Edge of Pathos (The Conjurors Series Book 4) (22 page)

“No,” Cyrus said. He
stopped, and so did she. “As a girlfriend, you suck. As leader of the Fist, you
did the right thing, and saving those people today was one of the best things
I’ve ever done in my life.”

Valerie bit her lip.

“And even though I
can’t be around you right now, as your best friend, I’m proud of you for doing
what was right.”

When Valerie and
Cyrus emerged from Plymouth, Chisisi was pacing by the door. It was the first
time Valerie had seen him on the Globe.

“Miss lives,”
Chisisi said, briefly shutting his eyes in relief.

Valerie saw that
Skye was also waiting for her. Willa and Steven were watching the scene, eyes
wide with curiosity.

Chisisi brushed dirt
off of his wrinkled shirt before he spoke. ”The attacks on Earth have
increased dramatically. The Fractus have switched focus from targeting specific
individuals or groups, presumably for information, to attacking major seats of
power, such as Washington, D.C., Beijing, London, and Singapore.”

“Why the change in
strategy?” Cyrus asked.

“Perhaps they found
the information they were seeking, and are now beginning their plan to conquer
Earth,” Chisisi suggested. “The Fractus are occupying all of our forces, and we
cannot protect everyone. People are dying by the hundreds.”

“I don’t think the
Fractus attacks on humans are really about taking over their governments, at
least not yet. Right now, they’re distracting us,” Valerie guessed. “They must
be close to finding the charm that binds magic on Earth, and they don’t want us
in their way.”

“That may be,”
Chisisi said. “My sources are scouring the Atacama Desert, but we are no closer
to finding the flame.”

“We have to send
reinforcements,” Valerie said.

Skye nodded.
“Chisisi and I came to the same understanding. But it will mean weakening our
protection of Arden.”

“We don’t have a
choice. We can’t let people die,” Valerie said, and then turned to Cyrus. “Get
Henry and tell him to check in with Sanguina on Earth. The prophecy I read in
the Roaming City said that we’re at our strongest when we’re working together.
Even if we can’t be next to each other, maybe if we’re both on Earth, we’ll
have a better chance of driving back the Fractus.”

“There’s another
matter,” Chisisi said. “One of the battles is raging around the home of young
Ming.”

Valerie fought the
urge to instantly go to Ming’s side, but she knew she had to organize everyone
before she left to fight. She’d sent Chrome to Ming for a reason, and she had
to trust him now.

Valerie and Skye
identified which Conjurors would be best utilized on Earth, given the rules
binding magic, and Skye left with Chisisi to determine where on Earth the
soldiers should be sent.

Valerie turned to
Cyrus.

“After you find
Henry, I need you to update Thai,” she said. “He’s watching Emin, and he needs
to know what’s happening. I’m sorry to ask you this, but–”

Cyrus shook his
head. “I get it. First, give me Pathos.”

Valerie handed him
her weapon, and he concentrated, weaving a light pattern into her blade, which
was dim after using it in Plymouth. The pattern embedded itself in her sword,
and it glowed brighter than ever.

“Now go,” Cyrus
said.

Valerie took off as
fast as she could, running to the mirror in Kanti’s dorm room. Kanti had set it
up to call her at the palace whenever Valerie needed her.

As soon as Valerie
tapped the mirror, an image of Kanti’s ice palace appeared. Peach, Kanti’s
middle sister, was passing by and saw her.

“Get Kanti, now,”
Valerie said. “And come back with her. We need all the help we can get.”

Peach must have run,
because Kanti was in front of the mirror in less than a minute. Valerie filled
them in on what was happening.

“How can we help?”
Kanti asked.

“Those soldiers in
Elsinore, the mercenaries we talked about hiring—are they ready to be
deployed?” Valerie asked.

“I’ve formed a guard
of a hundred soldiers I trust, up to a point. I’ll work with Chisisi on where
to send them,” Kanti said.

“Can you do that,
Peach?” Valerie asked. “I have another job for Kanti.”

Peach paled, but
when she spoke her voice was firm. “I can do it.”

