by Kristen Pham
“I will kill you for this!” Henry screamed. His entire body shook with the intensity of his promise. “I swear on my life that I will watch you suffer before I end you!”
Valerie saw something like terror cross Zunya’s features before he leaped out the window onto a fire escape. As soon as he was gone, Henry released a single sob, unable to stop shaking.
Thai, Chrome, Sanguina, and Chisisi burst through the door, too late to stop Zunya, though they immediately raced to the window.
“Come with me now, Henry,” Valerie said, as the rest of the Guardians on Earth began to pile into the tiny room, looking out the windows to the street below.
Sanguina and Chisisi lifted Joe off the ground and laid him gently on the bed. With his face no longer twisted in pain, Joe appeared peaceful. Valerie thought how strange it was that the dead all wore the same look.
“I’m so sorry,” Thai choked out, and he didn’t try to hide his tears. “I failed you.”
Henry shook his head.
“No,” Henry said, his voice gravelly. “The mistakes were mine.”
Henry stood by the bed and stared at his father for a long moment, as if to burn his face into his memory one last time. Then Henry vanished, letting his mind return to the Globe, and Valerie followed.
Chapter 26
In Skye’s office, Henry was huddled on the ground, his arms around his knees. His mind was wide open, as if he didn’t have enough control over himself to block his thoughts as he usually did.
The waves of his grief and guilt were so strong that Valerie thought she might be sick. Thankfully, Skye had left to organize the Grand Masters at Valerie’s request, so she was alone with her brother.
“He finally wanted to live,” Henry said to her. “Not for me, but for himself. I didn’t think that would ever happen after Mom died.”
“You brought him back to life, Henry,” Valerie said. “You gave him the chance to be happy again before he died.”
“Even if that’s true, his happiness didn’t last long. And it’s all my fault,” Henry said. His face darkened. “I never should have listened to that prophecy. If I’d followed my instincts I would have given Reaper whatever it was that he wanted, and Dad would be alive.”
“What prophecy?” Valerie asked, confused.
Henry didn’t try to shut his mind, and his memory washed over her. It was Henry’s first trip to visit the Oracles in Ephesus. He was there to find out how to help Kanti, who was sealed off from the world in her cocoon. At the time, they hadn’t known what was wrong, and Henry would have done anything to fix her. The first part of his prophecy, she remembered.
Over mountains, across seas,
Through despair, into bliss,
Though pain will bring you to your knees,
You’ll find the answer you seek in a kiss.
But then the young Oracle had whispered something in Henry’s ear that had made his face go blank. When Valerie had asked him what the Oracle had told him, it was the first time that he had shut his mind to her. Now, she heard the words.
Some are tested by blood, some by hate.
Knowing the cost, the wrong price will you pay,
To save a loved one from the final fate.
In the end, two worlds at risk, when your family you betray.
“I didn’t want it to be true, so I didn’t betray you,” Henry said, his tears drying on his cheeks. “Now the prophecy is false, but Dad is dead. I wanted to be good, to always choose right, like you do. But I’m not cut out for it.”
Valerie could swear her chest was hollow as she heard his words.
“You are good, Henry,” Valerie said, but she knew that anything she said would fall on deaf ears.
Valerie had experienced death personally enough times to know the complete absorption of staring into a horrible void inside yourself where a person used to be.
“I’m an orphan now,” Henry said, his voice dull. He gave a humorless little laugh. “You finally have a dad, and I’m the one who’s alone.”
After Henry left, insisting on having some time to himself, Valerie finally released her own tears. She was seventeen years old, and her life had already been full of too many endings.
But she refused to let Joe’s loss engulf her the way Midnight’s had. Instead, she reminded herself of her friends and family. Death was horrible, but love was more powerful. It was her compass, and as long as one person she loved lived, that feeling would always guide her back, like a beacon.
Or a locus.
