by John Corwin
"It's better if you ask him yourself."
Considering his wedding was close on the horizon, I wanted to confront him soon.
Confront, or ask?
I bit my lip. A lot would depend on him. Another question pestered me. "What does Jeremiah Conroy want, and why hasn't he given the Cyrinthian rune to Daelissa?"
"Ah," Mom said, a wan smile teasing her lips. "He is an enigma. There's something about him I feel I should know. My memory of the past is still so fuzzy and faint in many ways. I'm not sure if that's due to Daelissa's mind tricks, or simply due to the Desecration. I know the answer to who he really is must be locked in there somewhere if I could only break through the haze." She sighed, shook her head. "I don't know how you've managed so far. David and I kept you in the dark about so much, and yet, you've overcome obstacle after obstacle."
Not all of them.
Mom rose, stretched, and yawned. "I promised Nightliss I would talk with her. Perhaps we can help each other remember our past."
I stood and took her hand, looking her in the eyes. "Are you being honest with me right now? Or are you throwing up more barriers? It wouldn't make me very happy to find out later that you're intentionally hiding things from me."
"Aside from the subject of your father, I am telling you all I know," she said, squeezing my hand. "You can trust me, Justin."
I nodded. "I want to. You can understand if I'm a little leery, though."
She returned a sad smile. "I do understand." Mom kissed me on the forehead. "We'll talk later, son."
"Tell me the moment anything comes out of that noggin of yours," I said, and hugged her.
After the door closed behind her, my phone buzzed with a text message. Please come to the road. The message was from Lornicus.
I paused. Talk about creepy. I texted Elyssa. She joined me a moment later.
"I let Shelton know to charge out with the army if he doesn't hear from us," she said. A shudder passed through her shoulders. "I don't trust this golem."
"That makes two of us," I said.
We made our way down the long drive to the road. A lone figure stood silhouetted beneath a flickering gas lamp. Lornicus saw the two of us and smiled.
"Ah, Miss Borathen. So pleased to make your acquaintance," he said, offering a hand.
She looked at it suspiciously, not offering her own in return. "What do you want?"
"Ah, yes," he said, withdrawing his hand. "I can see you're uneasy about me, but I assure you, Justin and I have an agreement. I present no threat to him."
"Considering how you kidnapped him, you'll forgive me if I don't agree."
He smiled. "Understood." His gaze turned to me. "I'm happy to see you accomplished your goal without my help."
"I doubt that," I said. "You didn't get your own pet cupid."
A shrug. "It would have been fascinating to acquire one, but I am not displeased with you by any stretch of the imagination."
"What about Mr. Gray?" I said. "Did I screw up his master plan again?"
"He considers your accomplishments quite troubling, I will admit, though, at present, I believe he intends to leave you be." The golem folded his arms behind his back. "I have other offerings of information you may find useful, however."
I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what would you want for this information?"
"I'm sure you can guess," he said.
I snorted.
"Before you make any hasty decisions, Mr. Slade, let me give you a sample."
"Fine," I said, waving a hand dismissively. I wouldn't entrust the golem with a pet chipmunk, much less a baby angel. "Let's hear it."
"For one, I can offer you the truth behind Jeremiah Conroy."
"Interesting, but I think we'll figure that one out on our own."
"I also have fascinating insight into your father's past." He smiled.
"The truth or just conjecture?" I asked, feeling my curiosity pique.
His lips pressed into an amused smirk, as if he'd just found the weak spot in my armor. "The truth, of course. Mr. Gray knows quite a bit about David Slade."
Just walk away. My gut feeling agreed with my brain for once. "No deal," I said. "Is there anything else besides a cupid you'd be interested in?"
"For such a valuable piece of information, I'm afraid not, Mr. Slade." He sighed. "I don't understand why you're so reluctant to give me one Seraphim infant. The leyworms have their own plans for them, you know. I don't think you'd like what they have in mind."
"Enlighten me," I said, wondering what in the world the leyworms could want with the cupids. True, they were intelligent beings, and they obviously had no intention of letting anyone steal their strange brood. But were the creatures truly planning something bad?
"They are not of this realm," he said. "While I don't know their true origins, I'm certain they were put here by a greater power."
"What, to terrorize spelunkers?" I said in a scoffing tone. "They seem pretty content to stick to the caves."
