Everblaze (Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 3) (16 page)

Sophie knew she should walk away and not drag in any more of her friends.

But she also needed more help.

So when Biana whispered, “Please,” Sophie reluctantly told her, “Okay.”

TWENTY

J
UST . . . LET ME TELL DEX,”
Sophie told Biana, already imaging how much he would
flip
when he found out she’d agreed to include a Vacker.

He’d warmed up to the family a little over the last few months. But she had a feeling he would never actually like them. Especially Fitz.

Biana shrugged. “Sure, if you want. But why was he mad at you and Keefe earlier?”

“Oh, he thinks we told Dame Alina about him manifesting.”

“Was that a secret?”

“Yeah. He wanted to keep taking ability detecting to see if it would trigger another ability. He thinks being a Technopath isn’t cool enough to impress people.”

“Or maybe he just wants to impress a
certain
person,” Biana said with a sly smile.

Sophie had a feeling she knew what Biana was implying, but it was one of those weird, awkward things she didn’t know how to handle. So all she said was, “Dex is my best friend.”

Biana nodded. “Anyway, if you and Keefe didn’t tell Dame Alina about his ability, who did?”

“I can answer that,” Sandor said, making them both jump as he peeked his giant head through the doorway.

Biana clutched her chest. “Does he always eavesdrop like that?”

“Pretty much,” Sophie grumbled. “Anyway, how do you know who told her?” she asked Sandor.

“Because it was me. I hailed the Council after I heard what you found at the Sanctuary. If we’re dealing with ogres, we’re going to need all the Technopaths we can get.”

“But we don’t even
know
that we’re dealing with ogres,” Sophie argued.

“So we must err on the side of caution.”

“Whoa, wait. What about ogres?” Biana asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” Sophie promised. “And
you
,” she told Sandor, “need to apologize to Dex.”

“I know. I meant to warn him first. I did not realize the Council would move so fast. But I will explain it all to him tomorrow. First chance I get.”

He left them then, closing the door as silently as he’d opened it. But Sophie was sure he was still listening on the other side.

Biana didn’t seem to care, immediately attacking Sophie with ten billion questions about ogres. Sophie did her best to explain about the aromark, and the homing device, and even the possible leak in the Black Swan. But there were a whole lot of
maybes
and
mights
and
I don’t knows
in her answers.

Still, the question that stumped her the most was: “So what are we supposed to do now?”

“I have no idea. Usually I have a note or a clue to go on. But even if the Black Swan give me one, it’s not like I can trust them enough to follow it.”

“True,” Biana agreed, standing up to pace.

She blinked in and out of sight as she moved, which was twice as trippy in her teal-and-lumenite dress.

“Okay!” she said after the third time she’d passed by. “It sounds like we need to figure out what’s up with the Black Swan. How much do you actually know about them?”

“Pretty much nothing. I know what one of them looks like—but only when he’s eaten a bunch of ruckleberries. And I guess I also know he starts sentences with ‘you kids’ a lot, since that’s how I figured out that he was the one who rescued me. And . . . I know they have a few dwarves that help them. And that they used to have a hideout in a cave in the middle of the ocean. And . . .”

Her voice trailed off as she remembered one more thing she knew about the Black Swan—assuming she’d understood what Prentice had shown her.

“Jolie.”

“Okay . . . What about Jolie?” Biana asked when Sophie didn’t say anything.

Sophie glanced over her shoulder to make sure the door was still closed. She couldn’t believe she was about to tell Biana this—but she had to trust
someone
. And telling Biana felt easier than telling Keefe.

Still, her voice cracked as she said, “There’s a chance Jolie might’ve been involved with the Black Swan.”

Biana’s eyes stretched about as wide as they could go. “Do you think that had something to do with what happened to her?”

“I know Grady will. That’s why I haven’t told him or Edaline about it.”

