by Kristen Pham
Valerie didn’t have to be told twice. She raced to the surface, with Elle and Will right behind her. She burst to the top seconds before her tail vanished. She swam to the shore, which thankfully, was close by. She didn’t recognize the beach of the little pond they’d arrived in.
“Where are we?” she asked the twins.
“You’re in luck. We’re in Arden. You’re about as far as you can get from Silva, but there’s an entrance to the cities in the trees around here. The People of the Woods will give you quick passage home,” Will said.
“He gave you time to make it up without a struggle. It’s more than he gave Mom and Dad,” Elle said.
“He didn’t want anyone to find out you’d been treated badly. It would undermine his case,” Will replied.
“I don’t think I changed anyone’s mind,” Valerie said, shaking the water out of her short, wet hair.
“How could Henry…” Elle began, but Valerie cut her off with a short shake of her head.
“I owe it to him to give him a chance to explain,” Valerie said. “Maybe there’s more going on than we know.”
“There has to be,” Will said.
Valerie took a breath and changed the subject before the anger that was brewing in her toward her brother showed on her face. “The merpeople will never be our allies.”
“Mom used to say that the Illyrians were falling away from their old ideals. They hunger for knowledge and forget what’s really important,” Elle said.
“I hope that we’ll still be able to keep our edge without knowledge from the Akashic Records,” Valerie said.
“You’ll still get the information you need,” Elle said. “Will and I aren’t experts, like the Illyrians who were helping you before, but our parents taught us the basics. And the spell that will be placed on the Illyrians won’t apply to us, since we never took the vows that everyone else had to when they embraced their immortality.”
“That means we’ll have to move back,” Will said thoughtfully. “But it’s time, isn’t it?”
Elle nodded, and Valerie wondered if they were also talking telepathically, like she and Henry often did. It was extremely irritating for the person outside the conversation. She’d have to remember that.
Thinking of Henry stirred her anger even more. It was time to go home. Henry owed her answers, and this time, he wasn’t going to wriggle out of them.
It took Valerie the rest of the day to navigate her way back to Silva. Elle and Will helped her find the tree she needed to climb, and the People of the Woods were happy to escort her to the platform she needed to float back to Silva, but not before taking the time to visit with the wounded and consulting with the council of leaders, who were at loose ends without Elden’s solid presence to ground them.
Her responsibilities fulfilled, she finally got on her way and floated down, landing in the woods near The Horseshoe. A day of travel hadn’t calmed Valerie down. If anything, it had given her anger time to fester. She didn’t bother to close her mind to her brother, so her rage must have been blasting across the Globe.
He was waiting in the garden when she arrived, and he wasn’t alone. Gideon, Cyrus, Thai, Dulcea, and Jack were with him, watching her with confusion. Henry must have gathered them there, hoping she wouldn’t confront him in their presence. She didn’t care. They could all hear what she had to say. She slammed the gate behind her.
“I’ve racked my mind, trying to think of one good reason that you could be helping the Fractus. But I can’t think of a single one! So tell me, Henry, what could be so important that you’d put the lives of thousands of humans and Conjurors at stake, risk the fate of two worlds?”
Henry’s eyes were desperate as he answered her. “Kanti.”
Chapter 12
Henry opened his mind to her, and all of the secrets that he’d been hiding for the past few months flooded in. Valerie tried to process the information, but it was coming at her so fast that she could only absorb it in flashes.
“Reaper turned her to stone? Is she alive?” Valerie asked when she began to make sense of what she was seeing.
“Yes, or so he says,” Henry said.
“Hold up, wonder twins,” Cyrus said. “What happened to Kanti?”
“Reaper kidnapped her,” Henry said, sinking onto the doorstep.
Valerie could sense his all-consuming panic now. How had she ever missed it?
“Kidnapped her? How the hell don’t we know about this?” Jack asked. “Haven’t you been talking to her? I thought she was one of the four pillars!”
