Conrad Edison and the Broken Relic (Overworld Arcanum Book 3)

by John Corwin

  Conrad, this man is not who he seems, Della said in a strained voice. Vic is trying to repress me.

  Quiet! Vic roared. He will listen to me and me alone.

  Pain stabbed into my head. I winced and pressed my temples with both hands. I rose unsteadily and faced the robed man. "How did you capture Naeve?"

  "She was weak from her months of confinement to the reflected world," he said. "We found her near the reflecting pool where you imprisoned her."

  Della's words rang true. This man wasn't an enforcer. How would he know that I imprisoned Naeve in the reflected world or where I did it? "Who are you? You're not an enforcer for the Seers."

  "Clever boy." The man laughed. "I wanted to wait until my disguise wore off, but perhaps this will be an even better surprise." He slid back the cowl and I couldn't believe who it was.

  Chapter 33

  Professor Sideon leered at me. "You poor, poor boy. You still don't get it, do you?" He scoffed. "And here we thought you were brighter than that."

  Puzzle pieces drifted together. His knowledge of Naeve. His ability to get into the Glimmer. His last name, Sideon. Even the sound of his last name should have been familiar. I reversed the first four letters in my head to spell his real surname—Edison. "Victus," I growled.

  His smirk vanished. "Impressive. Perhaps your mother was right about you."

  "Right about me how?" I said.

  "I told you," said a voice that broke my heart into pieces. "I know our son better than you think."

  Tears burned my eyes as his companion came into the room—my dear professor, Esma Emoora. I wanted to scream that this couldn't be happening. That the woman who'd mentored me, cared for me, told me she'd be proud to be my mother was in truth, Delectra Moore. "How could you?" My voice was a pale whisper, too stunned for emotion.

  "I convinced Victus to let me train you," she explained in a cool voice. "I told him you have untapped potential and deserved a place with us."

  Esma's pretty face sagged like melting wax and golden locks of hair drifted from her scalp where they piled on the floor, leaving bald ugliness. She convulsed. Bones cracked and a scream died in her throat. She grew taller, her face narrowed, and black hair spilled down her shoulders. Within seconds, Esma was completely gone, replaced by the cold, uncaring face of my biological mother.

  She bent down and retrieved her wand where it had fallen during the transformation. "The Eye of Jura disguises one so completely, that no one can tell the difference." She shed her dark robes, now several inches too short, to reveal tight black robes.

  "Why go through the trouble of hiding your faces?" I said, still numb with grief and shock.

  "Just in case you escaped us," Victus said. "We didn't want our alter egos revealed." His face began to sag. "But now we have you, and you will join us or die." His smile turned gruesome as his lips melted and his face began to reform. He clenched his teeth and grunted in pain as his body began to grow.

  Delectra met my gaze, the uncaring cold gone, replaced by fear and emotion. She spun toward Victus and unleashed a searing bolt of magic. The shot threw him across the room where he landed in a heap, body hidden within the folds of the cloak. She fired again, but the magic splashed off a protective barrier.

  Victus roared and threw the cloak away from him, revealing his haughty features. "I knew this would happen, you traitorous woman! He pounded the floor with the bottom of his fist. "You let him get to you."

  Delectra went white. "Run, Conrad! Run!"

  I tried to answer, but pain exploded in my head, and a voice not my own used my lips. "I'm here master! Kill the boy and free me!"

  You will not have him! Della screamed.

  Victus turned to me, teeth bared in a snarl. "Yes, I think it time to end this charade."

  Delectra fired a spell at the ceiling above Victus. Rubble fell, crashing against his shield and throwing up clouds of dust. She raced across the room and grabbed my hand. "Son, we have to go now!"

  I pressed my hands to my temples as Della warred with Vic in my head. "I won't leave my friends."

  Delectra waved her wand over Gwyneth's head, and the girl blinked and woke with a start. "What? Where am I?"

  "No time!" I shouted, taking out my own wand and firing it at Victus as his shield sputtered from the onslaught of stone.

  Delectra woke Max and Ambria, then fired a blast at the back door to free Shushiel. The spider bounded from her prison and leapt for Delectra.

