Knights of Light (The Conjurors Series Book 2) (30 page)

“I think it might be
booby-trapped,” she said.

She tossed a rock at the
step, but nothing happened. Carefully she climbed up, testing each stair for
stability before putting her weight on it.

“Be careful!” Cyrus
said, the usual thread of humor absent from his voice.

The final stair was very
old and weak, and she realized that the magic wasn’t coming from the step
itself. She touched it with her finger, and it crumbled, leaving a gaping hole.
She could hear water flowing far below, and the hum of magic was louder. It
also had a strange quality to it, something dark and slimy. Whatever magic was
in the water had been left by the Fractus.

From where she stood, Valerie
reached up to slide away the rock that blocked the exit. It took all her
strength to push it open, and the stone made a terrible groaning noise as it
slowly slid aside.

She jumped up, using her
power to give her an extra boost, and clung to the edge of the exit, right
above the hole where the last stair had been, for a heart-stopping second. But
magic and adrenaline quickly enabled her to pull herself up and out of
Plymouth.

Valerie peered back down
at the anxious faces staring up at her. “Give me a minute and I’ll help you all
up. I want to do a quick check for threats.”

She also needed to get
her bearings. She had emerged in the middle of an eerie purple canyon. There
were strange black tracks that led away as far as the eye could see, and cut
into the side of the canyon were crumbling buildings. One was an old mansion,
with pillars and a huge porch on the outside, while the rest of the home wasn’t
visible, and must be cut into the rock face. The tracks and buildings were as
old as the exit from Plymouth.

It was almost dark
outside, and the air was dusty, making it hard to breathe easily. The filth
settled in her pores, and Valerie knew that whatever place this was, it had
been the cradle of something evil. It seemed like a fitting reception to the land
where the Fractus lived.

As much as no one wanted to camp in the
canyon, they all had to get rest while they had the chance. Still, no one even
suggested exploring the buildings or sleeping anywhere other than outside in
the beds made from houseplants that Kanti had packed in a callbox back in
Arden.

Even after everything
was set up, no one wanted to leave the tight circle that they had formed to eat
the dinner that Dulcea had left for them in the callbox.

“What is this place?”
Cyrus asked.

“It feels…wrong,” Henry
said, pulling Kanti closer to him.

Even Gideon shook his
head. “I knew this was the only exit from Plymouth into Dunsinane, but I didn’t
know exactly where it would take us.”

“It’s the former capital
of the Globe,” Sanguina said, speaking up for the first time since they had
helped her escape.

“What happened?” Cyrus
asked, fascinated.

“The Fractus were a
powerful political group then. But they tried to overthrow the elected
government and marshal the magic needed to return to Earth. It was a war.”

“But the Fractus must
have lost,” Henry said harshly.

Sanguina shrugged. “They
didn’t get back to Earth. But thousands of people were slaughtered, and
everyone fled to different corners of the Globe. We haven’t been a unified
people ever since.”

Silence followed her
words.

“And now…there’s no
capital for the entire Globe?” Valerie asked.

“Each country has its
own government,” Kanti said. “But I never knew that things used to be
different.”

“The Fractus are many
things, but they do keep history faithfully alive,” Sanguina said. “Even I
didn’t know many of these stories until I became one of them,” she said, her
voice distant.

“So is this place
totally deserted now?” Cyrus asked.

“The last group was
driven out three-quarters of a century ago,” Sanguina replied.

“Maybe someday, we’ll
all find our way back to each other,” Valerie said hopefully.

Sanguina didn’t say
anything, but she walked away from the group, choosing to sleep on the hard
ground rather than one of the plush beds. The mood was broken, and everyone went
to sleep.

Valerie didn’t think that she would be able to rest
with everything that had happened and was about to happen, but to her surprise,
she fell asleep quickly and slept soundly for the first night in a long time.

Valerie was the first
one up the next day, but in Arden, Dulcea must have already been hard at work,
because a breakfast of neon-colored pastries that tasted like they had been baked
in heaven were waiting for them. There was also a funny sketch of herself
fighting a frazzled Zunya, who was peeing his pants in fear. She was still
giggling over it when Cyrus joined her.

He looked at the drawing
and started laughing, too. “He really does have the weirdest hairline. Did
Dulcea draw this?”

Valerie shook her head. “I
think it’s from Jack. If his sense of humor is returning, he must be doing
better.”

“Maybe that little creep
isn’t a total loser after all,” Cyrus said, his cheeriness taking the sting out
of his choice of words.

“I slept too long,”
Gideon said, sounding a little disoriented. “I’ve never done so before.”

“Do you think Kellen’s
magic is still affecting you? What was that stuff, anyway?” Valerie asked him.

“Fairy dust. It can be
charmed to do many things, but this time to befuddle and paralyze me, I
believe. A common use,” Gideon said with a little of his old confidence.

“Befuddle?” Cyrus asked,
confused.

“Confuse, genius,” Kanti
said, rumpled but still gorgeous as she rubbed her eyes.

Henry was beside her. “Sorry,
she’s not a morning person.”

“No, you don’t say,”
Cyrus said with exaggerated shock, earning a growl from Kanti.

Sanguina was nowhere to
be seen, and Valerie had a panicky moment when she thought she had been
betrayed—again. But then she saw Sanguina’s red hair in the distance. She was
staring down the length of the canyon. Valerie grabbed a pastry and joined her.

“Thank you,” Sanguina
said in surprise when Valerie gave her the treat.

“Will we make it to the
place where we’re all supposed to meet up on time?” Valerie asked.

Sanguina nodded. “We
aren’t far from the Oasis. And it isn’t typically patrolled by Fractus because
a spell that wards off evil lingers there from one of the old battles. It isn’t
as powerful anymore, but it has the effect of making those with bad intentions
very ill when they are near.”

