Chapter 20: Chapter 20

In the middle of the night, for no apparent reason, Valerie suddenly awoke from a deep sleep. It was almost as if a fire alarm inside her head had gone off. Panic seared through her like a flash of lightning, and she sat up straight in her bed, ready for an emergency. What had woken her? Everything was as it should be in her room, and there was no sound other than Kanti’s soft, even breathing.

Then, without warning, the room faded before her eyes, and she saw the white walls of a strange closet, where she was curled in a ball, shaking. She knew that she was in one of her visions like the ones she had on Earth when she was unconscious. But this time was different—she hadn’t fainted, and she was still awake and conscious. If she concentrated, she could even feel her soft sheets clutched in her hands. This knowledge grounded her and allowed her to watch the scene unfold more objectively than she ever witnessed it before.

She heard Sanguina’s voice, low and threatening. “Where are you? Hiding?” She popped into view, her face inches away. Valerie screamed.

“You swore that you would stay away after I helped you last time!”

“You know by now that I will never let you go, Henry,” Sanguina said, shaking her head as if she was disappointed. “I’m always here. And like always, I won’t leave until you give me what I want.”

“No! Get away from me! Go!”

Valerie was confused. Why was Sanguina calling her Henry? She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror that was hanging on the door of the closet. But instead of her own face, she saw the face of a boy about her age. His black hair was oddly streaked with gray. His eyes were wide with fear, and his entire body was quaking with dread. He was terrified of what Sanguina would do to him, Valerie thought.

“We need another monster, and you’re the only one who can give it to us. And if you don’t—”

“Valerie, wake up!” Kanti was shaking her, and Valerie’s vision faded away. For the first time, she wasn’t weak and helpless, drained by her vision as she was on Earth. She was as strong as ever, and she had the power to save Henry.

“It wasn’t me! All along, in my visions, it wasn’t me that Sanguina was after! I was seeing through the eyes of Henry. That’s why Sanguina didn’t understand when I asked her why she haunted my dreams. But what does she want with Henry?” she asked.

“What are you talking about? Are you even awake?” Kanti asked, and then started to shake her again.

Valerie snapped back to the present, where Kanti watched her with genuine concern, and made a decision. Maybe it was important for her past to be a secret from almost everyone, but Kanti had shown Valerie nothing but kindness and deserved to know the truth about where she was from. Besides, she needed to talk about this right now. She was so close to solving this puzzle; she couldn’t let it slip away.

“I’m awake, Kanti. I need to tell you something. And you’re gonna want to sit down for this,” Valerie said.

Kanti sat, and Valerie told her story from the beginning. Kanti listened without interrupting, her jaw dropping further and further with every new detail. At the end, Valerie told her about her vision.

“So it means that all along, my visions were real! And now there’s a boy on Earth being terrorized by Sanguina. It’s awful, Kanti. He’s my age, but his hair is already turning gray! It must be from Sanguina and her monsters terrorizing him every night.”

Upon hearing this last detail, Kanti, who until now had been quietly absorbing everything Valerie told her, began to tremble violently.

“It can’t be! No, he’s not my Henry! My Henry is dead.”

“That’s a pretty common name on Earth.”

“Yes, it was what you said about his hair—my Henry’s hair was turning gray, too, from the time he was three and his mother died.”

Shock reverberated through Valerie. But what were the odds?

“No matter who he is, we have to find him and save him,” she said, realizing for the first time the impact of what she had discovered. All of the horror that she had experienced when she was unconscious, Henry dealt with all the time. “It’s a miracle that he didn’t die from the strain of being so terrified all the time. I don’t think I could have survived it. The visions of Sanguina alone almost killed me. We have to find her.” If she had to search every corner of the Globe, she would find Sanguina and stop her.

“I have to go to the Guild and tell them about this right away. They’ll know what to do,” Kanti said, already changing into her jeans.

“Will anyone be there in the middle of the night?”

“Sure. Kids call on their imaginary friends at all hours, so there’s always a supervisor on duty in case an apprentice needs help,” Kanti replied. “Want to come with me?”

Valerie slowly shook her head. “I want to try to remember more about my visions. Maybe it will give us clues to where Henry is, or where we can find Sanguina. Until tonight, I didn’t know that it wasn’t me experiencing those things. All that time, I was being pulled into Henry’s mind. But why me?”

Before Kanti left, she gave Valerie a quick hug. “Thank you for telling me, for trusting me.”

After Kanti left, Valerie decided that she didn’t want to stay in her bed any longer. The spacious room suddenly seemed stifling. She needed fresh air to clear her head.

She wandered the winding streets, not paying attention to where her feet led her. She was lost in her thoughts, trying to remember what Sanguina had said to her in the past. It always seemed as if she was coming to get something from her—from Henry, she corrected herself. What could that hag possibly want from a child?

She had reached the edge of town, and the shadowy forest loomed up in front of her. Somewhere deep in the trees, moonlight glinted on water. The mesmerizing sight seemed to call to her, slowly drawing her in. Without thinking, she made her way through the woods.

