by Kristen Pham
Using a handful of sand that she carried with her in a little bag, she projected to a patch of land near the safe house where Chisisi was currently based. The safe house door was ajar, as Chisisi usually left it at this time of day so she could enter.
She went inside and spun the wheel on the door so that it locked tightly. Chisisi was eating dinner and reading an old text at the same time, but he put both things down when he saw her.
“I have news of an alarming nature,” he said, and Valerie tensed up. “Your young friend Ming was attacked today, but Dr. Freeman arrived with the police in time to save her.”
“Then it must not have been Zunya who came for her, or she’d be gone,” Valerie said. “But next time it will be.”
Chisisi nodded grimly. “Reaper wants to possess something you hold dear.”
“Or destroy someone I hold dear,” Valerie said. “He knows that I won’t turn to his side, so he wants to cripple me with grief. I can’t lose anyone else.”
Her grief overwhelmed her, hitting her in her chest. She yearned for her father the most in that moment, and almost choked at the knowledge that she’d never see him again.
Chisisi had never hugged her before, but he did then. His own eyes were full of tears when he pulled back.
“We will not let them have her,” he said fiercely. “We will assign a bodyguard.”
Valerie pulled herself together, stuffing her pain back in the box in her mind where she kept it.
“Yes, a bodyguard. Maybe we can use this to our advantage. If Reaper is determined to take Ming, he’ll send Zunya next. We’ll be waiting for him. This will be our chance to take out Reaper’s most powerful ally.”
Chisisi considered her words. “We need someone who can be by her side at all times, but will not alert the Fractus to his presence.”
“Chrome,” Valerie said. “He won’t like the assignment, but he’ll do it when I tell him he’ll have the chance to fight Zunya. He’ll detect Zunya’s vampyre magic in time to call for reinforcements.”
“Young miss is wise. But it would be best if you asked the wolf yourself. He grows ever wilder,” Chisisi said.
“Where can I find him?”
Chrome was rolling around like a puppy in the soft green grass of a hill in Ireland, evoking the first genuine smile Valerie had had in a long time. He was nothing like the bloodthirsty picture Chisisi had painted.
The wolf trotted up to her, and Valerie saw that he was leaner than when she’d seen him last, and his coat had even more gray in it.
Chrome sent a reel of images to her mind of the battles he’d fought with Sanguina over the past weeks. Every drop of blood he’d drawn was remembered with relish, and Valerie shivered. For the first time, Chrome’s sharp-toothed grin scared her.
A flash of red caught Valerie’s attention, and she saw Sanguina approaching.
“I’ve been looking for you all afternoon,” she huffed to Chrome, flashing Valerie a worried glance. Valerie was relieved to see that Sanguina had fully recovered from her encounter with Reaper. Even her hair was red again, thanks, she suspected, to the Glamour Guild.
Valerie saw an image of a wolf pup sneaking out of its cave while its mother slept. The image was tinged red with Chrome’s irritation.
“No one’s saying you need a babysitter,” Sanguina said, in a tone that made Valerie suspect it was an argument they’d had many times before.
“Actually, I’m here to ask you to watch over someone for me,” Valerie interrupted before Sanguina and Chrome lost their tempers.
She explained the situation, and Chrome scowled, flashing an image of himself in battle again.
“I know you want to be at the heart of the fighting, but this is your chance to fight Zunya,” Valerie said, and Chrome’s scowl vanished. He cocked an ear in her direction.
“Reaper failed to capture Ming twice now—once last year and again today. He’ll send Zunya next, and you’ll be waiting for him,” Valerie said.
“I cannot aid him in this without giving away your plan. Zunya will bring an army with him if he sees me near Ming,” Sanguina said. “But Chrome needs watching.”
Chrome growled low in his throat.
“Ming’s a kid. You can’t go around slaughtering anyone who looks at her the wrong way. You’ll scar her for life,” Valerie said.
Chrome stopped growling, but his scowl was back.
