Guardians of the Boundary (The Conjurors Series Book 3) (25 page)

The room hummed and then
trembled. Valerie saw Henry lean forward to touch the map, but the instant
before his hand reached it, Sanguina slammed her own fist down on the map and
vanished.

“No!” Henry howled.

Henry rocked back on his heels,
and his face went blank as he mentally projected to Earth. Valerie followed him
to the electronics shop.

“Why?” Henry was already
screaming at Sanguina, who staggered as she stood up in the crowded room.

Henry didn’t seem to notice any
of the other people in the room. “I will never forgive you for this! Never!”

“I know,” Sanguina said quietly.
“And your and Valerie’s forgiveness is all I dream of, so that I can be at peace.
But I couldn’t let you die.”

Henry trembled, and Valerie
wished she could hold him. But before she could say anything to comfort him,
his face turned steely.

“Henry, we’ve got help now,”
Thai said, separating himself from the rest of the group. “We’re going to save
your dad.”

“I’ll die fighting Zunya if I
have to,” Sanguina swore, but Henry ignored her.

“Has Chrome found him?” Henry
asked Thai.

“They’ve identified the
building. He’s searching floor by floor,” Thai said. “The rest of us are on our
way over now.”

“Then go!” Henry said, and the
crowd in the room began to disperse. Then, in a more controlled voice he added,
“And thank you.”

Valerie and Henry projected to
the hotel and helped Chrome with the search, peeking into each room, since
doors couldn’t stop them. Valerie was about to suggest they split up to cover
more ground faster when they entered a dark room that appeared neat and empty
at first glance.

“He isn’t here.” Reaper’s voice
echoed in Valerie’s ears and sent waves of panic through her body.

She saw him standing next to the
window. Even though she knew that he was only projecting, Valerie couldn’t stop
her physical reaction to his presence, and her hands shook.

If Reaper was surprised to see
her, he hid it well. Valerie suspected that he had intended to confront Henry
alone this time, and that his earlier attack on her had been to ensure that she
wouldn’t be there to disrupt his plan.

“I’ll do what you want,” Henry
said, his voice sounding dead.

“I gave you more chances than
I’ve ever given anyone,” Reaper said, assuming a sorrowful expression. Valerie
could see that even Reaper didn’t know how false he was. “In a way, I am
impressed that mere threats were not enough to convince you to change your
path.”

“What are you saying? I’m
agreeing to help you!” Henry said, and panic began to creep into his voice.

“For now, you mean those words,”
Reaper said. “But until you see that I will do whatever it takes to create a
better world, you will not believe that I will follow through on my promises.”

“I do believe you, I swear it,”
Henry replied.

Valerie knew that Reaper’s
decision had already been made.

“Tell us where Joe is,” she
commanded. “You wanted Henry to see him die, didn’t you?”

Reaper’s eyes narrowed at her
words, but all he did was point to a window in the hotel next door. “Room 895.”

Valerie projected to Chrome and
Thai, telling them where to go, though she knew it had to be too late, or
Reaper would never have given them the location.

By the time she projected to the
room herself, Henry was sobbing. Joe was on his knees, his eyes locked on his
son’s, and Zunya had his hand against his chest. Logan had Joe’s arms pinned
behind his back, but if he had been fighting before, he wasn’t now.

“I’m sorry,” Henry said, the
words wrenched from his throat.

“I love you,” Joe managed to
reply, though his breathing came in little gasps. Valerie knew what it was like
to be touched by Zunya. The pain was excruciating. Seeing how well Joe hid that
truth from Henry was a testament to his courage.

The light left Joe’s eyes, and
his head fell forward. Zunya removed his hand, and his yellow eyes burned into
Henry’s.

“Reaper always keeps his
promises,” he said.

“I will kill you for this!”
Henry screamed. His entire body shook with the intensity of his promise. “I
swear on my life that I will watch you suffer before I end you!”

Valerie saw something like
terror cross Zunya’s features before he leaped out the window onto a fire
escape. As soon as he was gone, Henry released a single sob, unable to stop
shaking.

