by John Corwin
"Looks like a Husky," I said.
"It's a wolf." He shook his head. "Okay, who are you?"
The dog stared at him imploringly for a long moment then went behind a shrub. A moment later, a young girl rose, her head peeking around the foliage. "Hello."
"Amazing!" Ambria said.
"Why did she go behind the bush?" I asked.
"Because lycans don't usually wear clothes in wolf form," Max said.
Ambria put her hands to her cheeks. "Oh, how embarrassing."
"I'd be grateful if you could spare something," the girl said.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"I'm Blue," she replied.
Max wrinkled his forehead. "That's a color, not a name."
"It's a lovely name," Ambria said. "Wait right there, I'll be back with clothes."
Blue looked wonderingly at me. "You must be an awfully strong Arcane to beat an entire group of vampires like that."
"What were you doing wandering the streets alone at night?" Max asked before I could say anything.
She looked down. "I'm looking for a pack."
Max looked confused. "A lycan pack? What about your family?"
Ambria appeared with a bundle in her hand. "Leave her alone, Max." She went behind the bush and a moment later, the two girls stepped into view.
Blue stood a head taller than Ambria and had long wavy hair. "Thank you for saving me."
"Any time," Ambria replied. "I'm Ambria. The blond boy who eats too much is Max, and this is Conrad."
"Nice to meet you," I said.
"Do you have any place to stay?" Ambria asked her.
Blue looked down and shook her head. "Not right now."
"Aren't lycans born into packs?" Max said.
"I didn't like my pack so I ran away." Blue turned her gaze on him. "You can't choose family, and I don't like mine. I know it's hard to understand."
Max burst into laughter. "Actually, we all completely understand that feeling, don't we, Conrad?"
I managed a smile. "Yes, I suppose so."
"Well, it's official then," Ambria said. "Blue is our newest housemate."
Chapter 2
Someone stomping up the stairs jerked me awake so early the next morning, the sun wasn't up yet.
"Who brought a dog in this house?" Sonia shouted loudly enough to wake the dead.
I walked into the upstairs hallway and jumped back as the furious vampire stormed my way.
"Where is it?" Sonia said in a low hiss.
Ambria stepped into the hallway and leveled a glare at the woman. "If you really must know, I invited a werewolf to stay with us."
Sonia's eyes flared angrily. "You invited a lycan to stay in my house?"
Blue appeared behind Ambria, eyes wide.
The vampire jabbed a finger toward her. "You"—she pointed a thumb over her shoulder—"out!"
Ambria shook her head. "Absolutely not. We saved her from vampires last night and we're not about to put her back in the streets."
"She has nowhere to go," I said.
"Vampires? Hah!" Sonia looked from me to Ambria. "You couldn't rescue her from mice."
"Conrad broke their arms and threw them around like rag dolls," Blue said. "He's the strongest Arcane I've ever seen."
Sonia's eyebrows rose. "That puny boy whipped a gang of vampires?"
Desmond appeared behind Sonia and put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go to sleep and sort this out in the evening."
Sonia's lips peeled back. "I refuse to live in the same house as a dog."
Ambria shook her head sadly. "Do you really hate dogs so much?"
"I'm not a dog," Blue said. "I'm a lycan."
"You're a mongrel," Sonia shot back.
"Well, you're a mean vampire!" Ambria shouted. "Why are you so angry all the time?"
Desmond gripped his sister's arm. "That's enough, Sonia. We're going to bed."
Sonia tried to jerk her arm free, but Desmond was too strong. She stabbed a finger at Ambria. "This isn't over, you little brat."
"I'm sorry," Desmond said. "Your friend can stay as long as she likes."
His sister hissed and turned away, finally freeing her arm, then stomped downstairs without another word.
Ambria wiped her forehead and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Desmond."
He nodded. "We still need to discuss this. Having too many people coming and going from this house might alert the neighbors." He glanced downstairs. "Just remember, we're squatters. If someone alerted the authorities, they could kick us out."
"I don't know who they'd tell," Ambria said. "I certainly haven't seen any police patrolling the streets."
