Guardians of the Boundary (The Conjurors Series Book 3) Read online

  The part of Valerie that was a teenager with a broken heart balked. But she set her face into a calm mask and dug around her dresser drawer for Thai’s charm. She drew a breath and touched it.

  The first thing she saw when her mind reached Earth were the yellow eyes of one of her oldest tormentors—Zunya. Her heart went to her stomach at the sight of him, but she quickly reined in her emotions. Zunya was a vampyre who fed on fear, and she wouldn’t give him any extra ammunition.

  “You’ve made your point,” Chisisi’s voice was cool, but Valerie could hear a thread of fear beneath it that he was struggling to hide.

  Valerie turned at the sound of Chisisi’s voice, and saw that he was clutching an unmoving Thai in his arms. At the sight of Thai’s pale face, her pulse skyrocketed.

  Zunya was on Earth in person, and he’d already found and hurt the person she loved most.

  “Get away from him!” Valerie shrieked, dropping to her knees beside Thai.

  Zunya’s surprise was quickly replaced by a smug smile.

  “I had so hoped we’d meet again soon,” Zunya’s oily voice made Valerie sick to her stomach. “But even I could never have orchestrated such perfect timing. This is a warning. You and your brother have friends on Earth you’d like to remain intact.”

  Thai groaned, and Valerie almost collapsed with relief. He wasn’t dead.

  “Mind your business and leave us to ours,” Zunya continued. “Or my next warning will make this one seem friendly.”

  Chisisi gently laid Thai on the ground. When he stood up, his face was tense with anger.

  “You’re not welcome here,” Chisisi said.

  “What do you think you can do about it, human?” Zunya snarled.

  Zunya’s surprised gasp matched Valerie’s when Chisisi whipped out two throwing stars from his sleeves and hurtled them at the vampyre.

  Zunya moved quickly, but his arm was sliced cleanly. He snarled and leapt for Chisisi, but the lithe Guardian was ready for the attack. In a move that reminded Valerie of one of her own, Chisisi used Zunya’s momentum against him and hurtled him over his shoulder, slamming him into the ground.

  Chisisi winced at the physical contact with the vampyre, which Valerie knew was incredibly painful, even for those who didn’t have magic that Zunya could steal. Zunya could rip away Chisisi’s life with prolonged contact.

  Chisisi didn’t give him the chance. He grabbed a strange silver wire off a wall near the door of the room and hit Zunya’s leg with it, hard. The wire latched around the vampyre’s ankle, and Zunya made a noise of pain. His body shook as if he were having a seizure.

  The cords of muscle on Chisisi’s arms flexed as he gripped the wire and dragged Zunya out of the room. Zunya struggled weakly, but before he could fully recover Chisisi had yanked him through the open door.

  Chisisi quickly reentered the room and pushed the door shut behind him. It was metal, with an elaborate wheel attached to it. He spun the wheel quickly, and Valerie heard a lock slide into place.

  “It is my fault that Thai was attacked. I was careless and left the door open,” Chisisi said, his eyes meeting Valerie’s for the first time.

  Valerie knelt beside Thai, who was struggling to open his eyes, as she responded to Chisisi. “You were amazing. You saved his life.”

  Chisisi remained pale. “My brother told me many times to always secure the safe house first, before doing any other action. I should have heeded his words today.”

  Thai was conscious now, though weak. He pushed himself up to a seated position and noticed Valerie for the first time.

  “Did you see all that?” he asked with a strange note in his voice. Was he embarrassed?

  “Only the end. What happened?” Valerie asked.

  “He barely touched me, but it was like my soul was being ripped from my body,” Thai said.

  Valerie nodded. “I’ve been there.”

  “He did that to you?” Thai said, his face tense with rage.

  “I’ve never felt so helpless,” she admitted. “Don’t let it eat you up that you couldn’t fight that. It means that there must be a lot of magic in you for you to be so vulnerable to him.”

  “Young miss is right,” Chisisi agreed. “We are lucky his purpose was to threaten, not kill.”

