Knights of Light (The Conjurors Series Book 2) (4 page)

He nuzzled into her
shoulder and her grief drained away, replaced by hope. Darling was a healer on
the Globe, but she didn’t know if his magic would work on Earth. “Can you save
her?”

“Valerie? What’s
happening? Who is this?” Ming asked, her eyes fluttering open.

“He’s my friend, and his
name is Darling. Don’t be scared, Ming. He wants to try to help you.”

Darling jumped into her
lap, and Ming stared into his wide eyes. His heart glowed red beneath his
chest, and she watched it beat with wonder.

“You’ve got magic, just
like Valerie, don’t you?” she asked softly. Darling smiled and executed a
little somersault on her lap, which made Ming giggle. She gently tickled him,
and Valerie listened with delight to their adorable laughter.

“He’s like a little bear
cub! I love him already. I wish you both could stay here with me always,” Ming
said.

Darling chattered in a
language that Valerie couldn’t understand, and jumped into Ming’s arms. As they
hugged, Darling’s heart glowed a brighter red, and Ming’s eyes opened wide. A
shudder passed through her little frame and Valerie clutched her close,
suddenly afraid of what was happening to her.

After a few agonizing
seconds, it was over, and Ming’s head fell back on her pillow. She was sound
asleep. Darling’s eyes were filled with happy tears.

“Will she be okay?” she
whispered.

Darling nodded, but his
limbs looked heavy, and his soft fur had lost some of its shine.

“Will
you
be
okay?” Darling executed a little spin on Ming’s lap, and she laughed. “I hope
that’s a yes.”

“Val, the natives are
restless. Everything okay here?” Cyrus asked, popping into view. He took a step
back in surprise when he saw Darling.

“What are you doing
here, buddy?”

“Cy—he’s here for real.
He’s not projecting. He came to help Ming.”

Cyrus sucked in a breath.
“I’ve heard rumors, but never believed them.”

“This has happened
before?”

“There are a couple of
legends passed down in my guild about kids on Earth being helped by Darling,
but no one I know has seen it happen. It must have helped that he already had a
connection with you.”

Valerie stroked
Darling’s fur. “Thank you. I can never tell you how grateful I am. However you
did this.”

Darling murmured softly,
and then the air around him shimmered. He was gone.

“Well I never!” Valerie
and Cyrus both jumped, realizing that someone else was in the room. They
relaxed when they saw it was Chern, a Grand Master of the History Guild who had
helped them travel on the Globe. He was nice, but afraid of his own shadow.

“So sorry to scare you!
I hate when people sneak up on me, too. Azra told me where you were, and I
projected here as quickly as I could. But you all seemed busy and I didn’t want
to interrupt. But I must, I’m afraid!”

“Why? Is everything
okay?” she asked, worried.

“It most certainly is
not! I was walking by my guild yesterday, and I overheard a scraggly young man
asking for you. Goes by the name of Shade, if I remember correctly.”

“Oh, Jack. He’s a friend—sort
of.”

“Are you quite sure? I
must say he didn’t seem like a proper young man. And I was worried he might
learn that I knew you and come to my house demanding information. You can
understand how upsetting that would be for me.”

“Of course,” she said. “If
I see Jack, I’ll be sure to let him know not to bother you. But I don’t think
he will.”

“Azra thought Valerie
needed to know this?” Cyrus asked suspiciously.

“Well,” Chern blustered,
“she didn’t see the urgency, but I insisted that she must know now. I couldn’t
rest without telling you.”

“Thank you, Chern. It’s
good to know you have our back,” she said.

“Of course, dear. I’ll
leave you then,” he said, and vanished.

Cyrus burst into
laughter. “How could you thank that guy? He’s only worried about saving his own
skin.”

“He cared enough to come
to warn me. That should count for something.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes. “Whatever.
We should get outta here before your brother has a heart attack.”

“Can you tell them
everything is okay? I have to see Dr. Freeman before I go. I sort of owe him.”

“Okay, but make it
quick. Otherwise Henry’s gonna come in after you.”

He popped out of sight,
and she leaned over Ming one last time and gave her a kiss on her forehead. She
wished that she could be here when she woke, and see the joy on her mother’s
face. She was like Santa, leaving before the presents had been opened. A wave
of pure relief and joy carried her down the hall to Dr. Freeman’s office.
Inside, he was bent over his laptop, concentrating.

“Dr. Freeman, you’re not
going to believe it. Ming is cured!”

His eyes were knowing
and worried when they met hers. “What makes you think that, Valerie?”

“I saw it for myself.
You don’t have to believe me. Go check her!”

“Of course I will. I
can’t imagine how upsetting it is for you to see her like that.”

“Yes, but now she’s
better. Trust me.”

