Knights of Light (The Conjurors Series Book 2) (19 page)

“Will they be okay?”
Valerie asked her.

“I’ll visit them now,
and consult with Chisisi. I will watch over their case personally until any
danger has passed,” Midnight promised.

Valerie sagged with
relief, and Henry and Midnight stayed with her while she cried herself out. It was
strange but intensely comforting to face this crisis with people who loved her.
It was like having a family.

The next few days passed very slowly. Valerie
spent as much time as possible at Thai’s side, watching him sleep. Even though
Midnight checked on Thai often and assured Valerie that they were recovering
normally, Valerie couldn’t bring herself to leave him long enough to visit her Guild,
even though she knew that Jet and Darling were counting on her. It was like she
was in a state of suspended animation.

It was three days, five
hours and thirty-two minutes before Thai awoke. She had fallen asleep herself,
but something woke her up. She immediately sent her mind to Thai’s side and
found him sitting on the edge of the bed in his room, watching over Tan. He smiled
when he saw her.

“I’m so sorry,” she
said, trying to keep the tears that were still close to the surface from
spilling over.

“For what?”

“I wanted to be here
when you woke up.”

“Chisisi told me that
you’ve barely left my side. And in some way I knew you were here, and I knew it
was going to be okay,” his dark eyes stared at her hungrily, like he wanted to
remember every nuance of her face.

“How are you?”

“Better than I’ve been since
this whole thing started. Like I’m myself again.”

“What about Tan? Is he
okay? I thought you’d wake up at the same time.”

He returned his
attention to Tan, who was breathing evenly. “I have to believe he’s going to be
okay. Maybe now that we’ve separated, we can figure out what’s wrong.”

“Where’s Chisisi?”

“I made him go get some
rest. I can never repay him for taking care of us.”

“He’s one of the best
people I know,” she agreed.

“Thank you, young ones,”
Chisisi said, appearing at the door. “Now you must leave Thai to rest.”

“Come on, I’ve done
enough resting,” Thai argued, but without heat. She could see that it would
take time for him to get his full energy back.

“There is much left to
do if we are going to get you and Tan to the Globe,” Chisisi insisted. “You
will need your full strength for the road ahead.”

“Fine, you win,” Thai
agreed.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be
back,” Valerie assured him.

When her mind returned to her dark room on the Globe,
an enormous weight was lifted from her shoulders. That night, she finally slept
a dreamless sleep.

Filled with guilt, Valerie
hurried to her Guild the next day. Her worry had been all-consuming, and there
were those who depended on her who were bound to be disappointed.

When she arrived, the Guild
was quieter than usual. Usually, there were classes being held in the courtyard
and Knights streaming in and out of the building. But today, only a handful of Knights
hurried by purposefully.

She headed toward
Kellen’s office. When she arrived, the door was open partway. Inside she heard
a voice that made her stop in her tracks.

“It’s what he wants,”
Sanguina insisted.

“I don’t understand why.”

“He’s using it as an
excuse to test her. He’s acting like it will be a simple trade, but it’s a
trap. She’ll never see it coming.”

“And if I don’t agree?”

“You know what he’s
capable of,” Sanguina said, and Valerie heard a low thud. She peeked through
the crack and saw that Sanguina had hefted her right leg onto a nearby chair.
It was all Valerie could do to repress her surprise when Sanguina lifted her
pants to reveal that she had a prosthetic leg. What had happened to her?

“I suppose I don’t have
a choice.”

“That’s not what I’m
saying. There has to be another way,” Sanguina continued.

Valerie was pulled
roughly away from the door.

“What are you up to now?”
Claremont said, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“Not now, Monty!” she
shoved her away and moved toward the door, but the room had fallen silent.

“You think you’re such a
hotshot, don’t you?” Claremont said and took a swing at her.

She ducked, and
Claremont’s fist hit the wall. Claremont let out a yelp of pain and then
cradled her hand.

“That’s enough,” Kellen
commanded.

“She was spying—”

“I have to tell you—”

“I’m disappointed in you
both,” he interrupted. “I don’t want to hear any more. If you two can’t find a
way to get along, then your status as apprentices will be revoked.”

Without another word, he
went back into his office and closed the door. Valerie wanted to charge in
after him and demand to know what Sanguina was doing in their Guild and exactly
what he was agreeing to.

Suspicion made her
stomach churn. What if Kellen was the spy? Maybe being kidnapped was a trick.
She remembered Chrome’s distrust when he had found the fairy after he had been
kidnapped.

