Conrad Edison and the Anchored World (Overworld Arcanum Book 2) (38 page)

Max clapped me on the back. "I don't know what you said to him, but I think we might just pull this off."

I could hardly believe Galfandor was going to directly help us. I didn't expect him to come to the Glimmer, but with him standing watch with my friends, I knew he could keep us safe.

The last rays of the sun painted the stumps of the dead forest red when we arrived at the pond in the Fairy Garden. Galfandor waited there already, dressed in dark robes and a stocking cap that kept his long white hair under control. Leaning on the ivory-colored handle of a broom, he looked up and waved as we approached.

"I can't tell you how grateful we are for your help," Ambria said when we landed.

He smiled and nodded at her. "I spoke with Mirjana and she confirmed what Conrad told me." The headmaster looked at the dark water. "She is eager for this to end so she can safely return home."

"Believe me, we're just as excited to end this, too," Ambria said.

Galfandor turned to me. "Tell me anything else I should know, Conrad."

I told him what had happened since my last visit to his house, which really wasn't all that much, since Serena had been gone for two months in search of whatever special ingredients she needed for the divining rod. "Our fear is that my parents will tell Naeve that the anchor stone pieces will give her immortality even outside the Glimmer. The queen promised she wouldn't help my parents if I helped her first."

"You propose to tell Naeve about the stones," Galfandor said. "Perhaps we should bind her with an oath to do no harm to Eden before we impart this information, and also ask her to forbid your parents from returning to the Glimmer."

"I sure am glad you're helping us," Max said. "I never would've thought of that."

Galfandor's statement hit me like an electric shock. Asking the queen for an oath had never occurred to me. I'd simply accepted that she wouldn't help my parents. But that wouldn't stop her from attacking Eden herself. After all, her price for allowing Victus and Delectra to even help her had been to murder Mirjana, Klave, and the other guardians in the Fairy Garden.

"How can we be certain she'll keep her oath?" I asked.

"It will be a magical oath. If she breaks it, the backlash will kill her." Galfandor shook his head slowly. "It is a good thing you informed me of this."

"Does that mean you're coming with me?" I asked.

"Yes, I believe it would be best."

My shoulders sagged with relief. I looked at the time on my phone. "Evadora is running late." Then again, she rarely showed up right on time and often came a little earlier or later than expected.

"Will she come from the reflected world?" Galfandor asked.

I shook my head. "She doesn't have a stone, so she runs through the rift past the guardians."

His bushy eyebrows lifted. "I see. She must be quick on her feet."

"She's a bit mental, but she knows how to trick them." Ambria twirled a finger around her ear. "One look at those frightening creatures convinced me to never go back if they're around."

Another ten minutes ticked past while I shifted anxiously from foot to foot. "Maybe we can go meet her on the other side." I took out the pebble. "It'll save time."

"Agreed." Galfandor took my hand. "Ready when you are, Conrad."

I said the magic words and we leapt into the pond. When we burst from the water on the other side, Galfandor landed easily on his feet and pulled on my hand to keep me from tumbling to the ground. We hurriedly boarded our brooms and flew to the crack in the world. I wondered if right now in the real world Evadora might be walking past this spot. I hoped we caught her before she entered the rift.

We reached the tunnel and got off our brooms so we could crawl through. When we finally reached the starry rift, we used our brooms once again.

Galfandor gazed at the infinite expanse of stars all around. "Rather unsettling, isn't it?"

"We're on an invisible bridge," I explained. "Max nearly fell off the side."

He grunted thoughtfully, but said nothing more. Despite our speedy travel through the reflected world, my back crawled as though something evil stalked me. I looked back often, but didn't see my reflection racing behind. Wherever it was, I knew right this moment it had homed in on me like a divining rod and was running straight at me.

Creepy as it was, I wondered what the thing did in its spare time when I wasn't looking into something reflective. For that matter, where were all the other reflections? Did they even exist when we weren't looking at our mirror image?

Galfandor as usual seemed to know what I was thinking. "There are some things that bend and twist logic so completely, understanding them means you must become as bent and twisted as they are."

