Original Souls (A World Apart #1) (51 page)

He traversed the ramps, finally meeting the staircase that would take him to Walke
r’
s front door. He grabbed the black railing as he almost fell down. His stomach was in knots. He figured he shouldn't have skipped lunch, but it was already too late. He fell down, rolling over on his side after his head hit the edges of a few steps. Could this all possibly be just a stomachache, he thought, while billowing in agony? For having hit his head, he now had a thumping headache to contend with too. So he could
n’
t tell the stomach pain and it apart any longer. They merged into one solid stinging torment.

He didn't bother opening his eyes as he heard footsteps coming down the long wood paneled ramps he just walked. He made a guess on who it could be. And if he was wrong, he didn't want to know who it was.

"Subsidio Ex Nodus," in a reserved tone the man spoke with compassion. Corinth opened his eyes and saw Walker's not so bright face. His curly blonde hair blew with the wind. He squinted his eyes, which made him look much more serious to Corinth than usual
.“
Come on youngling, up-and-addy!" Walker leaned over to give Corinth a hand.

"What was that spell?" he asked. "I feel so much better." He grabbed his stomach as they took one stair at a time. Walker held onto him from behind. Making sure he didn't fall.

"Don't you know any spells like that?" Walker questioned the young boy of things he already knew well enough.

"Not really," Corinth said.

"Oh, no!" Walker sarcastically cheered. "Your marvelous father didn't teach you anything?" Corinth shot him a look. Walker paused in a grimace, and then cracked a wide smile across his overall gloomy face. He looked tired and used up. Even more so than he did when Corinth noticed him on the Olympus Grounds that first night. Still, Corinth laughed with him.

"He tried to teach me. Lots of people have. My mom was the only one who could really get through to me. But still I never mastered any spells with her either."

Walker's face turned down. What little smile he had before was wholly erased. "You can't use magi
k
… at all?" his voice cracked when he said it. Not even his wildest imagination ever envisioned a life without magik. He couldn't process the possibility of not possessing all the powers he acquired over the years from reading book after book in the wake of his self-imposed solitude.

"No, not really," was Corint
h’
s dilapidated response.

Walker's upper lip trembled as he helped the boy into his villa on the lake. He rushed Corinth in through the doorway, because he needed to get a tissue out of his pocket before the waterworks really started pouring down his drudged face. He sat the trite boy down on a long beige sofa in front of a glass coffee table. To the left was an open glass door that covered a half wall. The sheer white curtains fluttered with the breeze coming off the lake. Walker turned his attention to the deck just outside the glass door that overlooked the lake. He then dramatically blew his nose with the tissues he produced from his pea-green pant pocket. He turned back quickly to his guest to see a giggling child stretched out across his plush couch.

He attempted to console Walker with his next statement. "I always thought magik was cool, and still hope to get better at wielding it. But I'm not torn up inside about not being able to wield it." Walker looked down at his used tissues, feeling a little silly now. "That's why I always worked harder on my school work. Making the honor roll every semester is just as cool as blowing something up. And levitating, walking on walls, or whatever people do with their llaves! I'm not sad is what I'm really trying to say. I still haven't given up hope yet?"

That last statement sounded -more like a question to Walker. He figured that was a huge part of why Corinth dragged himself over. "S
o—
" he encouraged Corinth to just spit it out.

"S
o…
?" Corinth knew what he wanted to say, but was reluctant.

"Please, Corinth, I've had a real sloppy day. I would love to forget all about my problems and give you a hand." He took the seat opposite the young boy filling the sofa. The love chair was comfortable enough for Walker, considering he often chose grassy knolls as seats over cushions anyhow.

Corinth's eyes looked around the pretty room. The decor was very peaceful. Mostly serene light shades, with a drop of drama in every few glances. The artwork that covered much of the walls garnered most of the attention. But once again, Corinth realized that adults in Hyperborean, or at least at Aurora Boreal school, didn't like TV much. There was no television in sight inside of Walker's den. "Why don't you have a TV?" Corinth asked instead of what was really on his mind.

"Corinth, just tell me!" his tone was just subtle and excited enough to relax the boy. He decided to let it all out for Walker's ears to hear.

<*>

Over tea and a rather fruity fruit salad, Corinth told Walker about his dreams. They were mostly the same, but came in different forms. Walker didn't seem the least bit surprised to Corinth. In fact, he almost wrote it off. "I know there's something more you want to say. I can feel it," Walker told him with passion resounding in his voice. "I'll have you know, this question is more important than your dreams."

That honestly shocked Corinth. "But did you hear the part about you. It looked like you'd die just falling through the sky like that. I think it killed you even before then."

"Corinth, if anything, I'm more concerned about the part where you were attacked. But no matter, because i
t’
s just a dream."

"You know..." Corinth sounded a lot more like an adult than Walker liked. He didn't want Corinth to rush through his childhood so quickly, but the bo
y’
s grave tone in just two words proved quite contrary to wide belief of his immaturity. "I had a lot of dreams in the coming days before I was kidnapped. Tha
t’
s why I knew it was my dad even though I didn't see the guy's face."