“Kanti, find Henry.
He’s not stable, and we need his help on Earth,” Valerie said.

“I’ll try. But when
I tried to talk to him at the fundraiser, he avoided me. He would barely look
me in the eye,” Kanti said.

“You’re still my
best hope for getting through to him, since I can’t do it myself,” Valerie
said.

“Consider
it done,” Kanti replied.

Valerie wasted no
time gripping a chipped piece of brick from Ming’s home so she could transport
to her friend’s side.

Ming’s apartment
complex was a war zone. Valerie counted no fewer than twenty Fractus around the
building. They had smashed in all of the windows on the bottom floor, but the
thick metal bars in front of the glass must have prevented them from getting
inside. Now five of the Fractus were trying to break through the front door.
People were screaming inside the building.

Another fifteen or
so Fractus were battling with soldiers from the Fist. Valerie recognized two
Knights from her guild by sight, but not by name, and Elisabeth, one of
Chisisi’s guardians on Earth. The three of them were barely fending off the
attacks from the Fractus, and Valerie saw the bodies of two of her soldiers on
the ground, both bleeding, the light in their weapons extinguished.

There were no
police, and Valerie guessed that the Fractus who were skilled at manipulating
electronics had taken the precaution of disabling the police cars and phones in
the area. Still, it would just be a matter of time before human help came on
foot.

Elisabeth saw
Valerie first, and gave her a nod. Valerie was impressed by how much better
Elisabeth’s fighting skills were since she’d seen her last.

Valerie unsheathed
Pathos, which blazed brighter than ever, thanks to Cyrus, and it caught the
attention of the Fractus who weren’t trying to break down the door.

Pathos flashed as
she encountered the first weapon, a black staff. She cut it cleanly through,
and it shattered from the impact. The Fractus backed up a fraction, glancing at
each other in surprise.

“Their weapons are
stronger than the others we’ve encountered,” one of the Knights gasped as he
dodged a blow from another Fractus’s black sword. Valerie guessed that the
sword was sucking at the Knight’s powers.

She turned Pathos on
the man’s attacker, and her blade met his with a sharp clang. This Fractus was
a better fighter than average, and Valerie feinted before twisting her blade so
it caught him in his ribcage. With a flick of her wrist, she’d cut the armor
protecting his chest.

Valerie waited to see
if he would bare his heart to her, asking her to kill him as Reaper had ordered
his soldiers in the past, but he didn’t.

Instead, he thrust
at her arm, almost grazing her skin. He’d leaned in for the blow, and Valerie
kicked him squarely in the chest, sending him backward with enough force that
he slammed into the wall of the apartment complex and was knocked out.

The Fractus who had
been trying to break down the front door succeeded, and the door gave way with
a splintering of wood. Valerie was about to leap past three Fractus to make her
way to the door when Chrome shot out, his face twisted with rage.

He leaped onto the
nearest Fractus and dug his teeth into the man’s arm. The man screamed when
Chrome yanked his head back with his mouth full of bloody flesh.

“Chrome, no! Protect
Ming!” Valerie yelled, but Chrome was blind to everything but his enemies in
his bloodlust.

Chrome tore through
two more Fractus, slicing the tendon of one and the muscle in the arm of
another, maximizing his damage.

Valerie was set upon
by three Fractus wielding staffs that she knew could shoot lightning. She
blocked the first bolt with Pathos, and the lightning rebounded and hit her
attacker. A hole in his leg from the wound was smoking, and the other two
Fractus backed away from her.

Around her, Valerie
saw that the attack was ebbing. Eleven Fractus were on the ground, unconscious
or severely wounded. The rest were looking around them, gauging the best exits.

When there were only
five Fractus left, they turned tail and ran. Chrome bolted after them, and he
tackled one of the Fractus to the ground. His teeth were on the man’s throat,
ready to rip it out, when a little form raced out of the doorway and jumped
onto Chrome’s back. Valerie almost choked with fear when she realized it was
Ming.

“Hush, hush now,”
Ming crooned, stroking Chrome’s fur, which was standing on end.