I looked behind me again. "Sometimes I feel as though I'm already there."

He chuckled. "Indeed, lad, I know what you mean."

When we reached the pond in the reflected version of the Glimmer, I took us back through the water to the other side. We landed in the glade of purple grass. The gooseflesh on my back finally relaxed. I was in another world every bit as strange as the mirror world, but at least something wasn't chasing me.

As before—as it had always been since the anchoring—the huge moon hung above crooked Moon Mountain far in the distance while the realms rotated slowly all around it. The stars glimmered above and below, a blanket of endless space in a realm long forgotten.

We were back in the Glimmer, but Evadora was nowhere to be seen.

Chapter 34

I glanced at the crack into the rift. "Maybe I should go to the end and see if Evadora is inside."

Galfandor frowned. "Let's give her ten minutes. If she's already gone through, I'm sure she'll be back quickly once your friends tell her where we are." He motioned toward Moon Mountain. "Naeve's castle is up there?"

"Yes." I climbed on my broom and went higher for a better view above the spiky trees until I could see the edge of this island hovering over the magnificent and terrifying view of the galaxy. "I wonder if we can fly straight for the mountain, or if we need to follow the bridges."

Galfandor joined me. "An excellent question." He plucked a large twig from the top of a tree and cast a series of spells on it. When he finally released it, the twig hung in the air, both tips blinking red like airplane lights. "I've given it a simple version of a flying broom enchantment. Let's see what happens." He flicked his wand, and the twig flew off on its merry way.

It continued out from the island and across open space until it reached the next island over.

"How intriguing." He looked out at the stars. "I've seen many wonders, but this realm breaks every rule."

"The Sirens tore it apart but it still survived." I stared at the moon. "How much power do you think it took to create the anchor stone?"

"More than I can comprehend," Galfandor replied. He withdrew a pocket watch from his robes and checked it. "I believe we've waited long enough. Since we can fly straight for the mountain, perhaps we should take the most direct route."

"Maybe we should fly along the route Evadora took us." I pointed to the nearest tree bridge. "It might take us a little longer, but at least we'll see her if she passes by."

He nodded. "Yes, I suppose we'll need her help finding the divining rod."

We continued along, following the zig-zag path from island to bridge to island, flying across purple meadows, through dim tunnels formed by spiky tree branches, all the while keeping a sharp eye out for Evadora. I began to worry that we'd just missed her back at the tunnel and even now she was running to catch up with us.

Galfandor commented on the strange beasts we saw, pausing for a moment when we passed by a herd of the carnivorous miniature ponies. "Goodness, I didn't know equinothropes still existed. I thought they went extinct centuries ago."

"Those things existed in Eden?" I shuddered as one of the tiny horses ripped into the flesh of one of the snake elephants.

"Indeed. I imagine this realm holds a bevy of beasts that used to exist in Eden." He pursed his lips and stared. "Surely—no." He shook his head.

"No to what?"

"This place would provide your father with the capability to create mutants beyond his wildest dreams." Galfandor shivered. "Another reason we must deny your parents access to this realm."

If my father had created the frogres from harmless creatures, I couldn't imagine what he might create with equinothropes.

Galfandor continued onward. "Where do the people live? I see no signs of houses, no smoke rising from chimneys, or people out and about doing their daily business."

I looked down as a herd of kangaroo-like creatures with antlers hopped across the field below. "The queen told us most of them live on the other side of the mountain where the land isn't as broken."

He peered into the distance. "I would be most curious to meet them."

We finally reached the base of the mountain. "It's probably faster to take the invisible lift."

Galfandor looked up the sheer cliff face and nodded slowly. "I'll take your word for it."

I went to the place Evadora had taken us the last time and motioned the headmaster next to me. It took a few tries, but I finally flicked the correct place on the stone to activate the lift and we shot up at frightening speed. Galfandor's long beard whipped wildly in the wind, but he seemed not to notice, instead looking at the unbroken land beyond the mountain.

