controls in the room."

  The arch in the cellar looked like a miniature version of an Obsidian Arch. Instead of being large enough to admit a jumbo jet, it was maybe ten feet tall and twice as wide. Every arch I'd seen had a circle of silver embedded in the floor around it—a magically closed circuit which prevented accidental Gloom fractures from forming outside the ring. "I once activated an arch by closing the circle around
it," I said. "Maybe this one works the same way."

  "Or maybe Jeremiah Conroy did something to hide the controls," Shelton said. "He seemed to know a hell of a lot about this mansion."

  "Well, there's only one way to find out," I said, and stood up.

  "Now?" Shelton said, aghast.

  I shrugged. "Why wait?"

  "You need to take up scrapbooking," Shelton said. "Because I don't like it when you get bored."

  I led the group into the cellar, down another set of stairs, through a tunnel, and into the room where the arch sat. It stood on a polished circle of obsidian bordered by a silver ring. There were no markings on it or the floor around it.

  Shelton ran his hand up the twisting ebony material. "Look at the design of the columns," he said giving me a look. "Remind you of something?"

  I thought back to the time we'd inspected arches in the control room at Queens Gate, and the answer occurred almost immediately. "The geometry is as complicated as the omniarches," I said.

  "Yep."

  "Mind explaining what you're talking about?" Adam asked.

  I knelt next to the arch and pointed to the triangular base. "A normal arch has a three-sided column which twists as it runs the span."

  Adam traced his eyes up the column. "Whoa, it makes my eyes go crazy trying to follow it, but it looks like it changes from three-sided to a lot more than that."

  Shelton retrieved a picture comparing the two arches from his arcphone and displayed it as a hologram. "This arch looks like an omniarch," he said. "Question is, will it work right, or dump you in an alternate dimension?"

  "I concur with Harry's identification," Cinder said, looking at the pictures.

  The only time I'd taken an omniarch, it had sent me on a joyride through hell, and finally deposited me in El Dorado. Omniarches, from what we'd determined, had no set destination, but could open anywhere.

  "According to your theory, these arches could send you to locations even without an arch at the other end," Cinder said. "But how do you control where you want to go?"

  "I just told it I wanted to go home," I said. "And it took me to Elyssa."

  She smiled.

  "But then it sucked me back in and tossed me in El Dorado," I finished.

  "I suggest we grab an ASE and send it through to video the area," Adam said. "That way we don't risk anyone."

  "That's a great idea," I said. ASEs, or all-seeing-eyes, were orbs which could record everything around them.

  Adam ran upstairs to retrieve some ASEs, while Shelton and I thought up a place to send it first.

  "I say we send it through to Thunder Rock," Shelton said. "That way we can see what Daelissa has been up to."

  "If she's there and sees us, we're done for," Meghan said.

  "How about El Dorado?" Bella said.

  Elyssa shook her head. "We should try somewhere safe first."

  I listened to them argue over destinations and finally threw in my own two cents. "Let's just send it to the room over yonder." I indicated the chamber beyond the arch. "Then we can worry about complicated stuff later."

  "Uh, that's actually a good idea," Shelton said, pulling off his wide-brimmed hat to run a hand through his hair.

  "Baby steps," I said. "Baby steps."

  Adam returned with a handful of the marble-sized ASEs. He took one, flicked it between forefinger and thumb, and released it. The sphere dropped an inch before spinning and hovering in mid-air. He looked at me. "See if you can get the arch connected, and I'll set the ASE to record mode."

  "Why record anything if you're just gonna send it one room over?" Shelton asked.

  "In case it goes on an intergalactic joy ride," I said as I stepped inside the silver circle around the arch.

  "Wait!" Elyssa said, appearing with a coil of normal rope. She wrapped one end around me, tying a loop around my waist, and secured the other end to a metal ring embedded in the stone wall.

  "What's this for?" I asked.

  "In case you open a Gloom fracture," she said, securing another length of rope to her waist and an iron ring next to the first. "If you do, I'll save you." She grinned.

  I didn't dare tell her to let me do this alone. She'd probably punch me in the throat if I tried.

  Adam set the ASE to record mode, and sent it drifting inside the circle with me and Elyssa. I knelt, pressed a finger to the ring, and willed it closed. The ensuing rush of aether as it filled the enclosed magical container made my ears pop. This place was right over a major ley line. I wondered what would happen if a circle was too full of energy. Would it explode? Or would it just fill up and not allow any more inside?

  Elyssa made a little gasp, her eyes flaring as the magic closed all around us. "That felt…weird," she said, rubbing her arms. "I have goose bumps."