Thai, Chrome, Sanguina, and
Chisisi burst through the door, too late to stop Zunya, though they immediately
raced to the window.

“Come with me now, Henry,”
Valerie said, as the rest of the Guardians on Earth began to pile into the tiny
room, looking out the windows to the street below.

Sanguina and Chisisi lifted Joe
off the ground and laid him gently on the bed. With his face no longer twisted
in pain, Joe appeared peaceful. Valerie thought how strange it was that the
dead all wore the same look.

“I’m so sorry,” Thai choked out,
and he didn’t try to hide his tears. “I failed you.”

Henry shook his head.

“No,” Henry said, his voice gravelly.
“The mistakes were mine.”

Henry stood by the bed and
stared at his father for a long moment, as if to burn his face into his memory
one last time. Then Henry vanished, letting his mind return to the Globe, and
Valerie followed.

In Skye’s office, Henry was
huddled on the ground, his arms around his knees. His mind was wide open, as if
he didn’t have enough control over himself to block his thoughts as he usually
did.

The waves of his grief and guilt
were so strong that Valerie thought she might be sick. Thankfully, Skye had
left to organize the Grand Masters at Valerie’s request, so she was alone with
her brother.

“He finally wanted to live,”
Henry said to her. “Not for me, but for himself. I didn’t think that would ever
happen after Mom died.”

“You brought him back to life,
Henry,” Valerie said. “You gave him the chance to be happy again before he
died.”

“Even if that’s true, his
happiness didn’t last long. And it’s all my fault,” Henry said. His face
darkened. “I never should have listened to that prophecy. If I’d followed my
instincts I would have given Reaper whatever it was that he wanted, and Dad would
be alive.”

“What prophecy?” Valerie asked,
confused.

Henry didn’t try to
shut his mind, and his memory washed over her. It was Henry’s first trip to
visit the Oracles in Ephesus. He was there to find out how to help Kanti, who
was sealed off from the world in her cocoon. At the time, they hadn’t known
what was wrong, and Henry would have done anything to fix her. The first part
of his prophecy, she remembered.

Over mountains,
across seas,

Through
despair, into bliss,

Though
pain will bring you to your knees,

You’ll
find the answer you seek in a kiss.

But then the young Oracle had
whispered something in Henry’s ear that had made his face go blank. When
Valerie had asked him what the Oracle had told him, it was the first time that
he had shut his mind to her. Now, she heard the words.

Some are
tested by blood, some by hate.

Knowing
the cost, the wrong price will you pay,

To save
a loved one from the final fate.

In the
end, two worlds at risk, when your family you betray.

“I didn’t want it to
be true, so I didn’t betray you,” Henry said, his tears drying on his cheeks.
“Now the prophecy is false, but Dad is dead. I wanted to be good, to always
choose right, like you do. But I’m not cut out for it.”

Valerie could swear her chest
was hollow as she heard his words.

“You are good, Henry,” Valerie
said, but she knew that anything she said would fall on deaf ears.

Valerie had experienced death
personally enough times to know the complete absorption of staring into a
horrible void inside yourself where a person used to be.

“I’m an orphan now,”
Henry said, his voice dull. He gave a humorless little laugh. “You finally have
a dad, and I’m the one who’s alone.”

After Henry left, insisting on
having some time to himself, Valerie finally released her own tears. She was
seventeen years old, and her life had already been full of too many endings.

But she refused to let Joe’s
loss engulf her the way Midnight’s had. Instead, she reminded herself of her
friends and family. Death was horrible, but love was more powerful. It was her
compass, and as long as one person she loved lived, that feeling would always
guide her back, like a beacon.

Or a locus.

Valerie’s tears stopped at the
thought. She thought back on her lessons with Gideon, and her struggle to hold
a single, overpowering image in her head. She thought it had to be something,
or someone, that she could visualize and hold on to. But it was this emotion
that really grounded her, and she knew she’d never shake it. People could die
or vanish from her life, but her love for them didn’t have to disappear as
well.

Love would be her constant.

