Lodestar Read online

  “It’s a pretty tight space, so if you want to check it out, you’ll have to take turns,” he told them. “Probably no more than two or three at a time. But basically, I’m in a secret room hidden somewhere between the towers.”

  “Someone needs to make sure the space is truly secure before any more of us go through,” Sandor decided, blocking Sophie as he pushed forward.

  Grizel jumped in front of him, placing a hand in the center of his chest. “I’m smaller and my senses are sharper.”

  Sandor’s jaw twitched—ready to argue—but when Grizel leaned in and whispered something, he nodded and took a slow step back.

  Tam disappeared through the mirror to clear the path as Grizel tapped Sandor’s nose and turned to study the glass. She skimmed her fingers across the swirling shadows before she shrugged and leaped through like a gazelle.

  “Do you think they have security telling them we found the hidden room?” Fitz asked.

  Dex frowned. “I don’t feel any tech or signals.”

  “And wouldn’t someone have come to check it by now?” Biana asked. “Tam and I found this over an hour ago, before we came back to wake up Sophie and get you guys.”

  Sophie’s cheeks flushed. “Sorry I overslept.”

  “Yes, how dare you take a few hours to recover after manifesting a new ability?” Biana scolded.

  “What new ability?” Linh and Sandor asked at the same time.

  Sophie held up her gloved hands. “Enhancer.”

  Linh nearly knocked Della over as she scrambled back. “Sorry.” She hugged her arms around herself. “It’s not you. It’s just still such a struggle for me to maintain control. I can’t imagine what kind of flood I’d cause if someone enhanced my ability.”

  “Yeah, that would not be a good idea,” Tam said, peeking his head through the glass again. “Not unless we want to wipe out a couple of cities.”

  “Why does this sound like an ability that’s going to increase the challenge of protecting you?” Sandor asked Sophie.

  “Because it will.” Mr. Forkle explained about the gloves, and how they’d do everything they could to keep the ability secret. But how it was a part of Sophie now. Always.

  Grizel peeked her head through the mirror, locking eyes with Sandor. “Don’t blame me. We all know Sophie would’ve triggered the ability even if you’d been there.”

  “Still, I leave you my charge for one night,” he grumbled.

  “So what’s it like on the other side of the mirror?” Sophie asked, eager for a subject change.

  She’d expected Tam to answer, but Biana jumped in. “It wasn’t at all what I’d imagined. I was rooting for creepy furniture and crazy gadgets and all kinds of cool villainy things. But it’s just a cramped, empty stone room that looks like it’s been there since they built the tower.”

  “Does that mean the Neverseen have been around for thousands of years?” Linh asked.

  “I suppose it’s possible,” Mr. Forkle said. “But most likely the room once served some other long-forgotten purpose, and Fintan or Brant—or maybe their Shade—stumbled across it and made it their own.”

  “Either way, it’s definitely how they got in,” Grizel said, climbing back out through the mirror. “Their scent is everywhere—but it’s also stale, so I don’t think they’ve been back since they took Wylie.”

  “Am I the only one who still doesn’t understand how they actually get into the tower?” Dex asked. “So . . . they get here”—he pointed to the floor in the Hall of Illumination—“by coming through there”—he pointed to the swirling Cimmerian mirror—“where there’s another secret room. But how do they get in that room?”

  Biana grinned. “Go see for yourself.”

  Dex didn’t need to be told twice, practically sprinting through the mirror.

  “Ohhhhh, it has one of the Lodestar symbol gadgets!” he breathed.

  That was all the invitation Sophie needed to go charging after him, shivering from the waves of cold that rippled across her skin as she passed through the glass. Fitz was right on her heels, and they nearly tripped over each other in the claustrophobic space.

  “I’m fine,” she told Sandor as his head peeked through the mirror, which looked like a swirling black square on the other side. “Better wait for me out there—we can barely move.”

  She couldn’t imagine how the Neverseen managed to fit Alvar, Ruy, Trix, Umber, and Wylie’s unconscious body within the narrow, musty walls. But they must have. The Lodestar symbol glowing across the floor proved it.

