Lodestar Page 39

Tam held Brant the same way. “I’m keeping his mind clouded with shadow so he can’t start any more fires. But I’ll feel a lot better when he’s locked up in a fireproof cell.”

  “Me too,” Sophie said. “But I don’t think it’s safe to leap Keefe until he’s out of the daze.”

  “Leap . . . where?” Keefe grunted between labored breaths.

  Sophie hugged him tighter. “I’m so sorry—I couldn’t take them down without hurting you.”

  He grit his teeth into a pained smile. “Admit it . . . Foster . . . you’re enjoying this . . . a little.”

  “Never.” She rubbed her eyes with her gloved fingers, trying to fight back sobs.

  “It’s not that bad,” he promised, and when she met his eyes, she could see the haze of pain slowly fading.

  It crashed right back when he tried to uncurl his blistered, blackened hand. The metal pin seemed to have fused with his skin. “Remind me to kick Brant in the junk a few times once he’s awake.”

  “Only if I get a turn,” she said. “Physic has lots of burn salve at Alluveterre. I’m sure she’ll get you fixed up.”

  “Physic?” Keefe asked. “Why not Elwin?”

  “Tam’s the only one who has a leaping crystal with him, and he’s been living at the hideout. We kinda came here by accident—it’s a long story. I’ll tell you once we’re back in the Lost Cities.”

  “He has a crystal to Alluveterre?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  Keefe closed his eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Is it hurting.”

  “No, it’s . . .” He took a slow breath and pulled himself up, cradling his singed hand. “I can’t go with you guys. I know you think this fixes everything—but Fintan’s vision is huge. And all of this will only be a small setback. We still need someone on the inside—”

  “Do you really think Fintan will trust you after you let everyone else get captured?” Sophie interrupted. “Think of what he did to your mom, and she only cost him one prisoner. Look at what Brant just did to you!” She grabbed his wrist, forcing him to see his oozing wound. “Would they do that if they trusted you?”

  Keefe turned away, not quite fighting off his shudder. “That’s why you have to let me take Alvar.”

  “Yeah, that’s never happening,” Fitz practically growled.

  “It has to. I know it’s brutal—but think of the bigger picture. If I bring Alvar back, I’m the hero who saved one of the team. And Alvar’s the safest one for me to take. He’s always believed in me—you heard him defend me when Brant sparked the flames! And he’s never killed anyone—”

  “No, he just kidnaps people and watches them be tortured,” Sophie snapped.

  “Believe me, I’ll make him pay for that—but right now we have to play this smart. Ruy and Brant are part of Fintan’s big plan, so take them, lock them up, and have Forkle interrogate the crud out of them until we find out what they know. But they’ll only know a piece, so I’ll use Alvar to keep my ‘in’ and learn the rest. I’ll be safe. Fintan . . . likes me.”

  “Dude, save your daddy issues for another time,” Tam ordered. “Fintan doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t trust you. And if you go back to him, he’ll destroy you.”

  Keefe’s eye roll was epic. “Don’t you need to go fix your bangs or something?”

  “You can hate me all you want,” Tam told him. “It won’t mean I’m not right. Admit that now, and you might still have a chance to fix what really matters. Or you can wait until you’ve lost her. It’s your call.”

  “Lost who?” Fitz asked.

  Tam shook his head. “We need to go.”

  “Tam’s right,” Sophie said, her legs shaking as she stood. “Come on, Keefe. You’re never going to get another chance like this. I’ve tried for weeks to figure out how to get you away from them, and this is it. You’re safe. You’ll be long gone before they realize what happened. And we’ll hide you somewhere until we shut down every single one of their hideouts connected to the symbol. And that’ll be the end of it.”

  “But it won’t be,” he mumbled. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. There’s still so much more to do.”

  “Then do it with us.”

  She offered him her gloved hand, and her eyes pleaded with him to take it this time.

  After a breathless second, he did.

  He let her pull him to his feet, leaning on her to stay steady. “I know what matters, Foster,” he whispered. “And it’s all that matters.”

  The intensity of his stare turned everything floaty and fluttery. But it all crashed back down when he lunged for Tam and snatched the Alluveterre crystal from his hand.

