by Kristen Pham
“Where’s Tan?” Valerie asked.
“It’s good to be missed!” Tan said, popping up behind her.
“Where have you been all day?” Dulcea asked. “I was planning on giving you a tour of the Society of Imaginary Friends.”
“Sorry, Dulcea,” Tan said. “This Master in the Glamour Guild was talking my ear off. Trust me, I’d have rather been with you.”
Dulcea smiled back at Tan. “We’re glad you’re here now.”
“It’s good to have the gang together for this,” Cyrus said as the fireworks began. “Now everyone shut up.”
Cyrus’s words weren’t necessary. The fireworks made the Fourth of July seem like child’s play. The Illuminators’ display lit up the entire sky like a giant movie screen. Sparkling images of scenes from around the Globe were perfectly timed to the most ethereal music Valerie had ever heard.
The wild purple mountains of Dunsinane melted into the turrets of an ice castle in Elsinore, which Valerie was pretty sure was the home of Kanti’s parents and sisters. The sparkling lights seamlessly morphed into the imposing skyscrapers of Messina, and then to the deserts of Ephesus. The next display was an incredible light ballet of scenes from Arden.
But after that, the mood of the show changed. Threatening images filled the night sky—ominous shadows, guild buildings crumbling, and a gaping hole that seemed to suck up all the light.
Everyone watching was utterly silent as light was pulled slowly at first, and then faster and faster, into the black hole, until the entire sky was dark.
Cyrus reached over and held Valerie’s hand.
The sky exploded in a blaze of light that was dazzling, lighting up the whole city as if it were the middle of the day. And in the center of it all was the image of a girl with short hair holding a sword up toward the sky, her head thrown back. She was powerful and utterly beautiful.
The girl looked familiar, and Valerie gasped. The music reached a crescendo, and all of the light swirled around the girl and then faded, falling to the ground like petals.
“That image at the end—it was mine,” Cyrus whispered to Valerie.
She turned to him and saw his blue eyes staring earnestly into her own. “Was that me? At the end?”
“It’s how I saw you when you saved us from all of the lightning thrown by the Fractus at the Black Castle. You were a hero,” Cyrus said, sounding more serious than she’d ever heard him. “That’s how I see you.”
Before Valerie could respond, Henry was slapping Cyrus on the back. “Way to go, man. You captured her exactly.”
“I gotta admit, that didn’t suck,” Kanti agreed.
“Beautiful, like Valerie,” Dulcea added.
Valerie stared at all of her friends in surprise. “You all knew about this?”
“Of course! Cy’s been working on it for weeks. The Illuminators Guild let him have the honor of creating the final image because of his power. I think they’re hoping he’ll switch guilds,” Henry said.
Dulcea produced some cups and poured a golden liquid into them. Everyone took one.
“To Cyrus, a true artistic genius,” Dulcea said.
“And to Valerie, a true inspiration,” Cyrus added, never taking his eyes from Valerie’s.
After lots of dessert and Dulcea’s punch, Cyrus and Valerie started wandering back to her home.
“Thank you,” Valerie said, glad that it was dark and he couldn’t see her. “I really needed someone to remind me that maybe I’m up for everything that’s coming.”
Cyrus slipped his warm hand into hers. “Consider it a belated birthday present, since you wouldn’t let us throw you a party this year.”
“You do have a knack for getting me the best presents,” Valerie admitted.
“I know, I’m kind of an all-star,” Cyrus said with mock seriousness. Then he was quiet for a minute, and when he spoke again, his voice was serious. “So give me something back this time.”
Valerie’s heart started beating faster in her chest. “What do you want?” she asked. She didn’t know if she had much left to give right then.
“For me to be yours and you to be mine,” Cyrus said. He rushed through his next words as if he’d practiced them. “I know that Thai broke your heart, and Zaki, Jet, and Midnight died, and you’re a little lost yourself right now, but I don’t care. If we wait for the perfect time, it might never come.”
