by Kristen Pham
“That’s right!” I remember you playing with light after you used it on Cyrus,” Valerie said.
“Thanks for that, jerk,” Cyrus added lightly.
“This is bad. It means that Reaper or whoever uses the weapon might have extra powers, in addition to their own,” Dulcea said.
“In addition to taking out the Conjuror they used it on,” Valerie added.
“I don’t know of any way to fight it other than avoiding it,” Jack added. But then his expression changed. “It might not mean anything, but there was one time it didn’t work.”
“What happened?” Cyrus asked.
“We tried to use it on one of the People of the Woods, and it didn’t work, or else he hid his reaction really well. Then he unleashed this pulse of light that completely wrecked our funnel. Zunya was so mad,” Jack said.
“Actually, that helps a lot,” Valerie said, mentally reviewing her battle plans. If the People of the Woods had a natural immunity to Reaper’s weapon, it could work to their advantage.
“We’ve got other good news,” Dulcea said, a small smile playing on her lips. “We’ve spoken to thirty-eight other guilds, and we’ve recruited over two hundred Conjurors who are willing to fight.”
The number staggered Valerie, and Cyrus was speechless, too.
“Two hundred…” Valerie echoed. “You’re confident they’ll all come when they see Oberon’s signal?”
“Yes, and that’s just who we’re sure of. There were a lot more who seemed uncertain, but when the time comes, they may show up as well,” Dulcea said.
Temporarily forgetting that Dulcea might still be mad at her, Valerie hugged her friend, hard. After a pause, Dulcea hugged her back.
“I never dreamed we’d have so much support,” Valerie said.
Jack cleared his throat. “I don’t know the details of Reaper’s army, but he had a huge network. There were hundreds of Fractus reporting to him from around the Globe. I’ve heard him brag that every country, every government, even every guild has his people in it.”
Valerie almost didn’t want to ask her next question. “How many?”
“Total? No idea. He usually had a couple hundred at the Black Castle, but that was only a fraction of his force. I don’t know how many he’ll call upon in the fight for the Byway.”
“He sent some of his people to Earth,” Cyrus reminded her. “We may not be as outnumbered as you think, especially with the People of the Woods as our allies.”
“The Oracles will also help in any way they can,” Dulcea said. “They aren’t trained for battle, but they may be able to advise us on tactics that would work best against the Fractus.”
Valerie’s heart pounded, but she forced her expression to remain calm. She needed to spread confidence, not anxiety.
“No matter what, you’ve given us an incredible advantage,” Valerie said to Dulcea. “Thank you. I knew I could count on you to help, even when you have every reason not to.”
Valerie and Cyrus turned to leave, but Dulcea called after them. “Valerie, wait.”
She turned, and Dulcea’s eyes had a warmth in them that she hadn’t seen in weeks.
“I should never have blamed you,” Dulcea said, fiddling with one of her curls. “I reacted like a child, maybe because it reminded me of when I lost them as a child. It wasn’t fair.”
“You forgive me for not telling you sooner?” Valerie asked, her eyes welling with tears.
“If that’s what you need to hear, then yes,” Dulcea said. “But you didn’t do anything wrong. Even Oberon…”
Dulcea trailed off, and her own eyes became misty.
“He did what he did for love, and he did it blindly. I should be mad at Reaper, but it was easier to be able to blame someone I could yell at,” Dulcea admitted. “I think I can forgive Oberon, especially since he’s your dad.”
Valerie cried then, and Dulcea held her, patting her back. “Now, now, none of that. We can’t have the vivicus leader of the forces of good being seen with puffy, red eyes, can we?”
Valerie laughed a little and blew her nose. In a world full of a hundred things that had gone wrong, one went right.
Valerie’s little slice of peace after making up with Dulcea was shattered as soon as she left the Society of Imaginary Friends. Dozens of Conjurors were racing out of the Justice Guild. She saw two figures dressed in black turn around and throw lightning at the building before racing away, half dragging and half carrying a stunned Rastelli between them.
