With her body functional again, Valerie threw herself back into the middle of battles, only taking breaks to check in on Emin and sleep. Her magic was depleted, but now she knew how much she was capable of tapping into if needed.

The months of fighting she'd engaged in before Reaper had put the flame out hadn't prepared her for the ferocity of the battles now. Her enemies had their full magical potential unleashed, and many relished the opportunity to exercise powers that had been stifled.

She found herself not following Dasan's advice to rest her vivicus power. Again and again, she poured herself into the wounded and dying, and though she didn't regret it, her mind was like a balloon on a string that she had to consciously reel in sometimes in order to access information. The more she used her power, the stronger her connection with Darling became. She could sense every time he saved a life, and she began to yearn to see him again.

Valerie was grateful that Gideon had always made sure that she practiced fighting without the aid of her magic, because now, she had very little of her power to draw on. But she was less sluggish than she'd been when the flame had bound her powers on Earth.

She spent part of each day strategizing with her generals about when and how they would attack Reaper in Arden and the Atacama Desert, but she was pulled away with growing frequency due to emergencies on Earth where every soldier of the Fist was needed. She refused to excuse herself, even if Skye shook his head disapprovingly and Chisisi watched her with worried eyes.

Valerie had successfully led a team of about thirty soldiers to protect the Prime Minister of France and was organizing ongoing protection when a strange, unpleasant buzzing filled her mind. At first, she thought it was an attack from a Fractus with psychic powers, but when she focused on her locus, the sensation remained, and with it a sense that a balance was on the verge of being upset. Then her wrist burned.

The iridescent bracelet made from Clarabelle's mane was humming. A streak of gray wound its way through one of the locks of the unicorn's hair.

Terror filled her, and the Laurel Circle was ice. Kanti had been fighting at her side, and she clutched her stomach.

"Do you feel it, too?" Valerie asked her.

"Something's wrong," Kanti said. "It's like I'm about to fall off the edge of a cliff."

"Clarabelle's in danger," Valerie said. "And I don't even know where she's been hiding."

"Neither do I. But I know someone who does," Kanti said.

They returned to the Globe, to a gigantic field on the snowy plains of Elsinore, where Kanti's new recruits were training. Everyone went silent at their princess's arrival and dropped to a knee.

Valerie turned to her friend with wide eyes, but Kanti took it in stride, as if she was getting used to her new role.

"Send me Blake," Kanti shouted.

Someone pushed through the neat lines of soldiers and came to a stop in front of Kanti.

"What is it, my princess?" he asked.

Valerie barely recognized the man before her. When she'd seen him last, he'd been one of the nearly invisible, breakable Fractus. Now, he was fully visible, and she could see that he was very young, not more than a year or two older than she.

"You told me that Clarabelle helped you develop your power to fly," Kanti said.

"And my speed," he added, standing straighter.

"How did you meet her? We need to find her right away. Something's wrong," she said.

"Every day at high noon, she came to a site on Earth called Machu Picchu. Those of us whose hearts were true could find her," Blake said.

"I know that place," Valerie said. "There's no easy way to get there."

"Unless you have a rock from the site," Blake said, reaching into his pocket. "Azra said I could give it to someone I trust who needed their help."

"Your princess thanks you," Kanti said, taking the rock from Blake.

Valerie and Kanti gripped hands and traveled to Earth. They were transported to a place so ancient that the land had the echo of magic's hum from before Conjurors had ever left the Globe.

"This place is huge," Valerie said, her eyes scanning the ruins.

"And we don't even know if Clarabelle is here," Kanti said.

A crackle of electricity was all the warning that Valerie had that Reaper was near before pain licked her back.

She tackled Kanti to the ground, covering her body with her own.

Kanti plunged her fist into the ground, and the magic Valerie sensed earlier responded to her friend's touch. Green shoots wriggled out of the ground.

"Distract him," Kanti whispered.

Valerie pulled herself up and assessed her surroundings, but Reaper wasn't visible. She reached inside herself for the dregs of her magic and let her power search for her enemy.

Reaper was leaning against a tree, and he was bending light so that she couldn't see him unless she squinted. Her sixth sense for danger wasn't blaring like it usually did when he was near, and she could see why. He was clutching his head.

Valerie erased the distance between them, and hit him with all of her strength right in his nose, which snapped with a satisfying crack. Touching his skin was agony, and she cradled her hand, hoping it wasn't broken.

Reaper reoriented her perspective, so it was like looking at the world upside down, and Valerie stumbled.

But before Reaper could attack her, the green shoots Kanti had called out of the ground surrounded Reaper, growing exponentially faster. They wound around the air near him, and hardened into thick, thorny branches.

Reaper was able to dissolve the branches nearest him so the thorns didn't prick his skin, but dissolving all of them would require more of his power, and Valerie guessed that he didn't have as much as usual.

Abruptly, Valerie's world reoriented itself, and Reaper left through a portal with a growl of frustration.

"You did it!" Valerie said to Kanti, brushing dirt off of herself.

"Flowers and hearts magic has its benefits," Kanti said. But despite her sarcasm, she looked a little dazed that she had forced Reaper to retreat.

"Clarabelle!" Valerie cooed softly. "Please, little one, I'm so scared that you're hurt."

"Valerie, here," Kanti said.

A smear of a silvery liquid was on the side of a tree, and a few drops flecked the ground.

"She's hurt," Valerie said, and she didn't recognize the sound of her own voice. "This way."

Valerie followed the call of her own heart and pulled Kanti with her. They crossed a low wall of rocks and were a short distance from the ruins when Valerie saw Clarabelle lying in the grass, curled into Azra like she'd been the day that Valerie had first met her.

