Original Souls (A World Apart #1) (57 page)

"It's no problem. I'll see you at Deaves, Corinth. Bye guys." He waved goodbye, put the lid back on and shoved the chocolates in his backpack.

Smoldering Golds were a staple in Hyperborean. They were about the only thing Lindle didn't hate about leaving home every year. Being away from Arco took a huge toll on his spirit. His family had been in a raging battle that he wanted to help them fight.
But schoo
l’
s more important
, his mom always said. He walked away feeling more alone than ever. Every time he thought he made a friend, he was bitterly informed otherwise by sudden circumstance. Oh, how that witch named circumstance -had his number. Sh
e’
d always call him up without warning. Corinth seemed like a sure bet, but Lindle was apparently mistaken once again. He didn't like taking the risk anymore. He contemplated forever sticking to himself, as he sullenly exited the Refectory.

"Good riddance!" Anvard chirped, as the boys finally sat back down.

"You don't have to be a jerk about it." Corinth knew Lindle came off slightly strange, but he seemed fairly cool underneath it all. "He's just a nice kid, trapped in a weird
o’
s body."

"He should, at the very least, trim those curls. The
y’
re so long that they make him look like a girl," Anvard asserted himself in an unusually macho manner.

"And you act like one sometimes, but no one's complaining about it." Corinth eagerly took a stance against Andy's jug-head disposition.

Anvard ignored it effortlessly. Then he turned to the book with a feeling of déjà vu. The feeling forced him to his feet. The page that Lindle left the book on was one he'd read before. But not in this book. He had never heard of the Fate Forgery before today. It's an Aurora Boreal book that supposedly has never left the grounds. Yet he knew each symbol from the last, while bewilderedly staring at the large size print on the page to the right. The one on the left spoke of an ominous thing called the
Secretists
. He was astonished. Corinth kept saying that the book had never before been copied, but it obviously had. And apparently it wasn't that hard to steal either, because here they are with it in the Refectory. He didn't know how to start. But he figured anywhere was good, because closing this gap of information was going to be harder than achieving Thunder in Levantarse.

"Where exactly did you and Emmy find this book in the library?" he suspiciously asked Corinth.

"It was in the back. All the way in the back, mind you. It was sort of, out of sight out of mind. Somewhat difficult to find, because the numbers Walker gave weren't in sequence with the library labels. But at least it was labeled. It was just stuffed back there in between a couple of smaller books."

"This is bad," he said, sitting back down nervously.

"What ... why? What do you even mean," Corinth asked frantically.

"Something much bigger is going on here. Don't you see that? I knew it was too easy. Too seamless. You're being programmed. You don't even know why you want to follow these urges to go to the far North. You just do! You didn't even feel that way until after you ate that fruit, right?

"Well, yeah, sort of," Corinth said reluctantly. He could hear in Anvard's voice a hesitance about visiting the Angora Mts. The search for the Shattered Temple was already beginning to falter. But he wouldn't be denied his answers. He felt like he needed them for his sanit
y’
s sake. "Before I passed out, I heard Sen. Huntzmen myths speech, true. But you can't fake dreams. Walker or no one else can be in my subconscious like that. Can they?" he asked as if he weren't psychic himself. He still didn't know how to get those sort of details out of himself, but he figured finding that temple was what the voice in his head wanted. Why else would the recurring dream continue haunting him so?

"Look here!" Anvard slapped his index finger down on the page. It read; the -
Seeds of Deceit.
A fruit extract used by the
Majestic Thieves
to plant or harvest information from another's mind. "Was that the first time he ever gave you something to eat? He probably figured it was perfect timing, because you'd hear about the Shattered Temple at the assembly!" Anvard could barely contain himself.

"No, the night I met him he gave me a piece of fruit. We always shared fruit together." Corinth's eyes darted around. He was confused and upset. He didn't actually believe that Walker could have poisoned him until now. But it was there in plain sight. On a document even older than Sena. Hendrix. "But ... but he always ate it too. So it can't be true."

"That means nothing," Anvard said with finality. "He put that book there. Gave you those numbers in hopes you'd go looking for it. He's been coercing you into a trap this whole time. But why? What could he want with you?"

Corinth was surprised. People didn't seem to watch the news very much. Or maybe the news reported the facts wrong. No one seemed to know about his kidnapping. He figured one of the few mixed kids in all the Worlds gone missing would be a big story. No one ever talked about the fact that his mom created a new World. No one at school even mentioned why the raid on the Pavilion happened. They talked about how scared they were that night, but never did anyone seem to care about the motive behind it. They were looking for a fugitive Squadron member, who's married to the lady that did the impossible. And they both just so happen to be his parents. Do they even know any of this?

He was beginning to understand how much he had missed over the past two years. Being in his hyperbolic coma took the wind from beneath his wings. He had only been awake for a few months, and life was moving fast. He barely had time to watch TV, especially the news. Get reacquainted with some sense of reality outside of this protective boarding school he's attending.

He knew that he couldn't just drop more truth bombs on Anvard. There was too much information in the pot already. He didn't want him knowing all the backstage knowledge about the wide spread corruption. Transferring minds from one lone boy to a withered old freak. His dad embarking on a mission to reforge fate. He couldn't see the silver lining in this dark cloud, so he felt the logical thing to do was press forward. Follow his instincts, which were pulling him far north.

