Edge of Pathos (The Conjurors Series Book 4) (2 page)

It was night by the
time that Valerie and Gideon turned their steps homeward. In the moonlight,
everything seemed less like a wasteland and more like the city that she’d
fallen in love with when she’d first come to the Globe.

“Oberon would be
proud of how you are leading this war,” Gideon said after they had walked
silently for a ways. There was no bitterness in his voice, even though Gideon
and her father had not been friends.

Valerie released a
laugh that was also a sob. “He’d probably tell me to listen to Skye and kill as
many Fractus as I can.”

Gideon flashed her a
brief smile. “You might be right. But he’d support you when you told him no.”

They reached the
garden in front of her house, and Valerie shut her eyes, letting herself
remember her father—the taste of his awful pancakes, the effortless grace of
his movements when he fought in battle, and, best of all, the pride in his
stormy eyes whenever he looked at her.

Gideon’s sharp
breath brought her back to reality, and she opened her eyes and saw why he’d
been startled. In the waning light, in the middle of a drought, her father’s
garden had bloomed. He had filled it with hundreds of white poppies. It was the
flower that he said symbolized her, and it was the only kind he’d planted in
his garden, apparently.

Had he somehow known
that he would die, and had left this as a gift to her? It didn’t matter. As the
delicate scent of the flowers reached her, she laughed. Beside her, Gideon was
smiling, too.

“I’m starting to see
why your mother loved him,” he admitted.

Valerie asked him
the question she’d never had the guts to before. “You loved her, too, didn’t
you?”

He nodded once, and
then squeezed her shoulder.

“And like Oberon, I
am proud of you,” he said. “I see her in you, next to the best parts of your
father.”

The lump in
Valerie’s throat made it impossible to speak, so she gave Gideon a hug instead.
Finally, she cleared her throat.

“I
promised someone the first bloom from my garden,” she said. “I’ll be back
before dawn.”

Valerie raced through
the forest to one of the trees that led up to Arbor Aurum, the capital city for
the People of the Woods, and also the location where Elden, their former
leader, was healing.

She climbed the tree
effortlessly, because she’d had a lot of practice. The People were on the front
lines of the fight with the Fractus, with a contingent on Earth and another on
the Globe. They fought the Fractus guerrilla-style, hiding in the trees and
leaping out to attack the army when they tried to advance into Silva. Valerie
talked battle tactics with them several times a week.

When she reached the
platform, it was full dark, but the stars were brighter up there. The wounded
were all located in an enormous hollow tree deep in the city, where they could
be protected.

Elden’s alcove was
usually attended by his wife, daughter, or one of his many friends, but at this
time of night, he was alone. He slept fitfully, his fingers obsessively twining
and untwining. He hadn’t regained consciousness since he’d been almost fatally
attacked with one of the black weapons wielded by the Fractus.

“I brought you a
poppy, the first bloom of my garden, like I promised,” Valerie said, speaking
quietly so as not to awaken the other patients.

Elden’s hands
stilled at the sound of her voice.

“I wish you’d wake
up,” she continued, and let her body slump a little. For the first time in a
while, she wasn’t thinking like a leader, wishing that one of her most trusted
generals would get back into the action. She was just a girl who missed her friend.

“Valerie, you’re
back,” Cara said.

She turned and gave
Cyrus’s sister a smile. “You’re still helping give the sick light treatments?”

Cara had fully
embraced her potential as a lightweaver, and Cyrus was helping her develop her
magic.

“My parents are horrified,
even though I’m using my magic to save lives, not take them.”

“You’re doing the
right thing,” Valerie said.

“I know. Someday
they will, too, I hope,” Cara said. “In the meantime, I’m enjoying the fact
that Arbor Aurum doesn’t have cell phone service. The only means to contact me
are magical, so I haven’t heard from them since I left.”

Valerie turned back
to Elden. “Any change in him?”

Cara put her hand
against Elden’s chest, and Valerie watched light pulse from her hand into her
patient, giving him a temporary glow. She wasn’t sure if it was her
imagination, but he seemed to breathe a little easier.

“Some days, he seems
stronger,” Cara said. “Other days, it seems like his recovery has plateaued. We
don’t know what the long-term effects of the Fractus’s weapons are. And Elden
had a very strong exposure.”

