Guardians of the Boundary (The Conjurors Series Book 3) (4 page)

BOOK: Guardians of the Boundary (The Conjurors Series Book 3)
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They hurried out of the
building, leaving Dulcea behind to follow Rastelli and make sure he didn’t
scare any of the younger kids.

Valerie and Kanti found Henry
and Cyrus tossing a makeshift football back and forth on the lawn of The
Horseshoe. Henry had promised Cyrus he’d teach him some of the popular sports
on Earth, and from the grin on Cyrus’s face, he was enjoying it. But the two
stopped playing and jogged over when they saw Valerie and Kanti.

Henry’s mind briefly connected
with hers.

“You’re finally ready to start
planning how we can fight the Fractus,” he said, and she heard the relief in
his voice. He’d concealed the depth of his worry about her.

Valerie nodded. “I’m sorry it
took so long. I couldn’t face it. I thought Azra or my father or someone else
might try to fix things.”

“They are,” Cyrus said, flashing
her a dimpled smile and stepping close to her. He smelled pleasantly of grass
and sunshine. “Azra has been trying to convince the Grand Masters to send
representatives to Earth to hunt down the Fractus. Oberon’s been pumping
Rastelli for info, too.”

Valerie was surprised. Her
father had never mentioned anything to her.

“He said you’d ask him about it
yourself when you were ready,” Henry said, answering the question in her
thoughts before she spoke.

“What else can be done?” Kanti
asked.

Valerie thought. “Our best bet
is to work with Chisisi. He’s a Guardian of the Boundary on Earth, and who
knows if he has any reliable guild contacts on the Globe now that Midnight…”

Valerie couldn’t force herself
to finish her sentence. Everyone was quiet.

“I think Oleander’s leading the Guardians
now. No one believes that she’s an ally of the Fractus,” Cyrus said. “Chisisi
knows she’s not trustworthy, but I’m not sure that he’s in regular contact with
someone on the Globe who can exchange information with him.”

“That changes now,” Valerie
said. “Until the Grand Masters take this threat seriously, it’s up to us to
figure out what the Fractus are after. It must be something that will help them
get the rest of their team to Earth. There can’t be much of Darling’s fur
left.”

Reaper had kidnapped Darling in
order to use the magical properties in his fur to send some of his own army to
Earth. But since Valerie’s mission to rescue Darling had been successful,
Reaper no longer had access to the fur and wouldn’t be able to send his army to
execute his mission to take over Earth.

“Contacting Chisisi is a good
place to start,” Henry agreed.

Her twin’s purpose strengthened
her own and gave Valerie a renewed energy. The Fractus’s grace period was over.
It was time to take on the enemy.

Chapter 4

Valerie debated skipping her
required apprentice training at the Knights of Light after her encounter with Kellen,
but she decided that she’d never learn more about his intentions if she kept
her distance.

She immediately spotted the
other apprentices gathering in the corner of the courtyard. As usual, Claremont
gave Valerie a superior smirk. Valerie ignored her and walked to her friend,
Juniper.

“The rumor is that Gideon’s not
allowed to show his face, even if officially he hasn’t been expelled from the Guild,”
Juniper whispered to her. For the past few months, Gideon had been the
apprentices’ primary instructor.

Valerie nodded, deciding not to
go into detail with so many people around who might overhear. “I wonder who
will teach us instead.”

They didn’t have to wait long.
Mira, a Knight who was loyal to Kellen, made his way to the group. Mira had the
power to change his shape at will, and he had fooled Valerie more than once.

“Today, we’ll start with
sparring. Pair up,” Mira said, shooting a suspicious glance at Valerie. She
couldn’t blame him. The last time they’d met, he’d fought against her under
Kellen’s orders to prevent Sanguina from escaping. Their fight had been brief
but brutal, and she’d left him unconscious.

There was an odd number of people
in the group, and Valerie was left without a partner to spar with.

Mira approached her. “You can
pair with me. Placing you against any of the other apprentices wouldn’t be fair
to them.”

“I don’t have my blade,” Valerie
said, hedging.

“No weapons,” Mira said. “We’ll
work on hand-to-hand combat.”

For the next hour, Valerie got
an incredible workout, both physical and magical. Mira constantly shifted his
shape, shrinking to duck out of her holds and growing so that he could
overpower her with sheer size. By the end of the lesson, Valerie was sweaty and
drained, but she had to admit that she’d learned some new moves.

Mira nodded, satisfied. “You
still have the potential to be a great Knight, as long as you don’t let others
lead you astray with false promises.”

Valerie shook his hand and met
his eye. “I’m sorry that we were on opposite sides the last time we fought. But
if you knew me better, you’d know that I’m not one to be led around like a
little lost girl. If you don’t mind, I have a suggestion for you.”

