by Kristen Pham
“Finally, at least one thing is going right,” Kanti said.
“If only we could know for sure that Cy and the others are okay,” Valerie said. “I can’t imagine sleeping tonight without knowing for sure.”
“Actually, I thought we’d give them a call, now that Thai’s safe.”
“A call? As in a call on a phone?” Valerie asked, confused.
“Most people don’t have phones on the Globe, outside of Messina. But Ani does business with people in Messina, and that’s the only way to communicate with them. Come on,” Kanti said, and Valerie followed her down the hall. Hanging on the wall was a cordless phone that looked remarkably normal. Kanti picked it up and said, “Cyrus Burns,” and then handed the phone to Valerie.
The phone rang, and Valerie’s palms started to sweat. “Hello? Who is this?” Mr. Burns’ gruff voice answered.
“Um, hi, Mr. Burns, it’s Valerie. Is Cyrus—”
“I let you in my house, feed you, give you shelter, and this is how you repay us! We will never forgive you for this. You are not welcome in this house ever again—” Mr. Burns’ shouting was suddenly silenced and Valerie heard a brief scuffle on the other end of the phone.
Then a new voice, deep and slimy, said, “I always knew you were a coward at heart.” A chill went down Valerie’s spine as she recognized Zunya’s voice. “You may be safe, wherever you ran away to, but those you’ve left behind aren’t so lucky.”
“You leave Cyrus alone!” she tried to shout, but her voice trembled at Zunya’s unspoken threat. She gripped the phone in her hand so hard that she could feel the plastic bending out of shape.
“Cyrus isn’t here anymore.”
“What have you done?” she slumped against the wall, so weak she could barely prop herself up. How could she have abandoned Cyrus? Zunya was right—she was a coward.
“Aw, don’t sound so sad. It’s so—pathetic,” Zunya said with a snicker. “Cyrus is alive. He’s staying with a friend of mine in Dunsinane.”
“Sanguina,” she whispered.
“Yes. If you want his head to stay connected to the rest of his body, go, alone, to the castle on the highest peak of the Dunsinane mountains. And Valerie, things will go very badly for Cyrus, his family, and the rest of your little Knight friends if you don’t come by yourself.”
The way Zunya said her name made her flesh crawl. But at least Cyrus was still alive, and there was a sliver of a chance that she could save him. That was all that mattered—more than her life. “I’ll come. Then she’ll let him go?”
“Then he’ll stay alive.”
“Leave the rest of them out of this.”
“You’re not the one calling the shots here. No, they’re my insurance policy. If you or anyone runs to Azra or the Knights, I’ll strip them of their sanity. Now, scurry off to Dunsinane, little girl. You better hurry or something might happen to one of them. I get so bored when I have to wait.” Zunya hung up the phone.
The receiver slipped out of her fingers and she heard it clatter on the floor. As she imagined Cyrus, locked up somewhere under Sanguina’s control, her feelings of helplessness and guilt hardened into a cold determination. For Cyrus and Henry, she knew it was time to face Sanguina again, even though there was no way to win.
Chapter 39
“This is insanity!” Kanti exclaimed, her voice high-pitched with panic. “You can’t rescue Cyrus on your own. I’m not doubting your power, but remember what Azra said? Dunsinane is where Sanguina will be at her strongest. It would be almost impossible for you to defeat her there.”
“I know,” Valerie agreed, amazed by how calm she was, her sense of purpose giving her certainty. “But if I don’t go, Cyrus and his family will be hurt. If you could have heard Zunya’s voice, you would know that he wasn’t bluffing. He’ll kill them one by one to get to me if he has to. Please, don’t make me live with that on my conscience for the rest of my life.”
“What about my conscience? Let me come with you! They won’t consider me a threat since I don’t have any magic. But at least then there will be two of us. We can watch each other’s backs.”
Valerie had never seen Kanti look so desperate. Her face was flushed, and sweat beaded her forehead. There was no way that Kanti was going to let her go without coming along. Valerie couldn’t blame her—she’d feel the same way in her position. But she couldn’t bear the thought of putting another friend’s life in jeopardy. She had caused enough damage already.