Walker started to feel worse. His blood pumped through his veins faster and faster. He truly had no idea of how much Corinth knew. Sena. Hendrix didn't inform him of this, but then again, she probably didn't know herself. Walker thought that this would all go over Corinth's head and he could just be a kid again. But he understood now that Corinth wasn't fated to be an ordinary child. Things had progressed far beyond childhood in Corinth's mind long ago. Trying his best not to defy Sena. Hendri
x’
s orders, Walker decided to try to pry open Corint
h’
s thought process in just one sitting.

"You let on very well," he told the transformed child before him.

Corinth perked up. He could sense that they were on the same page now. "It's what's best, I've learned." Corinth's adult demeanor continued to amaze and frighten Walker all the same.

"Well, then," he sat back in his chair and crossed his leg over the other. "What in all the Worlds do you need my help for then? You seem like you've plotted every step of the way already." He challenged Corinth's authoritative handling of the undertone nature of their conversation.

Corinth took a deep breath, and tried his best to shut out the ever seeing eye of the Nexus. He nearly read Walker's mind, but managed to resist the urge, pulling his attentions to more pressing thoughts. "I can't control what's happening inside my head," he started out with.

"None of us really can." Walker folded his arms, settling in defiantly. He didn't believe Corinth was being as open and honest as he could be.

"Yeah, but this is different. There's something inside, something that isn't me."

Bingo! Walker got what he wanted from the boy a little faster than he expected. His trust. "Well, Corinth, you should get to the sweet spot of all this more quickly. Your classes start back up soon." He twisted the face of his watch up, and checked the time. But Corinth's last concern was class time.

"I don't care about that," Cory said abruptly. He turned toward the lake, while Walker leaned forward in his chair.

"But don't you see. That's precisely the issue you're facing here. If you feed too deeply into the thoughts that randomly pass through your mind, eventually, you'll lose yourself in them. We all have feelings, child. Sporadic ones that seem to take control. These feelings appear as if they have precedence over our needs. Unquestionably, people follow these urges in their heads." He put a finger to his skull and shook his head. Actively hoping the youth understood his assertions. "But to control one's thought pattern ... is as simple as plucking fruit from a tree."

His tone took on a new, deeper conviction. Corinth felt the heated passion of the Librarian's words on the back of his neck. Like they were attempting to crawl inside his head through his ears.

"But really
,
” Walker continued
,“
obsessions start with just one idea. Then it spirals into an entire philosophy that may very well redefine the image of a person's soul." He held up the lone remaining apple slice from his fruit bowl. He fixedly stared at it, like it was going to spring to life at a momen
t’
s notice. "Pluck it too early, and you'll have to wait till it matures. Pluck it too late, and it will have wilted to die. But to ensure the actual quality of the fruit yielded, you must nurture the tree itself. Her roots more particularly." Walker tossed the slice in mouth, and crunched down on it dramatically. "Stop placing this deep focus upon your individual thoughts. Start taking better care of the tree that is your life. Take care of it whole. Do
n’
t just hope for a good harvest, bring it about through cultivation. It starts with the one fleeting thought, brought on by the winds of time. Then you find yourself trapped by the uncertainty. That type of distortion will uproot you. Leading to your ultimate destruction!" His advice got Corinth on the path to new thought, but didn't quite help him see a solution to his problem. Walker spoke on enthusiastically. "You feign interest in your friends. You ignore your ministrants. You half prepare for a Deaves tournament. A tournament you wouldn't have progressed nearly as far in, if your uncle hadn't supplied you with that miraculous deck of his."

Corinth smirked at this. He knew Walker was right, but felt no more sure that he was being helped by the knowledgeable man before him.

Walker sighed dramatically. "My dear boy, we still haven't gotten to the point of all this. Though still, I'm terribly afraid we're out of time."

Corinth threw his hands out to the sides. "I don't have to head straight there. It's just a lecture on Myths. I don't even think it's mandatory."

Walker looked at him with sympathy. He was glad to see him behaving more like a kid again, instead of an ominous adult. "Treasure your life, Corinth. You'll find a lot of joy in your personal experiences. If only you can get out of your own head now and again." He stood up, walked over to the couch Corinth slouched on, and sat beside him. "I'm a very lonesome man. I spend a lot of time alone, just reading or even thinking. But always alone. I've been through some, not all, but some of what you're dealing with. You need to be better balanced, or this thing inside your min
d—
" he tapped Cor
y’
s temple, "it's going to ruin your life. Not because it's evil, but because it's not meant to be controlled. At least not by you."

"So who can control it?" Cory asked with precarious eyes shining from the light streaming through the window.

"Not a question I can answer. And not one you desperately need an answer to."

Corinth got up quickly. After Walker's spell and the fruit dish, he felt stronger, but still he stumbled. Walker caught his wrist, but the boy wavering to a wither pulled it away. "That you're wrong about! I do need to know, and I'm going to find out!"

Walker wasn't surprised by his reaction. The trust he felt he was gaining from Corinth was certainly misplaced if truly present. He asked if Corinth wanted to be teleported back to Olympia. Walker tried convincing Cory how skillfully he could teleport, even when he was incapacitated. But the little boy refused. He said he'd rather walk it off. Walker watched as Corinth struggled a bit, heading across the wood paneled ramps back onto the grass fields.