“I don’t know if I can give you what you’re asking for,” Valerie said. Her heart still felt like it was duct-taped together after Thai had broken it.
“Give me a chance. A date,” Cyrus said.
Valerie smiled. She couldn’t help it. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Cyrus said, his voice going up an octave.
She nodded, and Cyrus swept her up in a hug and spun her around in a circle. When he put her down, Valerie wondered if he’d kiss her again. But Cyrus was looking at something over her shoulder.
Valerie turned around and saw Oberon standing in the door of their house. She grinned and kissed Cyrus on the cheek before backing away. This must be what it was like to be a normal teenage girl.
That night Valerie pulled the crystal that she used to connect with Thai out of her drawer. She’d been dreading this visit, but after seeing Tan again tonight, a fresh wave of guilt had washed over her. She had to make sure that Thai really knew that Tan was okay. She wished that this thread of connection with Thai didn’t still burn inside her, as if somehow they were still linked, even though they were a universe apart and barely even friends.
Valerie gripped the crystal and found herself on Thai’s university campus, where he was striding across a green lawn. It was beautiful—probably another reason he’d never want to leave Earth.
At the sight of her, Thai let out a strangled sound and spilled his coffee all over his pants.
“Sorry,” Valerie said, trying to keep a straight face. She enjoyed seeing the usually unruffled Thai taken off his guard.
“It’s fine. I didn’t think I’d see you again. What’s wrong?” Thai asked, regaining his usual calm.
That’s when Valerie noticed that he had a huge, yellowing bruise on one cheekbone, and a series of blue and purple bruises on his throat. He’d obviously been in a fight.
The blood drained from her face. “What happened to you? Who did this?”
Thai reached up to touch the bruise on his cheek and winced. “It’s nothing for you to worry about. Chisisi and I are on it.”
“If you had to talk to Chisisi, then those aren’t from a normal fight. Start talking,” she commanded.
A grin crossed Thai’s face, but he hid it quickly. “You sound different. Like you’re getting used to being in charge.”
Valerie fought the blush rising to her cheeks. “Don’t change the subject.”
Thai resumed walking, not making eye contact with her. “I found someone trying to break into my bedroom two nights ago. The person reminded me of Venu—and I was sure I could smell that poison Venu had on his hands. We fought, and I got some punches in. But before I could tie the person up, he bounded off. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast.”
“Whoever that person was had to be with the Fractus,” Valerie said, and Thai nodded.
“They’re getting bolder. Chisisi has been hearing about weird attacks around the world.”
“What did that attacker want from you?” she asked.
“No idea,” he said. “Maybe they think I know something I don’t. They don’t realize that I don’t have friends on the Globe anymore who would tell me anything important.”
Valerie forced herself not to flinch at the coldness in Thai’s tone. She didn’t owe it to him to keep him up-to-date on Globe politics anymore. But it reminded her why she was visiting in the first place. “What about Tan? Maybe they think he’s giving you information.”
Thai’s head jerked up. “You’ve seen him?”
“Of course. I gave him a place to stay and have been showing him around, like I promised I would. He’s doin
g well,” Valerie said, softening her voice.
Thai didn’t reply right away. Finally, he said, “I’m glad. He left me a note saying he was going to the Globe, but I had no idea what his plans were, and he hasn’t shown his face since he left. I’m really glad to hear he’s okay. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him.”
“I think he wants to figure out who he is, apart from you,” Valerie said.
“I know I don’t have the right to ask you any favors,” Thai began, meeting her eye for the first time. “But will you watch out for him? He’s still like a kid in some ways. We separated too soon. I’m scared someone will take advantage of him.”
“Of course. I would have done that even if you didn’t ask,” Valerie said, hating how much she enjoyed catching a glimpse of his smile.
“You always do the right thing. I know that even though Tan’s hurt you, you’ll still take care of him. It’s one of the things I love best about you,” Thai said, almost to himself.
Valerie stared at him, unable to form words. If he really saw her that way, why did he leave her? Instead of being touched, she was angry. Was he messing with her mind?
