Guardians of the Boundary (The Conjurors Series Book 3) (19 page)

Skye trotted up, his mane
streaked with a hint of gold from his time on the beach. He was clearly trying
for his usual authoritative demeanor, but a playful glint in his eye made
Valerie suspect that he wasn’t immune to the magic of the cavern.

“Our fearless leader has
arrived,” Skye said pleasantly. “I suppose we must get down to business.”

Calibro glanced up, and the
bright ball on the ceiling dimmed under her gaze, silencing the chatter.

The rest of the Grand Masters
began to gather closer, and Valerie saw several faces she recognized, including
Henry’s Grand Master, Dasan. Altogether, there were close to fifty Grand
Masters, which was a small subset of the group in Arden but enough that Valerie
hoped they’d be a force to contend with against the Fractus.

“Where’s Al?” she asked. The
Grand Master of the Stewardship Guild, which made sure the planet’s weather and
physical systems were functioning as they should, had been on the inner Council
of the most powerful Grand Masters in Arden.

Skye’s eyes darkened. “Al is
supporting the Fractus. He will be a formidable enemy, because the Stewardship
Guild has the ability to shut off access to valuable resources on the planet.
They could plunge us into night for days in a row or pollute our supplies of
water.”

“He always seemed so jolly,”
Valerie said, finding it hard to reconcile the pleasant man who had been
welcoming and supportive of her with someone who could side with Oleander.

“He believes the Fractus are our
only hope for preventing dark days,” Calibro said. “Many who are choosing to
support Oleander do not do so out of thirst for power or evil. They think it is
the right path for the Globe.”

Gideon nodded. “Those words echo
those I have heard from trusted friends and Knights who are considering lending
their help to the Fractus.”

“They will be sorely
disappointed when they see the ruthless means by which the Fractus intend to
grasp power here and on Earth,” Skye said, stomping his hoof into the sand.
“Which is why we must stop them. Valerie, have you considered how we will wage
the battle ahead of us?”

Valerie took a deep breath and
nodded. Calibro handed her what looked like a stick of gum.

“Chew this and it will amplify
your voice for a short time,” the girl explained.

Valerie popped it in her mouth
and a fuzzy warmth hit her tongue.

“First, I want to commend you
all for your courage in risking the anger of the Fractus to do what is right,”
Valerie said, her voice shaky at first as she adjusted to the magic that made
her voice echo loudly, like she had a microphone that was turned up too high.
But as she considered what she had to say, her confidence grew. “In order to
defeat the Fractus, we will have to wage a battle on two fronts, the Earth and
the Globe. Right now, Reaper has an advantage, because the magic that the
Fractus bring to Earth is uncontested.”

“But isn’t it bound by the rules
of Earth that limit magic?” a voice called from the crowd.

“Technically yes, but there are
ways around it,” Valerie said. “Magic that doesn’t directly break Earth’s
rules, especially magic that imitates nature, is possible. Zunya’s magic, which
is really robbing others of power, is also immune to Earth’s rules. And there
are rumors that magic that channels electricity is possible on Earth.”

“Still, as long as those rules
are in place, Reaper’s power will be limited,” Calibro said. “He will search
for a way to break those boundaries down so magic can run rampant.”

Valerie bit her lip,
considering. “I hadn’t considered that he might try to break down the rules
imposed on Earth, but if he’s working with Oleander, he already has an
advantage.”

“His first priority will be to
turn on the Byways to allow unhindered travel between Earth and the Globe,”
another Grand Master argued.

“We’ve made inroads into finding
both Byways, and we think we’re getting closer,” Valerie said. “But the humans
who are looking for Earth’s Byway are at a disadvantage against the magic that
the Fractus have brought with them. They don’t stand a chance if it ever comes
to a battle.”

“So what do you suggest?” Dasan
said, his beady eyes sparkling. Valerie suspected he could sense enough of her thoughts
to guess what she had in mind, and that he supported her plan.

“It’s time to have Conjurors on
Earth who use their magic for good,” Valerie said. “We need to send an army of
our own who can fight back.”