Next to her, Cyrus pulled a glowing dagger from his boot at the same instant she drew Pathos. She quickly checked her pocket to see if Elden’s seed had sprouted, but it was the same. Were the Fractus starting the battle before the voting was finished?
Valerie was faster than Cyrus as she chased after the Fractus who had thrown the lightning, so she raced ahead. She was gaining on her enemies, who were slowed down by Rastelli. The ex-Grand Master was staggering as he tried to run.
An odd shimmer at the edge of the woods attracted her attention. At first glance, she thought it was a shadow, but when she squinted, she saw that it was a tear in the atmosphere—one of Reaper’s portals to another location. Judging from the darkness, she guessed it was somewhere near the Black Castle.
Valerie pushed herself to run faster, but the two Fractus leaped through the portal while she was yards away. She caught the hem of Rastelli’s jacket, but he shrugged it off with more agility than she would have given him credit for. As soon as he was through the portal, it collapsed.
She let out a yell of frustration as Cyrus caught up with her, panting. A few moments later, they were joined by several other Conjurors who had also been chasing the Fractus, including Gideon. Cyrus explained what happened as Valerie forced herself not to stomp her foot in frustration, like a child.
“I thought no one escaped the Justice Guild!” she said to Gideon in a low voice.
“Until this day, no one has,” Gideon said, his eyes still scanning the trees for threats.
“Is Rastelli really so important that Reaper would risk breaking him out?” she asked.
“The point was not to rescue Rastelli. It was to show us what the Fractus are capable of,” Gideon said.
Valerie thought of the conversation she’d had with Jack. “They’re everywhere, in every guild.”
“Indeed. If Reaper has penetrated the Justice Guild, then all of the guilds are compromised,” he said. “He’s trying to intimidate you.”
Valerie didn’t want to admit that Reaper’s tactic was working. The crowd that had followed them began to disperse, and Cyrus joined their conversation.
“If that’s true, and Reaper has spies in every guild, then he must know that we’ve been recruiting Conjurors to our side to fight in the upcoming battle,” Valerie said.
“He’ll have a pretty good idea of how many people we’ll be bringing and will make sure to outnumber us,” Cyrus said. “So much for the element of surprise.”
“We still have your weapons,” Valerie said.
“We also have justice on our side,” Gideon added, and his words gave Valerie pause.
Did it matter that right was on their side? When in her life had that ever mattered? The memories of Midnight dissolving before her eyes and Joe having his life ripped from him at Zunya’s touch flashed through her mind.
“I don’t think that’s going to help us,” Valerie said. It was the first time that she fundamentally disagreed with Gideon.
His eyes were sad as they met hers. “Some truths only reveal themselves with time.”
“I hope you’re right,” she said, but she didn’t think he was. She thought of how the tale of King Arthur, her hero since she was a little girl, had ended. “But even Camelot fell eventually, even though King Arthur was fighting for justice.”
“Those are stories,” Cyrus said. “They don’t mean anything.”
“They’re more than stories,” Gideon contradicted him, to Valerie’s surprise. “But Valerie forgets that, thou
gh Camelot fell, it was destined to rise again.”
She didn’t know what to make of Gideon’s words, but for some reason he had reignited her little spark of hope.
Chapter 30
A few days later, the seed still hadn’t changed. Valerie couldn’t manage to get more than two hours of sleep in a row before waking up to check on it. Oberon offered to keep an eye on it for her, but she couldn’t let it out of her sight.
Henry was rarely home, stopping by for clothes and a shower before leaving again. Valerie knew he spent some of his time with Kanti, but he also spent hours by himself, wandering the woods and coming back dirty and tired. She wondered if the constant movement gave him any peace.
Valerie filled her mornings training with Gideon and Oberon, and her afternoons among the guilds, talking to Conjurors who were willing to support her.
