LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT,” Ro said as she followed Sophie down the moonlit path that wove through Havenfield’s creature-filled pastures. “Five minutes in Lord Creepypants’s head and suddenly we’re not going after Hunkyhair?”
“It was far more than five minutes,” Sandor grumbled. “But I’m glad you’ve come to your senses.”
Sophie ignored him. “I still have the list of cities if we need it,” she told Ro. “But… we’re never going to find him that way.”
“Not with that attitude!” Ro jumped in front of her. “Where’s that Foster ferocity I adore? Come on, if you’re powerful enough to do that crazy-fast running thing you keep doing, dragging Sandor and me along with you like we weigh less than my tiniest daggers as you launch us in and out of that dark void, you are powerful enough to track down Sir Sulks-a-Lot!”
Sophie sighed. “It doesn’t work that way. Trust me, I hate this as much as you do. But… I’ve also realized that Keefe will probably be safer if he stays hidden.”
“Probably? You’re giving me probably?”
Sophie stared up at the night sky, focusing on the twinkling stars. “Probably is all we really have anymore.”
“Oh, how powerful. How poetic.” Ro made a bunch of gagging noises. “Come on, Blondie! Let’s call this what it is! You’re giving up on our boy!”
“No, I’m not!” Sophie scooted around Ro, needing to keep moving. “I just realized there are definitely reasons why Keefe’s better off being far away from here right now. And there are other things we can focus on that will do a lot more to help him.”
Ro leaped in front of her again. “Like what? And if you say ‘finding the Neverseen,’ you can expect a great big THAT’S NEVER GONNA HAPPEN! And if you say ‘research,’ I swear, I’m going to—”
“I’m not saying anything—yet!”
“Greeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaat. So you don’t actually have a plan, but you’d still rather do nothing than—”
“I’m not doing nothing!” Sophie tried to shove past Ro, but Ro knocked her back with her extra-long ogre arms.
“Do not touch my charge!” Sandor warned, unsheathing his sword as he dragged Sophie behind him.
“Bring it on, Gigantor!” Ro drew two of her daggers. “She pushed me first.”
“STOP!” Sophie begged, wrenching free from Sandor so she could stand between them.
“Not until you give me some actual answers! I don’t get it—you were the one with the big panicky speech about how our boy will never survive on his own in Humanland. And now you’re going to abandon him?”
“I’m not abandoning him. I’m just… admitting I might have overreacted a bit. The Forbidden Cities are complicated and confusing, but Keefe’s a quick thinker. And he’s a survivor. He also begged me not to come after him—”
“Yeah, well, since when do we listen to that weirdo?”
Sophie closed her eyes, needing a moment to clear her head.
She was getting a little too tempted to blast Ro with one of her red-lightning Inflictor beams.
“Close your eyes all you want—I’ll still be standing right here, judging you!” Ro informed her.
“I’m sure you will.”
Sophie took a long, slow breath.
Then another.
And another.
“Now I’m judging you and deciding which bacteria to slip into your next beverage,” Ro felt the need to tell her. “The one that causes fire farts? Or the one that causes burps of doom?”
“Not on my watch!” Sandor snarled.
“Eh, you’ll be too busy drooling foam,” Ro countered.
Sophie rubbed her temples. “You know what? If you want to search for Keefe, no one’s stopping you! I’ll even give you the list Lord Cassius gave me.”
“Oh, there’s a brilliant plan. I’m sure it won’t cause any problems, having an ogre pop out of the ground around tons of humans. Definitely wouldn’t violate any treaties! Besides, I travel slower than you do.”
“Then I guess you’re going to have to trust me.”
“Maybe I would if you’d give me a reason to!”
“I’m working on that, okay?”
Sophie stomped past Ro, heading toward her favorite place to think. Sitting under the wispy branches of Calla’s Panakes tree always gave her a special kind of clarity—and the twin baby alicorns snoozing in the soft, flower-dusted grass were a definite bonus.
