Valerie was in a bed in the Healers' Guild, Thai on one side of her and Nightingale on the other, checking her pulse. She pushed herself up so she was sitting.

"I'll explain everything later, but can you go help Henry?" Valerie said. "He's by the tree that leads to Arbor Aurum."

Thai kissed her forehead and left.

"I'm okay, but thanks for looking out for me," she said awkwardly to Nightingale. Then she thought of something. "I know you can cure almost any disease on the Globe, right?"

"Most of the diseases that a human might face, perhaps. But we are not gods. We cannot stop aging, or death, or terrible wounds like the ones that Reaper's black weapons inflict," Nightingale said. "There are also magical diseases with no cures."

"What about mental diseases?" she asked.

Nightingale examined her narrowly. "What is wrong with your mind?"

"Not mine," she said. "But I think my brother is suffering from depression. Can you help him?"

Nightingale's expression cleared as he considered her question. "I am not the expert on cures of the mind. But there is a Grand Master who may be able to help you."

"Dasan," Valerie said, and Nightingale nodded.

"He is your best hope for helping your brother."

Valerie found Dasan at the Empathy Collective. The giant Feng was teaching a class to novice Empaths, and Valerie waited until he finished before approaching.

He cocked his head to the side, watching her with beady eyes.

"You must know why I'm here," Valerie said.

"Your brother is growing sicker," Dasan replied.

"You told me once that he might lose himself after his dad died. And I'm afraid he is. Can you help him?"

"His is a case I have considered more deeply than any other in this life," Dasan said. "There is nothing I can do to help him."

"What about magic? There has to be some way to save him," Valerie said, not letting herself give into the desperation that made her want to scream and never stop.

"Henry will always struggle with the dark beast that has sunken its fangs into his spirit, no matter what direction his life takes now. However, he could fight its hold on him if he could live a normal life. Up until now, this beast within him has been fed and fed and fed by years of mental torture, losing his father, and now the guilt of aiding an enemy in murder. The beast is strong now, stronger than any I've known in the many minds I've touched in this life."

"But there is nothing normal about our lives. So is Henry doomed?" Valerie asked, and her very soul shrank from Dasan's answer.

The bird's eyes were gentle as he replied. "I am a creature that believes there is always the possibility of new life. Henry is no exception. There is one thing that starves this beast within Henry. Can you guess what it is?"

Valerie thought for a long time. She knew there was a beast like the one Dasan described within her, too, and she knew the only thing that kept it at bay.

"Love," she whispered.

Dasan nodded. "Your love, my love, and the love of all his friends will starve the beast. But until Henry finds love for himself, the beast will never die."

Valerie was leaving the Empathy Collective when she saw two figures approaching from a long distance away. She recognized Thai, but it wasn't until they were closer that she identified the boy whose hand he was holding.

Emin looked little and lost, and he broke out in a run when he saw Valerie.

"It isn't true. Mom isn't gone forever!" Emin said, launching himself into her arms.

"I'm sorry, Emin. I saw her die," Valerie said simply, and she held him as he was racked with sobs.

She made eye contact with Thai over Emin's head, and she saw that Thai's eyes were filled with tears of his own. She couldn't break down right now, when Emin needed her, so she forced her own grief into the box inside her.

Emin's sobs turned to sniffles, and he finally lifted his head from Valerie's shoulder.

"Who will make my dinner now? Who will make sure I go to school, and don't skip bedtime, and hug me when I fall?" he asked, his voice desperate.

"I will," Valerie promised. "And your Uncle Elden and all your friends, too."

"Can I live with you?" Emin asked, his enormous eyes pleading.

"Yes," Valerie promised. "You can stay at my house with me and my brother for as long as you want."

"And me, too," Thai said.

Valerie gave his arm a grateful squeeze. There was no way she could take care of Emin by herself in the middle of leading a war, and he knew it.

"I'll stay with you for a while, if that's okay," Thai whispered as they headed to Valerie's home.

"Thank you," she said.

"This is what I want, too," Thai said. "I miss having all my brothers and sisters around to watch out for."

"Taking care of Emin will be good for Henry, too," Valerie said.

They'd reached Valerie's house, and she gave Emin some of her dad's tea and tucked him into her own bed.

"You can stay in my dad's room," Valerie said to Thai as she shut the door to her room quietly behind her.

"Are you sure?" Thai asked. "I'm fine with the couch."

"Take it. Make this your home here on the Globe," Valerie said, turning so he wouldn't see her blush.

She was about to scrounge for something to eat for dinner when the ground began to rumble. She knew what this was.

"Earthquake," she said, and the trembling grew stronger.

"They have earthquakes on the Globe?" Thai asked.

"I don't know," Valerie said, gripping the side of a table.

Books started falling off of shelves, and the teapot clattered to the floor. Valerie made her way back to the door to her room to check on Emin, but the shaking stopped. She peeked into her room, anyway, but he was still asleep.

Valerie's sixth sense was going off.

"This wasn't an ordinary earthquake, if they even have those on the Globe," she said.

Thai nodded. "It's the Fractus."

"I'm going to see what Skye knows about this. Besides, it's Henry's night to be home. I know it's a lot to ask, but can you watch them both? Emin's grieving and Henry is lost. I'm scared he might try to hurt himself, especially after watching Reaper kill Cerise."

"I'll take care of them both," Thai said. "Go save the universe for a while, and I'll see you tomorrow."

Valerie gave him a lopsided smile and left before she started kissing him, because then, she'd never be able to leave.

