Conrad Edison and the Anchored World (Overworld Arcanum Book 2) (16 page)

"You have emotions," I said.

Evadora skipped along the branch, completely unconcerned, or perhaps supremely confident in her ability to stay balanced. "Because I go to Eden. I gather tears in my bottle."

I followed slowly, glad there was no wind to threaten us. The birds whooshed by overhead with a cacophony of warbling shrieks. Several of them gathered in the branches and stared at us curiously. With furry webbed wings and feline heads, I realized these were more like bats than birds. They took off nearly as quickly as they'd landed, vanishing into a forest of spiky trees.

Ambria watched the last one take flight. "What were those things?"

"More importantly," Max said, "do they eat people?"

Evadora laughed. "Mewlies eat anything. I saw them swarm a pony and strip it to bones in no time."

"Oh my." Ambria's knees wobbled. "I'm glad they didn't attack us."

"They usually don't eat people because the queen keeps them away." Evadora hopped to the wider section of the tree bridge.

"The queen controls them?" Max asked.

The girl nodded. "She can if she wants."

That ability reminded me uncomfortably of Levi Rax mind-controlling a flock of sheep and ordering them to stomp me to death, so I pushed away such thoughts.

We reached the other side of the bridge and walked down it toward the next island. Below, wind traced patterns in wide fields of grass. Herds of miniature ponies galloped across the land, pursued by sand-colored elephants only a little larger than their prey.

"They're so cute," Ambria said. "Look at the tiny horses and elephants." For the first time since entering the Glimmer, she smiled.

One of the ponies turned on the elephants and opened its mouth to reveal rows of jagged teeth. It bit into the other creature and a fierce fight ensued. The elephant's trunk coiled around the horse like a snake, fangs burying themselves in the pony's hide. Black blood sprayed across the grass and the equine whinnied horribly, going silent and limp.

Ambria shrieked and looked away.

Max gasped. "This place is filled with little monsters."

"Monsters are good," Evadora said and continued walking. She led us around the field and to another tree bridge. The crooked mountain sat on the other side, lights glittering at the top. "The queen is there," she announced.

We walked across the chasm and reached the base of a steep cliff on the other side. Evadora walked right up to the shiny black rock and pointed at her feet. "Stand next to me."

We did as instructed.

"Is there a door in the cliff?" Max asked.

Evadora ran a finger on the rock face and we suddenly hurtled straight up with nothing below us. Ambria gripped me frantically and buried her face in my chest. Max shouted and squeezed his eyes shut. Wind whipped our hair about our faces and made my eyes water.

I met Evadora's calm unblinking gaze. She grinned. "Before the tears, I never knew how much fun this is."

It took everything I had to keep my knees from turning to jelly. Despite my earlier bravado, flying straight up a cliff without any visible means of support terrified me. I held onto Ambria and drew as much comfort from her as she seemed to from me.

Seconds later, we drew level with a wide stone terrace. I quickly stepped onto visible rock and just as quickly stopped, stunned by the mesmerizing view. The entire Glimmer spread out before me. Huge portions of unbroken land spread out to one side of the mountain, while the area we'd come from looked like an unfinished puzzle held together by bridges of living trees.

Herds of unidentifiable animals swept across a barren plain in the distance. A flock of birds erupted from the trees of a dense forest. Something that resembled a large blue whale lumbered peacefully in the sky above a crystal sea. The huge moon hovered directly overhead. I looked up at the peak of the mountaintop and wondered if I could climb one and touch the big glowing sphere.

Ambria looked around with wide eyes. "It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen."

"I wouldn't say that," Max replied. "It's the oddest place I've ever seen."

The realms hovered overhead like sparkling jewels around the moon. Again I wished for a telescope to see if I could actually view the inhabitants of the different realms of Earth. "Are we at the center of the Glimmer?" I asked.

Evadora nodded. "The middle of
everything
."

"You have brought him," said a cold feminine voice.

"Yes, Queen," said Evadora.

I turned around. My heart stopped and my mind went blank.

One word squeaked from my mouth. "Mum?"

Chapter 13

The queen's flaming orange hair framed her fair face and journeyed down both shoulders all the way to her waist. Brilliant green eyes sparkled like gems as they gazed upon me, but the queen's expression remained flat. The hem of her silky black dress trailed several feet on the ground behind her.

My stomach felt as if someone had punched me. I took a tentative step toward her. "Cora?"