“I really wish that were
true. But tell me, how could that be possible? I want you to think, to really
struggle against your disease. Forcing yourself to accept reality is an
important part of combating schizophrenia.”

Her mood fell. “I see. I
probably wouldn’t believe me, either.”

“Let’s get you checked
in, at least for a day, Ms. Diaz. I’ll give you a complete workup.”

He had a determined bent
to his mouth that she didn’t like one bit. “Dr. Freeman, thank you for
everything you’ve done for me, but no.”

Without saying anything
more, she raced down the hall, ignoring his calls after her. He’d never believe
it if she told him of her magic, even after he saw that Ming was cured.

As she burst out of the hospital into the sunshine,
the exuberance of Ming’s recovery returned to her. After all, last year she had
been alone with a death sentence hanging over her. Now, she had friends waiting
for her and magic inside of her.

That night, after
everyone had gone to sleep, Valerie stayed awake, staring into the dying flames
of their campfire and remembering her day. How had Darling known to come to
her? Had he recovered yet from saving Ming?

“I’m back,” Thai said,
sitting beside her on the ground.

“Tan had a good day,”
she told him.

“Yeah, he did. But not
as good as yours.”

She smiled widely. “It
really was amazing. A weight has been taken off my heart. Once I’m on the Globe,
I’ll visit Ming again and tell her everything. I know she’ll believe me.”

“Somehow I think it’s thanks
to you that she’s going to live.”

“No, I didn’t do
anything. I couldn’t even touch my magic.”

“But you tried to save
her, didn’t you? Even though it could have killed you.”

“Thai, you can’t be mad
about that.”

“I’m not mad. I’m in
awe. Even though it was Darling’s magic that cured her, I think that the way
you cared about her—more than your own life—was what called him across the
universe. That’s what I love about you.”

Her heart stopped
beating when he said those words. Then it sped up to three times its normal
pace when he leaned over, his lips millimeters from hers. He hesitated, and she
leaned forward, closing the space. She’d imagined her first kiss a thousand
times, and she thought she’d be all sweaty palms and worrying about whether her
lips were too wet or too dry.

But she didn’t have time
to think about anything other than what was happening. A coil of emotion
unspooled inside of her, sending threads of light through her entire body. His
hand reached up and cupped her face, and she wound her arms around his neck.

After a minute, he
pulled back. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t—”

“Are you kidding?” she
said, and then pulled him back for another kiss. How could she ever have
doubted that it would be this easy—this perfect—when it was with Thai? She
could drown in this moment, and she didn’t care if she never came up for air.

She knew it the second
that Thai gave in, pulling her close and threading his fingers through her hair.
But in the middle of her bliss, a blinding flash of panic seared her entire
body.

Abruptly, she was pulled
out of herself and into Henry’s mind. He was terrified.

“Get away from me!” Henry shouted. His
fear was so palpable that Valerie could swear it was her own. Without meaning
to, he had pulled her into his mind, as he had done many times before when
Sanguina had frightened him over the years. But now, she knew that this
connection and the magic that sustained it were draining her life.

“Henry, it’s okay. Let
me go and I’ll come find you,” she tried to send her thoughts to him, but her
words weren’t penetrating.

He ran blindly through
the woods, and she saw the flickering light of the campfire through his eyes. But
before he was close, he tripped over a tree root and landed on the ground. A
shadow loomed over him.

“Not again, please. You
can’t touch me, you can’t hurt me,” Henry chanted to himself.

In the light of the
moon, she saw the face of the man near him and relief washed over her. It was
Chisisi.

“All you all right,
young sir? Allow me to help you up.”

“He’s safe; he’s a
friend,” she tried to communicate to her brother. Something of her relief or
words must have come through, because abruptly his mind let hers go, and she
was back in her own body.

Thai was cradling her,
his eyes dilated with fear. “Come back, please, come back!”

“It’s okay, I’m okay,”
she whispered. But it wasn’t totally true. It was like she’d been hit by a
truck, and she wasn’t even sure if she could stand.

“Thank God,” he said,
hugging her close.

Henry and Chisisi
stepped into the firelight. Behind them, a tall, dark stranger a few years
older than Chisisi joined them as well. Henry raced to her side,
panic-stricken. “I’m sorry! I didn’t even know I did it until I calmed down. I
could have killed you!”

“You didn’t even come
close. A little rest and I’ll be fine.”

“Ah, young ones. I am
sorry to bring trouble with us. We had hoped to relieve you of it, not add to
it,” Chisisi said.

Thai and Chisisi clasped
hands. “Can you help her?” Thai asked.

“I can,” the strange man
said. His eyes were serious, but Valerie saw the deep laugh lines in his cheeks
and sensed that he was usually more lighthearted.

