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  “Yeah, well,” Alayne heaved a sigh, “it hasn’t exactly been peaches and cream since you left. I missed you, too.”

  Jayme shifted in bed so he could see her better. He licked his dry lips. “I hear I have Kyle to thank, in part, for rescuing me.”

  Alayne stared seriously into his brown eyes. She nodded. “I couldn’t have done it without him, Jay.”

  Jayme sighed. “Then I guess I will.” His eyes drifted shut, and Alayne started to rise.

  “Al?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Are you doing okay? You know, since Marysa—”

  “I’m fine.” Alayne squeezed his hand. “I’m working on it.”

  “I feel loads better since you’re here.” He opened his eyes and grinned her favorite crooked grin. “But the meds Felycia’s got me on make me really sleepy, so I might drop off on you. Listen, I want to hear the whole story from your perspective, so as soon as I wake up—”

  “Don’t worry.” Alayne released his hand. “I’ll tell you everything.” Except the part about the Vale.

  His eyes closed again. “You’re the best, Al. Wished so many times when we were stuck in that infernal cave that I could see you again. And then it seemed like I wasn’t going to make it...”

  Alayne brushed the curls back from his temple. His hair was still dirty and matted; he’d only had sponge baths since his return. His form was skeletal under his hospital gown, though his cheeks didn’t look as sunken as they had in the cave. Nourishment and rest were doing their work. She traced her fingers down his arm and across his chest, disconcerted to feel how far his ribs pushed through his skin. He smelled musty and sweaty, and body odor drifted from his sheets. She wrinkled her nose, and then shame washed through her.

  “I’ll come see you later, Jay,” Alayne promised before she realized he was asleep again. She turned away reluctantly.

  When Alayne returned to the common room, Kyle was lounging on a couch reading a textbook. He dropped it and sat up as soon as he saw her. “You weren’t at hockey practice today,” he said as Alayne sank onto the couch and laid her head against the back.

  “Nope.” She closed her eyes, wishing Marysa’s talkative personality were present to cover her own need to be silent and think. “Kyle, I’m exhausted and I miss Marysa. Hockey doesn’t seem that important right now.”

  “Hey.” Kyle tugged the end of her braid where it lay over her shoulder. Alayne opened her eyes.

  “What?”

  “Are you feeling okay?” His blue eyes were full of concern.

  Alayne nodded, but then shook her head. “No.” She blinked back the tears.

  “Tell me about it.” He tugged her closer. He slid his arm around her shoulders and angled her so her head rested on his chest. Alayne could hear the solid thump of his heartbeat. His large hand rubbed her back.

  It all came spilling out: how she blamed herself for Marysa’s disappearance, how frustrated she was over the ineffective promises from Sprynge, how terrified she was that she would never see Marysa again, how Jayme’s appearance had filled her with horror and she thought he might die, how she’d been panic-stricken that he would never wake from his coma, how she couldn’t concentrate on her studies because of all these things, and how Felycia’s comment about a Shadow-Caster’s proximity to their victim had made her question her trust in even her closest friends.

  Alayne gulped down sob. “I was suspicious of everybody, including you, Kyle. My mind has gone over and over that scene in the cave, looking at each person, analyzing everybody’s expressions and movements and everything. Maybe the Shadow-Casters were hidden down one of the side tunnels, maybe they were one of the people in the cave, I don’t know. But I’ve driven myself crazy by wondering whom I can trust.”

  Kyle’s hand never stopped rubbing her back. Alayne pushed herself away from his chest. “I’m sorry, I’ve soaked your shirt.”

  Kyle shrugged as if shooing an annoying fly.

  Alayne quickly pulled the water element from his shirt and flung it into the air.

  Kyle gazed at her face, not blinking, his eyes intent. “Layne, I know I don’t have any proof, but out of all the people in CommonEarth, you can trust me.”

  “I know.”

  Kyle blinked. “You do?”

  Alayne nodded. “You love me.”

