Conrad Edison and the Anchored World (Overworld Arcanum Book 2) (30 page)

"The security charm at the gate?" I asked.

"Yeah. They use the same charm on teachers." He glanced at the front of the room, but Professor Sideon had left the room again. "Uncle Malcolm said the charm they use at the gate allows people through the barrier, and makes sure people are who they say they are."

Ambria seemed convinced. "So there's no way Asha could be Delectra."

"Not that I know of," Max said.

His assurances made me feel slightly better. Besides, if Asha was my mother, why hadn't she tried to kill me yet?

Professor Sideon finally returned. "Read the first two chapters in your books, and I'll see you tomorrow." he said. "Class dismissed."

The early end of class prompted a minor celebration from several students. Ambria gave me a puzzled look. "This professor is so disorganized."

Max snorted. "Don't complain. Just enjoy the extra time."

The end of class gave me forty minutes before my cleaning duties back at the keep. "Let's get our brooms and look for Evadora."

"Good idea," Max said.

We returned to Moore Keep and put our backpacks in our rooms then met outside with our brooms.

"Let's look in the Fairy Garden first," Ambria said.

Max hopped on his broom. "I'll check out Colossus Stadium while you do that."

We headed out, flying low over the Unicorn Garden, keeping an eye out for a young girl stealing tears from kids, but the grounds were nearly empty. Max split away from us at the stadium while Ambria and I flew over the iron fence around the Fairy Garden and searched. Evadora was nowhere to be seen.

Max met us outside the stadium. "No luck," he said.

I sighed. "Let's head back. I don't want to get in more trouble with Professor Grace."

We were flying over the patchy field near the Dark Forest when Ambria pointed her finger at the ground. "Look there."

I spotted Evadora skipping out of the forest and angling toward the Fairy Garden. We swooped down and landed in front of her.

"Brother!" She launched herself at me, knocking me off my broom in a fierce hug and laughed at my shocked expression. "I was going to see you, but then I heard a loud roar from the forest, so I went to look."

"That was the tragon!" Max said. "Why would you even go in that dangerous forest? There are all sorts of monsters in there."

"Pretty, pretty monsters." Evadora climbed off me and sighed. "They're too slow to catch me."

I got to my feet and brushed dirt off my clothes. "Evadora, how hard is it to find pieces of the anchor stone?" I held up my pebble. "I need more chunks like this."

She shrugged. "Bits and pieces fell in the void but they are quite hard to reach."

"When you say the void, you mean the places between the broken land?" Ambria asked.

The other girl nodded. "Why do you want them? Do you all want to be able to go to the reflected world?"

I shook my head. "No." I nearly told her why, but asked a different question instead. "If I tell you a secret, will you keep it from the queen?"

Evadora nodded at once. "I will keep your secrets like I kept Mummy's secrets."

Max raised an eyebrow. "What secrets did your mum have?"

She toed the dirt. "I can't tell you."

"Can you tell me?" I asked. "I'm your brother, remember?"

She tapped a finger to her chin. "I don't think I should."

I decided not to press her, happy at least that I wouldn't have to worry about her telling Naeve anything if I asked her not to. "Okay, well, I have a secret reason for wanting pieces of the anchor stone."

A smile lit her face. "Your secret is safe."

I couldn't help but smile back at her. "The Lady of the Pond told me that the stones give immortality, so you can leave the Glimmer and get emotions, but also not die."

Evadora frowned. "No, Mummy thought so too, but she died." Her lips trembled. "She died."

"That was because of my curse." I explained how my parents preserved their souls and how the curse killed other people, namely my foster parents.

Her mouth dropped open. "You have bad parents."

"Evil," Ambria added.

I continued. "My parents told Naeve they want her help conquering the Overworld."

Evadora nodded. "Yes, but they need to—" her eyes widened. "If they find out about the anchor stone, they will tell her. Your bad parents will have their army."

"Yes, but what my parents really want is immortality for themselves." I squeezed her arm. "I want you to gather more pieces of the anchor stone for me so I can tell Naeve how she can come here but keep her immortality. Then she won't help my parents."

"I can tell her for you," Evadora said.

