by Kristen Pham
She was so deep in thought that she didn’t notice Azra and Gideon talking by the fountain in the middle of The Horseshoe until she practically stumbled into them.
Valerie, good timing. We were hoping to catch you before you began your training today.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, noticing the tension in Gideon’s stance.
“It’s been decided that a team is going to Dunsinane to search for the Black Castle,” he said.
“But how will we find it without the guide from the prophecy?”
“Chrome believes that we will find that guide only if we are looking for him. He can’t justify waiting any longer for help to come when Jet and Kellen are missing.”
“What do you think?” Valerie asked.
“We didn’t find anything there when we searched before,” Gideon replied. “But there have been rumors that the People of the Woods may have information that could help us. At the very least, maybe we will find our guide there.”
Azra shook her head doubtfully and pawed at the ground. Something is wrong with this plan.
“You may be right, but it’s been decided. The Knights are spoiling for a fight, and their need for action cannot be repressed any longer.”
“How can I help?” Valerie asked. She saw Azra and Gideon exchange a glance.
“I want you to come with me and help me lead the mission,” Gideon said.
Her heart raced at his words. Surely he, of all people, knew how inexperienced she was.
I have no doubts you could do it, Azra’s soft voice chimed in her mind. But I do not think you should. You are still a child, and you have had too little time in your life to behave like one.
“She’ll never be like other children. More and more, people ask for her guidance. I can only shield her from it for so long. It is time for her to begin embracing the position that has been thrust on her.”
Valerie’s heart pounded uncomfortably. “I thought all that talk about me was dying down.”
Gideon shook his head. “Many of the Knights watch you train. Even the doubters are starting to believe in how powerful you are. And news of your selflessness during your test to become an apprentice leaked out as well. Many believe that only you can keep us off of a destructive path.”
“This is crazy,” she said, taking a step backward. She wished she could run away.
“It is unfair to ask one so young to put the needs of the whole above your own. But I believe your unique qualities are necessary to guide us to the path of peace. Your choices will reverberate around the Globe,” Gideon said.
Her stomach was in knots, and she crossed her arms in front of herself defensively. Azra made a small noise of sympathy.
There is time later for her to evolve into the leader she is meant to be.
“I think we should let her decide. Valerie, will you lead this trip to Dunsinane with me?” Gideon asked, studying her intently.
“I-I can’t,” she said, ashamed.
Gideon nodded gravely, and she could see his disappointment settle into the grooves on his face.
There are other ways to prepare her for leadership. She doesn’t have to be thrown into deep waters to learn how to swim. Azra gave Gideon a stern glance, and he nodded absently.
“Of course,” he said, but she could see that his mind was already miles away, planning the expedition to Dunsinane.
While training is suspended during the mission, I will introduce Valerie to the Grand Masters and let her see the inner workings of Arden’s government. There is more than one way to wage a battle against evil, and diplomacy is a powerful weapon.
“Best of luck to you both,” Gideon said formally, and then he left them.
Valerie’s shoulders slumped. “I hope he can forgive me.”
There is nothing to forgive, child. You have already given so much, and I have no doubt you will help many more. Come to my office tomorrow and we will begin.
Valerie skipped training that day. She didn’t know if Gideon would be teaching, but she didn’t want to take the chance of seeing his disappointment in her again.
Instead, she walked to the Lake of Knowledge, hoping that maybe she would find answers in the still waters that covered the world of Illyria, where all the universe’s knowledge resided. But no matter how hard she concentrated, the glittering water remained mute.
She gripped Thai’s crystal and was next to him. He was lying down, pale and sweaty. His eyes cracked open and he smiled.
“The separation is starting; I know it,” he said.
The panic she had experienced earlier at Gideon’s suggestion that she help him lead the mission to Dunsinane was nothing to compared to the bottomless fear that consumed her now.
“I have to get back to Earth!” she said, biting back curse words at her helplessness.
“It’s okay. It’s not like it’s going to happen tomorrow. But soon.”
“It’s too soon!”
“It means I’ll get to be with you even quicker,” Thai said. “Besides, Chisisi is coming to be with me.”
His words brought her a measure of relief. “But it’s not the same as having me there. I never should have left you.”
“You’re worrying too much. This is supposed to happen. It’s a natural process.”
“So there’s no danger?” Valerie asked, though she already knew the answer.
His eyes flickered away, and Tan took over. He didn’t even grin. “I thought I told you to leave us alone.”
“I can’t do that. I care about you both too much.”
“You only care about him.”
“That’s not true!” she said.
“Yes it is. You disagree with everything I think and you won’t help me do anything I want to do,” Tan said, sounding for all the world like a spoiled brat.
“Exaggerate much?” Valerie snapped. “I’m your friend. The fact that I won’t be your accomplice in murdering Venu doesn’t change that.”
“Maybe you won’t leave Thai alone, but at least leave me alone,” Tan replied.
There was nothing more she could say, so she let her mind return to the Globe. She was shaking with fear. The idea that Thai could be taken from her had never been as real as it was at that moment.