The answer seemed so
obvious, so right, that Valerie knew her mind would never be vulnerable to a
mental attack from Kellen, Ani, Oleander, or anyone else ever again. She
wondered why Gideon hadn’t just told her that she was looking at the problem
the wrong way, but it really wasn’t his way. He expected her to figure things
out on her own, and maybe he was right. The answer was more powerful because of
how hard she’d searched for it.

Taking advantage of her
temporary freedom, Valerie scooped up the crystal that connected her with Thai.
It lay on the ground next to the anchor crystal and scrying map that Sanguina
had used before she returned to Earth.

When she put the chain holding
Thai’s crystal around her neck and it settled against her breastbone, it was as
if a piece of herself that had been missing had returned. She never should have
taken it off. Even though she and Thai would never be together, she still loved
him.

She let the crystal draw her to
Earth, and found herself next to Thai in a cheap hotel room in Japan. His
entire body drooped, and he held his head in his hands. He wouldn’t meet her eyes
when she stopped in front of him.

“This isn’t your fault,” Valerie
said, guessing at his emotions.

“I know. It’s the Fractus. But
that doesn’t change the fact that a good man died today. One who gave me a
place to stay when I needed it and helped take care of Tan and me when we
separated. I wish I could have protected him when it was his turn to be in
danger,” Thai said.

“Thank you for trying to save
him,” she said, sitting next to him on the bed. All of her old rage toward Thai
had faded away, leaving only a dull ache at the loss of him in her heart.

“We wanted to ask Henry where to
take Joe’s body to be buried,” Thai said, and a tear slipped out. He didn’t
bother to wipe it away.

“I’ll ask him, but next to his
wife, I think,” she said.

“You’re right. He visited her
grave every day. I’ll take him to her myself,” Thai promised. His eyes finally
met hers. “And after I do, I’m coming to the Globe.”

Even though Cyrus had told her
this was the case, she couldn’t stop her heart from pounding when she heard the
words from his lips. Thai was watching her closely, and she tried to mask her
relief.

“What made you change your
mind?” she asked.

“I’d rather tell you in person.
It’s a long story,” he said.

“There’s something you have to
know before you get here,” Valerie added, wishing she didn’t have to burden him
with more baggage. “Tan is working with the Fractus.”

Thai released a ragged breath.
“I know. Even if someone hadn’t told me, the fact that he left without talking
to me and never visited was a big tipoff that something was really wrong. Whatever
Venu did that day on the falls must have been awful.”

“I hope that he’ll find his way
back to us. We know he can’t be all bad,” Valerie said. She wondered who had
told Thai about Tan, but she decided not to press him with questions now, when
he was grieving for Joe.

“I’ll have to help Chisisi and
Chrome find the Byway before I go back to America to bury Joe,” Thai said. “Do
you think Henry will understand?”

The reminder of her brother made
Valerie shudder at the grief that was still pouring from his mind. It reached
her even when she was projecting to Earth, and she knew that she was only
sensing a fraction of what he was experiencing.

“I think it will be a while
before Henry’s thinking straight,” Valerie said. “I wish you didn’t have to
deal with the Byway now, on top of everything else.”

“Sometimes, distraction is a
good thing,” he said. He stood up and ran his fingers through his disheveled
hair. “Will you come visit again?”

There was no mistaking the
longing in his voice or the intensity in his eyes as he spoke.

“Of course,” she said.

“At least come to hear the
updates on finding the Byway,” he added, sounding a little desperate.

Valerie searched his face,
confused. “I’d come anyway, Thai. I promised I would.”

He nodded. “Soon. Even if it’s
only for a few minutes.”

Valerie wished they
had their old comfortable relationship, so she could ask him what was wrong,
but there was a wall between them now, and she hadn’t been the only one to
erect it. Instead, she gave him a last smile and let her mind return to the
Globe.

Valerie left the Relations Guild
and almost stumbled into The Horseshoe, which was drenched with light and
bustling with Conjurors going about their daily business. No one here knew what
had happened on Earth.