Valerie had known that something was terribly wrong with Henry, but she’d stuck her head in the sand, unable to face his pain while dealing with the loss of her father. But hadn’t Henry lost his father, too? Then to have Kanti taken from him, who could blame him for doing anything to save her? Her rage at herself nearly eclipsed her anger at her brother.
Now that Henry’s mind was open, his secrets spilled out in rapid succession. The meeting with Reaper where he’d made the deal for Kanti’s life. Hours spent imbuing the Fractus army with the power of darkness, draining him until he vomited up bile. Nights awake, tortured by the thought of innocents who would be hurt because of what he’d done. Three, no, four times he’d gone to Reaper, ready to say that he was done helping him, but at the sight of Kanti’s beautiful, still stone form, the words would evaporate on his tongue.
Last, she saw the times that he’d gone to Babylon, standing on top of the tiers of flowers. He hadn’t visited for peace. He’d been contemplating throwing himself off the ledge and ending his ability to hurt anyone else ever again.
“You’d leave me?” Valerie shouted, and Henry took a step back. “That’s a worse betrayal than equipping Reaper’s army!”
Thai pulled her away from Henry. “Take a breath. I don’t know what’s happening, but he’s suffering enough.”
Valerie shut her eyes and sat down next to Henry. Her arm brushed his, and he was as cold as stone.
“You should have told me. We could have found a better way, together,” she snapped.
“As leader of the Fist, you ought to throw me in jail for my betrayal, since I know you don’t have it in you to execute me, which is what I deserve. We’re going to lose the war because of what I’ve done, and millions of humans will be enslaved, or die. I’m a coward. I betrayed you, like my prophecy said I would,” Henry babbled.
“Someone please tell us what’s going on,” Thai said, reminding her that she was the only one who could see inside Henry’s mind.
“Reaper turned Kanti to stone and would only change her back if Henry gave his army the power to create a darkness strong enough to put out the light from our weapons,” Valerie said, since Henry was mute.
She watched her friends faces cycling through the emotions that churned through her. Cyrus and Thai were frozen, stunned by her words. Dulcea’s lips were pressed with disapproval, and Gideon shook his head. But Jack lay a hand on Henry’s shoulder, and Valerie knew that he understood what it was to get caught up with the Fractus.
“So we go get our girl back,” Cyrus said, speaking first.
“Right now,” Dulcea added.
Henry looked up then and Valerie was flooded with his awe through their connection.
“Don’t you hate me?” he asked.
“I’m mad enough to throw you halfway across the Globe, but I could never hate you,” Valerie said fiercely, and their friends nodded.
“It’s done. We understand why you did what you did,” Thai said. “Let’s move on and fix it.”
“Kanti’s in the Black Castle?” Gideon asked.
Henry nodded.
“Then we have an advantage. The orb Valerie activated with Pathos when we rescued Darling will dampen the powers of any Fractus in the castle. They may not even be aware of its effect on them until it’s too late,” Gideon said.
“Even still, I’m sure he’s got a million guards on her at all times, not to mention whatever portion of his army is there
right now. We’ll have to sneak in,” Jack said.
“We should talk to Sanguina. She helped you last time,” Cyrus added.
This time, it wasn’t up to Valerie to plan the battle. Without asking, her friends were crafting the rescue mission as if they knew that she and Henry were too upset to think straight.
“To think that I once thought I could never forgive Sanguina for terrorizing me and my dad,” Henry whispered, as much to himself as to his sister under the chatter of their friends’ planning. “I’ve destroyed lives on a magnitude that she never dreamed of.”
“It isn’t the same, Henry. Then, when Sanguina was a vampyre, she was driven by hate. You were driven by love,” Valerie said.
“And selfishness. You’d never have made that deal,” Henry said.
Valerie considered his words. “I don’t know what I’d have done if they took the most important person in my life.”
“You would have found another way. Or, if you couldn’t, you would have let Thai go,” Henry said.
