Dearest Mother of Mine (Overworld Chronicles) (32 page)

"Your mom really laid a load on you, didn't she?" Elyssa said as we descended to the cellar.

"I felt pretty crappy about it at first, you know?" I shrugged. "But when I put it into perspective, I guess it's not much worse than everything else we've been through."

"Isn't it weird knowing she was the first angel to come here? And how old that makes her?" Elyssa blew out a breath. "I'm still having trouble with that one."

I chuckled. "I guess my mom is vintage, huh?"

"Totes," she said with a wink. "I'm dying to know what she won't tell us about your dad."

"You and me both," I said, trying not to dwell on the matter.

We took the portal to El Dorado, emerging in the far back of the control room where an alcove hid the portal from view. As we walked down the center aisle we gasped in unison.

Cherubs were all over the control room. On the bright side, they were all in clear cube cages as opposed to running free, greedy to suck us dry.

Cinder appeared from behind one of the containers. "Hello, Justin and Elyssa."

"Is this what Darkwater was doing?" I said, feeling a little rude for not saying "Hi" first.

"Yes. They came with devices one might use to capture rabid animals, and in their simplicity, worked brilliantly." Cinder walked to the containers. "Unfortunately, they also witnessed a live angel birth while they were here."

"Oh, crap," I said.

"Very much oh, crap," Cinder said, nodding. "Slitheren and several of his companions were not here to prevent this from happening. I hid and observed, calling you the moment they left."

"With news like that, it won't be long before there's an army of them down here," I said.

"We should leave this instant," Elyssa said. "They could be here any minute." She turned to Cinder. "How long ago were they here?"

"Not more than an hour ago."

"Did they see how the leyworms eat the husks?" she asked.

"I do not believe they made that connection," he replied. "They wanted to investigate, but since the leyworms have become better about depositing the cupids in more orderly fashion, the Darkwater people didn't wish to go any closer to the two leviathans guarding the infants."

I looked around. "Where are Slitheren and his gang?"

"I believe they went to gather other cherubs scattered throughout the caves." Cinder glanced back at the huge leyworms coiled around the nursery.

An arch activation hummed from the center of the control room. We exchanged startled glances and ran into the main cavern, ducking into a dark corner which gave us a clear view of the leviathan leyworms and the control room door. I counted at least twenty dark-robed people emerging from the door, Kassus at the lead. He looked furious, but I couldn't make out his words as he slashed his hands through the air at the people following him. I could only imagine his rage pertained to the truck hijacking.

Two of the lead men walked to the front center area, pointing out the long trench the leyworms had carved, and then toward the glow in the center of the cave where the ginormous dragons perked their heads above scaly coils. I didn't think they could actually see the nursery from that location. One of the men flicked a shiny orb in the air. It darted above the leyworms, bypassing them for an overhead view.

"An all-seeing eye," Elyssa said. "They're going to see everything."

The ASE returned to the sender a moment later, and projected an image large enough for everyone to see, including us. Clearly nestled in between the two leyworms were the angel babies in cribs. One burst into tears. Gray amorphous wings puffed into existence for an instant before fading.

A round of surprised noises emanated from the crowd. Kassus let out an astounded curse.

"This is not good," I said.

"Why are they rounding up cherubs in the first place?" Elyssa asked. "Obviously they didn't know about making cupids, so what are they doing?"

"Clearing the relics," Cinder said. "If they plan to reactivate the Grand Nexus, they probably wish to make them safe for new arrivals."

"Makes sense," Elyssa said.

Kassus made motions with his hands as if indicating he wanted to build something, or maybe set something in place, and jabbed a finger at the leyworms. Three men hesitantly approached the beasts, staffs at the ready. As they closed in, the leyworms raised their heads and made low, rumbling hisses that turned my bowels to water even though they weren't directed at me. The men aimed their staffs at one of the creatures and fired solid beams at it. The energy refracted from the dragon scales, apparently not even irritating the leviathan. The dragon lowered its head, opening its razor-lined maw wide. A pulsating glow grew within.