Claremont snapped her
fingers in front of Valerie’s face. “Hello? Anyone home?”

“Let’s give each other
as much space as possible,” Valerie said, and turned on her heel and left. She
was done trying to make friends with Claremont. Anyone who wanted to drive her
fist into her face wasn’t worth her time.

She was halfway down the
hall when she smacked into Juniper.

“Where have you been?”
he asked. “You’ve missed all the good stuff.”

“What happened?”

“They’re organizing the
search party for when the guide arrives to take us to the Black Castle.
Everyone wanted to vote for you to lead the search, but you weren’t here. So
now you’re not even on the team.”

“I’m sure if I talk to
Chrome and Gideon—” she began.

“I’m afraid not,” Gideon
said, walking to her with Chrome at his side. The wolf’s eyes flashed with
hurt, and she saw a brief image of a full moon and heard a faint howl of
anguish. She wasn’t even sure he intentionally sent her the vision, because it was
so brief, she almost couldn’t make out what she saw. But his betrayal was clear.

“I’m so sorry, Chrome.
My friend was hurt and I couldn’t leave him,” she explained. Some of the anger
left his eyes, but guilt lodged like a rock in her stomach. She had to juggle
her responsibilities to those she loved now, and this time she had dropped the
ball. “Please, Gideon, you have to let me help search for Jet.”

“No, I thought you could
help lead, but I see now that I was mistaken.”

“Please don’t do this. I
know I’ve disappointed you, but find another way to punish me.”

“You mistake me. This
isn’t a punishment. Azra was right—it was wrong of me to put so much weight on
such young shoulders. You are not yet ready to set aside your personal cares
for the greater good. And you should not have to.”

“But even if I can’t
lead, I can still come search with you,” she insisted.

“It will not do to have
the Knights expect your leadership when you are not yet capable of providing
it. And no matter what they are told, they will expect it.”

There was no more she
could say. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Chrome nodded his head
in acknowledgment, and then he and Gideon continued down the hall.

“They’re leaving
tomorrow,” Juniper said as she stared after them.

“How? Shade isn’t even
here yet.”

“They’re going to meet
him in the middle. Chrome is pretty sure that he’ll be able to track him once
he’s outside of Dunsinane, and they don’t want to waste any time.”

She nodded. The sooner
they were able to help Jet, the better. She hoped that he wasn’t already beaten
past recovery. “He’s going to be okay,” she said, mostly to herself.

She noticed that Juniper
had turned red at the ears. “There’s one other thing you should know. That is,
well, I’ve been chosen to go on the search. Gideon said they could use my
binding power to help incapacitate any enemies that we run into.”

He was going in her
place, she understood, which was why he was so uncomfortable. But there was no
part of her that blamed Juniper for her own failure, so she attempted a smile. “I’m
so glad you’ll be there. Keep a close eye on Chrome, okay? It may be really
hard on him when he sees Jet’s condition. I don’t want him to go nuts and do
something that puts him in danger.”

Juniper nodded
seriously. “I’ll watch out for him. And I thought you might want to be in the
loop with what’s going on, so take this.” He gave her a small hand mirror. “It
doesn’t work super well, but I can tell you what’s happening. I’ll contact you
at night.”

“Thank you. And good luck
on this mission—they’re lucky to have you.”

He nodded, and they
parted ways. What would she do with herself now that she wasn’t needed on the
search? She remembered the conversation she had overheard in Kellen’s office
and made up her mind.

She’d been avoiding
investigating Sanguina out of a mixture of fear and disgust. But if she
couldn’t help rescue Darling and Jet, then she would prevent any more innocent
Conjurors from winding up in their shoes. It was time to find out what
Sanguina’s involvement was with Reaper.

Spying on Sanguina turned out to be a much
bigger challenge than Valerie had anticipated. First of all, no one seemed to
know where she was living. Everyone had seen her around Arden, but she would
vanish for days at a time.

Even when she was
around, other Knights or Guild leaders were usually closely watching her. Valerie
wasn’t the only one who wasn’t comfortable around the ex-vampyre. She started
to doubt whether or not she would be able to find out any new information under
the circumstances.

“She’s still creepy as
ever, I’ll grant you that,” Kanti said, surreptitiously examining Sanguina over
the top of her sandwich. Sanguina had just left the building that housed the Guardians
of the Boundary, and she tilted her face up to soak in the light that drenched
the green lawn. Kanti and Cyrus had met Valerie for a picnic lunch on the lawn
in the middle of The Horseshoe.