“I need you, Chrome. Please trust me,” Valerie said, her voice softer. “You’ll know Zunya’s coming from a mile away, and you can alert us so that we’ll all be waiting for him. If we capture him, it could turn the tide of the war.”
“Reaper can’t be everywhere at once,” Sanguina agreed. “Without Zunya, he will struggle to keep the Fractus organized.”
Chrome bowed his head, and Valerie saw an image of his murdered mate, Jet. Chrome howled his pain, and the sound echoed the grief in her own heart.
“We will win this, Chrome. We’ll destroy Reaper and the Fractus,” Valerie promised, and the wolf rubbed his body against her leg.
He’d help her.
Valerie and Chrome found Ming on a swing in the tiny backyard of her apartment complex. Her eyes were wide as she watched Valerie approach with the wolf at her side.
“Ming, meet Chrome,” Valerie said, noticing a yellowing bruise on Ming’s cheek.
“He’s beautiful,” Ming said. “Where’s his leash?”
Valerie tensed, waiting for Chrome to growl or scowl, but instead, he rolled on his back, exposing his tummy, which Ming obligingly scratched.
An image of Chrome curled up by a warm fire flashed through Valerie’s mind, and Ming’s face lit up.
“You’re magic, too. You’re a person,” Ming said. “I always wished I could talk to an animal.”
Chrome grinned and licked her cheek, making Ming giggle.
“How are you, Ming?” Valerie asked.
Ming shrugged with one shoulder. “The bad men pushed Mom, and she’s scared. Another one shoved me, and I banged my head. Still, it wasn’t as scary as cancer.”
She touched the bruise on her cheek with her little fingers, and Valerie clenched her hands into fists reflexively. Chrome released a little growl for the Fractus who’d done this to Ming.
“No one’s going to hurt you ever again. Chrome is one of the best fighters I know, and he’s going to watch over you.”
“You will?” Ming’s smile was pure joy. “We’ll have so many adventures together!”
Chrome sent an image of himself running by Ming’s side as they raced across an open plain. He was open to all possibilities.
“Are you hungry? Mom’s got a steak in the fridge I’ll steal for you,” Ming said.
Chrome released a bark that sounded like a laugh, and Valerie almost sighed with relief. Ming would be safe under Chrome’s protection.
Thai was waiting for Valerie when she returned to her home on the Globe, patiently weeding a flower bed. She watched him for a while before she knelt beside him in the soft earth.
“Long day?” she asked him when he turned to face her. Two grooves had etched themselves between his eyes, like he’d spent the day concentrating, or worrying, or both.
“Yeah,” he replied, settling back on his heels.
They sat together in the dirt, turning up their faces to absorb the last rays of light before the day dimmed to twilight. When she opened her eyes, she saw that he was watching her.
“I wish I only had good news for you today,” he said, touching her cheek with a dirt-streaked finger.
“That must mean you have some good news, so let’s hear it,” she said, trying to hold on to her peace for as long as she could.
Thai gave her a half smile. “Willa managed to get water flowing into Silva. I think she had about fifty people helping her on the project, and today the first drops trickled in. That woman has almost as much determination as you do.”
“Something about her does inspire confidence—and obedience,” Valerie said. “I hope it means t
hat people will settle down.”
“I think they will. And maybe having suffered a little deprivation will give these Conjurors some empathy for what humans endure all the time,” Thai said.
“What’s your bad news?” Valerie asked.
“It’ll sound naive, but I thought with magic, there’d be almost no one we couldn’t heal. But I was wrong. These black weapons of Reaper’s are as bad as weapons on Earth—maybe even worse. You can treat a gunshot wound, but the black weapons eat away at your magic, and your life. And now that Henry’s given Reaper’s army the ability to cast darkness, the black weapons are more effective than ever.”
Valerie gripped Thai’s hand, watching him swallow once, then twice.
“I’ve seen people die from their wounds. And today, Juniper came in with a deep cut on his hand,” Thai began.
Valerie stood up. “I have to go to him!”
Thai stood, as well. “He’ll live. We stopped the flow of dark magic inside him. But he lost his hand. No magic in the universe will be able to fix him.”
