by Kristen Pham
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Epilogue
Afterword
About the Author
Knights of Light
The Conjurors Series
By
Kristen Pham
Text copyright © 2014 Kristen Pham
Chapter 1
The dreams were never exactly the same, but they usually began with Sanguina’s terrified eyes, life draining out of them the moment before Valerie saved her. Then the ecstatic burst of power that she released in a torrent she could barely control.
Finally, a sinking into darkness. The most frightening part was the emptiness inside her that was in stark contrast to the connection she had with all of life seconds before, when she had channeled her magic to save her enemy’s life. It was a familiar, abandoned loneliness that she had run from her entire life.
The next part of the dream was different every time. She had a choice—give in to the blackness or fight against it. Sometimes she let herself dissolve into the darkness until there was nothing left of her, and with that came a kind of peace, finality. Other times, she struggled back toward light and life. This choice required monumental effort, but it also led to the knowledge that she wasn’t really alone anymore.
Always, no matter what she chose, she knew that she had traded something incalculably precious for Sanguina’s life, but she didn’t know what it was—some of her magic, years of her life, a piece of her soul? Then came the pain, emotional and physical agonies that mirrored each other. Even though she knew it was coming, she couldn’t stop herself from moaning.
“Come back, it’s okay, you’re safe now,” Thai’s voice pulled her from the dream. Every time the nightmare had swept her away over the past four months, he was there, pushing her sweaty hair back from her forehead. His eyes were deep brown pools of sympathy.
Whatever she had given up, it was worth it for that moment.
“Feels a lot like paradise,” Valerie said, skimming her hand through the cool sand on the beach in Half Moon Bay, California. The chill in the air stung her cheeks, and she tipped her head back to soak in some of the warm April sunshine.
“Agreed,” Thai replied, and he gave her the little half smile like they shared a secret.
Even though for the past four months, Valerie and her twin brother, Henry, had technically been hiding from the evil Fractus, they were the best months of her life. They had been camping with their close friend, Thai, at a remote site, spending their days walking the beaches, learning about their powers, and plotting their next move to travel from Earth to the Globe, a world filled with magic.
“I’d like to stay here forever,” she admitted.
Thai’s eyes were warm when they met hers. “Me, too. But you know how important it is for you to go back.”
She shrugged. “I’m fine.” She was better than fine. She was happier than she’d ever been, which left her questioning if she really wanted to return to the Globe, a world that had been created in the center of a black hole for magical beings called Conjurors. A world she’d had to try to explain to her newfound twin. A world he, too, would soon have to call home.
She had tried to explain to Henry what her friend Cyrus had explained to her. Many centuries ago, magic had existed on Earth, but some chose to abuse their powers and enslave humans who didn’t have the gift. In order to protect those without powers, the rest of the Conjurors—the good ones—created the Globe and forced everyone with magic to leave Earth. Rules were put in place to prevent anyone born with magic in the future from using their powers.
The problem was, every now and then, someone—like Valerie—was born with too much magic. On Earth, that could make you very sick, and ultimately you could die. Such people had to be transported to the Globe where they could use their magic freely and live a full life. That was what had happened to Valerie six months ago. She’d traveled through a portal to the Globe, which was separated from Earth with a barrier so that no one with magic could ever return. But Valerie somehow broke that rule when she came back to Earth to save her brother’s life.
“You may be okay now, but that might not last. Remember, I had to watch you almost die when your magic was too strong,” Thai reminded her, his forehead creased with worry. Then, so low she almost didn’t catch it, he added, “Worst three minutes of my life.”
He was staring into the surf with a familiar brooding expression on his face, and she decided to change the subject. “It’s a stupid rule the Conjurors put in place in the first place. Why repress everyone’s magic on Earth?”
“Power corrupts,” Thai said grimly. “They were saving humans from being slaves to magical evil overlords.”
“There’s got to be a better way.”
“Maybe you’ll think of one and things can be different. But for now, we have to get you off the planet. Besides, admit it. You want to use your magic again.”
“I want to be able to defend myself,” she said with a grin. Her power was her ability to fight, and it had been incredibly satisfying on the Globe to be able to protect herself and her friends in a way she was rarely able to on Earth. “And I know Henry’s curious about how his psychic powers will work.”
Thai threw a rock into the surf. She couldn’t stop sneaking peeks at his golden tan and deep brown eyes. He was the best-looking guy she’d ever seen. Even better, he could make her laugh till she could barely breathe, and he was the first person in her memory who had taken care of her. It wasn’t up to her to always be on guard for danger, because she had a partner who would help shoulder the burden.
As he leaned in to brush some sand off of her cheek with his thumb, she became a little breathless. She wondered if the thrilling energy that zinged through her every time they accidentally touched affected him as well. Suddenly, the sound of a loud motor interrupted her thoughts.