Her words left the room in
stunned silence that was quickly followed by an explosion of questions and
conversation. Next to her, Gideon smiled, and Valerie saw the approval in his
eyes. Chrome brushed against her leg and sent her an image of herself lighting
a fire in the woods, telling her that he took pride in her leadership. Dasan,
Skye, and Calibro also gave her subtle nods, and the tension in her body relaxed.

There were many details to be
hashed out, but some of the Conjurors she respected most on the Globe thought
her idea was sound. Maybe she was getting the hang of leading at last.

When Valerie, Gideon, and Chrome
left many hours later, Valerie’s voice was hoarse from talking, but she was
wide awake as adrenaline pumped through her. The Grand Masters had embraced her
idea and debated who would be the best Conjurors to send to Earth and how to
get them there. She entrusted Skye and Calibro with the task of managing the
effort and consulting with her on the tactics. Before she left, they agreed on
a time when she would introduce them to Chisisi and Thai.

When they stepped beyond the
protective barrier surrounding Calibro’s backyard, the birds were back in full
attack mode.

The air was thick with their
wings, and Valerie struggled to see the path forward. She followed Chrome’s
trail, since the birds gave him a wide birth after he flashed his sharp white
teeth.

“Girl, do you go to the ice
castle?” chirped one bird.

“Your name! Your name!” shouted
another.

Valerie put her hands over her
ears and followed Chrome, hoping he knew where he was heading. After what felt
like forever, she saw the glittering towers of Kanti’s family’s spectacular ice
castle. When they passed through the gates, the birds did not follow. She heard
a collective high-pitched groan from the birds.

“Peace at last,” Gideon said
with a sigh of relief. “Kanti’s family was wise to bar the entrance of the
birds.”

Now that she could look around
properly without interference from the birds, Valerie could see that the castle
was full of people and light. It shone from within, casting a blue glow over
the grounds.

“Chrome and I will wait here
while you collect your friend,” Gideon said, stopping inside the gates.

Valerie winced, dreading facing
the crowds of curious visitors who had come to the castle. She wondered for the
first time what distraction Kanti had cooked up. She’d obviously been highly
effective.

She had barely crossed the
threshold when the silliest of Kanti’s sisters, Amaryllis, threw her arms
around her. Amaryllis giggled like she couldn’t stop.

“You made it! What incredible
news, huh? That sister of mine never stops surprising us,” Amaryllis said.

Before Valerie could ask what
she meant, she was swept inside as another crowd of well-dressed Conjurors
flowed through the front door.

Valerie spotted another of
Kanti’s sisters, Peach, in lively conversation with a circle of friends. After
moving from room to room, she also saw Isabelle, Kanti’s third sister, glowering
on the gigantic spiral stairway that led to the upper stories of the castle.

Isabelle was joined by her sisters
and parents, and she gave Kanti a withering glare before forcing herself to
assume an expression more suitable to a princess. Kanti’s father raised his
glass, and the room went quiet.

“Friends, we are so happy you
are here on this joyous day,” Kanti’s father, George said. He pulled his wife
close to his side. “Pauline and I have been hoping for this ever since our
sweet Kanti left us to go to Arden. We didn’t understand then what drew her
away, but she has grown into a wise and powerful young woman whom we couldn’t
be more proud of.”

“And beautiful!” someone in the
crowd shouted, and Valerie could see Kanti forcing herself not to make a face
at the comment.

The room erupted in cheers. Next
to her parents, Kanti had a smile on her face that Valerie immediately
registered was fake, but she doubted that any of the guests could tell. Kanti’s
eyes roamed the room and stopped on Valerie’s. Her smile slipped.

Valerie was confused by the
strange expression on her friend’s face until her mother spoke.

“Kanti has agreed to spend half
of each year in Elsinore, providing council to her subjects as one of its
ruling princesses. All hail Princess Kanti!” Pauline said, her voice ringing
with pride as she gripped her daughter’s hand and held it up high.

“All hail Princess Kanti!” the
crowd echoed joyously. Everyone knelt before the royal family.

