by John Corwin
"Close enough," he said, and set out toward the dining hall. "Nothing like a good mystery to make me hungry."
"You certainly don't need a mystery for that." Ambria whisked the bristles of her broom across the floor. "I wish we'd left these at the broom closet instead of lugging them around."
"I can take them if you want," I offered.
"That would be awfully sweet." Ambria pecked a kiss on my cheek and gave me her broom.
Max sniffed the air. "Mm, I smell roast."
"Your broom?" I said.
He blinked as if coming out of a trance and handed me his broom. "Oh, thanks!"
"No problem." I slung the three brooms over my shoulder and headed back down the hall toward the broom check near the main entrance and hung them on the hooks covering the walls of the round room. I chose the three closest to the door and hung the brooms. Each hook zapped my finger with a charm that would allow me to release them when I came back.
The main door opened and a figure stepped inside, a shaft of sunlight glinting off her glossy black hair.
Remember.
Cold air raises the hair on my arms. Dim torchlight illuminates a wide room filled with coffins. It smells musty like a cave. The drip of water echoes. I take a step toward the nearest box. The top is transparent, like glass. I look inside and shout in fright but no sound comes from my throat.
A withered face stares back with glassy eyes, mouth locked in one last scream.
I gasped and staggered back a step.
Full red lips parted in a greeting smile morphed to surprise. "Conrad, are you okay?" Asha Fellini took my hand and squeezed it.
I dared meet the eyes of the woman who looked so much like Delectra even though it knotted my heart with sorrow. The afterimages of my vision faded, but I recalled everything with perfect clarity. That voice. It sounded like Della.
Della had been the soul fragment left inside me after the demon preserving my parents' souls had been released. When Delectra died, Della went with her. Her last words to me were, "I left you something. Goodbye." I wondered if this vision had anything to do with that.
"Conrad?" Della touched my cheek with her cool fingers.
I flinched back. "I—I'm fine, Professor."
She stepped back. "What is it about me that offends you, Conrad?"
"Nothing, Professor." I'd so rudely rejected her touch, it probably hurt her feelings. But what could I tell her? Excuse me, but you look just like my dead mother. No, that wouldn't do at all. "Your hand was cold."
Asha narrowed her eyes. "I won't let you off that easy. Ever since the first day we met you've always given me such strange looks." Her forehead pinched with concern. "I am quite certain until I moved here from Italy, we had never met, so I don't know what I could have done to wrong you."
I tried to smile, but my face trembled with the effort of painting a façade over the intense pain of looking at this near clone of my mother. "I really don't want to talk about it." I backed away, blinking back tears. "I hope you had a wonderful summer." With that lame statement, I turned and ran back toward the dining hall.
Before entering, I took a moment in the hall to collect myself. A few other students walking past spared curious glances my way but mercifully left me alone. I went inside and found Max and Ambria at our usual table in the far corner. The vast dining hall boasted dozens of large round tables, but with over a week to go until the start of school, few students were here to fill them.
Wooden serving golems marched about the room efficiently delivering trays of food to the smattering of students. Max was already halfway through a haunch of roast beast and mashed potatoes. Ambria smiled brightly at me as I walked over. She smoothed down her long brown hair as she often did and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
The small bushy-haired girl I'd rescued from slavery at the hands of Little Angel Orphanage had grown tall and fierce. Together, we'd faced so many dangers and rescued each other so many times, I wondered what I'd do without the first real friend I'd ever had. Max was my best friend as well, but Ambria and I had a shared past that formed an even deeper bond.
I took a seat and leaned my head on Ambria's shoulder.
"What's wrong, Conrad?"
I told her about Asha. "Should I tell her that she looks like Delectra?"
Ambria squeezed my hand. "Will it help the pain?"
"Which pain?" I sighed. "I don't know where one begins and another ends anymore."
Max paused his chewing. "I'd tell her. It can't hurt anything and maybe it'll make you feel better."
"Max isn't right very often," Ambria said in a serious tone, "but he might be right this once."
