Dex chewed his lip. “Honestly? I have no idea. It doesn’t communicate with me the way other gadgets do.”
“Do you think it would help if Sophie enhanced you?” Tam asked. “Wasn’t that how you figured out how to hack into the Imparter?”
“That’s right!” Dex was practically bouncing as he pulled a small satchel out of his pocket and dumped the two marble-size caches into his hand. Both were made of smooth clear crystal, with smaller rainbow-toned crystals set inside—seven in Kenric’s and nine in Fintan’s, each colorful speck holding one Forgotten Secret.
“You carry the caches around?” Sophie squeaked, glancing over her shoulder as if a thief might appear from the shadows. “Don’t you realize how dangerous that is?”
“It’s way riskier leaving them unguarded around the triplets,” Dex promised—which was a fair point. Dex’s siblings brought new meaning to the word “handful.” “Besides, it’s a good thing I have them with me. Now we don’t have to wait to see if enhancing helps.”
He looked so adorably excited as he tucked Kenric’s cache away and held on to only Fintan’s that it was hard not to feel at least some of the same thrill as Sophie peeled off one of her gloves.
“Wait,” Fitz said, scooting closer and wrapping his arm around Sophie’s waist.
“I’ll be fine,” she told him. “I barely feel anything when I do this.”
“Still, it’s better to be prepared, right?” His smile did all kinds of fluttery things to her heart.
And maybe she was imagining it, but he smelled better than normal—a little spicy and crisp, like he’d started wearing some sort of fancy elvin cologne. It took all of her willpower not to lean closer and take a long breath.
Dex rolled his eyes. “If anything, I’m the one who’s going to fall over.”
“Awww. I got you, Dexy,” Keefe said, wrapping his arms around Dex’s waist. “What? Was that not what you were hoping for?”
Tam snorted. “Pretty sure the last thing he wants is an Empath holding on to him when he goes anywhere near Sophie’s hand.”
“You guys are the worst,” Biana told them.
“We try,” Keefe said. “And by the way, dude,” he told Dex, “have you invented some new elixir I don’t know about? When did you get so tall?”
Sophie tilted her head. “He’s right.”
When she’d first met Dex, he’d been a little shorter than she was. And now he and Keefe were basically the same height.
Dex shrugged, blushing all the way to his ears. “I don’t know. Must be a growth spurt.”
It probably was. But Sophie had also been so distracted, she hadn’t been paying attention. Which probably made her a terrible friend.
“You ready?” Dex asked.
She reached out her gloveless hand. And as soon as her fingers connected with his, Dex’s knees buckled.
Keefe grinned. “Typical Foster, always knocking guys off their feet.”
Sophie sighed. “Should I—”
“Don’t let go,” Dex told her, tightening his grip. “I’m fine. It’s just . . . intense.”
Keefe and Tam both snickered.
“Here,” Linh said, dragging Sophie’s desk chair over so Keefe could lower Dex down. “Better?”
Dex nodded. But his eyes seemed to roll back in his head as the warm tingles in Sophie’s fingers grew stronger and stronger.
“I think this might be too much,” she told him.
“No,” Dex insisted. “A little longer.”
He kept his grip for another endless stretch before he slumped over. The cache slipped from his grip, and Keefe barely managed to catch it.
“You okay there, dude?” Keefe asked. “Need us to call Elwin?”
Dex shook his head, staring blankly at the floor. “That thing is the strangest gadget I’ve ever felt. Nothing I do will make it speak to me.”
Sophie’s heart deflated as she pulled her glove back on. “Does that mean you won’t be able to hack in?”
“I . . . can’t tell. Do you have any paper?”
Sophie rushed over to her desk and grabbed a notebook and pencil, and Dex scribbled a bunch of numbers and symbols—then scratched out everything and turned to a new page.
He scratched out everything he wrote there, too.
“Who has the cache?” he asked.
Keefe handed it over, and Dex squinted at the tiny inner crystals.
“The mechanisms are too simple,” he said, mostly to himself. “It must need . . .”