His only fear was that Walker was somehow involved with the Draconian Chancellor. He didn't want to find that out, but if he is then he definitely has his uncle. And he left ample enough clues in his dreams and waking state to lead him right to him.

"We still have to go," Corinth said sternly.

"What about this passage? What about the Seeds of Deceit? He's leading you right to him!"

"I know that. So, we should
n’
t keep him waiting," Corinth sounded strong, but Anvard liked him weak. At least weaker than a headstrong daredevil walking into a trap that neither of them quite understood.

The devices being executed against them were much too intricately woven into Corint
h’
s daily routine for them to comprehend the full extent of it all with just a stolen glance from the Fate Forgery. Yet, blinder than ever now that the sun has retreated from the sky, both boys trudged on into the darkness surrounding the mystique of Corint
h’
s young life.

<*>

Under the cover of a dark night, they slowly crept out of the back gate to Olympia. They entered the Diamond Atrium quietly. Corinth thought it would be faster if they took Oeste skywalk over to Concordia Nova dorm. Then the Nordeste skywalk over to Delphi dorm building. The Northern Coaster was less than a mile up behind the building. Those mechanized air walkways moved faster than they could by foot through the entire Atrium, better yet the whole way to the coaster station. But Anvard thought the chances of running into his sisters was too high if passing through the dorms. He said they had a sixth sense for seeking him out, no matter how far he tried to get away from them. But not tonight, if he could help it. He didn't want to run into any authority figures either. The
y’
d be no help in getting where they wanted to go so late.

There were few to no people around. Everyone had withdrawn themselves back to the dorms. Preparing for the next day. Though ther
e’
s no curfew, they didn't want to be stopped by the ministrants or extended staff. Where they were headed wasn't something anyone would approve of. At any hour of the day.

The map Emma provided wasn't exactly helpful just yet. Anvard already knew where the Northern Coaster was. It wasn't exactly a mystery. People used it to get to the mountains and valleys that enclosed the North Lake. That's why it was built. To cross the Central Lake, then over the smaller mountain ranges. Flying high over the North Lake, and into the valleys between the higher mountains even farther north. Somewhere back there, Anvard believed the temple still stood. His first trip out there made him a believer of that as a boy.

They silently walked through the atrium as all the silver pixie dust shimmered under the stars. The reinforced stones looked sturdy enough to last for millennia. The
y’
ve endured one millennium already, so it was highly likely the
y’
d stand for another. They reached the center where Sena. Hendri
x’
s house stood. All the lights were out, and all the curtains were drawn. Corinth figured he'd have a chance encounter with her that would put an end to his plan before it even began. But no such thing occurred, and they continued passing without incident.

They exited the last of the grounds that Corinth considered a part of Hendrix's home, back into open fields of grass that surrounded them. If not for the walks up above, it would take forever for the students to get from their dorms to the classrooms in Olympia. They passed under tree after tree. Watching the sparkling magik of the silver pixie dust that has preserved them centuries passed their lifespan.

"A lot of people prefer the gold pixie dust, but I like the silver a lot more." Anvard hated awkward silences. He started playing eye-spy with their topic choices, because he couldn't come up with anything original to say.

Corinth was in thought. His delayed response was less than useful in spurring the conversation along. "Yeah, they're both kind of cool," he said no more about the dust than that. "Are you sure you know where we're going?"

"Yeah, we have to get out to the fields beyond Delphi dorm." Anvard pointed into the dark distance ahead, and the marble pillars on the grounds instantly lit up, revealing everything that they couldn't see before. It scared Corinth at first. "This far out they're motion censored at night," Anvard pulled him in close to the side of his massive body for comfort, and Corinth pushed out.

"Why'd they put the coaster so far out?"

Anvard ignored Corint
h’
s reluctance to be close to him. "Well, why the heck would they want to build it all the way across the tops of these tall standing school buildings? They could just start it as far north as possible without separating it from school grounds." Anvard looked around, dubiously seeking a sign. While he was speaking, he felt something strange compelling him to look back and survey the fields.

"Why couldn't we have taken the chariots over there?" Corinth complained.

That snapped Anvard back from peering into the darkness behind them. The censors they set off near the school were beginning to go out. Because of that, he figured they weren't being followed, so he brushed off the weird sensation.

"You're just as lazy as Emma complains, aren't you?" Anvard caught up with Corinth. Puckishly poking fun at him to see if he would finally let down his guard. "Your parents must have done everything for you. You're obviously an only child."

"I'm not lazy," Corinth said quickly, "but my mom always said I was special. So, I take that pretty seriously." A big grin crept across both boy
s
’ faces, but Anvard ruined it with a simple question.

"Why don't you talk about your mother ever? That's the first time yo
u’
ve mentioned her. At least to me." Anvard unintentionally struck a nerve.

Corinth clammed up. He didn't like thinking about what happened to his mom. He knew his dad was stalling about it too. Just before he left for Eterna, he told him that they could visit her sometime when he came back. But he could tell when his dad was lying. He had the same tone as when he said that Corinth wouldn't have to stay in Hyperborean. He didn't have to read his mind to know what those upward inflections in his monotone voice meant.