Valerie was grateful
that Cara didn’t try to hide her doubts. She barely recognized the girl she’d
met three years ago. That angry kid had been replaced by someone who seemed to
know her purpose better than Valerie did.

“How’s Cyrus?” Cara
asked.

Valerie knew that
she’d seen her brother earlier in the week, so she suspected that Cara was
really asking how she and Cyrus were doing.

“There’s not a lot
of time for romance in the middle of a war,” Valerie hedged.

“He loves you. If
you don’t feel the same, you need to let him know,” Cara said, eyeing her
critically.

“I love Cyrus!”

“You know what I
mean,” Cara said, her tone brooking no nonsense.

Valerie deflated a
little. “I would never string him along.”

Cara cocked her
eyebrow at Valerie’s Earth expression, but she nodded. “No one dies of a broken
heart in real life. People move on.”

“Okay,” Valerie
said, since Cara was still staring at her.

Cara broke the
tension with a smile and a welcome change of subject. “Tell Ceru to come visit
me.”

Ceru was a
journeyman at Cyrus’s old guild, The Society of Imaginary Friends. He was one
of Cyrus’s good friends, and Valerie suspected that Cara had a crush on him.

“I’m not going to
tell Cyrus you said that,” Valerie teased.

“Thanks. Ceru never
sees me as anything other than a child, though,” Cara said, and her earlier
maturity slipped away. “But I’m not!”

Valerie couldn’t
help being reminded of when she’d first met Thai. She remembered his bossy
attitude with bemused affection.

“Why are you
grinning like that?” Cara asked.

“Thank you, Cara,”
Valerie said.

“For what?”

“For giving me the
first somewhat normal night I’ve had in a really, really long time.”

Valerie didn’t need an
alarm or a wakeup call to be up with the sun every morning. Her body seemed to
know that it could only take the minimum amount of sleep it needed before
sending her back to the endless string of tasks that awaited her every day.

As usual, she
checked in with Chisisi first. She opened a drawer that had an ancient,
handheld tape recorder and concentrated. Instantly, she was inside the outdated
electronics shop in Japan where Chisisi was currently running the operations of
the Guardians of the Boundary on Earth.

Thai was bent over a
laptop with Chisisi, and the two were deep in discussion. Valerie cursed her
traitorous heart for leaping at the sight of Thai’s broad shoulders.

“Any attacks over
the night?” Valerie asked, deciding to get in and out as fast as possible.

Thai turned and
flashed her a smile that made her cheeks heat up in spite of herself.

“It was calm, for a
change,” Thai said.

Chisisi was still
staring at the screen. “Your Thai has developed an interesting program to analyze
the locations of the Fractus’s attacks. It is proving most helpful in
identifying where they will strike next.”

“They’re searching
for something pretty systematically,” Thai explained. “I think we can all guess
what.”

“The charm that’s
repressing magic on Earth, right?” Valerie asked.

“Young miss has the
right of it,” Chisisi said, turning at last. His eyes were shadowed from
fatigue. He’d been working tirelessly to stop the Fractus since the death of
his brother, and it was taking a toll.

“It’s not going to
be easy for us to find it before the Fractus do. There’s way more of them than
us,” Thai said.

Valerie
unconsciously rubbed her temples, where a headache was already forming. “At
least when they’re searching, they’re less likely to be attacking humans.”

Chisisi’s phone
rang, and he answered it.

“Yes,” he said, his
tone clipped. He listened, his body absolutely still. “I am on hand to help if
you need it.”

Chisisi hung up.
“I’m going to Dubai. A battle is brewing there between the Fractus and my people.”

“Send me instead,”
Valerie said.

“Send us,” Thai
corrected. “You need sleep, Chisisi.”

He briefly touched
the older man on his back, and Valerie could see the gentle affection in the
gesture. Before Chisisi could respond, Valerie was blasted with a wave of pure
panic from Henry’s mind. Henry so rarely completely opened himself to her
anymore that Valerie stumbled, and would have fallen if Thai hadn’t caught her
elbow.

“Henry needs help!”
she said. Her vision cleared. “I’m sorry, Chisisi, but I have to go to him.”

“Go, young ones. I
will see to the Fractus in Dubai.”

Thai gripped her
hand, and they were back in Valerie’s garden.