He flipped to a fresh page, drawing a circle and a series of intersecting lines. Sophie thought he must be crossing out his work again, but after a few more dashes he set down his pencil and held the cache up to the sunlight.
“I know what it needs!” He squinted at the tiny crystals and nodded a few times before he told them, “A password!”
Fifteen
A PASSWORD?” SOPHIE REPEATED, wishing she could feel as excited as Dex looked. The odds of them guessing something like that didn’t seem good.
Especially when Dex told her, “Yep. Each of the inner crystals needs one to open.”
“Just so I’m clear—you’re saying we need to figure out nine different passwords?” Tam asked.
Dex nodded. “But only if we want to access every single secret.”
“Right, but there isn’t a way to know exactly which crystal is the one we need, is there?” Linh asked, biting her lip when Dex shook his head. “So, we’re probably going to have to open at least a few of them to find the right secret.”
“Maybe all of them,” Fitz said.
“Can you hack around the passwords?” Biana asked. “Like you did with Keefe’s Imparter?”
“I actually didn’t hack that. Sophie guessed the right word. And with the crazy security I’m feeling on this . . . nope.”
“You’re sure?” Sophie pushed. “Human hackers find ways to break through passwords all the time.”
“Yeah, but that’s human technology,” Dex said with a slight smirk. “Trust me, there’s no algorithm that’s going to solve this.”
“So where does that leave us?” Sophie asked.
Dex mussed his hair. “I honestly don’t know.”
The confession seemed to bounce around the room, feeling heavier each time it hit.
Biana shook her head. “No way—no underestimating yourself like that. You’re Dex Dizznee. You built the Twiggler. You translated the Lodestar symbol. You built this.” She held up her hand and pointed to the pretty pink panic-switch ring he’d given her.
Fitz held his up too. So did Tam and Linh. And Sophie pointed to the bump under her glove.
“Dude, what’s a guy gotta do to join the ring club?” Keefe asked, wiggling his bare fingers.
“Maybe not run off and join the enemy?” Fitz suggested.
The words were like a record scratch, screeching everyone into awkward silence.
This was the first time they’d all been together since Keefe’s betrayal.
Keefe cleared his throat. “Yeah . . . so . . . about that.”
“It’s okay,” Sophie told him. “You don’t have to—”
“No,” Keefe interrupted. “I do.”
He forced himself to face each of his friends, lingering longest on Fitz. “I’m sorry. I know you think I’m an idiot for running off. And . . . I guess I am. I thought the fact that my mom had built something she called my ‘legacy’ meant that I was valuable enough to the Neverseen that they’d bring me in on all their plans and I could find a way to stop them. But it turns out I’m worthless.”
“No, you’re not.”
Surprisingly, the words came from Tam.
“Having a family like yours messes with your head,” he added, tugging his bangs over his eyes. “I know how that goes. You still made a bad call—or lots of bad calls, actually. But . . . if you don’t do it again, we’re cool.”
One side of Keefe’s mouth quirked as he nodded.
Sophie let out a breath she hadn’t not
iced she’d been holding.
“Anyway, back to my pep talk,” Biana said, turning to Dex. “I know you can figure this out.”
“Biana’s right,” Sophie agreed. “Even if it takes time, you’ll get it. You always do.”
Dimples sank into Dex’s flushed cheeks as he grinned at both of them.
“Well, at least I know what I’m aiming for now,” he said, scribbling a few more notes before he held up Sophie’s notebook. “Can I borrow this?”
“Keep it,” Sophie told him. “And if you need me to enhance you again, just let me know.”
He nodded, tucking the notebook into his cape pocket and returning the cache to his satchel. “I’ll work on it every chance I get.”
“And in the meantime,” Tam added, “what if we talked to the guards who took care of the prisoner? I know all the Peace Summit’s goblins were killed in the collapse”—he paused as the four bodyguards bowed their heads—“but didn’t the Council bring in a whole new security team just for the Summit? So what about the guards who were working in Lumenaria before that? Wouldn’t they have to know at least a few things about who they were guarding to be prepared in case anything happened?”
