Conrad Edison and the Anchored World (Overworld Arcanum Book 2)

by John Corwin

  I squeezed her hand. "You are my sister." We weren't related by blood, but by a woman who had rescued one child when forced by this cold queen to abandon her own.

  Naeve knelt close to me and stared at my face. Her pale hand reached toward my cheek. She jerked it away suddenly, stood and backed off. "Cora was weak," she said in a whisper. "She could not resist the lure and lost everything for it. That is why I banished her to Eden. Now her daughter is infected with emotion and will likely suffer the same fate."

  "Will you banish Evadora also?" I asked.

  Naeve shook her head. "There is no need."

  Max patted my back. "You okay?"

  The pain refused to fade, but I knew Cora wouldn't want me to mope. As for the queen, nothing I said or did would change the past. If I shouted every terrible thing I wanted at this woman with no heart, she might kill all of us.

  I hear crying and open the bathroom door. Cora sits on the floor, face buried in her hands. When she looks up, I notice the bruises on her cheek and under her eye.

  "Bill hit you again," I say in a dull voice.

  She clears her throat and stands. "Yes, Conrad. He used to be so kind, but something has changed him."

  "Why do you stay with him if he hurts you?" I ask.

  Cora smiles. "I hope whatever is wrong with him will pass and the man I love will return."

  I vaguely remembered how nice and friendly Bill had been when I first moved in with him and Cora. Over the course of time, he'd soured into a bitter man. I felt certain my curse had affected him as it had anyone I'd stayed with for long. But there were other questions the queen might answer. "How did Cora find me?" I found my feet. "Why me?"

  The Glimmer Queen looked away from my wet cheeks. "When Evadora was born, Cora knew the girl could not remain in Eden. Her features were too strange for the mortals to comprehend." As if to demonstrate, she held up her bare hand and changed the hue of her skin from one color to another. "She wished to bring her mortal lover to live in the Glimmer."

  Evadora's eyes brightened. "Daddy!"

  Naeve ignored the outburst. "During Cora's last visit, she told me she dared not have another child of her own and decided to adopt. Cora never said how she found you, but did say she felt drawn to you from the moment she laid eyes on you." The queen looked me up and down. "Why that was, I am not sure."

  "I don't know either," I admitted. The curse made me frail and weak—not the ideal child for anyone to adopt unless they wanted a handout from child welfare services.

  "Cora told me something pulled her"—Naeve poked her fingers against her chest—"from inside. When she found you, she sensed your tortured soul and knew she had found you for a reason."

  "Was this when you banished her?" I asked.

  "No," Naeve replied. "She begged to bring you and her mortal lover to the Glimmer. I refused. It was not so much that I banished Cora from the Glimmer, but that she refused to return when I forbid her from returning with you and her man."

  "Knowing she was mortal, that she could die, she stayed with me and Bill." I thought of how my curse had warped Bill into a wife beater. How Cora kept me safe and loved me even when Bill began to beat her. How she had finally killed Bill.

  "Yes," Naeve replied. "Knowing that, she stayed. Staying, she died."

  "Staying with me cost her everything." My lower lip trembled. "You're wrong, Naeve. Cora wasn't weak. She was strong. She found me and saved me. Without her to give me a conscience, I might be just like my parents. You are the weak one."

  The queen's eyes glittered. "I am the Glimmer Queen, eternal ruler of the anchored world. I am not weak."

  Her words, devoid of anger or pride, still carried an unspoken threat. The absence of emotion meant she could kill all of us without the least hint of remorse and I didn't want to test her.

  "I have a rather silly question," Ambria said, a bit too quickly, as if to change the subject. "How do you speak our language so well when Evadora can't?"

  "The girl lived wild when she was old enough to walk," Naeve replied. "I let her do as she willed since I am no mother."

  "How did she survive?" Max asked.

  "Here she cannot come to harm," she said.

  "What if she fell into the stars below the trees?" Max asked.

  Naeve paused. "How could she fall?"

  It seemed no one here thought it was even a remote possibility. "Will you help my father?" I asked.

