Exile (Keeper of the Lost Cities) (2 page)

Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Goose bumps erupted all over her body, and even though she
knew the emotion wasn’t hers, Sophie couldn’t ignore the shivering terror. She had no idea what that meant—but she didn’t have time to think about it. From the images flashing through her head she could tell the sasquatch had started to flee.

She jerked her arm out of Dex’s grip and took off after it.

The beast ran so fast its thoughts turned to a blur. Sophie concentrated on channeling energy from her core into her legs, but even with the extra strength she could still feel the sasquatch pulling farther ahead. It was going to get away—unless she found a way to boost her speed.

A brain push.

She hadn’t been thrilled when she’d learned that she could perform the incredibly rare telepathy skill. But as she shoved the warm energy humming in the back of her mind into her legs and felt her muscles surge with a tremendous burst of power, she was suddenly grateful for the strange ways her brain worked—even if it did make her headache worse. Her feet barely touched the ground as she raced over the soggy soil, leaving Dex, Sandor, and Grady far behind.

The sasquatch’s thoughts turned clearer again.

She was catching up.

The extra energy didn’t last as long as she’d expected, though, and as her strength drained she found herself barely able to stumble forward.

It’s okay
, she transmitted, desperately shoving the words into the creature’s mind.
I’m not going to hurt you.

The sasquatch froze.

Its thoughts were a jumbled mix of emotions, and Sophie couldn’t make sense out of any of them. But she took advantage of its momentary stillness, rallying the last of her energy to fumble toward a narrow opening in the thick wall of foliage. She could feel the sasquatch on the other side of the trees.

Waiting for the others would be the safer thing to do—but who knew how much longer the creature would wait around? And the creature felt calm at the moment. Curious.

Three deep breaths spurred her courage. Then Sophie padded into the clearing.

S
OPHIE’S GASP ECHOED OFF THE
circle of trees, and she blinked to make sure her eyes were working.

A few feet in front of her stood a shimmering pale horse with outstretched feathered wings. It wasn’t a pegasus—she knew from the books she’d studied at Havenfield that those were smaller and huskier, with deep blue spots and midnight blue manes. This horse had wavy silver hair that trailed up its neck and parted around a horn of swirled white and silver that jutted from its forehead like a unicorn. But the unicorns she’d seen didn’t have wings.

“What are you?” Sophie whispered as she stared into the horse’s deep brown eyes. Usually she thought brown eyes were
flat and boring—especially her own—but these had glinting flecks of gold, and gazed back at her so intently she couldn’t look away.

The horse whinnied.

“It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.” She transmitted images of herself caring for other animals.

The horse stamped its hooves and nickered, but stayed put, eyeing Sophie warily.

Sophie focused on its thoughts, searching for anything she could use to make it trust her. The complexity of its mind was shocking. She could feel rapid observations and quick calculations, just like when she was reading an elvin mind. And the emotions were so intense. Now she knew how Empaths must feel—and she was glad she wasn’t one of them. It was hard to know which feelings were hers.

“
There
you are!” Dex said, stomping into the clearing. His jaw fell open as the horse whinnied and took to the sky.

“It’s okay,” Sophie called. “He’s a friend.”

Friend.

As soon as she transmitted the word, the horse froze, hovering above them. Dozens of images flashed through Sophie’s head. Then a new emotion nearly choked her. Her eyes burned and her heart ached, and it took her a second to translate the feeling.

“You’re lonely?” Sophie whispered.

“That’s not a sasquatch,” Dex mumbled.

“Yeah, I caught that,” Sophie told him. “Do you know what it is?”

“An alicorn,” Grady murmured behind her, triggering a new wave of panic from the flying horse.

Another friend
, Sophie transmitted as it soared higher into the clouds.

Grady was actually more than a friend. He was her adopted father. But for some reason she had a hard time calling him that—even with her adoption being final now.

It’s okay
, she promised the alicorn.
No one is going to hurt you
.

The alicorn whinnied, its mind focused on Sandor—and the weapon at Sandor’s side.