The tension in
Chrome’s body eased at the sound of her voice.

“Jet wouldn’t want
this, and neither do you,” Valerie said, moving closer to the wolf.

Ming slid off his
back and knelt before Chrome.

“He’s okay,” she
said, her eyes staring into his.

Chrome’s eyes were
wet, and he gave Ming’s cheek a little lick. Then he flashed an image of a
mother wolf guarding her pups in Valerie’s mind. At first, the image was tinged
with red, but the haze faded, and the colors of the blue sky, green grass, and
purple mountains seemed brighter than ever.

Valerie understood
that Chrome was letting go of his hatred. Right now, he was choosing to protect
something precious that would grow into something truly great and good. Ming.

“You’re right, she’s
special,” Valerie said.

A sensation tickled
the back of her mind, and she recognized Henry. He was inviting her into his
mind, something he almost never did, even before his dad had died.

“Is there somewhere
I can be alone?” Valerie asked. “Henry needs me.”

“My room,” Ming
said, pointing to a window on the bottom floor of the apartment complex.

“I’ll get things in
order out here,” Elisabeth said, her voice ringing with authority as the sound
of police sirens became clear.

Chrome
gave a little growl at her tone, but it didn’t hold any menace. After a quick
circuit around the block, Valerie hurried to Ming’s room before the cops could
stop her, satisfied that all was calm.

As soon as Valerie
reached for Henry’s mind, it opened for her. He was eager for her to witness
what he was seeing. Valerie didn’t understand where he was at first. She was
expecting to find him fighting on Earth with Kanti at one of the locations
Chisisi had identified as needing the most help.

Instead, he was in
the throne room of the Black Castle. Valerie understood why Henry wanted her to
be with him now. Zunya was unconscious on the floor in front of him, blood
trickling from wounds on his forehead and a gash on his arm.

“Henry, what’s going
on?” Valerie asked.

A jumble of images
came to her mind, of Henry finding a portal in his bedroom that led to the
throne room. He’d gone through the portal alone, hoping to fight Reaper and
maybe even die. Instead, he’d found Zunya, tied up in magical rope and left
like a gift.

The wounds Zunya had
now were from Henry, Valerie saw with shock. Her brother, who had never raised
a weapon in anything other than self-defense, had taken full advantage of
Zunya’s defenselessness and had beaten him. And now he intended to kill him.
Reaper must have been distracting her with the battle at Ming’s apartment,
hoping to draw out Henry’s hatred while she was mentally disconnected from him.

“No! This isn’t who
you are. We don’t execute people,” Valerie said.

“You don’t execute
people. But isn’t a part of you glad that I will?” Henry asked.

Valerie cursed her
inability to travel to her brother’s side. Tan burst into the throne room.

“What are you doing
here? Get out, before I have to hurt you,” Tan said, and he saw Zunya. “He’ll
kill you when he wakes up.”

“Piss off,” Henry
said, and gave Tan a mental shove.

Henry used more
magic than he’d meant to, and Tan flew across the room, crashing into the
throne. Tan screamed and then fell to the ground, silent.

“What are you
doing?” Kanti’s voice made Henry whip around.

Kanti and Sanguina
were both standing at the doorway to the throne room. How had they found him?

“Get out of here,
Kanti!” Henry said. “You don’t want to see this.”

“The hell I don’t,”
she said, coming closer.

“Reaper handed Zunya
to you?” Sanguina asked Henry.

“He owed this to
me,” Henry said through gritted teeth.

“Reaper doesn’t do
anything without a reason. He wants you to murder Zunya because it will change you,
make it easier for him to use you,” Sanguina said.

Henry snarled,
reaching for his machete, which lay next to him on the ground. But as much as
he hated Sanguina, Valerie could see that he also didn’t dismiss her words.

“Murder,” Valerie
echoed Sanguina. “That’s what this would be.”

“Fine,” Henry said.

He knelt next to
Zunya and shook him. Zunya’s yellow eyes opened, and Henry cut the magical rope
binding his wrists and ankles with his light-infused machete.