Max chomped into a biscuit and rolled his eyes. "Mff."
Ambria flashed a grin. "I'm glad you agree."
"I also had a vision."
Max narrowed his eyes but never stopped chewing. "What was the vision about?"
"I heard Della's voice. She told me to remember." I closed my eyes and recalled what I could. "It was cold and musty—like a cellar. There was a red coffin with a glass top." I swallowed the dread in my throat. "And a body inside."
"A body?" Ambria's exclamation echoed in the nearly empty dining hall.
A few eyes darted our way, but the attention didn't deter Max from eating as if it were his last day alive.
I told them about the last thing Della had told me before leaving me. "I think she left me that vision, but I don't know what it's supposed to tell me."
"Could be a warning," Max said. "Stay away from cellars and dead bodies."
Ambria flicked a bit of mashed potato at Max but missed. "That's just common sense."
Max grinned.
Ambria shook her head. "I don't like it, not one little bit." She squeezed my hand. "If Della left behind memories, why haven't you had any visions since then? Why now?"
"Maybe Asha's face triggered it," Max said. "She does look a lot like Delectra."
"I saw Asha plenty of times after Delectra died." I cut into my slice of roast. "Maybe the memory just got stuck, or maybe Della timed it."
"True." Max stabbed the last bit of his beef. "Must be something else then."
"If it's an omen, we need to be very careful." Ambria bit her lower lip. "I don't want us to end up in those coffins."
Chapter 4
After breakfast the next morning, we joined a group of students and university staff on the flying pirate ship that ferried people back and forth between the university and the Queens Gate waystation. The cabin was full of people going to the Founders Day celebration.
Shushiel had already climbed onboard, camouflaged and nearly invisible. Once we reached the Grotto, she'd remain as invisible as possible since many people reacted unfavorably to giant red spiders in their midst.
Asha sat in the lower galley, the plump history teacher Eleanor Beetle firmly sandwiched between her and Gideon Grace. Grace's lip curled into a sneer the moment he saw the three of us. Asha smiled kindly but didn't call out or wave.
A stocky, freckled ginger shoved past us. "Watch yourself, Edison."
Harris Ashmore followed his friend, Baxter Troy, using his shoulder to push past us despite ample room. "You're blocking the way, idiots."
A tall girl with curly brown hair smiled at us as she followed in the wake of her friends. "Hello, Max. Hi, Conrad."
Max's face flushed. "Oh, hey, Lily."
Lily Crown seemed taller than the last time I'd seen her. My eyes felt drawn to the curve of her waist, the dimples in her cheeks. "Is there something different about her?"
"Yeah." Max tugged at the collar of his shirt. "I wish she didn't have such rotten friends."
Ambria grabbed our shoulders and turned us around. "Stop staring like fools. You'll just work Harris into a lather."
According to a foreseeance, Harris was supposed to stop a great evil. Since I was the son of Victus Edison, the former evil Overlord, many people assumed I'd be his target. By now it was evident to me that if Harris was going to save us, it
would probably be from my father and not me.
"Just because Lily's pretty doesn't mean she isn't rotten to the core." Ambria sniffed. "It's too crowded down here. Let's go to the top deck."
Max and I followed her up a winding staircase to the top deck as the ship began to drift away from the clifftop and toward the landing pad far below. The sun glinted off the distant chrome rocket that ferried students to and from Science Academy as it began its descent into the valley.
The cool wind blew back the hair from Ambria's face and turned her cheeks pink. She touched a cheek with the back of her hand and sighed. "I wish Harris and Baxter would leave us alone. We might have evil parents, but haven't we proven by now that we're not like them?"
"Harris is too consumed with his own greatness to worry about that." I leaned over the railing and spit.
Max hawked up a gob and spit it after mine.
"Ew!" Ambria shivered. "Why are boy so gross and what's so fun about watching your spit fall to the ground?"
"I don't know." Max scratched his head. "I just like watching rocks and stuff like that fall a long way."