For years Grady had believed the Black Swan set the fire that killed Jolie, because it happened right after they tried—and failed—to recruit him. Sophie had asked Mr. Forkle about it, and he promised they had nothing to do with it. But if Grady knew Jolie was connected to them—especially since they might have a traitor among them . . .

“So it sounds like we need to figure out how Jolie was involved,” Biana said after a second. “And I’m guessing you’ve already searched all her things?”

“I’m actually still working on it. This place used to be kinda off-limits.”

“Really?” Biana looked down at her teal dress. “Wow, Grady and Edaline have really come a long way, haven’t they?”

They had.

And Sophie wasn’t going to let
anything
set them back.

They set to work, packing up trunk after trunk of gowns and shoes and handbags and makeup and hats and jewelry. Every drawer they opened was crammed with more girly stuff. But they found nothing marked with the sign of the swan. Nothing that looked even remotely suspicious. And after a few hours of searching, they were running out of places to check.

“You know what I haven’t found?” Biana asked as she added another gown to her Things To Take Home pile. “Foxfire stuff. Wasn’t Jolie in the elite levels when she died?”

“Yeah. She was almost done with Level Eight.”

“That’s what I thought. So then where are all her uniforms and textbooks and notes and whatever else they need for those crazy sessions?”

“I . . . don’t know.” Sophie couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed it.

She asked Edaline about it after Biana left, but Edaline seemed just as surprised as her. She even searched the room herself, like she was convinced Sophie and Biana missed something.

“I’m sorry,” Edaline said, staring into Jolie’s now-empty closet. “I wish I could snap my fingers and conjure everything up—but I have absolutely no idea what we’ve done with it. The whole first year after we lost her is just a hazy blur in my head.”

“It’s okay,” Sophie said, wrapping an arm around Edaline’s shoulders. “I’m sure they’re somewhere. I can’t see you and Grady throwing them away.”

“No, we definitely didn’t do that. I mean, look at all this stuff we kept.” She pointed to the row of overstuffed trunks. “I can’t believe there’s more that’s missing.”

“Jolie must’ve been a big shopper.”

“She was. And I’m sorry, by the way. I shouldn’t have offered those clothes to Biana without asking you first.”

“It’s fine,” Sophie promised. But some of the tightness had returned to her chest.

Edaline reached up to tuck Sophie’s hair behind her ears.

“You
always
come first, Sophie. I hope you know that. And I’m really glad to see you hanging out with Biana. You know I love Dex—and Keefe is always very charming. But it’s good to have girl friends too. They can be a lot less . . . complicated.”

“Hey, Sophie, can I talk to you?” Dex asked, catching her on her way into the girls’ locker room.

“Sure,” Sophie said through a yawn.

She’d stayed up late, waiting for Grady to come home, but when she’d finally gone to bed he still wasn’t back. Edaline had assured her that overnight assignments were normal for an Emissary, but she’d still had nightmares about Grady being hunted by ogres.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you yesterday,” Dex mumbled, snapping her back to the present. “I shouldn’t have blamed you. I know you would never tell.”

“About that,” Sandor interrupted. “I meant to tell you earlier. I was the one who informed the Council about your ability, Dex.”

“I know,” Dex told him, sounding surprisingly unirritated. “I went to Dame Alina’s office during study hall yesterday and she told me how the Council called her to make sure I started training right away. Can you believe that? The
Council
cared enough about my ability to call the principal of Foxfire. They even insisted that I study with Lady Iskra!”

“Wow, that’s awesome!” Sophie told him.

Dex laughed. “You have no idea who that is, do you?”

“Not a clue,” she admitted.

“Yeah, neither did I. But I guess she, like,
invented all the things
. Imparters, nexuses—even Spyballs—were all her ideas. There’s pretty much no other Technopath as talented as her—and the Council wants
me
to work with her. They told Dame Alina that with Lady Iskra’s guidance, I’ll invent things that will change our world!”