  “It has runes,” Fitz said, stepping back to uncover the letters in another circle at the end of one of the rays. “Looks like it says Pallidrose. I’m guessing that’s another star.”

  “Another solo star,” Sophie agreed as her mind connected with the memory. “It also glows with pure white light, so those definitely seem to be their criteria. But how does this thing work? I’m assuming we have to do something?”

  “We’re hoping Dex can figure it out,” Biana called through the mirror.

  “I’ll have to get a closer look at the gadget.” Dex levitated up to the ceiling and traced his finger along the curved edge. “Weird—I don’t feel a lot of mechanisms in this thing. I can’t even figure out where it opens.”

  “I wonder if Tam has to do something,” Sophie said. “Or maybe Biana. Gethen made it sound like it relied on someone using their abilities, and they’re the only ones that match.”

  “We already thought about that earlier,” Biana said. “I tried everything I could think of.”

  “So did I,” Tam admitted.

  “Do you think it would help if you enhanced them?” Fitz asked Sophie.

  “I . . . don’t know.” The ability was so new, she hadn’t even thought of it. But she peeled off her right glove and offered Tam her hand, wondering if her stomach would always feel this churny whenever she went to touch anyone now.

  Tam looked just as nervous as he curled his fingers around hers and the shadows sprang to life on the floor, creating a thick black outline around the glow of the Lodestar symbol.

  “That’s so crazy,” he mumbled. “I couldn’t feel that darkness before.”

  He tightened his grip on Sophie, pulling her with him a few steps as he followed the shadows to one of the rays they had yet to discover the rune for.

  “I think this is how they left,” he whispered. “See how the shadows are gathering?”

  The bits of darkness were puddling together, like rivers of selkie skin flowing into the empty circle.

  The darkness rippled like water, parts of it rising up with a rune.

  “I think maybe . . .”

  “Wait,” Fitz said, lunging to grab Sophie’s arm as Tam stepped down on the pool of shadows. His fingers connected with her skin right as an arctic rush blasted up and tangled around the three of them, dragging them into the darkness and blasting them away.

  SIXTY-NINE

  OKAY, WHAT JUST happened?” Fitz asked, still clinging to Sophie as she and Tam fought to regain their balance on the mossy, uneven floor.

  The symbol glowed under their feet—the only light in the damp, murky room they’d somehow been transported to. Something dripped in the distance, and their breaths clouded the air. The bitter cold clawed through Sophie’s clothes, and she silently thanked Biana for insisting she add a thick black cape to her outfit to match her gloves.

  “I . . . think I just leaped us using starlight absorbed by a shadow,” Tam whispered. “I didn’t even know I could do that. But when I touched Sophie’s hand, my instincts took over.”

  “So this is another hideout?” Sophie asked, slipping her glove back on. She pointed to the new rune illuminating the ray of the symbol under Tam’s shoes.

  “Valkonian,” Fitz whispered. “I’m assuming that’s another white-light star?”

  Sophie nodded.

  Her eyes were adjusting to the murk, letting her pick out more details as she crept forward to get a better view. The moss made the s
tones slippery, and uneven cracks tried to trip her stupid heeled boots. But she could see brighter light ahead, and carefully tiptoed over.

  “It looks like we’re in some sort of human ruin,” she whispered, brushing a hand across one of the damp, crumbling walls.

  She’d never been to Scotland, but something about this place reminded her of it—an old, decaying castle, complete with cracked, cut-glass windows leaking rays of gray-blue light. Thick vines covered the ancient stones, and the air smelled of earth and sea. “I don’t hear any thoughts around here, do you?”

  Fitz shook his head. “How much do you think they’re freaking out back at Foxfire?”

  “Sandor’s probably tracking me as we speak—actually, wait.” Sophie ran her hands down her red tunic. “These are Biana’s clothes. I doubt they have trackers.”

  “Dex could hack into our registry feeds,” Fitz said. “Or maybe our panic switches.”