  She nodded. "If he finds the answer to my problem."

  "If you thought Cora was weak because she felt emotion, why would you want to be immortal in Eden?" I asked. "It doesn't make sense."

  "I simply wish the freedom to leave here without fear of withering into an old woman," Naeve replied. "Unlike Cora, I will rule emotion, not the other way around."

  The queen obviously had no idea how difficult that was, but I knew better than to argue with her.

  The queen continued speaking. "If Victus helps me, I will help him secure his victory over Eden."

  "You mustn't help him," I said. "He's evil."

  "I must do what is best for my people," Naeve replied.

  "Do you have an army?" Ambria asked.

  "The world is my army," Naeve replied, a reminder of what Evadora had told us about the queen controlling the cat birds.

  Max didn't seem to remember the comment. "How is the world your army?"

  Starlight flared in Naeve's eyes. One of the vines clinging to the terrace whipped around Ambria and lifted her from the ground. A choked scream tore from her throat and her eyes flashed with terror. Just as abruptly as it had seized her, the vine lowered her to the ground and reattached itself to the stone.

  Ambria shivered violently. "How did you do that?" she asked in a quavering voice.

  Naeve tilted her head slightly. "I willed it so and the vine answered."

  "Whoa." Max backed away from the queen. "You control plants?"

  She motioned at the mountain palace and the natural stone terrace. "My people commune with nature in different ways. Some with animals, others with plants, and even a few with the earth beneath your feet."

  Anyone who could make the world fight for them wouldn't need an army. "Did my father say how long it would take him to solve your problem?" I asked.

  "Several months at least," Naeve replied. "A minute, a month, a year, is but a fleeting instant in our existence. To even hope or dream for his success is beyond my ability and yet I find the future holds more allure than it once did."

  My parents were brilliant. If there was an answer to the Glimmer dilemma, they would find it eventually. The situation seemed hopeless. And yet, Naeve's reply to my earlier question led me to ask her something else. "If I find the solution first, will you help me instead of my father?"

  The queen spread her hands. "Of course."

  "You would help me defeat my parents?" I asked.

  "If that was your desire," she replied.

  Max glared at me as if he thought I was mental. "You barely even know magic, Conrad. How do you think you'll beat your parents to an answer?"

  "Conrad can do it," Ambria said in tone that brooked no argument. "After all, he has me to help him."

  Evadora clapped her hands and giggled. "Tears and smiles forever for everyone!" She danced around us chanting her words over and over.

  Max pressed his hands to his ears and groaned.

  With this ancient being before me, I decided this was a good chance to find out if Evadora's story about the realms was true. "Naeve, can you tell me the story of the Glimmer?" I asked.

  The queen stared at the glittering sky. "Yes, but I will keep it brief since your existence is but a heartbeat in the continuum."

  I tried not to let her words frighten me and nodded. "Thank you."

  She began without prelude. "My people were once a part of Eden as were all the other races of the other realms. Then came the Apocryphan." Naeve's eyes glittered. "Some believed they were the progeny of the Seraphim and Sirens, while others theorized they were th
e descendants of the dragon folk." The queen shook her head. "Their origin is uncertain, but their powers were unmatched. One of them seized control of our kingdom while his kin claimed other kingdoms as their prizes."

  "The world was divided into kingdoms?" Ambria asked.

  Naeve nodded. "I use the term loosely. Our kingdom was the forest, the field, the mountain, while the Seraphim claimed the clouds and the Sirens ruled the sea."

  "What about the demons?" Max asked.

  "The demons did not exist as they do today," she said. "Centuries after the Apocryphan arrogated our world, they began to fight among themselves. War consumed the Earth, pitting once peaceful realms against each other." Naeve motioned to the vines on the terrace wall. Slithering like snakes, they wound around one another until they formed a verdant throne.

  Max's mouth dropped open. I swallowed nervously and felt Ambria's hand tighten on mine.