  “What are you doing?” Fitz shouted as Keefe bolted to Alvar and hefted him over his shoulder.

  “I bet I can trade this for the information I need to steal the caches. And I’d stay back if I were you,” he told Fitz and Tam. “You don’t want those guys waking up if you jostle them around too much, do you?”

  “Then drop him with your inflicting,” Tam shouted at Sophie.

  But Sophie had drained all her pent-up emotions when she took down the others. All she had left was shock, and a sickening sadness.

  “Please don’t do this,” she begged. “If you leave here with that crystal, you’ll trap us—and you’ll compromise Alluveterre.”

  “The Black Swan can sacrifice one hideout for what this will get me,” Keefe said. “And you can teleport. There has to be a cliff around here you can jump off to get the momentum.”

  “Are we supposed to haul two bodies with us as we try to find it?” Sophie argued.

  “Use your telekinesis. You’re the amazing Sophie Foster. You’ll figure it out.”

  “And you’re making a seriously huge mistake,” Tam warned.

  “Maybe. I’m pretty good at that—but I’m even better at fixing things. That’s still what I’m trying to do here. Trust me.”

  “How?” Sophie’s voice cracked along the edges. “After all the times you’ve lied or ignored us or betrayed us? How do we ever trust you again?”

  “I don’t know,” he whispered.

  “And I don’t know if I can forgive this one,” she whispered back.

  Keefe swallowed hard, eyes focused on his feet as he nodded. “Yeah . . . I can feel that. And if you needed proof that I’m not doing this for me—that’s it, okay?”

  It definitely was not okay.

  Nothing about this was okay.

  “I’m sorry,” Keefe whispered. “You have no idea how much. I’m also guessing this means no more check-ins. So please, please, please be careful. Keep your bodyguards close and know that I will end this.”

  It did feel like an end as he stepped onto the glowing Lodestar symbol. She just didn’t know what it was the end of.

  “Oh—I forgot to tell you,” he mumbled. “I finally know how the black disks work. If you have the one you need, and you give the right command . . .”

  He moved to a circle at the end of one of the rays and whispered, “Gwynaura.”

  The ray flashed so bright, Sophie had to look away.

  By the time the glow faded, Keefe and Alvar were gone.

  SEVENTY-ONE

  SO . . . THAT HAPPENED,” Tam mumbled. “You guys okay?”

  Fitz looked like he wanted to stab many things.

  “Fine,” Sophie said, pressing her shaky hand against the glass to steady it. She’d moved to the cracked window, staring at the long grassy field swaying in the wind. “Just trying to figure out how to get out of here. We could be wandering a long time trying to find a cliff.”

  “And my levitation’s not strong enough to lift a whole other person,” Tam said. “Especially since it sounds like we need to be pretty high up if we’re going to teleport. So weird that you need to free-fall.”

  “I guess we could press our panic switches,” Fitz suggested.

  “I thought of that,” Sophie said, “but it seems like something about this place must be interfering with the signal�
�otherwise wouldn’t Dex have already brought in the cavalry? He said the stronger trackers could be traced anytime, remember?”

  “So what does that leave?” Tam asked. “A telepathic call to Forkle?”

  That could work. But the suggestion gave her a better idea. She wasn’t ready for another big dramatic scene. And Silveny had made her promise to call for help if she ever needed her.

  She only sent the transmission twice before a giddy SOPHIE! SOPHIE! SOPHIE! blasted into her brain.

  But Silveny picked up on her mood almost immediately. SOPHIE NEED HELP?

  Yeah, Sophie told her. I don’t know where I am, but—

  FIND! FIND! FIND!

  The alicorn’s voice flashed away and Sophie barely had time to race outside before thunder cracked the sky and two shimmering alicorns—both gleaming silver, but one bigger, with blue-tipped wings—soared out of the void and circled around the gray, restless clouds.

  SOPHIE! FRIEND! HELP!

  Both alicorns tucked their wings and dove, slowing their fall at the last second and touching down in the long grass. Clearly Sophie’s ability to track thoughts to their locations came from her alicorn-inspired DNA.