They had reached Thai’s dorm, and they walked down the hall to his room. Valerie was about to say her goodbyes when she saw that his door was ajar.
“Wait!” she said, pointing to his room.
He slowly crept up to the door and gently pushed it open a little wider. When they peeked through the crack, Valerie saw the back of a familiar blonde head. Logan, Thai’s girlfriend, was typing rapidly on his computer.
The sight of the girl who got to be close to Thai when she couldn’t nauseated Valerie. She turned to go without another word, but Thai’s reaction surprised her.
He opened the door wider. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked, crossing the room in three swift strides.
Logan jumped out of his chair like she’d been bitten. “I thought I’d check my email. I was stopping by to say hi.”
“How did you get in?” Thai asked, stepping toward her and slamming his laptop closed.
Logan dropped the sweetness from her voice and her face flushed an ugly red. “Be civil. No one talks to me like that.”
Valerie sucked in a breath, and Logan’s eyes flicked to her.
“I see your pathetic little puppy ex-girlfriend can’t take a hint,” Logan added.
The comment stung, but Valerie held her tongue.
“I told you to stay away from me,” Thai said, and he was clenching his fists. “After what you did, I never want to see you.”
Valerie shamelessly stared, her mouth open. She shouldn’t be here, and she definitely shouldn’t be enjoying the fact that Thai and Logan didn’t work out. But before she could gather her dignity and give them the space to fight in private, Logan did the last thing Valerie expected.
Her shoulders hunched, froglike, and she struck Thai in the face with her open palm. Valerie thought she saw the ooze of poison, like Venu’s, before Logan jumped out of the window and bounded away.
Chapter 3
Panic blinded Valerie before the calm that always followed in emergencies took over, and she was able to think. “Call 911 before the poison incapacitates you. Hurry!”
Thai shook his head and sat down, opening his desk drawer. He pulled out a syringe full of yellow fluid and immediately shot it into his thigh. Valerie yelped in surprise.
Thai raised an eyebrow at her and then collapsed on his bed. “I guess I should have mentioned that the person who attacked me the other night was Logan. I’ve kept the antidote for Venu’s poison with me ever since. Chisisi thinks she was targeting us from the first time we met her.”
“You called the attacker a ‘he’. Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” Valerie asked.
Thai sagged on his bed. “We don’t tell each other a lot of things.”
“We used to,” Valerie whispered.
Before her eyes, Thai’s face became a blank mask, and when he spoke, his voice was devoid of emotion. “To be clear, this doesn’t change how I feel about you. Logan and I may be over, but so are we.”
A tickle at the back of Valerie’s throat warned her that she might cry. Whatever she’d thought had been between them was in her imagination. The Thai she’d loved could never have said something so cruel. But she wouldn’t let him see how much he had hurt her ever again.
“I’m already moving on. I wanted to reassure you about Tan, for old time’s sake. But I need to get back to the Globe to get ready for my date,” Valerie shot back, even though she and Cyrus hadn’t picked a day yet.
She enjoyed the pained dismay on Thai’s face before she let her mind return to her bedroom. She curled into a ball on her bed and forced her tears to stay unshed. For once, she’d had the last word, but wounding Thai didn’t heal her shattered heart.
Over the next few days, Valerie was forced to relive the awful end of her conversation with Thai over and over, along with all of her worst memories, as Gideon continued to drill her mind with the prepotent crystal to make it stronger.
One morning, she noticed that they had an audience. Kellen was at the window, watching her be forced to her knees with a smug smile on his face. He wasn’t much bigger than her hand, with delicate wings that belied the steel of his personality. It would be comical how much she feared the presence of such a little person if it weren’t for the fact that she’d witnessed the power of his magic firsthand. Gideon followed her gaze, and his faced turned as hard as marble.
“Kellen has lost his way. He no longer embodies the Knights’ ideals of power, courage, and mercy.”
“He’s Fractus,” Valerie said. She didn’t have concrete proof, but her instincts told her that was true.
