recognize the beach of the
little pond they’d arrived in.
“Where are we?” she
asked the twins.
“You’re in luck.
We’re in Arden. You’re about as far as you can get from Silva, but there’s an
entrance to the cities in the trees around here. The People of the Woods will
give you quick passage home,” Will said.
“He gave you time to
make it up without a struggle. It’s more than he gave Mom and Dad,” Elle said.
“He didn’t want
anyone to find out you’d been treated badly. It would undermine his case,” Will
replied.
“I don’t think I
changed anyone’s mind,” Valerie said, shaking the water out of her short, wet
hair.
“How could Henry…”
Elle began, but Valerie cut her off with a short shake of her head.
“I owe it to him to
give him a chance to explain,” Valerie said. “Maybe there’s more going on than
we know.”
“There has to be,”
Will said.
Valerie took a breath
and changed the subject before the anger that was brewing in her toward her
brother showed on her face. “The merpeople will never be our allies.”
“Mom used to say
that the Illyrians were falling away from their old ideals. They hunger for
knowledge and forget what’s really important,” Elle said.
“I hope that we’ll
still be able to keep our edge without knowledge from the Akashic Records,”
Valerie said.
“You’ll still get
the information you need,” Elle said. “Will and I aren’t experts, like the
Illyrians who were helping you before, but our parents taught us the basics.
And the spell that will be placed on the Illyrians won’t apply to us, since we
never took the vows that everyone else had to when they embraced their
immortality.”
“That means we’ll
have to move back,” Will said thoughtfully. “But it’s time, isn’t it?”
Elle nodded, and
Valerie wondered if they were also talking telepathically, like she and Henry
often did. It was extremely irritating for the person outside the conversation.
She’d have to remember that.
Thinking
of Henry stirred her anger even more. It was time to go home. Henry owed her
answers, and this time, he wasn’t going to wriggle out of them.
It took Valerie the
rest of the day to navigate her way back to Silva. Elle and Will helped her
find the tree she needed to climb, and the People of the Woods were happy to
escort her to the platform she needed to float back to Silva, but not before
taking the time to visit with the wounded and consulting with the council of
leaders, who were at loose ends without Elden’s solid presence to ground them.
Her responsibilities
fulfilled, she finally got on her way and floated down, landing in the woods
near The Horseshoe. A day of travel hadn’t calmed Valerie down. If anything, it
had given her anger time to fester. She didn’t bother to close her mind to her
brother, so her rage must have been blasting across the Globe.
He was waiting in
the garden when she arrived, and he wasn’t alone. Gideon, Cyrus, Thai, Dulcea,
and Jack were with him, watching her with confusion. Henry must have gathered
them there, hoping she wouldn’t confront him in their presence. She didn’t
care. They could all hear what she had to say. She slammed the gate behind her.
“I’ve racked my
mind, trying to think of one good reason that you could be helping the Fractus.
But I can’t think of a single one! So tell me, Henry, what could be so
important that you’d put the lives of thousands of humans and Conjurors at
stake, risk the fate of two worlds?”
Henry’s eyes were
desperate as he answered her. “Kanti.”
Chapter 12
Henry opened his
mind to her, and all of the secrets that he’d been hiding for the past few
months flooded in. Valerie tried to process the information, but it was coming at
her so fast that she could only absorb it in flashes.
“Reaper turned her
to stone? Is she alive?” Valerie asked when she began to make sense of what she
was seeing.
“Yes, or so he
says,” Henry said.
“Hold
little pond they’d arrived in.
“Where are we?” she
asked the twins.
“You’re in luck.
We’re in Arden. You’re about as far as you can get from Silva, but there’s an
entrance to the cities in the trees around here. The People of the Woods will
give you quick passage home,” Will said.
“He gave you time to
make it up without a struggle. It’s more than he gave Mom and Dad,” Elle said.
“He didn’t want
anyone to find out you’d been treated badly. It would undermine his case,” Will
replied.
“I don’t think I
changed anyone’s mind,” Valerie said, shaking the water out of her short, wet
hair.
“How could Henry…”
Elle began, but Valerie cut her off with a short shake of her head.
“I owe it to him to
give him a chance to explain,” Valerie said. “Maybe there’s more going on than
we know.”
“There has to be,”
Will said.
Valerie took a breath
and changed the subject before the anger that was brewing in her toward her
brother showed on her face. “The merpeople will never be our allies.”
“Mom used to say
that the Illyrians were falling away from their old ideals. They hunger for
knowledge and forget what’s really important,” Elle said.
“I hope that we’ll
still be able to keep our edge without knowledge from the Akashic Records,”
Valerie said.
“You’ll still get
the information you need,” Elle said. “Will and I aren’t experts, like the
Illyrians who were helping you before, but our parents taught us the basics.
And the spell that will be placed on the Illyrians won’t apply to us, since we
never took the vows that everyone else had to when they embraced their
immortality.”
“That means we’ll
have to move back,” Will said thoughtfully. “But it’s time, isn’t it?”
Elle nodded, and
Valerie wondered if they were also talking telepathically, like she and Henry
often did. It was extremely irritating for the person outside the conversation.
She’d have to remember that.
Thinking
of Henry stirred her anger even more. It was time to go home. Henry owed her
answers, and this time, he wasn’t going to wriggle out of them.
It took Valerie the
rest of the day to navigate her way back to Silva. Elle and Will helped her
find the tree she needed to climb, and the People of the Woods were happy to
escort her to the platform she needed to float back to Silva, but not before
taking the time to visit with the wounded and consulting with the council of
leaders, who were at loose ends without Elden’s solid presence to ground them.
Her responsibilities
fulfilled, she finally got on her way and floated down, landing in the woods
near The Horseshoe. A day of travel hadn’t calmed Valerie down. If anything, it
had given her anger time to fester. She didn’t bother to close her mind to her
brother, so her rage must have been blasting across the Globe.
He was waiting in
the garden when she arrived, and he wasn’t alone. Gideon, Cyrus, Thai, Dulcea,
and Jack were with him, watching her with confusion. Henry must have gathered
them there, hoping she wouldn’t confront him in their presence. She didn’t
care. They could all hear what she had to say. She slammed the gate behind her.
“I’ve racked my
mind, trying to think of one good reason that you could be helping the Fractus.
But I can’t think of a single one! So tell me, Henry, what could be so
important that you’d put the lives of thousands of humans and Conjurors at
stake, risk the fate of two worlds?”
Henry’s eyes were
desperate as he answered her. “Kanti.”
Chapter 12
Henry opened his
mind to her, and all of the secrets that he’d been hiding for the past few
months flooded in. Valerie tried to process the information, but it was coming at
her so fast that she could only absorb it in flashes.
“Reaper turned her
to stone? Is she alive?” Valerie asked when she began to make sense of what she
was seeing.
“Yes, or so he
says,” Henry said.
“Hold
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