Conrad Edison and the Anchored World (Overworld Arcanum Book 2) (24 page)

Bill screams and tears up the paper.

Cora's eyes darken and she looks at me while her fingers work furiously at the polished pebble. I know that look well. It means Bill will probably beat her tonight. But tonight will be different, my future self knows. Tonight, Cora will push Bill down the stairs. Tonight, he'll be the victim.

The present roared back into focus.

Devon snapped fingers in front of my face. "You awake, Edison?"

If I hoped to win a fight against these two, I'd have to follow the mohawk man's example and cheat. Even then it might not be enough. I'd soon be trapped in a dorm with people who hated me so much, they might even kill me. Harris saw himself as a son of prophecy. I wanted to kick myself for encouraging him to believe that, because now it meant he could justify doing anything to me simply because of my last name.

Thanks to my parents, the world was a more dangerous place for me.

"I'm awake." At that moment I wondered if it would be better to simply go to sleep forever. No more parents. No more threats. No more worries. But that would mean Max and Ambria would be left alone to face whatever terrible future my parents wanted. I would be leaving Cora's only other child torn between two worlds. She was now my family. I owed Mum that much.

The selection spark streaked in my direction and I knew it was coming for me.

"If you don't say yes before that spark reaches you, you're on your own." Rhys bared his teeth.

"Alone against the world." Devon waved his arm at the room to underscore the point.

The spark zipped over my head and selected a boy behind me. Its job done, the spark faded. The crowd burst into applause.

Rhys and Devon exchanged almost comically confused looks. "What?" they said simultaneously.

"It's even worse than we thought." Devon's face shone with delight.

Rhys shook with laughter. "The boy with no home. How sad."

"Sad, sad, sad!" Devon doubled over with glee.

I was at a loss. Did this mean I had no keep to live in, or had Galfandor suddenly decided to revoke my admission?

Professor Sideon pushed back his chair and rose from the table. He walked to the group chosen for Tiberius Keep. "I am Professor Sideon. It will be an honor to guide the children of Tiberius Keep through this school year."

"That concludes orientation," Galfandor said. "New students, please follow your advisors to your respective keeps for room assignments."

With a great rumbling of chairs being pushed back and the low murmur of conversations, everyone stood and began moving from the room.

Devon patted me on the back. "Poor Edison boy. It's a shame you rejected our offer of protection."

"I'm certain you'll come squirming to us in time." Rhys stood and the brothers wandered over to a group of boys their age.

Within a few minutes, the room was nearly empty except for Galfandor and some of the other teachers. I slumped as Max and Ambria's group left the room. Ambria gave me one last worried look before vanishing into the hallway.

Chapter 20

I wasn't sure what to do, so I gathered my backpack and broom and walked to the front of the room where Galfandor gathered his sheaf of parchments. He noticed me and gave me an apologetic smile.

"It appears there was a glitch in the selecting spell," he said. "I'm sorry you were left out."

"I don't have a keep?" My voice sounded sad.

"We can't have you sleeping in the park, now can we?" He patted my shoulder. "Perhaps you should just choose a keep."

My sadness vanished. "Really? But, why didn't the spark choose me?"

He tucked the parchments under an arm. "Let's not worry about that. Where would you like to stay?"

"With my friends," I said at once. "Moore Keep."

"Well, what do we have here?" said a bright voice.

I turned and saw Esma Emoora looking quizzically at me.

"One of our new students wasn't selected by the spark," Galfandor explained. "Would you be a dear and escort him to Moore Keep?"

Her eyes flashed. "I'd be delighted. What is your name, child?" She spoke with a proper accent that belied her young appearance.

"Conrad." I left it at that.

"Last name?"

I really didn't want to say it, but it wasn't like everyone didn't already know. "Edison, Miss."

She didn't even flinch at the evil name. "Come along." She nodded to Galfandor and walked toward the exit. She said nothing until we reached the hall where parents mingled and spoke in low tones. "Where is your family?"

