Knights of Light (The Conjurors Series Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

she’d
visit if she could.
    “That’s nuts!” Henry
said over breakfast when he heard her plan. “Zunya found you there before;
he’ll expect you to go back.”
    “Hey guys, what’d we
miss?” Cyrus said, popping into view with Kanti.
    “Valerie wants to visit
her old hospital,” Tan said, braiding grass and sounding bored.
    “She’ll get caught!”
Henry shouted.
    “It’d be something fun
to do. We’re just rotting here, waiting for some guy to rescue us,” Tan said.
He was clearly itching for a little adventure, which made Valerie grin. It was
nice when Tan reminded her of Thai and not the bad seed.
    “We could scout ahead,”
Cyrus offered.
    “And stay on guard the
whole time,” Kanti added. “You guys are gonna go stir crazy if you don’t have a
little contact with the outside world.”
    Henry frowned, but he
nodded slowly.
    “There are some people I
promised I’d visit if I could,” Valerie said to her brother. He must have
sensed the depth of her longing, because his face softened.
    “Okay, okay. But we’ve got to be smart about this.”
    A few hours later, the
group was standing in front of the hospital. Being “smart” turned out to be
donning some cheap disguises that Valerie doubted would stop Zunya from
recognizing them, but if it gave Henry a measure of peace, then she wasn’t
going to argue.
    “Why don’t you guys check
around outside?” she suggested, peeking at the group from over the rim of her
oversized sunglasses. “It’ll be weird if we all try to sign in for visiting
hours. Besides, I’m less likely to stand out on my own.”
    Cyrus started organizing
everyone into groups, and Valerie stepped through the automatic doors into the
hospital. The odor of antiseptic and floor wax brought back memories. Most
people probably cringed at the smell, but for her, it was a reminder of holidays
skidding down the halls in her socks and hours spent reading to the littlest of
the kids in her ward—the best times of her life until she had discovered magic.
    When she walked out the
elevator doors on her old floor, the eyes of the woman at the nurses’ station
widened at the sight of her. “Little Valerie Diaz! You’re back and you look
wonderful, sweetheart. How have you been?”
    “Hi, Darla,” she
replied, unexpectedly shy. “I missed you all so much; I couldn’t stay away.”
    “And we’re glad you
didn’t! Dr. Freeman will be so glad to see you!”
    “Who else is here?
Jeremiah? Ming?”
    Darla lowered her eyes,
and Valerie braced herself for bad news—it wouldn’t be the first time that
something had happened to one of the kids she loved.
    “Jeremiah is doing
great, in complete remission. He’s been home for weeks. But Ming…”
    Valerie’s eyes filled
with tears. Ming was only seven years old, and had the sweetest and most
trusting person she had ever known.
    “She’s not going to make
it, sweetie. She’s only got a few weeks.” Darla came out from behind the desk
and folded her into a hug.
    Valerie choked back her
tears. “Is it okay if I see her?”
    “Absolutely. I know she’d
love that.”
    Valerie quietly pushed
open the door of Ming’s room and saw her limp little body beneath a thin
hospital sheet. She was hooked up to several machines, and she had never seemed
so tiny as she did then. Her mother was sleeping in a cot at her bedside, and
Valerie saw the dark circles beneath her eyes, like bruises.
    How could life be so
cruel, to create a mother who loved her daughter so much only to take her away?
It used to hurt to see other children with their parents, wishing that she, too,
had someone to care for her. But seeing Ming’s mother’s obvious suffering, she was
suddenly glad that her parents never had to see her when she was at her worst,
kept alive by machines and too weak to walk.
    “Valerie?” Ming croaked,
opening her eyes. “You came back just like you promised.”
    “Of course I did. I
missed you too much not to visit.”
    Ming’s mother