by John Corwin
"Ooh, I'd like to change my last name too," Ambria said.
Max sighed. "Everyone already knows my last name."
Galfandor stood and went to a large leather-bound book. He flipped it open and ran his finger down a page, then thumbed through the pages. "Ah, here it is." He shook his head. "I'm afraid school policy prohibits the use of aliases."
"But everyone will hate us," Ambria said. "If anyone learns I'm the daughter of Cyphanis Rax, they might run me out of school."
The headmaster raised a finger. "It just so happens that since you and Conrad are—or in Conrad's case, were—orphans, your last names are not a matter of public record. While it does not explicitly state what name is to be used, I believe it allows you some wiggle room on the registration forms."
Galfandor pulled on a rope and a bell rang. "Since you're already here, it might be easiest to fill out the paperwork now."
"But we haven't taken the exam yet," Ambria said.
"You need to register before you can take the exam." He looked at the wall. "Ah, hello Shushiel."
A whispering sound like the rustle of cloth drew our attention to the wall behind us. Ambria was the first to shriek at the top of her lungs. I stumbled backwards over a lamp table, sending its contents crashing to the floor in my mad dash to escape a massive red spider on the wall.
Chapter 5
Max didn't seem the least bit frightened of the massive arachnid. "Wow, you've got a ruby spider?"
Shiny red fur coated the spider from the tips of its eight long legs to the top of its eight-eyed head. Black bands striped the fur on the legs, and formed a crooked E on top of the abdomen.
The headmaster walked over to the huge spider where it clung to the wall. The creature extended a strand of web with several scrolls attached to it. The front legs on its head rubbed together, making the whispering noise I'd heard earlier.
Galfandor chuckled. "Why, no, Shushiel, you look perfectly fine to me. I think our friends have never met anyone so lovely and were quite overwhelmed." He turned his gaze on Ambria and me. "Correct, children?"
Ambria clutched me like driftwood in a storm-tossed sea, but still managed to nod. "V-v-very lovely, sir."
"Yes," I croaked. "Beautiful." I felt a stirring in that part of me where Vic and Della resided and felt a sense of awe and resentment.
Shushiel leapt to the floor, eliciting another shriek from Ambria, and performed an eight-legged curtsey. She stood as tall as my knee and each of her furry red legs looked nearly as long as mine.
"She is pleased to meet you," Galfandor said.
Max leaned toward the spider. "How do you understand her?"
Galfandor smiled. "You simply have to listen carefully to her susurrations." He looked fondly at the huge spider. "The Overlord—Victus Edison—created a mutant gene in cobalt spiders in his early attempts to create allies. The gene turned them from blue to red and branded them with his initial."
I stared at the E on Shushiel's back. "My father is responsible for her?"
"For her entire species," Galfandor said. "The mutant gene caused not only unusual growth in size, but also increased the intellectual capacity of the affected spiders."
Shushiel rubbed her forelegs together in an excited whispery monologue for several moments while Galfandor listened thoughtfully. He finally translated. "Her parents were of the original thirty spiders Victus mutated. Once they realized what he intended for them to do, they escaped his menagerie of mutant monsters and made a home in the Dark Forest."
"So, she won't eat me?" Ambria said hopefully.
Galfandor shook his head. "She prefers rodents or spider bats."
The spider walked over to Ambria and susurrated.
"Shushiel says you are less horrendous looking than most bipeds," Galfandor said.
Ambria frowned. "Tell her she is a lovely shade of red."
"She can understand what we say," the headmaster replied.
Shushiel made a sound not unlike a laugh and extended a leg toward my friend. Ambria shivered and held out a trembling hand. They touched.
"Ooh, she's soft," Ambria said. She stroked a hand across the fur. "She's so fluffy!"
"Can I touch?" Max asked.
Shushiel extended another leg toward him and he eagerly ran a hand across the spider's fur.
"Well, now, isn't this nice?" Galfandor said. "Come, Conrad. Say hello to Shushiel."
