by Kristen Pham
“I’m fine,” Valerie said, but she could hear that her words were slurred. Aside from the pain, her mind was muddled from Kellen’s first blast of fairy dust.
“He gave you an overdose of dust,” Gideon explained, helping her hobble out of the woods. They passed Ani, still curled up on the ground, moaning and cursing. “Most fairies cannot produce that much. It was enough to brainwash you for weeks. But if he hadn’t expended all his magic to hurt you, I would not have been able to capture him.”
“I’ll be okay. I always am,” she insisted, concentrating on keeping her knees from giving out under her. She wasn’t sure if she was telling herself that or Gideon. “How’d you find me, anyway?”
“I have been tracking Kellen for many weeks. I keep a distance between us so he does not know I follow him, but when I heard your cries, I came as quickly as I could,” Gideon said, his voice loud to her overly sensitized ears.
Valerie was only vaguely aware of what he was saying. She wasn’t sure when Gideon scooped her up, but when they reached the doors of the Healers’ Guild, he was carrying her. Her knees must have given out after all.
Gideon pulled on one of the door handles, but it didn’t open. He pounded authoritatively, and Nightingale, the Grand Master Healer, answered.
Nightingale was frightening to see at first glance, and in Valerie’s muddled state of mind, his sharp teeth glinted like knives.
“Fairy dust overdose,” Gideon said. “She needs to be purged right away.”
“She may not enter,” Nightingale said. His voice was firm, but she thought she saw a flicker of pity in his eyes as she began to shake.
Gideon tried to push past the creature, but a burst of magic hit them, flinging them off the steps of the Guild.
“I see the Healers have chosen to join the Fractus,” Gideon said, gracefully standing without ever letting Valerie go. “I’ve known you many years, and I trust that you will find your way back to the light.”
Without wasting more time, Gideon began to run. Valerie bit back a moan as every stride sent fire ricocheting around her body like a pinball machine. Her vision faded in and out, and she wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she saw that she was in her own bed with Oberon hovering over her.
Azra was nearby, her horn glinting silver in the light.
“Like an angel,” Valerie whispered, staring at the unicorn in awe. Henry squeezed her hand. Cyrus and Kanti were there, as well.
“Am I going to die?” she asked, wondering if what she was seeing now was even real.
“No,” Oberon said. His voice didn’t waver, and she believed him. She would survive this.
Some part of her mind registered that Oberon had removed Azra’s horn from her forehead. She had been healed this way once before, and she watched as Oberon channeled a trickle of water from the moisture in the air around him into the hollow horn. Henry held her head up as she drank the warm liquid from Azra’s horn.
I cannot promise this will be effective. My magic transferred to my child. Azra’s voice in Valerie’s mind calmed her in spite of her words.
“It’s working,” Valerie reassured her as the fire in her body dimmed to a smoldering ember.
“Good. Sleep now, Daughter, and when you awake, we will discuss how to kill the Fractus who tried to end your life,” Oberon said.
His protective rage made Valerie smile even as her eyes drifted closed. She patted his hand.
“Thanks, Daddy. But no murderous rampages on my behalf,” she murmured almost incoherently. “Promise.”
“I promise,” Oberon said soberly.
Before she slipped into sleep, one of Henry’s thoughts made its way into her mind.
“He might promise, but I don’t.”
Chapter 16
The first thing Valerie registered when she woke up the next morning was that Pathos was beneath her pillow, as it had been every day before Kellen had taken it from her. She reached for the hilt, but having it in her grip didn’t bring her the same security she’d always had when she’d touched it before, so she let it go. She tried to push herself up to a seated position, but the pain from Kellen’s magic still smoldered in her bones. Someone handed her a warm towel, and she wiped her face.
“Welcome back,” Cyrus said, his tone overly cheery. “You look like hell.”
Valerie grinned a little, but it sent sparks of pain through her face. “That’s why I love you. Your charm.”
Oberon cleared his throat. “You scared us, Daughter.”