  “Thank you,” Sophie whispered, taking a cautious step forward. She knew Silveny trusted her—but Greyfell was always warier, especially now that he was going to be a daddy.

  His deep brown eyes flickered to hers, and then to the empty field, his fur bristling, hooves stamping.

  I don’t like it here either, Sophie told him. We’ll be quick. We just need to load up.

  “Leave it to you to have our world’s most valuable creatures at your beck and call,” Tam said behind her as he dragged Brant over.

  “And I’m risking their lives by doing it—if the Neverseen show up . . .”

  She socked Brant in the face to make sure he stayed unconscious.

  Fitz did the same to Ruy.

  BAD PEOPLE? Silveny asked.

  The worst, Sophie transmitted.

  Silveny’s thoughts darkened. BITE THEM?

  Maybe once we get back. Right now, can you and Greyfell lean down so it’s easier to load them?

  “I’m staying with Brant,” Tam said as Sophie and Fitz helped him hoist the limp body onto Greyfell’s back. “Can you two both fit on the other alicorn, and hold Ruy?”

  “We’ll make it work,” Fitz said, “But I want you to sit behind me,” he told Sophie. “That way I can be a buffer between you and Ruy.”

  “I don’t need you to protect me,” she argued.

  “I know. But I’d prefer knowing you’re safe. Please? You have no idea how hard it was standing in that force field, watching them attack you. Just thinking about it . . . “ He flung Ruy over Silveny’s neck and climbed on before offering Sophie a hand. She let him pull her up, blushing when she wrapped her arms around his waist. They had to sit so close, she doubted a piece of paper could’ve been squeezed in between them.

  READY? Silveny asked.

  FLY! Sophie told her, and with a majestic flap, both alicorns launched into the sky.

  The cold wind whipped her hair and cheeks, turning everything numb—and numb was good. Sophie could use a lot more numb in her life.

  Silveny tried to distract her with a quick update on Operation Alicorn Baby—which was thankfully all good news. Then they reached a high enough altitude to dive.

  “Hold on tight!” Sophie warned Tam. “And it’s okay to scream during this next part.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Tam promised—but Sophie heard a fair amount of squealing and yelping as the alicorns zipped toward the ground.

  Right when it looked like they’d be splattering all over the grass, thunder cracked and the void split the space in front of them, swallowing them in black.

  “Remind me never to lose my leaping crystal again!” Tam groaned as they drifted through the dark nothingness. “You know how to get us out of here, right?”

  Sophie nodded.

  She just wasn’t quite ready to head back to reality—especially a reality where Keefe had betrayed them again.

  Fitz must’ve noticed her hesitation, because he leaned back and whispered, “Whatever happens next, I’m right here with you. You know that, right?”

  “I do.”

  The best part was, she actually believed him.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “Sorta. I have to keep reminding myself we’re bringing home prisoners.”

  So did Sophie.

  They’d landed a huge win.

  But she had a feeling they were both thinking about what they’d lost.

  “Okay,” she said, tightening her hold. “Here goes nothing.”

  Her head filled with a clear image of the Silver Tower as white light cracked through the void, blasting them back to Foxfire.

  SEVENTY-TWO

  SOPHIE HAD BRACED for tears and screaming and lectures—and her friends and family definitely delivered the second they arrived. Silveny and Greyfell were kind enough to circle over the campus a few times to let everyone get the brunt of it out of their systems, before they swooped in for a gentle landing in the lush purple grass.

  Everyone sprinted to meet them, and Sophie realized their welcome party had grown, now including Elwin, all twelve Councillors, Grady and Edaline, Kesler and Juline, Granite, Wraith, and Blur, and—maddeningly—Tam and Linh’s parents, all surrounding them in a massive circle.

  Questions were shouted. Explanations were demanded. But it all screeched to a halt when everyone spotted the Neverseen prisoners draped across the alicorns’ backs.

  Sandor took charge then, ordering everyone to stay back as Woltzer and Lovise hauled Brant and Ruy to the ground and stood guard over their unconscious forms. Edaline conjured up the thickest rope from their supply shed at Havenfield, and Sandor and Grizel bound the prisoners more securely before Elwin poured his strongest sedative down their throats.