“This is Zaki, your
benefactor when you visited Mena House in Egypt. He is here to assist us,”
Chisisi said.

Zaki knelt beside her
and pulled out a greenish powder from a pouch at his side. “Put a bit on your
tongue. Fair warning—it tastes like rotten eggs. I usually sprinkle it in
Chisisi’s food when he’s being naughty, but in this case, I think it will give
you back your strength,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Chisisi smiled at his
friend’s joke, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He patted Valerie’s hand. It
warmed her heart to see how much he cared. He nodded encouragingly as Zaki
poured a bit of powder in her hand, and she quickly tossed it in her mouth. It tasted
awful, but adrenaline coursed through her body. Her limbs were under her
control again, and she was able to sit up.

“Is it magic?” she
asked.

“No, just herbs,” Zaki
replied. “If I had magic, you can bet it’d taste a lot better.”

“It will help you regain
your energy more quickly, but it is not a cure,” Chisisi added.

She nodded. Her limbs were
still heavy from the physical and mental toll that the magic had taken on her.
It was both frustrating and frightening to be so weak and dependent.

“I’m so sorry,” Henry
said. “I just went for a walk—I wanted to prove to myself that there was
nothing to be afraid of out there anymore. But instead, I did just the
opposite. I was stupid.”

“You weren’t stupid—that
was brave. And you don’t have to worry. I’ll be fine after a good night’s
sleep.”

“I wish we could stay
here longer for you to fully recover, but unfortunately time is of the essence.
At dawn, we must depart,” Chisisi said firmly.

“What’s the rush?” Thai
asked.

“It’s rather exciting.
We have some villains chasing us,” Zaki said, a grin tugging at the corners of
his mouth. “Usually this would make me feel like your American hero—James Bond—but
in this case, it has been a bit inconvenient.”

“That is why it took so
long for us to come to you. We had to be sure that we had escaped,” Chisisi
added. “Things are changing here, young friends. The Fractus are marshaling
their forces on Earth. They are trying to track down those who know the secrets
of traveling between worlds, like Zaki. In order for the Fractus to travel
freely back and forth between Earth and the Globe, many pieces must fall into
place in both worlds.”

“Chisisi can be a
worrywart, but I admit that it is rather important to make sure that the seal
stays closed on our side,” Zaki added, smacking Chisisi affectionately on the
back. “I am very lucky he is here to remind me not to get distracted.”

“We must use utmost
caution in getting you back to the Globe,” Chisisi said. “When you leave, the
seal will be vulnerable, and we must make sure no one takes advantage of that
time.”

“Where are we going?” she
asked, hoping for another adventure. “Rome? Paris? Back to the Great Pyramid?”

“Alas, the Great Pyramid
portal is no longer functional. In fact, no portal is fully functional. But
there is one I believe we can fix. And it is close, within this country.”

“Don’t leave us hanging,
where are we going?” Thai asked impatiently.

“Colorado.”

The next day, Valerie was
weaker than usual, but well enough to hide it. She could see from the way that
Henry was watching her that he didn’t buy it. She tried to keep the connection
between them fully closed, but she knew that some of her exhaustion must be leaking
through.

As much as she knew that
she needed to return to the Globe to regain her strength, after kissing Thai, she
wanted to stay on Earth more than ever. What if he needed her when it was time
for him to split with Tan? Surely, once Henry was safely on the Globe, she
would be okay to stay for another year or so.

“How are you?” Chisisi
asked her softly, so that the others wouldn’t hear.

“I’m a little weak, but
I’m fine,” she said. He gave her a searching look.

“I have heard of your
powers. Much will be expected of you when you return to the Globe.”

“That’s a mistake. It’s
the mystery of my disappearance that’s making everyone overthink things.”

“I do not think so. You
must prepare yourself.”

“Thank you for coming,
Chisisi,” she said, changing the subject. “I can’t believe you and Zaki
traveled so far for us.”

“It is an honor to help
you,” he said in his formal way, and she gave him a quick hug.

“Will Henry and I have
to pass some kind of test before we can travel to the Globe?” Valerie asked. For
her first trip, she’d had to travel to Stonehenge in order to prove her worth
before she was allowed to travel through the Great Pyramid portal.

Chisisi shook his head. “This
portal is much simpler. Henry’s and your power will activate it and send you
straight to the Globe.”

Valerie hid her breath
of relief. She wasn’t sure she was up for much more adventure in her current
state.

“The fastest way to
travel to Colorado would be by a magic wind tunnel, of course,” Zaki said, his
eyes dancing. “But since there are none available, we’ll have to settle for a
plain old airplane.”

“I suggest we split up
for safety’s sake,” Chisisi said. “Valerie and Thai can travel with Zaki, and
Henry will go with me. We can meet again at the airport after making sure that
neither of us is followed.”