  “He wants me to know he’s going to come after people I love if I try to stop him,” Valerie said, the weight of Zunya’s words settling upon her heart now that the immediate danger had passed. She saw a pained expression cross Thai’s face, and she wished she hadn’t admitted out loud that she still loved him.

  “You would do best to stay hidden. It is not only you, but also your family who are vulnerable,” Chisisi said to Thai. “I simply wish for you to consider all the risks if you decide to become a Guardian on Earth.”

  Valerie turned to Thai, wide-eyed. “I thought you wanted a normal college life, away from all this.”

  “My business with Chisisi has nothing to do with you.”

  Valerie forced herself not to stamp her foot with frustration. “Obviously it does, since Zunya is using your safety as leverage to keep me from stopping the Fractus!”

  “Enough, young ones,” Chisisi said firmly. “As much as we may all wish our fates were not bound up in this battle, they are. I was wrong to dissuade either of you from your paths. We will need all hands to stop the Fractus.”

  Valerie nodded and forced herself to breathe more slowly. A year ago, she would have tried to shield Thai from danger, but like her, he had to make his own decisions. Her fear for Thai’s safety couldn’t govern her every move. There were too many lives depending on her now.

  “I came here to talk to you, Chisisi,” Valerie began, and she explained about the Fractus’s search for the Byways, and the implications of what could happen.

  Thai and Chisisi listened without interrupting until she was done.

  “Our contact with the Guardians on the Globe ceased abruptly a few weeks ago. Azra has tried to keep us informed on the actions of the Fractus when she’s been able to get away from her duties, but we did not know the extent of the Fractus’s threat,” Chisisi said. “There has been little guidance on how to approach their attacks on Earth.”

  “That’s because Midnight is dead,” Valerie choked out. Thai made a sound of pain. Midnight had been his friend, too, and had coached him through his transition as an amoebiate.

  “How?” he asked, his face devoid of color.

  “Reaper murdered her,” Valerie said, and couldn’t bring herself to say more. Instead, she changed the subject. “Her successor, Oleander, can’t be trusted. She’s Fractus, and she had a hand in Midnight’s death.”

  Chisisi nodded gravely. “I have met her. Her aura is dark.”

  “I don’t know which Guardians on the Globe can be trusted,” Valerie admitted.

  “How do you advise us to proceed?” Chisisi asked. His question took her by surprise, and Chisisi took note of her expression. “I am not alone in considering you the commander of the battle that is coming. The Guardians on Earth are at your disposal. We will follow where you lead.”

  A rush of dread turned Valerie’s fingers to ice, but she accepted the responsibility without struggling. This was her life now.

  Valerie’s conversation with Chisisi and Thai left her drained. She wished that she could crawl under her covers and forget about the future for a while. She didn’t let herself give in to the impulse, but she did allow herself to go find Cyrus.

  She knocked on his door, and he didn’t give her a chance to speak before he was kissing her. Despite all her worries, she giggled as he dragged her inside his room, slamming the door behind her.

  “I missed you,” he said, moving his face back an inch.

  “Me, too.”

  Being with Cyrus was a relief—he knew her longer and better than anyone else in the universe, and she didn’t have to pretend like she knew what she was doing or she was stronger than she really was.

  “Of course you missed me, like a flower
misses the sunshine,” Cyrus joked.

  Valerie tackled him to the floor, easily pinning him beneath her.

  “You could at least pretend that was a little difficult for you,” Cyrus huffed, but she could see he wasn’t really annoyed. She started to shift off of him, but he gripped her. “I didn’t mean you should move. I surrender.”

  Valerie kissed him again, letting her body melt into his. Cyrus flipped her over so that she was on her back, but she pulled away before she could lose her train of thought.

  “I didn’t come here to make out,” she said.

  Cyrus leaned closer and kissed her neck. Almost against her will, her eyes fluttered closed.

  “Are you sure? I think maybe you did,” he said, making her laugh again.

  Valerie shoved him away, for real this time. Cyrus groaned in frustration, but he moved away from her.

  “I have to start looking for the Byways,” she said to him. “Do you think Cara or Ceru might be able to put me in contact with one of the People of the Woods to see what they know?”