They turned toward the ocean in surprise as a girl with long, blonde hair zoomed through the choppy waves a hundred yards out on a jet ski.
“It’s early in the year for that. It’s too wavy out there, and the water’s freezing, even with a wet suit,” Thai said.
The words were barely out of his mouth when the engine abruptly cut out. They watched with horror as the girl was smacked from the jet ski by a huge wave.
Valerie started kicking off her shoes. But Thai stopped her. “I’m the stronger swimmer.”
He raced down the beach into the water. He expertly dove under the waves toward the girl, and she picked up his cell and called 911. After she made the call, a boy with dark hair streaked with sil
ver came running toward her—Henry.
“I could tell that something was wrong,” he said. Valerie and Henry had always had an intense mental connection, even before they had met in person. Now that they had grown to be close as brother and sister, their bond was even stronger. As hard as they tried not to use their psychic link, since using magic on Earth made them both sick, sometimes it was impossible to stop the connection.
She quickly explained what happened, scanning the ocean the entire time for Thai. At first, she couldn’t spot him. “He could die out there,” she said, a vision of him being sucked out by one of the notorious rip tides along this stretch of beach making her heart pound.
“He’s gonna be okay,” her brother insisted, but he was chewing his thumbnail down to a nub.
She strained her eyes down the beach and was flooded with relief when she saw Thai bent over the girl, giving her CPR. By the time she and Henry reached them, the girl was coughing up a lungful of water.
“Welcome back,” Thai said, patting the girl gently on her slender back.
“Thank you,” she said, turning to him with big blue eyes brimming with tears. She was around Thai’s age, eighteen, and Valerie could see that even with tears streaking her face and her hair plastered against her forehead, she was strikingly beautiful.
“You’re welcome. Can we help you get back somewhere, um…”
“Logan,” the girl said. “I’m Logan Sparks.”
“I’m Thai, and this is Valerie and Henry.”
Loud sirens screeched from the top of the cliff, and two paramedics hurried down the stairs. They reached the group and began assessing Logan for injuries. She appeared to be okay, but they put her on a stretcher to take her to the hospital anyway.
“We’ll come with you,” Thai said, but Logan shook her head.
“No, I’ve put you through enough trouble already. I’ll call my parents and they’ll meet me there.”
The paramedics hefted Logan onto a stretcher, and she held out her hand. “How can I find you again? After this is over? I’d like to thank you properly for saving my life.”
She fluttered her eyelashes at Thai, and Valerie was dangerously close to rolling her eyes. Logan was laying on the damsel-in-distress act pretty thick. She looked over at Thai, to see if he was buying it, and she saw with relief that there was a spark of humor in his eyes.
“We’re camping at the site on the top of this cliff. Stop by anytime to say hi to my friends and me.”
“Do you think it was safe to tell her where we’re camping?” Henry asked as they made their way back to their campsite.
Thai raked his fingers through his wet hair, worried. “You’re right. That was careless of me.”
“Let’s not overreact. Don’t turn back into Mr. Paranoid on me again,” Valerie said with a grin.
“The last time I was paranoid, it turned out to be a Fractus henchman trying to kill us all with frog poison!” Thai exclaimed.
“Venu,” Henry said darkly.
“I’m never gonna live that down, am I?” she said, trying to lighten the mood, so that Henry didn’t start reliving the horrific kidnapping that had almost killed him.
“It’s only a matter of time before the Fractus find us here. Chisisi can’t get us out of here soon enough,” Thai said.
They hadn’t seen Chisisi, who helped protect them on Earth, since he had watched over them at the Mena House Hotel in Egypt where they had stayed before she had used the portal at the Great Pyramid to travel to the Globe. Without his help, she never would have made it there.
“He’s right, Val,” Henry agreed, and a wave of worry washed from his mind to hers.
“How would they ever find us? No one other than Henry’s dad and a handful of our friends on the Globe knows where we are,” Valerie reasoned.
But despite that fact, an uneasy tingle in the back of her mind warned her that the Fractus were coming. They had tormented Henry for years, and surely finding him again was a top priority.
Valerie squinted toward the tents where they were camping and saw the tell-tale shimmer of her best friends, Kanti and Cyrus, projecting from the Globe. She, Henry, and Thai began to jog toward their camp, and she noticed that Henry was smiling widely.
Valerie got there first and wished she could give her friends a hug, but they were mentally projecting themselves to Earth, so she had to settle for giving them both their signature “air high-fives” that they had invented as an alternative as long as they were half a universe apart.
Once everyone was gathered around the tents, Henry, Thai, Kanti, and Cyrus burst into a loud, off-key rendition of the “Happy Birthday” song. Henry threw back his head to laugh at the shocked expression on Valerie’s face. This made Valerie start giggling, too, half with surprise and half at the rare sound of her brother’s joy.
