Knights of Light (The Conjurors Series Book 2) (16 page)

Midnight laughed, and it
was the first time Valerie had heard the full, rich sound. “No need for
payment. You will both do my heart good. I have been alone too long.”

Midnight’s expression
was wistful, and Valerie had a flash of insight. Midnight was as lonely as she
herself had once been.

Valerie released a
relieved, grateful breath that she’d been holding since she’d first learned
that she had to find a new home. She glanced at Henry for confirmation that he agreed.
“Thank you. We would love to live with you.”

The meeting with Gabriel was rescheduled
for the next day, and Henry and Valerie insisted on joining and meeting the
Council. Azra agreed, on the condition that Valerie’s magic returned and that
they did something fun that night instead of worrying.

“We should ask Cyrus,”
Henry said. “He always has good ideas. I love that guy.”

“Right back atcha,”
Cyrus said, joining them at the entrance to their dorm. He slapped Henry on the
back.

“We need a distraction,”
she explained. “Any ideas?”

“I do have one. I want
to show Cara that magic can be a force for good, so she stops thinking she’s
tainted.”

“That’s a tall order.” Valerie
bit her lip, considering, as they all went inside to the cafeteria. “What if we
introduced her to the boy that Darling helped, Emin?”

“That’s perfect!” Cyrus
exclaimed. “I bet he lives with the clan of the People of the Woods on the
border of Arden. I have a friend, Cerulean, who left them to join the Society
of Imaginary Friends a few years back. His parents were super mad—we kinda
bonded over it.” Cyrus’s parents had also been furious when he moved to Arden
and embraced magic, so Valerie could see how their friendship made sense.

“Let’s hope he’s
forgiven by now, for Cara’s sake,” Henry said.

“I’ll find out,” Cyrus
said. He crossed the crowded cafeteria to talk to a tall boy with dark hair
that had glints of gold in it. He nodded thoughtfully as Cyrus talked to him.

“What’s he up to?” Cara
asked suspiciously. She put a tray loaded with goodies down at Henry and
Valerie’s table.

“An adventure for you,”
Henry said.

“It’s the last one,
then. After tonight, I’m going home.”

Cyrus approached the
table with his friend. “Everyone, this is Ceru. He’s agreed to take us to his
village tonight.”

“I was planning a trip
home today, as it happens,” Ceru said in a voice that was nearly a whisper. “Tonight
is the Festival of a Thousand Wishes.”

“What’s that?” Cara
asked, intrigued in spite of herself.

“You’ll see,” he said
with a smile.

“And his cousin, Emin,
will be there, too,” Cyrus added with a wink when Cara wasn’t looking.

After dinner, Ceru led
the group out of the winding streets of Silva and into the woods beyond. There
was a buzz of energy that seemed to rustle through the leaves. The jolt of
magic made Valerie feel awake, like something exciting was about to happen.

They reached a clearing
that was filled with a hundred People of the Woods. It was a perfect circle,
and the only light came from thousands and thousands of fireflies. The effect
was otherworldly.

“What happens next?”
Cara whispered breathlessly to Ceru.

“Listen,” he said.

The high, sweet voice of
a young boy singing in a strange language filled the air. Valerie was surprised
to see a familiar face behind the unearthly voice. Emin was breathing out music
in the form of a pinkish light that wound through the group like fog. Everyone
it touched joined in the song, and when she breathed it in, she found that she,
too, knew the words and the tune.

Valerie began to sing, and
she was drawn out of herself. It was as if she could sense every creature in
the woods around them, all listening to this song of thanks, of a thousand
wishes that they, too, would prosper as the People of the Woods did, and live
in peace, unharmed. The trees around the clearing rustled, and she could see
the eyes of hundreds of animals watching them.

The last notes of the
song died out, and silence fell. Then, from nowhere, plates of fruit appeared
and sprightly, happy music filled the air. Everyone seemed to shake off the
spell of the song and began to mingle.

“Ceru, thank you, that
was beautiful,” Valerie said.