“I’ll be with ya the
whole time, too,” Kanti said, appearing beside Henry with Cyrus at her side.

“What the heck, I’ll
join you dorks, too,” Cyrus added casually. But Valerie sensed that he and
Kanti had talked beforehand about joining Henry together. It made her worried
that Kanti clearly thought Henry needed a lot of support.

“Take the car, since
young miss needs to rest,” Chisisi insisted. “Henry and I will take the bus and
train.”

After all the gear was
packed, Valerie climbed into the back of a black SUV with heavily tinted
windows. Inside, the seats were smooth leather, and she rested with a quiet
sigh of relief. Tan appeared beside her and grinned.

“So you and the alter
ego got a thing now, huh?” he asked, nudging her.

She couldn’t repress a
smile. “I’m sure you’d know better than I would.”

“I only know that he
doesn’t think he’s good enough for you—mostly because of me,” he said, his face
suddenly darkening.

“Of course he doesn’t
think that!” she said, shocked.

“He does. He’s wanted to
kiss you forever, but he kept holding back, thinking that he’s not stable or
something.”

She turned the idea over
in her mind with amazement until Zaki got into the car.

“Are you ready for an
adventure?” Zaki exclaimed, revving the engine playfully. Valerie let out a surprised
laugh.

“Let’s get outta here,”
Tan said.

They left the campsite
and had just merged onto the freeway when she caught sight of a white
convertible with the top down. The driver was wearing dark sunglasses and her
hair was tucked under a baseball cap. Next to her was a woman with short hair
and green eyes that stood out in sharp contrast to her dark skin. The
dark-haired woman locked eyes with Valerie. Goosebumps broke out on her arms.

“Zaki, let’s get out of
here. Something’s wrong,” she said.

Without questioning her,
he hit the accelerator hard, zooming past several cars. He cut over into the left
hand lane and sped up even faster. She gripped the seat so hard her knuckles
turned white. She hoped she hadn’t overreacted. Next to her, Tan was pale, but
his eyes were steely.

Two lanes over, the
white convertible was keeping pace with them. Zaki was hemmed in by cars on all
sides, so he couldn’t speed up. The white convertible changed lanes so that
again they drove side by side.

The dark-haired woman unbuckled
her seatbelt and stood. Valerie gasped in horror when the woman leaped from the
convertible with catlike grace. A soft thud on the top of the SUV made the car
tremble.

People rolled down their
windows to stare and leaned on their horns. The shock factor alone was enough
to cause an accident.

“Zaki, you have to slow
down! She could get hurt.”

“Are you crazy? Let’s
teach this psycho a lesson and sideswipe the median so she’s knocked off.
That’ll teach her,” Tan said.

“She could be killed!”

“So?”

“Enough!” Zaki commanded,
his usual teasing tone absent. Tan fell silent. “Valerie is right.”

Cyrus appeared beside
her. “Henry said something’s wrong.”

“Someone’s after us. It
sounds crazy, but she’s on the roof.” She quickly filled him in.

Zaki slowed the car and
pulled onto the shoulder of the road. To her relief, she saw Tan shudder, and
when he blinked, Thai was back in control.

“Thank God,” she
couldn’t help saying, and he squeezed her hand.

The car rolled to a
stop, and Zaki turned around. “Stay inside.”

He got out of the car
without another word, slamming the door. Cyrus appeared next to him. Thai
rolled down the window.

“She’s gone,” Zaki said,
shading his eyes and peering down the highway.

“No she’s still here,
Thai, quick—” Valerie said, but she was too late. A hand holding a rag clamped
over Zaki’s nose and mouth, and he collapsed. Thai leaped out of the car with
Valerie on his heels. The woman was fast, but the rest of the world fell away
as Valerie entered the zone in her mind that touched her magic.

“Val, no!” Cyrus cried.
But his voice was far away.

In one swift move, she
shoved Thai behind her while blocking a blow from the woman’s fist with her
upper arm. The woman moved supernaturally fast, springing to the hood of the
car. A swift kick caught Valerie’s shoulder and sent her reeling. She would
have been pushed into traffic if Thai hadn’t caught her arm.

She used the momentum of
the pull and kicked against the side of the car, jumping in the air to sweep
her foot in an arc that hit her attacker’s ankles. The woman fell, crashing onto
the hood and then to the ground.

A screech of tires broke
Valerie’s focus, and she saw that the white convertible had pulled in front of
their car. Thai raced toward the driver, but the woman on the ground leaped up
and into the car, and they sped back into traffic, several drivers honking
angrily as they nearly caused an accident getting away.

With her burst of power ebbing, Valerie’s vision shrank
to a tiny point. Cyrus’s blue eyes stared anxiously into hers as her knees
buckled beneath her and the world went black.