Guardians of the Boundary (The Conjurors Series Book 3) Page 11

  “You poor, confused soul,” Oleander said, managing to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Valerie understood that this performance must be for the benefit of the other Guardians behind her. “We all want the same thing—to save lives. Now you can help us by letting us in to Midnight’s office.”

  Valerie barked out a laugh. “We’d die first.”

  “That’s an option,” Oleander said, her beautiful face twisting. “So is jail for the three of you.”

  “The boy is holding Midnight’s globe,” said one of the Guardians, a tall man with dark hair.

  “Hand it over,” Oleander commanded.

  Valerie saw Cyrus assess their chances of taking on Oleander and the rest of the Guardians and winning. He turned and threw the globe over the rail of the stairway, and it smashed onto the floor into a thousand glittering pieces.

  Oleander grabbed Cyrus by his hair, but released him when Valerie kicked her in the chest, sending her stumbling back into the men behind her. The Guardians advanced, and Valerie could see that they were gearing up to fight.

  “Attacking children?” Kanti asked, adopting a hurt expression on her beautiful face. Valerie had to bite back a smile to see Kanti trying to work her looks to their advantage. “Are you all as morally bankrupt as Oleander?”

  “She’s right. We should take them to the Knights for questioning,” the man said, bowing his head apologetically.

  Valerie knew they didn’t have the time to waste being questioned by the Knights. Kellen would make sure that they were in a cell locked away from the world with the barest excuse.

  She was evaluating how to cause the least damage to the Guardians while still managing to escape when Kanti held up her hands and a burst of red flower petals showered down on them. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of petals, and it was more disorienting than being caught in a hurricane.

  Kanti grabbed Valerie’s and Cyrus’s hands and yanked them through the middle of the storm. When they reached the bottom of the stairwell, they all ran out the front door as fast as they could, racing across The Horseshoe and ignoring the astonished stares of the other Conjurors, many of whom were eating lunch outside.

  Kanti headed straight to the Society of Imaginary Friends, and Valerie and Cyrus followed without questioning. Once they were inside the front doors, they fell to the ground, catching their breath.

  “That was amazing,” Valerie.

  Kanti was grinning a little. “That’s the first time my power was ever really useful.”

  “See? Being hot can come in handy sometimes,” Cyrus teased. “We should tell Dulcea what happened in case they come looking for us,” Cyrus said.

  Valerie shrank away from the idea of talking to Dulcea again so soon after their last encounter.

  “What about Rastelli? He might try to kill us all if he finds me here. We need a more secure place to hide until this blows over,” Valerie said.

  “Kanti took Rastelli to his house, and he’s been told to remain there until further notice. Dulcea is running the Guild in his place for now,” Cyrus explained.

  Kanti and Cyrus were already heading down the hall, and Valerie followed, lagging behind. Dulcea’s door was wide open, and the sound of Jack’s voice, full of life, and Dulcea’s laugh, made them pause.

  “The A team is here! Great timing,” Jack said when he saw them. He was sitting on Dulcea’s desk, leaning down so his face was close to hers. Dulcea blushed when she saw them and pulled back.

  “What are you doing here?” Kanti asked Jack.

  “I’ve apprenticed to the Acting Guild. They think I could be a lead performer or a great spy. One way or another, my gift for lying is going to make me a star,” Jack said, striking a pose.

  Valerie smiled at Jack’s exuberance. He deserved happiness after years of living in the Black Castle serving Zunya.

  “Congratulations,” she said, and Jack gave her a bear hug.

  Then he lifted Dulcea and spun her around, making her laugh.

  They hadn’t begun to tell Dulcea their reason for visiting when Valerie saw all of the color drain from her friend’s face. Dulcea’s hands fell to her side.

  Valerie turned and saw her father standing at the door to Dulcea’s office, tall and out of place. The mood darkened.

  “What do you want?” Dulcea said, her voice flat.

  “To talk to you. To apologize,” Oberon said, his words clipped from trying to rein in a powerful emotion.