“Sandor, you’re scaring it. You need to get back.”

Sandor didn’t budge.

“Please,” Grady told him. “We
can’t
lose this creature. You know how essential it is to our world.”

Sandor sighed and stomped out of the clearing, grumbling about it being
impossible
to do his job.

“This horse is really that important?” Sophie asked, squinting at the sky.

“Uh, yeah.” Dex’s voice was annoyingly smug. “They’ve only found one—ever. The Council’s been searching for another for centuries.”

“Millennia,” Grady corrected. “Throughout our time on this planet we’ve worked to discover all of its secrets. And then by accident, really, a magnificent alicorn stumbled into our lives,
proving the earth still had a few tricks up its sleeves. We’ve been trying to find another ever since. We can’t let it slip away. Can you call it down to us, Sophie?”

The pressure of his request sat heavy on her shoulders as she promised to try.

Safe,
she transmitted to the terrified creature, adding images of her caring for other animals to try and reinforce the word. Then she sent a picture of the alicorn standing next to her in the clearing.
Come down
.

When the alicorn didn’t respond she added an image of how she would look if she were stroking the alicorn’s shimmering mane.

A rush of loneliness poured over her again—stronger this time. An ancient-feeling ache. Then the alicorn circled once more and landed just out of Sophie’s reach.

“Incredible,” Grady breathed.

“Good girl,” Sophie whispered.

“Girl?” Dex asked.

Sophie nodded, wondering how she knew that. It almost felt like the alicorn had told her. . . .

“The alicorn at the Sanctuary is male!” Grady said, snapping her out of her musings. “This is the find of a lifetime, Sophie!”

Sophie grinned, imagining the look on Councillor Bronte’s face when he heard the news. He despised her human upbringing and her connection to the Black Swan—a secret group of rebels who seemed to be behind every mystery in Sophie’s
past—and was always trying to prove she didn’t belong in their world.

“Um . . . not to kill everyone’s excitement here,” Dex interrupted, “but how are we going to get her home?”

Grady’s smile faded. “That’s a good question. The sasquatch harness won’t fit—and even if I dashed home, it’s not like we have an alicorn restraint.”

“Maybe we don’t need one.” Sophie stared into the alicorn’s unblinking eyes and transmitted
friend
again. Then she reached out her hand and took a slow step forward.

“Careful,” Grady warned when the alicorn whinnied.

“Easy, girl,” Sophie whispered, not breaking eye contact as she took another step.

Calm.

She sent a flood of images of her petting different animals, trying to communicate what she was about to do.

The alicorn processed each scene, focusing on Sophie. She nickered.

Sophie hoped that meant “Go ahead.” She held her breath and closed the last space between them.

Her fingers brushed the smooth, cool fur on the bridge of the alicorn’s nose. The shimmering horse snorted, but didn’t back away.

“Good girl,” Sophie said, tracing her fingers up toward the horn. She fingered the strands of silvery mane, surprised at how cold they were, like threads of ice.

The alicorn released what sounded like a soft sigh. Then she nuzzled Sophie’s shoulder. Sophie giggled as the wet nostrils tickled her neck.

“She likes you,” Grady whispered.

“Is that true, girl? Do you like me?”

A shiver streaked down Sophie’s spine as something tickled her consciousness. The longer it bounced around her mind, the more it took shape, until it formed a single word.

Friend.

“What’s wrong?” Grady asked as Sophie took a step away, shaking her head.

“Sorry—I’m just not used to how powerful her mind is.” She stroked the horse’s gleaming cheek, trying to make sense of what just happened.

Had the alicorn learned a word from her? Was that possible?

“Think she’ll let me touch her?” Grady asked, taking a cautious step forward.

The alicorn reared and flapped her wings.

Grady backed off. “That’s going to be a problem.”

In order to light leap with the alicorn, someone would need to keep physical contact with her to form a connection between them.

“I can leap her—” Sophie offered.

“Absolutely not!” Grady’s shout made the alicorn whinny, and he lowered his tone to a whisper before he added, “That’s far too dangerous.”