I'd never been particularly afraid of spiders, primarily because I'd been too dull-witted thanks to the living curse my parents bestowed on me. Now that I was a little smarter, it was hard to approach such a large, venomous arachnid without my chest tightening. I held out my arm. Shushiel's leg reached out and touched my hand. Her fur felt velvety soft, and not the least bit bristly like it looked.
"Hello, Shushiel," I said.
She made a whispering noise with her mandibles. The words were so soft I could barely hear them, but I made out two of them. "Hello, Conrad." She continued to speak, but so quickly I couldn't discern the words.
Galfandor chuckled. "Shushiel says since your father created her kind, she and you must be cousins."
The apprehension melted away and I nodded. "Yes, we're cousins, Shushiel."
She wiggled up and down.
"That makes her happy," the headmaster said.
Victum lividum, alpha species. A complete failure, said Vic. I flinched, though I should have been accustomed to his random musings.
Galfandor handed each of us one of the scrolls Shushiel had brought. "Please fill these out and bring them to the exam tomorrow." He looked at me and Ambria. "You two may choose your own last names, but I suggest you make them easy to remember."
"Edwards," I said immediately.
Ambria pressed her lips together. "Goodness, what name should I choose?"
"I think Bossy or Bigmouth would be excellent last names," Max said.
She swatted him with her scroll. "Bigmouth would suit you wonderfully, Max."
I unrolled the scroll and looked at the information. "Why do you still use paper when you could use an arctablet?" I asked Galfandor.
"The university frowns on using technology," he replied. "Now, children, I must attend to other matters. I wish you the best of luck on the exam tomorrow."
We said goodbye to Shushiel and left the office. Moments later, we became hopelessly lost in the tangle of corridors and stairways of Arcane University.
"This place is ridiculous." Ambria stared at the three hallways ahead of us and shook her head. "How is anyone supposed to find their way around here?"
I looked all around the room. "There aren't even any signs."
Max pointed to my pocket. "Do you have your arcphone?"
I slid it out of my pants pocket and handed it to Max. The magic phone was one of my prized possessions even though it had belonged to someone I murdered. I justified keeping it by rationalizing that the other person had been trying to kill me first, and I hadn't intentionally killed them. What made me most uncomfortable about it was that the victim had been Ambria's older brother. Even though she'd never known him and didn't hate me for the accident, I couldn't help feeling a bit guilty keeping the phone.
Max downloaded an app and activated it. Where do you want to go? it asked on the screen.
"We want to leave this building and go to Colossus Stadium," Max said.
The phone projected an arrow pointing behind us. Following its directions, we turned and backtracked to a room with eight exits, took a right where we'd originally taken a left, and within a few minutes, ended up near the healer's office and the exit.
"Hold on," Ambria said, and zoomed in the map. "It says Galfandor's office is almost directly above us."
"Give us directions to Galfandor's office," Max said.
A blue line on the map wended its way from one end of the building to the other, making what should have been a short walk, a rather long one.
"I can't believe that's the only route to his office," I said. "It's as if he doesn't
want anyone to visit."
"Who can blame him?" Max said. "I'm sure he puts up with all sort of nutters."
"Let's go back to the stadium and retrieve our brooms," Ambria said. "We still have a lot of studying to do."
My nerves pinched at the thought of the exam tomorrow. "Yes, I guess we should."
"It's past lunchtime," Max complained. "Can't we eat first?"
In all the excitement of the morning, I'd overlooked my rumbling stomach. "Is the dining hall open?"
"One way to find out," he said.
Thankfully, it was a straight march to the cafeteria. Though the room was nearly empty except for a few professors, a wooden golem dressed in a white uniform with a black apron hung about its waist promptly exited from a swinging door and put covered dishes in front of us. A delicious odor wafted from beneath the silver cover. I lifted the lid and discovered seared ham, an over-easy egg, and several slices of bread.
I looked uneasily at the food. "Do we have to pay for this?"
Max shook his head. "I don't think so. Besides, I'm too hungry to ask."
We devoured everything on our plates. Even Ambria looked nearly as delighted as Max while she ate.