  The queen sat as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened and continued her story. "The incredible outpour of magic ruptured the world, breaking it apart and dividing the kingdoms into different realms. The split ripped the souls from some beings and cast them into a spiritual realm we call Haedaemos." Naeve narrowed her eyes. "My ancestors believed the Sundering was far too neat to be an accident. They believe Xanomiel, one of the Apocryphan who ruled no kingdom, was responsible for crafting the spell that fractured the world."

  "Is this story true?" Ambria asked. "It sounds like a fairy tale."

  "You are but a whisper of breath to a world far more ancient than you can imagine," Naeve said in her cold voice. "If your mind cannot comprehend the enormity of all that has gone on before, perhaps you should simply refrain from speaking."

  Ambria squeaked. "I'm sorry."

  "After the Sundering, our realms remained in contact but were drifting apart across the astral divide." Naeve looked up at the moon. "The Sirens discovered there were locations where the walls between the realms were thin enough to walk between the planes. They devised a plan to reunite the realms, but first wanted to imprison the Apocryphan so this would never happen again."

  "They constructed the Abyss," I said.

  Naeve nodded. "The Sirens are gifted builders and willingly served their master, Posthaneid. He was supposedly quite benevolent for an Apocryphan, and taught them a great deal. They used this knowledge to construct the Abyss and the anchor stone." Starlight blazed in her eyes and just as quickly vanished.

  It was the closest thing to emotion I'd seen from her.

  Naeve folded her hands into her lap. "Once all was constructed, they trapped the Apocryphan in the Abyss, and sang the anchor stone into existence out of the bedrock of a realm arbitrarily selected by the Sirens. Without our knowledge or permission, they chose the Glimmer. As you can see, the song tore our realm apart and built the anchor stone."

  "So in all the thousands of years you've been here, you've never been able to solve your immortality problem?" I asked.

  "Yes. In all our wisdom, we have accomplished nothing," she replied.

  Her words gave me hope. If her people hadn't solved the problem of gaining emotion while keeping their immortality, it didn't seem likely my parents would figure it out in a matter of months or even years. Only one race might have the answers. "Have you ever asked the Sirens for help?"

  Naeve looked up at a blue globe in the starry sky. "We have not seen one since the Anchoring, though I suspect they never leave Aquilis. I hear their realm suffered less than most."

  "You never tried to find one of them?" I asked.

  "As my sister and others before her proved, any who leave the Glimmer risk their immortality." She took her eyes from the realm and looked at me. "Have you seen a Siren?"

  I shook my head. "No, but there's a lot I haven't seen." How would my father approach this problem? I listened for a hint from his soul fragment, but it didn't speak.

  "I think it unlikely you or your parents will find the answer," Naeve said. "It is good I cannot hope, or feel the crush of despair when you have failed."

  I put a hand in my pocket and rubbed the smooth pebble. "Where is the anchor stone?"

  Naeve blinked at me. "Is it not obvious?" She looked up. "It is plain to see."

  Max, Ambria, and I looked into the night sky and immediately saw what she meant. The anchor stone was none other than the giant moon rotating slowly in the night sky.

  Naeve is right. We'll never find an answer for her people.

  And that was a good thing.

  Chapter 14

  The Glimmer folk would never feel emotion and that made me happy. I wondered if that meant I was evil.

  Naeve saw through me. "Your skin holds no secrets from me, young one. You hope for your parents to fail."

  "They're bad people." I backed away a step, hoping she didn't tie me up with a vine. "I don't want you to help them conquer Eden."

  "It is understandable," she replied.

  A shock of fear jolted my nerves when I thought of my parents' next visit here. "Will you tell them I was here?"

  Naeve shook her head. "Telling them would cause them to focus on you instead of the goal I wish them to achieve."

  I wasn't sure if I should thank her or not.

  A chime rang in the distance and the queen stood from her chair of vines. "Duty calls and I must away. You are welcome to stay in the Glimmer for as long as you wish." Naeve ran her unsettling gaze over me and my friends. "You should take care. Your frail mortal state may not take well to our shattered home."

  The Glimmer Queen strode away into her mountain palace.

  Evadora climbed into the vine chair and snuggled up as if to take a nap.

  "I think we should return to Queens Gate," Ambria said, her eyes large and filled with uncertainty. "This entire place feels unnatural."

