Knights of Light (The Conjurors Series Book 2) by Kristen Pham

want to go near her.”
    “I don’t get it. Why are
Azra and the other Guild Masters even letting her live in Arden?”
    “She used to be very
powerful in the Guardians of the Boundary Guild—they’re the ones who defend the
barrier between Earth and the Globe,” she explained. “Supposedly she’s being
very useful in helping to block any Fractus who are projecting to Earth. But I
think the real reason is that everyone feels guilty for abandoning her after
Zunya turned her into a vampyre. And now that she’s back to her old self, they
want to let bygones be bygones.”
    “Never mind that she
mentally tortured a kid!” Thai said indignantly.
    “Don’t get me started.”
    “I have an idea. Why
don’t you talk to Midnight and see what she thinks?” Midnight was the Grand
Master of the Guardians of the Boundary, and the Conjuror who had coached Thai
through his adjustment to magic.
    “Don’t you think it
would be a little weird, showing up and asking her twenty questions?”
    “It’s a heck of a lot
safer than talking to Sanguina. What’s the worst that could happen?”
    “She could send me back
to Earth,” she joked.
    “And would that be so
bad?” he said, and his eyes locked on hers and turned her brain to mush.
    “No,” she whispered
softly. “I think I could live with that.” He touched the air next to her face,
and she could swear she felt warmth on her cheek. She drew in a breath.
    “Night,” he said,
finally breaking his gaze.
    She returned to the Globe, but her head was still in
the clouds.
    She decided to take
Thai’s advice. The next day, she and Cyrus left the dorm to find Midnight.
    “It’s good to be on
another adventure with you,” he said with a mischievous wiggle of his eyebrows.
    “This is serious!” she
insisted, but she couldn’t help sharing his excitement.
    They exchanged theories
about who the spy could be as they walked to the sweeping building that housed
the Guardians of the Boundary. Once they were there, she was struck again by
the magnificent structure, which reached up to the sky like a white cathedral.
Inside was just as she remembered it, with muted light through stained glass
exuding peace.
    Cyrus led her up an
elegant, winding staircase to a dark wood door engraved with a crest of two
crossed swords. He knocked in a strange rhythm—knock, knock, KNOCK, knock
knock.
    “It’s a code,” he
explained with a smile. “Midnight always makes time to see the kids from the
Society of Imaginary Friends who visit to tell her about Sightings of Fractus
on Earth, but sometimes she doesn’t answer for anyone else. She gave us the
knock so she’d know it’s important.”
    Midnight opened the door
to an elegant office with a huge wooden desk, a blazing fire in a stone hearth,
and a globe of Earth that was spinning slowly. Magic had made cloud patterns
appear to be floating across Earth, like an image from space.
    Midnight saw her staring
and explained, “It’s a true reflection of Earth at this exact time. I can zoom
in anywhere and view what’s happening in a specific location.”
    “That is so cool,” she
said, shaking her head.
    Midnight smiled, and
Valerie noticed that she had cut her purple hair short. It made her look
younger, though her violet eyes still had the ageless quality to them that she
remembered.
    “I hope you’re here to
join us as a recruit,” Midnight said.
    Valerie shook her head. “I’m
sorry, but I apprenticed to the Guild of the Knights of Light. I love what you
do here, but somehow I think that’s where I belong.”
    Midnight nodded her head
briskly and hid the disappointment that flashed through her eyes. “So what
brings you here?”
    Valerie was
uncomfortable. Cyrus must have sensed her hesitation, because he jumped in. “We’re
worried about Sanguina. We’ve heard there might be a spy in one of the guilds,
and there’s every reason to think it could be her.”
    Midnight nodded
thoughtfully and gestured to several elegant