“Go ahead.”

“Pay attention and
see if you think Kellen is what he says he is. Keep an open mind and decide for
yourself who to trust.”

Valerie left the Guild,
satisfied that maybe she’d made a tiny inroad into generating doubt about
Kellen. It was good to be taking action again.

She hurried home to get ready
for her first official date with Cyrus. They’d agreed to meet at the fountain
in the center of The Horseshoe, so she’d have to hurry to get ready.

Valerie was surprised that she
had some butterflies. She took care with her appearance for once, choosing one
of the few dresses in her closet, and returned to The Horseshoe. She saw Cyrus
already waiting for her. Night had fallen, but he always seemed to glow a tiny
bit, as if the light from the stars couldn’t help but be attracted to him.

He was holding a flower of light
like the one he’d given her when she first came to the Globe, and he was
dressed up. His face lit up when he saw her.

“You’re always beautiful, but
tonight…” Cyrus said, taking a step closer.

“Cyrus at a loss for words? I’ll
have to remember this moment,” Valerie teased, trying to hide her blush of
pleasure at his words.

Cyrus stepped closer and gently
tucked the flower behind Valerie’s ear. His fingers brushed her cheek and she
shivered. This close, his eyes were warm and blue. His glance flicked to her
lips, but he stepped back.

“I’ve got the whole night
planned,” Cyrus said, and he reached for her hand and intertwined his fingers
with hers.

“I’m glad this first is with
you,” Valerie said to him.

“What first?” he asked.

“My first official date.”

She and Thai had spent hours
together, but they’d never had a chance to have a real date with all of the
craziness that had surrounded their last few days on Earth.

Cyrus seemed to glow brighter.
“No one is gonna top this, I promise you.”

Valerie suspected he was right.

After an incredible dinner at
the Cooking Guild, Cyrus pulled her to her feet.

“Lead on, Captain,” Valerie
said. “But not too fast. I’m so full I can hardly move.”

Cyrus led her toward the dark woods.
“Where I’m taking you is safe, so don’t worry. Anyway, I’ll always protect you.”

Valerie snorted. “You do realize
that I can defend us both from most things in those woods myself, right?”

“Let me pretend to be the guy here,
would you? And you be the delicate damsel requiring my protection,” Cyrus said,
only half kidding.

Valerie forced herself not to
roll her eyes, but she quickly forgot Cyrus’s insecurities when she saw where
he had led her. It was a field of flowers that all glowed softly, providing a
warm white light. The sound of high-pitched, musical giggles filled the air above
them, where tiny fairies fluttered around like lightning bugs.

“What is this place?” Valerie
whispered, afraid of breaking the spell.

“It’s where the fairy children
come to play,” Cyrus said. “Ceru showed me years ago, when we were kids.” His
eyes alight, he reached for her hand. “Wait—you haven’t seen the best part.”

A glowing ball floated in the
air. It was white, but a rainbow of sparkles burst off of it. The fairy
children batted it between themselves, dissolving into giggles after they
touched it.

The ball floated toward Valerie,
and Cyrus explained the game. “It’s really simple. Don’t let the ball touch the
ground. It’s harder than you think. Go ahead, knock it back up.”

The ball descended toward
Valerie’s outstretched hand, and she gently hit it up. When she touched it, the
sparkles around the ball surrounded her, tickling her from her scalp to her
toes. She collapsed to the ground, laughing, and the sparkles vanished.

“Quick, hit it again!” Cyrus
said, lobbing it back toward her and bursting out laughing, rolling around on
the ground.

The sight of Cy looking so
ridiculous was enough to make Valerie start laughing again, but she managed to
hit the ball, harder this time. When the sparkles tickle-tortured her, she
laughed so hard she cried.

The fairy children surrounded
her and Cyrus, all fighting for turns to hit the ball back up.

“So what happens if it drops to
the ground?” Valerie asked, wiping her eyes.

A little blue fairy came close
to her face. She had big, round eyes. “We pick it back up, of course!” she said
in a sweet little voice.

“No penalties for dropping it?”
Valerie asked.

The little fairy stared at her,
puzzled. “What’s a penalty?” she asked, but then flew away before Valerie could
answer.

“Fairy children are creatures of
pure joy,” Cyrus said. “There’s no competition, no rules. It’s all about fun. I
thought you could use a little of that.”

“It’s hard to imagine that
Kellen started out like this,” Valerie said.

Cyrus shook his head. “It’s
really rare for fairies to leave their grove. Those who do are always very
strong-willed. But let’s not talk about Kellen.”

They were distracted as the
sparkle ball returned in their direction, and Valerie playfully shoved Cyrus
aside and leapt up in the air to hit it.

“You’ll pay for that!” Cyrus
exclaimed, tackling her to the ground as the fairy children squealed with
delight.