Gideon’s eyes were troubled. “You may be right, but he remains our Guild’s Grand Master, and the Knights will follow his lead.”
Kellen had disappeared from the window, but he reappeared a few moments later at Gideon’s side.
“You should have more honor than to show your face here, after attacking me and my Knights,” Kellen said to Gideon. “If it were up to me, you and your little protégé would both be expelled.”
Gideon and Valerie had fought Kellen and several of his Knights to free Sanguina so that she could lead them to the Black Castle a few weeks ago. Valerie remembered the rage in Kellen’s eyes when he had been overpowered, and had known that he wouldn’t drop the matter, even after they had rescued Darling.
“Then I am grateful it was not up to you, and that the round table of Knights convened and decided otherwise,” Gideon responded calmly.
“They stripped you of your title! Your word carries no more weight here than the lowest novice,” Kellen said, his voice high and angry.
It was the first Valerie had heard of Gideon’s punishment, and the guilt that followed was like a kick to her stomach. He had been second in command of the Knights after Kellen before they had rescued Sanguina, and now his life’s work had been snatched away.
“Why’d I get off so easily?” Valerie asked.
“As your mentor, I abused your trust,” Gideon said, giving her a warning look. “You are an apprentice, following the orders of your superior.”
Kellen’s wings beat even more rapidly as his gaze narrowed on Valerie. “Your actions haven’t been excused. You’re being watched. There’s also the matter of your sword.”
Kellen’s gaze landed greedily on Pathos, which rested at Valerie’s side. “I came out here to tell you that you must forfeit your weapon until I deem it time to return it to you.”
“No,” Valerie’s voice was cold, and she backed up a step.
“It isn’t a request,” Kellen said, and the air around him sparkled.
Gideon stepped between them. “Under whose authority?”
“The round table agrees with me. She is too immature to wield such a powerful weapon. Maybe someday, but not today.”
“Then I quit,” Valerie said, gripping Pathos’s hilt so tightly that she was sure it was
wearing grooves into her palm.
“Excellent choice. But you must still forfeit your weapon,” Kellen said, and glitter burst around him in a mini explosion.
Pathos levitated out of Valerie’s sheath, but she grabbed her hilt and jammed it back in. She tried to swat the little fairy out of her way, but she missed.
Three Knights raced out of the Guild and tackled Gideon. Gideon was a match for his opponents, but barely. Punches were thrown so quickly Valerie couldn’t follow the fight.
Before she could step in to help, she breathed in some of Kellen’s glitter dust, and her limbs were like lead.
“Hand it over,” the fairy commanded.
Kellen’s mind touched hers, trying to control her. Frantically, she reached for her locus. But Pathos no longer seemed like such a reliable constant for her. Hadn’t it been taken from her before?
Her brief distraction cost her. Her mind was lost in the whirlwind of Kellen’s magic. Inside, she was screaming at herself, running away with Pathos firmly in her grip. But on the outside, she calmly kneeled before Kellen and drew Pathos from its sheath. The malignant smile on his face made her sick.
“Strong of body, weak of mind. Why Reaper ever cared to keep you alive instead of killing you when he had the chance I’ll never understand,” Kellen said. Then he turned to his Knights, who were kicking an unconscious Gideon. “Enough. He’s learned his lesson. But don’t be afraid to repeat it if he comes back.”
Kellen and his thugs left, but Valerie still couldn’t free her mind from Kellen’s control. It was several agonizing minutes before Gideon’s eyes opened and he struggled to his feet.
His face was set, but not angry. He knelt in front of Valerie. “Fairy dust is a powerful magic. Even many Master Conjurors are helpless against it. Though he cannot break my mind, he is able to render me unconscious with it. Do not be ashamed that you could not fight his hold.”
Whether the dust had worn off or Gideon’s words had unlocked her mind, Kellen’s magic loosened, and she was in control of herself again. Together, they left the Guild. Her sheath was too light at her side without Pathos’s reassuring weight.