  Cara, Cyrus’s little sister, had recently joined the People of the Woods on a secret mission after meeting Ceru. Cyrus nodded slowly.

  “Last I heard, she’s staying with Elden’s people in the treetops near Dunsinane,” he said with a shudder. “I wish she’d stay close to Silva where I could keep an eye on her.”

  Valerie remembered Elden, a leader of the People of the Woods whom she had met when she had returned to the Globe the year before.

  “Do you know how to get there?” she asked Cyrus.

  “It’s not a place you can find unless the People of the Woods want you to. Ceru is visiting home right now, so there’s no one I can ask,” Cyrus said.

  “I’ll find a way,” Valerie said.

  Despite her confidence when she talked to Cyrus, Valerie wasn’t sure whom to approach next. But she was impatient and jittery, needing to take action. By habit, she headed to the Knights of Light for training. Gideon was standing near the arches, scanning the Conjurors roaming The Horseshoe.

  “I wasn’t sure how to find you,” Valerie said to her mentor.

  “I have been waiting for you to come for your guild training. You’re late, and though I am not your instructor, it would be unwise to neglect your training,” he said sternly. Valerie was about to interrupt to fill him in on what had happened, but Gideon continued. “Azra has told me of Reaper’s appearance to the Grand Masters and suggested that I go to the People of the Woods for their help.”

  “Take me with you,” Valerie said.

  Gideon nodded. “It is why I came to find you. In addition to teaching you to shield your mind against magical assaults, you must also begin assembling an army of your own. It will not be long before the Fractus attack the Globe, and we need our allies ready.”

  “How do I convince people to put themselves in danger for me?” she asked, hoping her voice didn’t sound as childish to Gideon as it did to her own ears.

  “They put themselves in danger to protect their families, their way of life,” Gideon reminded her.

  “But they’re trusting me to guide them,” Valerie replied.

  “To win their hearts to the cause, you must fully believe in it yourself.”

  If she was honest, Valerie could see the appeal of free travel between the Earth and the Globe that the Fractus promised. Many innocent people on Earth would benefit from magic, if it was used for good.

  “I believe the Fractus are evil, and that they will abuse their power on Earth and the Globe if we allow it,” she said cautiously.

  “People need more than a common enemy to be fully invested. You must find within yourself how both worlds can be better by ending the Fractus’s threat,” Gideon said.

  “I don’t know what that future should be,” Valerie admitted.

  “Leading people by inspiration rather than fear means being able to tell a compelling story. One of a future that is brighter than today,” Gideon said. “It is up to you to decide what that story will be.”

  Thinking about it that way gave Valerie a measure of relief. One of her favorite things to do when she’d been in the hospital on Earth was to make up stories to tell the sick children to distract them.

  “I’ll think about it,” she said.

  “Think quickly. We leave tonight.”

  Valerie packed a call box of supplies for her trip and told Oberon where she was going.

  “I will cancel my work and come with you,” he said.

  “I won’t be in danger,” Valerie insisted. She sensed that having her powerful father, with his past ties to the Fractus, glowering by her side would not help her win over the People of the Woods. “Gideon is coming with me, and Elden is a friend.”

  The tension in her father’s face eased slightly at her words. “Elden can be trusted.”

  Valerie tried to hide her relief. “I’ll be back in two days at the most.”

  She didn’t mention that Kanti and Cyrus were coming with her as well as Gideon, not wanting to hurt Oberon. Henry was in a period of intense study at the Empathy Collective and had decided to stay in Silva, so Oberon would have company at home.

  Her father escorted her to the door and hugged her at the threshold. Every time he did that, it was a little less awkward, and Valerie shut her eyes to appreciate it.

  When he released her, she saw Oberon’s gaze flick up and register Gideon waiting at the edge of their garden with Chrome, a gray wolf with the power to track magic trails, at his side.

  “I’ll invite them in and be right back,” Valerie said, but was surprised when Oberon shook his head.

  “There is history between Gideon and me that has left bad blood,” he said.