  Without a word, Cyrus and Kanti slipped out the door. Jack gave Oberon a glare and turned to Dulcea.

  “Want me to stay?” he asked her. “Or to kick this guy across The Horseshoe for you?”

  “No,” Dulcea said, her eyes never leaving Oberon’s. “I have a few things to say to this monster. You and Valerie need to leave.”

  Valerie reached for Jack’s arm and pulled him out of the office. She saw a muscle twitching on her father’s face and knew that he was suffering, but she didn’t pity him. Whatever Dulcea said or did would be nothing he didn’t deserve.

  At the same time, a sliver of compassion made its way through the cracks of her anger at her father. He was the proudest person she knew, and she had no doubt that he’d come to beg for forgiveness, something she’d bet her life on that he’d only done for her mother.

  “If he makes her cry, I’m going to punch him in the eye,” Jack said fiercely. “And no using your power to stop me.”

  “I won’t. It’s no more than he deserves,” Valerie said, and Jack eyed her with surprise.

  “You’re tougher than you were when I met you way back when,” he said, and Valerie could tell he meant it as a compliment. Then his expression changed, his whole face regaining some of the glow it had when he’d told them about joining the Acting Guild.

  “I love her, you know,” Jack said, gazing at Dulcea through the little window on the office door. Valerie had never seen him so serious. “She saved me. I’d be back at the Black Castle by now, hating myself, if it weren’t for her. She gave me a home outside of that place for the first time in my life.”

  “She gave me a home once, too, when I needed one. The first one I ever had,” Valerie said. “That’s not a debt you can ever repay.”

  Chapter 14

  Valerie went home that night to wait for Oberon instead of staying out with her friends to strategize like she had been doing the past few weeks. It was time to stop avoiding her father.

  When Oberon came through the door, the furrows in his brow were pronounced, making him seem older than she’d ever seen him. Perhaps for the first time, it hit her how ancient he was, how many mistakes he’d probably made over the centuries, and how many people he’d loved who had died.

  He began to make himself tea, but his hands were shaking. Without saying a word, Valerie took over for him, putting tealeaves in steaming water as her father sat heavily in a chair at the table.

  “Mom would’ve been proud of you today,” Valerie said.

  “Dulcea didn’t forgive me,” Oberon said, resting his head in his hands.

  “But I do,” Valerie said.

  Oberon stood and pulled her into a fierce hug, surprising her so much that she almost dropped his mug of tea.

  “Thank you,” he whispered into her hair.

  A knock on the door made Valerie pull back. Oberon didn’t meet her eyes, and she sensed that he was a little embarrassed by his display of emotion. She left the room to answer the knock and give him time to get himself together.

  Sanguina stood on their front steps, and Valerie immediately reached for Pathos, her heart rate accelerating. Sanguina had proven that she’d changed, and Valerie knew that she wouldn’t have survived her last trip to the Black Castle without Sanguina. But there had been many more years when Sanguina had haunted her, making her life even more miserable than it already was, at Reaper’s request. So even though she trusted Sanguina now, she couldn’t stop her automatic defensive response at the sight of her.

  Oberon joined Valerie at the door and gre
eted Sanguina with less hostility. Sanguina and Valerie’s mother had been best friends, and he knew Sanguina before she had been turned into a vampyre by Zunya.

  “Lydia, come in,” Oberon said, using Sanguina’s real name.

  “It’s Sanguina now,” she said. “I can’t erase what I did, and it would be a lie to live as Lydia again, like nothing happened.”

  Sanguina shuffled through the door, her gait a little uneven from her prosthetic leg. As they walked toward the kitchen, Sanguina picked up a picture of Valerie’s mother from a shelf.

  “I keep thinking Adelita can’t really be gone,” she said.

  Oberon took a breath and assumed a businesslike expression. “Are you here for a visit?”

  Sanguina put the picture down and turned around. “No. I would never come near Valerie and Henry unless there was a need. I know they don’t want to see me.”