After a day spent talking to Leo and Cyrus’s friends in the Weapons Guild, Valerie came home as the light from the day was beginning to fade. As she approached her house, an excitement rose in her belly that had nothing to do with her plans. It was an unsettling, but distinctly good sensation, like the reverse of her sixth sense for danger.
Her excitement grew when she saw that someone was sitting on the front steps of her house, next to Oberon. She walked faster, and then began to run. The person on the steps stood up, and Valerie realized who it was. Thai was on the Globe.
He wore the biggest smile she’d ever seen on his face, and in a flash, she found herself in a crushing hug, her face buried in his chest. Oberon discreetly went inside the house, and they were alone.
Valerie remembered all the reasons why she shouldn’t be holding Thai as if her life depended on it. She stepped back and tried to stomp out the joy that lit her up.
“You’re really here,” she said, embarrassed by how breathless she sounded.
“Newly arrived,” Thai said. “Azra herself met me on this side and brought me to your house. I met her lots of times on Earth, but to see her in person… It doesn’t compare.”
“How is your family taking the news?” Valerie asked, forcing herself to sound more businesslike.
“They always knew that it was what I really wanted, so they’re not surprised. And I’ll visit them every chance I get,” Thai said.
Valerie’s confusion must have shown on her face.
“I know, you can’t understand why they would think that, considering I told you I wanted to stay on Earth and go to college and everything,” Thai said. “But all that was a lie, including the part about not wanting to be with you.”
Valerie’s vision narrowed to a point, and she forgot to breathe. Every cold glance, every cruel word Thai had spoken wasn’t for real. He hadn’t betrayed her. Her world seemed to tilt on its axis, righting itself. The happiness and pure relief that coursed through her was so intense that it was positively dizzying.
She was clutching the side of her house for support, so she forced herself to sit down. Thai followed, sitting two inches too close for friendship.
“A lie,” Valerie repeated, the weight of the words settling in her heart.
“Chern told me that he received a prophecy that if I came to the Globe, you would die,” Thai said. “I didn’t find out that he was Reaper until a few weeks ago, and I suspected that his prophecy was invented to keep me off the Globe. I talked to your friend Sibyl about it, and she told me that no such prophecy exists. All of the prophecies given are magically recorded, so there can be no mistake, or else I wouldn’t be here now.”
Thai gripped Valerie’s hand. “Everything I did after I heard that prophecy was for you, I swear it. I knew that even if you agreed that I shouldn’t come to the Globe, you would either want to come back to Earth or you would stay loyal to me even though we couldn’t be together. I wanted you to have a full life on the Globe without me, so I convinced you that I’d moved on. But I hadn’t. I couldn’t.”
Valerie remembered those painful days vividly. It all made sense—Thai’s awkward behavior, the guilt in his eyes, the way it seemed like he was choking on his words.
“That wasn’t your choice to make for me,” Valerie said, withdrawing her hand from his. “You’ve always trusted me to make my own decisions, but you took that one away from me.”
“I couldn’t let you die,” Thai said, his face tense. “In my place, what would you have done?”
“I don’t know,” Valerie said. “I hope that I would have told you the truth and we would have figured it out, like we always had before. But you didn’t and now… Now…I have made a new life for myself on the Globe. One that includes someone else.”
“You mean this guy you said you’re dating,” Thai said, his voice flat. “He’s that important to you?”
“It’s not some guy. It’s Cyrus,” Valerie said.
Thai’s face registered shock, and then his eyes lit with realization. He fought to control his breathing.
“Why didn’t I guess that?” Thai asked, and he stood up and turned away from her so she couldn’t see his face. “I knew he was in love with you before I figured out that I was, too.”
He turned and stared at her with the familiar intensity that made her catch her breath.
“I still love you, Valerie. I always will,” he said.
Valerie couldn’t stop the rush of happiness that pulsed through her veins, more thrilling than magic. It was like a piece of herself had been returned. But the feeling of being whole and happy didn’t last long.
Cyrus opened the gate to the garden of her house, the expression on his face grim.
