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

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.