  “We might need them to,” Sophie realized. “I’m not wearing my home crystal, since I’m not supposed to go back to Havenfield until the gnomes finish installing the extra security.”

  Fitz patted his pockets and cursed under his breath. “I didn’t bring my pathfinder, either.”

  “Good thing you have me.” Tam pulled a purple-tinted pendant out from under his cape. “It only goes to Alluveterre, but the gnomes can take us from there.”

  “Wait,” Sophie said as he held the crystal up to catch the faint rays of light. “Shouldn’t we look around before we go? Isn’t this where they brought Wylie?”

  “It’s where they went when they left the Silver Tower,” Tam said. “I know that’s why the shadows called to me. But I can’t imagine this is where they held him hostage. There’s no cell—not even any totally solid walls. And I don’t see any rope.”

  “Can you do that shadow trick again to the symbol here, and see if they went somewhere else?” Fitz asked.

  “But why would they bother coming here in the first place?” Sophie asked. “The symbol in the Silver Tower could’ve taken them to any of their hideouts, right?”

  “It felt like it,” Tam agreed.

  “So then there has to be a reason they chose here,” Sophie said. “Maybe this part is just the facade to disguise the real hideout, and the shelter’s underground? We should fan out and see if we can find a hidden staircase or door or something.”

  “I’m with you on everything except the fanning-out part,” Fitz told her. “I think we should stay close so we don’t get separated.”

  “But that’s going to make the search take way longer,” Sophie argued. “If I’m right about why Keefe’s cloak had those disks hidden in it, we’ve probably triggered some sort of alarm already.”

  “All the more reason to stay together,” Tam said. “I’ll keep my crystal in my hand, and we should all hang on to each other—that way if we need to leap away fast, we can.”

  Sophie couldn’t argue with that logic, and did her best to keep a hold on Fitz. But a strange pattern in the cut-glass windows caught her attention.

  She let go to take a closer look—just for the briefest second.

  And the distance saved her from being caught by the first burst of blinding white light.

  The beam of searing energy curled into a wall around Fitz and Tam, trapping them in a narrow force field that shocked them as they pressed against the inner side, fighting to escape.

  “It’s about time you decided to come and play,” Ruy shouted from somewhere in the shadows as he launched another force field toward Sophie. She dove and rolled to avoid it, the edge of the energy clipping her shoulder and stinging with tingles that burned like acid-coated needles.

  She gritted her teeth through the pain and crawled behind a crumbling pillar, tucking herself into the darkness to wait him out. She couldn’t strike until she had a clear lock on his location.

  In the meantime, she let the fury build, stewing with her unraveling emotions, rimming her vision with red. She’d only have one chance at this—one moment to drop Ruy before he caged her in his trap.

  A scrape of shoe on stone gave her the direction she needed, and she leaped from the shadows, arms raised, ready to blast Ruy with the full force of her wrath.

  But there were four black-cloaked figures waiting for her—and even with their hoods raised, she could see enough of their faces to recognize them.

  Ruy.

  Brant.

  Alvar.

  And Keefe.

  SEVENTY

  YOU?” SOPHIE BREATHED, feeling the fight whoosh out of her as the reality of fighting Keefe kicked her in the stomach.

  The panic in his eyes made it clear he was just as horrified to see her.

  “Don’t!” Brant shouted, his scarred features twisting as he grabbed Ruy’s arms with his only hand. “If you shield her, she can’t burn.”

  A thread of white flame sparked to life at the stumpy end of Brant’s other arm, twisting into fingerlike tendrils.

  “She can inflict,” Ruy reminded him.

  “But she won’t.” Brant released his hold on Ruy and pulled Keefe close, waving the flames under Keefe’s chin. “She still cares about this one. And she knows I’ll melt his face off if she misbehaves.”

  “He’s one of us!” Alvar shouted.

  “That’s still up for debate. But he can prove it now.” Brant’s scarred lips curled into what little smile they were able to form as he moved his flame-fingers closer to Keefe’s throat. With his real hand, he reached into his cape and withdrew the Ruewen crest pin he’d stolen from Sophie months and months ago. “I think I’ve held on to the past long enough, don’t you?”

