by John Corwin
"Ow!" he cried.
The professor didn't even look up from reading.
Harris stared at me with dead eyes, either still digesting that Victus was still alive, or deciding he wanted another crack at me after all. I planned to avoid him and Baxter. After all, we would soon be launching a rescue mission for Ivy that might result in our deaths. It would be better dying like that than allowing Harris his petty revenge.
"…it was a dire moment in Overworld social dynamics," Professor Beetle read from the textbook. "Though the Overlord had not risen to power, he had accrued enough support to make neighbor turn against neighbor. He killed dozens of people in his search for the one mentioned in Foreseeance Five Thousand. The one person he thought would bring him down."
Heads and eyes shifted toward Harris, but the boy didn't seem to notice that the lesson had suddenly become about him.
"Was that when the Overlord killed Harris's parents?" Kimmy Kaspersky asked.
Professor Beetle blinked and looked up from the book as if suddenly realizing she had a classroom full of students. "Unfortunately, yes."
"Why me?" Harris spoke in a bleak voice. "What made him think it was about me?"
I recognized the sad undertones of someone who wished the foreseeance had been about anyone but himself. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, because I knew exactly how he felt. I wished more than anything that Victus wasn't my father.
Professor Beetle pursed her lips and closed the textbook. "Those with the gift often foresee many happenings in the future. The more momentous an event, the more likely many seers will prophesy about it, as was the case with Foreseeance Forty-Three Eleven."
"The one involving Justin Slade?" Max asked.
"Yes." Beetle smiled, as if enjoying her little jaunt outside the confines of a textbook. "There were exactly nine documented visions attributed to Foreseeance Five Thousand. It was the ninth that named young Harris."
"It specifically named him?" Lily frowned. "I've only ever heard the one version—Once again shall the evil rise. The son of the fallen is the only hope for victory."
"That is the official abridged version." Professor Beetle pursed her lips. "The first eight visions did not name anyone. After the Overlord's death, a ninth vision came to light. It was this foreseeance that specifically linked Mr. Ashmore to Foreseeance Five Thousand." She tapped a finger on her chin. "It's really quite odd when a foreseeance is so accurate."
Ambria's hand shot up. "In other words, the Overlord killed Harris's parents without realizing they were part of the prophecy?"
Harris's face grew tight, but he didn't seem overly upset about the discussion. As a child of prophecy, he'd probably heard people talk about his dead parents like this many times. As often as his parents were revered, I heard mine vilified.
"It would seem so." Professor Beetle's brow pinched into a confused W. "What is quite odd is that witnesses to the wave of murders during that time say that the Overlord was looking for something or someone in particular."
Baxter grunted. "Wasn't he looking for Harris?"
"Why would the Overlord search for Harris?" the professor replied. "Before the ninth vision, Foreseeance Five Thousand could have been about anyone who'd lost a parent. And why would the Overlord kill his parents and create a self-fulfilling prophecy?"
"What was the Overlord looking for?" Kimmy asked.
"Many scholars believe he was purging political opponents," Beetle said. "However, the majority of those he killed during his reign of terror had nothing to do with politics."
Lily raised her hand again. "Where can we read all the visions?"
"The Foreseeance section of the library, of course," Beetle replied.
"What's there to read that we don't already know?" Harris sighed and met my eyes. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but turned away.
"It's interesting," Lily said in a persistent voice. "I didn't realize there were nine visions. I thought there was just the one."
"It doesn't matter!" Harris burst out of his seat and stormed from the room.
Baxter got up halfway from his desk, mouth hanging open, forehead scrunched with confusion.
Professor Beetle frowned, then shrugged. "I suppose that is a rather delicate subject for Mr. Harris."
Lily put hands to her cheeks and managed to look ashamed. "I didn't mean to hurt him."
"I must say I've rather enjoyed this spontaneity," Beetle said. "Perhaps I'll allow more random questions in the future."
