Edge of Pathos (The Conjurors Series Book 4)

by Kristen Pham

  “That’s all I want right now,” she said. “Everything hurts except being with you.”

  “Here. I saw you peeking,” Thai said, handing her his drawing pad.

  Valerie opened it, and flipping through, found sketch after sketch of herself. The way he saw her… She was powerful and beautiful in his eyes.

  “Check out the date of the first sketch,” he said, smiling as he watched her reaction to what he’d created.

  It was dated the day after they’d met at her hospital.

  “I think I knew, even then, that you were in my heart to stay.”

  “Me, too,” she said, remembering how she’d felt when she spotted him out of the window in her room at the Oakland Children’s Hospital.

  “I’m not going to think about anything else other than us for a while, and neither are you,” he said, and he brushed his lips against hers.

  He was right. She didn’t think about Cyrus or war or loss or anything other than Thai for a long time.

  Chapter 42

  Weeks passed, and Valerie busied herself with days of dealing with the messy business of the aftermath of war and wrestling with her grief, and nights spent lying outside, staring up at the stars and catching up on a lifetime of conversation with Thai. It was a combination of acute pain and utter sweetness, a swing of an emotional pendulum that almost made her dizzy.

  The Grand Masters had named her Grand Chair Elect, studying under Skye, who was the Acting Grand Chair. The responsibilities were immense, but in her heart, Valerie knew that she wouldn’t run from her new role, as tempting as complete freedom would be. Earth and the Globe were in a state of merry chaos now, and she wanted to be a part of helping to mold it into something stronger and better than it had been before.

  Still, it was an intense relief when the prisoners were organized enough that Calibro and Sibyl could take over and she wouldn’t have to split her attention between her duties at the Capitol and her role as the leader of the Fist.

  “You’re sure you don’t need me to help with trials or anything?” Valerie asked the golden-haired Grand Master, who was consulting with Sibyl.

  Calibro turned and gave Valerie a level stare. “The business of justice is not your area. My guild has handled these matters for centuries. The Justice Council has already tried eleven prisoners today. We’ll have swift justice delivered to all within these walls.”

  Valerie ducked her head so that Calibro didn’t see her smile. “Of course.”

  “I predict things will go smoothly,” Sibyl said, a trace of a smile letting Valerie know she shared Valerie’s amusement. “The other Oracles and I will travel between here and the Roaming City until the trials are complete.”

  “If you’re sure you don’t need me, then I’ll leave you to your work, my friends,” Valerie said.

  “You may be called on to provide testimony in certain trials, but for now, I thank you for your service,” Calibro said.

  Dismissed, Valerie couldn’t help giving first Sibyl and then the serious Calibro one quick hug before turning away.

  That night, long after Thai had fallen asleep, Valerie remained awake. It wasn’t unusual for her to toss and turn these days. She remembered how Cyrus used to visit her in her dreams when she still lived on Earth, unaware that magic existed in the universe. He’d never abandoned her. But now, she couldn’t find Cyrus anywhere, even in her dreams, and his absence created a vacuum in her that threatened to consume her if she let it.

  Valerie involuntarily reached for Henry through their mental connection. He was in Elsinore with Kanti, who was getting a constitution in place that would replace the monarchy with an elected democracy. She and Henry wanted to return to Arden, Henry to continue his training at the Empathy Guild, and Kanti to explore apprenticing at the Guardians of the Boundary.

  Henry’s peace flowed through their twin bond. It was comforting to know that he was happier than he ever thought he could be, and sometimes, she was glad that she had time to be alone with Thai. Other times, she missed him. Blood will call blood, and he was her only family.

  She couldn’t bring herself to disturb his peace by calling him or waking Thai, but she couldn’t stay still. Quietly, she slipped on her jeans and left to visit Gideon in the Healers’ Guild.

  Since the night that he had almost awoken, there had been no change in his condition. She liked to sit by his bed and have one-sided conversations with him. She slipped down the quiet, dark halls of the Guild to Gideon’s room.

