Edge of Pathos (Book 4 of The Conjurors Series)

Chapter 40

Grunts of effort, shouts of triumph, and screams of pain made a gruesome soundtrack to the battle that raged in the Atacama Desert. Valerie's eyes scanned the scene, and the horror of it all overcame her. She threw up on her shoes.

Thai held her hair, and she was grateful when he didn't say anything about it. There were no words of comfort for what was happening now, all under her direction. She could tell herself there was no other way, that this was all in the name of keeping Earth free, but a part of her couldn't justify the carnage.

Henry's mind touched hers, and her gaze flew to a glassy dune to the north of where she stood. She saw Kanti's swan flag first, a rallying point for her soldiers. Nearby, Henry and Kanti were fighting back-to-back. Kanti held her staff, but it was more of an accessory than a weapon, since she was using magic to conjure up thorny branches that pricked her enemies with light.

Henry wasn't using his light-infused machete much, either. Valerie peeked in his mind and saw that he was using his psychic powers to confuse the Fractus's minds, like his fellow Empaths were on the Globe. Valerie wished that she'd had the foresight to have a contingent of Empaths on Earth.

"To Henry," she said to Thai, and together, they entered the fray.

With their hands clasped, Thai and Valerie became a powerful force. If Reaper's dark particles were chipping away at the magic within her, she couldn't tell while touching Thai.

Even fighting one-handed, she had to rein herself in so that she didn't cause fatal damage to the Fractus she encountered. Thai's hand was tense in hers, and she knew that he was also struggling to wield the immense power they created together.

Though they were holding back, they slammed through the fighting like a freight train, leaving a path of unconscious bodies littered on either side of them. In her peripheral vision, Valerie thought she saw Reaper's dark scythe cutting through her soldiers, but when she turned to verify it, he was gone.

They were still a distance away from Henry and Kanti when Valerie saw Ani walking through the crowd. Valerie's guess as to Reaper's tactic was apparently correct—he was sending his best soldiers to Earth.

Ani's sweet voice worked its magic. The soldiers it touched dropped to one knee, heads bowed, creating a path for her to walk down unhindered. Her gaze was sharp and focused on one thing—Kanti.

"Look out!" Valerie shouted, her voice lost in the battle sounds.

But Henry's mind was connected with hers, and he spotted Ani when she was a few yards away. Ani's eyes went black, and Kanti's staff and Henry's daggers flickered as darkness descended around them like a fog.

Both of their weapons had been embedded with Cyrus's new light treatment, but it was no match for the power Ani was wielding.

Ani spared a glance at Valerie and then shouted an order that Valerie couldn't hear. Quickly, she and Thai were ringed by a dozen black-eyed Fractus.

Valerie was forced to focus on the battle in front of her, and she only saw snatches of Henry and Kanti's vicious fight with Ani. She saw Ani strike Kanti, sending her reeling, and Henry's ineffective swipe with his dim weapon. She made out the screech of frustration when Ani sprang on Kanti, and Kanti's vines wound around her arms and threw her off.

Valerie didn't see the blow that killed Ani. She and Thai broke through the circle of Fractus and saw Kanti's white face and bloody staff. Ani lay still, her skull dented, at Kanti's feet. Henry's arm was around Kanti's waist, but he was concentrating on diverting the attention of any Fractus near them so they didn't attack while Kanti was stunned.