  I threw up a hand. "Shushiel, no! She's with us!"

  The spider blinked. "Are you certain?"

  "Yes." I gritted my teeth against the war boiling in my head and blew loose another chunk of ceiling, burying Victus beneath a pile of rubble. I grabbed my disoriented friends and shoved them toward the door. "Run!"

  Shushiel bounded ahead, Gwyneth, Ambria, and Max staggering behind. We raced up the stairs and down a long hall.

  "What's going on?" Max said. "What's with all the explosions?"

  "Is that Delectra?" Ambria shrieked.

  "Shut up and run!" I yelled.

  We reached the doorway where Evadora still lay unconscious. Max skidded to a stop, leaned over, and picked her up without missing a beat. I helped him sling her over his shoulder.

  "There are golems ahead," Delectra said. "I should lead."

  I grabbed her arm. "You mean the identical people I saw earlier are golems?"

  Delectra peered down the hallway, wand at the ready. "Yes. He perfected them years ago—all part of his plan to infiltrate the Overworld Conclave from the inside out." She held up a hand and crept along the wall. One of the men appeared in the hallway, a silver gun in hand.

  She smoked the golem with a blistering spell. The creature screamed in pain, clutching at its burnt flesh and went down. Three more raced into the hall, firing azure beams of energy from their guns. I took down one with an ice spell. Shushiel bounded off the ceiling and landed on the next one, binding it tightly with webs. Delectra scorched the third.

  Ambria covered her ears. "You're murdering them!"

  "They're not truly alive," Delectra said grimly. "Just simulacrum."

  "Do they feel pain?" Max asked.

  "They are flesh and blood, but instead of a soul, they have a spark of magic." She motioned us forward. "That was all of them. We need to go before Victus comes."

  "All of us together can stop him," Max said.

  Fear shone in Delectra's eyes. "No, we can't. He has powerful arcnology spells at his disposal." She blinked and tears trickled down her cheeks. "He still has a demon collar on me. If he gets within range, he can cut off my magic."

  "Go," I said. I didn't know what a demon collar was, but there was no doubt that Victus could kill us all if he caught up.

  Max grunted and jogged with Evadora on his shoulder. "Thank goodness she's light."

  Treek was waiting in the throne room, the vines on his head thrashing in agitation. "You made it!" His deep voice resonated in the chamber. "What happened to Evadora?"

  "No time to explain," I shouted. "Run for the levitator."

  Before we reached the exit, black vines crept across the door, weaving into a barrier. Delectra fired spell after spell, blasting away layers of vines. She finally cleared a path. Max ducked through with Evadora. Gwyneth and Ambria squeezed through after her while Delectra and I aimed our wands across the room.

  "He must have woken Naeve," Delectra said. "She is weak, but still capable."

  "She'll recover quickly in the Glimmer." I turned and watched Treek ducking through the hole. "When she does, she'll kill all of us, Victus included."

  "No, he placed a demon collar on her as well." Delectra's eyes grew haunted. "It was how he subverted me, forced me to his will. Before long, I was his completely, a twisted evil creature."

  "But you're not anymore." I grabbed her arm. "The good part of you is still there inside."

  "I was supposed to train you, to make you one of us." Tears formed in her eyes. "Instead, you brought me back." She tou
ched my cheek. "Your love saved me, son."

  Shushiel made it through and I motioned Delectra. "Go."

  "I think not," Victus said, the gaunt figure of Naeve by his side. She held up a fist and a new wall of vines slammed down over the door.

  Naeve slumped to her knees, clearly too weak to do much more. "You will die for this, Victus," she croaked. "Your foul bonds cannot hold me long."

  He shoved her shoulder, toppling her to the floor. "I don't think you understand demon magic."

  Delectra shoved me behind her. "Leave him alone!"

  Victus took a worn doll with black hair and fair features, Delectra in miniature, and held it up. "Do you know what this is, Conrad?"

  I gulped a knot of fear. "A toy."

  "A demonic collar." He removed a spiky ball from within his satchel. "This used to be yours." Victus laughed. "Ah, the good old days."

  "The boy is powerful," Delectra said, trying to regain her cold composure, but her hands trembled and tears streamed down her face. "Spare him and I will do whatever you want."