“I’m not talking about Thai,” Valerie said, her eyes connecting with Henry’s. “If Reaper took the most important person in my life, if Reaper took you, I might have done the same thing you did.”
“No you wouldn’t. But thank you,” Henry said, so softly that she could barely hear the words.
She thought back over the past weeks, her mind reeling as she adjusted to the fact that Henry had been working for Reaper. “Why did you convince me to accept Reaper’s ten-day truce?”
“I overheard him talking to Zunya about transporting things, and I thought that it’d be safe for you and the Fist to have a break from the fighting, even if it was only for a little while. I didn’t know there was more to their plan, I swear,” he promised.
“Come on now, you two,” Dulcea said sternly. “We need your mindshare if we are going to rescue Kanti before Reaper makes Henry do something even worse or takes Kanti’s life.”
“And we will rescue her,” Cyrus said fiercely. “She’ll be okay.”
“I swear it,” Valerie added.
“The Black Castle is locked up tighter than the Justice Guild,” Sanguina said when Valerie and Henry visited her on Earth later that day.
“No secret passages that Reaper doesn’t use often, or doesn’t know about?” Valerie asked hopefully.
“The building was originally constructed to contain anyone who abused magic on Earth or the Globe, before the Fractus took it over,” Sanguina said. “The stable part of the castle has one entrance and one exit.”
“What about the unstable parts?” Henry asked. “That’s how Oberon escaped.”
“Very risky. And the farther you go from the center of the castle, the riskier it is. But because the castle is always changing, there are some ways in and out that are less well guarded, since the Fractus are afraid to be in the parts of the castle that aren’t stable. But finding them from the outside would be impossible.”
“Then we’ll have to attack to get in,” Valerie said.
Sanguina shook her head. “There are other ways to sneak in. Reaper mines an ore from one of the mountains of Dunsinane for his weapons. It welds to dark magic well, and nearly all of the Fractus’s weapons are made from it. One of you could deliver a shipment of ore to the castle.”
“But won’t we be recognized? Reaper’s mind is too powerful to be tricked by a simple glamour disguise,” Henry said.
Sanguina nodded. “It would have to be someone he’s never seen before.”
“That only solves the problem of how to get one of us in. But we’ll need more people than that, even if we’re careful,” Henry said doubtfully.
“I have an idea,” Valerie said.
Two hours later, with a rough blueprint that Sanguina sketched and her promise to join them on their mission, Valerie and Henry returned to the Globe. Their house was empty, even of Gideon, who was working with Cyrus and Leo to get weapons ready for their team.
“This plan could get us all killed. Kanti won’t thank us for that,” Henry said. “I’ve only got another hundred or so of Reaper’s soldiers that I have to give the darkness power to. What difference will it make?”
“Who knows? Maybe none. Or maybe it’s the difference between winning and losing. Kanti won’t thank us for handing over Earth to the Fractus in her name, either,” Valerie said, and then regretted her words as she watched Henry’s face crumple.
“She’ll never forgive me,” he said.
“Give her some credit and some time,” Valerie said.
But her words didn’t reach Henry. He had the faraway look in his eyes that she’d seen so many times when she’d visited him in Babylon. How could she have left him alone with his grief and pain?
The door opened, and Gideon came in. Before speaking, he made them all a pot of Oberon’s tea and sat down.
“We go at daybreak. We dare wait no longer, but we also must be rested before we attempt the rescue. Drink this, so you can find a night’s peace,” Gideon said.
Henry drank his tea in one long swallow and then left for bed, absently chewing his thumbnail. His mind was shut tight against Valerie’s gentle probing, and for now, she let it be.
Valerie gripped her mug and watched her mentor as she sipped the drink. “I hope you know how grateful I am that you’re here to lead this. Fighting this war without you would be impossible.”
Gideon shook his head. “I am only one of your tools. I know you value me, but even without my help, you would lead the Fist to victory.”
“I don’t know how you still believe that, after all of the mistakes I’ve made,” Valerie said.