It was physically painful to be away from Thai, but she didn’t want to upset Tan more than she already had. What had happened to the innocent, excited boy she had met at the Great Pyramid six months ago? Would he ever be able to find his way back to being that person again?
To distract herself, Valerie went searching for Cyrus. She found him in the dorm cafeteria, eating lunch with his sister.
“Val, come join!” he called to her. She made herself a heaping plate of goodies and sat down.
“I’m glad I found you. I wanted to talk to you about your idea for finding Leo,” Valerie said.
His eyes lit up. “I’ve been working on that. I think I have an idea about how to get a message to him, but I need to test it out.”
“Why’s it so hard to contact this guy?” Cara asked, interested.
“He lives in Illyria, and they don’t exactly have cell phone reception there,” Cyrus said.
“Wait—who has cell phones on the Globe?” Valerie asked, confused.
“Are you kidding? They’ve been in Messina as long as they’ve been on Earth,” Cara said. “Probably longer.”
She’d have to remember to tell Henry about that. Maybe he’d be more comfortable on the Globe if he visited Messina and saw that one small piece of it resembled the world he had left behind.
“So how are we going to test your idea, then?” Cara asked.
“We’ll need to go to the Hotel Aquatic,” Cyrus said, naming the hotel where visiting Illyrians stayed when they came to Arden. It was entirely filled with water to accommodate the mermaids and mermen. Apparently it was palatial inside, though no two-legged Conjurors could ever go any further than the lobby.
In spite of her worries, a little bubble of excitement rose up inside of Val
erie. “When can we go?”
“No time like the present,” Cyrus said with a grin.
The three of them headed over to the hotel. The building was made of glass, so you could see the flowing hair and long, fish-like tails of the Illyrians as they swam past the windows.
On the bottom floor was a door. “Is it safe to open?” Valerie asked doubtfully.
Cyrus laughed. “Of course. This is how regular Conjurors come and visit.”
“But how do the Illyrians get here in the first place?” she asked, mystified.
“All of the water on the Globe is connected through underground aqueducts,” he explained. “This hotel sits on top of one of them, so the Illyrians swim to an underground entrance.”
“Cool,” Cara breathed. Valerie couldn’t agree more.
They opened the door to a room that glowed blue from the light shining through the water on every side of them. Standing behind a desk made of crystal was Juniper. It was strange to see him outside of their training sessions at the Knights’ Guild.
“What are you doing here?” Valerie asked her friend with surprise.
“My dad is the architect of this hotel,” he said. “It’s his pride and joy. He makes all of us kids work here until we’re eighteen to teach us work ethic.” He shrugged. “Parents,” he said as if that explained it all.
Cyrus and Cara nodded in agreement, and Valerie was hit with little flash of jealousy at their shared experience with overbearing parents.
“We came because we wanted to test out a theory,” Cyrus said. “Would it be okay if I tried to send someone inside a message?”
“Sure, tell me their name and I’ll make their room glow. They’ll come down if they’re here.”
“Actually, I wanted to test sending a message another way,” Cyrus explained.
“Sure, man, whatever. Long as you don’t break anything.”
Cyrus pressed his hands against the glass walls of the lobby and concentrated. Light flowed out of his hands and into the water on the other side of the glass. The light shimmered and condensed into words, the way it had when he had sent the note to Dulcea in Elsinore.
“Please come to the lobby when you receive this message. Thank you,” Cara read the letters of light that were suspended in the water. She looked at her brother in total admiration.
The note whizzed away. “I sent it two floors up,” Cyrus said. “Now we wait and see if it went to the person I was aiming for.”
“Who do you know who’s staying in this hotel?” Valerie asked.
“I’ve only met one Illyrian in my life—Gabriel. He’s the Society of Imaginary Friends’ contact when we urgently need answers from the Akashic Records. He doesn’t always help us, but every now and then, he’ll share something important. He’s in town right now for a meeting with the Guild Grand Masters later this week, and he agreed to meet with Rastelli while he’s here.”
As he spoke, a merman swam up. He had long, gray hair that rippled in the water, and a green tail.
“Cyrus, why did you send for me?” Gabriel asked, his deep voice coming through the glass wall clearly.
“It worked!” Cyrus said with glee. “The density of water was giving me trouble when I tried to send the light through it, but I’ve got the hang of it, finally.”
Gabriel cleared his throat. If he’d had a foot, he would have tapped it. “What is it, young man?”
“Oh, nothing, sorry. I was testing my message system.”
“So you awakened me for no reason at all?”
Cyrus began to tense up. “Sorry, Gabriel. I wanted to—”
But before he could finish, Gabriel swam away. Cyrus turned red.
“Who cares about that guy? That was unbelievable!” Cara said, fairly glowing with pride. “How did you do that?”
“Let’s get out of here and I’ll show you.”
“Bye, Juniper!” Valerie said as they headed out. He nodded in acknowledgment and his eyes followed them longingly.
The three headed to The Horseshoe and sat on the bright green grass in the middle.
“It’s easiest to show you outside where there’s a lot of light to work with,” Cyrus explained to his sister.