Valerie heard a sharp intake of breath, and she whipped around to see Henry standing behind them, one hand on his stomach and the other covering his mouth.
“This is all happening because of me,” he said. “I’m the reason Juniper lost his hand.”
“No, you’re not,” Valerie said firmly, pushing down her own horror so that Henry wouldn’t find it in her mind. “It’s Reaper and the Fractus who are choosing to hurt people.”
“Reaper’s crazy, and I might as well have given him a nuclear bomb,” Henry said. “I have to go. I can’t listen to you defend me. I don’t deserve it.”
Henry left, and Valerie knew she should follow him. But her heart was so heavy, so exhausted, that instead, she leaned into Thai, resting her head on his chest. Gently, he wove his fingers in her hair. She knew she should pull away, but her body wouldn’t let her.
“Henry’ll find his way back to us,” Thai said.
“I don’t know how to help him,” Valerie said. “He’s slipping away from me, as surely as my dad slipped away when he bled out in front of me. But I don’t know how to fix him.”
“Anyone would crack under the amount of pressure Henry’s been under,” Thai said. “I know how much you’ve got going on, and I’ll keep an eye on your brother. When he’s ready for our help, we’ll be waiting.”
Valerie sat on the edge of Juniper’s cot in the Healers’ Guild, waiting for him to wake up. He was very pale, but his breathing was even. He moaned a little in his sleep, and Valerie gripped his hand. His eyes cracked open.
“I’m so sorry, Juniper,” Valerie said.
Juniper rubbed his eye with his right hand, and Valerie saw him stare down at the stump of his left hand, which ended at the wrist.
“It’s war,” he said. “I knew what could happen when I joined the Fist. Look at the bright side. I’m alive.”
“Does it hurt a lot?” she asked.
Juniper nodded. “Even the numbing potion Nightingale made only helps a little. But he said it won’t be like this forever.”
Valerie sucked in a deep breath. “Are you angry?”
“At you? No. At Reaper and the Fractus who did this? Hell, yes. But I’m still going to fight. Maybe not on the battlefield anymore, but I believe in what we’re doing. Seeing this darkness the Fractus are wielding firsthand, I know we’ve got to end this threat. The whole universe could go dark if they aren’t stopped.”
“If you still want to be a part of this, I could really use someone to organize the training of the Conjurors in the Fist who haven’t had a lot of fighting experience,” Valerie said.
She’d always hated being treated like she was made of glass when she’d been in the hospital, too weak to be of use. And she suspected that Juniper felt the same. He smiled at her words, and she saw that one of his teeth was chipped, as well.
“As soon as Nightingale releases me, I’ll start,” he said.
A man who looked like an older version of Juniper stopped at the end of the bed. He glared at Valerie.
“I know who you are, and I don’t want you filling my son’s head with any more of your poison,” he spat.
“Dad, be quiet. I’m a man now, and I can decide for myself what’s right,” Juniper said. Then his face softened. “You always taught me to work hard and stand up for those who couldn’t do it for themselves. That’s what I’m doing.”
Juniper’s dad turned away from Valerie. “I take it all back. I want you safe.”
Valerie quietly walked away, letting Juniper talk to his dad, thankful that he was alive to receive his scolding.
Chapter 18
The days blurred into weeks as fighting escalated on Earth. When Valerie heard that a group of Fractus was entering the Pantheon in Rome, she didn’t suspect that they would be different from the dozens of Fractus she’d been battling day after day in their search for clues to how to break the rules binding Earth’s magic.
Chisisi reported that five Fractus had been seen entering the monument, so Valerie decided not to tackle them alone. She brought Alex and Olwain, Knights of her guild who had stood by her side from her first battle against the Fractus.
They passed through the enormous pillars at the front of the Pantheon and entered through the massive front doors with a crowd of tourists. Valerie scanned the massive, circular room. The ceiling was a dome with a hole in the middle that let light in.