“Now let’s celebrate!” George
said, and the crowd cheered again and resumed eating, drinking, and mingling.

Valerie stared up at Kanti in
shock. As Kanti hurried down the stairs toward her, Valerie heard the chatter
around her.

“She’s sure to be named as the
next queen by her parents,” a tall woman with an elaborate feathered hat said
to her friend.

“Of course. She’s the most
powerful of the sisters,” her friend sniffed. “We all thought she was a by-blow
of the queen’s, but she has proven that her blood is pure. She’s even more
magically gifted than her parents.”

Kanti had reached her side, and
Valerie gripped her hand.

“You’re leaving Arden?” Valerie
asked, unable to keep the shock from her voice.

“I didn’t know how to tell you.
I think I can make a difference here and help people see that there is more to
life than magic, power, and bloodlines. Besides, as princess, I’ll be able to
marshal support for you against the Fractus,” Kanti pleaded.

“But is this what you want? How
will we survive without you in Arden?” Valerie asked, her mind crowded with
questions. “What does Henry think?”

Kanti paled at her words.

“Wait, haven’t you told Henry?”
Valerie asked, gripping her friend’s shoulders tightly.

“I couldn’t figure out how. You
have to help me! I had promised my parents I’d come home before Henry’s father
was kidnapped, and since then, I haven’t wanted to add to his problems,” Kanti
said, and for the first time since Valerie had known her, Kanti’s eyes filled
with tears.

In the face of her friend’s
distress, Valerie pulled her into a hug. “He’ll understand. It’s only half of
the year. He could stay with you part of the time.”

Kanti nodded. “The only thing is
that I have to come back to Elsinore in just a few weeks. If Joe hasn’t been
found by then, I can’t possibly leave Henry.”

“We’ll find him,” Valerie said.
She didn’t think Henry could handle many more days of uncertainty as to his
father’s safety, anyway.

“Let’s get out of here,” Kanti
said, straightening her shoulders and brushing away the moisture from her eyes.

“Can you leave?” Valerie asked.
“Everyone’s here for you.”

“I’m the beloved Princess
of Elsinore,” Kanti said with her usual sarcasm. “I can do whatever I want.”

Pauline and George lent Kanti an
ice carriage pulled by white horses that had been groomed with magic for speed to
take them back to Arden. It was large and very comfortable, and Gideon, Kanti,
and Chrome all quickly fell asleep as they raced across the snowy terrain.

Valerie’s mind still whirled
from everything that she’d learned during their journey. There was so much to
do that she was afraid something would slip. She decided that she would appoint
generals to organize different parts of the effort, like how Skye and Calibro
were leading the Grand Masters.

With that decision made, she
drifted into a troubled sleep. It seemed like she’d only been out for a few
minutes when the carriage stopped in front of the dorm of the Society of
Imaginary Friends. Next to her, Kanti groaned.

Instead of returning
home, Valerie took a platform up to Cyrus’s room and knocked gently on his
door. He didn’t answer, but when Valerie tried the handle, it opened easily.
Henry slept on one bed, and Cyrus was on the other. Valerie slid into bed
beside Cyrus, and he automatically pulled her close without waking up. In the
familiar comfort of his arms, Valerie finally slept deeply.

It was much later when Valerie
opened her eyes and looked directly into Cyrus’s blue ones, which were staring
at her.

“Not that I’m complaining, but
how did you wind up in here?” he asked with a crooked smile. Something seemed off
about Cyrus, as if a little of the glow that usually emanated from him had
dimmed.

“We got in late, and I wanted to
see you,” she said sleepily. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” Cyrus said,
and he buried his face in Valerie’s neck so she couldn’t see his eyes. “It’s
been rough not having you here.”

“What happened?” she asked, more
awake now.

“Nothing,” he replied, too
quickly. “Can’t an adoring boyfriend miss his hot girlfriend?”

“Enough,” Henry grumbled from
the next bed. “Save it for when you’re alone.”

Valerie and Cyrus suppressed
their smiles and threw back the covers.

“It’s a big day, sunshine, so
you gotta get up anyway,” Cyrus said to Henry, yanking off his blanket in one
move.