“Not here. The
Society of Imaginary Friends. I’ll meet you there,” Valerie said, and took off
at full speed, letting her magic power her legs.

But Thai was still
holding her hand, and somehow he kept up, even though she was running so fast
that the trees were a blur in her peripheral vision.

They didn’t stop
until they burst through the doors of the Guild. Standing in the middle of the
playful, colorful center of the room was Zunya, surrounded by two-dozen of the
boys from Jack’s old gang of friends whom he’d given the ability to absorb
magic.

The boys’ white eyes
and the black stitching on their throats were terrifying, and the Conjurors of
the Guild, many of who were children, cowered away from the spectacle.

“I thought this
would get your attention,” Zunya’s voice boomed across the room as his yellow
eyes connected with Valerie’s. “You’re a difficult person to get ahold of now that
people foolishly think you matter.”

“What do you want?”
Valerie asked, keeping her voice steady. Zunya fed on fear, and he already had
a feast. She wouldn’t add her own to the mix.

“I’m here to propose
a treaty,” Zunya said.

“Sure you are,” she
said, analyzing the possibility of getting to his side before he hurt someone.

“Reaper’s idea, not
mine. I recommended slaughtering you all,” Zunya said. “Starting with these
kids.”

The high-pitched
screams that followed his words only made him smile wider, but Valerie saw that
he wasn’t directing his power at anyone yet. He was here for something else,
she suspected.

Her eyes flicked
around the room to assess her advantages. Through her connection with Henry,
she knew that he was watching from a platform thirty floors above with Dulcea.
They were waiting for her signal to join in the fray.

A flash of light in
a corner caught her attention, but she was careful not to direct her gaze in
that direction. Cyrus was sending her a message that he was on hand, too. That was
when she remembered what was happening in the Guild today. It was Dulcea’s
inauguration ceremony as the new Grand Master of the Society of Imaginary
Friends.

“What is your master
proposing?” Valerie asked, knowing that her choice of words would irk Zunya.

His expression
darkened. Score.

“I’m my own master.
But Reaper wants to declare a peace so we can tend to our wounded for ten
days.”

“He doesn’t care
about his wounded. You’re all expendable to him. What’s this really about?”

“You’re right. We
don’t have any wounded that we care to nurse to health. But you do. You can
have this time for a small price.”

“I figured as much.
What do you want?”

Valerie’s mind
whirred, imagining the possibilities if she had ten whole days of peace. Aside
from giving their wounded a few days of uninterrupted care, they could port in
water and fresh food from neighboring cities; restock their weapons, which were
running dangerously low; and sleep. What was all that worth to her?

“We want access to
the tunnels in Plymouth for those ten days,” Zunya said, naming the underground
city that was sealed against everyone aboveground.

“No way,” Valerie
shot back. “I’m not letting you slaughter more people for whatever sick reasons
you have.”

“No one in Plymouth
will be harmed. We are using the tunnels for transportation of materials we
need,” Zunya said.

“Like we’d ever
trust your word!” Dulcea shouted down at him. Henry yanked her back before
Zunya could see who’d spoken.

“I know you’re here,
Henry,” Zunya said.

Henry’s mind was
open to her, and Zunya’s words registered like a poisonous snake slithering up
his spine. Goosebumps broke out on her arms from the volume of Henry’s terror.

But none of that
fear was evident in his voice or stance when he jumped onto a platform that
shot him to the ground. He stepped off and moved next to Valerie and Thai.

“Why doesn’t he bend
space and create a portal? He can go wherever he wants,” Henry said.

“He has his reasons
for wanting to go through Plymouth. But he promises that the people there will
not be contacted or harmed in any way. And you of all people should know that
Reaper keeps his word,” Zunya said. “Didn’t your daddy’s end prove that?”

Valerie wasn’t ready
for the immensity of Henry’s power when he unleashed it. A blast of psychic
power knocked Zunya off his feet and slammed him into the far wall so hard that
it cracked.

The room exploded in
movement as all of the Conjurors surged toward the exits at the windows and
doors.

“It didn’t have to
be this way. The offer was made in good faith. But Reaper’s wishes or not, now
you all have to die,” Zunya said, rising to his feet.

The boys Zunya
brought with him opened their mouths. The yawning caverns in their faces were
like a void, and Valerie’s power started slipping away from her.