Valerie had an idea. “You can’t come with me because I need you to do something even more important. We can’t leave Gideon and the others in Zunya’s control. Get Azra and as many Conjurors as you can to defeat him. Once they’re safe, you and Azra can come help me in Dunsinane without worrying that they’ll be hurt.”
“We should do that first, together, and then go rescue Cyrus!”
Valerie shook her head firmly. “I know Sanguina. She will make him suffer for every second that I delay. This will work. We both have to move as fast as we can.”
“All right. But if you and Cyrus don’t come back in perfect condition, I swear to you I will find Sanguina myself and tear her apart with my bare hands,” Kanti said with a quiet rage that Valerie had never imagined her capable of.
“So how do I get to Dunsinane fast?”
“The wind tunnel is the quickest way. But I’ve never visited the mountains before, so I don’t know how to direct you farther than that.”
“‘The castle on the highest peak,’ Zunya said. It can’t be that hard to find.”
“Azra wasn’t able to find it,” Kanti said doubtfully.
“Azra didn’t have an invitation,” Valerie replied. She had a feeling that Sanguina would be all too eager to destroy her as soon as she had a chance. The thought made her stomach roil with nerves.
The booming sound of the knocker hitting the front door echoed through the entire house. Kanti and Valerie exchanged worried glances.
“Probably just a visitor,” Kanti said, but she didn’t look certain. Together, they crept down the hall and peered through the banister down to the first floor. Ani had transformed into Iago and hurried to open the door. To Valerie’s horror, Ani ushered one of the transparent Conjurors into the house and glanced around nervously, as if she was afraid that she would be seen.
“Wha—” Kanti started to say, but Valerie clapped a hand over her mouth.
“Could you BE any louder? They’re sure to hear you. You incompetent fools have made enough of a mess already, do you want to add blowing my cover as WELL?” Ani hissed to the man, glancing up toward the banister where Kanti and Valerie were peering. They jumped back to avoid being seen.
Kanti looked bewildered, and then horrified as she realized what was happening. “How could Ani do this? She’s my family!”
“I don’t know, but we have to get out of here,” Valerie said. She pulled a stunned Kanti down the hall back to their room. “You’ve got to keep it together. We have to get out of here right now.”
Kanti took a deep breath and shook herself out of her daze. “Right, okay.” She pointed to the large gargoyles and frills that were sticking out of the wall. “Use the wide ledge and then spider down.”
“Okay,” Valerie said, gulping back her fear as she peered down the two stories. “Let’s do this!”
Quietly, Kanti raised the window and stepped out onto the ledge. Valerie followed tentatively. She couldn’t let her fear freeze her mind right now. She had to move, or Cyrus and Henry would be the ones to suffer for her spinelessness. She put one foot onto the head of a nearby stone gargoyle and one hand on the windowsill, and slowly inched her way down.
“Okay, you can jump now, Val,” Kanti whispered loudly after several heart-pounding minutes of feeling for footholds. She looked down and saw, to her relief, that the ground was only a few feet below her. “Put your hood on. We don’t want any of the birds chirping our whereabouts to anyone.”
Valerie obeyed, pulling up the hood of Kanti’s coat, an
d then hurried after her down the cobblestone streets. For almost an hour, she and Kanti half ran, half speed-walked to avoid being noticed. Wherever possible, they took side streets and alleys. Adrenaline coursed through Valerie’s entire body, and she was alert, noticing every detail of the people on the streets, from the bright feathers in the ladies’ elaborate hairdos to the stiff nods people greeted each other with as she kept a sharp lookout for anyone suspicious.
Finally, they reached the edge of town and entered a clearing next to the snow-covered forest. “Here you are,” Kanti said, panting slightly.
Valerie looked around, puzzled. “It looks like an empty field of snow. Where’s the tunnel?”
Kanti pointed up, and Valerie looked. A tornado of swirling air hovered above the clearing. Her eyes widened with nervous surprise when she saw her latest mode of transportation.