"Forget magic," Max said. "I want to go here for the food."
Ambria licked her lips. "It was wonderful."
As if on cue, two golems appeared. One cleaned away the dishes, and the other dropped off small plates with dessert, and platters with cups of dark tea.
"It's bread pudding!" Max shouted with glee.
After reveling in our gluttony, we returned to the stadium and resumed our magic practice.
"Are you certain we're safe here?" Max said. "What if Conrad's parents come through here on their way back from the crack in the world?"
"I doubt they'd bother coming in here." Ambria waved a hand around at the towering remains of the fallen goliaths. "Besides, we have plenty of places to hide."
I agreed. "They probably have a secret way of coming and going. I doubt they'll want anyone to see them until they're ready with their devious plans."
Max shrugged. "Well, if you say so. Just don't blame me if they show up and kill us."
Ambria rolled her eyes. "Enough dilly-dallying. Let's practice."
After we'd successfully completed the exercises listed in the study guide, Max flopped spread-eagled onto the ground. "Finally!" he said. "I'm so tired of studying."
"Yes, well rolling in the dirt certainly won't help," Ambria noted dryly.
I hopped on my broom and climbed into the air for an overhead view of the boulders. During practice, I couldn't help but glance around for signs of Evadora, but even from this vantage I realized she hadn't come back to spy on us.
We flew back down to the house and parked our brooms in the foyer. Ambria went upstairs and returned a moment later. "Blue isn't here," she said in a worried voice. "I wonder where she went?"
Max shrugged. "Probably hunting cats."
Ambria grimaced. "That's awful! Do lycans really do that?"
Max was too busy rummaging through the pantry. He came up empty handed. "I'm starving, and you're out of groceries."
"Because you eat everything," Ambria shot back.
"Do not." He took the lone remaining slice of bread from the breadbox on the counter and took a bite. "Let's go to a restaurant."
After dinner, Max left for his Uncle Malcolm's since he didn't like staying with his parents, and Ambria and I flew our brooms back to the house. I kept a close watch on the streets below, wondering if another of my parents' demon assassins hunted me even now.
"Your parents worry me," Ambria said. "Whatever they're planning might affect our schooling."
"I'm certain it will." As we flew over our street, I glided down for a landing. "I wonder if Galfandor will help us this time, or if we're on our own."
She shook her head. "I don't understand that old man. You'd think he'd want a safer world for children."
"I'd like to know what he's thinking." I landed my broom on the front lawn.
"Hello, Conrad." Harris Ashmore waved from the other side of the stone wall separating our yards. "Who's your friend?"
Ambria's eyes widened. "What's my last name, Conrad?" she whispered. "Help me think of something, fast!"
I drew a complete blank. "Her name's Ambria," I said, hoping the conversation wouldn't drift to last names.
The red-headed boy I'd seen with Harris yesterday ran up beside him. "Where's Cryberius?"
I didn't like his tone, or the nickname they'd given Max, so I said nothing.
"Why do you hang out with Max Tiberius?" Harris asked in a curious tone.
"Because he's our friend," Ambria shot back. "Why do you hang out with a ginger who gets his jollies making fun of other people?"
"Because I'm his friend," the other boy retorted.
The curly-haired girl I'd seen them with came around the corner of the house. "Hello," she said. "I'm Lily."
Ambria's hard gaze softened. "I'm Ambria and this is Conrad."
Harris pointed to the other boy. "This is Baxter."
Lily stepped beside Harris and looked me up and down. "Are you taking the entrance exam tomorrow? Harris said he saw you studying earlier."
"Yes," I replied. "And you?"
"Of course she is, and I am too," Baxter said. "If Harris is going to save the world, we've got to be there to help him."
"I've been looking forward to university all my life," Lily said in a dreamy voice. "I earned top marks in Arcane prep school."
"Where did you go to school?" Harris asked me.
That was a gap in my life I hadn't considered, and I was at a loss for a response.
"Oh, goodness, Conrad," Ambria said. "Look at the time. I'm so tired."
