by Kristen Pham
“We’ll never know what happened,” Valerie said. “But it’s enough to know she loved us.”
“Still, I wish I could remember our mother,” Henry said.
“Come on, let’s find the Byway and get out of here,” Valerie said. Babylon suddenly seemed like a graveyard instead of a haven. She shivered.
Henry scanned the vast garden. “Do you have any idea where to even start? We could spend weeks searching.”
“Elden said it was behind a waterfall,” she replied. A flicker of memory hit Valerie in her gut. “I think I know where it is, and who’s guarding it.”
Valerie led Henry up through the tiers of flowers until they reached the top and could see the other side of the garden. A huge waterfall fell into a sparkling lake that mirrored the beautiful grove of trees that surrounded it.
“Come on,” she said, and led her brother down a steep path.
At the bottom, she pulled him into a cavern hidden behind the waterfall. Inside it was cool and damp. As she remembered, a woman dressed as a warrior was posed inside, ready for battle. She appeared to be reaching for a sword at her side, but her sheath was empty. If the statue had been real, she could imagine the woman’s frustration at finding her weapon missing from where it belonged. She reached down to feel the hilt of her sword, remembering how her own fingers had itched for Pathos every day that it had been absent from her side.
Henry approached the warrior and touched the statue tentatively.
“There’s something really weird here,” he said. “It’s almost like I could reach out with my mind and connect with the statue.”
He shook his head and pulled back.
“It has to be the magic of the Byway. It must be nearby,” Valerie said, looking into the corners of the cavern and wishing that Cyrus were there to provide some light.
Instead, she drew Pathos and used its glow for her search. She’d have to make sure Cyrus recharged it when she saw him again, because it seemed dimmer than the last time she’d used it in the darkness of the Black Castle. Probably a side effect of Kellen’s magic.
The instant it was removed from its sheath, Pathos seemed drawn to a spot on the ground. It reminded her of when it had led her to a secret panel in the wall of the Black Castle. Like it had then, Pathos slid into a crack like a key fitting into a lock.
A piece of the ground shuddered and then fell away, revealing a dark opening in the ground.
“Henry,” Valerie breathed. “I’ve found it.”
Chapter 21
Valerie had no doubt in her mind that she’d found the Byway. She’d thought it might be a weapon or shiny orb. But growing from the ground, in complete darkness, bloomed a perfect yellow rose. Henry knelt beside her and touched it with a finger.
“How do we get it out of here without hurting it?” Valerie asked.
“Something tells me that the Byway isn’t as delicate as it looks,” Henry said, but his hands were very gentle as he dug around the roots of the flower and pulled it out of the ground with a big hunk of dirt so that it could be transplanted.
Valerie unzipped the bag that she carried on her back, and Henry placed the flower inside. It hit her that what they were doing was more dangerous than carrying a backpack full of cash through a dangerous part of town. There were many Conjurors who would attack them if they suspected what she carried.
Some of her tension must have rubbed off on Henry, because his muscles tensed.
“Let’s go. The sooner this is in Elden’s hands, the sooner it will be the People of the Woods’ problem,” Henry said.
“They have to destroy it,” Valerie said, though the thought of killing the beautiful flower seemed like a travesty.
The cavern began to shake around them, as if from an earthquake. Dirt fell from the ceiling onto the ground, and Valerie dragged her brother to the mouth of the cavern so that they wouldn’t be trapped inside.
Valerie could see a blurred figure through the water crashing down in front of them.
“It’s him,” Henry whispered, his eyes huge.
Temporary panic made the edges of Valerie’s vision go dark, but she clenched her fists and forced herself to drive back her fear. The rushing water parted, and Reaper stepped through, not a drop of mist touching his body.
Valerie raised Pathos, ashamed to see the blade trembling in her grasp. She took a small step forward, hoping Henry didn’t notice that she put herself between him and Reaper. She would die before she let Reaper torture Henry like he’d done to Midnight.