"Tell me if you see any houses, Conrad." He took a brass spyglass from a pouch and handed it to me.

I scanned the land and finally noticed what looked like a small town beyond a thick forest. "Over there." I handed him the spyglass.

He peered through the scope. "It is indeed a town, but I see no activity."

"Why are you so curious about it?" I asked.

Galfandor folded up the spyglass and tucked it away. "I'd simply like to know more about this place, especially if the queen has an army."

"I don't remember seeing anyone but the queen and Evadora," I said just as the lift reached the top.

Wands in hand, we stepped off the invisible platform and onto the terrace. The vine chair the queen had grown during my last visit was flowering into large round bulbs. I stepped closer to inspect one when the petals burst open and spat. I hardly even had a chance to think before flicking my wand and casting
soros
. Thick green liquid splatted against the invisible shield.

Galfandor looked surprised. "Impressive. I see you've learned well your first semester."

I gulped at the close call. "Professor Emoora has been tutoring me."

My shield dissipated and the green liquid dripped to the ground. "What is that stuff?"

The headmaster produced a vial from his pouch and scooped a sample inside. "I don't know, but it's certainly quite curious."

"Should we use a spell to hide us from the queen?" I asked. "I don't know what she would do if she finds us here."

"I'll tell her we've come across a possible solution for her problem, and ask her to take the oath," Galfandor said. "I don't believe Serena would have told her about the anchor stone fragments."

His plan sounded good so I nodded and followed him toward the entrance to the palace.

We kept a safe distance from the vines as we made our way along the terrace and went through an archway into the mountain. This first room made our jaws drop in wonder. Stretching in a dome far overhead, the ceiling glittered with diamonds, rubies, and other precious stones. The floor and walls were natural stone polished to a sheen, all its natural hues swirling around us like clouds in a nebula.

A ramp of polished jade led up to a throne of thorny black vines.

"Interesting," Galfandor said. "Quite a throne room."

I looked around and realized it there was no other furniture. The light seemed to come from the jewels in the ceiling. I noticed an opening in the wall to the right. "There's a door over there."

"Indeed." He headed toward the archway.

I followed behind, wary of this strange place, hoping the vines didn't come to life and snake toward us.
Evadora, where are you?
I desperately wished she was here to guide us.

A long corridor led to a large room with a single staircase winding along the curved wall to the next level, and then continuing up on the other side to the next level, and so on until I lost count of the floors. What furniture was there looked dusty and unused—a marble table covered in gray webs, a leather chair cracked and worn, bare and rotting rugs. A faded painting of Naeve surrounded by people dressed in rich attire hung on the far wall.

"This entire place seems to have fallen into disuse," Galfandor said. He looked down and pointed to footprints in the dust leading toward a small door beneath the large staircase. "I believe that is the way to go."

We took the stairs down to a long corridor lined with doors. The first room on the right looked like it had once been a bedroom, though the bedding had rotted away to almost nothing. Across the hall, the room had been converted into a small workshop. A crooked branch of silvery wood sat atop a workbench.

Galfandor gasped. "Is that silverwood?" He reached a finger toward it then jerked it back. "I have not seen a specimen of this in ages. It is no wonder it took Serena so long to procure what she needed." He turned to a polished rod sitting next to the branch. "The divining rod, I presume."

I reached out to touch it, but he gripped my wrist. "Not so fast, Conrad." Galfandor opened his pouch and withdrew a pinch of gray dust. Holding his hand over the workbench, he slowly sprinkled it from one end to the other. As the dust fell it revealed shimmering lines in the air around the table.

"Warded, of course." He took my shoulder and stepped back. "Shield your eyes, Conrad."

I did as told, but peeked just a little, curious to see what he did. A brilliant flash temporarily blinded me. I squeezed my eyes shut and blinked a few times.

Galfandor chuckled. "I told you to shield your eyes." He picked up the divining rod. The moment he did, it pointed toward me. "Ah, yes. Your pebble is interfering." He set down the rod, removed a shiny packet from within his pouch, and opened it. "This diamond fiber should block the pebble from the divining rod's detection spell."