Desmond chuckled. "You may be right." He turned and walked downstairs.
"Why would nom police be in Queens Gate?" Blue asked.
"Well, I meant Templars, or whoever they use in the Overworld." Ambria slumped against the wall and put a hand to her chest. "Sonia frightens me."
I nodded. "Me too."
I returned to my room and tried to go back to sleep, but only tossed and turned for the next hour. I finally got up at eight, showered, and ate breakfast. The rubbish bag in the kitchen looked dangerously close to bursting, so I decided to take it outside.
After dropping the bag at the curb, I retrieved my Elementary Magic textbook from upstairs and sat on the front porch to study in the fresh, cool morning air.
The boy next door came outside, a large dartboard under one arm. He and his family had just moved in a week ago, but this was the first time I'd seen any of them since that day.
He looked at me and I waved back. Deciding it might be nice to meet him, I set down the book and walked over to the stone wall separating our yard from his.
"Hello," I said in the cheeriest voice I could manage.
He set down the dartboard and walked over, a serious look on his face. "I can't be your friend."
Considering that this was the first time I'd spoken with him, his statement came as something of a surprise. I took a step back. "Excuse me?"
He leaned on the low wall. "Nothing personal, but I won't have time for new friends." He puffed out his chest. "I have to train to defeat a terrible evil."
"Impressive." I didn't know how playing darts would prepare him, unless he planned to prick the enemy to death.
He held out a hand. I hesitantly shook it and wondered if I should be offended that he didn't want to be my friend.
"I'm Harris Ashmore," he said. "Perhaps you've heard of me."
I had, in fact, never heard of such a person. "My name is Conrad Ed—Edwards."
"I'm something of a big deal," Harris assured me. "There's a foreseeance about me and everything."
Della filled in the blank. Foreseeance—prophecy, she said. I fell back upon the word I'd used earlier with a slight and insincere embellishment. "Very impressive."
"I suppose you could call it fate." Harris hopped into a sitting position atop the wall. "I was orphaned at a young age. My parents were brutally murdered so I live with my aunt and uncle."
It sounded as though he'd rehearsed this story. "I'm sorry to hear that." I wondered what he would think if I told him how my parents had killed themselves and used a demon to bind their souls to mine so they could be resurrected by a demonologist years later.
"Most people are sheep." Harris pointed toward a distant green pasture dotted with the white wooly animals. "They keep their heads down and follow the flock wherever it goes."
I'd once had a man mind-control a flock of sheep and a brood of chickens in an attempt to kill me. "I suppose a lot of people just want to live their lives in peace."
He snorted. "No, they're just stupid." Harris thumped an ant off the wall. "My parents fought the status quo. They didn't let powerful people push them around. They were brave."
At this point, I simply wanted to go back to my textbook, but didn't want to be rude. "You must be proud."
"That was why they were murdered by a cowardly monster." He bared his teeth. "One day I'll also fig
ht a great evil, but in my case, Foreseeance Five Triple Zero says that I'll win."
I was a bit confused by the name. "Is Five Triple Zero the same thing as five thousand?"
He didn't seem to hear my question, instead looking to the sky and proclaiming, "Once again shall the evil rise. The son of the fallen is the only hope for victory." His eyes turned back toward me. "So you see, I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. It would be hard for us to be friends."
Self-aggrandizing little twerp, Vic said.
I decided to go. Just as I opened my mouth to excuse myself, he said something that froze my heart to ice.
"The Overlord killed my parents." His teeth clenched. "No one can understand that pain."
"I-I'm sorry," I stammered and backed away. "I have to get back to studying."
"But I'm just getting to the good parts," Harris said.
I turned around and headed for the house just as Max landed his broom in the front yard. His eyes locked onto the other boy. "Is that Harris Ashmore?"
"Yes." I walked around him, grabbed my book, and went inside.
Max came inside and closed the door. "Really? He's kind of a big deal."
"Yes, I got to hear all about it."
"Oh, then I suppose he mentioned, um…" He went silent for a moment. "Anyway, I'll bet it was kind of awkward when he found out who you are."