“Back off,” Henry said, pulling
the blanket back.

Valerie could see from the
complete lack of energy in her brother’s tone that he hadn’t found an Oracle to
deliver him news of his father’s whereabouts. She wanted to say something, to
hug him, but he gave off a prickly vibe that made her suspect any sympathy on
her part would not be appreciated. She was glad when Cyrus spoke up again.

“Elden sent a message that he
wants to meet with us over breakfast,” Cyrus explained to Valerie. “And when
the People of the Woods say breakfast, they mean the crack of dawn. We better
hurry.”

Less than an hour later,
Valerie, Henry, Kanti, and Cyrus were hurrying toward the Lake of Knowledge to
meet Elden.

“This better be good,” Kanti griped,
still rubbing her eyes.

“Elden doesn’t strike me as the
kind of guy to waste anyone’s time,” Cyrus argued.

“Indeed, I am not,” Elden said,
and Valerie saw him leaning against a tree. Until he had spoken, he’d seemed
almost invisible against the brown bark that was brushed with gold.

“Is this about Babylon?” Kanti
asked, skipping the greetings to get straight to the point.

“Yes,” Elden replied. “I
explored the woods and found an unusual spell had been placed where I believe
Babylon was once located—one I have not seen in my lifetime, though I have
heard of it. Someone has bent space so that Babylon is both there and not
there.”

“That sounds like Reaper,”
Valerie said, dread making her stomach ache. If he had been the one to hide
Babylon from the world, then the Byway on the Globe was as good as his.

“Perhaps,” Elden agreed. “But
the key to opening the portal is a tie of blood. Only someone from a certain
bloodline can enter the space.”

“Which means that either Valerie,
Dulcea, or I had the right blood to find Babylon, since we stumbled across it?”
Cyrus asked, his eyes alight.

“When someone whose blood meets
the criteria of the spell crosses the place where Babylon lies, it will bend
space back so that he… or she can enter,” Elden said.

“But Dulcea and I weren’t able
to find it, and we looked for hours,” Cyrus said. “Which means that it had to
be your blood that was the key to finding the garden that day, Valerie.”

“But Babylon vanished decades
ago. So whoever placed the spell did it before I was ever born, before any of
us were born,” Valerie protested.

“It must have been placed by a
family member and keyed so that any of his or her bloodline could enter,” Elden
explained.

“It had to be Oberon,” Henry
said, his eyes tired. “Hiding a beautiful garden loved by Conjurors around the
Globe so that only he and his family could find it sounds exactly like
something he would do.”

Valerie loved her
father, but she couldn’t help but agree.

Valerie and Henry found Oberon
sweeping the path around The Horseshoe. She was struck by the sight,
remembering the first time she had met him. Like now, he seemed too powerful to
be doing such a human job.

“With everything that’s going
on, I’m surprised you’re out here, playing groundskeeper,” Henry said.

Valerie stepped on Henry’s foot
hard enough to make him wince.

“It’s my penance, Henry,” Oberon
said without lifting his eyes. “It honors my wife and my promise to her.”

“I think that’s beautiful, Dad,”
Valerie said, and he squeezed her hand.

“I’m glad you are safely home,
Daughter. Azra has already heard from Skye about the success of your visit to
Elsinore, and she told me of your plan. I couldn’t have thought of a better one
myself,” Oberon said.

Valerie could have sworn that
she was an inch taller after hearing those words. It wasn’t that no one had
ever been proud of her before, but it was different knowing that her father
thought she was special.

“We came to ask you about
Babylon,” Henry said, guiding them back to their purpose.

Oberon’s brows rose, and then a
soft smile replaced his usually grim expression. “I haven’t thought of that
place in years. I wonder if it’s still hidden.”

“It is,” Valerie said. “Were you
the one to hide it?”

A boyish expression transformed
Oberon’s face, and a grin that was distinctly mischievous tugged at the corners
of his mouth. “I am guilty. As a gift to your mother on her birthday, I locked
the garden so that it could only be found by one of the two of us.”