“Gideon chose the
perfect spot.”

“I’m surprised he knew
about it. Few do.”

“Elden shared the
information with Azra, because it is near one of the homes of the People of the
Woods,” Gideon said, joining them. His color was a little better now that he’d
eaten.

“How do we get there?”
Valerie asked, trying to keep the eagerness out of her voice as she eyed the
old black tracks. What did they do? She loved traveling on the Globe. “Rollercoaster?
Wind tunnel?”

Sanguina and Gideon
exchanged a smile, and then they both looked a little surprised at themselves.

“We walk, I’m afraid,”
Gideon said. Then he turned to Sanguina. “Unless you know of another way?”

Sanguina shook her head.
“These tracks used to support a public transportation system of platforms, but
they were broken long ago. Also, Reaper has placed powerful wards in Dunsinane
to limit magical travel. He wants plenty of notice when people are visiting.”

“I suspected as much,”
Gideon said. “That explains why we were going around in circles when we visited
here last time.”

“He can bend space and
time, among other things,” Sanguina said quietly. “I don’t know all of his
powers, but I have never encountered anything like it before.”

“Let’s get this show on
the road!” Cyrus announced, and Valerie saw that he, Kanti, and Henry had
packed up their supplies and sent them all back to the callbox.

“Hope you brought comfy shoes,” Valerie said. “It’s
going to be a hike.”

The travel turned out to
be easy for the most part, since they walked on a gentle slope upward through
the canyon. What was harder to deal with was the eerie emptiness of all the
homes and shops that they passed in deep disrepair. It had obviously been a
thriving city, and it was spooky now that it was empty.

After a few hours,
Valerie noticed that Gideon was pasty. But his face was set with determination,
and she knew he’d never allow them to slow down for his sake.

“Do you mind if we stop
for lunch?” she asked the group. “I’m starving and my feet are killing me.”

“Finally! Let’s not be
martyrs,” Cyrus agreed.

Kanti checked the
callbox, and Dulcea had left them a delicious lunch from the dorm’s cafeteria.
They all feasted on the porch of a home that was slightly less rickety than its
neighbors.

A prickle on Valerie’s
neck made her shift position right before an arrow whistled toward her head.
Her magic surged, and she deflected it with a quick swipe of her hand, sending the
shaft clattering harmlessly against the wall. She heard a cry of rage, and a
very dirty centaur with long, scraggly gray hair charged toward her.

“Get back!” she shouted
to her friends.

Valerie braced herself
to meet the centaur’s charge, and they collided with a force that pushed the
air out of her lungs. She grabbed the creature’s arm and twisted, and she knew
she could break the muscular arm with one blow. But up close, she could see the
crazed fear in the centaur’s eyes, and her instincts told her that this wasn’t
a trap.

“Please,” Valerie gasped.
“We aren’t here to hurt you—but I will if I must.”

Without second-guessing
why she knew it was the right thing to do, she released the centaur’s arm and
stroked her back with a firm, calming touch.

“Who are you? Something
about you is familiar,” the centaur said, and her voice was that of a very old
woman’s.

“I’m Valerie. We’re here
to fight the Fractus,” she said.

“Wanna tell her your
life story while you’re at it?” Cyrus muttered, obviously more suspicious than Valerie
was.

She ignored him and
introduced the rest of the group. She spoke softly, like she had with the
children at the hospital. “What’s your name?”

The centaur had to think
the question over, as if she hadn’t thought about her name in a long time. “Summer,”
she finally said.

“You’re alive,” Sanguina
breathed. “You’re a legend. Reaper said he destroyed you.”

Summer bared her teeth. “He
didn’t lie. He killed every family member, every friend. He ripped my muscles
to shreds so I can never run free with my people. It would have been better if
he’d killed me.”

Valerie saw the way that
Summer’s skin sagged strangely, not just from age, but from whatever torture
Reaper had subjected her to. “You’ll come with us, to Arden. There must be a
way to help you heal.”

Summer shook her head
proudly. “I will never leave here until I die and rejoin my people. I will do
nothing to slow that process. If I could kill myself and still be admitted to
paradise, I would have already done so long ago.”

Valerie shuddered at the
emptiness in her voice. She knew what it was to be alone. “I can’t leave you
here with nothing but ghosts.”

Summer’s eyes softened. “You
are very different from others I have known. I cannot leave, but knowing you
fight the Fractus gives my heart peace.”

“Can you give us any
advice?” Kanti spoke up. “What are Reaper’s weaknesses?”

“If I had a good answer
to that, I wouldn’t be standing here,” Summer said, her head hanging. But then
a spark of a thought lit up her eyes.

“Tell us,” Valerie
pleaded softly.

“My family and I scoffed
at this notion, but an elder once visited the Oracles and was told that Reaper’s
powers weaken against an incorruptible heart—one that has overthrown evil,
selfishness, and fear.”

“There is no person that
pure,” Sanguina said.

Summer bowed her head
again. “No. But those who come closest are less affected by his power.”

“Like you,” Valerie
said.

“If that was once true,
it is no more. I am filled with hatred, a selfish craving for revenge, and—though
it is a weakness to admit it—fear of more pain.”

“It is not a weakness to
admit fear,” Gideon said. “Only to give in to it.”

Summer was quiet for a
time, but then met his eyes. “Be that as it may, my help to you must end here.”

“Of course,” Valerie
said. “You’ve endured so much. I only wish you would let us take you somewhere
safe.”

The harsh, despairing
light in Summer’s eyes dimmed and was replaced by something gentler. “Perhaps
one day, if you succeed, you will return and tell me so.”

“I will,” Valerie swore.