  "Oh, I will spare him." Victus stepped closer. "I will collar him again and wean him of his soft heart and then we will overthrow the pretenders and take back power. With Ivy Slade gone, and my other powerful enemies locked away, there will be nothing to stop us this time." He waved an arm around the throne room. "With the power of the anchor stone, we will gain immortality and power enough to topple even human governments."

  "Why?" My voice broke. "What good is it to gain power over the whole world? Will it make you complete? Will it make you happy?"

  Victus's smile faded. "I'm afraid nothing can bring lasting happiness, boy. That's why you take your time and savor every success. Relish the little things—the death of an enemy, the adrenalin spike as the light fades from his eyes, the screams as his family dies in fire."

  "How could anyone be so twisted?" I spat on the floor. "You're not even human."

  "Who would want to be?" Victus stroked the hair on the doll. "Humans are weak and pathetic." He palmed the spiked ball. "Take this totem, boy. Let me collar you and I will let your friends live." He nodded at Delectra. "I will let your dear mother live."

  Delectra pressed a hand to my chest. "Don't believe him."

  Victus held up the doll and sneered. "Bow to me, woman."

  Delectra's body stiffened. "No, I won't let you."

  "Do it!" he roared, fist tightening on the doll.

  Her body trembled, blood trickled from her nose. Still, she shook her head. "I will never bend to your will again."

  I brandished my wand and fired a spell at Victus. The magic splashed off a barrier around him. I fired again and again, but it did no good. I tried to hit the ceiling, but the jewels refracted the energy harmlessly.

  Victus's face turned dark with rage. "Weak, useless child. You don't deserve the power I offer." He took out his arcphone and aimed it at me.

  I had my own ready and started a defensive spell. A bolt of green energy exploded from his phone and crashed into my shield. The shocks ran through my body, down to my core, and shook the source of my power—my will. The shield flickered. I saw my mother standing there, vulnerable, trembling, bleeding and cried out with rage. "You will never take us!"

  My shield redoubled with power, reflecting the energy back at the source. Victus roared with rage as his own attack crackled against his defenses.

  Somehow, I had to free Delectra of the demon. I reached into my satchel and put a hand around the heart. Underborn said it healed scars. My mother was scarred by demons, but was it the same thing? I didn't even know how to use the heart. Then I remembered the words on the parchment and what Delectra had told me—how I'd brought her back from damnation.

  Yes! Della's voice was but a whisper in my head, but it was clear.

  I took Delectra's hand and squeezed it while holding onto the heart with the other. "Esma was like my mother," I said softly, "and now I know why." I kissed her hand. "I love you, Mum."

  I heard a cracking sound and took out the heart. The crack in the heart glowed brilliant white, slowly mending itself. Power flushed through me and into Delectra. She gasped, dropping her wand and doubled over. Sickly green smoke seeped from the pores of her skin, swirling around her. Malevolent tendrils darted at her, as if trying to penetrate her again. The white power from the heart reflected it. The smoke coalesced into a dark oblong form, a head with only a screaming mouth. Sharp teeth clacked together viciously, but like smoke in a storm, it drifted apart, screams fading to nothing.

  "Impossible!" Victus screamed. "You're not strong enough to free her!" He saw the heart. "You have it. You found the Broken Relic."

  My own heart skipped a beat. "This is the Heart of Jura."

  He saw my confusion and burst into laughter. "Yes, but it is also called the Broken Relic." Victus shook his head. "Leave it to Underborn to hide the truth within another truth." He dropped the doll to the floor. "What did he promise you?"

  I felt so foolish even telling him, but a dark impulse prodded me to. "He said he'd help me find the Broken Relic."

  "And he made you sign a contract, yes?" Victus barked another laugh at the expression on my face.

  I noticed his other hand doing something with his arcphone and realized he was buying time. I heard pounding on the vines behind me, heard Ambria shouting. "We're nearly through Conrad! Are you okay?"

  "I'm here!" I said.

  Delectra vomited black liquid and gasped.

  "An unfortunate side effect. She will be weak for quite some time." Victus stared at me for a long moment and then shouted, "If you can hear me, I need your help right now!"

