Original Souls (A World Apart #1) (54 page)

"Well, I hope so, because I could use all of your help," Corinth admitted, with his eyes down.

"With what?" Emmy asked first.

He thought about it for a second. He didn't know if it was a good idea to get his friends involved in his dangerous plans. He reluctantly started speaking again. "We need to get a book. It's called The Fate Forgery."

They all exchanged awkward looks. "That doesn't sound that hard really." Anvard patted Corinth on the back, trying to seem supportive. Meanwhile, Emma pulled out her digital tablet.

"That's not the whole plan," Corinth said with his elbows anchored to his knees. He still felt weak, and didn't feel like re-explaining himself with every phrase.

"I can't find it anywhere. I looked in the schools database and the Hyperborean public library thingy too. Your book don't exist, sweetie," Emma said with her fingers gently caressing her chin like a sassy sleuth, but more so, an annoying know-it-all.

"That's because it's old. It's never been scanned into any database," he informed them.

"Well, how are we going to get it?" Emmy looked perplexed by Corinth's elusive explanations.

"Better yet, why do we need it?" Anvard threw into the pot.

"We need to find out about the Shattered Temple and that Creative Window thing too."

"Whoa!" Claudia exclaimed. "You're headed into some weird territory. Can you please just explain from the beginning?"

Corinth figured she was right, but he didn't want them knowing everything. He told them about his dreams and what he felt they meant. He told them that Walker may have poisoned him, and could be holding his uncle hostage for some reason. He didn't want them to know about his mental state. They already looked at him with rising suspicion. He didn't want them trying to commit him to an insane asylum, which they probably would do if they knew the whole story.

"Your dream seems curious
,
” Claudia massaged her language to keep from sounding dismissive
,“
but we can't just go snooping that far from school grounds. They said at orientation how dangerous the Angora Mountains are. And all this for a dream," Claudia tried to be the voice of reason.

"Stop it!" Anvard shouted. "Dreams are visions, you idiot. Any second-grader knows that. They don't always play out the way they do in your head, but they have a lot of meaning."

"There are no facts to support that!" Claudia countered viscously. "Just fanatics and their crazy renditions of events that they've misinterpreted!" She wanted Andy to know that she knew how to shout too.

"Both of you stop it!" Emmy yelled. She looked to Corinth seating next to Anvard on the edge of the bed. "Corinth, where's this book?"

Thank you, Emmy, said the whimpered in Corint
h’
s lonely heart. The last thing he wanted to do was argue about facts. He was running on a little less than fumes at this point. His stomach was in knots as he tried to explain further. "It's in the library. Walker told me so," he announced without notable emotion.

"And you trust that it's not a trap?" Anvard questioned boldly. "Maybe he's been leading you there all along," he said protectively.

"It doesn't matter. Either way, we have to find my uncle, so we need to get the book from the library."

"Ew!" Emma grimaced at the thought. "I'm not really a book kind of girl." She had a look on her face that said she just smelled a fart. She despised even the thought of knowledge. "And I have pretty bad allergies, so those dusty things might close my throat up something fierce. So...." she was hoping they'd count her out.

"You're going!" Anvard said quickly, and her face dropped even faster than the words came out of his mouth.

"Wait, no. I need you to do something else Emma." She perked up at the sound of Corint
h’
s voice.

"I don't want to be the odd ball out here," Claudia interrupted, "but can't we just get help from the ministrants. I mean, Sen. Huntzmen, he's an expert on mythology. And he's the Watchers teacher. He's trained in seeing the unseen."

"She has a point," Anvard admitted to everyone's surprise, except Corint
h’
s. He'd been snooping around inside of their minds. He didn't like how it felt to be inside someone else's head, but he knew what was really at stake here. He needed to be able to trust them.

"No," Cory countered defiantly, "we have to do it ourselves. But you're right, Claudia, we do need something that can see what we can't. That's where Emma comes in," he said, pointing his finger directly at her. She was proud to be the center of attention within the group. Just like she always knew she would be.

<*>

When they closed the door behind them, Emma started to feel unsure. Standing in the Main hall, just outside Corinth's dorm door, she didn't know what to do. The four of them began walking away, rounding the stone corridor that is the Main hall. One of the torches flickered vigorously as a passing breeze came in from one of the open windows up above.

She called out to them before they were out of sight. "Hey! You guys are going to leave me. Just like that. No pep talk, or anything." They all came back with slumped shoulders.

"You did it once. What's the problem now?" Corinth asked, looking fed up with her before the conversation even got underway.

"The difference is," Emma snapped, "last time I was sure he wasn't there. But he's there now. He hasn't left that room in weeks, because of what happened to him at the Pavilion."

Corinth needed her to go into Sen. Bernard's office, and again steal the digital map of the school and its outer perimeters. That map could tell you not only where everything was, but also what's happening there at that very moment. "Yeah," Cory started encouragingly, "but he's bedridden. His office is up front. Right when you walk through the door. But he'll be in the back. In his bedroom. Probably even asleep. This should be just as easy
.
”

"I don't know?" She looked around at the windows up high. One of the mosaic-glass double doors kept flipping back and forth. She watched it like it was telling her what the best option was. "If I get caught, you have to use your magik with Bernard. All the ministrants are nice to you, maybe you can do something, if things get weird." Corinth and Emma pinky-swore to the agreement that he'd help her out if she was caught.

