Dearest Mother of Mine

"After Justin banished the demon guardian from the arch, it apparently disconnected the arch from its destination," Cinder said. "There are no obvious controls in the room."



The arch in the cellar looked like a miniature version of an Obsidian Arch. Instead of being large enough to admit a jumbo jet, it was maybe ten feet tall and twice as wide. Every arch I'd seen had a circle of silver embedded in the floor around it—a magically closed circuit which prevented accidental Gloom fractures from forming outside the ring. "I once activated an arch by closing the circle around it," I said. "Maybe this one works the same way."



"Or maybe Jeremiah Conroy did something to hide the controls," Shelton said. "He seemed to know a hell of a lot about this mansion."



"Well, there's only one way to find out," I said, and stood up.



"Now?" Shelton said, aghast.



I shrugged. "Why wait?"



"You need to take up scrapbooking," Shelton said. "Because I don't like it when you get bored."



I led the group into the cellar, down another set of stairs, through a tunnel, and into the room where the arch sat. It stood on a polished circle of obsidian bordered by a silver ring. There were no markings on it or the floor around it.



Shelton ran his hand up the twisting ebony material. "Look at the design of the columns," he said giving me a look. "Remind you of something?"



I thought back to the time we'd inspected arches in the control room at Queens Gate, and the answer occurred almost immediately. "The geometry is as complicated as the omniarches," I said.



"Yep."



"Mind explaining what you're talking about?" Adam asked.



I knelt next to the arch and pointed to the triangular base. "A normal arch has a three-sided column which twists as it runs the span."



Adam traced his eyes up the column. "Whoa, it makes my eyes go crazy trying to follow it, but it looks like it changes from three-sided to a lot more than that."



Shelton retrieved a picture comparing the two arches from his arcphone and displayed it as a hologram. "This arch looks like an omniarch," he said. "Question is, will it work right, or dump you in an alternate dimension?"



"I concur with Harry's identification," Cinder said, looking at the pictures.



The only time I'd taken an omniarch, it had sent me on a joyride through hell, and finally deposited me in El Dorado. Omniarches, from what we'd determined, had no set destination, but could open anywhere.



"According to your theory, these arches could send you to locations even without an arch at the other end," Cinder said. "But how do you control where you want to go?"



"I just told it I wanted to go home," I said. "And it took me to Elyssa."



She smiled.



"But then it sucked me back in and tossed me in El Dorado," I finished.



"I suggest we grab an ASE and send it through to video the area," Adam said. "That way we don't risk anyone."



"That's a great idea," I said. ASEs, or all-seeing-eyes, were orbs which could record everything around them.



Adam ran upstairs to retrieve some ASEs, while Shelton and I thought up a place to send it first.



"I say we send it through to Thunder Rock," Shelton said. "That way we can see what Daelissa has been up to."



"If she's there and sees us, we're done for," Meghan said.



"How about El Dorado?" Bella said.



Elyssa shook her head. "We should try somewhere safe first."



I listened to them argue over destinations and finally threw in my own two cents. "Let's just send it to the room over yonder." I indicated the chamber beyond the arch. "Then we can worry about complicated stuff later."



"Uh, that's actually a good idea," Shelton said, pulling off his wide-brimmed hat to run a hand through his hair.



"Baby steps," I said. "Baby steps."



Adam returned with a handful of the marble-sized ASEs. He took one, flicked it between forefinger and thumb, and released it. The sphere dropped an inch before spinning and hovering in mid-air. He looked at me. "See if you can get the arch connected, and I'll set the ASE to record mode."



"Why record anything if you're just gonna send it one room over?" Shelton asked.



"In case it goes on an intergalactic joy ride," I said as I stepped inside the silver circle around the arch.



"Wait!" Elyssa said, appearing with a coil of normal rope. She wrapped one end around me, tying a loop around my waist, and secured the other end to a metal ring embedded in the stone wall.



"What's this for?" I asked.



"In case you open a Gloom fracture," she said, securing another length of rope to her waist and an iron ring next to the first. "If you do, I'll save you." She grinned.



I didn't dare tell her to let me do this alone. She'd probably punch me in the throat if I tried.