“Have you reconsidered my offer?” Reaper asked Henry, not coming closer. “No matter what your sister has told you, my goal is not to senselessly waste life. I do not wish for harm to befall your father. But I keep my promises.”
“My father doesn’t want me to give you what you want, even if it means he’ll die,” Henry said, and Valerie was proud that his voice didn’t tremble.
“Sometimes we do not know what is best for ourselves,” Reaper said. “I am not asking you to end lives, Henry. I am asking you to save them. I must sacrifice a few to save the many. Think for yourself when you make your decision. Your sister’s opinion is clouded with emotion.”
“I think for myself,” Henry snapped.
Henry opened his mind to Valerie, and she saw that his annoyance was a distraction. He had a plan.
“Then decide now, and come with me,” Reaper said, drawing nearer for the first time. He spared a glance for Valerie that was laced with disgust and disappointment. “And I will be taking that Byway with me. I was surprised it took you so long to find it. I’ve been waiting for you to come to Babylon and unlock the Byway with Pathos for weeks.”
Valerie considered his words. He hadn’t said he’d been locked out of Babylon, but that he couldn’t unlock the Byway. Why hadn’t he tried when Kellen had taken Pathos from her?
In her connection with Henry, she saw that he had gathered the formidable pool of magic that he’d been collecting under Oberon’s instruction. He hurled his power outward in a blast of telekinesis that threw Reaper off his feet and sent him crashing through the waterfall and into the lake.
Henry and Valerie raced out of the cave as fast as they could. Their feet had barely touched the shore when the world seemed to turn around them, like it had shifted 45 degrees. It was disorienting, and Valerie and Henry bumped into each other as they tried to continue their escape.
“Run for the trees,” Henry said, getting his bearings first. He pointed, but before they could move, their feet began sinking into the sand.
Reaper stepped from the lake, dripping wet and glowering. He raised his arms, and the air in front of them began to whirl, like a tornado. The force was so strong that it nearly ripped the pack off of Valerie’s back, and she gripped the straps tightly.
Rocks and droplets of water rushed into whatever it was that Reaper was creating. The churning air began to turn more cohesively, and Valerie recognized what she was seeing. It was a vortex, like the one Reaper had created two years ago on Earth that had been meant to suck Henry in and transport him to the Black Castle. It had taken Venu instead, and Henry had escaped that day. She doubted that they’d be so lucky this time.
The hair on her arms rose, and without thinking, Valerie spun on her heel and raised Pathos above her. Her blade connected with Reaper’s arm, which had been about to shove her into the vortex.
His face didn’t register pain as her blade sliced through muscle. His flesh knit itself back together before the first drop of his blood hit the ground.
But Henry’s power exploded at the sight of his sister threatened by the man who had kidnapped his father. The power that burst out of him then reminded Valerie of the moment at the Black Castle when all of the Fractus had dropped their weapons. It was like her vivicus power—something he could barely control.
Its effect on Reaper was powerful. The vortex vanished, and he collapsed to the ground. Henry stood over him, gritting his teeth, and Valerie saw in his mind the urge to annihilate Reap
er then and there. It was a force even more powerful than his magic.
Reaper grabbed Valerie’s arm then. She was still holding Pathos, and he brought her blade to his throat.
“Do it. Kill me,” Reaper said, his voice hypnotic. “Don’t make your brother live with my blood on his hands. End my life for his sake.”
There was truth to Reaper’s words. Not for the first time, she saw the potential in Henry to slide into darkness, and murder would eat away at his soul one way or another forever. And to have her greatest enemy beneath her blade—when would she ever have the chance to end the battle with the Fractus so simply?
But as soon as she asked the question, she knew that it wasn’t true. Zunya, Oleander, and countless others would continue the momentum that Reaper had begun. He would be a martyr to the cause.
