Twisted Sister of Mine (Overworld Chronicles) by John Corwin Read Free Book Online Page A

if Shelton's idea scared the padooky out of me or made me happy before he reached the part of the wall where Oliver had indicated the control room door should be. After running his hands along the seamless rock wall, Shelton said, "Aha!" and twisted his hand. A latch clicked, and he vanished through the rock. I followed, noting a thick, metal door which he'd opened into the control room.
    Tuttle stood at a table, the holographic image of plain-dressed man hovering above the surface of an arctablet.
    "She said what?" the man said to Tuttle. "That's insane."
    Tuttle nodded, his eyes wide. "Yeah, and we have to bend over backwards to help. I swear, my union rep better have some advice. Working for the Conroys is going to give me a coronary."
    Shelton strode across the control room, and I followed, the global map towering to our right. He cleared his throat, and Tuttle shrieked, jumped back, and threw out his hands in a defensive gesture. The holographic image of the other man gave us a startled look and disappeared in a blink. Tuttle peered at us. Dropped his arms to his sides and coughed nervously.
    "Can I help you?" he asked, his face scrunched in almost comical confusion, the absurd worker-bee coloring of his cloak only adding to the comedy.
    "Tuttle, my associate and I are with Darkwater." Shelton said. "We need a connection to Queens Gate. Ms. Conroy said—"
    "Oh yes, of course!" Tuttle said. "One moment, please." He hurried to the large gray sphere and ran his finger across its surface. As he did, a trail of stars on the map brightened perceptibly. He stopped as a star in the southern part of Great Britain lit and made a flicking motion with his finger. The star dimmed and brightened in time with the star in Atlanta. Tuttle turned to us. "Queens Gate will confirm in a moment. Are there any others in your party?"
    Shelton shook his head. "Nah. Do the folks at Queens Gate know to accommodate us when we need to return?"
    "I'll be sure to notify them," Tuttle said.
    "Do you have to wait for confirmation from the other side before opening a connection?" I asked.
    The worker-bee Arcane shook his head. "No, not at all. If there's already an open connection the nodule blinks red to indicate it's busy. If I wanted, I could place my palm atop the modulus and raise it to open the connection."
    I walked up to the big gray orb—the modulus, I guessed—and looked at it. "You establish a connection by running your finger across it until the proper star—nodule—lights up, then flick it to establish a connection?"
    "Exactly. The operator at the other end will initiate the final sequence by raising his modulus." Tuttle shrugged. "It prevents accidents, you know—in case someone at the other end just exited the gate, we wouldn't want to start it back up while they're still inside the traversion zone."
    "That's the area inside the big circle?" I said.
    "Yes." He nodded approvingly. "You're familiar with traversion arches, then?"
    More than I want to be, buddy. The terrifying journey from a broken arch in Thunder Rock across what appeared to be several alternate realities and ending up in the dead city of El Dorado came to mind. "A little. I think it's interesting."
    The modulus blazed to life, and a thin beam of light sparked and pulsed from Atlanta to Queens Gate. Tuttle glanced up. "Better get ready to travel."
    "Thanks, pal," Shelton said, and we trotted outside and across the black-and-yellow-striped caution circle to step inside the traversion zone. The space in the middle of the Obsidian Arch flickered white, black, and gray, blinking faster and faster in time with the thrum of energy that seemed to vibrate the very air itself. A clap of thunder rolled across the chamber. The area inside the arch shimmered to clarity, revealing a similar chamber on the other side. I'd been through the Grotto arch before, though it'd been on official Templar business for Bogota, Colombia, but the experience never failed to amaze me.
    "This is so