The Desolation War (Custodians of the Cosmos Book 3) by Tim Waggoner

Author:Tim Waggoner [Waggoner, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2024-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

Gina took a step forward, but Neal took hold of her arm to stop her.

“She’s not your mother,” he said gently.

“But—”

“Look at her closely.”

Gina didn’t understand what he was talking about, but she did as he said. The woman had white streaks in her hair, and her face looked ten years older than it should.

Right. Parallel world.

She gave Neal a nod, and he let go of her arm.

The professors at the Collegium taught recruits about esoteric physics, including the concept of parallel worlds, but Gina had never thought she’d actually visit one. She decided to think of this woman as Mariana instead of Mom to keep the two separated in her mind.

Mariana wore the standard Maintenance uniform, with the addition of the red tie that indicated her status as a Supervisor. She stared at Gina, her face pale, as if she were seeing a ghost.

She started forward, but Royce said, “I’d advise keeping your distance. Just because they say they’re Maintenance agents from a different Earth doesn’t make it so. Look at their outfits.”

“We just got back from the Colloquium and didn’t have time to change,” Neal said.

“They could be shapeshifters,” Sabrina said.

“Or it could be another of Neal’s traps,” Erika said.

“You’re right,” Mariana said. “Best to be cautious.”

Neal looked at Gina. “Back home, I’m usually just an annoyance to my co-workers. Here, I’m evidently Satan incarnate.”

“Quite a step up,” Gina said.

Neal frowned. “You’re supposed to say You’re never an annoyance to me, Neal.”

“Am I? I’ll try to remember that next time.”

Weird as it was to see her mother’s doppelganger, it was far weirder to see Royce and Sabrina. It had been nearly a year since they—or rather, the versions on her world—had died. Gina had been forced to ram a Nullifer through one of Sabrina’s eyes and into her brain to kill her. She still had nightmares about that moment.

“I say we slap cuffs on them, drag them inside, and question them,” Sabrina said.

“Thoroughly,” Royce added.

“So thoroughly,” Sabrina said.

Other Eleanor spoke up then. “I told you; this is a different Neal from ours.”

“You also told us he has an Umbral inside him,” Erika said. “Do you really expect us to believe that? And what’s that book he’s got?”

Neal was holding the Help book to his chest.

“We found it when we investigated Tainted Pages’ disappearance in our world,” Neal said. “It was all that was left of the shop.”

“There’s no way to know for sure,” Gina said, “but I think the Proprietor may have left it for us. It’s been guiding us.”

“How?” Crowhead asked. His voice was smooth and mellow, completely unlike the raucous caw of a true corvid.

“We open the cover, and there’s a message on the first page.”

Now that she’d said it aloud, she realized how ridiculous it sounded, like something out of a child’s fairytale.

“Show us,” the woman with the musical skin asked. Her voice was light and airy, exactly as Gina had expected it would be.

She looked at Neal, and he shrugged. He handed her the book, she opened it, and read.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.