  She pushed open the door and immediately reached for her blade, but she wasn’t carrying it. Stupid. Kellen was fluttering above Gideon’s bed, dust drifting from his wings. The war would never be over.

  Valerie’s magic gushed through her. She jumped into the air and tackled Kellen to the ground in one smooth move. The fairy spluttered, trying to wrench himself from her grip, but she didn’t budge.

  “Stop—” Kellen tried to choke out, but Valerie didn’t listen.

  She was about to strip a piece of cloth from her T-shirt to gag him when she heard the soft rustle of Gideon’s sheets.

  “Perhaps we should let him explain himself,” Gideon said, his voice hoarse.

  Valerie dropped Kellen and whipped around to see her mentor sitting up in his bed. She tried to speak, but nothing except a strangled sound came out, so she hugged him instead.

  When she pulled back, she saw that he was pale, but his eyes were alert.

  Kellen dusted himself off. “I was using the light dust, which I hoped would drive away the last remnants of the dark dust within him.”

  Gideon was testing his limbs, and he winced as he attempted to stand.

  Valerie was at his side in an instant, supporting him. “What’s wrong?”

  “Too many months of inactivity, I believe,” Gideon said, gently pushing her aside to stand on his own.

  Kellen fluttered close to Gideon’s face, and Valerie fought the urge to swat him away. Kellen stared into his eyes and nodded after his examination was complete.

  “The dark dust is gone,” he said.

  “Why are you helping now?” Valerie asked, making sure to angle herself between the fairy and Gideon.

  Kellen reddened. “I was not myself when I attacked both of you. I admit that when Chern—Reaper—approached me three years ago, I was considering putting our guild’s support behind his plan in return for a promise that we would have a central role when we returned to Earth. But after he kidnapped me, my mind was not entirely my own again until Dasan healed me. An excruciatingly painful process, rewiring my mind, if it comforts you.”

  It never comforted Valerie to imagine anyone in pain, but it also didn’t sit right with her to think that Kellen would go on with his life like nothing had happened.

  “So you go back to being Grand Master of the Knights?” she asked.

  The fairy huffed. “You think Calibro would agree to that?”

  “You’re not in jail,” she countered.

  “I suggested my own punishment, and she and the Justice Council agreed to my terms. I will serve as Silva’s groundskeeper for the next one hundred years.”

  Valerie swallowed, so that the emotion that rose in her wouldn’t pool in her eyes. Kellen met her gaze, and she knew he’d chosen the same punishment her father had accepted many years ago to atone for his work with the Fractus as a way to make amends with her.

  She cleared her throat. “That seems fair.”

  Kellen bowed his head, his usual bluster gone. “I hope to train with you both at our guild someday. My esteem for you is more than you can know, and I hope you may return some portion of it in time.”

  “You have already begun,” Gideon said in his usual grave tone.

  Valerie couldn’t echo his words, but some piece of her was able to begin to forgive Kellen, and forgiveness sparked something within her that she didn’t know had had been snuffed out. Peace.

  Nightingale made Gideon stay at the Healers’ Guild for two more nights before he let Valerie take him home
. When they stepped outside, her mentor took a deep breath of the fresh air.

  “It was as though I fell asleep in a nightmare and awoke to a dream,” he said. “I had faith you would prevail in time, but you exceeded all my hopes.”

  Valerie stood straighter at his words. It was something her dad might have said, and hearing it from Gideon was like having a piece of her father back.

  She caught him looking around The Horseshoe. “As bad as it is now, it was even worse a few weeks ago.”

  The Architecture Guild was busy with repairs, and in spite of their rapid progress, much remained to be done. The Justice Guild was still in shambles, which was why Calibro and the rest of the Conjurors in her guild were working out of the magical prison that had been created in Dunsinane, but the Capitol Building was rebuilt, and even the crack in the stairs had been fixed.

  “This cost is merely property,” Gideon said. “It can be rebuilt.”

  “So can society, I hope,” Valerie said.

  Gideon glanced over at her in surprise and nodded once at her words. They began to walk down the steps of the Healers’ Guild, and her breath caught when she saw the Society of Imaginary Friends building.