"It would certainly be better than reading the text book," Kimmy said, perhaps a bit louder than she'd meant to.
Eleanor Beetle didn't seem to mind. She opened the textbook and resumed reading. Boredom ensued.
Max turned around, ignoring the lecture. "I say we corner Harris and Baxter and beat them up. We can't let them get away with ambushing you like that."
Ambria touched my shoulder. "Why haven't you told us what happened, Conrad?"
"Later," I hissed, and put my head down on my desk.
I stare at the white house. It has been so long. I shouldn't be here. I don't want to be punished again. I don't want anyone to die because I couldn't stay away. Victus has me followed when he suspects the real me has emerged. I've grown accustomed to losing them, but what if I missed someone?
Fear grips me. I hop on my broom and speed away, desperate to put as much distance between it and me as I can. I can never come back. "My family is dead and gone," I say. "I have no one but Victus and Conrad."
My heart chokes with pain. If Victus knew I thought of our son as family, he would put me away for good. To him, our children have never been family, but guinea pigs in his quest for eternal life. How many has he used in his demonic experiments? Why must he use our children? During Conrad's birth, I emerged from the demon haze. Unlike so many before him, I saw my little boy come from my womb and open his eyes for the first time.
While I still had my wits, I made certain I could never bear another child. Conrad will be the last.
I look over my shoulder at the dwindling view. Hills, trees, and the one house in this world I can never visit again. I cannot lose the only family left to me.
"I think he's in a coma," Max said. "We need a healer!"
"No, he's awake," Professor Beetle said.
I blinked my weary eyes and looked with confusion at the concerned face of Max, Ambria, and Professor Beetle. "I'm sorry, I must have dozed off."
"We couldn't wake you," Ambria said. "You've been like that for nearly fifteen minutes."
"I thought that blow to your head must've given you a concussion." Max sighed with relief. "Thank god you finally woke up."
Professor Beetle pursed her lips. "You haven't been using drugs or narcotic potions, have you?"
"No." I got up from my desk. "I practiced magic too hard and got aether poisoning."
"Ah, that explains it." Beetle smiled and nodded as if everything was all better. "Perhaps you should go to bed early tonight."
"I'll do that." I gathered my books and made for the doorway.
Max and Ambria hurried after me. I took a right and headed downstairs.
"Where are you going?" Max jogged to pull even with me. "It's lunchtime and I'm starving."
Ambria came to my other side. "Did the blow to your head make you forget the dining hall is the other way?"
I focused on the image burned into my mind and shook my head. "No. Go to lunch if you have to. I have something else to do."
"What could be more important than eating?" Max said.
"Answers." I was afraid the memory would fade, but it remained vivid and focused, down to the smallest detail.
"Speaking of which, you still haven't told us what happened with Harris." Ambria gripped my arm and tried to slow me down. "Why won't you talk?"
"I'll tell you everything. Promise." We descended a ramp and entered a corridor not far from the entrance to the Burrows. The unused classroom with the portal was just down the way.
"We're taki
ng the portal somewhere?" Max asked.
I nodded and hoped they didn't think I was crazy. "We're going to the place I just dreamed about." Concern flashed in their eyes, but I pressed onward. "We're going to the white house."
Chapter 23
I plunged through the portal and into the omniarch room on the other side before they could say anything. Ambria leapt through and grabbed my arm. "You saw the white house again?"
"Yes."
Max scratched his head. "This is one of those memories Della left?"
"Looks like it." I turned toward the omniarch and closed the portal hovering between its columns. I closed my eyes and saw the white house, the oak tree with red leaves, the hills behind it. Open. The omniarch hummed. I opened my eyes and a gateway blinked open.
The house was there, just as I'd dreamed it, a hundred yards across a grassy field. I stepped through the portal. Wind swept my hair. A blue sky and bright sun welcomed me to wherever in the world I now stood.