"I don't want her taking away my pebble," I replied. "I want to find pieces we can give to her when we tell her."

"Like a gift!" The strange girl jumped up and down, clapping her hands. "Yes, I will keep your secret and find you pieces." She hugged me. "Then I can stay here and be immortal too!"

"When you find the pieces, come find me in Moore Keep." I pointed to the distant building.

"I will, I will!" She giggled and danced in a circle.

Max and Ambria laughed with her.

"Do you really think the queen will help me if I solve her problem?" I asked.

Evadora nodded. "I'm sure of it."

I hoped she was right.

Chapter 26

Cleaning duty back at the keep was more humiliating than difficult. Grace made me dust the furniture and sweep the floors while the other students sat back and made fun of me.

"Missed a spot, Edison!" Rory shouted when I was cleaning the common room.

Gregory kicked some dirt off his shoes. "Hey, come get this, broom boy."

I wanted to shock them with Esma Emoora's static electricity spell. Instead, I finished my duties and stumbled off to bed, back and arms aching.

The days drifted by slowly. The week ended, and I still hadn't heard from Evadora.

"Finding those stones is probably a lot harder than she thought," Max told me Saturday morning over breakfast. "I'm sure she'll come through."

Later that morning we found the girl perched on the large golem head in Colossus Stadium. She looked up at me with sad eyes when we landed our brooms next to her and I knew she had bad news.

"No stones," she said mournfully. "I thought I found some but they were not from the anchor stone."

"It's okay." I sat down beside her and put an arm on her shoulder. "I'm sure they're somewhere out there."

Evadora pulled her knees up to her face and wrapped her arms around them. "I hope so." She frowned and looked over at me. "The queen has been acting rather strange lately."

Max snorted. "I think strange is normal when it comes to you people."

Ambria sat on the other side of Evadora. "How so?"

"Ever since the blonde woman started working there—"

"Wait," Max said. "Serena is still in the Glimmer?"

Evadora nodded. "The queen gave her a workshop in her castle on Moon Mountain. I spy on her all the time." Her huge eyes widened. "She's looking for parts of the anchor stone too."

Ambria, Max, and I looked at each other with alarm.

"Serena is a genius," Max said. "She might figure out the secret of the anchor stone before we find any pieces."

"Maybe we should tell the queen right away," Ambria said. "Maybe she'll kick Serena out of the Glimmer so she can't find any anchor stone pieces."

"Do you think Serena will find any stones?" I asked Evadora.

The girl nodded. "She is making something called a divining rod. I read her notes and she thinks she'll find some soon."

"Did she tell the queen she's looking for stones?" I asked.

Evadora shook her head. "No. I think she wants to keep it a secret."

Ambria's eyebrows pinched. "When you said the queen is acting strange, what did you mean?"

Evadora took out her bottle. "Serena found out how tears give us emotions. I think she gave some to the queen. Now she seems angry all the time."

Max threw up his hands. "Great, just what we need."

I stood up and walked across the giant golem head where its shattered crystal eye stared blindly up at the sky. "I'm going back to the Glimmer with Evadora to steal Serena's divining rod."

"You're mental, Conrad." Ambria grabbed my arm and looked at Evadora. "Can you steal the divining rod?"

The other girl frowned. "There is nothing to steal. Serena has not completed the rod." She tapped a finger on her chin. "I think she is missing something she needs."

"We have to know the instant she finishes the rod," I told Evadora. "We can't give her a chance to use it."

"At least it gives us more time," Max said. "Do you know what she's missing?"

Evadora shook her head. "Serena wanted a piece of anchor stone for testing."

A dangerous plan entered my mind. "I want her to finish it." I looked at their shocked faces. "Then we can steal it and use it."

Ambria shook her head. "Mental."

"How is she going to test it without a stone?" Max said. He flinched and his eyes flew wide. "Hang on, you don't plan to give her your stone, do you?"

I shook my head. "No. I'm going to ask Klave for one of his tiny pieces."

Evadora jumped up and grabbed my hands. "This will be fun, fun, fun!" She hopped up and down, giggling.