“I think I’m going to be
a vegetarian from now on,” Henry added. Valerie giggled.

“All the food in Arden
is vegetarian,” Cyrus assured him. Henry’s eyes bugged out.

“But it tastes so good!”

“Cara, what did you
think?” Ceru asked her softly.

Cara’s eyes were a
little misty. She cleared her throat. “I’ll never forget it as long as I live.”

“I promised you would
meet Emin, but as you can see, it won’t be easy,” Ceru gestured to his cousin,
who was surrounded by a small crowd. But Emin’s eyes connected with Valerie’s.
His face lit up and he raced toward the group.

“You’re here!” he
chirped excitedly. “How’d you find me?”

Ceru placed his hand on
Emin’s head. “I brought them.”

“Would you would tell my
sister, Cara, about Darling?” Cyrus asked.

“He’s the best!” Emin
bubbled. “He healed me when I was sick. And even better, he’s so funny. He does
this summersault trick, lemme try to show you.”

“That’s enough, Emin,” a
tall woman appeared at his side.

Ceru stepped forward. “Aunt
Cerise, this is—”

“I neither know nor care.
They don’t belong here, and shame on you for bringing their plague among us.”

“But Valerie and Cyrus
visited me when I was sick!” Emin pleaded.

Her eyes flashed fire. “We
could have healed you. That Healers’ Guild had no right to take you in. They
should have brought you to us.”

“I’m sure they were only
trying to help,” Ceru said gently.

“They didn’t! Darling
helped my boy,” she said, and her face softened. “Darling could have found him
here just as easily. And now what is Darling’s reward? He is missing. Probably
taken by a Conjuror for some evil purpose.”

“Missing! How do you
know?” Valerie asked, alarmed.

Cerise sniffed in
disdain. “We can sense all of the creatures on the planet on this night, and I
was sending a special thanks to him. But I couldn’t sense him anywhere.”

“Maybe he’s visiting
someone on Earth,” Henry suggested.

“I would know,” Ceru’s
aunt insisted, but she didn’t sound as sure.

Even though Henry’s
explanation made sense, Valerie was troubled. Something wasn’t quite right.

“Come away, my friends,”
Ceru said. “My aunt is not the only one who may object to your presence. I had
hoped we might begin to bring my two worlds together tonight, but perhaps it
isn’t the time yet.”

He led them back toward
Silva. Cara kept looking back over her shoulder longingly.

“Well, sis, did Emin’s
story change your opinion of magic?” Cyrus asked hopefully.

Cara shook her head and
his face fell. “I don’t even know who this Darling person is. But something did
change my opinion of magic tonight. The People of the Woods. They care about
all the animals in the whole world and used all that magic just to say thank
you. If you ask me, that’s how it should be used.”

“Whatever you say,”
Cyrus replied, with a bounce in his step.

“So are you going to
stay?” Valerie asked her.

She glanced at Ceru before answering. “Maybe not
forever. But for a little while longer.”

“And then all these
animals were staring at us, listening. It was amazing,” Valerie said to Thai
that night, recounting her recent adventure for him. Chisisi had told her to be
positive with him, so she didn’t tell him about her concern about Darling.

“You’ll have to take me
there next time they have the festival,” he said, his voice a little raspy.

“According to Ceru, it’s
once every hundred years, so that might not happen. But apparently the People
of the Woods have a ton of festivals. Ceru says they’ve had too many millennia
to come up with new ideas to party, and now there’s some ancient ritual
everyone’s expected to attend every other week.”

Thai laughed. It was
good to hear the sound. “Now tell me what’s bothering you.”

“How can you tell?”

“The two little lines on
your forehead between your eyes. You’ve been worrying,” Thai said gently.

There was a laundry list
to choose from, but Valerie didn’t want to overwhelm him, so she picked
something safe. “Henry and I are meeting the Council today. And I may have made
a bad first impression with Gabriel when Cyrus called him to test his light
message for Leo. It’s kinda nerve-wracking.”

“You fought a vampyre
and almost went over Victoria Falls. This will be a cake walk,” Thai said
confidently.