Adam set the ASE to record mode, and sent it drifting inside the circle with me and Elyssa. I knelt, pressed a finger to the ring, and willed it closed. The ensuing rush of aether as it filled the enclosed magical container made my ears pop. This place was right over a major ley line. I wondered what would happen if a circle was too full of energy. Would it explode? Or would it just fill up and not allow any more inside?



Elyssa made a little gasp, her eyes flaring as the magic closed all around us. "That felt…weird," she said, rubbing her arms. "I have goose bumps."



"Me too," I said, though it was more from hearing her gasp of surprise than anything else. That sound reminded me of something else entirely.



Pushing such thoughts from my filthy mind, I turned to the destination room, and imprinted an image of it in my brain. Even with it in my sight, it was difficult to maintain a crystal clear image especially with the butterflies in my stomach. What if I opened the arch into a void and it sucked me in? What if I triggered a fracture into the Gloom?



Elyssa will save you.



She seemed to sense my unease, and touched my arm.



Everything will be okay.



The myriad thoughts pinging around in my mind vanished. I found focus, and willed the arch to open a portal in the room beyond. Go there, I thought. Now! My vision flickered, and the world vanished in a puff of shadow only to appear a second later. I heard cries of surprise from my friends sounding much further behind me than they should have been. I felt disoriented. Dizzy. My legs wobbled, and I went down on my knees.



I looked around, blinking dark spots from my eyes, trying to figure out what the hell I'd done. Where was Elyssa? Where was the arch? I looked at my waist and saw the rope was gone, too. It was then I recognized the room I was in—the destination I'd envisioned the arch opening to. Had I somehow used the arch and not realized it?



"Justin?" Elyssa said, touching my shoulder. "Are you okay?"



I opened my mouth to say I was fine, when my last meal made an unexpected return trip up my esophagus. Only Elyssa's supernatural reflexes allowed her to dodge the spew. When I finished emptying my stomach, I looked up to see the others around me, looks of awe on their faces. Even Nightliss looked impressed.



"How in the hell did you do that?" Shelton asked, looking back and forth between the arch and me.



"What happened?" I asked.



He stared at me, mouth open. "I don't believe it. Holy butt-cakes in a meat grinder, man! You teleported."



Chapter 5



"I what?" I asked, shock jolting my heart.



"You freaking teleported yourself," he said. "One minute you were over there, and the next, a puff of black smoke, and you were over here."



"I believe I am flabbergasted," Cinder said attempting to modulate his usually deadpan tone to match the word.



I accepted a wet wipe from Elyssa—where in the world do women keep this stuff?—and cleaned my lips. She helped me to my feet as I considered Shelton's question. I'd done something I'd only seen Ivy do. She called it blinking—instantly moving from one point to another. She said it didn't work for long distance, only for a place I could see.



I explained the concept to the others.



"How did you do it?" Nightliss asked, a look of wonder on her face.



I shrugged. "I dunno. It just kind of happened. I focused on where I wanted the arch to open, and the next thing I knew, I was there."



"Doesn't look like something you want to do on a full stomach," Shelton commented, pinching his nose and backing away from the puddle of upchuck on the floor.



Equilibrium returned to my disoriented brain, and I was able to stop leaning on Elyssa for support. "That is so cool," I said under my breath, looking at the distance I'd covered. True, it wasn't a huge distance, but it was pretty freaking awesome. I just hoped the barfing part went away eventually.



"Dork," Elyssa said in an affectionate tone. "Maybe we should wait before trying the arch."



I shook my head. "No, I'm fine, really. At least my stomach is empty in case I do it again."



She sighed. "A stubborn dork."



"Ha, ha." After walking back to the arch, I found the loose coil of rope I'd blinked out of, and fastened it back around my waist. Elyssa did the same. Apparently, my blink had opened the circle and released the aether within, so I had to close it again. I turned back to the arch, keeping the destination in mind, and imagined a tunnel from the arch to the next room. Connect, I commanded, visualizing a scene of the room beyond appearing within the columns of the arch.



The center of the arch flickered ultraviolet and white for a split second before an image of the room clarified into focus. I looked through the arch, and then around it to the next room. An open portal hovered in the air, shimmering like a window made of liquid glass.



"Whoa," Adam said, jogging to the portal. He reached for it.



"You're gonna lose a hand," Shelton said, as though castigating a kid about to stick his limb in the garbage disposal.

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