I squeezed her hands and tried to look serious. "This will be dangerous, but I need you to keep spying on Serena and let me know how close she is to finishing the divining rod."

She stopped jumping and pooched out her lips as if trying to appear serious. "And then I steal it."

"
We
steal it," I said. "Where is her workshop?"

"Inside the castle." Evadora spread her hands as if drawing a path. "I can lead you there."

I thought of another danger factor. "Have you seen my parents there?"

Evadora nodded. "They came yesterday."

Max eyes flared. "That's impossible. How did they get through the barrier around the school?"

Evadora tilted her head to the side. "Barrier?"

"Yes, there's a barrier around this entire plateau to keep dangerous people out," Ambria said.

"I do not know," Evadora replied. "I saw them during your nighttime."

Max ran a hand down his face. "Just wonderful. Your parents are inside the barrier with us."

Wolves among the lambs
, Della said with glee.

"Maybe they never left the Glimmer," Ambria said. "Or maybe there's a crack at the edges of the barrier."

"I saw them leave the Glimmer," Evadora said. "They went back to the school."

My body went cold and my skin crawled with invisible spiders at the thought of my parents somewhere inside the university.

"I don't understand." Max paced back and forth. "The security measures should have kept them out."

Ambria groaned. "I know how they got in." She pointed toward the university. "The attack on the first day of school was a diversion."

"Oh no!" Max put a hand to his forehead. "Security pushed everyone through the gate without checking them. Conrad's parents probably hid in the middle of all the parents and then slipped away."

It seemed there was nowhere to hide from my devious parents. "If they're here, I wonder why they haven't killed me yet."

"Maybe they don't want to draw attention until they get what they want," Max said.

Ambria hugged me. "Oh, Conrad, I hope they don't try to kill you."

"If I see them again, I will follow them to their hiding spot," Evadora said.

"Be careful," I told her. "They're extremely dangerous." I squeezed Ambria and untangled myself from her embrace. "We'll have to be on the lookout all the time from now on."

Max blew out a breath. "We already are, especially with Harris Ashmore always looking for ways to hurt us."

Ambria huffed. "We're not popular people, are we?"

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Us against the world."

Max belted a laugh and put his hand in the middle of the group. "Us against the world."

Ambria put her hand on his and repeated his words.

Evadora's eyes shone with delight. "Yay! Us against the whole wide world."

I sighed and put my hand in the pot. "Yeah. Everyone against us." We threw our hands in the air, our call to battle sounding like a desperate cry for help. My nerves felt tight and the university suddenly seemed like one big obstacle course filled with hidden dangers.

We needed to find a piece of the anchor stone for Naeve so she wouldn't take mine when I told her the secret to keeping her immortality. Serena's divining rod seemed like the best way to do it, which meant I'd have to help her complete it before stealing it. The plan was crooked as a maze and dangerous as an angry frogre, but it was the only one we had.

"Evadora, keep looking for stones, but let me know when Serena is close to finishing her rod." I felt the pebble in my pocket, reassured that it was still there. "In the meantime, I'll ask Mirjana if I can have one of Klave's stones. Find a way to give it to Serena without her finding out that you know about her divining rod, okay?"

The girl nodded vigorously. "I will go look some more and watch Serena."

"Meet me here tomorrow," I told her. "I'll let you know about Klave's stone."

Evadora hopped lithely off the stone head and skipped away toward the Fairy Garden.

"I think we should tell the queen right now and ask for her protection from your parents," Ambria said.

Max folded his arms and nodded. "For once, I agree with Ambria."

She raised an eyebrow. "You agree with me all the time, Max." She elbowed him. "You just won't admit it."

"What if I tell her and she takes the stone Cora gave me?" I took out the pebble and rolled it in my fingers. "I don't want to lose it."

Max sighed. "I know you don't, but having it won't matter if you lose your life."

"Why do you want it anyway?" Ambria asked. "Is it because it was Cora's?"

I slid it back into my pocket. "Yes, and it also gives me a way to visit Evadora in the Glimmer."

Ambria shivered. "I'd rather her come here to visit you."

I hopped on my broom and hovered to the side of the golem head. "Let's go visit Mirjana and Klave."