  It had been rebuilt, and water flowed down all of the slides into the moat. The happy squeals of children filled the air as they splashed in the water. Former imaginary friends now brought their human charges to the Guild in person, and it was busier than ever.

  She stepped on the path that led between the buildings on The Horseshoe, and it lit up beneath her feet. She stared down at it, and tears dripped down her face onto the glowing stones. Cyrus’s spell had been disturbed during the worst of the fighting here, and no one had been sure if they could recreate the effect. Which lightweaver had managed it? She’d have to ask Dr. Freeman.

  Gideon laid a hand on her shoulder, and she could have sworn that some of his strength flowed from him to her.

  She wiped her cheeks when she saw Skye trotting toward her with Jack by his side. Skye’s mane glowed with health. The centaur was enjoying the details of managing the rebuilding on the Globe, which baffled Valerie, who found the politics and minutiae excruciating.

  Jack had become his right hand, managing his old gang as they took on the unending tasks of rebuilding Silva. Valerie could still see traces of his grief in the hollows beneath his eyes, but he didn’t have the same desperate restlessness that made her fear for his life.

  “Welcome back, Gideon,” Skye said with a flick of his tail. “The waters of Illyria will be reopened today. Are you both coming to the Lake of Knowledge?”

  “I’m taking Gideon home to rest,” she said.

  Gideon shook his head, and Valerie saw him hiding a smile. “I have been still for too long. I welcome the chance for movement.”

  “Sure the boss lady here will let you?” Jack teased, and Valerie gave him a surprised smile. It was the first joke she’d heard him make since Dulcea’s death.

  Valerie gave Jack a playful shove. “I may not be able to take Gideon in a fight, but I could still take you.”

  Skye and Gideon shook their heads as Valerie messed up Jack’s hair, and he retaliated by jumping on her back.

  “I’m not getting off till you take me where I need to go,” he announced.

  Valerie hauled him halfway through Silva, until he hopped off and returned to his daily tasks. Valerie continued to the Lake of Knowledge with Skye and Gideon. They found Elle impatiently pacing on the shores, splashing the water occasionally, as if she was testing it. On her third try, a smile flashed across her face. “At last!”

  She raised her hands to dive into the water when someone pushed his way up through the surface. A drenched Will gave his sister a hug, and they gripped each other tightly.

  “You look older,” Will teased.

  “You look the same,” Elle said, punching him on the shoulder.

  “What of the traitor, Gabriel?” Skye asked.

  “Our people will send him above the waves for justice,” Will reported. “Elle and I are tasked with escorting him to Calibro, since we’re the only ones comfortable with being on the surface.”

  “I can’t wait to drag him back to face his mortality,” Elle said, her hands fisted at her sides. “It’s about time Mom and Dad got some justice.”

  “There’s something else,” Will said, turning to Valerie. “I tried to find your mom, Valerie.”

  Gideon had been kneeling in the water, letting it run through his fingers as he examined it, but he froze at Will’s words. Valerie’s gaze snapped to Elle.

  “I didn’t want to get your hopes up, but the knowledge exists somewhere in the Akashic Records. All we have to do is find it,” Elle said.

  “Adelita lives?” Gideon’s words were barely a whisper, and his eyes had a frantic, hopeful gleam.

  “Reaper turned her to stone and hid her somewhere,” Valerie explained, and then turned to Will. “Did you find where?”

  “I couldn’t find her location, but there was one strange piece of information that I unearthed. You and Henry have both seen her very recently.”

  “That can’t be right. I think I’d remember seeing a stone statue of my mom,” Valerie said, but then she fell to her knees. Through her connection, she knew that her brother grasped what she’d learned.

  Gideon pulled her back up, and gripped her shoulders tightly. “What do you know?”

  There was only one possibility. If she was right, then she could find her mother.

  Valerie waited with Gideon and Thai on the steps of the Society of Imaginary Friends for Henry to make his way to Arden. Gideon’s usually endless patience had vanished, and he fastened and unfastened the sheath that was belted to his side. She thought he would drag her away to awaken her mother if she made him wait another minute longer.