“Your errors were made with pure intent. You have the intelligence, the skills, the magic, and the heart to win. Right is on your side, and it will prevail,” Gideon said.
Warm and a little sleepy from her drink, Valerie absently turned the Laurel Circle around and around on her thumb, remembering how he had given it to her to teach her not to be paralyzed by her fear.
“It’s gold,” she said. “That can’t be right.”
The ring’s color and temperature reflected how much fear ruled her, and after Gideon had first given it to her, it was usually cold and dark. When had it begun to grow warmer?
“It must be broken, because I’m still afraid of so many things.”
“The Laurel Circle doesn’t change because you no longer have any fear. It is only showing you that you are no longer ruled by it. Your decisions come from somewhere else, somewhere better,” Gideon said. “That is how I know you are ready for anything that comes.”
“Long as I have you with me,” Valerie said, resting her head on her arms, unable to stay awake.
She barely registered Gideon lifting her and carrying her to bed before she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
Chapter 13
“I still think I need to be inside the castle on this one,” Cyrus argued again the next day. “I’m the only one who can call light to help us on the fly.”
“Not much help in a castle with no windows, man,” Jack pointed out.
Valerie, Gideon, and Henry were still strapping on their weapons as Dulcea passed out pastries. Thai was stuffing two in his mouth at once, which would have made Valerie smile if she wasn’t so tense about the mission.
“Cy’s right,” Thai agreed, his words a little muffled. “Take us all. Juniper and Claremont, too, maybe.”
“All of this is my fault. If anyone should be risking their life, it should be me,” Henry said, and from his mind, Valerie could hear the part he left unspoken. He believed his life had the least value, as well.
“It would not be wise for you to return to that place,” Gideon said. “The castle affects some more than others, and it has worn away the light within you.”
“We talked about this,” Valerie said, her patience wearing thin. “Minimal force. Gideon and I are the best fighters, and Dulcea is the only one who Reaper won’t recognize, so she’ll have to drive the cart in.”
“D
id I mention I hate that part of the plan?” Jack said, his usual smile completely absent as he gripped Dulcea’s hand in his.
Valerie agreed with Jack, but there was no way around it.
“There’s no one else he won’t recognize,” Valerie reminded him.
“You should send me and my boys in,” Jack offered, not for the first time. “We know the castle best.”
“You’ll be thrown into the dungeons, best case scenario,” Valerie said. “No way do we want you all to be forced to re-enlist into Reaper’s army.”
“Fine, boss,” Jack grumbled, but Valerie knew that his gang never wanted to see the inside of the Black Castle again, and Jack didn’t really want to put them there. He just didn’t want to send Dulcea by herself, and Valerie didn’t blame him.
The air shimmered, and Sanguina appeared in the kitchen.
“There’s still no way to get into Dunsinane except by foot,” Sanguina said. “I tried projecting there again this morning with a tuft of weeds that I have from the hills near the castle, but it didn’t work. Reaper doesn’t want anyone sneaking up on him.”
“We’ll do it the hard way, like we thought we’d have to,” Valerie said. “Time to split up.”
Half a day later, Valerie, Gideon, and Sanguina had traveled through the cities to the border closest to Dunsinane. It had been a grueling trip, since they had to carry an enormous callbox with them.
They stopped, and Valerie pulled out some squished sandwiches from her pack that she gave to Sanguina and Gideon.
“We are ready for this,” Gideon said, and Valerie saw that he was watching her as she put her uneaten sandwich back in her pack.
“Don’t forget, you’ve got me ready and waiting if something goes wrong,” Sanguina added.
“Thank you both,” Valerie said.
“There’s something else,” Sanguina said, and she looked away. “If you do need me, you have to promise not to protect me. Get yourself and your friends out of there.”
“You’re my friend now, too,” Valerie said. “We leave together or not at all.”
“If what you say is true, and I am your friend, then respect my wish. I could die today if it is in service to you and Henry, and be happy. But if you die with me, then there is no redemption for what I’ve done,” Sanguina said.