“I can handle it,” Sophie insisted. All the excitement had erased both her headache and her weariness from the brain push.

“Um, remember what happened last time?” Dex interrupted.

Sophie glared at him, stunned he was siding with Grady on this.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. You almost faded away.”

His voice caught as he said the last part, and Sophie couldn’t help wondering how much Dex had seen that day. She’d thought he was unconscious when she made the nearly fatal leap to escape the kidnappers. But apparently he’d watched the light pull her away—or at least that’s what Elwin had told her. She and Dex had never talked about what happened. All Sophie remembered was warmth and flashing colors and a pull so irresistible she’d been ready to follow it anywhere—and very nearly had.

She’d
never
forget the agony of drawing herself back together. And now whenever she leaped, she felt slightly dizzy. But the dizziness only lasted a few seconds, and in all the times Elwin had tested her since she’d recovered, he’d never found anything wrong. Plus, all of that happened before she knew how to use her enhanced concentration. Before she even knew her concentration had been enhanced. Not to mention, the kidnappers had taken her nexus.

She cupped the sleek black cuff on her wrist, fingering the sparkly teal jewel set into the center, surrounded by swirling
lines of diamonds. The nexus put a force field around her, making it impossible for her to lose even a single particle of herself during a leap. Which meant she could use
her
concentration to protect the alicorn and leap them both home safely.

It made sense in her head—but she couldn’t fight off a tiny quiver at the idea of another risky leap.

“We don’t have any other options,” Sophie said, as much for herself as to convince Grady and Dex. “Unless there’s something I’m missing?”

When no one had any other suggestions, she took a deep breath and imagined her concentration covering the glittering horse like a protective seal. Her headache returned and she had to channel the last of her core energy to cover such a large creature, but she scraped together enough strength to feel a firm grip.

She could do this.

Before she could change her mind, she placed one hand on the alicorn’s cheek and used the other to grab the pendant hanging from a long chain around her neck. She held the crystal up, and light hit the single facet cut into the stone, refracting toward the ground.

“Sophie, don’t you—” Grady started to say, but he was too late.

She stepped into the light, letting the warmth swell under her skin like thousands of tickling feathers as the simmering rush swept her and the alicorn away.

T
HE LUSH PASTURES OF HAVENFIELD
glittered into focus as Sophie’s body re-formed on the wide, flower-lined path that cut through the main grounds. Her legs held strong beneath her, but the dizziness was almost overwhelming, and rainbow flecks of light obscured her vision, like she was seeing the world through a kaleidoscope. She wobbled, wishing she had something to hold on to as the alicorn screamed with terror and took off into the sunset-streaked sky.

Sophie stumbled after her, but she’d only made it a few steps before strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around.

“What were you thinking?” Grady’s arms shook as he held her tight, but Sophie was more worried about the blurry gray blob looming behind him. Even through the swirling colors she could make out Sandor’s furious glare.

“I’m fine, I promise,” she said, gulping down air and willing the words to be true.

The winged horse whinnied and the wave of panic helped Sophie focus. “I have to calm her down before she flies away.”

Grady’s grip on her shoulders tightened for a second. Then he shook his head and released her. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”

She was sure they would, and she didn’t have time to worry about it. Her head was finally clearing—and just in time. Verdi, their resident T. rex—who
still
hadn’t adapted to her vegetarian diet—was roaring, like she was craving a glittering-horsey snack.

The alicorn veered away from the neon-green-feathered dinosaur, heading toward the Grove, a lush orchard of bulbous, twisted trees. Several squat brown gnomes streamed from the arched green doors in the trunks, their huge gray eyes staring at the alicorn as she circled overhead.

“Help—I need something to lure her down,” Sophie called as she raced past them, though several gnomes had already taken off toward the row of golden silos that lined the farthest cliffs. The gnomes weren’t servants—they lived with the elves
by choice—and they were masters when it came to plants and animals. Hopefully, they knew some treat an alicorn wouldn’t be able to resist.