"It's not even eight," Baxter said. "What sort of ninny goes to bed that early?"
"A ninny who wants to be fresh for the entrance exam," Ambria growled. She nodded at the other two children. "It was nice meeting you Lily and Harris."
"Same," Lily said. "See you tomorrow."
"Hey, what about me?" Baxter said.
"Meeting you was not nice," Ambria said. "Learn some manners for next time."
Harris and Lily laughed. Baxter's freckled face turned bright red.
I cringed and waved goodbye, then quickly went inside, Ambria huffing and puffing angrily behind me.
"The nerve of some people." Ambria tossed her broom in the corner of the foyer. "I don't like that Baxter kid one bit."
"Who's Baxter?" asked a soft voice.
Ambria and I jumped back, only to find Blue sitting cross-legged on the floor in the family room.
"Where did you go earlier?" Ambria asked the other girl.
"Looking for my new pack." Blue looked glumly at the bare floor. "But no alphas want strays like me."
I sat down on the floor next to her. "Why didn't you like your old pack?"
She shivered and whispered, "The alpha is a bad person."
Ambria scowled. "What did he do to you, Blue?"
The other girl shook her head. "Nothing. I left before he could."
"Do alphas have absolute control over the pack?" I asked.
Blue nodded. "When I was little there was an alpha named Colin McCloud who led all the packs. But he went with Justin Slade to fight the war in Seraphina and took most of the lycans with him." She buried her face in her hands. "Now people like Castor can get away with whatever they want."
"Castor is the old alpha?" I asked.
"Yes." She looked up, eyes glistening with tears. "He killed my father for challenging him. I tried to convince my mother to leave with me and my little brother, but she was too afraid to run."
I knew from experience that there wasn't much I could say to make Blue feel better, so I did the next best thing and gave her a hug. She leaned against my shoulder and shook with sobs.
Ambria paced back and forth. "It sounds like everything was a lot better when this Justin Slade person was around." She stopped. "Maybe we could figure o
ut how to bring him back and ask him to fight your parents and people like Castor."
"I'll just be happy to pass the exam tomorrow, Ambria." My shoulder felt soaked, but Blue showed no signs of cutting off the flow of tears. "We barely know any magic, much less how to make the Alabaster Arches work again."
Ambria slumped. "Well, unless your parents are stopped, we'll all be looking for new packs."
Blue let go of me and looked up. "What are his parents doing?"
"His parents want to rule the world." Ambria said with a groan.
I didn't want Ambria talking about my parents to someone we didn't even know! I widened my eyes and shook my head.
Ambria caught my meaning and grimaced. "I'm sorry, but I can't talk about it."
Blue turned back to me. "Is this about your real last names being Rax and Edison?"
Ambria gasped. "How did you—"
The lycan girl touched a finger to her ear. "I have wolf hearing. I overheard you talking about it yesterday."
"Please, you can't tell anyone," I said. "Promise you'll keep it a secret."
"Oh, please do," Ambria said.
"What's so awful about your last names?" Blue's forehead pinched.
A sigh shuddered from my chest. "I'll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone."
"I owe you my life," Blue said. "I promise it will be our secret."
"My father, Victus Edison, was the Overlord."
It didn't take long for that to sink in, judging from Blue's horrified eyes. "You're the son of Victus and Delectra Edison?"
I hated the burden of guilt their names piled on me. "Yes."
"My father was Cyphanis Rax," Ambria said. "Thankfully, he's dead for good, unlike Conrad's parents."
"I've never heard of him," Blue said.
Ambria quirked an eyebrow. "He used to be the Arcanus Primus when Daelissa tried to rule the world."
Blue flattened her lips and shook her head. "Lycans don't care much about Arcane politics, but the Overlord affected everyone." Her forehead wrinkled. "Conrad, how can your parents be up to something? I thought they were dead."
Ambria laughed bitterly. "That's a long story."
I touched Blue's hand. "Just remember that whatever we tell you about our past has to be kept secret. Our parents were terrible people, but we're not."