Her full lips curved ever so slightly up and fell back into a flat line, trembling as if she were trying to smile, but couldn't. "I am not the one you call Cora," she said in a flat monotone. "She was my sister. I am Naeve."

Evadora pranced over to her and held up her bottle. "I have many tears for you, Queen."

Naeve stared long and hard at the bottle then shook her head. "I will not taste those tears, little one. I will not tempt insanity for a fleeting moment of ecstasy."

"Do the tears drive you mad?" Ambria asked.

The queen turned her unsettling gaze to my friend. "Imagine a spark of heat after an eternity of cold void."

Ambria gulped. "Yes, I see your point."

I couldn't stop staring at the ghost of my beloved foster mother. She looked the same but lacked the warmth and love. Tears blurred the painful sight and sadness lodged in my throat. I wiped my face with a sleeve and took deep calming breaths. At last, I freed my voice from the pain. "Why did you want to see me?"

"Cora came to see me shortly before she"—Naeve stared blankly for a long moment, then spoke again as if she had never stopped—"and told me about you. I wished to see if she had succeeded."

My stomach clenched at the unspoken word.
She died.
I recovered and asked another question. "Succeeded at what?"

"If she nudged your course from fate." Naeve stepped closer and touched my face. "You are alive and healthy." Her eyes betrayed no hint of happiness. "She succeeded or at least delayed the inevitable."

"That's really the only reason you wanted to see me?" I said.

Naeve walked to the edge of the terrace, her long black dress trailing behind, and waved a hand at the realms. "Your parents are ambitious, Conrad Edison. They wish to answer our ancient dilemma and release me from this tomb." She gazed at the moon. "I once thought I had the answer, but it slipped from my grasp."

Max meekly spoke. "You mean immortality in Eden?"

"Precisely." The queen turned back to us. "Even now an Abyssal god walks Eden. I told your parents it may have the answers I seek."

"An Abyssal demon?" Max stumbled back a step. "How did he escape?"

"With the help of the only one powerful enough to completely draw him through," Naeve replied. "Justin Slade used him as an ally. The Abyssal fed on many souls that day and has wandered Eden ever since."

"I'm surprised he hasn't tried to take over the world," Max said.

"After millennia in the Abyss, I am certain a few centuries would not be much delay for him," Naeve replied. "It is likely he hunts for those who imprisoned him, so they cannot put him back."

I had so many questions about Justin Slade and this Abyssal god. Unfortunately, story time would have to wait. "My parents think they can give you immortality outside the Glimmer?"

"That is their belief, yes." She touched a finger to her cheek. "Cora thought she had the answer. She searched the void and found a fragment of the anchor stone."

I pulled the pebble from my pocket. "This?"

Naeve stepped closer but made no move to touch the stone. "Yes. She used it to escape. The last time she visited me, she was emotional." Light flickered in her eyes, and her lips parted. "Eden gave her the gift of life in full bloom. She told me how wonderful food tasted, of the sickening depths of sadness, and the soaring heights of love." The void of expression on her face told us she had no understanding of what Cora had told her.

"What did she think would solve the problem?" I asked.

"The stone you hold in your hand," Naeve replied. "Obviously, it did not protect her."

I bit my lip to hide the pain her comment caused me.

"The Glimmer preserves," Evadora said. "Stay here, live forever." She gripped handfuls of her hair, squeezed her eyes tight, and screamed, "Why did you make Mummy leave? Why didn't you let her stay?"

My legs went weak and I stumbled backward. Max caught me before I fell.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

I stared at Evadora and realized why she looked so familiar. "You're Cora's daughter."

Evadora opened her tear-filled eyes and nodded. "Your curse killed Mummy."

My gorge rose and I gagged on remorse.
I killed her.
Salt stung my eyes. I wanted to throw myself off the terrace and let the void swallow me whole. The curse of an orphan boy had taken Cora from her true daughter.

Someone hugged me. "Conrad, I'm here," Ambria said. "Everything will be okay."

Hot tears stung my eyes and flowed down my face.

I felt a bottle against my cheek and looked into Evadora's pain-filled eyes.

"Get that away from him!" Ambria shouted.

I held Evadora's wrist and pressed the bottle to my cheek. "These belong to you," I said.

Her eyes misted, and she nodded solemnly. "They are tears for our mother, Conrad. They are ours. You are my brother."

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."