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

Chapter 28

After hours of strategizing with her father and Gideon, and a long shower, Valerie was starting to believe that there was a way to defeat the Fractus, as least on the Globe. They had to take each battle as it came, and they could only focus on one front at a time.

She decided to check in on Thai, or, rather, the progress of the Guardians on Earth with finding the Byway, she reminded herself firmly. She slipped Thai's crystal over her head and gripped it, and was briefly completely disoriented.

Instead of the electronics shop or a hotel room, she found herself standing in an abandoned playground. It clearly hadn't had any visitors in a long time. The swings were broken and rusted over; a slide had been tipped over; and various other broken, unrecognizable toys lay half buried in the weeds. A light drizzle falling from the gray sky added to the eerie atmosphere.

Chrome was circling the playground warily, his ears perked. Thai and Chisisi watched him, and Chisisi motioned her over when he saw her.

"Your talented friend has found the location of the Byway," Chisisi said, his eyes never leaving Chrome's pacing form. "He's now assessing the nature of the magic that has it locked away."

The dilapidated playground was the last place Valerie could imagine finding powerful magic. "I thought it would be somewhere much older, like Stonehenge or the Great Pyramid. How can the Byway be here? This playground can't be more than a few decades old."

"If we understood him right, Chrome said that the appearance of this location adapts over time. It is meant to be a forgotten, boring place that no one would ever suspect," Thai said.

Chrome's intelligent eyes moved from Thai to Valerie. He nodded once, confirming Thai's words.

"It makes sense. If it were located at some awesome structure, people would always be poking around. I'm surprised the launch room at the Great Pyramid stayed hidden," she said.

The sound of a vehicle approaching made them all turn their heads sharply, but Chisisi relaxed when he saw three black vans parking nearby.

"I called for the rest of the Guardians and the Conjurors you sent from the Globe to aid us in this critical time," Chisisi said. "We will need to protect the Byway with our very lives."

Valerie glanced around the playground for any signs of danger, but it was still. She wondered why she had the strange sense that it was not as deserted as it seemed, but decided it must be the distinctly creepy vibe that any old, broken-down playground would have.

Chrome stopped near the old swings and began to dig. An image of a treasure chest buried in the ground appeared in her mind, and Chisisi and Thai picked up the shovels that they had brought with them.

Another image appeared, this one of everyone digging, and the chest began to glow.

"He needs everyone to dig for the Byway," Valerie explained. "I think he's saying that we need to pool as much magic as possible to be able to find it."

"I get why the Conjurors you sent should help, then, but what good will we do?" Elisabeth asked, joining them with the group from the vans. "None of us has any magic."

"We all have the potential for magic inside us," Valerie explained. "On Earth, it might never express itself, but it could be encouraged to grow on the Globe with the right help."

The human Guardians stared at her in amazement, and wide grins broke out on many of their faces. Valerie couldn't help smiling back. To find out that you had potential magic inside you was a heady thing, she remembered from experience.

"Also, you're all here for a reason. It is your latent magic that calls to us, which is how we recruit you to join the Guardians," Chisisi explained.