I couldn't answer her question either. "One of my foster parents had a tall hill in their backyard. Almost every afternoon, her sons would roll tires down it for fun. I liked watching them do it. It was also the only time they didn't bully me."
"How boring." Ambria leaned her chin on the railing. "If you want real fun, you should go shopping with me sometime."
"Shopping?" Max snorted. "The only thing I like to shop for are gag spells."
"Yes, that sounds about your speed, Max." Ambria looked him up and down. "Your clothes look like something a four-year-old would pick off the rack."
The two of them managed to fill the rest of the time it took us to reach the bottom arguing about shopping and dropping things from great heights. I followed the rest of the crowd off the pirate ship and through the ornate double doors leading into the Queens Gate waystation. Transitioning from a wide green valley and into a massive cavern with a giant black arch in the middle of it was still something of a shock to me.
Queens Gate and the Grotto were both considered pocket dimensions by most of the Overworld community, but I'd discovered they were actually fragments of Eden trapped in a strange juxtaposition with the Glimmer, the world that anchored all the realms together.
The university group headed for the towering Obsidian Arch, the source of a low humming noise as it powered up. Bright light slashed the air and a giant portal opened between the arch columns. It was almost like looking into a mirror. People in a similar way station somewhere across the earth looked back at us from the other side. One group came through on camelback, though not a one of them looked dressed for travel through the desert.
Once they cleared the black-and-yellow-striped markers around the silver circle bordering the arch, the portal flickered away. The professors leading the group went to the ticket booth and spoke with a portly man behind the counter. He motioned us into the waiting area where two smaller groups waited their turn.
An Arcane in yellow robes with black stripes did a headcount and gave us instructions, buzzing about us like a worker bee. "Stay close to each other and move through the portal in an orderly fashion. Whatever you do, don't cast any spells during the portal opening or you risk a Gloom fracture."
"What's that?" a young girl asked.
"A tear in reality that'll suck you into the dream world where you could be trapped for all eternity," the man said curtly. "So don't do it, okay?"
Nervous laughter fluttered through the group, but no one challenged his instructions. When our turn came, the arch hummed to life and the portal flashed on.
"Go!" the arch operator ordered.
Everyone took off like a shot, many with fear in their eyes, as if a vortex might open up and swallow them whole at any moment. We reached the portal without incident. The world stretched like a rubber band followed by a moment of disorientation, and we emerged on the other side of the pond deep beneath the city of Atlanta in the United States.
The Grotto waystation looked virtually identical to Queens Gate, complete with double doors. The group veered left around a waiting line and skirted past a parking lot packed with cars.
Ambria pointed to a brilliant orange sports car with tiger stripes. "Someone's got more money than sense."
"I sort of like it." Max peered inside the window, but the dark tint obscured the interior. "I wonder who owns it."
"Someone important, I'm sure." I pushed them forward before the group left us behind.
We stepped through the double doors ahead and onto a cobblestone road lined with shops that might have hearkened from the Victorian Era. Templars stood on the sidewalks to either side, motioning people onward.
"Keep moving," they said. "No loitering near the exit."
Despite the size of the pocket dimension, I felt a little claustrophobic. With the record-sized crowds expected for the celebration, the small exit to the waystation formed a terrible bottleneck in case of an emergency. What if Victus planned to strike while everyone was in one place? It seemed the perfect opportunity for an act of violence.
We continued through the town and into a large green park overflowing with people. I saw Galfandor near a group of kiosks promoting the Arcane Council, deep in conversation with a tall, thin man. As we neared the tents, the man turned and looked out over the crowd.
He looked familiar, and I soon realized why. It was the same man I'd seen at the arcnology building the day before.
I wasn't the only one who noticed. "Haven't I seen him before?" Ambria said.
Max squinted. "Yeah, I remember him."
"I wonder if he works at in the arcnology building with Ansel," I said. "Maybe he knows what happened to him."