  They stared at each other for a moment, the silence between them pregnant with unspoken words. Kyle’s eyes bored into hers, and then he blinked. A faint sense of disappointment hung over him.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked.

  Kyle hesitated before reaching for her hand. He wove his fingers through hers, gripping them tightly when she tried to pull away. “I guess I thought that while you didn’t really understand that I loved you, then it made sense for you to be head over heels for Jayme. I had hoped that if the day ever came that you realized how much I really do love you, that you would drop him and come running to me.”

  Alayne looked down at their tangled fingers and felt a flush creeping up her neck into her cheeks. “I love you, Kyle, just—not like that.”

  Kyle’s thumb played with her fingertips. “So it’s all on my end, then? This flushed face—I didn’t do that to you?” His free hand brushed her burning cheek. He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her jawline. Alayne inhaled sharply.

  A corner of his mouth turned up. “That doesn’t affect you at all? Your heart just normally beats that fast?” His fingers trailed down to the pulse in her throat. There was a challenge in his blue eyes.

  Alayne yanked her fingers free from his hand. “I told you I love you, Kyle, as a friend. Stop pushing it.” She was irritated at his absolute confidence. “I’ve made my decision, and it’s Jayme. So live with it.” Her words came out harsher than she intended.

  His silence brought her gaze up to meet his. His lips were pressed into a thin line. The pupils in his blue eyes were tiny, black wells of pain. At last, he nodded stiffly. “Well then.” He pushed himself off the couch, heading for the boys’ dormitories.

  Alayne didn’t try to stop him.

  * * *

  Since her other efforts to find the Vale had proved fruitless, Alayne moved on to surreptitiously scanning the professors’ offices, starting with Sprynge. She figured that if he knew anything about the Vale, he would have already come forward with it, but she wanted to make sure she didn’t miss anything. He finally welcomed her to his office, a subdued version of his former sprightly self, but Alayne gained nothing useful. Sighing, she checked him off her mental list and made appointments with each of the other professors. While she discussed classwork with her instructors, her eyes wandered sharply over every nook and cranny of the rooms.

  Alayne had no success. She ached to tell Jayme about the Vale, but fear held her back. Perhaps she could do it in absolute privacy, but what if the Casters were watching her, spying on her somehow? What if they learned of her admission? She couldn’t risk it; Marysa’s life was the price, so she kept her secret and continued to search while her frustration grew.

  Sprynge summoned her to his office one afternoon, and Alayne sat in the chair in front of Dorner’s massive desk and stared at the man who had taken his place. Claiming publicly that Dorner’s leave of absence left him no choice, Professor Sprynge had moved into the Chairman’s office. He sat with master files clustered through the air in front of him, his hands steepled beneath his chin, his eyes surveying her through the images. After a moment, he brushed the images away.

  “Are you all right, Alayne?”

  The floodgates opened. “Am I all right?” Alayne stood, her hands balling into fists at her sides. “No, I’m not all right, Professor! Why isn’t there any progress in the search for Marysa? One girl shouldn’t be so difficult to rescue!” A mention of the Vale nearly escaped her lips, and she grabbed the words back, quickly substituting them with the supposed reason for the kidnapping. “Why can’t the High Court just pretend to overturn the Natural Equality Act? Don’t they want Marysa freed
? It should be a simple matter of saying they’ll take it back, and the Casters will release Marysa. Would it be so hard to capture them afterward?”

  Sprynge sat through Alayne’s rant quietly. When she was finished, he said, “We’re doing the best we can, Alayne. There are politics involved. The High Court doesn’t pretend to overturn edicts, and they don’t acknowledge demands from known terrorists, either. Nor does Clayborne. Our school has a history with Simeon Malachi. We know better than to take him lightly.”

  Alayne stilled. Eagerness streaked through her. At long last, perhaps she had found a clue. “History? What history?”

  Sprynge’s eyes glittered strangely. He paused a long moment before he spoke. “Simeon Malachi broke into Clayborne years ago. He was searching, I’m told, for the legendary Vale. He really fussed the place up. I wasn’t here at the time; Manders is the only one that has been here that long.”