"I told him my last name is Edwards." I sank into a chair, weighed down by guilt. "My father killed his parents. I can't let anyone know my real last name, Max."
"Maybe we should talk to Galfandor about that." He shrugged. "I wish I could change my last name. Nobody ever wants to be my friend when they hear I'm a Tiberius."
"Perhaps because you smell funny," said a girlish voice from behind us. Ambria stepped into the den. "Why are you two moping in here when we need to study for the entrance exam?"
"Harris Ashmore." Max poked a thumb toward the window.
"Who?" Ambria looked outside. Harris had started playing with his rocket darts. "Is he a new friend?" Her tone sounded hopeful.
"No." I stood. "He explained to me why we couldn't be friends and then I realized why he was right."
"Conrad's dad killed his parents." Max's eyes brightened. "Isn't that unbelievable?"
Ambria grimaced. "Oh, it's awful, Conrad." She hugged me. "I'm sorry your parents were evil masterminds."
"Me too." I patted her on the back, glad that I had at least two true friends.
"Conrad and I were just talking about how nice it would be to change our last names so people wouldn't hate us." Max watched Harris spear a rocket dart into the bull’s-eye painted on a tree. "I wish I could be Harris's friend."
Ambria huffed. "We're all the friends you need, Max." She grabbed me by the hand and took Max by the wrist. "Now, let's get back to studying."
Max sighed as she dragged us toward the stairs. "Next up is spell casting. We can't exactly practice that in the house and all the gauntlet rooms at the university are full."
"Then we'll go outside." Ambria opened the door to the closet beneath the staircase and picked up our wands off the cot inside.
"I wonder why the family who used to live here left all this stuff behind." Max ducked inside the small space and grabbed an Elementary Enchantments textbook from a tall stack including Elementary Potions and Elementary Magic. He dropped onto the cot and looked inside the front cover. It read: Property of the Underlord.
"Looks like their child had big ambitions," Ambria said.
"You don't suppose he wanted to be like the Overlord, do you?" Max said, casting a curious glance at me.
My stomach knotted. Why would any child want to be like my father? I took the textbook from Max and dropped it on the floor. "Let's go practice."
"Touchy subject?" He stooped beneath the low sill and shut the door behind him.
I couldn't help that every time I thought of my mother, I flashed back to her holding a gleaming knife at my throat while my father watched with a smirk. A deep burn grew a little hotter every time I flashed back to that recent memory. I feared my parents so much it made me weak in the knees and made me hate them all the more.
I force my jaw to unclench. "I'd rather not think about them."
"I completely understand." Ambria squeezed my hand and glared at Max. "Bringing up Conrad's parents is terribly mean, Max. You should be ashamed."
"But the name Underlord was in that book," he protested. "Isn't it kind of strange?"
"Can we just practice?" I groaned. I wasn't in the mood for another one of their arguments.
Ambria huffed. "Shall we go outside and practice?"
I jabbed a finger straight up. "I think we should go up the cliff and practice in Colossus Stadium."
Ambria frowned. "Why can't we practice in the yard?"
"Because the boy whose parents were murdered by Delectra and Victus is out there." I shook my head. "I want to get out of here."
"Oh." She frowned and retrieved our flying brooms from the foyer. "Let's go."
Blue stepped up to the railing at the top of the stairs and looked down at us. "What's going on?"
"We're going to practice for the university entrance exam," Ambria said. "Want to come watch?"
Blue shook her head. "I'm going back to sleep." She vanished from view and a door clicked shut.
"What a sleepyhead," Max said. He grabbed his broom and we went into the back yard. Max's gaze wandered toward Harris's house, but the other boy was no longer playing darts. Now he sat on the back deck with a red-headed boy and a girl with curly brown hair.
The ginger looked up and saw us. A grin split his face and he nudged his companions. "Hey look," he shouted. "It's Cryberius Tiberius."
Max turned away and walked quickly to the street corner.
"Where you going, Cryberius?" the boy called.