The two parties parted ways. As Corinth walked around the circular Main hall toward Oeste skywalk, he thought about Bernard catching Emma. He figured he could woo any teacher at Aurora Boreal. Possibly even Sena. Hendrix, but not that guy. He was a whitewash of emotion, in more ways than one. He couldn't tell Emma that though. He just hoped to high heaven she wouldn't let herself get caught.

Emma didn't hesitate. She turned her body around, flipped her brown hair behind her shoulders, and walked the opposite way down the hall. Bernard's room wasn't many doors down from Corinth's little hut of a dorm. Last time she'd been in there, he chewed her up and spit her back out. Detention and cleaning duties. Those words struck fear in the heart of a pampered girl like her.

When she reached the door, she almost knocked to see if anyone was home. She realized, in just the nick of time, how stupid that would have been. She reached down into her colossal purse and pulled out a toolkit, of sorts. Makeup accessories and whatnots. She rummaged through the junk and selected a bobby pin. She quickly jammed it into the rusty looking keyhole. She jimmied the pin, and
voila!
She busted the weak lock. She realized how under prepared this school was for her arrival. Placing the pin in her hair after twisting her brown locks back into a bun, she then turned the knob, slowly easing her way inside.

"Ew!" She stepped on a wad of tissues surrounding a small waste bin at the door. She covered her mouth quickly, silently hoping he was asleep and would
n’
t be awakened by the slight yelp. There was no one in sight. She swiftly walked over to the desk up against the far wall. The cream wallpaper on the wall looked old and dingy to her as she passed by. Last time she came in, she figured that Bernard must be a smoker by the look and smell of things. She saw how right she was when she noticed a pack of cigarettes on top of some papers, once she reached his massive cherry wood desk tightly pressed up against the wall opposite the door. The dark hardwood floors looked old and creaky, but they didn't squeak near a sound her whole way over. What luck, she figured.

She found the map on top of the desk the last time. She thought it looked interesting, so she took it and left immediately. She justified her actions by telling herself she wasn't stealing. She only came in to look around. To get to know the school and everything. The ma
p
… she was simply borrowing it. Now, she had to open every draw she saw, until she found it. It was dark in the room. On account that all the shades to the double door windows near the ceiling were closed up tight. But she'd recognize this gem in pitch-black darkness. It looked so ordinary from outside. Just a folded beige parchment with no identifiable markings beside a few water stains. However, there were marvelous wonders inside. She spotted it in a low drawer. She quickly stowed it away in her purse. Stood back up and turned around.

"Wha
t
– ar
e
– yo
u
– doing?" A man standing in the archway to left, holding a cup of what appeared to be tea, looked over to her with condemning eyes.

"Nothing you probably wouldn't expect from a girl like me." It was a bold move, but she was lost for words unless she used her cocky attitude to fuel each breath.

Soon after her retort, she was astonished to hear him ... laughing? "You'd be right, young lady. But this is the second time you've attempted to remove this particular item from my possession. Please, give me some reasonable explanation to why that is, my dear young pupil." Sen. Bernard leaned against the threshold and took a sip from his steaming brown mug.

He looked ratty with a thick beard that was completely unkept. He hadn't healed much from his stint as liberator of the people during the Pavilion raid. His white hair was everywhere, except where it should be. When she saw him last, he looked so put together. Now dressed down and sickly looking, he appeared awfully human. She was indeed afraid of him. His completely white eyes made him look soulless. From pupil to iris, just continuous white. Though intimidated, she tried to play it cool.

"Please, me and my friends need this map for a hiking trip we're taking. We'll bring it back, I promise," she sounded so convincing while holding the map tight against the lapel of her uniform. "If you just let u
s—
"

"Take it, it's yours," he raised his mug as he said it.

She was stopped dead in her tracks. "Seriously?" She looked like she smelled another fart.

"Yes, I am rather -
serious
. As
I’
m sure most you vexatious students have yammered about several times before." His facial expression hinted that he was done with her. "You obviously have a certain affection for it, so take it. Keep it safe. It is no ordinary electronic map
.
”

"Wait, you're totally serious about this! Are you sure?" She had gotten what she wanted so easily that she figured it unreal. She seemed like she was trying to talk him out of being so generous. If just to test his sincerity.

"Yes! Now go before I change my mind!" He motioned to the door, silently bellowing her to leave. He turned back toward his bedchamber, stepped inside, ready to close the door. But an irritating thought lured him back to his office area. Back to Emma.

She walked as quickly as she could across the room and pulled the door open.

"Wait!" he shouted abruptly. She pushed the door back in, and squeezed her eyelids tight. She was ready for him to yell, surprise! It was a joke. You're actually going to be expelled instead, my dear "former" pupil. "Look at me when I speak to you." She turned to him. He was -pointing his mug at her like he'd throw it. Eyes red and tired, but he summoned a torrent of liveliness to imprint his next statement on the forefront of her brain. "If you ever waltz yourself into my quarters uninvited again, I'll have you on the first thing smoking back to Lirio
!
” His white eyes crackled with more red arcs that denoted the amount of force he conjured just to say this to her
.“
Do you understand, young lady?"