  “Malachi broke into Clayborne?”

  “I’m surprised you hadn’t heard.” Sprynge’s steely words were at odds with his grandfatherly concern. “It made news for months after it happened. I believe there was even a death associated with the event.”

  Illusory hope flitted through Alayne and then disappeared. She could try to talk with Manders, but most likely, it would be another dead end, like everything else.

  Sprynge stood, signaling the end of Alayne’s visit. “Miss Worth, we’ll keep working to find Miss Blakely. I’m gathering yet another search party to head to Cliffsides, and I’m also calling in some favors in the Capital to get some help from the higher ups.” He paused, his gaze searching Alayne’s face. “Do get some rest, Miss Worth. You look exhausted.”

  “Yes, sir,” Alayne said woodenly. She turned for the door, her fingers trembling as she twisted the knob and exited through the reception area past Tarry.

  She’d had another mirror talk with Macy Foy the previous night. Marysa’s scream had seared her heart as Alayne had asked for more time. “I’m coming, Marysa,” she’d cried.

  Determination tightened Alayne’s jaw. She entered the chute and pressed the button for the gymnasium. When the chute doors opened, she exited, jogging along the track for the weight rooms where she was fairly certain Daymon would be.

  The guy knew something about the Vale. He had the tattoo Jayme had told her about. He’d been reading the book she’d gotten from the library. He had to be hiding something.

  She hadn’t seen much of him since the pool attack; he avoided her. Not that she minded. She didn’t like being the brunt of his sneering glances, but this was too important to leave him alone.

  As she expected, she found him on the weight bench with a stack of heavy weights on either end of a long bar. He exhaled as he lowered the bar over his chest, and his arms flexed beneath his black muscle shirt as he pushed it skyward again. When he saw her, an odd expression creased his face. He grunted as he landed the bar back into its holder and sat up.

  Alayne crossed her arms over her chest. “Daymon?”

  He swung his legs over the bench and stood, heading for the locker room door.

  “Daymon!”

  He paused at the lockers, grabbing his water bottle. “What do you want, Worth?”

  “I need to ask you something.”

  He took a long swig of his water and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I doubt I’ll have the answer.”

  “You don’t even know what I’m going to ask.”

  “I can guess.”

  Alayne studied his face. He kept it averted, his gaze on his hands.

  “Okay, fine, what was I going to ask?”

  “You want to know about that book I was reading in the library. And why I was reading it.” His eyes flashed up to meet hers, and Alayne shivered. “Isn’t that right?”

  “Sort of.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “What then?”

  Alayne stepped closer, glancing over her shoulder. No one else was in the weight room, though three or four students loped by on the track. “Do you know where the Vale is?” There, she’d said it. She shivered at the release of the words she’d held inside since Macy Foy had darkened her mirror shard and demanded secrecy.

  Of anyone, though, Daymon might know.

  He had been fidgeting with his water bottle; now his fingers stilled completely. “What are you talking about?”

  “The Vale. Everyone knows about it, but no one knows where it is. You—you were reading about it, and then I overheard a conversation—” She stopped as his blue eyes flashed.

  “You what?” He stepped dangerously close. “What did you hear?”

  “N—nothing.” Alayne hated her betraying stutter. She didn’t want him to know that he made her nervous. “I just thought you m—might know something about where the Vale is located.”

  His furious blue eyes gazed inside of her, through her, baring all her insecurities. After a long silent moment, he shook his head. Finally, in a whisper, he enunciated, “I know nothing.”

  Alayne blinked as he backed up a step.

  “And don’t ask me again.”

  He turned for the door to the locker room, leaving her alone.

  Chapter 21

  Alayne stared at the spot where Daymon had disappeared, frustration pounding at her temples. He knew, he knew ... something, but he wasn’t telling her. Her fingers played nervously with the end of her braid, and then she made her decision.

  She jogged back along the track to the chute, pressing the button for the office floors. On the way up, though, the door opened at the common room, and Kyle entered.