Valerie looked around the room to see who else was there.
“Kanti and Henry are sleeping in his room,” Cyrus said. “Gideon is scouring the woods to make sure Ani and Kellen have been taken care of, and Azra is outside nearby if we need her. Summer is giving her a checkup.”
“Summer?” Valerie asked, confused.
“She used to be a doctor to the centaurs. Since there are no other unicorns to help guide Azra through her pregnancy, Summer’s the closest species. She says she’ll be able to deliver her baby safely,” Oberon explained.
It was good to think about something other than her pain. Valerie imagined a tiny Azra, and the thought made her smile. In spite of all the darkness that she had encountered over the past year, it was good to know there were little pinpoints of light along the way, too.
“Now that you have had some rest, you must begin building up your store of magic,” Oberon said sternly. “Yesterday proves that your enemies are circling.”
The thought of calling upon her magic was exhausting, but she knew her father was right.
“I do not wish to overwhelm you, but you must know that as a vivicus and leader, these attacks will not cease. You must always be on your guard,” Oberon continued.
Until the Balance is restored. Azra’s head poked through Valerie’s window. Oberon arched a brow in question, and Azra explained. New words were etched on Pathos binding Valerie, Henry, Kanti, and Cyrus together as the Pillars of Light.
The color drained from Oberon’s face.
“Dad, what is it?” Valerie asked.
Oberon hesitated before speaking. “Your mother spoke of a prophecy about the Pillars of Light that we never understood. Before she received the prophecy in its entirety, an old Oracle named Mer interrupted.”
“Mer was the one who told me you were alive!” Valerie said excitedly, forgetting her pain.
“I would not have expected that he still dwelled in the Roaming City,” Oberon said. “I heard he was to be exiled for entering the sacred rings during your mother’s prophecy.”
“What did she learn before Mer interrupted?” Henry asked, and Valerie saw that he was standing in her doorway with Kanti, rubbing his eyes.
“She said there were four pillars of light, and one would fall into darkness. Only if that pillar was rebuilt would the Globe find the Balance,” Oberon said, and then his voice turned a little angry. “Neither she nor I ever imagined that the pillars would be children. Haven’t you been burdened with enough?”
Valerie realized the gravity of her father’s revelation first. “One of us must fall… Do you mean be wounded? Die?”
Oberon bowed his head, not responding.
Prophecies are rarely clear in their meaning. Azra gently nudged Valerie’s shoulder with her nose.
“It could mean that one of us would join the Fractus and betray the Conjurors. That would be a fall,” Henry said.
Valerie eyed her brother, but his mind was closed tight against her gentle pressure. Still, she had an idea about what he was thinking.
“Even if you gave Reaper what he wanted in exchange for your father’s life, I don’t think that means you’ve fallen,” Valerie said gently. “No act done out of love could lead to this darkness the prophecy talks about.”
“I don’t understand why your mother received this prophecy,” Cyrus said, his grip on her hand tight.
“Perhaps because her children are two of the pillars,” Oberon’s words left everyone in the room quiet.
“There’s so much riding on all of us,” Cyrus said, his voice low.
“We can’t afford to ever stop following the path of light,” Valerie said, the enormity of what she had just learned making her mind reel. The leftover pain from Kellen’s magic still burned, and she fell back onto her pillows. It was up to her and her friends to restore the Balance. Another responsibility. She would be old and withered before she ever escaped them all.
The Balance could be in no better hands. Azra said, and somehow her words lightened the burden that Valerie carried. After all, she wasn’t carrying it alone.
Valerie allowed herself a day of rest. Even if her friends hadn’t insisted, she knew that she had to give herself time to recover. She did her best to push heavy thoughts from her mind, choosing instead to play games with Henry, Cyrus, and Kanti. That night, Henry and Kanti disappeared, leaving Cyrus and Valerie alone.