Valerie’s tears stopped at the thought. She thought back on her lessons with Gideon, and her struggle to hold a single, overpowering image in her head. She thought it had to be something, or someone, that she could visualize and hold on to. But it was this emotion that really grounded her, and she knew she’d never shake it. People could die or vanish from her life, but her love for them didn’t have to disappear as well.
Love would be her constant.
The answer seemed so obvious, so right, that Valerie knew her mind would never be vulnerable to a mental attack from Kellen, Ani, Oleander, or anyone else ever again. She wondered why Gideon hadn’t just told her that she was looking at the problem the wrong way, but it really wasn’t his way. He expected her to figure things out on her own, and maybe he was right. The answer was more powerful because of how hard she’d searched for it.
Taking advantage of her temporary freedom, Valerie scooped up the crystal that connected her with Thai. It lay on the ground next to the anchor crystal and scrying map that Sanguina had used before she returned to Earth.
When she put the chain holding Thai’s crystal around her neck and it settled against her breastbone, it was as if a piece of herself that had been missing had returned. She never should have taken it off. Even though she and Thai would never be together, she still loved him.
She let the crystal draw her to Earth, and found herself next to Thai in a cheap hotel room in Japan. His entire body drooped, and he held his head in his hands. He wouldn’t meet her eyes when she stopped in front of him.
“This isn’t your fault,” Valerie said, guessing at his emotions.
“I know. It’s the Fractus. But that doesn’t change the fact that a good man died today. One who gave me a place to stay when I needed it and helped take care of Tan and me when we separated. I wish I could have protected him when it was his turn to be in danger,” Thai said.
“Thank you for trying to save him,” she said, sitting next to him on the bed. All of her old rage toward Thai had faded away, leaving only a dull ache at the loss of him in her heart.
“We wanted to ask Henry where to take Joe’s body to be buried,” Thai said, and a tear slipped out. He didn’t bother to wipe it away.
“I’ll ask him, but next to his wife, I think,” she said.
“You’re right. He visited her grave every day. I’ll take him to her myself,” Thai promised. His eyes finally met hers. “And after I do, I’m coming to the Globe.”
Even though Cyrus had told her this was the case, she couldn’t stop her heart from pounding when she heard the words from his lips. Thai was watching her closely, and she tried to mask her relief.
“What made you change your mind?” she asked.
“I’d rather tell you in person. It’s a long story,” he said.
“There’s something you have to know before you get here,” Valerie added, wishing she didn’t have to burden him with more baggage. “Tan is working with the Fractus.”
Thai released a ragged breath. “I know. Even if someone hadn’t told me, the fact that he left without talking to me and never visited was a big tipoff that something was really wrong. Whatever Venu did that day on the falls must have been awful.”
“I hope that he’ll find his way back to us. We know he can’t be all bad,” Valerie said. She wondered who had told Thai about Tan, but she decided not to press him with questions now, when he was grieving for Joe.
“I’ll have to help Chisisi and Chrome fin
d the Byway before I go back to America to bury Joe,” Thai said. “Do you think Henry will understand?”
The reminder of her brother made Valerie shudder at the grief that was still pouring from his mind. It reached her even when she was projecting to Earth, and she knew that she was only sensing a fraction of what he was experiencing.
“I think it will be a while before Henry’s thinking straight,” Valerie said. “I wish you didn’t have to deal with the Byway now, on top of everything else.”
“Sometimes, distraction is a good thing,” he said. He stood up and ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. “Will you come visit again?”
There was no mistaking the longing in his voice or the intensity in his eyes as he spoke.
“Of course,” she said.
“At least come to hear the updates on finding the Byway,” he added, sounding a little desperate.
Valerie searched his face, confused. “I’d come anyway, Thai. I promised I would.”
He nodded. “Soon. Even if it’s only for a few minutes.”
Valerie wished they had their old comfortable relationship, so she could ask him what was wrong, but there was a wall between them now, and she hadn’t been the only one to erect it. Instead, she gave him a last smile and let her mind return to the Globe.