For the first time, she noticed a cake, presents, and even a few balloons set up next to the tents.
“You did all this?” Valerie gasped, clutching her brother in a tight hug.
“Naturally, he had help from the best. We have a lot of birthdays to make up for,” Cyrus said. He knew how lonely her childhood in the foster care system had been, because he had been her imaginary friend for many years.
Seeing her friends’ expectant faces, a rush of happiness that she had never known almost overwhelmed her. It was the first birthday party she had ever had, and it was perfect.
“It’s your birthday, too,” Valerie said to her brother. “I can’t believe I forgot.”
“I’ll forgive you if you let me have the first piece of cake,” he said with a grin.
“Don’t forget the music for those of us who can’t stuff our faces,” chimed in Kanti, and Thai pulled out a battery-powered radio and turned it on. The heavy beat of a Drake song had Kanti busting out some of her legendary dance moves. She was incredibly graceful when she danced, and it was easy to forget that she looked like an evil witch in a fairy tale, warts and all.
Henry laughed and tried to imitate her, but it was quickly clear that he had no rhythm. Cyrus joined in next, and he was even worse. Valerie was doubled over with laughter as Thai grabbed her hand and pulled her into the circle, and soon she was demonstrating her version of the moonwalk.
“Not bad!” Thai said, and then showed off with a windmill, where he got into a kind of handstand, bending his arms at the elbows and whirling his legs around in the air… like a windmill. After that, even Kanti’s mouth was hanging open.
“Can I cut in?” A low, threatening voice from Valerie’s nightmares wiped the smile off her face. She whirled around to see the squinty yellow eyes of Zunya glaring at her with smug triumph. And if Zunya was projecting from the Globe, his henchmen on Earth couldn’t be far.
As if on cue, Venu’s hulking form stepped out from behind her tent. “Henry, Thai, step back,” Valerie commanded.
“Not on your life. We do this together,” Thai said, but unexpectedly his face contorted and his eyes turned a soft gold. His younger alter ego, Tan, had taken over his body. Thai was an amoebiate, which meant that he was splitting into two people, making an exact copy of his genes, like an amoeba.
“I’m gonna kill you,” Tan cried, stepping toward Venu.
“How did you survive dropping off the edge of Victoria Falls?” Valerie asked Venu, shifting so that she stood a little in front of Tan, where she could protect him. She wished that she had her sword, Pathos, with her. But it was back on the Globe, and without her magic, she wasn’t sure how effective she would be with it anyway.
“Val, he didn’t,” Cyrus said, standing next to her. “I heard that he went through some vortex and now he’s on the Globe. He’s just projecting. Neither of them can hurt you.”
“Yeah, it’s a scare tactic,” Kanti said. She was kneeling next to Henry, who was breathing shallowly, his eyes dilated with fear. He had been terrorized for years by Zunya and Sanguina, who had manipulated his fear to force him to use his magic to give the Fractus new powers. Seeing one of his to
rmentors again was almost sending him into a panic attack.
“You’ve made your point. Now get out of here,” Valerie said with as much command as she could muster. She knew that Zunya fed on fear, and the more anxiety she showed, the longer he would stay.
“Be a good little puppy and run back to Sanguina,” Cyrus said, immediately understanding Valerie’s tactic.
Zunya’s face twisted with rage. “I don’t answer to her. I never did.”
“She was calling the shots on the Globe,” Valerie taunted, faking confidence.
Tan lunged at Venu, who released a croaking rumble of laughter as Tan’s fist went right through the air where he stood. It was lucky that Venu wasn’t there for real, because his hands and feet had poison in them that could kill a grown person with a single touch.
“Still mad about how easily I crushed you at the falls? I’ll do it again if you ever cross my path on the Globe,” Venu sneered, and Tan shook with anger.
Valerie thought she was going to have to restrain Tan when, to her relief, he shuddered and blinked, and Thai was back in control.
“We’re wasting time,” Zunya said to Venu. “Reaper will want to know where they are immediately.” Then he turned to Valerie, stepping so close that she could see the flecks of black in his yellow eyes. Her stomach churned with the old fear that always hit her at the sight of those eyes, but she refused to let him see anything but contempt on her face.
“Go ahead and run,” Zunya sneered. “I like it better when there’s a chase.”
Then Zunya and Venu vanished.
Chapter 2
Several hours later, Valerie entered Thai’s tent and collapsed on the floor next to him. Henry had finally relaxed enough to fall asleep, and Kanti was still there, watching over him. Valerie and Thai stared up through the open flap on the top of his tent at the tiny patch of stars that had become so familiar to them over the past few months in the hours they had spent talking every night.
“Henry told me everything that happened to him, but I didn’t understand how messed up he is from it until tonight,” she confided to Thai.
“He’s getting stronger. I can see a difference in him every week.”