The water was farther away than she thought, and she walked for a long time before the trees opened up to reveal a clearing with a sparkling lake in the middle. She knelt at the water’s edge and drank deeply. The water glittered in her hands, as if there were sparkles inside.

She saw the white form of a unicorn against the trees. Azra nodded at her solemnly, her horn glinting in the moonlight.

Azra said, and the depth of her concern flooded through Valerie’s mind.

“How do you know all this?”

Valerie shook her head.

“Like a giant underwater library,” Valerie said, leaning forward so that she could stare into the water.

“What have they told you?” Valerie asked eagerly.

“Did you learn anything else?”

“But why do I only jump into his mind when Sanguina is near?”

“I hate her! Why won’t she leave us alone?” Valerie cried, rage filling her completely. She suddenly wanted to use her power, to destroy Sanguina, to crush her with her newfound strength. The thought of what Henry was enduring every day made her furious.

Azra’s expression changed, and she stepped closer to Valerie. Her soft mane brushed Valerie’s shoulder.

“Which is what?”

Azra’s large, bottomless eyes were the saddest things that Valerie had ever seen.

“That doesn’t excuse what she’s done to Henry,” Valerie said with certainty. Still, learning about Sanguina’s past drained some of her rage away. Sanguina had been abandoned by the Guardians, just as she had been discarded by her foster families, like a defective part. That crushing sense of loss was unbearable. But even though a part of Valerie sympathized with her, Sanguina had made her choice to embrace evil. Valerie was determined to do anything to save Henry—even if it meant hurting Sanguina.

She suddenly remembered Kanti. “Is this Henry the same Henry that was Kanti’s friend? Maybe she would know where to find him.”

“Thank you, Azra,” Valerie said, but inside she squirmed with frustration. She had spent so much of her life waiting—she wanted to save Henry now, today. The thought of Sanguina haunting that boy was more than she could bear.

Valerie returned to her room as the sun rose over the horizon. Kanti and Cyrus were waiting for her. The expression on Cyrus’s face was grim, and Valerie knew that Kanti must have filled him in on what had happened. She told them about her meeting with Azra.

“We can’t just sit around waiting!” Kanti exclaimed.

“There is another option,” Cyrus said thoughtfully. “The Oracle. We have a great need. Don’t you think they’d give Valerie her prophecy? “

“Yes! Cyrus, you’re brilliant!” Kanti said, the panic disappearing from her face.

“That’s what I’ve been telling you,” Cyrus said, trying to lighten the mood.

“What are you guys talking about?”

“The Oracle is a group of Conjurors who can see the future. They deliver prophecies to guide people on their quests and give them answers to their questions. But they’re really picky about who they’ll help. Only if your need is great enough will they prophesize for you.”

“Cyrus, how do you know all this stuff, anyway? You have answers for everything,” Valerie said admiringly.

“Whatever,” he said, not meeting her eyes.

“Aw, are you shy?” Kanti teased. Then she explained, “He was elected to serve on Azra’s youth council. It’s a really big honor, and she tells them a lot of stuff about the Globe that isn’t common knowledge.”

“That’s awesome, Cy! Why didn’t you say so?”

Valerie was surprised he didn’t jump at the chance to brag a little. Instead, Kanti explained, “He thinks it’ll bother me because I also ran for the council position, but didn’t get elected. I’ve told you a million times, I’m happy for you, not jealous.”

“I never said you were! The subject didn’t come up, that’s all.”

Sensing tension in the air, Valerie changed the subject, hoping to prevent another argument. “So, do we need to bring something to the Oracle? Like, an offering?”

Kanti and Cyrus stared at her, surprised. Finally, Cyrus laughed and said, “It doesn’t work like that. They’ll help us if they think it’s the right thing to do. And if we can help them, we will.”

“Sorry. Earth thinking, I guess,” Valerie said. She saw the shocked expression on Cyrus’s face and added, “Kanti knows I’m from Earth. We’re friends, and I want her to know the truth.”

“Fine, whatever,” Cyrus said, trying to sound casual. But his tone didn’t fool Valerie—Cyrus liked being the only one to know her secret.

“Back on track, people,” Kanti said. “Let’s pack up and get out of here.”

“Before we go, I want to fill Thai in on what’s happening. When we figure out where Henry is on Earth, he’ll be able to protect him. Kanti, if this is your Henry, why don’t we project to his house? Maybe he still lives there and we can explain everything,” Valerie said.

Kanti shook her head regretfully. “I had the same idea. While I was waiting for you to return, I projected to Henry’s house. It doesn’t even exist anymore; there’s a parking lot where it used to be. They must have moved quite a while ago. My guess is that they’re probably still in the same country, if not the same state. Maybe Thai should travel to America. By the time he gets there, there’s a chance that the Oracle will tell you exactly where Henry is.”

“That would make things easy,” Cyrus agreed giving a comforting squeeze to Valerie’s hand.

His words—and the squeeze—had the opposite effect that he intended, sending a shiver of foreboding through her body. She’d learned the hard way that in her life, things rarely came easy.