“Welcome to the Globe, man,” Cyrus said, and reached out to shake Thai’s hand. He must have used quite the grip, because Valerie detected the slightest wince as Thai pulled his hand away.
“Good to see you, bro,” Thai said, and he and Cyrus had a wordless conversation with their eyes that Valerie couldn’t guess at.
“Romeo has come back to the fold, and he wants you back, right?” Cyrus asked her.
Valerie didn’t know what to say, but she knew what not to say. Cyrus wouldn’t want to hear that Thai had never truly betrayed her, had never stopped loving her.
Cyrus evaluated her and, after a moment, nodded. When he spoke, he assumed his usual light, teasing tone, but it sounded wrong, like his usual cheer had been sucked out of it. “It’s time for me to step out of the path of true love. Last thing I’d want to do is be the jerk who gets in the way of the guy getting the girl.”
Until that instant, Valerie hadn’t been sure what she was planning to do. But she reached out her hand interlaced her fingers with Cyrus’s. “You’re not.”
Cyrus’s hand was cold, but he held her fingers tightly. Thai watched the exchange, and after a moment, he tore his eyes away from their clutched hands back to Valerie’s face.
“You’re happy. I get it. That’s what I wanted for you,” Thai said, and the only sign he gave of his pain was in the tightness of his jaw, which barely moved as he spoke.
Cyrus’s hand warmed in hers.
“I can find you a place to crash for a while in my Guild,” Cyrus offered, and the earlier bitterness that had been in his voice when he spoke to Thai was gone.
Cyrus met her eyes, and Valerie could see that even though his anger was gone, the fear of losing her was still there. He’d offered Thai a room so he wouldn’t be living with Valerie. Valerie wished she could reassure him that she wasn’t going anywhere, but she didn’t want to hurt Thai more than she already had. There would be time to explain everything to Cyrus later.
Oberon opened the front door then, to Valerie’s profound relief.
“It’s time for you gentlemen to head home,” Oberon said firmly. “It was an honor to meet you today, Thai.”
Thai cleared his throat, and his voice was strong when he responded. “Thank you, sir.”
Valerie retreated to the safety of her house as Thai and Cyrus walked away. Oberon closed the door, and Valerie saw a struggle in his face.
“Thai told you every
thing, didn’t he?” she asked him.
“I heard his story. I also saw that he didn’t walk away today with the result he expected,” Oberon said, his face neutral.
“You think I should have broken it off with Cyrus?” Valerie asked him.
“I cannot see inside of your heart, Daughter. No one but you can.”
“No matter what I do, someone’s going to suffer,” Valerie said, defeated. She wished she could rip out her own heart, rather than do it to Thai or Cyrus.
“Soul mates come once in a lifetime,” Oberon said, his eyes warm and the bluest Valerie had ever seen them. “I know this to be true. I’ve searched.”
Valerie thought she’d be tossing and turning more than ever that night, but she slept peacefully. Maybe it was all the planning that tired her brain, or maybe it was the security of knowing that Thai would be fighting by her side, but it could also have been that defeating the Fractus seemed a little more possible now than it had before.
Her rest was broken by the sound of Henry slamming the front door. Valerie was on her feet with Pathos before Henry had taken his first step down the hall.
“Leave me alone!” Henry said to the closed door.
“Please, don’t shut me out,” Kanti called back, and Valerie could hear the tears in her voice.
She sheathed Pathos and turned to her brother. “What are you doing?”
“That is no way to treat a young lady,” Oberon added, stepping out from his own bedroom.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, either of you!” Henry involuntarily pushed outward with his mind, and Valerie and Oberon were both shoved across the room.
Valerie crashed into the wall, hitting her head, hard. When she gathered herself together and Oberon helped her up, she saw that Henry was staring at them both, horrified with himself.
“It’s okay, you didn’t mean to,” Valerie said, knowing how her own magic could spring up inside her, as well.
But Henry shook his head, mute, and then turned and fled to his room.