Valerie left the Relations Guild and almost stumbled into The Horseshoe, which was drenched with light and bustling with Conjurors going about their daily business. No one here knew what had happened on Earth.
Henry’s mind wasn’t completely closed, and she was thankful for it. Through the crack he left open, she knew that he was with Kanti, which was the best place for him now. Valerie turned her steps to the Empathy Collective, where she knew Henry had friends. It was time to let them know what happened to Henry and his dad. The battle with the Fractus loomed large in her mind, and she didn’t want Henry to be abandoned if something happened to her.
As she approached the Guild, which was a much more humble structure than the surrounding buildings, she saw a giant red bird fly over the roof and settle in the garden behind the building. She was glad that she wouldn’t have to search long to find Dasan.
The garden was the true gem of the Empathy Collective. It bloomed with flowers as large as Valerie’s head in shades of color that she’d never seen on Earth. She spotted Dasan inhaling the scent of a cluster of tiny purple flowers. His wings were folded neatly at his back.
“I have terrible news,” Valerie began as she approached the Grand Master.
“The blast of Henry’s grief reverberated across the entire Collective. We all know of his loss,” Dasan said. His voice, which was usually soothing, sounded troubled. “When an apprentice joins the Collective, our minds are all connected in a tenuous way. The strength of Henry’s emotions, coupled with the immensity of his power, has sent several of our newer apprentices to the Healers’ Guild for treatment.”
“I didn’t know that was possible,” Valerie said, horrified. Even as his sister, she hadn’t grasped the depth of Henry’s emotions.
“It’s more than simple grief,” Dasan continued. “When a loved one is murdered, it is typical to react with rage and hatred at the person responsible.”
Valerie thought of Chrome, and even her own reaction whenever she saw Oleander, and nodded in agreement.
“A desire for vengeance is a natural, though destructive, reaction. But Henry doesn’t blame his father’s murderers. He hates himself. He is focusing all of that negative energy inward, and it is a cancer to his mind,” Dasan said.
“How do we fix it? Can you help him relax, so he can have a break from it?” she asked. Dasan had the ability to temporarily ease fears and worries, and Valerie had benefitted from a break from reality herself in the past.
Dasan’s wings fluttered outward for a moment before settling again. “I have tried to reach Henry through our mental connection. But he is powerful enough to deny me access, and now that he has such a powerful locus, his mind is impenetrable.”
“What’s his locus?” Valerie asked curiously.
“As of today, it is his self-loathing. It is all-consuming, and the most skilled at the craft of breaking into another’s mind could not touch Henry’s,” he said.
Valerie found it heartbreaking that the day she realized that her true North was her love for her friends, Henry had discovered a much darker locus. She wished she could absorb all of his pain into herself.
As if he could read her mind, Dasan spoke. “I, too, wish to take away his pain. If he would let us, there are ways to ease his suffering. But I cannot reach him now.”
“Maybe Kanti can,” Valerie said hopefully.
“You and Kanti may be the only ones who can help Henry retain his grip on his sanity,” Dasan said. “But even that may not be enough.”
“You think this will make him lose his mind?” she asked, dreading the answer.
After a pause, Dasan responded. “Henry has the strength to recover from this emotional wound, if he can find it. You and I and his friends will all do what we can, but ultimately, Henry must make a choice.”
With Dasan’s words heavy in Valerie’s mind, she was relieved when Will and Elle stopped her as she was leaving the Collective. They wore identical expressions of sympathy that heightened their already startling resemblance to each other.
Elle spoke first.
“We know what it is to lose a father,” she said. “One who was well loved. There are no words that will comfort Henry now, but when he is ready, we will try.”
“He’s lucky to count you as friends,” Valerie said, swallowing the lump in her throat.
The twins were usually reserved, and she knew what it must cost them to reveal such a personal detail about themselves.