“For you, maybe. People
automatically like you. They can’t help it,” Valerie said.

“That’s because I don’t
care if they like me. I don’t know why, but it always makes people want to win
me over. Of course, only one girl ever succeeded,” he said with a bit of his
old charm.

But before she could flirt back, his eyes flashed gold
and she quickly left before Tan appeared. She didn’t want to make him angry.
Hopefully this arrangement wasn’t going to be for much longer, because aside
from desperately missing Thai’s company, she also missed his advice. And there
were so many things at loose ends right now that she would love to get his take
on.

The next morning,
Valerie quickly packed her few belongings in a callbox Kanti had given her.

“I can’t believe they’re
kicking you out!” Kanti said for the hundredth time. “I’m going to give
Rastelli a piece of my mind!”

“No you’re not,” Valerie
said wearily, shoving her toothbrush into the box. “I’ll still be here all the
time. And this way, Henry and I won’t be separated. We’re really lucky that
Midnight’s taking us in.”

She didn’t take the
clothes and bedding Dulcea had made for her, since technically they were the property
of the Society of Imaginary Friends. A couple changes of clothes and some items
of her own, like the scroll from her first prophecy, barely filled the box.

“I’m really going to
miss you,” Kanti said, all her earlier anger gone. She gripped Valerie in a
tight hug and then went into the bathroom, probably so that Valerie wouldn’t
see her tears.

Valerie sheathed Pathos
and considered the room. She knew she’d be back to visit Kanti, but it would
never be home again.

A knock on her door made
her jump. She opened it, and Henry burst through the door wearing a backpack. He
dropped it in Valerie’s callbox and met her eyes. Another new home, but they
would be together. They would both move into Midnight’s house after their
meeting.

“I don’t think it’s a
good idea to make the Council wait,” Henry said. He sounded more nervous than
she did. When she opened the door, he searched her eyes. “You’re magic’s
completely back, right?”

“Yes, Henry, relax. Zunya
barely touched me so I’m fine. Besides, I don’t think whoever the spy is will
attack today. They have to regroup.”

The tension in Henry’s
face didn’t leave as they went to Azra’s office.

“Are we going to the
Hotel Aquatic?” Valerie asked Azra when they arrived.

There is a pool here
in the Capitol for our Illyrian visitors. Gabriel will meet us there.

“What will he tell us?”
Henry asked curiously.

We meet with him
every so often to learn of any items of significance in the Akashic Records
that he believes we should know. But this time, I am particularly hopeful that
there will be news of Reaper and the rise of the Fractus.

Valerie shuddered. “It’s
really true then; they are rising.”

Azra nodded and flicked
her tail.
Watch the Council members carefully if Gabriel shares anything of
importance. You have an outsider’s objectivity, and maybe you will have a sense
of who we should not trust.

“Don’t you?” Henry
asked.

My magic has not
sensed a true threat, so I suspect someone is purposely blocking it.

Azra led them to a door
down the hall that opened to a huge room filled with an enormous pool. The
sides were tiled in green and blue, and the water was crystal clear, so it was
possible to see the sandy bottom that was covered with shells, coral and
starfish. Even a couple of brightly colored schools of fish darted around.

“Like having the beach
in your backyard,” Valerie said.

Valerie saw a tunnel in
the bottom of one corner of the pool, which must connect with the underground
aquifers. The Council members trickled in, each nodding hello to each other.
Midnight and Chern warmly welcomed Valerie and Henry.

Skye from the Relations Guild
was a tall and imposing centaur who was all professionalism. “An honor to meet
you both,” he said, shaking each of their hands in turn.

“I like the male,” she
heard him murmur to Midnight, who was fighting a smile.

“His name is Henry,” Midnight
replied.

“Of course, the male,
Henry. Seems robust,” he said.

Al, from the Stewardship
Guild, had a round belly and red hair. He was friendlier than Skye. “Well
aren’t you two cute as buttons, if you don’t mind my saying so. It’ll be nice
to have some young faces around here to cheer us all up.”