I started walking toward the house. The front door burst open and a massive white cat bounded outside and toward us.
Max stopped in his tracks. "Is that a lion?"
"It's spotted, Max," Ambria said in a disbelieving tone. "Since when do lions have spots?"
"A leopard." I looked back at the portal, now twenty yards distant. We could outrun the big cat if need be, but curiosity rooted me to the spot. "It was in that house and I don't see blood on its muzzle, so it must be tame."
"Just because it's someone's pet doesn't mean it won't eat us." Ambria gripped my arm. "We should run."
"Agreed." Max backed up a step.
"I dreamed about this house for a reason." I stood my ground. "I won't leave now."
Ambria sighed. "I really hope it doesn't eat us."
Max took out his wand, but I gripped his wrist and shook my head. "Don't threaten it."
I held up my hands and walked toward the leopard, shouting toward the house. "We come in peace!"
The leopard bounded up to us and circled around, a low growl in its throat. I froze with fear, but managed to repress the instinct to run. The feline turned toward the house and yowled in such a way it sounded almost like human speech.
A stout man with a Caesar's crown of gray hair stepped through the door, a staff at the ready. He made his way across the field, eyes never leaving us until he stood only a few yards away. He wore old-fashioned glasses with thick, wide rims, the side of which looked as if it had been taped together. I guessed his age to be in the seventies, or maybe older.
"Who are you?" His eyes drifted toward the portal. "Where are you from?"
I wasn't sure it was wise to tell this stranger.
"Max," Max said at once.
Ambria elbowed him and turned to me. "Well?"
If this man was an enemy, he had us completely at his mercy. I felt stupid for impulsively coming here without any planning whatsoever. "We're students from Arcane University."
The man frowned. "What are you doing here?"
I didn't know what else to say, so I took a leap of faith and hoped for the best. "Did you know Delectra?"
His bushy eyebrows shot up and his hand tensed around his staff. "Who's asking?"
Please don't let this be a mistake. "I'm Conrad, her son."
His mouth dropped open. "Sh—she had a son?"
I blinked, caught off guard by his question. "Yes, why?"
He shook his head slowly. "It's been so long since I saw her. So long since she died." He looked toward the portal. "Where does that lead?"
"Back to the university," I said.
"Who are you?" Ambria asked.
"I'm no one until I confirm who you are." He smiled as if to soften the hard words. "I'm sorry, but an old man can't be too careful." He motioned toward the portal. "Let's go."
The leopard yowled.
He nodded. "Yeah, you'd better come."
The big cat looked up at Max with intense green eyes and sniffed. Max jumped back a foot. The cat's mouth opened in what could only be described as a grin.
"That's a well-trained leopard," Ambria noted.
The man chuckled. "I wish. She pees all over the house."
The leopard growled and slung dirt at the old man with her paw. He chuckled.
We led him and his leopard back through the portal and into the arch room. He looked around intently. "Where is this?"
"It's underneath the headmaster's house at Arcane University," I said.
His eyebrows rose. "Wait, this is the omniarch used in the Seraphim War?" He headed for the exit. "Is it near the mansion?"
I hurried to catch up. "Yes. How did you hear about it?"
"Who hasn't heard about this place?" He snorted. "This was the resistance headquarters during the war." He stopped where the corridor opened into the cavern housing the mansion and blew out a long breath. "Amazing. How in the world do you kids have access to this place?"
I didn't know what to tell him about that. "I think everyone forgot it was down here. We just found it by accident."
"How sad. A lot's changed since the war ended." He shook his head. "And not for the better." He turned back toward the omniarch room. "Can you get us topside with that?"
"Of course, but why?" If he recognized the mansion, then he knew we were below Arcane University.
"There's someone I need to see." I couldn't imagine who that might be, but was too curious to stop now. "We don't want anyone knowing about the omniarch, so I'll open it in an abandoned wing of the university."