"Go get Thai," Valerie commanded Kanti, handing her the rock. "Now!"

Kanti didn't hesitate, and she vanished.

You're in time.

Azra's words were followed by a little whimper. Clarabelle was still alive.

"Summer?" Valerie asked.

Azra shook her head, her silver mane shining in the light that broke through the clouds.

She died defending Clarabelle. But not in vain. She pummeled Reaper, nearly blinding him, I think. Clarabelle and I made it far enough that he could not immediately find us.

"I'm here," Thai said, appearing beside her.

Kanti stood behind him.

"I need you to lend me your strength," she said.

Thai laced his fingers through hers.

Valerie rested her hand on Clarabelle's flank and reached for her vivicus power, and then thanked everything good in the universe that enough was there to save the baby unicorn.

With Thai's help, releasing her magic into Clarabelle was gentle, and the unicorn blazed with light, reminding Valerie of when she'd healed Cyrus.

Joyful little notes pinged Valerie's mind, and she drew her power back into herself. Clarabelle licked Valerie's cheek and made little snuffling sounds in her ear.

I was scared.

"I'm sorry, Clarabelle," Valerie said.

But you saved me. I knew you would.

If Valerie released a few tears into the foal's mane, she didn't think anyone noticed. For the second time in the span of a few weeks, she'd been in time to save someone precious to her.

Reaper considers Clarabelle your successor. He wants you both dead, and even with the wound he received today, he will not rest until it is done.

Valerie had never sensed fear from Azra, until now.

We must disappear until this war is over. I am sorry, Valerie.

"Of course. But where?" Kanti said. "Maybe I can hide you in Elsinore. I've been weeding out the Fractus."

Azra shook her head.

There is a glade on Earth that I know from times of old. But if we go, we may not emerge until The Balance is restored or Clarabelle is full grown, which will not be for several centuries.

Clarabelle was stomping her hoof and poking her mother with her horn, but Azra ignored her.

"You're right to go. It's best for Clarabelle, and it's what's right for the world. As long as she's alive, there's hope," Valerie said.

That is what I think every time I look at you, Valerie. My heart rides with you, though I may not.

The unicorns left, and Clarabelle's piteous complaints echoed in Valerie's mind until they were out of sight.

Without Midnight, her father, and Gideon, Valerie had yearned for advisers to tell her what to do. She hadn't realized how much she relied on Azra's strength and her moral compass, as well, until she was gone.

Valerie was so adrift, she thought she'd float away until Thai put his hand on the small of her back, anchoring her.

"Thank you for letting me help you today. I know you must have wanted to heal her right away," Thai said.

"My life is precious, too," Valerie said absently, remembering something Azra had told her once.

"What new ability do you think Clarabelle will gain since you healed her, Valerie?" Kanti said, grinning.

"What do you mean?" Thai asked.

"When she healed Sanguina, she brought back her humanity in addition to her life. Azra became pregnant after she was healed. Cyrus's powers exploded, and so did mine. And now Henry..." Kanti trailed off, her eyes a little shiny. She cleared her throat. "Now Henry has not only been brought back to life, but I think Valerie cured his depression. Because he's able to be his true self now."

Valerie stared at Kanti for a long time, absorbing her words.

"He's still guilty, insecure, and scared. I know. I've been inside his mind," Valerie said.

Kanti shrugged. "Then he's like the rest of us. But we live with it, and find joy in life. Now, so can he."

When Valerie visited Chisisi's safe house that night, it was surrounded by three Fractus with the power to hurtle lightning from their hands.

She crept up behind one and hit him with a swift uppercut that sent him reeling, and followed up with a hard elbow to his head.

Chisisi had deflected the lightning thrown at him with a metal rod he'd stabbed into the ground in front of him, diverting the electricity from its target.

While the Fractus recharged, Chisisi took on two of them at once, and wasn't even out of breath when they lay in front of him, unconscious. He then pulled out his cell phone to call for a team to cart the Fractus off to the magically secure prison they'd created on Earth.

"We'll need a new space to house all these prisoners," Chisisi said, scrubbing at his eyes with his hand.

"The holding cells on the Globe are filling up, too, and the Grand Master of the Justice Guild is still recovering from an attack by Reaper," Valerie said.

"Perhaps some of the Fractus can be convinced to turn against their cause and return home," Chisisi suggested.

"If you think we can trust them, I'm all for it," Valerie said.

"One of the Conjurors from the Empathy Collective offered to search the minds of the prisoners to ascertain if they were telling the truth," Chisisi said.

"I didn't know they could do that," Valerie said. "That skill could come in handy in many ways."

"Indeed. But I am told only a handful of the Empaths have mastered the ability," he said.

"I'll talk to Henry," Valerie said. "He'll help you organize."

"Even though there are many Fractus who would abandon Reaper, given the chance to do so safely, many believe in his plans for Earth," Chisisi said. "I do not know how humans will ever be safe unless we reestablish a boundary between our worlds and make sure those with magic are on the Globe."

Valerie turned the problem over in her mind. "Even if Reaper is killed, there will always be those who want to use magic to control others. Humans are at such a huge disadvantage. How can we protect them in the long run?"

"Your words ring true. The boundary will be broken again in time, and this war will begin again," Chisisi said. "But I can see no other way."

"How could we amass enough power to bind magic on Earth, even if we wanted to?" she asked. "And who would know how to do such a thing?"

With a pang, she knew that Azra would have the answer. But that avenue was shut to her now.

"I will scour my sources," Chisisi assured her.

"I can't help thinking that there must be a better answer than making things like they were before. There are a lot of problems with binding magic on Earth and keeping our worlds separate," Valerie said.

"If that answer exists, then I believe it lives in you," Chisisi said.