Apparently she hadn't heard Harris's loud accusations earlier. "I'm an orphan," I lied.

She stopped in place and gave me a strange look. "An orphan?" A frown. "How awful for you."

I nearly told her it would be a relief to be an orphan, considering who my parents were, but shrugged instead.

Esma sniffed. "Well, is it awful or not?"

"Being an orphan?" I didn't like the way she asked the question. It was as if she wanted me to feel terrible. "I think it's better for everyone else that I'm an orphan."

She raised an eyebrow. "Interesting." With that, she resumed walking.

I hurried to catch up. The silence between us felt uncomfortable, and I wished Galfandor had simply let me walk alone to the dormitory. I tried to bring up polite conversation. "Where did you teach before this?"

She gave me a sideways glance. "At a private Arcane school in America."

"Oh? Which city?"

"Atlanta." Her reply sounded bored, like someone who's already repeated the same story dozens of times. Esma's eyes brightened. "What do you plan to study, Conrad?"

"Elemental magic."
Whatever makes me strong.

"Excellent choice." We left the main building and walked down the sidewalk to the imposing dormitories. Graeven Keep towered to the right, a rectangular building with a high-pitched roof and square towers each corner. Wide balconies with ornate black iron railing protruded from nearly every window.

I heard laughter from far above and saw a crowd of older students looking over the parapets of one of the towers. One of them pointed my way and fresh laughter rained down on me. The circular walkway curved in front of each of the keeps. In the middle was a large pool of clear water with brickwork around the edges. Coins of all shapes and sizes glittered beneath the surface.

Esma stopped and looked over the edge. "Do you have any wishes for the wishing pool, Conrad?"

I had plenty of wishes, but tossing a coin into water wouldn't grant any of them. "Not really."

"Hmm."

We walked around the wishing pool and came to Moore Keep. Though I'd passed by it before, I hadn't given much thought to how different it looked from the other dorms.

Two round towers flanked a short square building with a wide oak door. Turrets with spiked roofs protruded seemingly at random along the height of each tower, while a third round tower rose from the roof of the square building. It looked as if a child with miniature building blocks had simply thrown it together.

"It's rather different, isn't it?" Esma said in a quiet voice. "They say Ezzek Moore designed it himself to prove that order can be found in chaos."

The only orderly thing about it was the square building in the middle. "Maybe he just wanted it to look strange." I looked toward Tiberius Keep. A long four-story rectangular building with a red brick façade and evenly spaced gables, it resembled a Victorian manor that might also serve as an insane asylum.

"Rather plain, isn't it?" Esma said. "I heard Tiberius never was much for creativity."

It looked more frightening than boring, while Moore Keep made my mind run in circles. "I think Graeven Keep looks the best."

"I suppose it is a bit posh." She raised an eyebrow. "Well, perhaps you'll learn better in time." The professor motioned me toward the door. "Go on inside, young Edison. I'll see you in class tomorrow."

I should have been relieved that I would soon see my friends, but instead felt a sickening dread in my stomach. What if Max and I couldn't share a room and I ended up with someone who despised me because of my last name?
If I stand out here any longer, Max might have a roommate before I find him.
I swallowed hard and turned to thank Professor Emoora, but she had already walked away.

The front door swung inward on well-oiled hinges, opening into a great hallway with dark wood flooring and gray walls. Glass chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling, their candlelight flickering, but somehow keeping the room brightly lit. Haphazardly hung portraits adorned the walls. Not a one of them was lined up evenly with the next, and most hung slightly crooked.

The first image was of a robed man raising his hands in a V shape before two great walls of water. Another showed a group of men sitting around a table, bored expressions on their faces as they presumably waited patiently for the painter to finish. I walked down the hall, trying to be quick about it, but instead allowing the art to distract me. There was a painting of a beautiful blonde angel, blazing wings spread wide, and a frightening scowl on her face, unleashing a spear of white light toward an old man on his knees. I thought back to the memorial at Moore Manor and wondered if the angel was Daelissa and the man was Jeremiah Conroy, the last incarnation of Ezzek Moore.