  “What are you going to do with them?” Grady asked, the words as shaky as his hands. His eyes stayed locked on Brant, and he positioned himself in front of Edaline and Sophie.

  “Let us handle it,” Mr. Forkle told him.

  “We’ll handle it,” Councillor Emery corrected, his deep voice triggering a silence that seemed to still even the wind. The other Councillors gathered around him, their gleaming circlets testifying to their authority as they focused on the members of the Collective. “The Neverseen’s crimes stretch well beyond your order.”

  “Very well,” Mr. Forkle said. “What is your plan for the prisoners?”

  “That is to be determined.” Emery closed his eyes and turned away to moderate a telepathic debate with the other Councillors.

  Everyone else swarmed closer to Sophie, Tam, and Fitz.

  “You smell like smoke,” Elwin noted, trying to flash an orb of red light around Sophie—even though Edaline was busy strangle-hugging her.

  “I’m fine,” Sophie promised, not letting her eyes stray to the glass pyramid in the distance. “Tam and Fitz helped me take them down before things got out of control.”

  “We’re fine too,” Fitz said as his parents and Biana practically crushed him. “Thank goodness Tam’s shadows could break us out of Ruy’s force field.”

  “Is that true?” Tam’s mother asked. “You’re a hero?”

  “Still not ready,” Tam said, raising a hand to halt his parents as they approached. Instead, he wrapped his arm around Linh, and she buried her face in his shoulder.

  “You guys have a lot of explaining to do,” Dex told them. “Do you know you trapped me in that room? The mirror sealed shut the second Tam vanished. Sandor had to smash the glass.”

  Biana begged for the whole story, and Sophie was grateful Fitz had the energy to tell it. He kept it short and sweet, focusing on their victories.

  There’s clearly more you’re not saying, Mr. Forkle transmitted.

  See for yourself. Sophie’s nails dug into her palms as her mind replayed the whole showdown, from the moment the Neverseen arrived, to
Keefe’s latest betrayal. You need to move Wylie out of Alluveterre—now. And Tam and Linh can’t go back.

  No, they can’t.

  Mr. Forkle’s eyes flicked to Granite, and Granite scrambled for his pathfinder.

  “Excuse me,” he told the Councillors. “I must check on my son.”

  “Your son?” Councillor Terik asked, catching Granite’s slip.

  “Yes, I have a son, and another life behind this disguise. Surely that doesn’t come as a surprise. And hopefully someday you’ll learn to cooperate with us and I won’t have to hide. But until then . . .”

  Granite leaped away, and Blur and Wraith followed.

  “One of our hideouts has been compromised,” Mr. Forkle explained. “Fortunately, it sounds like the Neverseen are facing the same dilemma.”

  “On a way larger scale, right?” Biana asked. “If Tam does that shadow trick again, won’t that take you to all of their hideouts?”

  “Any that are connected to the symbol,” Tam said. “Not sure if that’s all of them.”

  “Then shouldn’t we get moving on that?” Alden asked. “We don’t want to give them a chance to clear out.”

  “We also don’t want to be hasty,” Councillor Emery said. “First let’s handle the prisoners in our custody. We’ve voted to move them to Lumenaria, where we’re already holding their co-conspirator. We’d been hoping to send a message during the summit that this worthless rebellion will soon be a thing of the past. And what better way to do so than to present them with three defeated prisoners? We’ll arrange a viewing on the first night.”

  “I’m assuming you’ll also be performing a memory break?” Mr. Forkle asked.

  “Not until after the summit.”

  “That might be too late.” Sophie squared her shoulders as all eyes focused on her. “We have reason to believe the Neverseen have a larger plan in the works—a plan that both Ruy and Brant were involved with. Interrogating them is our only chance to learn how to stop it.”

  “And what is your reason for believing this?” Councillor Emery asked.

  Sophie thought she was ready to throw Keefe to the wolves. But . . . her voice wouldn’t cooperate.

  When Tam and Fitz didn’t chime in either, she went with a different tactic.