“You’ve gotta be
kidding. She was way scarier when she had those crazy veins. You never saw her
up close. I did,” Cyrus said with a shudder.

“I’m not getting a master
criminal vibe from her, though. She seems kind of lost and confused to me,”
Kanti said.

Cyrus made a skeptical
sound, but Valerie had to agree with Kanti, even if she didn’t want to. “I
can’t help thinking there’s something a little pathetic about her. A few
Conjurors talk to her, but in general, she’s kind of a leper.”

They watched as Sanguina
bumped into Oberon, who was trimming the hedges of the Guardians of the
Boundary Guild.

“That’s weird,” Valerie
said. “She’s talked to him the past two days as well. It always looks like an
accidental meeting, but I’m starting to think it’s on purpose.”

Cyrus furrowed his brow.
“You think he might be working with her?”

“I don’t know. I saw
them talking before I was attacked at the Capitol, but he helped drive Zunya
away,” Valerie said.

“Unless that was for
show, to win your trust,” Kanti said darkly. She saw Cyrus and Valerie both
staring at her in surprise. “What? I was raised in a castle. I know a few
things about deception.”

“I never thought twice
about it at the time, but I heard Oberon asking Rastelli about you, too,” Cyrus
said.

“What did he want to
know?” Valerie asked, startled.

“He asked if he knew you
well, and if you were really a vivicus like everyone was saying. Of course, Rastelli
doesn’t really know you so he probably couldn’t tell him much.”

“Okay, that’s weird,”
Kanti said. “Oberon stopped Henry once when he was on his way to the Empathy
Collective. It was strange because he asked him for the time, and that was it.
He’s not known for being social.”

“He’s keeping tabs on
us,” Valerie said grimly. What reason could an ancient, powerful Conjuror have
for his curiosity about her and her brother? The only answers she could think
of were bad ones.

“If they’re working
together, you could try following him instead of Sanguina,” Kanti suggested.

“That’s a good idea,”
Valerie agreed. “We know he has an actual house and he doesn’t randomly
disappear. Maybe it will give me a clue as to whether or not they’re meeting in
secret.”

“You’re not going alone,”
Cyrus said.

“I’ll be careful,” she replied.

“No! You’ve already been
attacked by whoever this mysterious nut job is. You’ve got to take Henry or me with
you, at the very least.”

“Hey! What about me?
I’ve got magic now,” Kanti said.

“No offense, but hearts
and flowers aren’t going to keep Oberon at bay if he tries to attack.”

“Right, and a few
flashes of light will? Give me a break! You’re such a sexist pig,” Kanti
countered.

“Will you two give it a
rest?” Valerie interrupted before they could start arguing in earnest. “I’ll
take Henry. Oberon’s curious about him, too, so he’s got a good reason to find
out what’s going on.”

“Whatever,” Cyrus said
grumpily.

“Fine,” Kanti agreed,
refusing to acknowledge Cyrus.

Valerie forced herself not to roll her eyes or shake
them both.

“Cy and Kanti don’t
think this is paranoid?” Henry asked her the next day as they followed Oberon
through the streets of Silva.

“If you don’t want to do
this, I’ll take Kanti instead,” Valerie said. “I thought you’d want to know if
Sanguina’s really up to something.”

“I do,” he said, and she
had a glimpse into his mind, which was consumed with fear. But he forced it
down. “It’s time to stop avoiding her.”

She hoped she wasn’t
pushing him too far, too fast. But she knew that, until he could manage his
fear, he would always be held back by it. Releasing her fear of Sanguina was
what had enabled her to win when they’d fought in the Black Castle.

Oberon stopped at a
giant tree that was hollow inside. It was an apartment building straight out of
a storybook, where rabbits or birds would live. Definitely not where she was
expecting Oberon to sleep.

Her instincts weren’t
totally off. Most of the residents of the tree were animals—well, talking,
thinking, intelligent Conjurors who looked like animals, really. Calling them “animals”
would probably be like using the word “elves” to refer to the People of the
Woods.

“Okay, that’s weird,” Henry
said, sounding just like Kanti.

“I thought he’d live in
a basement or something. Somewhere dark and depressing,” Valerie agreed. “And
we can’t exactly peer in the windows of this place. There aren’t any.”

“True, but we could try
to find his mind,” Henry suggested. “We could do that from the comfort of our
room though.”

“Let’s do it here. That
way, if Oberon leaves or he’s able to block us, we can follow him.”