“It’s a lot to ask, but I also wanted to talk to you about something else,” Valerie said, forcing herself to turn her thoughts to battle. “The Fractus are going to attack the cities in the trees soon.”
“Kanti visited here before she found out about Henry’s dad,” Will said. “Dasan and the rest of our Collective have joined the Fist.”
“All of you?” Valerie asked. It was hard to believe that they could all agree.
“It can be a blessing or a curse of this Guild, but because we all are so connected, we are usually of one mind,” Elle explained. “Even so, this was not a difficult decision.”
“Dasan is forming a plan of attack that will best utilize our psychic powers,” Will said.
“Can you ask him to speak with Gideon when you form your plans? I want to make sure that the Fist’s defense against the Fractus is coordinated,” Valerie explained.
Elle and Will nodded and then left.
She made her way back to the dorm of the Society of Imaginary Friends. Henry’s grief seemed slightly muted, and she knew that Kanti must be the reason.
As she approached the door to Kanti’s room, she shut her eyes and allowed herself to wallow in her own panic and grief before taking a breath and forcing her mind to seem calm so that she wouldn’t further agitate Henry.
She opened the door without knocking and saw Henry’s head in Kanti’s lap. Her long, shiny hair almost brushed his forehead as she looked down at his sleeping face. When she saw Valerie, she put a finger to her lips.
Valerie sat next to Henry and put her hand on his. Even though he was asleep, he must have sensed her presence because he relaxed by a fraction.
“Is he going to make it through this?” Kanti asked her, and Valerie had never seen such fear in her friend’s eyes.
“I don’t know,” Valerie said, bound by the oath she had made on Pathos to tell her friend the truth. “But I intend to hang on to him no matter what happens.”
“Me, too,” Kanti whispered, and then leaned down and brushed her lips against his.
Chapter 27
Valerie fell asleep on her old bed in Kanti’s room, waking up when the light in the window fell across her eyes. Kanti and Henry slept next to each other, forehead to forehea
d. Even in his sleep, Henry’s face was tense, but Valerie could see that his initial horror had faded a little.
The events of the day before crowded Valerie’s mind, and the knowledge that she had given the Fractus an advantage by failing to convince the Knights to fight them added to the emptiness within her from Joe’s death. The possibility of succeeding in driving back the Fractus had never seemed more remote.
At the softest of knocks on the door, Valerie ran her hands through her messy hair and got up. Cyrus stood at the threshold and released a breath of relief when he saw her.
“Even Oberon wasn’t sure where you and Henry had gone,” Cyrus said.
Valerie stepped into the hall so she wouldn’t wake her brother.
“I’m sorry. It was a long, horrible day,” she said.
“I thought you might need me after what happened,” Cyrus said, but his voice held no accusation, only a kind of resigned sadness. “But maybe you needed someone else.”
Valerie didn’t respond, knowing that if she admitted that she’d seen Thai after Joe’s death, it would only hurt Cyrus. It wasn’t as if she’d gone to him for comfort. Had she?
“I’m sorry I worried you. Henry’s grief was so absorbing that I lost track of myself,” she said.
Cyrus pulled her into his arms, and she laid her head on his shoulder. Valerie let herself rest, absorbing the warmth and familiar comfort that was purely Cyrus. Then, remembering the duties that awaited her, she abruptly pulled away.
“The People of the Woods’ voting… It must be done by now!” Valerie said, and began hastily strapping on Pathos.
“They’ve been known to take weeks to vote on important matters,” Cyrus reassured her.
Valerie nodded and forced her scrambled mind into a semblance of order.
“I’m glad they’re still safe, but I hope this doesn’t take weeks. Even without an army on Earth, Reaper and Zunya are capable of causing some major damage. We need the People of the Woods’ weapons so we can take on the Fractus,” she said.
“About that,” Cyrus said. “Elden left Arbor Aurum this morning to find you, which is another reason why I’m sure that the voting isn’t done yet.”