The Horseshoe was alive with Conjurors leaving their guilds to identify the source of the earthquake. Valerie noticed that the grass everyone gathered on was green again. Thanks to Willa, the drought was over. She was distracted from her thoughts at the sight of Skye galloping toward her.

"It's coming from Plymouth," he said, halting when he reached her side. "Tiny rumblings have been coming from below the ground for days, but I did not alert you since we had no news of what was causing the problem. But after today's quake, we must consider that the Fractus have had a major success."

"Or failure," Valerie said. "Maybe something collapsed underground."

Skye snorted in disbelief, and Valerie agreed with him. The very air around them hummed with power. It made her queasy. The magic seemed twisted, somehow.

Valerie stared at the ruined fountain that marked the entrance to the underground world of Plymouth, and saw that giant cracks had appeared in the hardened black substance that had spewed from the fountain after the ceasefire with the Fractus had ended.

"We have been trying every magical means to access Plymouth since the Fractus shut us out, to no avail. But today, the loud Conjuror from the Literary Guild who built the irrigation system found me and announced that she knows of a way that we can enter Plymouth."

"Willa knows a secret entrance?" Valerie asked.

Skye tossed his mane with a huff. "Nothing so dignified. I will let her explain, since the science eludes me, I confess. I'm always suspicious of scientific techniques that work where magic has failed, but I'll let you be the judge."

Valerie suppressed a smile at Skye's prejudice against science and followed him to Willa's Guild. They found her in the library at a table with three other Conjurors. Her eyes lit up when she saw Valerie.

"Being raised human, you'll appreciate that we have a non-magical answer to our Plymouth problem."

"What are you thinking? A drill? Maybe a giant excavator?" Valerie asked, trying to remember what construction equipment on Earth would be used to dig into the ground.

Willa and the Conjurors stared, looking at her as if she'd spoken in another language. Finally, Willa spoke.

"You must tell us about these devices some time. They sound fascinating, but I do not think we have these items on the Globe. However, we do have dynamite," she said with a smile.

"That works, too," Valerie said. "But it's dangerous, and I'm guessing that we don't have any experts on explosives to help us."

The Conjuror sitting next to Willa, a man wearing glasses, spoke up.

"I'm Messina-born, and while we do not mine with dynamite on the island, I am very familiar with the technology. I taught a class at the university on explosives," he said.

"This is Steven," Willa said. "He left Messina five years ago when he found out the Literary Guild existed in Arden."

"The thought of all that knowledge that we don't have access to in Messina... I couldn't die without seeing it," Steven said.

"I don't like this," Skye said. "This man could end up killed if his theories are incorrect."

Steven drew himself up. "I would gladly die for the Fist. The Fractus will destroy us all if we are unwilling to take risks in this war."

Skye appeared taken-aback, and he gave Steven a nod of respect.

"Perhaps you are right," Skye said.

Now everyone looked at Valerie for guidance. She swallowed, wishing that she could talk to her dad, or Gideon, about what to do next. Aside from risking Steven's life, what if creating an opening into Plymouth unleashed all of that evil Carne magic below? It could create havoc in Arden. But leaving the Fractus to their own devices might be even worse.

"Let's blast our way in," Valerie said, and Willa and Steven smiled. "But first, Willa, do you have any maps of Plymouth in this library? Because we don't want any of the civilians on the ground down there getting hurt."

"Excellent question," Willa said, pulling out a stack of maps from beneath the books on the table. "Yes."

The preparation to break in to Plymouth went through the afternoon and into the night. Finally, they had hammered out a plan that Valerie was satisfied with, and everyone left to get some sleep before they made their attempt. Skye accompanied Valerie on their way out of the Literary Guild.

The centaur was pawing at the ground, a sign of Skye's uncertainty that Valerie had come to recognize.

"What is it? Do you think the plan needs more work?" she asked him.

"Plans always need more work, but there's never time. It's fine as it is. The only part that I don't like is that you'll be going in. It's too risky. We need you," Skye said.

"I wouldn't do this if I didn't think it was important. I don't want to throw my life away," Valerie said, thinking of her brother. "I go wherever the work is the hardest, because that's where the leader of the Fist should be, don't you think?"

Skye bowed his head, a centaur gesture of respect. "I question many things in this war, vivicus, but never that you should lead it. And every day, you give me more reasons to continue following you."

Valerie briefly rested her hand on Skye's flank before turning her steps to the dorm of The Society of Imaginary Friends.

When she reached the tall blue building, she couldn't help thinking about all of the times she'd seen Dulcea flying down the side on a platform. She shook her head to clear it of cobwebs and jumped on a platform that would take her to Kanti's floor.

The room was exactly as Kanti had left it, but without her friend, it was lonely. Valerie brushed her teeth and collapsed in her old bed for a few hours, until the sun hit her face, waking her up.

Even though her sleep had been short, she was running late. Still, she dragged her feet as she faced her next task. She took the platform up to Cyrus's room. Seeing Cyrus would make their lost friendship more real, and knowing that the sight of her brought him misery made her want to crawl into a dark corner and never emerge.

While the average eighteen-year-old might have the luxury of hiding, she didn't, so she knocked on the door and forced herself to stand straighter.

Cyrus answered, rubbing his eyes, but he tensed when he saw her face.

"I need you for a mission. I wouldn't have come if there was anyone else who could help," she said.

"Iknow, Val," Cyrus said, his tone weary. "Where are we going?"