“Cyrus, get over here!”
she shouted, and then turned to Henry and Thai. “We fight back to back.”

Pathos was already
in her hand, and together, they moved as a pack toward the boys. The closer
they got, the more her power was torn away, but she knew that they couldn’t
run. There were too many children at risk if they didn’t eject Zunya and his
gang right away.

They made it to the
first boy, and Valerie had enough of her power left to knock him in the head
with a spin kick. He fell to the ground, and the immensity of the attack on her
magic ebbed by a tiny fraction.

At the same time,
Cyrus reached them and sent a beam of light out of his hands. He was nearly
knocked over by three kids aiming for an exit behind them, and Thai gripped his
shoulder so he didn’t fall. The beam of light turned into a fireball that shot
straight at Zunya.

Zunya released a
yelp of pain as the flames engulfed him. But the fire set off some kind of
magical sprinkler system, and soon water was shooting everywhere, soaking
everyone and putting out the fire Cyrus had started. In the resulting chaos,
Valerie, Henry, Thai, and Cyrus pressed their advantage, knocking two more boys
out as they raced toward Zunya, who was charred and crumpled on the floor, but
still breathing.

A heady excitement
filled Valerie, seeing Zunya injured for the first time in her life. But before
she could rejoice, he slammed his fist into the ground, and black veins of
magic shot through the floor, spreading to the points around the room where
each of the boys in his little army stood.

Before Valerie could
react, she saw all of Zunya’s boys fall to the ground when the black line
reached them. As one, they convulsed, and the lines in the ground swelled,
pumping magic to Zunya.

Zunya inhaled deeply
and stood. His eyes flicked from Valerie to Thai to Cyrus to Henry. Then he
pulled a black dagger from his boot and threw it. There was a flash of darkness
as it whipped through the air, and then embedded itself in the heart of a young
Conjuror who was frozen against a wall, watching the scene.

Screams erupted as
Valerie ran to the boy’s side. Zunya used the distraction to leap through the
window with superhuman speed.

For Valerie, nothing
mattered but the boy. She shoved her way to his side, pushed back his sweaty
mass of dark curls, and unleashed her vivicus power into his little body. Her
power flooded her with its pain and potential. This time, she seemed to know
when his little spark of life blazed up. He’d live.

Valerie struggled to
pull back her power, and Henry helped her lock it up inside of her again before
it consumed her.

Dulcea had scooped
the boy up, though he looked more scared than weak.

Valerie saw
blackness at the edges of her vision, but she pushed it back.

“I’m going after
Zunya. I can stop him, I know it,” Cyrus said, kneeling beside her.

“No,” Valerie said.

Cyrus started to go
anyway, and Valerie held him back by his arm.

“As the leader of
the Fist, I’m telling you that you’re too valuable to go after Zunya alone, and
we can’t all go until we secure this location,” Valerie said.

She could see the
struggle on his face. His eyes flicked toward the window Zunya had jumped out
of, his body tense, and Valerie prepared herself to knock him out if she had
to. But then, his eyes connected with hers, and she knew they were both
remembering the last time he’d gone against her orders.

Cyrus jerked his arm
away, but he nodded. “Fine, I’ll stay.”

Valerie summoned her
strength, and Henry helped her stand. She put as much authority into her tone
as she could to help calm the terrified children.

“Thai, go find Jack.
These boys are his friends, and he might know whether they need a jail or a
healer. Henry, help me get them somewhere secure in the meantime. Cyrus, get
the kids out of here. They know you and trust you, and we don’t know whether or
not the threat is over.”

Cyrus nodded, only a
little grudgingly, but before he moved away, he paused and knelt by one of
Zunya’s boys. He touched him and released a gentle pulse of light.

The boy gasped and
sat up. His eyes were normal, brown, and full of life. He reached for his
throat, touching the black stitches there.

“Are you okay?”
Cyrus asked him.

The boy tried to
speak, but no sound came out. But he also didn’t move to run or attack.
Instead, he took a shuddering gulp of air, and his eyes filled with tears.

“I think you fixed
him,” Valerie said to Cyrus, staring at him with awe.

The boy nodded.

“Score
one for the good guys,” Thai said, and everyone, even Cyrus, grinned.