Lornicus shrugged. "Mr. Gray believes they were put here by whomever created the arches. He believes they are the ones who sowed this realm with ley lines, giving rise to magic in preparation for them to create the arches."
"Great. Are you telling me there's another invasion besides the Seraphim we have to worry about?" I asked. What he said fit with the little I knew about the creatures. They had an affinity with ley lines and aether I couldn't explain.
"I do not know, Mr. Slade." The golem gave an apologetic smile. "Please consider what I've said. Allowing the leyworms to keep the cupids, as you so quaintly call them, could be a terrible mistake."
"And giving them to you would be just as bad," I said.
"Hmm, I don't agree with your assessment." He shrugged. "I suppose time will have to tell, won't it?"
"I guess so," I said.
"Until next time," Lornicus said, and walked away.
Elyssa shook her head as she watched the receding form. "That thing gives me the creeps. Never give in to his demand."
"Not if I can help it," I said.
"It acts as if a person is just something you can give away." She scowled. "I just hope what he said about the leyworms isn't true."
I took Elyssa's hand, and smiled. "Let's not worry about it right now. It's almost Christmas. Maybe we can convince jolly Saint Nick to lend us a helping hand."
She laughed. "I can only imagine us fighting side-by-side with elves." She quirked an eyebrow. "You realize we have unfinished business, right?"
"Well yeah, there's my dad, Daelissa—"
"No, silly." She poked my nose and grinned. "We never finished our little match."
My brain rewound the past few days before what she meant hit me. "Oh, our wrestling match."
"It's not wrestling." She tugged my hand. "Let's go finish this. I want to kick your butt and be done with it."
"Not gonna happen," I said, following her.
We trashed talked all the way down to the gauntlet room. Elyssa wore a tight sweater and skirt which came to mid-thigh. I had on jeans and a T-shirt, neither of which I wanted to rip to shreds by manifesting. I had a feeling she would beat me handily unless I came up with something. I swung my arms in circles, did some stretches.
"Stop stalling," Elyssa said, hands on hips.
"Your legs are really distracting," I said. Not to mention the way the sweater hugged her curves.
"All's fair in war," she said with a wicked grin, hiking her skirt to show a little more leg. She flashed across the room.
I had time for a startled yelp before she was on me. I twisted to the side, barely keeping my feet as she tried to sweep them from beneath me. We gripped each other's shoulders, our arms tensing to throw the other off balance. Elyssa jerked. I felt her foot against my stomach as she flipped me over while lying on her back. Using the momentum, I finished the flip, landing on my feet, and turned to pin her. She was already up, her foot sweeping low. I jumped. Landed. She finished the spin, her other foot flashing out. I dove forw
ard, off-balance, and landed atop her. We both fell to the floor tangled in each other's arms, laughing.
As we lay on our sides, laughter dying away, I pushed a lock of raven hair behind her ear. "Guess it's a tie."
She nodded. "Probably better this way."
"Better?" I said with a grin. "It's the best. I love you. Thanks for always being there for me."
"As if anyone or anything could stop me." She smothered me with a kiss. "I love you."
I was happy. My family was growing by leaps and bounds. Mom was here. I'd soon bring Ivy here. I felt nearly complete.
Watch out, Dad. You're next.
####
Section A
MEET THE AUTHOR
John Corwin has been making stuff up all his life. As a child he would tell his sisters he was an alien clone of himself and would eat tree bark to prove it.
In middle school, John started writing for realz. He wrote short stories about Fargo McGronsky, a young boy with anger management issues whose dog, Noodles, had been hit by a car. The violent stories were met with loud acclaim from classmates and a great gnashing of teeth by his English teacher.
Years later, after college and successful stints as a plastic food wrap repairman and a toe model for GQ, John once again decided to put his overactive imagination to paper for the world to share and became an author.
Connect with John Corwin online:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/johnhcorwinauthor
Blog http://johncorwin.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/John_Corwin
Books by John Corwin:
Overworld Chronicles:
Sweet Blood of Mine
Dark Light of Mine
Fallen Angel of Mine
Dread Nemesis of Mine
Twisted Sister of Mine
Dearest Mother of Mine
Coming in 2014: Infernal Father of Mine
Stand Alone Novels:
No Darker Fate
The Next Thing I Knew
Outsourced
Seventh
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41