  I looked up at the slowly spinning moon and at the Earth-shaped realms held within its orbit. "It makes me feel tiny."

  "The queen makes my hairs stand on end," Max whispered. "No emotions—can you believe it? Killing us wouldn't make her sad even a little bit."

  Ambria shivered and rubbed her arms. "Can we go home, please?"

  "Let's go." I shook Evadora to wake her.

  She leapt up, skin shading to match the rock around us, then blinked at us in confusion. Her flesh shaded back to a warm peach. "Why did you wake me?"

  "We want to go home," I said. "Can you guide us back?"

  "It is easy to leave." She pointed into the distance. "Go back that way."

  "I'm not wandering around out there without a guide," Max said. "We need you, Evadora."

  The girl flinched. "Need me?"

  "We can't get back without you," Ambria explained. "We want you to come with us."

  I touched her hand. "You're my sister, right?"

  "I am!" A smile stretched across Evadora's face. She giggled and pressed her hands to her chest. "This makes me feel warm inside. Happy." Her eyes flashed. "Being needed is good."

  "You've never felt this way before?" I asked.

  She shook her head. "Nobody needs me here." Evadora skipped to the edge of the cliff and motioned us to follow.

  Swallowing nervously, Max followed but refused to look over the edge. Ambria joined them and clasped Evadora's hand. I stepped up beside them and stared out at the land of twinkling stars and eternal twilight. We dropped over the cliff edge and plummeted earthward. Ambria shrieked. Max blanched and squeezed his eyes shut as the starry sky streaked past.

  My body felt cold from the inside out. It seemed as if the warmth slowly drained from me every minute I remained in this strange world. What had stolen emotions from these people? Had they just become bored of living forever or was there something about the Glimmer that did it?

  We reached the bottom of the mountain palace and Evadora skipped ahead of us singing, "They need me, they need me!"

  I was happy to reach the small glade of purple snake grass and spiky trees. The black water of the looking pool seemed more inviting than this dreary world. "Grab
hold," I said, and held the pebble in my hand.

  Evadora stepped back and waved.

  "You're not coming?" Ambria asked.

  The girl shook her head. "You can find the way without me. I will see you soon."

  "Um, maybe you should come with us just in case," Max said.

  I hugged her. "Maybe one day you can come live with us for good in Eden."

  Her head tilted to the side. "I think I would like that, brother."

  It felt strange hearing this odd girl call me brother, but it also made me feel connected to someone else Cora had loved. I couldn't imagine my beloved mum abandoning a child, whatever the reason, and yet, she had. I didn't know why, but I felt obligated to help Evadora if I could. Staying in the emotionally bereft Glimmer seemed unhealthy. It was no wonder she acted so strange.

  Evadora kissed my cheek. "Bye!" Without another word, she spun and skipped away.

  "Lot of help she is," Ambria grumbled. "She wouldn't stop singing about how needed she felt, then leaves us to go through that frightening rift again."

  "This is the easy part," I said. "We just have to get back to our pond fast."

  "I hope you remember the way," Max said.

  "It was a straight path," I replied. "We can do it." I rubbed the stone. "As above, so below."

  We jumped into the water. My insides twisted backwards and forwards. We flew from the pond and landed heavily on the shore.

  Max pushed up on his hands and knees and heaved. "I'll never be hungry again," he whined.

  Ambria stood and tugged on his shirt. "Don't be a baby. Get up."

  I climbed to my feet and brushed off my pants. The Glimmer made me feel uneasy, and its reflection only amplified the knot in my stomach. "Let's go before our reflections find us."

  Max groaned and got up. "Do you really believe our own reflections would try to get us? I mean, they're part of us, right?"

  Ambria shook her head as we began to jog down the path toward the crack in the world. "If Evadora was afraid, then I don't want to find out."

  We reached the tall fracture in the rock and ran through the tunnel until we entered the rift. Though I knew what to expect, my stomach lurched with vertigo at the sight of the star-dusted blackness. I took a tentative step forward and breathed with relief as my foot found solid ground.