He’d pinned her to the ground,
and Valerie was sure he was going to kiss her right then. Which was why she
didn’t notice the ball coming back their way. Cyrus leaned closer, and then
quickly jumped up and hit the ball, and then dropped to the ground, laughing.

“That was playing dirty!” she
said, and ran after the ball herself.

Valerie didn’t know how long
they played in the field, racing around with the fairy children for their
chance to burst into giggles.

Eventually, the fairies started
to drift off. The little blue fairy stopped in front of Valerie, her eyelids
heavy. “Will you come again? Cyrus is more fun with you here.”

Valerie laughed and gave her a
little wave. “I’ll be back again. I promise.”

The blue fairy circled Valerie
twice, and the strangest feeling came over her, reminding her of when the kids
in the hospital had hugged her after she’d read them stories and played with
them.

“That’s a fairy hug,” Cyrus
explained. “They’re rare. You’ll notice I didn’t get one.”

He gave the blue fairy a
scolding glance, and her laughter tinkled in the night air as she fluttered
away.

“Then I guess it’s up to me to
give you one,” Valerie said, and she squeezed Cyrus tightly. “Thank you for
bringing me here. For this whole night.”

“It’s not over yet,” Cyrus said,
grabbing her hand. “Come on, I’ll race you to the Society of Imaginary Friends!”

He took off and Valerie ran
after him, the night air kissing the back of her neck. Cyrus had given her the
impossible—a night to forget about everything she’d lost and everything that
loomed ahead of her. Minutes later, they collapsed onto the Guild steps,
catching their breaths.

“Now for the dangerous part.
It’s not a perfect date unless we do something risky. So I’m going to sneak you
inside the Guild, even though Rastelli says you’re the enemy,” Cyrus said
dramatically.

Valerie’s instinct was to
question whether it was a good idea to risk Rastelli’s wrath, but she squelched
it. Tonight belonged to Cyrus, and she would trust him. He led her to the back
of the building on tiptoe.

“Where are you taking me?” she
whispered as they hopped over rocks to cross the moat surrounding the Guild.

“I couldn’t very well take you
through the front doors. But naturally, the building has lots of secret
passages. I don’t think too many people know about this one.”

They reached the wall of the Guild,
and Cyrus started tapping the stones in a specific order and rhythm. When he
was done, they shifted aside to reveal a tunnel. It was times like this that
made Valerie shiver with how lucky she was to have magic in her life.

The tunnel was naturally dark,
but Cyrus carried a glowing orb that he’d probably made himself. They slowly
walked down the passage, and at the end was a giant, clear bubble floating in a
pool of water. Cyrus climbed into it and held out his hand.

Carefully, she gripped Cyrus’s hand
and stepped through a strange, liquidy substance. She heard a slight popping
sound when she came through to the other side. It was like being inside of a
soap bubble.

“This bubble will take us around
the moat, underwater,” Cyrus explained.

The bubble slowly began to sink
into the dark water, where a current caught it, and they were suddenly
propelled forward. Valerie clutched Cyrus’s hand in surprise.

“How will we see anything?”
Valerie asked as dark water rushed past their bubble.

Before Cyrus could answer, they
rounded a corner and were met with a burst of light. The entire underwater
world of the moat was lit up. It was a liquid paradise. Fish of a thousand
colors swam by, darting in between gently swaying seaweed and bright orange
coral.

Little seahorses floated around.
They were performing an elaborate, synchronized dance. Above the water of the
moat, the moon sparkled.

“How can we be the only ones out
here?” Valerie asked. “This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. You’d
think people would be here every night.”

“Lots of people come during the
day, but it doesn’t usually glow at night,” Cyrus said, ducking his head in an
attempt at modesty.

“You did this?” Valerie asked
with awe. Her best friend had surprised her again with the creative use of his
power.

“I tossed in some balls of light
that I made especially for this night. They’ll only glow for tonight, and then
they’ll dissolve in the water. No one but us will ever see this.”

For a while, they floated,
pointing out strange plants and creatures swimming around them. Eventually,
they lapsed into comfortable silence. Cyrus slid his arm around Valerie’s waist,
and she rested her head on his shoulder. She was safe and warm and relaxed.
Part of her wished they could stay in their bubble forever, watching the fish
swim by.

“I love you,” Cyrus said, his
voice low. His arm held her a little tighter. “I always have, and I always
will.”

The butterflies returned to
Valerie’s stomach. “I love you, too, Cy.”

“Not the way I love you,” he
said, and she shifted her head so she could read his expression. His eyes were serious,
in spite of the little smile that tugged at the corners of his lips. “It about
killed me to see you with someone else. I know it will take time before—”

BOOK: Guardians of the Boundary (The Conjurors Series Book 3)
4.66Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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