Dearest Mother of Mine (Overworld Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF Page A

just as I'd feared. Lornicus was setting me up for something. Why else would he even tell me all of this?
    "I believe I said 'not necessarily.'" The golem smiled. "I, however, believe it is in our best interests to delay Daelissa."
    Hope tried to bubble up. "Then you'll help me rescue my mother."
    "In a limited way. As of yet, I do not know her location since Daelissa and the Conroys have done a remarkable job hiding her."
    I narrowed my eyes. "What's the catch?"
    "There is no catch. I would simply ask you to look into something—"
    "That's called a catch, Lornicus." I huffed out a breath. "Fine, what is it?"
    He held out a tiny micro card which would fit into my arcphone.
    I regarded it with suspicion. "What's that? Something to infect my phone so you can spy on me?"
    The golem smiled. "I have no desire to spy on your text messaging, Mr. Slade. Consider looking into this a favor to me."
    I stared at the card. No question the golem was manipulating me. But if it meant I could save my mother, I had no choice. "Find me useful information and I'll look into this." No sense doing it for free .
    "What you find on this card will change everything," he said.
    "You sound like a used car salesman." I took the card. "I'm not looking at anything until you find out where my mother is."
    Lornicus shrugged. "Very well, though I think you'll only be depriving yourself. Safe travels, Mr. Slade."
    I jogged to the arch, peering through once more to make sure my destination looked like Queens Gate, and stepped through. The scene stretched as if looking through a warped lens, snapped back into place, and I was there. I peered at the doors leading into the pocket dimension and recognized the guards with the big puffy hats like they wore at Buckingham Palace in London above. At least the golem hadn't been lying about this.
    On the way back to the mansion, I noticed my invitations weren't lying on the ground where I'd left them. I opened the mailbox to find them neatly stacked inside. I guessed Lornicus must have had his golems clean up the mess. Thoughtful, or just creepy? I shuddered. No telling with that guy.
    I waited until I was securely inside the mansion before looking at the memory card he'd given me, wondering if I should open it or not. Nobody else was home. I didn't want to risk frying my phone, Nookli, so I dug up a spare arcphone Shelton kept around for experiments.
    The card fit into the slot on the side. I directed the spare phone to project a three-dimensional hologram of the contents, which turned out to be a single file. I opened it. Instructions for activating one of the small arches in an Obsidian Arch control room appeared, complete with the Cyrinthian symbol to press on the world map for the destination. Up until a few months ago, arches like this one hadn't worked properly. Daelissa and the Conroys had employed an Arcane company called Darkwater along with arch operators to make them functional.
    I flicked the image and a map appeared, entitled El Dorado Subterranean Map .
    "El Dorado?" I muttered in disbelief. That fool expected me to step foot in the dead city where I'd almost died a hundred times?
    I located the huge cavern where my crew and I had fought Vadaemos, been chased by hundreds of light-sucking cherubs, and was nearly devoured by giant leyworms. I remembered watching as the leyworms inadvertently sucked dozens of cherubs into their mouths while trundling after me and Elyssa, apparently drawn to the portable arch she'd held. If I went back now, I wondered if I'd find husked leyworms, drained of all light by the ravenous cherubs.
    A numbered legend on the side of the map indicated points of interest, one of which was in the center of the cavern. It claimed the room was supposed to house an Obsidian Arch. If I scrolled to the control room on the three-dimensional map, I could touch each arch and see a description of the destination, though most of them listed "Unknown." A large arch in the middle of the control room