On the other wall hung the painting of a fantastical landscape with floating islands of land hanging above a brilliant vortex of energy. The next one, of a pretty blonde woman and a girl about my age, caught my eye. I looked at the bottom and found a small notation:
Alysea and Ivy
. The girl had to be Ivy Slade. I wondered where she had gone after defeating my parents. I could really use her help right about now.

The next image caught my attention because it was so plain compared to the others. It was the painting of a stone door with a curved triangle engraved in the center. Only the initials S.M. gave any indication of the artist. S.M. certainly had a love for doors, judging from the fine lines and attention to detail. The closer I looked at the patterns on the door, the more they resembled a maze.

I backed away and glanced down the row of paintings, suddenly aware I'd been taking far too long to go inside and find Max. I hurried down the long hall to the end and nearly tripped over my own feet when I saw the last portrait.

A huge green moon hung in a starry sky above a craggy mountain peak and before it, broken islands of land hanging in a sea of stars.
It's the Glimmer.
The initials at the bottom were the same as the one for the door painting. I wondered who this S.M. was and how he'd painted the Glimmer. It was doubtful he still lived, but he might have left behind journals about his travel into that strange land. It was definitely something I wanted to look into, but first, I had to find Max and the others.

I sprinted up the curving stairs and heard voices emanating through a door on the third floor. Peering around the corner, I saw Gideon Grace in a long rectangular room, a fire crackling in a huge hearth behind him. The boys were lined up on my left and the girls on the right. With the fire flickering behind him, he looked like a demon lord overseeing his minions.

Two curved couches hugged either wall. Small round tables surrounded by plush leather divans and lamps looked like good places to study or gather with friends.

"This great room is for common use," Grace said. "Females shall not go up the stairs to the male rooms and vice versa." He walked down the line of boys, eyes boring into them. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir!" the boys shouted.

I spotted Max on the far end of the line, his eyes wide and nervous. Ambria stood in the middle of the girls, her mouth turned down in a frown.

Grace spun on his heel and marched to the girls. "Very well, then. Go claim your rooms."

The sighs of relief were audible across the room. The boys vanished up the stairs on the left and the girls went up their stairway.

Swallowing nervously, I stepped into the great room and walked toward the professor. A quick glance out of the window on the right gave me a view of the large round turret protruding from the side of the tower where the girls' rooms were.

Grace spotted me coming. "What are you doing here,
Edison
?" He spoke my name as if it were poison.

"Galfandor told me to," I explained. "He said the selection spark glitched by not choosing me."

The professor's upper lip curled with distaste. "How unfortunate for us."

"Does Max Tiberius have a roommate yet?" I asked.

"I have no idea, boy." He jabbed a finger to the stairs. "Why don't you go find out?"

His harsh attitude hurt, but it also made me angry. What had I ever done to him? I didn't think defying the professor would help matters, so I simply nodded and went upstairs. A round room with wood paneled walls and another lively fireplace lay through the door at the top. A curved leather couch in front of the hearth looked like a cozy place to read a book while wooden tables and chairs offered more practical places to study. It looked like a smaller version of the common room below.

A group of older boys sat on the couch laughing and talking while the younger kids huddled nervously in other parts of the room. I didn't see Max anywhere, so I walked through the room while carefully looking for him. A lanky boy with curly black hair made eye contact with me and did a double-take.

He said something to his friends and stepped in front of me. "Look what we found here. It's Conrad Edison himself."

"Yeah, Rory, it sure is," said a short tubby boy. "What're you doing in our keep, Edison?"

I tried to step around Rory, but his wide friend stepped in the way.

"Gregory asked you a question," Rory said. "You're in our keep and I know you didn't get selected for it."

"He didn't get selected at all," said another boy with thick glasses and a mop of brown hair hanging over his pimply face. "I saw him crying all by himself when we left."

The boys burst into laughter as if it was the funniest joke they'd ever heard.