Sharp green eyes locked onto mine through the crowd. A woman in blue robes bowed out of a conversation with a group of Arcanes and weaved her way through a sea of Arcanes on a course toward me. Her bobbed blonde hair bounced as if it had a life of its own. I looked behind me, wondering if perhaps Gideon Grace or another professor stood nearby. When I looked back, the woman offered me a smile from only a few feet away.
"Good day, Conrad Edison." She held out a dainty hand. "I'm Esmerelda Quiff of the Arcane Council." Despite her cute button nose and rosy cheeks, she looked businesslike. Something hard glinted in the depths of her eyes, and I wondered what hid behind her smile.
I took her hand and shook it. "Um, hello?" I had never met this woman before and had no idea why a member of the Arcane Council would want to speak with me. "It's a pleasure," I hastily amended.
"Yes, quite." She released my hand and smiled brightly. "I've heard a great deal about you, young man. I believe it's time we set aside some time to discuss in depth your role in some rather disturbing incidents on campus."
Ambria's forehead pinched with suspicion. "What is your role on the council, Ms. Quiff?"
The woman smiled again. "Oh, Esmerelda, please." She stared at Ambria, the smile etched unmoving on her face.
Ambria cleared her throat. "Um, what's your role on the council, Esmerelda?"
"I am chief security advisor." Esmerelda clasped her hands and looked at us as if we should be delighted. "Arcane University has been a hotbed of problems during your educational tenure, Mr. Edison. I believe it's time the council took a closer look."
"Are you accusing Conrad of causing problem?" Max asked.
"That is a pertinent question, Mr. Tiberius."
"You can't blame him for what happened at school!" Ambria protested.
"Who said anything about blame, dear girl?" Esmerelda patted Ambria on the shoulder. "I believe it's important to keep a detailed record of such incidents for further study."
"Well, well, Esmerelda. I see you've met Mr. Edison." Galfandor nudged between Max and Ambria. "I believe I asked you to save this discussion until after the elections."
"An efficient investigator wastes little time on formalities," Esmerelda said. "It is stil
l a week until we decide on the next Arcanus Primus. I see no reason to delay."
"Perhaps the next primus will have something to say about that," Galfandor replied, an undercurrent of challenge in his tone.
"Perhaps," she said. Esmerelda bobbed her head at me. "I will be in touch, Mr. Edison. Enjoy the festivities." She turned and bounced away through the crowd.
"You should watch yourself around that woman," Galfandor said.
"She doesn't seem dangerous," Ambria said. "Just strange."
Galfandor grunted. "She is a dagger in a fluffy sheath."
"I don't see the harm in her questioning me about the problems my father caused." I looked up at Galfandor and shrugged. "Wouldn't it be a good thing to get the truth out?"
"Many do not wish to hear the truth," he replied. "Many wish to believe the Overlord is gone for good, never to return."
A portly man in gold robes huffed and puffed his way up stairs to a stage near the Arcane kiosks. He tapped a wand to his throat and began to speak in an amplified voice to the crowd of Arcanes. "Welcome, one and all." He bowed this way and that, his face red from the effort. "Today marks an important occasion in Arcane history. Today we celebrate when Ezzek Moore, the first Arcane, brought together the factions of the Overworld and bound them with a treaty. The Arcanes are proud to lead the Overworld into a peaceful and united future."
While most of the crowd burst into cheers, a group of people in the back booed the announcement.
A thickly bearded man in a blue romper cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Leaders my ass!" His fashionably dressed friends burst into laughter.
"Bloody vampires," Galfandor muttered. He nodded at us. "I have to go for now. Do keep your wits about you, yes?"
"Yes, Headmaster." I looked up at the nearby rooftops and wondered which one Shushiel perched on. Even though Max and I were fairly tall, our view was obscured by two tall men. A short wall bordering the plaza provided a perch for several other people, so we stepped up on it to see over the heads of everyone.
The crowd stretched from one corner of the plaza to the other. Ambria pointed out a sea of Arcane robes at the core, with a fringe of vampires in their stylish clothing and lycans in their outdoorsy gear.