Henry nodded and shut
his eyes. He opened his mind to her, and they concentrated on the
groundskeeper. Sensing his mind was easier than when they had searched for Jet,
because he was physically closer and Henry had met him. They saw his apartment,
which was filled with leaves and flowers, and then they were hurled out of his
mind.

It was like a hammer
banging the inside of her head, sending her to her knees in agony. Next to her,
Henry groaned. The pain was followed by a lightning bolt that slammed into the
ground inches from where they knelt.

Oberon appeared at the
base of the tree, his sightless eyes staring directly at them. “Who are you? A
fool, if you would try to invade a mind as old as mine. If it’s a fight you
want, you’ve come to the right place.”

His voice was quiet, but
somehow, she could hear everything he said as if he was whispering in her ear.

“Let’s get out of here,”
Henry said, and he grabbed Valerie’s hand. They began to run, and Oberon’s
lightning followed them, hitting the ground where their feet had been
milliseconds before.

Valerie tripped and
winced, waiting to be burned alive. But again, his bolt just missed her. He
must be deliberately avoiding direct contact. He was trying to scare them, not
kill them.

“I’m sorry,” she called.
“We should have talked to you.”

“What are you doing?”
Henry said, yanking her to her feet. “We are NOT reasoning with this guy. He’s
nuts.”

“Wait!” Oberon’s voice
called after them, but she let Henry lead her away. He was right, staying in
the path of Oberon’s lightning, hoping that he’d listen to reason, was not the
best idea she’d ever had.

They reached their house
out of breath. Valerie could sense that Henry’s terror went much deeper than
hers. She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t quite believe that Oberon was
working for Sanguina or Reaper.

“We’re out of our league
with this guy,” Henry said once he caught his breath.

“Maybe you’re right. But
we don’t have any answers yet, and I can’t drop my investigation now,” Valerie
said.

Henry shrugged. “We’re
kids. Can’t we leave this to Azra and the Grand Masters to figure out? With all
their power, they’ll find the spy and take care of him. So far, getting
involved almost got you killed—twice.”

“I don’t think he was
trying to kill us,” Valerie argued.

“The burnt rubber on my
shoes would beg to differ with you,” Henry said. Sure enough, his sneakers were
ruined beyond repair.

She sighed but let the subject drop, knowing how
stubborn he could be once he’d decided something. She’d continue her search on
her own. She could be stubborn, too.

After dinner that night,
Valerie brought Kanti to her new home to give her a tour. When they entered her
room, a scroll was lying on her bed, like it was waiting for her. The paper was
iridescent, reminding her of Azra’s mane. She was intensely curious, but forced
herself not to touch it. It could be a bomb, for all she knew.

“Oooo, what’s Azra
writing you about?” Kanti asked.

“How do you know it’s
from her?”

Kanti laughed. “I always
forget you don’t know the most basic stuff. Her scrolls are special. They have
that beautiful rainbowy color, and smell it.”

Valerie sniffed. “Lilacs.”

“Yup. She only sends
those for special reasons. I got one when I became a journeyman at the
Imaginary Friends’ Guild.”

“How’d I miss that? I
thought you were an apprentice!”

“You and Henry were
still on Earth. It isn’t a big deal. Becoming an apprentice and a Master are
important, but journeyman is an in-between step.”

“Sounds like a big deal
to me. Sorry I wasn’t here to celebrate with you. Is Cyrus a journeyman now,
too?”

Kanti made a face. “Not
yet, so don’t mention it. You know how he gets.”

Valerie nodded. Cyrus
was her best friend, but there was no denying how intensely competitive he
could be.

She carefully unrolled
the scroll, which was sealed with silver wax. There were no words on it, but
Azra’s voice filled her mind with words and an emotion—urgency.

The Grand Masters are
voting tomorrow on the Excision. I would not ask you to risk coming to the
Capitol unless you were truly needed, but I think you should be a part of this
discussion. Come to my office tomorrow at high noon.

She relayed Azra’s
message to Kanti, whose mouth hung open.

“So what’s high noon?” Valerie
asked.

“It’s the same thing as
regular noon, except that something major is happening. Azra’s speech gets
formal when she’s really worried,” Kanti explained. “I never thought the Excision
would come to a vote. I can’t imagine cutting all contact with Earth. All those
kids who depend on us…”

“Plus Thai and Tan,” Valerie
said, her palms starting to sweat.

“Somehow you’ve got to
convince them there’s a better way to prevent the Fractus from getting to
Earth.”

“But is there?” Valerie asked. Kanti didn’t know, and
neither did she.