“Walk beneath it and jump; the wind will sweep you up. After awhile you’ll land in Dunsinane somewhere, from what I hear. Oh, and hang on to your hair.”
Valerie’s heart beat hard in her chest, but she didn’t want Kanti to know how terrified she was—not only of the journey to Dunsinane, but also what she’d have to do once she got there. “Thank you, Kanti, for everything.”
Kanti gripped her in a sudden, tight hug. “Azra and I will stop Zunya, and then we’re coming straight to you.”
“I know. It’s going to be okay.”
“It has to be,” Kanti said fiercely. Then she turned and ran in the opposite direction.
When Kanti had disappeared, Valerie called for Pathos from the callbox and strapped it to her side. Gripping the hilt in her hand lent her strength and eased some of the tension in her muscles. Then she forced herself to walk purposefully to the middle of the clearing, beneath the wind tunnel. She squeezed her eyes shut, jumped, and—nothing happened. She looked up, and the spinning air was still there. A few leaves blew around in circles inside of it.
She jumped up and down over and over again, but she stayed firmly planted on the ground. What was she going to do? Had she come this far only to mess it all up now? Then the air around Valerie changed, stirring the hair on the back of her neck. The breeze, gentle at first, blew harder and harder. Valerie remembered Kanti’s advice about holding her hair, but too late—the air was already swirling around her.
Her feet lifted off the ground, and suddenly she was in the middle of the whirlwind. She was spun around in circles, and thought she might vomit everything she had ever eaten. But then the spinning abruptly slowed as she was swept into the eye of the tornado, which was comparatively calm and still. She hovered a few yards above the ground. Then, like she had been shot from a cannon, she was hurtling straight through the air. Beneath her, the ground was a blur of colors.
At first, Valerie found the trip frightening. There was nothing to hold on to except for her sword, nothing to support her except the wind swirling around her. But as she got used to the feeling, she spread her arms wide. It was like flying. She realized that she could even steer herself a little, like a bird, and she made sure that she stayed in the center of the wind tunnel. No way did she want to be whipped around at the edges again. She was free. The crisp wind and the exhilarating speed energized her. Maybe she would be able to defeat Sanguina after all, and in a few hours, she, Henry, and Cyrus would all be safe.
The jagged purple peaks of the mountains of Dunsinane appeared in the distance. The wind whisked her up higher and higher, dashing her past piles of dusty rocks in the foothills of the mountains. Gradually, she seemed to be flying more and more slowly until she finally hovered above a huge, flat rock about the size of a football field. The whirling wind eased, and she was deposited gently onto the ground.
She looked around, trying to get her bearings. Her hair was a tangled mess. The landscape looked strange. Instead of the browns, greens, and grays that she was used to seeing in nature, here the land was different shades of muted purple, and the few tufts of green weeds growing between the rocks stood out in sharp contrast. Purple was usually one of her favorite colors, but here it seemed eerie and foreboding.
A prickle of fear raised goose bumps on Valerie’s arms. She was so alone here, separated from everyone who cared for her. She scanned the skyline for the castle on the highest peak, and immediately knew where she was meant to go. Towering above everything was a tall, black castle shrouded in heavy mist that looked as if it had grown straight out of the mountain itself. It had dozens of pointed, narrow turrets, but not a single window, as far as she could tell from a distance. She began to sweat as she imagined how dark it must be inside, and how hard it must be for Cyrus, as a lightweaver, to be so completely deprived of light.
As she stared, the castle seemed to flicker. Then, right before her eyes, several new spires appeared on the fortress. She stared in amazement, and a few seconds later, the castle changed shape again. This time, a large turret on the side vanished. It was as if the castle was constantly morphing, unable to maintain one shape.
She stared, trying not to let the thought of what she was about to face intimidate her. Then she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other and begin her climb up to the castle. But before she could take three steps, a loud laugh echoed off the rocky mountainside. She froze, her muscles instantly tense and ready to attack.
Suddenly the shadowy landscape came to life as Shade and his gang scurried out from behind the rocks like rats. Before she could ready a clever retort about her last encounter with him, an instinctive prickle of foreboding made the hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention.