The men turned tail and ran.

"Morons," Elyssa said.

Kassus shouted at them, but his words failed to convince the men to resume their attacks. They weren't complete idiots. I hoped Kassus tried something. All I needed was a drop of his blood. He backed up a step and stumbled over a sharp-looking piece of rubble. His hand went out to catch himself. I held my breath, hoping, praying he would cut himself. One of the other men caught him before he fell. Kassus shook off the helping hand and glared at the leyworms.

He snapped his fingers. Motioned to one of the other men, and made him stand apart from the others. A woman stepped forward, and waved her staff at the man. Bit by bit, his body vanished from view until only a slight distortion remained visible.

"Camouflage," Elyssa said, grimacing.

I stared hard at the slight shimmer in the air as the figure made its way toward the leyworms. The red dragon sniffed the air, its parietal eyes blinking, and then lowered its head. As the shimmer closed to within a few feet, the giant bellowed a roar that seemed to shake the cavern.

I saw the shimmer in the air beat a hasty retreat.

"Hah," Elyssa said in a low whisper. "I like these dragons. They're smart."

"They're going to keep trying until they figure something out," I said. "We need to move the babies, pronto."

"I don't know if the leyworms will allow it," Cinder said. "They've been rather reluctant on that point."

"We need to make them see it's for the best."

"Where in the world would we keep them?" Elyssa said. "They aren't like normal babies."

"The mansion," I said. "Plenty of space."

"They'll need to feed," Elyssa said. "The leyworms provide essence for them."

I face-palmed as an obvious resource occurred to me. "We need to ask my mom how to care for the babies. Maybe her memory is better than Nightliss's."

"Perhaps we could convince the leyworms to let us move the babies to another relic," Cinder said. "One with powerful ley lines, but no Alabaster Arch."

"Where are Slitheren and his pals?" I said, dropping into a sitting position with my back against the stalagmite. "They could chase these bozos off so we could have a little discussion with Gigantor and Lulu."

"Let me guess, the purple one is Lulu?" Elyssa asked.

I returned a wan smile. "I suppose I could have gone with Violet."

"I really don't know where you come up with the names you give animals." She joined me in the sitting position.

"I believe I have a solution," Cinder said, still peering at Kassus and his minions.

I slipped an arm around Elyssa and squeezed her tight. Nothing like spending time with my girl while the man who wanted to kill me stood only a few hundred yards away. "Okay, let's hear it."

"The dungeons beneath Arcane University are large enough to accommodate the leyworms, and the ley lines there should be powerful enough to sustain feeding."

Elyssa peered around our hiding spot at the ginormous creatures. "I don't think the dungeons are nearly tall enough," she said. "The dragons are massive."

I joined her gaze, measuring with my eyes, and something occurred to me. "You know how tall and wide the Obsidian Arches are?" I said. "You could fit a jumbo jet through one of them."

"Maybe without the wings," Elyssa said.

I pursed my lips, trying to imagine the size of the arch. "Why are the arches so large? The people I saw building an arch weren't any larger than a normal human, so why would they need the arches to be so big?"

Cinder tilted his head slightly. "It is an interesting question. The arches in the control room are human sized."

"The Grand Nexus—assuming that's the big Alabaster Arch we saw—was as large as an Obsidian Arch," I said. "Even as big as the leyworms are, they could comfortably fit through those arches."

"Are you saying the leyworms built the arches?" Elyssa said. "Why bother to build the small ones then?"

I shook my head. "No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is maybe the arches were built to accommodate something the size of a leyworm."

"Perhaps the leyworms came from the world of the builders," Cinder said. "They do have a relationship with the ley lines we don't understand, and the arches are powered by ley lines."

I thought back to how Dash Armstrong had wired Slitheren into his mad scientist lab, using the poor leyworm to power a smaller arch. "What if the dragons are like portable ley lines?"

"They're leaving," Elyssa said, turning back onto her knees to peer around the stalagmite.