He sat down and closed his eyes. “The first thing I have to do is absorb the light,” he explained. “It’s like I’m breathing it in.”
As he spoke, Valerie could see Cyrus begin to glow as streams of light were attracted to him like a magnet.
“Then I channel it out of my hands and imagine what it is I’m trying to create. I can shape the light like it’s clay. Of course, it’s way more flexible than clay, so I can make it do many more things.”
His hands worked quickly, moving through the light. “When I’m done, I release my hold on the light and—”
There was a bright flash and a tiny horse was in his hands. “For you, sis,” he said to Cara.
Her eyes were wide. She touched the horse tentatively. “It looks like Brownie.”
“Duh, that’s what I was going for. I know how much you miss that horse,” he said.
Cara threw her arms around him. Cyrus paused in surprise, but then he hugged her back. When she pulled away, she was glowing. At first, her face broke into a huge smile, but as it sank in that she was channeling magic herself, she jumped backward.
“Get it out of me! Make it stop!” she cried.
“Relax, release your hold on your magic and it will go away,” Cyrus said.
She wrung her hands, and Valerie could see tears in her eyes. She let out a little grunt, and the light left her. Cara sagged in relief, sobbing. Cyrus patted her shoulder awkwardly.
“Don’t touch me!” she said. “I can’t believe I used magic. I’m broken; there’s something wrong with me. I don’t deserve to go back to Messina. Mom and Dad will be so disappointed in me.”
“Magic is a gift,” Valerie said gently. “You’re lucky to have it. You can use it for good, like Cyrus does.”
“Leave me alone!” Cara said, and ran away from them both.
“You don’t understand,” Cyrus said quietly. “We’re raised to think of magic as evil. I never really believed it, but I got away when I was still young. Cara has had that hammered into her for fourteen years. As much as she may like to see magic in others, seeing it in herself is like finding out she has an incurable disease.”
Valerie shook her head. “That’s so sad.”
Cyrus shrugged and sighed. “I had this tiny hope that she’d decide to stay. I really miss her, ya know?”
“Sorry, Cy.”
Chapter 16
The next day, when Valerie checked in on Thai, he was sleeping. But luckily Chisisi had made it to his bedside.
“How’s he doing—really?” she asked, a little afraid of the answer.
“I have read of this happening to others, but I have never witnessed the separation myself. According to my texts, this separation is quite early. But other than that, there are no anomalies.”
“Have you talked to Tan?”
“Indeed. He is most anxious to be separated.”
“He told me never to visit him.”
Chisisi nodded solemnly. “He is still very underdeveloped. He will grow in maturity with time. We must all have patience.”
“Thank you for coming to him, Chisisi,” Valerie said, wishing that she could reach over and brush Thai’s sweaty hair off his forehead.
“There is no need for thanks. This is the duty I have chosen—to help those cursed with magic on Earth.”
“How can I help?”
“For now, we need to keep both Thai and Tan as calm as possible. So I suggest you leave before he wakes. You can visit without appearing, so check in first to make sure Tan is not in control before making yourself known.”
“I wish I could come back and be there in person to help you.”
“No, young one. You are where you are meant to be. And I will take care of two ill from their magic instead of three.”
Valerie returned to the Glo
be with a lighter heart. Chisisi would keep both Thai and Tan safe, she sensed. And maybe in a few days or weeks, Thai would join her on the Globe. Her heart raced at the thought of picking up where they left off.
Checking the time, she hurried to the Capitol building to report to Azra. This time, she came through the front doors and was relieved to see that a patrol of Knights was on duty to protect the Guild Masters from any more attacks by the invisible men. She nodded to a couple she recognized, and she saw them nudge each other. It was impossible not to notice how much they all stared at her, like they expected her to break out into a song and dance routine.
She hurried to Azra’s office. She had been there once before and was relieved when she found her way without having to ask anyone for directions. She knocked softly, and the door opened on its own. Inside was as she remembered, with vaulted ceilings and maps everywhere of the countries that made up the Globe.
I’ll be there soon, Azra’s voice chimed in her mind from somewhere else in the building. Make yourself at home.
Valerie paced around the office as she waited, examining the maps closely. She touched one and immediately she saw a birds-eye view of a beautiful city nestled in the hills. The roofs of the houses were silver and glinted in the sun. She concentrated. She could move the view in her mind closer or farther away.
She dropped her hand and was suddenly back in Azra’s office, disoriented. The maps must work similarly to how the globe in Midnight’s office worked, except this was a map of the Globe instead of Earth.
She continued to walk around the room. It was strange for an office. There was no desk and only a couple of chairs for visitors. In one corner was a patch of grass. She stepped on it and was transported to a valley filled with lilies. It was beautiful.
Welcome, a voice filled her mind like the low note of an oboe. You must be Valerie. I’ve heard many wonderful things.
A beautiful unicorn several hands taller than Azra with a golden horn stepped toward her across the meadow.
I see you’ve found my valley, Azra said, and Valerie jumped backward, off of the grass, startled.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
Do not worry, child. You made yourself at home, and I am glad.
