Conrad Edison and the Anchored World (Overworld Arcanum Book 2)
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Authors: John Corwin
Conrad Edison
and
The Anchored World
Overworld Arcanum
Book Two
John Corwin
Copyright © 2015 by John Corwin.
Digital eBook Edition.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
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To my wonderful support group:
Alana Rock
Karen Stansbury
My amazing editors:
Annetta Ribken
Jennifer Wingard
My awesome cover artist:
Regina Wamba
Thanks so much for all your help and input!
Books by
John Corwin
:
The Overworld Chronicles:
Overworld Continuum:
Overworld Underground:
Overworld Arcanum:
Conrad Edison and the Living Curse
Conrad Edison and the Anchored World
The Martian Saga
Episode 2: The New Constable
Stand Alone Novels:
No Darker Fate
The Next Thing I Knew
Outsourced
Seventh
For the latest on new releases, free ebooks, and more, join John Corwin's Newsletter at
www.johncorwin.net
!
ENTER THE GLIMMER QUEEN
When Conrad meets a strange girl while practicing for the Arcane University entrance exam, she takes him through a crack in the world and into a mysterious realm called the Glimmer. Conrad's parents are seeking help from the Glimmer Queen so they can once again rule the Overworld.
The Glimmer holds secrets so ancient, they predate even the First Seraphim War, and a great power that could grant Conrad's parents immortality.
If Conrad can't find a way to convince the Glimmer Queen from helping his parents, evil will once again rule the Overworld.
Chapter 1
Trudging down the street with my head down, I didn't see the hooded man until it was too late.
"What's a young lad like you doing on these dangerous streets so late at night?" he asked, a leering grin on his face.
I sidestepped to go around him. "Excuse me, sir. I'm meeting friends for dinner."
"Well, ain't that lovely." He gripped my shirt and jerked me into the mouth of an alley. A blade flashed and he leaned close, rancid breath washing over my face. "Your parents send their love."
Ice gripped my chest. I struggled weakly, like a mouse caught in a cat's claw. "My parents?"
He bared his teeth. "They want the rest of their souls back, boy." My assailant gripped my throat, pinning me against the brick wall. The knife stabbed toward my chest.
With a startled yelp, the man flew backward and smacked into the opposite wall. A spatter of red appeared where his head hit it. Desmond, my vampire housemate appeared, a concerned look on his face.
He looked me up and down. "Are you okay, Conrad?"
I ran a hand along my chest to feel for puncture wounds. "Yes, thank you."
His sister Sonia appeared, face twisted in annoyance. "Desmond, what in the—" She looked at the unconscious man and back to me. "What's going on here?"
"That man was apparently trying to kill Conrad." He tilted his head slightly and gazed at me with glowing red eyes. "Why would someone want to do that?"
"Um, apparently my parents sent him." They'd only risen from the dead a month ago and seemed quite eager to finish what they'd failed to do.
"Your parents?" Sonia licked her lips and looked at the man. "You must be quite the disappointment." Fangs flashed beneath her plump lips. "Perhaps no one will miss a murderer." She knelt next to the man, her short sparkly dress rising up her thighs, but reeled back with a hiss before she sank fangs into his neck. "He stinks like a demon."
"I noticed," Desmond replied in a matter-of-fact tone. The silent arch of an eyebrow raised an unasked question.
Only my closest friends, Ambria and Max knew the full extent of what my parents had done to me and I was hesitant to tell the vampires the truth. They might not like me much if they knew.
"Why are we wasting time here?" Sonia said. "I don't even know why you bothered saving the puny boy." She stalked closer to me. "I've heard the blood of the young is tasty."
Desmond sighed. "Well, it's a lucky thing we left the house right after you, Conrad." He stepped out of the alley and beckoned me to follow. "Where were you headed?"
"To the Copper Goose to meet Ambria and Max for dinner," I said. I looked at the unconscious man and trembled. "I don't suppose you're heading that way too?"
He chuckled. "We're headed to a club nearby. You're welcome to walk with us."
"He's so slow," Sonia complained. She jabbed a finger at the unconscious man. "If it'll make you feel any better, I can break his neck. Then you won't have to be a frightened little boy."
I shook my head. "No, please don't kill him. The man isn't evil—it's the demon controlling him."