As vivicus, Valerie would die if she took a life. It was a price she was willing to pay, but why would Reaper willingly sacrifice himself to end her life? She remembered how the Fractus at the Black Castle had tried to throw themselves on her blade in order to force a death on her hands. He must have a powerful reason to want her to commit murder if he was willing to die for it.
Her mind’s connection with Henry was still open, and when she remembered the price that she would pay to kill someone, Henry’s rage receded.
“No,” Valerie said, her eyes boring into Reaper’s. “I won’t kill you. But that doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you.”
She raised Pathos, ready to use it to deliberately draw blood for the first time in her life, but before her blade connected with his flesh, he dissolved before her eyes. The vortex collapsed.
An instant later, Reaper reappeared behind Henry and locked his arm around his neck. Before Valerie could respond, her right arm burst with pain and began to blur. Reaper was dissolving her arm, the way he had with Midnight.
Valerie couldn’t have stopped the scream that ripped through her throat if she tried. In response to her pain, Henry’s body tensed, and a burst of his magic nearly knocked her off her feet.
Reaper was thrown backward, and his head struck a rock. The pain in Valerie’s arm eased. She grabbed Pathos and stood over Reaper, pressing the sword’s tip against his arm.
“I won’t kill you, but how would you like to live without your arm?” Valerie asked, pressing the tip of her blade into his flesh hard enough to draw blood.
Reaper began to dissolve again, and Valerie thrust her sword into his arm. She felt her blade slice muscle before Reaper disappeared completely.
Henry turned in a circle, his eyes searching frantically. “I don’t feel him, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t lurking somewhere.”
“He’s gone,” Valerie said, her tone certain. Even if Reaper could heal the wound she inflicted, she suspected that it would take more than a moment.
Valerie and Henry didn’t speak as they left Babylon behind. Despite the fact that they had survived an encounter with Reaper, Valerie couldn’t shake off the unsettling thought that nothing had happened that day that Reaper hadn’t orchestrated, including leaving her with the Byway.
Babylon was barely behind them when Azra stepped from the trees. Her body glowed white in the patch of sunlight that lit her. She shut her eyes in relief when she saw them.
I tracked you both to Babylon to provide my protection should you need it. But I did not sense the breath of Reaper’s magic until it was too late.
“You can’t put yourself in danger now,” Henry said sternly.
Azra tossed her mane, almost as if she was annoyed, but there was a sparkle of humor in her eyes as well.
Thank you for your concern, Henry. I would not needlessly put my child in harm’s way, but neither could I let you two travel alone for such a dangerous and important task, though I understood your impulse.
“You’re right,” Valerie said. “It was irresponsible not to bring Gideon and Chrome, at the very least. Reaper almost walked away with the Byway—and both of us.”
“But he didn’t,” Henry argued. “He’s not as powerful as we thought.”
Valerie didn’t contradict her brother, but instinct told her that Reaper had been holding back. The encounter in Babylon had been a psychological one, and seeing how rattled Henry was made her suspect that at least one of his goals had been met.
“He walked away from taking the Byway too easily,” Valerie said. “It must not be as important to him as we thought.”
Azra’s eyes were troubled as she considered Valerie’s words. It may mean that the Byway on Earth has been compromised, or soon will be. Regardless, we must get the Globe’s Byway to safety immediately.
“For all we know, an army of Fractus could be racing here as we speak,” Henry agreed.
Valerie and Henry jogged beside Azra as she hurried through the forest. The unicorn stopped in a valley of wildflowers that shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow, like Azra’s mane.
“Don’t we need to climb a tree?” Henry asked.
The People of the Woods communicate through living things, and this valley is sacred to them. They know that I would not use it to communicate unless it was something of great importance.
Valerie nodded, and Azra bent her head so that her horn touched a purple flower.
Send Elden. The Byway has been recovered.
Azra’s words made the valley gently hum with magic, and a breeze rippled the flowers. Valerie heard the echoes of a whisper at first, and then the response coalesced into words that she could understand.