  But Valerie wasn’t as eager. What if she was wrong, and the statue wasn’t her mother? Or what if she couldn’t awaken her, now that her vivicus powers only slept within her? The hope was so sweet, it was terrifying to imagine the void that would be left if she was wrong.

  Henry and Kanti emerged from the newly restored entrance to Plymouth in the center of The Horseshoe. Gideon was already walking to meet them, and Valerie gripped Thai’s hand and followed. Henry’s nerves amplified her own as he jogged toward her.

  “Whatever comes, we’re going to find a happy ending for your mom,” Thai said.

  His dark eyes met hers, and a little of her fear eased.

  “To Babylon?” Henry asked, and Valerie nodded.

  It was a quiet walk through Arden’s woods. Gideon walked a little ahead of them, occasionally stopping to wait for the rest of the group to catch up. When they stepped through the screen of vines, everything was quiet and still.

  “She’s behind the waterfall,” Valerie said. “If it’s her, I mean.”

  Even Gideon’s steps had slowed now, so Valerie took the lead, first climbing the tiers overflowing with flowers, and then making her way carefully down to the cave behind the waterfall.

  They filed in, and the muted light in the cave clearly illuminated that statue of the warrior reaching for the sword that wasn’t in its sheath.

  “You found her,” Gideon said, gently touching the statue’s face with his fingertips. Valerie saw tears in his eyes.

  “She’s reaching for Pathos,” Valerie said. “She must have forgotten that she left it on Earth for us. When Reaper attacked, she was defenseless.”

  “Adelita is never defenseless,” Gideon said. “She didn’t win every battle, like she must have lost this one with Reaper, but she’s lethal with nothing but her fists.”

  “Like her daughter,” Kanti said, flashing Valerie a grin.

  “I can sense her mind in there, like she’s in a deep sleep,” Henry said.

  Valerie wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans. “I don’t know for sure if I can wake her.”

  “Let’s try,” Thai said, and he laced his fingers with hers and let his power amplify her own.

  She
reached within herself for the ember of her vivicus power. Channeling it was like trying to light a fire with a wet match. She touched her mother and reached within herself, but her vivicus power wouldn’t leap to her command.

  Henry’s mind touched hers, and his steady certainty that she could do this calmed her nerves. She reached again for her vivicus power, and it sparked. The spark was all that was needed to wake up her mother.

  Stone melted into flesh, and Adelita sucked in a breath of air, like she’d been underwater for too long. Her mother was alive. Valerie’s heart pounded in her chest, and her hands trembled. Henry’s joy echoed her own through their mental connection. But neither of them stirred, as if a sudden movement might pop this dream like a bubble, and their mother would disappear.

  Adelita’s gaze was disoriented. What was it like, one moment to be facing Reaper and possible death, the next to be surrounded by a group of strange kids?

  “Gid?” Adelita said when her eyes met Gideon’s.

  Gideon was crying now. She’d never seen her mentor’s face so expressive. How much had grief numbed him? Who would he be now that Adelita was back?

  Gideon hugged her. “You’ve been gone for eighteen years. We only found you now.”

  Valerie saw her mother scanning the group for the second time as the weight of Gideon’s words sank in, and tears filled her eyes that she quickly blinked away. There were faces that should have been there, and her mother must know what it meant that they weren’t. But her mother didn’t say anything, and neither did Valerie. She and Henry would have to be enough.

  “It’ll be okay, Mom,” Valerie said.

  At her words, her mother’s gaze settled on her and Henry, and her expression changed. Her eyes shone.

  “My babies,” she said, and she smiled. It lit up her whole face, and Valerie knew then why her dad had fallen in love with her so quickly. “I love you. And I’m so very grateful that you found me, so I can know you both.”

  Adelita crushed Valerie and Henry in her arms, and Valerie felt very small and safe as the biggest, most hopeless wish of her life came true.

  Adelita pulled back, staring at both of them as if she couldn’t look enough. “Now, tell me everything.”