  "Me too," I said, though it was more from hearing her gasp of surprise than anything else. That sound reminded me of something else entirely.

  Pushing such thoughts from my filthy mind, I turned to the destination room, and imprinted an image of it in my brain. Even with it in my sight, it was difficult to maintain a crystal clear image especially with the butterflies in my stomach. What if I opened the arch into a void and it sucked me in? What if I triggered a fracture into the Gloom?

  Elyssa will save you.

  She seemed to sense my unease, and touched my arm.

  Everything will be okay.

  The myriad thoughts pinging around in my mind vanished. I found focus, and willed the arch to open a portal in the room beyond. Go there, I thought. Now! My vision flickered, and the world vanished in a puff of shadow only to appear a second later. I heard cries of surprise from my friends sounding much further behind me than they should have been. I felt disoriented. Dizzy. My legs wobbled, and I went down on my knees.

  I looked around, blinking dark spots from my eyes, trying to figure out what the hell I'd done. Where was Elyssa? Where was the arch? I looked at my waist and saw the rope was gone, too. It was then I recognized the room I was in—the destination I'd envisioned the arch opening to. Had I somehow used the arch and not realized it?

  "Justin?" Elyssa said, touching my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

  I opened my mouth to say I was fine, when my last meal made an unexpected return trip up my esophagus. Only Elyssa's supernatural reflexes allowed her to dodge the spew. When I finished emptying my stomach, I looked up to see the others around me, looks of awe on their faces. Even Nightliss looked impressed.

  "How in the hell did you do that?" Shelton asked, looking back and forth between the arch and me.

  "What happened?" I asked.

  He stared at me, mouth open. "I don't believe it. Holy butt-cakes in a meat grinder, man! You teleported."

  Chapter 5

  "I what?" I asked, shock jolting my heart.

  "You freaking teleported yourself," he said. "One minute you were over there, and the next, a puff of black smoke, and you were over here."

  "I believe I am flabbergasted," Cinder said attempting to modulate his usually deadpan tone to match the word.

  I accepted a wet wipe from Elyssa—where in the world do women keep this stuff?—and cleaned my lips. She helped me to my feet as I considered Shelton's question. I'd done something I'd only seen Ivy do. She called it blinking—instantly moving from one point to another. She said it didn't work for long distance, only for a place I could see.

  I explained the concept to the others.

  "How did you do it?" Nightliss asked, a look of wonder on her face.

  I shrugged. "I dunno. It just kind of happened. I focused on where I wanted the arch to open, and the next thing I knew, I was there."

  "Doesn't look like something you want to do on a full stomach," Shelton commented, pinching his nose and backing away from the puddle of upchuck on the floor.

  Equilibrium returned to my disoriented brain, and I was able to stop leaning on Elyssa for support. "That is so cool," I said under my breath, looking at the distance I'd covered. True, it wasn't a huge d
istance, but it was pretty freaking awesome. I just hoped the barfing part went away eventually.

  "Dork," Elyssa said in an affectionate tone. "Maybe we should wait before trying the arch."

  I shook my head. "No, I'm fine, really. At least my stomach is empty in case I do it again."

  She sighed. "A stubborn dork."

  "Ha, ha." After walking back to the arch, I found the loose coil of rope I'd blinked out of, and fastened it back around my waist. Elyssa did the same. Apparently, my blink had opened the circle and released the aether within, so I had to close it again. I turned back to the arch, keeping the destination in mind, and imagined a tunnel from the arch to the next room. Connect, I commanded, visualizing a scene of the room beyond appearing within the columns of the arch.

  The center of the arch flickered ultraviolet and white for a split second before an image of the room clarified into focus. I looked through the arch, and then around it to the next room. An open portal hovered in the air, shimmering like a window made of liquid glass.

  "Whoa," Adam said, jogging to the portal. He reached for it.

  "You're gonna lose a hand," Shelton said, as though castigating a kid about to stick his limb in the garbage disposal.

  "I want to see if it's solid," Adam replied. He made a motion with his hand, and the ASE floated through the arch, appearing from the other one. "Looks safe."

  I gave Elyssa a look. She raised an eyebrow.

  "On three?" she said, unfastening the rope from her waist.

  I nodded, removing my rope.

  She took my hand. "One, Two, Three."

  We stepped inside. The world warped like a fishbowl for the barest instant, hardly enough to even register, and then we stood next to Adam.

  "Well, you're still alive," he said, and touched the edge of the portal. The image didn't shift or ripple. "I feel a slight resistance on the outer edge, but it's not solid."

  "Fascinating," Shelton said, walking over to touch the portal. "Now, how do we turn the thing off?"