“I’m not far. Stay where you are; there is protection in place,” said a voice that sounded like it belonged to Elden.
Around the perimeter of the valley, Valerie saw a slight shimmer, like they were inside a bubble. The trees and sky looked slightly distorted through it, and a deeper hum vibrated in her bones.
Azra knelt in the grass to rest her swollen belly, and Valerie sat beside her.
She will be here soon. Azra’s thought carried an emotion that was infinitely tender for her unborn foal.
A little of the fierce tension left Henry’s face, and he sat down, too. “You know that it’s a girl?”
Azra dipped her head once, and Valerie noticed that she began to restlessly flick her tail. She will join our world, and then all too soon I will pass from it.
“Are you afraid to die?” Valerie asked her. It was a question that she would never have allowed to cross her lips another time, but today as she wrestled with her decision not to kill Reaper, it slipped out.
Though I will pass from this place… and all of you… I will meet those I love in the ether. So no, I do not fear death. But I am afraid that my foal will be abandoned when I am gone. To be the last of your kind is a lonely fate.
“I swear that she’ll always have friends,” Valerie said, and Azra nudged her with her nose in thanks.
The thought of those who will guard her and love her gives me peace.
Before Valerie or Henry could say anything more, Elden passed through the ring protecting the valley, his face alight with more excitement than she had ever seen him express.
Valerie unzipped her bag and held out the yellow rose to him. Now that she had time to examine it more closely, she felt it buzzing with magic that seemed in harmony with the power that hummed in the field, like they were on the same frequency.
“You have found it, at last,” Elden said as he took the flower from her hands. When he touched it, the flower seemed to perk up, its petals turning a brighter shade of gold and the stem standing straighter.
“Will you destroy it?” Valerie asked, a little afraid of the answer. Part of her worried that the bargain she had made with Elden to let the People of the Woods decide the fate of the Byway was the right one.
“Our people will vote,” he said, unable to take his eyes from the rose. “They know the risks of allowing it to exist, but to destroy such a perfect specimen of nature would be viewed as sacrilege.”
“But you have to!” Henry said, his anger leaping up more quickly than it
had in the past.
Elden’s eyes narrowed. “We don’t have to do anything, young man. We answer to no Conjurors.”
“I understand,” Valerie said, moving to stand next to Henry. She subtly stepped on his foot and hoped he understood her silent command to back off.
“I will keep my word to you, vivicus. When the voting is complete, I will find you. I cannot promise what the fate of the Byway will be, but I have few doubts that, after returning this rose to its true home, you will have the support of my people in the battle that is coming,” Elden said.
His eyes flicked to Azra as he registered a thought that she must have sent to only his mind.
“I know what is at stake,” he said, his body tense with impatience. Then he left the valley without another word.
Knowing how exposed the Byway was nagged at Valerie as she and Henry returned home, but she didn’t have time to dwell on the outcome. She had promised Skye and Calibro that she would introduce them to Chisisi and Thai that night.
In her room, she touched Thai’s crystal and found him in a Japanese hotel lobby, arguing with a man at the front desk.
“I’m not asking for personal information. I am only asking if you saw an older man brought here. An American,” Thai said, his stance aggressive. “It’s a matter of life and death.”
“I’m sure it is,” the man said smoothly, but his expression didn’t change. “I’ll speak to my manager.”
Thai turned and saw Valerie, and he walked to a secluded corner of the lobby. He let out a frustrated breath.
“No one wants to cooperate to help find Joe. Even the police here think we’re out of our minds,” Thai said. “I promise you, I won’t stop searching. I will find him.”
“I know you will,” Valerie said, and she meant it. She doubted there was any obstacle that wouldn’t crumble under Thai’s determination. “Right now, I’m not here about that. Can you take me to Chisisi? I have some news for you both.”
Thai led her out of the hotel and down a bustling street that seemed much cleaner than what she’d been used to when she lived in Oakland. They reached a store on the corner that had old electronics in the window, and Thai went inside.