“I can ask Councillor Oralie for their names,” Fitz offered. “She rigged my Imparter so I can reach her directly—but I left it at home.”
“Can you hail her as soon as we’re done with the Black Swan?” Sophie asked. “Hopefully by then, Quinlin will have sent your dad the information on the fires and you can start sorting through that, too. And I think Biana and Tam should go to Candleshade and try to find whatever Lady Gisela hid there. Dex can keep working on the passwords. And maybe Linh should go visit Wylie, since you guys have been spending so much time together. Make sure he’s prepared for whatever we’re going to find out about his mom’s death. Then we’ll all regroup once Keefe and I have the starstone.”
“Most of that sounds great,” Fitz said. “But there’s one part we need to change. I should be going with you to Ravagog.”
“Wait for it,” Keefe jumped in, right before Fitz added, “We’re Cognates.”
“Aaaaaaaand, there it is!” Keefe said. “He’s adorably consistent, isn’t he? Don’t forget to show her the rings, too.”
Fitz rolled his eyes. “She doesn’t need me to.”
But he did tilt his hands so the verdigris bands on his thumbs were much more prominently displayed.
Sophie wore a matching set under her gloves, each ring stamped with one set of their initials. The special metal had a magnetic kind of draw, keeping their hands connected whenever they worked telepathically.
“You know we’re stronger together,” Fitz told her, and the intensity in his eyes made her mouth go dry. “You never would’ve gotten past Dimitar’s blocking last time without me.”
“But I’m not going there to read his mind,” Sophie reminded him. “I’m going to deliver a message and hopefully convince him to give me the hairpin. We need to get through this without causing another interspeciesial incident.”
“And you think bringing Keefe along is going to do that?” Fitz asked. “He’s the one who caused the big distraction last time. Dimitar probably hates him more than all of us.”
“Eh, I’m pretty sure King Dimitar hates us all equally,” Keefe said.
“Which is another reason I think we should keep the group as small as possible,” Sophie jumped in. “The less this visit reminds him of our last one, the better. The only reason I’m including Keefe is because his mom seems to want him involved. Why else would she insist we contact her with his blood?”
“Plus, y’know, Foster can’t live without me,” Keefe added.
“Don’t make me smack you,” Sophie warned.
Keefe smirked. “I’d like to see you try.”
“So would I,” Tam informed them.
“Obnoxious boys aside,” Biana interrupted, “you’re assuming Dimitar is going to just hand over the starstone. I doubt he will. And if he doesn’t, you’re going to need my help.” She tossed her silky dark hair and blinked out of sight, reappearing seconds later on the other side of the room. “And Tam should be there too, in case we need his shadows. We’d still be a smaller, less suspicious group, but we’d also have a backup plan in case things go wrong. And let’s face it: Something usually goes wrong.”
She had a point.
“Okay, so Keefe, Tam, Biana, and I will figure out how to deliver the message and get the starstone,” Sophie decided. “And Fitz, Linh, and Dex can stay focused on the other projects—deal?”
Linh nodded.
Fitz scowled.
“Welcome to my world,” Dex told him. “It’s always, ‘Dex, you can stay behind and work on the gadgets!’ ”
“Yeah, but at least your job is important,” Keefe reminded him. “Fitz’s, on the other hand . . .”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “It’s super important,” she promised Fitz.
“Is it?” Fitz mumbled. “You don’t even know if Quinlin will have sent over the paperwork you want me to go through. And even if he has, I doubt it’s going to take me all day to read through it.”
“I dunno,” Keefe said. “You don’t have a photographic memory, like Foster and I do.”
Fitz shook his head. “Dude, you’re losing major Best Friend points today.”
“Aw, I’m sorry, Fitzy. Should we hug it out?” Keefe wrapped his arms around Fitz and Fitz shoved him away—but at least they were both laughing.
“If you want,” Linh said, glancing shyly at Fitz, “visiting Wylie shouldn’t take me all day. So maybe we could meet at Candleshade in the afternoon and work on searching the house?”