They lay next to each other in the grass outside her house, staring up at all of the stars. There were so many more than were visible from Earth, because stars were constantly being pulled into the black hole that surrounded and hid the Globe.
“This is how I imagined it would be when you came to live here two years ago,” Cyrus said, interrupting their silence.
Valerie turned to him. “You mean full of attacks and leading a battle against the Fractus?”
“No, dummy. I mean staring up at the stars, and then making out,” Cyrus said, rolling onto his side so he could meet her eyes.
Valerie smiled, but she was distracted, and she could see that Cyrus knew.
“I’d fight every last Fractus myself if it meant I could have your full attention,” he teased. Then he leaned closer. “This could be a battle we fight for years, decades even. We have to take every chance we get to escape it occasionally, or we’ll go crazy.”
Then Cyrus’s lips were on hers, and Valerie did her best to follow his advice. After a little while, she didn’t have to try, and her fingers threaded through his hair, making his breath hitch.
He had just pulled her impossibly closer when a heavy rain began to fall, drenching them both. They pushed apart, and she saw Oberon standing in the doorway, his arms crossed. He had called the little shower with his magic, but his lips twitched like he was hiding a smile before he went back inside.
“I’m pretty sure that was my cue to leave before he sends a bolt of lightning instead of a little rain,” Cyrus said, helping her to her feet.
“We’ll have to do a better job of hiding next time,” Valerie said.
The last of the pain from Kellen’s dust seemed to have washed away with the rain her father sent.
The next morning, Valerie awoke to Henry’s knock on her bedroom door. She answered, still yawning from one of the better nights of sleep she’d had in weeks.
“Dasan sent me a message. The Empaths are gathering today to try to find Dad,” Henry said. “I know you’re not well enough to go—”
“No way. I’m coming,” Valerie said, her new, commanding tone leaving no room for argument.
“You have to heal,” Henry said, but he lacked conviction.
“Trust my judgment. I can handle this, and I want us to have the best chance of finding Joe today. I love him, too, you know,” she said.
Fifteen minutes later, they hurried to Henry’s Guild. Oberon and Azra had scoured the nearby woods for any enemies and had spotted no one. Valerie gripped Pathos’s hilt the entire way there, but it still gave her little comfort.
“If this doesn’t work…” Henry said, but couldn’t finish his sentence.
“I still don’t think going to Reaper is the answer,” Valerie said. “We have no reason to believe that he’ll honor his promise. But if that’s what you decide to do, I’ll come with you and protect you as best I can.”
Henry shook his head and walked faster, a fierce light in his eyes. “This will work. But no matter what happens, you are not going back to that awful place.”
Kanti joined them as they headed through The Horseshoe and gripped Henry’s hand.
“I doubt I’ll be of much help, but I want to be there,” Kanti said.
A little of the tension left Henry’s face as he stared into Kanti’s eyes. “Having you beside me will make me stronger.”
Normally, that kind of talk would make Valerie want to gag, but today, seeing the love between her brother and her friend made her blink back tears.
They arrived at the Empathy Collective, and Henry led them around back to the beautiful garden that flourished behind the building. Valerie’s jaw almost dropped when she saw how many Empaths had come to support Henry. Surely with so many dozens to help him, finding Joe would be possible after all.
Henry’s smile widened, as well. “I didn’t know anyone was coming besides Dasan, Elle, and Will.”
Elle and Will were Henry’s closest friends in the Guild, and they had both lent their powers in the battle against the Fractus at the Black Castle.
The crowd was chattering excitedly, but the noise stopped when Dasan fluttered down from the rooftop. He was a huge, magnificent red bird that came from a race called the Feng. When he died, Dasan was reborn again from his ashes, and his many lives gave him a rare perspective.
Dasan’s psychic magic was powerful, and his presence brought calm to the crowd. Even Valerie’s own mind relaxed, and her worries shrank into insignificance. It wasn’t the first time that she’d been in the presence of Dasan’s power, and she was thankful again that Henry had his Grand Master’s support and help to ease his constant anxiety.