  “Where are you off to?” he asked casually. The old friendship was still there, but with a new stiff note that Alayne found uncomfortable. She wondered how long they would be able to keep pretending that everything was normal.

  Alayne shrugged, hoping he’d decide to turn around and return to the common room. “To talk to Professor Manders.”

  “I’ll come with you.” He offered her no chance to refuse as he pressed the button again, and the car shot upward. Alayne stared grumpily at him, but he ignored her.

  When they arrived, Professor Manders opened his door and stood back to allow Alayne and Kyle to enter. “Good afternoon, Miss Worth, Mr. Pence.” He motioned them to take their seats in two chairs that were wedged in between his desk and the wall. When they’d seated themselves, he rounded his notched, scratched desk and sat down opposite them. “How can I help you?”

  Alayne shifted her weight and glanced at Kyle. He clasped and unclasped his hands, staring at his fingers, refusing to look at her. She gave a small sigh.

  “Well, sir, I was wondering what you know about the Vale.”

  Manders tapped his fingers on the wood in front of him. He pulled his hands back into his lap, hiding them under the desk, and cleared his throat. “Can you tell me why you want to know about the Vale, Alayne?” His creased face was grave as he studied her through steady gray eyes.

  “I—I had planned to do my History of the Elements paper on it, sir, and I was having a hard time finding information on it in the library.”

  Manders eyed her silently for several long moments. At last, he stood and turned to the window, running both hands through the thick hair at his temples. “That wasn’t the kind of topic I had in mind for that assignment, Miss Worth.”

  “You didn’t say we couldn’t focus on myths and legends, though. I’ve already done so much research; I can’t switch topics now.”

  Manders studied her before finally nodding. He cleared his throat again. “How much do you know about The Vale?”

  “Only the bare minimum, sir. The library doesn’t provide much.”

  Manders stood and pulled three glasses from the top of his filing cabinet. He set one in front of each of them. He sat down as Alayne felt the elements bend. Their cups filled with water. “Have a drink.” He picked up his glass, took a swallow, and then set it back down.

  “The Vale goes back to ancient times, long before most people knew about Elemental
s. It existed before the Great Deluge, and of course it exists today. The Vale is powerful, so powerful that it has been the source of tension the world over for many centuries. Most people want to possess the Vale because of the power it contains.”

  Alayne nodded. “Chairman Dorner explained some of that to me.”

  Manders shot a narrow-eyed glance at her face. “Yes? I see.” He stroked his chin. “I don’t know that all the powers of the Vale have been fully disclosed, even over the centuries it has been in existence. The Vale, Alayne, has the power to amplify an Elemental’s abilities. Of course, the Elemental who possesses the Vale still has a learning curve; as they master their element, they still have to work their way up to perfection, but their progress is much swifter than that of a normal Elemental who has no benefit of the Vale’s powers. Can you see why it’s such a dangerous thing now? The entire world wants the Vale.”

  Alayne nodded. “I understand, Professor.”

  Manders took another sip of water. “In more recent history, from the Great Deluge until just twenty years ago, the Vale had been kept under guard in a Temple built specifically for its protection from power-seekers. Before its transfer to the Temple, it had started three wars, was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Elementals, and had turned brothers against each other. Eventually, the Temple was built to diffuse the situation, and the Vale was kept there until it was stolen, twenty years ago.”

  “Stolen?” Alayne’s eyes widened. She glanced at Kyle.

  “Yes.” Manders’s fingers fidgeted with his cup. “It was stolen by a woman named Patience Houser.”

  “Houser!” Alayne sat up straight. “Daymon—”

  “She was Daymon’s mother. My sister.”

  Alayne was speechless. Harsh emotions rolled across the professor’s face. He reached beneath his glasses, squeezing the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb before he continued. “Patience kept it locked in her vault at her home where she lived on the eastern coast. She was terribly suspicious of anyone and everyone, so she eventually fired her staff and went into hiding. The Vale was the target for many power-seekers, and Patience evaded them all until Simeon Malachi finally tracked her down.”