Ambria growled and opened her mouth. I grabbed her arm and led her away before she engaged in a shouting match.
"Why'd you do that?" she said. "That boy needs to watch his mouth."
"Yes, but if you'll remember, we don't want to draw attention to us," I said. "We don't own the house we live in, and I don't want them knowing my last name."
She pursed her lips as if she wanted to argue, but sighed instead.
Max was already on his broom, a smile plastered on his face. "Ready?"
"Are you okay, Max?" Ambria patted his arm.
"I'm fine, geez." His broom rose higher. "Let's go."
We hopped on our brooms and levitated next to him.
Simply hovering on a broom made me feel immediately better. It made me feel free. "Race you to the top," I said to Max.
"Oh, no you don't!" Max called after.
I looked back and saw him gaining on me. Ambria, the least experienced of us, lagged far behind, an angry frown on her face. I had my mother—or at least her soul fragment—to thank for my piloting skills. My mother had once been a champion boom racer before she became a villain.
I crested the cliff's edge and continued to climb until I hovered above the trees. The crystal dome of the library sparkled in the distance, reflecting sunlight on the towering spires of Arcane University on the other side.
"First one to the stadium wins!" Max shouted as he sped past.
"Wait up!" Ambria called from below.
I zipped after Max. We dodged between trees and flashed over the Unicorn Garden. The walls of Colossus Stadium loomed a few hundred yards away. I lowered my head and hugged the broomstick for better aerodynamics. Slowly but surely, my broom gained on Max.
Our brooms were identical and we flew at top speed. I didn't think it was possible to catch him before we reached the stadium. My mother's experience took control and steered me directly behind Max. Suddenly, I began to overtake him rather quickly. Just before we reached the stadium, I flicked the broom handle to the right and pulled even with him. It would have been a tie, but my feet tapped the stirrups in an alternating pattern, causing my broom to waggle.
Max shouted
in surprise as he lost ground and I crossed the finish line first.
I spun to a stop. A grin should have been on my lips. Instead, I felt somewhat disturbed.
"What was that move?" Max said.
"I don't know." I bit my lip. "It was something Della knows how to do. I don't know how it slowed you."
"Della?" he asked.
I tapped a finger to my temple. "That's what I call her soul fragment."
"Weird." He waved it away. "I think I know what happened." Despite his loss, Max looked happy. "You shifted your slipstream into mine and caused more air to drag on my broom." He put a hand on his chin. "It's brilliant. If I can learn how to do that, I could become an amazing broom racer."
"I wish I could explain it," I said. "For some reason, getting right behind you made me go faster." The answer flashed into my head. Aerodynamic slipstream reduces friction. The thought must have come from my father's soul fragment, because it sounded more scientific than magical.
Ambria coasted to a stop, an angry scowl clouding her face. "Why do you idiots always want to race?" She huffed. "You know I can't keep up. I nearly hit the trees at the top of the cliff."
"You should have seen what Conrad did." Max didn't seem the least bit fazed by Ambria's frustration. "I should've won, but he pulled off a brilliant move at the end."
"Do I look like I care?" Ambria's glare could have burned a tree to ash.
Max looked away from her and toward the stadium. "Uh, let's go inside and practice."
We flew over the walls and into the derelict structure. Colossus Stadium had once been a grand venue where giant golems built by students from Arcane University fought equally proportioned robots from Science Academy. It had been severely damaged during the Second Seraphim War about six years ago and never repaired.
Broken rocks littered the muddy field. Black scars marred the stands, and broken flag poles hung from their holders far above. Some parts of the fallen goliath golems were still recognizable. A giant head with a single crystal eye lay near the center of the field. A massive hand rested against a wall. A towering pair of roughly hewn feet stood upright, as if ripped off the goliath during battle.
We landed in a clearing near the giant head. Ambria took off a satchel and set up a stool with a candle. She paced off ten feet and dug her heel into the mud to mark the spot. She unrolled a scroll and read it aloud. "Using magic, light a candle from a distance of ten paces. Snuff the candle with magic afterward. Consider which spells are sufficient for the task."