Chapter 40
Zunya stepped out from behind a large rock. A crushing sense of defeat filled Valerie. Her fight was over before it had even begun. She never had a chance; she had been doomed when she left the relative safety of Elsinore. The Laurel Circle was a ring of ice around her thumb.
As he walked slowly toward her, Valerie’s power ebbed, but her tactical instincts were as sharp as ever. With a sudden revelation, she whispered, “Pathos!” and her weapon immediately disappeared back to the callbox. At least if she needed it later, she could call for it. She knew that she could never defeat them all, even with her power. Her best hope was to make them think that she would go peacefully, but keep a sharp eye out for an escape. She wanted to face Sanguina on her own terms, not as Zunya’s prisoner.
“You know what I love about humans?” Zunya said, his yellow eyes resting on Valerie. “How gullible and stupid they are.”
“But… but I heard you on the phone, at Cyrus’s house,” she said, wishing her voice didn’t sound so small and shaky.
“You really don’t grasp what magic is, do you? With a little help from Ani to rig the phone, I made sure your call was routed straight to me. The rest was a magical imitation of that pathetic lightweaver’s father. You know, I never guessed that you were so brainless when I watched you back on Earth.”
“And I never guessed what a scum-sucking lowlife you are,” Valerie snapped back, surprised that she was still able to think straight through her fear.
“You’ll address me with respect!” Zunya’s eyes flashed, and she saw a glint of madness in them.
“I would rather eat crap,” Valerie spat.
Without another word, Zunya grabbed her arm. It was pain like she had never experienced before. Her scream pierced the heavy mist, reverberating off of the rocks. The pain shot through her mind and body, tearing her apart from the inside out. It was as if her magic was knit with her soul, and he was ripping it away.
“Uh, boss, didn’t Sanguina want to, you know, see her first?” Valerie heard Shade say dimly through her agony.
Zunya let go of her arm, and the absence of pain was so sweet that she almost fainted from relief. Zunya looked at Shade in disgust. “You’re pathetic, no better than the rest of your little gang. I thought you wanted this one to suffer.”
“I do! I mean, do whatever you want, I was just saying…” Shade trailed off. He seemed so different from when Valerie had me
t him in the woods. He was stripped of his arrogant confidence. Shade and his gang were clearly ready to crawl through hot coals if Zunya asked. He was a kid, like her, she realized—a kid who was almost as out of his league as she was.
“Take her to the dungeon. Don’t speak a word to her—I’ll be watching every step of the way.”
Shade half led, half supported Valerie down a winding path through the rocks. She was still so weak from Zunya’s touch that she could barely keep herself standing upright. Any hope that she had of defeating Sanguina evaporated. All she could do now was negotiate to keep Cyrus alive. Zunya trailed a short distance behind them, far enough that he didn’t suck away any more of her strength so that she was able to walk, but close enough to make sure that she didn’t try to escape.
The familiar ache of guilt and despair weighed on her soul, threatening to rob her last shred of strength. But she fought it. She wasn’t dead yet, and Zunya had to be keeping her alive for a reason. Even if it was only so Sanguina could finish her off, she still had one last chance. She hadn’t come all this way to give up now.
Finally, they reached the moat in front of the castle, which was desert dry. Up close, the castle still flickered, changing shape every few seconds. But certain parts of it never moved, she noticed as the giant iron door to the castle opened wide enough for them to walk through in single file. Inside, it was so dark that she could barely make out the high walls made of a strange, black stone that sparkled slightly in the light coming through the cracked door. The glittering stone walls disappeared as the giant iron door boomed shut behind them.
“When you’re done, report to me,” Zunya said to Shade, and then disappeared around a corner.
As Valerie’s eyes adjusted to the dimness, she saw that a few flickering lights hovered on the ceiling. They were balls of faint light that had been created by magic, and they provided so little light that she wondered how anyone could find their way around the castle without becoming hopelessly lost. Shade led her down a long passage. For several minutes, she heard nothing but the sound of her own breathing.