"Very well." The man watched patiently as I opened a new portal. His leopard prowled through the corridor outside and loped back in when we were ready to leave.
We stepped through the portal and into the empty room, then headed upstairs, through twisting corridors, and back into the main hallways. Lunch period wasn't over just yet, so the hallways were mostly empty. The few students we passed gave startled looks at the leopard, some spinning on their heels and hurrying the opposite way.
"Well, if people only suspected we were evil before," Max said, "they're probably convinced now that we have a super-villain pet following us around."
The leopard growled and swiped at Max's leg.
"Whoa!" Max jumped to the side.
"She's not a pet," the man said.
Ambria's eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute—is she actually a leopard?"
"Yes." The man shrugged. "For now."
"She's a shifter, isn't she?" Ambria put her hands on her hips and frowned. "A felycan, and a very rude one at that!"
The leopard glared at her, but didn't swipe this time.
The air blurred ahead of us. Webs wrapped around the leopard and Shushiel scurried ahead of us, bouncing up and down on her legs, mandibles wide. "Did this man threaten you, Conrad?"
Max scrambled to the side, slipping and falling in his haste to escape the unexpected calamity. Ambria looked relieved.
The leopard yowled and tried to break free, but the tough webbing held her fast. The man's mouth dropped open in astonishment. "Is that a ruby spider?"
I held up a hand. "Shushiel, we're fine."
"I didn't realize they had such lovely red fur!" The old man leaned toward her, peering through his glasses.
Shushiel skirted sideways around us, her eyes blinking in rapid succession as she evaluated the situation. She stopped next to the leopard and snipped through the web bindings with her mandibles. The big cat scrambled upright and ran to hide behind the man.
"I am sorry to have been gone so long," Shushiel said, "but family matters and problems in the forest have kept me very busy."
"It's fine, really." Ambria rushed over and hugged our friend. "I'm glad to know you're watching over us again."
Shushiel stroked Ambria's hair with a foreleg. "I cannot stay long, but I heard of Galfandor's collapse and came back to see if he is okay."
"We don't know how he is," I admitted. "It all happened so fast, and then they whisked him away."
Max recovered his wits and sidl
ed up next to me. "Things are bad."
"Well, Conrad, you certainly know how to make an impression." The man chuckled and looked down at the leopard. She stared with big green eyes at Shushiel, keeping the man between her and the spider.
Ambria stuck out her tongue. "Scaredy cat."
The leopard growled.
"Will you tell me who you are now?" I asked.
The man checked a pocket watch. "It's still lunchtime, yes?"
I nodded.
"Then take me to the dining hall, please."
"Best idea I've heard so far," Max said, and set out at a rapid pace down the hallway. By the time we caught up with him, he was already seated, looking imploringly toward the doors used by the serving golems.
Students at the closest tables went silent when they saw our strange group. Shushiel, at least, had camouflaged herself, but the leopard drew all manner of stares. Wolves were a more common sight around campus due to lycans attending shifter studies, but felycans were rare to the point of nonexistence at the university.
The man looked around as if searching for something or someone.
"May I ask what is going on here?" Asha Fellini seemed to appear from behind us.
The man faced her with a neutral expression. "Conrad is giving me a tour."
"You don't have a visitor badge." Asha raised an eyebrow and looked back and forth between me and our strange companions. "I require an explanation."
Max, meanwhile, received his food and dug in without giving the unfolding events another thought.
"Let's step into the hallway." Asha led the way without looking back. She took a right down an empty hallway and stopped. "Explain. Now."
"I wasn't expecting any visitors, but this boy appeared on my front lawn and demanded answers I'm not certain I should give," the man said. "I was merely ascertaining his identity."
Asha's lips flattened into a line, her eyes narrowing with apprehension. "Conrad, how did you find this man?"
I didn't want to tell her. Victus couldn't know that I had an—
"He used an omniarch," the man said. "Opened a portal nearly to my doorstep."