  A spasm of guilt made Valerie stare at her feet as she remembered Sanguina saving her life on the battlefield. But she couldn’t deny the truth of her statement. Sanguina had mentally tortured Henry to an even more sadistic degree than she had tortured Valerie, and she would never be a welcome guest in their home.

  “I have a message from a friend, a former Guardian who now lives with the merpeople of Illyria,” Sanguina said. Illyria was the vast underwater world on the Globe that had cities in every major body of water.

  “Who sent me this message?” Oberon asked.

  “It’s not for you. It’s for Valerie. Leo needs to speak with you, and he asked that you also bring Cyrus,” Sanguina said.

  Valerie was puzzled. She had met Leo two years ago when he had chosen to leave his life above water behind and become an immortal Illyrian, tasked with managing the Akashic Records, which was the log of all knowledge in the universe. He wasn’t supposed to surface very often, and he’d recently come from the depths to help them infuse their weapons with light when they had rescued Darling from the Black Castle.

  “Did he say how to find him?” Valerie asked.

  “He’ll be at the Lake of Knowledge tonight,” Sanguina said. “It’s the only time he can get away. He’s been placed under watch for surfacing too often.”

  Valerie nodded. “We’ll be there.”

  Sanguina nodded and turned to leave, but Valerie’s mind was racing.

  “Can you stay?” Valerie asked, gesturing for Sanguina to sit.

  Sanguina sat down, and the briefest smile crossed her face. “You look like Adelita when you’re thinking hard.”

  “I wish I could have known her,” Valerie said. “You were both Guardians of the Boundary, weren’t you?”

  “Yes. We met as apprentices,” Sanguina said.

  “When you were there, you must have heard about the existence of the Byways on Earth and the Globe,” Valerie said, her speech speeding up as she became more excited. “There must have been rumors you heard when you were a Guardian about how to find them.”

  “The location of the Byways was a guarded secret that only the Grand Master was meant to know,” Sanguina said. “However, your mother and I could be very curious.”

  Oberon smiled faintly, his face strained.

  “We broke into the Grand Master’s office on a dare when we were journeymen. The Grand Master wasn’t Midnight, then. It was a grumpy old Conjuror who lorded his power over everyone beneath him,” Sanguina said. “We went through all of his books, but we discovered nothing.”

  Valerie slumped in disappointment. “So you never found out anything.”

  “I didn’t say that. Before we left, we had the chance to examine the scrying globe that is passed from Grand Master to Grand Master,” Sanguina said.

  “I thought that was Midnight’s globe,” Valerie interrupted.

  Sanguina shook her head. “It was crafted for the use of the Guardian Grand Master. It is heavily charmed with complex magic, but as you know, my power is that most magic cannot touch me. So I was able to see that there was a tiny picture on the globe that had been spelled to be invisible to anyone other than the Grand Master.”

  “What did you see?” Valerie asked, breathless.

  “It was a picture of a key. There’s no way to know for sure, but Adelita and I always believed that the key was the location of the Byway on Earth.”

  “Was it in Japan?” Valerie asked, and Sanguina’s eyes widened.

  “Yes,” she said with surprise. “It was in the southern tip of the country. I couldn’t narrow the location of the picture down more than that.”

  “I think we have our first lucky break,” Valerie said, unable to keep the excitement from her voice.

  After Sanguina left, Valerie went to her bedroom and used her crystal to find Thai. He was in his dorm room, sketching on a small drawing pad. She watched him, surprised. He’d told her once that he loved art, but she’d never known he had the ability to create his own.

  Thai glanced up and put his pad on the mattress, face down. Valerie wished she were there in person so she could snatch it up and see what he’d drawn.

  “Ming is safe,” Thai said. “No signs of the Fractus at her house. Chisisi pumped that woman he captured, Lisa, for information, and she said that they tried to kidnap Ming at the hospital because they don’t know where she lives.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Valerie said. “What will Chisisi do to Lisa? She killed Zaki.”

  “She’ll be tried in Guardian court,” Thai said. “Chisisi won’t be a part of the trial because he says he’s too biased.”