I watched Kassus heading toward the control room. I was so tempted to blur up to him, maybe nick his neck with a sharp stone, and steal some of his blood. I could probably do it, I realized, if I took him by surprise. Before they could even react, I'd be gone. I felt a hand tighten around my bicep.

"Don't even think about it," Elyssa whispered.

"I can do it," I said. "Just a scratch. It's all I need."

Her violet eyes smoldered. "I will knock you out before you get a foot away from me."

"Don't you have a Templar gadget that could get his blood?" I asked.

Her stony stare told me the answer.

We sneaked back to the control room and peered inside. Kassus and his men were nowhere to be seen. I jogged back to the giant leyworms.

"I know you don't want to hear this," I told them, "but we really need to move the babies. Those men will be back. They won't give up until they get what they want."

The dragons simply regarded me, occasionally blinking their eyes, and poking their forked tongues out.

"Do you understand me?" I asked.

Gigantor let out a hiss.

"Do they know how to nod and shake their heads?" I asked Cinder.

"I believe they do, but they have never communicated with me in such a way." A bell dinged, and the golem walked toward the nursery. "It is feeding time."

The poor guy had obviously been trapped down here too long. "In case you didn't realize it," I said, "Kassus is coming back. We need to move the babies now. No time for bottle feeding."

"Their diapers also require changing," he said. "Otherwise you might experience an unpleasant odor when trying to move them."

"Where are we taking them?" Elyssa asked. "The dungeons are too tight, and I really don't think it's a good idea for them to burrow out extra space with the university campus overhead."

I imagined the caverns collapsing beneath the weight of the school, dropping students to certain death in the bowels of the earth. It reminded me of our last major challenge involving the Cyrinthian Rune. "I don't know," I admitted after thinking it through. "We need big ley lines and isolation." I realized Elyssa and I had followed Cinder into the nursery where the golem picked up a bottle and held it to the mouth of an infant. "We don't have time," I said in exasperation.

"I agree," Elyssa said. "For the time being, let's move them to the mansion." She picked one of the babies up, wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. I think I just experienced one of those unpleasant odors."

I grabbed a baby, too, wondering if I should double-fist it and try to take one in my other arm. Elyssa walked for the gap between the giant serpents, but the dragons shifted, blocking her from leaving. The red one lowered its head to glare at us from one eye.

"We have to move them," I said. "Don't you understand?"

It hissed, opening its mouth to display teeth taller than me. I backed away. "I'm putting the baby in the crib," I said, and did so.

Elyssa set hers down. "Why are they so protective? Do they have some use for the babies we don't know about?"

Whether they did or not, I knew if we didn't move them, it was only a matter of time before Kassus figured a way to steal them.

Chapter 29

"Perhaps you should plan to fortify our position here," Cinder said, powdering the bum of a cooing cupid as he changed its diaper. "It does not appear likely their protectors will allow us to move them."

I almost shot back a smart-assed response, but he was right. "I guess we'll head home and let the others know," I said. Elyssa and I were taking one last look at the nursery when part of the answer to our dilemma hit me. I didn't dare mention it in front of the dragons though.

We headed back to the control room. Elyssa snagged a couple spy-bots she'd left monitoring the place to review the footage of the Darkwater people, and sent out two more to monitor the area outside in case the people came back in our absence. After stepping through the portal and closing it behind us, I turned to her.

"We can use the portal to sneak the babies out," I said. "All I have to do is open it in the nursery, and we can wheel the cribs through before the leyworms can stop us."

She quirked her mouth and nodded. "It is a good idea, but I don't think it's the right one."

"Why isn't it right?"

"Because we need the leyworms. They're the only ones who can feed the cupids without us resorting to offering ourselves or others to do the job." She sighed. "Until we have a better place to move them, we'll have to hope the leyworms are up to the task."

I had a feeling once Slitheren and the younger leyworms returned, their defenses would be quite a bit stronger. Maybe Kassus wouldn't be able to get past the leviathans. In any case, his presence would be a golden opportunity for me to get his blood and free my mom.