It was quickly apparent that the Fractus were making no attempt to blend in with the crowd. They studied the floor, sometimes bending down to trace the pattern in it.
Valerie recognized Logan, Thai’s ex, right away, even though she’d cut her beautiful hair short. Valerie fought the urge to run over and unleash her powers on the girl who’d held Henry’s father while Zunya murdered him. Two of the other Fractus looked familiar, as well.
“What are they doing?” Alex asked, sliding her hand into her jacket, where Valerie knew she kept a dagger that Cyrus had imbued with his new light treatment.
“See that woman tapping the circle on the ground over there?” Valerie asked. “I think her name is Toma, and she’s got the ability to use electricity to mess with anything electronic.”
“That’s not going to do her a lot of good in here,” Olwain said.
“She can also throw lightning. The other woman is Logan, and her hands and feet can secrete poison, like a frog,” Valerie added. “I don’t recognize the other three guys. Do you?”
Alex nodded. “I fought them when Zunya attacked us at the playground last year when we were recovering the Byway. They were guarding him.”
“I remember them now, too,” Olwain said. “They’ve got the speed and strength of leopards, which is why their magic isn’t completely incompatible with Earth’s rules. No match for us if we were on the Globe, but here we’ll have to watch out.”
“Let’s wait and capture them somewhere less public so we don’t put any humans in danger,” Valerie said.
The words were barely out of her mouth when Logan shoved a man who was trying to usher the group away from where they were standing. He fell to the ground, gripping his chest. Security guards came running, and the five Fractus formed a loose circle, ready to fight.
“So much for waiting,” Alex said.
“You two fought the leopard guys before, so take them. I’ll handle Logan and Toma,” Valerie said.
By the time they reached the Fractus, three guards were lying on the ground, and people were starting to back away from the scene.
“I suggest you run,” Logan said loudly.
People didn’t wait to hear more. They turned and began pushing their way out toward the front doors, the only exit.
Valerie landed a sharp punch to Logan’s cheek, which leveled her. But the blow made her stagger, so Toma was able to touch Valerie’s arm, sending electricity zinging through her body. Even with her magic flowing as much as Earth’s rules would allow, Valerie went down, temporarily paralyzed.
&
nbsp; Toma took full advantage, kicking her hard in the temple, but it didn’t keep Valerie down for long. As she sprang to her feet, she saw Toma glance toward the exit with longing.
“Too late to run,” Valerie said, and swept her foot across the ground to knock Toma off her feet.
But the Fractus nimbly dodged the kick. Something above them caught the woman’s attention, and Valerie seized the chance to hit her in a pressure point in her neck. Toma fell. Valerie confirmed that Logan was still down, then saw that Olwain and Alex had taken out their targets, as well, though Olwain was limping.
But Valerie’s sixth sense for danger was still going off, and she looked up and saw three faces peering through the circular opening at the top of the Pantheon. She barely had time to register that two of the faces had eyes that were completely black before the room dimmed.
Valerie knew that the third Fractus was Reaper as soon as his feet touched the ground. His eyes met hers, but they held no surprise. He’d been expecting her.
Valerie had never seen Reaper on Earth before, and she suspected it was because his magic was at complete odds with Earth’s rules. He bent the laws of physics, which went against the very tenets of how the planet functioned.
Knowing he was vulnerable, she launched herself at him with all of the speed that her magic could lend her, bound as it was.
Instead of flattening him, she passed directly through him. He was only projecting his mind to Earth. But the two Fractus who were with him were not projections, and Valerie’s hold on her magic slipped as they both turned their power on her and her Knights.
“Disable them and take what I need,” Reaper ordered, ignoring Valerie and the Knights.
Valerie collapsed under the weight of the darkness sucking at her magic, and her very life. Next to her, Alex and Olwain had also fallen, their faces pale. Alex’s eyes fluttered back in her head. The Fractus approached, and Valerie couldn’t find the strength to lift Pathos from its sheath at her side.
A human couple, who had been hovering at the edges of the crowd that was trying to force its way out of the building, leaned down to help Valerie.