It was a perfect way to maximize their time. And yet, Sophie felt a tiny pang when Fitz agreed, especially when he flashed his most adorable smile.
She tried to tell herself it was nerves—and it probably was. After all, she had a lot of scary things to deal with.
It definitely didn’t have to do with the pretty way Linh was blushing.
“Okay,” she said. “So, we all have a plan! Unless whatever the Black Swan shows us today changes something.”
“Do you think it will?” Biana asked, biting one of her perfectly glossed lips.
“No clue,” Sophie admitted.
She shared what little Livvy had told her in order to prepare.
“I still can’t believe she’s Physic,” Biana confessed. “Do you know she used to come over all the time when I was little? Quinlin, Dad, and Fitz would disappear into Dad’s office, and Livvy would hang out with me and Mom—and sometimes Alvar.”
“She was probably making sure we weren’t getting too close to finding Sophie,” Fitz said—which made sense, but felt strange, imagining her spying on them.
Even stranger was realizing Alvar was doing the same thing.
“So now we know who Granite, Physic, and Squall are,” Biana said, glancing at Dex during the last code name. He’d been understandably shocked when it turned out his mom, Juline—who also happened to be Edaline’s sister—was the Froster in the Collective who disguised her identity by crusting her body with ice. “That means we need to figure out Wraith and Blur. Maybe if we think of all the Vanishers and Phasers we know, we can narrow it down.”
“You won’t be able to guess,” a voice said behind them, and everyone turned to find Tiergan climbing the last few stairs.
“You’re not in your rock-dude disguise,” Keefe noted. “Did you get sick of getting pebbles stuck in uncomfortable places?”
“And you’re not wearing green,” Sophie added.
“I’m not.” Tiergan fidgeted with his long blond hair, which he’d pulled into a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck. “Today is not a day for disguises, or mourning—though you were all very generous to honor our loss with your wardrobe choices.”
“What is today a day for?” Fitz asked.
“Truth.”
Tiergan’s olive skin seemed paler than usual as his dark blue eyes drifted to Sophie. ??
?What I’m about to reveal is a secret that only a handful of others know—and you will not be allowed to share it with anyone, except the select group we’ve chosen.”
“That better include her parents,” Grady called from downstairs, making Sophie wonder how long he’d been eavesdropping.
“Yes, you and Edaline are on the list,” Tiergan shouted back. “But we’ll go over that later. Right now, we have a lengthy journey ahead.”
“Of course we do,” Keefe said through a sigh. “What are you putting us through this time? More eckodons blasting us through water vortexes?”
“Sadly, there won’t be any animal friends assisting us,” Tiergan told him. “The hideout I’m bringing you to is a bit more straightforward. Shall we?”
He pulled a pathfinder out of his pocket, and Sophie noticed the crystal was iridescent pink—a color she’d seen Mr. Forkle use before—as he adjusted to a specific facet and offered her his free hand.
She took it, and her friends quickly formed a chain, with Keefe claiming Sophie’s other hand before Dex or Fitz could grab it.
“You okay?” Keefe leaned in to ask. “Because you kinda feel like you want to barf.”
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted.
“It’s okay to be nervous,” Tiergan told them as he raised the crystal to the light and cast a shimmering beam across the floor. “Part of me never believed it would come to this. But . . . here we go.”
Sixteen
THEY REAPPEARED SOMEWHERE hot, with thick swirls of white fog fuzzing out any glimmer of sky. If it weren’t for the solid feeling under her feet, Sophie would’ve thought they’d leaped into the center of a cloud.
“The water is so alive here,” Linh whispered. “It almost feels playful.”
She waved her hands and the fog shifted, curling into a flock of birds that fluttered around them—earning another “wow” from Dex and Fitz.
“Yeah, well, I’m not a fan,” Keefe told Tiergan, shaking his drooping hair out of his eyes. “This place feels like we’ve been stuffed inside a verminion’s cheeks.”
Biana crinkled her nose. “Ew.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t be staying long,” Tiergan told them. “This is the access point to Brumevale, much like the island we use to reach Atlantis.”