  Sophie knew what was coming, even before Brant shoved Keefe toward her and held the small eagle pin in the searing white flame. The jewels crusting it sparked and crackled, and the pin turned into a red-hot brand.

  But he pressed it into Keefe’s palm, instead of hers.

  Keefe thrashed and screamed, eyes watering, teeth gritted in agony.

  “Now,” Brant told Keefe, pulling the pin away. “Show her that same pain. And in case you’re having trouble following along, Sophie, here’s how this is going to work. You tell us where you’re keeping Wylie, and I’ll have lover boy here put the scars somewhere only you can see them. Try to resist, and he’ll give you the same makeover you gave me. And if you fight me,” he told Keefe, “I’ll melt off parts of your body one by one. Starting with your fingers.”

  Desperation screamed through Sophie’s head as her brain scrambled for a plan.

  Somewhere through the chaos she realized there was another voice in the mix.

  Sophie, can you hear me?

  Fitz?

  His thoughts were muffled and staticky, but she was stunned he could reach her at all.

  Tam’s breaking down the force field with darkness, he explained, and he says he’ll be able to slip his shadow through the cracks and cloud Brant’s mind. It’ll blind him for a few seconds. Will that be long enough for you to drop him with your inflicting before he burns Keefe?

  It probably would—but only if she was willing to drop all of them.

  Keefe’s too close to Brant, she warned. I’ll have to take out everyone.

  I don’t see any other option, do you?

  She glanced at the flames under Keefe’s nose, and the oozing blister on his hand.

  Tell Tam to do it! she transmitted as she reached deep inside, gathering every last emotion and fueling them with any dark thoughts she’d ever had.

  Brant flinched, dropping his flames, and Sophie took Tam’s cue, letting the cold waves pour out of her, their jagged edges tearing across everything within reach.

  Seconds stretched into eternity and reality vanished into pure, pulsing power—and rage.

  So.

  Much.

  Rage.

  She wanted to bathe in it, drown in it, let the anger take control until she’d punished anyone and everyone who’d ever hurt her. But she’d held on to one thread of good through the bar
rage—one wisp of a thought that tethered her to who she needed to be.

  Keefe.

  The name peeled back the dark curtain and let in a blistering, blinding rush as she dropped to her knees, her hands feeling for shaking limbs across the cold stones. She found him right as her eyes shifted back into focus, and she pulled him into her lap.

  If you can hear me, Keefe, try to fight through the darkness, she transmitted. The pain’s not real. Shove it aside and come back to the surface.

  “Tam broke the force field,” Fitz said behind her, making her jump. “And he’s stamping out Brant’s flames. The stones are damp, so the only thing that caught was his cloak. How can I help?”

  “Find something to restrain the Neverseen. When this wears off . . .”

  “On it,” Fitz said.

  He turned to leave—then pivoted back. “Stop looking so guilty, Sophie. You did this to save him. Like he said, sometimes things have to get worse before they get better.”

  She focused on a happier promise. “It’s almost over.”

  And it was, wasn’t it?

  This was a huge victory.

  In one afternoon, they’d caught Alvar, Ruy, and Brant—three of the most prominent players in the Neverseen. And now that they knew how to use the gadget and the symbol, they had a way to track down sixteen hideouts.

  And they had Keefe.

  She craned her neck to watch Tam and Fitz work—stripping each shaking figure of their cloak and shredding the fabric into makeshift rope to bind their hands and feet and cover their mouths and eyes.

  “We need to get out of here,” Tam said. “Some of their buddies will probably wonder what’s taking so long. And these guys could wake up any minute.”

  Fitz punched his brother in the face. “That should keep him knocked out longer.”

  “He’s not the one I’m worried about,” Tam told him. “If that Psionipath wakes up, he’ll trap us in two seconds.”

  Fitz sighed and left Alvar in a bound heap so he could pull Ruy into a choke hold.