Henry’s mind wasn’t completely
closed, and she was thankful for it. Through the crack he left open, she knew
that he was with Kanti, which was the best place for him now. Valerie turned
her steps to the Empathy Collective, where she knew Henry had friends. It was
time to let them know what happened to Henry and his dad. The battle with the
Fractus loomed large in her mind, and she didn’t want Henry to be abandoned if
something happened to her.

As she approached the Guild,
which was a much more humble structure than the surrounding buildings, she saw
a giant red bird fly over the roof and settle in the garden behind the
building. She was glad that she wouldn’t have to search long to find Dasan.

The garden was the true gem of
the Empathy Collective. It bloomed with flowers as large as Valerie’s head in
shades of color that she’d never seen on Earth. She spotted Dasan inhaling the
scent of a cluster of tiny purple flowers. His wings were folded neatly at his
back.

“I have terrible news,” Valerie
began as she approached the Grand Master.

“The blast of Henry’s grief
reverberated across the entire Collective. We all know of his loss,” Dasan
said. His voice, which was usually soothing, sounded troubled. “When an
apprentice joins the Collective, our minds are all connected in a tenuous way.
The strength of Henry’s emotions, coupled with the immensity of his power, has
sent several of our newer apprentices to the Healers’ Guild for treatment.”

“I didn’t know that was
possible,” Valerie said, horrified. Even as his sister, she hadn’t grasped the
depth of Henry’s emotions.

“It’s more than simple grief,”
Dasan continued. “When a loved one is murdered, it is typical to react with
rage and hatred at the person responsible.”

Valerie thought of Chrome, and
even her own reaction whenever she saw Oleander, and nodded in agreement.

“A desire for vengeance is a
natural, though destructive, reaction. But Henry doesn’t blame his father’s
murderers. He hates himself. He is focusing all of that negative energy inward,
and it is a cancer to his mind,” Dasan said.

“How do we fix it? Can you help
him relax, so he can have a break from it?” she asked. Dasan had the ability to
temporarily ease fears and worries, and Valerie had benefitted from a break
from reality herself in the past.

Dasan’s wings fluttered outward
for a moment before settling again. “I have tried to reach Henry through our
mental connection. But he is powerful enough to deny me access, and now that he
has such a powerful locus, his mind is impenetrable.”

“What’s his locus?” Valerie
asked curiously.

“As of today, it is his
self-loathing. It is all-consuming, and the most skilled at the craft of
breaking into another’s mind could not touch Henry’s,” he said.

Valerie found it heartbreaking
that the day she realized that her true North was her love for her friends,
Henry had discovered a much darker locus. She wished she could absorb all of
his pain into herself.

As if he could read her mind,
Dasan spoke. “I, too, wish to take away his pain. If he would let us, there are
ways to ease his suffering. But I cannot reach him now.”

“Maybe Kanti can,” Valerie said
hopefully.

“You and Kanti may be the only
ones who can help Henry retain his grip on his sanity,” Dasan said. “But even
that may not be enough.”

“You think this will make him
lose his mind?” she asked, dreading the answer.

After a pause, Dasan responded. “Henry
has the strength to recover from this emotional wound, if he can find it. You
and I and his friends will all do what we can, but ultimately, Henry must make
a choice.”

With Dasan’s words heavy in
Valerie’s mind, she was relieved when Will and Elle stopped her as she was
leaving the Collective. They wore identical expressions of sympathy that
heightened their already startling resemblance to each other.

Elle spoke first.

“We know what it is to lose a
father,” she said. “One who was well loved. There are no words that will
comfort Henry now, but when he is ready, we will try.”

“He’s lucky to count you as friends,”
Valerie said, swallowing the lump in her throat.

The twins were usually reserved,
and she knew what it must cost them to reveal such a personal detail about
themselves.

“It’s a lot to ask, but I also
wanted to talk to you about something else,” Valerie said, forcing herself to
turn her thoughts to battle. “The Fractus are going to attack the cities in the
trees soon.”

“Kanti visited here before she
found out about Henry’s dad,” Will said. “Dasan and the rest of our Collective have
joined the Fist.”