Sonia huffed. "You're so stupid. Demons can't possess people unless they allow it. That means the owner of the body is a real git."
I certainly hadn't allowed my parents to let a demon inside me, or given them permission to stow their souls in my body while they played dead, but that hadn't stopped them.
"Sonia, let the boy alone." Desmond gripped her arm and pulled her away from the man. "Let's go."
We resumed walking down the street, Sonia whining and giving me dirty looks.
"It's bad enough having children living in our house," she said. "Now we have to babysit them as well."
Desmond gave me a friendly smile. "What are you hiding, Conrad?"
I looked away. "I'd rather not say."
"Why you don't want to tell me?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I don't think you'd like me much if you knew."
"We already don't like you," Sonia said.
"Not true," her brother said. "I think Conrad's a good housemate."
"Because we don't have to see him and his little girlfriend all day," she shot back.
My face warmed. "Ambria isn't my girlfriend."
Sonia burst into laughter. "Aw, how cute." She traced a fingernail down my arm, sending chills up my spine. "How old are you? Ten?"
"Twelve," I said weakly and stepped out of her reach.
"Goodness," she said in a mocking voice. "And you don't even have a girlfriend."
Desmond blew out a breath. "Sonia, please."
She sniffed and stuck her nose in the air. "Why do you always ruin my fun?"
A massive copper goose came into view as we rounded the corner and entered a square.
Finally, we're here.
"Thank you for saving me, Desmond."
"No problem." He put a hand on my shoulder. "Be more careful from now on, okay?"
I nodded. "Definitely."
Sonia gripped her brother's arm and dragged him away. "Let's go, let's go! I'm starving."
A shudder ran through my shoulders at the thought of what she wanted to eat. I walked inside the restaurant and spotted my friends at a table near the back.
"Where have you been?" Ambria Rax stood up and planted her fists on her hips. "You should have been here ages ago."
"I was about to eat without you," Max said.
Ambria rolled her eyes. "Max thinks more about food than anything else."
I took a seat and shrugged. "Sorry, I decided to walk."
Ambria sniffed. "How silly. Your broom would've been much faster."
"Well, I wouldn't have been so long if a man hadn't tried to kill me."
That drew startled glances from the pair.
"What?" Ambria's voice rose to a squeak.
Max leaned forward. "Are you joking?"
I shook my head and told them what happened.
"Goodness, Conrad, you really have to be more careful." Ambria patted my hand.
Max groaned. "Just great. Now we have to watch for assassins all the time."
"Sorry," I said. "It's just, without the curse, I feel so much better now. I like walking and running. Before, it was hard just to walk short distances."
"I understand," Ambria said. "But from now on, we should take our brooms whenever possible."
"Agreed," I said.
"Agreed," Max said. He rubbed his belly. "Can we order now? I'm starving."
We ordered and our food arrived a short time later. I consumed my brisket in short order despite my attempts to savor every bite. Since Dr. Rufus Cumberbatch had lifted the living curse from me and released my parents' souls back to their bodies, life had been so much better. But remnants of my parents' souls still remained attached to my own. If Ambria and Max hadn't rescued me that day, my own mother would have slit my throat to release those remnants.
Ambria patted the corners of her mouth. "That was wonderful, don't you think?"
Max grunted and continued to eat.
"You know you can't ask Max that until he's had his third helping," I said with a grin.
She laughed, but it quickly died away.
"Something wrong?" I asked.
"Besides your parents trying to murder you?" Ambria twisted her teacup nervously on the table. "Actually, I can't stop thinking about the entrance exam."
Max grunted and said something unintelligible with his full mouth.
I'd given the entrance exam quite a bit of thought, but for some reason, I wasn't nervous about it. "Do you feel we've studied enough?"
She nodded. "I think so, but I just want to get it over with."
Max swallowed. "It's just anxiety, Ambria. You'll get over it." He eyed his clean plate. "I wonder what they have for dessert."
Ambria sniffed. "Perhaps you should give up magic and become a chef."
He considered it for a moment. "Probably not a good idea." He patted his stomach. "I've got to watch my weight if I'm going to become a world-class broom racer."
"Max Tiberius, you're absolutely hopeless." Ambria touched my hand. "Please don't tell me you want to be a broom racer too."
Her touch sent a tingle up my fingers, not unlike when Sonia had touched my arm.