He was practically jumping up and down at that point, and his smile was so big his dimples looked like they were making his cheeks cave in.

“So hey,” Sophie started, deciding to take advantage of his good mood. “Biana stopped by after school yesterday.”

“Did she? That’s weird. Oh—did I tell you my dad
freaked
when he found out I’d been hiding my ability from him?”

“Uh . . . no,” Sophie said, surprised the Biana bombshell hadn’t gotten a bigger reaction. “But I’m not surprised.”

“Yeah. I thought he was going to ground me or something. But then he realized I’m basically guaranteed a spot in the elite levels, and we spent the rest of the night coming up with awesome ways to tell all the jerks who’ve judged us over the years.”

Dex’s father didn’t have a special ability, and his marriage to Dex’s mom had been classified as a bad match by the elvin matchmaking office. So more than a few people treated Dex and his triplet brothers and sister like they were all destined to be Talentless themselves.

“Anyway,” Dex said, before Sophie could get too distracted by the craziness of the elvin social system, “I just wanted to apologize for being a brat. And I brought you something to make up for it. I’ve been working on it for a while, actually, but I finally finished it last night.”

He reached into his pocket and handed her something small and silver.

“It’s . . . a ring,” Sophie said, staring at the plain silver band with a flat beige stone set into the middle.

“Yeah. I figured you already have a nexus on each wrist. And you have a ton of necklaces, between your registry pendant and your home crystal and the allergy elixirs Elwin makes you wear. So I thought I’d make something different.”

A few of the girls around her giggled.

“Well . . . um . . . thanks,” Sophie mumbled. “It’s pretty.”

“Nah. The stone is crooked and the band isn’t as round as I wanted it to be. But the switch under the stone works perfectly.” He leaned closer and whispered, “And if you press it, it triggers an alert right here.” He held out his right hand, which had a matching silver band.

More girls giggled. And there were several whispers about
matching rings
.

Dex seemed oblivious as he explained, “It’s a panic switch, in case you’re ever in trouble.”

“As long as she stays by my side, she won’t be in any trouble,” Sandor reminded him.

Sophie jumped. She never thought she’d forget that she had a seven-foot-tall goblin shadow. But apparently all it took was a ring.

“It’s still good to have a backup plan, right?” Dex argued. “And this way, if something
does
happen, you won’t have to use up all your mental energy trying to call Fitz telepathically. You can just call me.”

Sophie hoped she’d never have to call either of them. But she could tell she’d hurt Dex’s feelings if she didn’t take his gift. So she shoved the ring onto her right pointer finger, hoping no one would notice her new accessory as she left to get ready for PE.

Of course they did, though. She might as well have had a glowing beacon on her hand. And the crazy rumors took off like wildfire. By the time lunch break came around, Sophie was grateful she could escape to detention.

Keefe had saved her a seat in detention hall, and even though she sat on her hands, she was fully prepared for some serious ring-related teasing. But all he said was, “We’d better not be peeling curdleroots. I’m not touching
anything
else from the ogres.”

Sophie glanced at his hands, hating how red they looked. “Was the treatment worse the second time?”

“Dunno. I made Elwin knock me out. Woke up at home in bed with no idea how I got there. My mom even brought me tea and asked me a ton of questions, like she was actually worried about me.”

A tiny smile crept across his lips, which made Sophie incredibly sad. Before she could figure out what to say, Lady Cadence strode into the room.

Her elegant gown and cape had been replaced with a plain brown tunic and pants, and her hair was pulled back into a severe ponytail.

“This can’t be good,” Keefe muttered, earning himself a glare as Lady Cadence snapped her fingers and made a mountain of silver forklike gadgets appear in the center of the floor.

“I hope you’re ready to get your hands dirty,” she said, picking up one of the gadgets and grimacing as she sniffed it, “because you’ll be spending the next hour crawling through bushes and climbing trees. Every single one of these effluxers needs to be hidden around the campus, according to my instructions.”