  Valerie was awed by Chisisi’s restraint. “I can’t believe he doesn’t want to make her suffer for what she did to his brother.”

  “Oh, he does. But more important than that is doing what is honorable, he says,” Thai explained.

  Valerie absorbed his words, letting the rightness of them settle in her heart.

  “Is there something else?” Thai asked.

  “Yes. We think we have a strong lead on the location of the Byway on Earth. Chisisi needs to get to southern Japan as soon as he can.”

  “What city?” Thai asked.

  “We don’t know anything more specific than that,” she replied.

  “I’ll let him know right away,” Thai said.

  Valerie nodded and prepared to say goodbye when Thai spoke up again.

  “How’s Henry? Does he like his Guild?” he asked, his eyes searching her face.

  He seemed to be reaching for questions, trying to delay her from leaving. His eyes flickered with an emotion she couldn’t identify. Loneliness? Longing? He’d lost Tan and Logan in the space of a few weeks. Valerie couldn’t help her instinctive urge to erase his pain. After everything, she hoped they were still friends.

  “Henry’s on the brink of a breakdown,” she admitted, sitting next to Thai on his bed. “If his father is hurt, he’ll never forgive himself. Every morning, I check his room, wondering if he’s left to give Reaper what he wants in exchange for his father’s life. And maybe he should.”

  Valerie hadn’t admitted to anyone that she was starting to despair that they’d never find Joe. There were no ancient clues to find, like there were with the Byways.

  “Do you think it’s wrong, convincing him to risk his dad’s life like this?” Valerie asked Thai.

  Thai considered her words. “I don’t think it’s his decision to make. Or yours. What would Joe want Henry to do?”

  “He told Henry not to give the Fractus what they wanted,” Valerie said.

  “Then he should honor that,” Thai said.

  “You’re right,” Valerie replied, and she felt as if a weight had been lifted from her mind.

  “Tell me,” Thai said, staring at her with his dark, intense eyes. “Is your life on the Globe better than the one you left behind?”

  “Yes,” Valerie said without hesitation. “There are people who love me here. I have a family. It counterbalances Reaper and the Fractus and the responsibilities of being a vivicus.”

  “Still, there must be things you miss about Earth,�
�� Thai said.

  Valerie could think of just one as she stared back at him.

  Thai reached toward her. The expression on his face changed as he seemed to remember that he couldn’t touch her now that a universe separated them, and he let his hand drop.

  “Goodbye, Thai,” she whispered.

  Henry and Kanti joined Cyrus and Valerie that night when they went to the Lake of Knowledge to meet Leo.

  “Dasan thinks we may be able to touch Joe’s mind, even though it’s across the universe, if a group of Empaths pools their magic,” Henry said with an almost feverish excitement. “Remember, Val, when I touched your mind from Earth when you were on the Globe?”

  “Yes. And let me help, too. We’ve located people’s minds together before,” Valerie said.

  “I was hoping you’d say that,” he replied.

  Kanti reached for Henry’s hand and squeezed it hard. Valerie could guess what her friend was thinking. If the Empaths failed to locate Joe, Henry would be driven to despair. Valerie doubted that anyone could stop him from giving in to Reaper’s demands then.

  They reached the lake, and Valerie saw that Elden was waiting by the gently lapping water. The gold sheen on his dark skin was even more noticeable in the starlight.

  “Are you here to meet Leo as well?” Valerie asked him.

  Elden nodded. “We worked together before Leo became an Illyrian, but we were not close friends. For him to summon me now means that something is amiss.”

  Bubbles rose from the glittering water of the lake, and Leo emerged, water streaming down his face and hair. He took stock of everyone who had come, his relief evident.

  “I wasn’t sure who my message would reach,” Leo said. “But the only two missing are Gideon and Azra. You will share my news with them?”

  Valerie nodded. She wasn’t surprised that Azra and Gideon were harder to reach now that they had both been stripped of their titles and all but thrown out of the power structure of Arden.