  I abruptly realized he wasn't talking to me. The intended recipient heard the message loud and clear. Pain erupted in my head and I joined Delectra on my knees, screams tearing from my throat. The heart dropped from my hand and back into the satchel.

  I heard Della shouting incoherently, heard Vic roaring in my mind. My shield spell faltered and faded. I drew my wand, but the pain in my head swelled. The image of two souls battling flashed through my head. Vic, an oily black form squirmed around Della, choking her.

  Victus grinned victoriously and walked across the room, arcphone in his hand.

  "Good riddance, boy." A bolt of green speared for me.

  "No!" Delectra threw herself in front of me. Flesh seared and smoked. My mother screamed in agony even as she fired off another spell that struck Victus in the knee. He cried out and fell to the ground, clutching blistered flesh.

  The battle raged in my head and Della was losing. Blinded with pain, I flailed a hand into my satchel and found the heart. I focused on Della. She was my mother every bit as much as the flesh and blood Delectra. Through the pain, I sent her a simple message. I love you.

  Della swelled, snapping the black tendrils of Vic. Hands glowing white, she tore him in half. Vic squealed in agony. Be gone, foul stain! Della shouted. I felt a horrible wrenching in my heart and ice cold slithered up my throat. My eyes fluttered open to thick black smoke whirling from my mouth. It darted through the air and into Victus's mouth. He made gagging noises, screams stifled by the foulness.

  Now his black soul is complete, Della said in satisfaction.

  Victus caught his breath and stood, arcphone in hand. He raised it, clearly ready to finish what he'd started.

  I pushed to my feet and lifted my arcwand. I fired a bolt of energy but it rebounded off his shield.

  "Weak," Victus hissed. "Pathetic vermin." A malevolent grin spread across his face. "Just die already."

  Chapter 34

  I summoned a shield as the malevolent force struck. My willpower was weakened from the fight. I felt my strength buckling, heard Ambria and the others hacking away at the vines behind me. By the time they broke through, I would be dead. I looked down at Delectra, at the terrible burn mark on her chest, at how still she'd become.

  Tears blurred my vision. She'd sacrificed herself for me. My love had freed her from the demon, but her love had saved my
life. This evil man had taken Cora from me and now Delectra. After he killed me, my friends would be next. I closed my eyes and saw the smile on Delectra's face when I called her Mum. Cora appeared next to her, orange hair tied in a loose bun, tears on her cheeks. It was the first time I'd told her I loved her.

  I shook my head. "No, Victus, you can't have one more soul." I opened my eyes and glared at him. "You won't take anything else from me."

  "What did you say boy?" Victus clenched his teeth. "Begging for your life?"

  "You'll take nothing more!" I shouted. "Nothing!" I released the shield and fired a crimson beam from the tip of my arcwand. My willpower met his and exploded in a ring of yellow fire. I looked inside my mind and took the hands of my two mothers. One had borne me, the other had molded me. I'd saved them, and they'd saved me. Together, we could defeat anything.

  I heard Victus scream and opened my eyes as my willpower, bolstered by love he could never understand ripped through his magic like paper. He threw himself to the side and my spell blew a hole in the wall behind him. Still screaming in fright, Victus ran. I aimed for him, but he made it through the hole and out of sight.

  I dropped next to Delectra and turned her on her back. She gasped for breath, still alive, but the burn causing her terrible pain. I remembered Treek's sap and turned to the vines. "Back away, Ambria!"

  I heard her shout at the others and then she said, "All clear!"

  I cut a hole through the vines with focused fire and my friends rushed in. Ambria gasped when she saw Delectra. "What happened?"

  "Treek!" I shouted. "I need you!"

  He lumbered through. His eyes went wide when he saw the grievous wound. "I will help her." He dripped sap on the flesh, spreading it gently with his hand.

  Delectra's body shook. She seemed to see me as the pain faded from her eyes and she gripped my hand. "Thank you, Conrad. Thank you, my son." Tears trickled down her cheeks.

  Tears of my own rained down on her. "You're going to be okay, Mum." I kissed her forehead. "You're going to be fine." I reached into my satchel and held onto the heart, sending love toward her.