Dasan’s regal features were glowing as he looked over the group that had gathered.
“Your presence here today is a testament to the strength of this Guild,” Dasan said. “We are a group joined in mind and spirit, not divided by petty grasping for power and influence. When one member suffers, we all suffer. When one rises, we all rise.”
The group cheered, and Kanti leaned toward Valerie. “The other guilds all roll their eyes at the Empathy Collective, but I think this is kind of awesome.”
“I can’t imagine the Knights taking care of each other like this, especially not now,” Valerie said, thinking of all the fighting that was breaking out as the Knights debated whether they should support the Fractus.
“As we have practiced, we will channel our energy into Henry. Let him steer his mind and draw upon your power as he needs,” Dasan said. “Henry, please sit in the center of the garden.”
Henry nodded, briefly resting his head against Dasan’s wing. Then he walked down a short stone path to a circular bench. Valerie and Kanti flanked him, and when he sat down, they each held one of his hands.
“I’m ready,” Henry said.
He shut his eyes, and a tingle touched Valerie’s mind, like someone knocking gently on the door to her head. She opened up and Henry’s thoughts flooded in. His fears for his father, insecurity about his own ability, and the terrible dread that failure was inevitable made her want to choke. Valerie couldn’t imagine making herself vulnerable to such a big group of people with her deepest insecurities, and she squeezed his hand to let him know he had her support, and that she admired his courage.
After her mind touched her brother’s, a blast of magic nearly made her stumble as the collective minds of the Empaths joined Henry’s. Everything was pure chaos. Thoughts echoed around her brain, and Valerie couldn’t tell what came from where.
Dasan’s energy linked to Henry’s, and a calm fell through the group. The strength of Henry’s need to find his father cut through the muddle, and order appeared. Valerie thought of how Oberon had taught them to collect their magic inside them and pool it to use when they needed.
Henry’s mind caught hold of her thought, and he channeled the power of the Empaths into a reservoir in his mind. Then he let his thoughts take off, focusing on an image of his father’s face.
Nothing happened. Valerie concentrated on remembering details about Joe, like his voice and the way he had hugged her like his own
daughter when he first met her. But no connection to Henry’s father tugged at her.
Several of the younger Empaths began to squirm, but Dasan’s relaxed magic subdued them. Henry began to draw on the power that flooded around him, first in sips, then in huge gulps as he reached out, out, out into the universe, searching for Joe’s mind.
Panic hit him, and he let the magic channel through him too fast. Valerie worried it would sweep him away if he didn’t hold back. But before she could reach out to help him push back against the torrent, her mind focused.
An image of a dark, shabby hotel room that seemed vaguely foreign appeared in her mind, followed by the lightest touch of Joe’s mind. He seemed barely conscious, like he’d been drugged. Someone opened the door to the room and threw a bottle of water and a container of food on the bed.
Joe’s fingers trembled as he tried to open the bottle, until a girl’s hand reached out and did it for him. Valerie bit her lip as she recognized Logan. There was no spark of pity in her eyes for Joe’s obvious discomfort.
“Drink up, old man,” she said.
Henry desperately tried to connect with his father’s mind, to let him know that he was there. But Joe’s thoughts flickered in and out, and she doubted that he knew that his son was near.
Valerie tried to force thoughts of what had made Joe so weak from her mind, and instead looked for clues as to his location. The room was dim, and the light came through a small opening in the blinds. Outside, Valerie saw the sign of a store in another language, all Asian characters. It was attached to a tall, graceful skyscraper. Were they in Chinatown in New York or San Francisco? Or maybe a major city in Taiwan?
“I love you, Dad.” Henry sent his thought quietly and hopelessly. Her brother’s despair coursed through her, and her knees almost buckled.
Logan turned to Joe and spoke roughly. “You need to eat. It isn’t time for you to die yet.”
Logan’s callous words made Henry’s mind reel, and abruptly the connection to his father was broken.
