Knights of Light (Book 2 of The Conjurors Series)

Chapter 41

The next morning, urgent knocking on the front door awakened Valerie. She hurried to open it and found an agitated Dulcea, whose hair was a messy riot of curls.

"What's wrong?" Valerie asked, her adrenaline spiking immediately.

Dulcea launched into her story without hesitation. "After you left, one of the apprentices who is an imaginary friend to a very rich little boy on Earth approached me. Her name is Amy, and I mentored her a couple of years ago. She was terrified. The boy's family was trapped inside of their house by an intruder."

"That's terrible. I hope they're all okay," Henry said, joining them at the door and rubbing his eyes.

"That wasn't the worst part. This boy's father is a senator, and they had guards and an extremely fancy security system. But everything was disabled at once. All of the electricity was drained from every single system in the house, including the alarms. The guards were all killed and had blackened holes in their chests, as if they had been electrocuted."

"That sounds like the Fractus we fought," Henry said. "But it couldn't be."

Valerie's gut twisted. "They already had a way to return to Earth, with whatever magic they took from Darling."

"I know it's suspicious, but these bad guys could have used regular human weapons. Let's not jump to conclusions," Henry said.

"It was one man," Dulcea said. "Tell me how one man could take out eleven guards and disable every electronic device in a one mile radius in minutes without using magic."

Henry shook his head, her eyes filling with terror. "The attacker...did he kill the family, too?"

Dulcea shook her head. "No, they were released. But we have no idea what the senator gave the Fractus to save the lives of his family."

"It's all happening so fast," Valerie said, her head in her hands.

"Faster than you can imagine," Dulcea said. "Two other apprentices had similar stories. All imaginary friends to kids with powerful parents."

"What does Rastelli say? Does he have any ideas about what can be done?" Valerie asked.

Dulcea's face darkened. Valerie had never seen her truly enraged before. "That's the worst part. Amy went straight to Rastelli along with the other apprentices whose friends had been attacked. And he told them to say nothing to anyone. That it was all a misunderstanding, not the Fractus at all. But that didn't seem right to Amy, which is why she came to me."

"What could make him say such a thing?" Henry asked, horrified.

"There's only one reason that I can think of. He must be the spy," Dulcea said. "Maybe he's Reaper himself."

Valerie's gut said that wasn't the case, though she didn't have any concrete reasons why. The person who murdered Jet had been cut from a different cloth than Rastelli.

"It doesn't matter. We have to get to Midnight. It's too late for the Excision now. Magic and evil have already invaded Earth. If we shut down the connection now, the humans will be defenseless against the Fractus who are already there," Valerie said, already pulling on her jeans.

"What can I do to help?" Dulcea asked.

"Recruit as many Conjurors from the Society of Imaginary Friends as you can, but only people you can really trust. It's up to you to make sure Rastelli doesn't slip away before we can question him," Valerie said. "Henry, get Kanti and Cy and meet me at the Justice Guild."

Valerie sprinted down the streets of Silva and across The Horseshoe. She was heading toward the Justice Guild, forming her case for the Council in her mind. There was no way they could refuse her now.