  “What happened?” she asked, unable to curb her curiosity, despite the closed expression on her father’s face.

  “A story for another time,” Oberon said in a tone that meant the subject was closed forever. She’d see about that.

  “Bye, Dad,” she said, and walked to Gideon. When she turned around at the edge of the woods, he was still watching them, and he waved goodbye.

  Gideon’s face was stony, and now that Valerie knew there was history between him and her father, she couldn’t resist asking a question.

  “How do you know my father?” Valerie asked him.

  “That is a story for him to share with you,” Gideon said, sounding as stubborn as Oberon.

  But Chrome sent an image to her mind of Gideon, Oberon, and her mother, Adelita. Gideon stood in front of Adelita with his sword drawn, as if he were protecting her from Oberon.

  Valerie knew that Gideon had been friends with her mother—they had worked together to combat the Fractus. She questioned now why she hadn’t probed more about their relationship.

  Chrome nudged her leg with his nose, as if to tell her not to reveal what he’d shown, and she gave him a small nod.

  Valerie was thinking about how to frame a question to Gideon about her mother when her mentor spoke up.

  “It may not be my place to say, but since there is no one else to warn you, I will tell you to be on your guard around Oberon,” Gideon said gravely.

  “Maybe you were right not to talk about my dad,” Valerie said, her flash of anger surprising her with its intensity. “He’d never hurt me.”

  Gideon shook his head. “He will protect you and Henry, I am sure. But he may not do it the way you expect. He would lie, steal, and kill for you, even if it is the wrong thing and you would not wish him to. When Oberon decides what is best for those he loves, he does it at any cost.”

  Valerie’s fists unclenched as she considered Gideon’s words more objectively. “You need to tell me what happened and let me make up my own mind.”

  Gideon nodded, staring straight ahead. “Oberon first met your mother in battle. She had the chance to end his life, but she chose to let him live, believing that he could be a powerful ally if we convinced him that the Fractus’s ways were misguided.”

  “She was right,” Valer
ie couldn’t help saying.

  Gideon’s face twisted before he resumed his usual calm. “How did he repay her? He came to her Guild and attacked her while she trained alone one morning. I saw them battling, and together we sent him off. But he wouldn’t leave her alone. He’d show up at her home, when she walked the streets of Silva. Adelita swore that he wasn’t really using his full power when he attacked, that he wouldn’t hurt her. He was fighting within himself and projecting his doubts onto her.”

  Chrome flashed an image in Valerie’s mind of Adelita lying on a dusty piece of ground. Oberon loomed over her, lightning sparking from his clenched fists. But in this memory, Adelita said something, angry, and he dropped his hands. He leaned forward and helped her to her feet, and their eyes met. Even through the haze of Chrome’s memory, the intense connection between her parents was unmistakable.

  “I’ll never understand how he convinced her to trust him,” Gideon said, and Valerie heard pain in his voice. She examined her mentor closely, wondering for the first time how close Gideon and her mother had been.

  “She saw something good in him. It’s there, I swear to you. I’ve seen it,” Valerie said.

  “That isn’t all,” Gideon said, and his eyes blazed again. “A year after they were together, the Fractus ordered Oberon to create a great storm over the woods. They didn’t say why, but he must have known it was to hurt someone. Even though he had forsworn his alliance to the Fractus for Adelita, when they threatened her life, he gave in and did what they asked.”

  Valerie couldn’t hide her confusion. “Storms happen all the time. What’s the big deal?”

  Gideon finally turned to her. “Ask your friend Dulcea how dangerous a storm created by as powerful a Conjuror as Oberon can be. Her parents died that day, killed by his magic as surely as if it had been by his own hand. Do you think your mother thanked him for his protection at the expense of innocent lives?”

  Valerie’s mind was moving through sludge, unable to process Gideon’s words. “How could she have ever forgiven him?”

  Gideon turned away without speaking, but Chrome sent her a final image of Oberon on his knees, blind and full of repentance. She didn’t hear the words that were pouring out of him, but his eyes reflected the depth of his regret as he pounded the ground with his fists. Something he said made her mother’s face soften.