Twisted Sister of Mine (Overworld Chronicles) (50 page)
Read Twisted Sister of Mine (Overworld Chronicles) Online
Authors: John Corwin
"Well, thanks for coming," I said at last. "Lunch is being served in the main hall."
The room cleared in seconds.
Elyssa took my hand and squeezed it. She and I had been doing a lot of catching up the past week. I turned my head and smiled. "I'm going to visit a friend," I said. "Want to come?"
"Another girlfriend?" she said in a joking tone. "You seem to pick up new ones all the time."
I nodded. "She's really pretty, too. Don't get jelly, okay?"
Elyssa laughed. "I know I don't have to be jealous."
"Because you'll ninja kick me in the face if I get out of line?"
She tangled her arms around my neck and heated my lips with a kiss. When she pulled away, leaving us both a bit breathless, she smiled. "No. Before I met you, I didn't know what real magic was." She touched my lips with her fingers, and pressed them to her heart. "That's what we have, Justin. I've fallen in love with you twice. I'd do anything for you."
"I'd take a bullet for you," I said.
She smiled. "I think you already did that once."
"You took a tragon for me," I added.
We laughed. I took my girlfriend's hand, and we made our way across campus.
When I reached the infirmary, Morgana jumped from her bed and ran to me, clamping her thin arms around my waist. Tears streamed from her eyes as she looked up at me. Her parents stood from their chairs, smiles lighting their faces. Meghan's drain runes had done the trick, sucking the malaether from the stricken bodies and allowing them to recover.
"Thank you for making our family whole again," Morgana's mother said.
"Michael did it," I said. "All I did was ask him to look into it."
The Findelays still looked tired and undernourished from their time in prison, but the joy in their eyes overpowered everything else.
"Can Justin be my big brother?" Morgana asked, both of her hands clamped around mine. "His family left him."
I choked up and looked away as hot moisture built in my eyes.
"I think that's a question Justin needs to answer," Morgana's mother said, an apologetic look on her face.
I knelt next to the girl, and kissed her on the cheek. "I would love to be your honorary big brother," I said.
Morgana squee'd and hugged me around the neck so tight I almost choked.
Lina appeared at the entrance to the room. She looked much better than the last time I'd visited her a couple of days ago. "Mind if I borrow your new brother?" she asked Morgana.
The girl smiled. "Sure. My parents are taking me out for ice cream anyways. Do you all want to come?"
I thought back to the times I'd had ice cream with Ivy and felt a twinge of sadness. I hadn't heard from her since the last time I'd seen her. I hoped and prayed she was okay, and not imprisoned along with our mother for helping me.
"Justin?" Morgana said, snapping me from my reverie.
I smiled. "Heck yeah, I'd love some ice cream!" I made a concerned face. "I don't know if Elyssa can have any, though. She's got to watch her weight for the Templars."
Elyssa punched me in the shoulder. "Maybe you do need a ninja kick in the face," she said, grinning.
Lina led us into the hallway, and gave us both hugs. "I'm ready to help you in whatever way I can," she said.
"The odds of us stopping Daelissa are looking pretty bleak," I replied. My voice sounded tired.
"You're wrong, Justin," Lina said, her voice stern. "A week ago, the healers thought I would die. They thought all of us with aether poisoning would die. A week ago, that little girl, Morgana, thought her parents would never get out of prison. She thought she was doomed to be alone in this world." Lina wiped away a tear. "Don't you understand, Justin? You make the impossible possible. You give us the one thing that keeps us going and makes us strong."
"And what would that be?" I asked, since all it seemed I did was give people around me multiple opportunities to die in spectacular ways.
"Hope."
The word triggered a cascade of emotions. My mother had left me. My father was marrying another woman. Ivy loved me, but she was still with the Conroys. And still, I persisted. Still, I fought against incredible odds and powerful enemies. Why did I continue to hope? What gave me that inner drive to keep going?
I met Elyssa's eyes, and, in an instant, I knew.
Love.
I loved my girlfriend. I loved my crazy friends. They were my adopted family. And knowing they returned that love, knowing there were people in this world who cared for more than power or money or world domination—it gave me hope.
A sudden smile lit my face as I thought of having ice cream with my newly adopted little sister. One day I would have my family back. I would have my sister back. And then I would treat them all to ice cream, even if I had to mug someone to afford it.
Morgana and her parents entered the hallway.
"Are you ready, Justin?" the little girl asked, eyes glittering with excitement.
I took her hand in one of mine, and Elyssa's in the other. "Let's go."
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Section A
MEET THE AUTHOR
John Corwin has been making stuff up all his life. As a child he would tell his sisters he was an alien clone of himself and would eat tree bark to prove it.
In middle school, John started writing for realz. He wrote short stories about Fargo McGronsky, a young boy with anger management issues whose dog, Noodles, had been hit by a car. The violent stories were met with loud acclaim from classmates and a great gnashing of teeth by his English teacher.
Years later, after college and successful stints as a plastic food wrap repairman and a toe model for GQ, John once again decided to put his overactive imagination to paper for the world to share and became an author.
Connect with John Corwin online:
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/johnhcorwinauthor
Blog
http://johncorwin.blogspot.com/
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/John_Corwin
Books by John Corwin:
Overworld Chronicles:
Sweet Blood of Mine
Dark Light of Mine
Fallen Angel of Mine
Dread Nemesis of Mine
Twisted Sister of Mine
Coming 2013: Dearest Mother of Mine
Stand Alone Novels:
No Darker Fate
The Next Thing I Knew
Outsourced
Seventh
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