“Sparkly horse snuggle time?” Ro grumbled when she noticed where Sophie was going. “That’s your plan?”
It wasn’t—but it did give Sophie an idea. “Actually, I need to talk to Silveny.”
The mama alicorn was busy grazing in a nearby pasture, but she raised her shimmering head when she heard her name.
FRIEND! SOPHIE! FLY!
I wish, Sophie transmitted, imagining the look on Ro’s face if she jumped on Silveny’s back and soared far, far away. Right now, I need your help.
Silveny trotted closer. FRIEND! SOPHIE! HELP!
She nuzzled her velvet-soft nose into Sophie’s neck, and Sophie leaned against her, trailing her hands through the silky strands of her mane. I need you to try transmitting to Keefe.
She paused, knowing Silveny would interrupt with a brain-rattling KEEFE! KEEFE! KEEFE!
Yes! she said when Silveny finished. Call for him just like that—but transmit as far as you can, okay? Like you do when you need to reach me and don’t know where I am. His mind is different than mine since he’s not a Telepath. But he should be able to pick up a transmission if it’s loud enough—and no one is louder than you.
Silveny stepped back and angled her head, studying Sophie with her gold-flecked brown eyes. KEEFE GONE?
Sophie nodded. He ran off this afternoon.
Silveny let out a screechy whinny. KEEFE SAFE?
I don’t know. I hope so, but…
She tried to shut down her brain—tried to stop it from flashing through nightmare images of Keefe passed out in a ditch or locked behind bars. But Silveny saw them anyway and flapped her wings like she wanted to start scouring the planet.
You can’t, Sophie told her. He’s hiding with humans.
HELP! KEEFE! FRIEND! Silveny argued, flapping harder.
But then she glanced at her tiny twin babies, and her mind filled with memories of all the times she’d had to flee for her life to avoid human hunters or trappers.
She hung her head and tucked her wings.
I know, Sophie said, gently stroking Silveny’s fur. I’m worried about him too. That’s why I need you to transmit to him. He’ll ignore me because he doesn’t want me coming after him—but I’m hoping he won’t ignore you.
Keefe would probably worry something was seriously wrong if he suddenly heard Silveny calling for him. Plus, Sophie wasn’t sure it was possible for anyone to ignore the exuberant alicorn when she really set her mind on getting their attention.
Silveny studied Sophie again, and Sophie’s head filled with images of Keefe flashing his trademark smirk and tossing his artfully mussed hair and calling Silveny Glitter Butt—but a grayish sort of sadness tinted each of the memories.
I miss him too, Sophie said, resting her head against Silveny’s cheek.
Silveny snuffled. SOPHIE OKAY?
I’m trying to be. But I’ll feel a lot better if you can make contact with him, so I can make sure he’s safe.
SAFE! SAFE! SAFE! Silveny agreed. KEEFE! KEEFE! KEEFE!
The last chant was so loud, Sophie could feel the words vibrating all the way to her bones.
Perfect! she told Silveny, stepping back to get a little space. Keep doing that as much as you can. Hopefully it’ll make him reach out to me to find out what’s going on. Or who knows? He may even let you into his mind, and you’ll be able to ask where he is.
HOPE! HOPE! HOPE! Silveny cheered. FIND! KEEFE! SAFE!
She followed that with another round of KEEFE! KEEFE! KEEFE!
Then another.
And another.
Wynn and Luna soon joined in, galloping circles around Sophie as they transmitted. Their baby calls weren’t nearly as loud as their mom’s, but they were the most adorable Keefe-Keefe-Keefes ever.
“Okay,” Sophie said, fighting the urge to tug on her eyelashes as she spun around to face Ro, “I’m having the alicorns try transmitting to Keefe since they’ll have a way better chance of getting his attention. Hopefully they’ll figure out how to make contact soon and either find out where Keefe is or at least pass on some messages from us.”
Ro re-sheathed her daggers. “Well… I suppose that’s a start—but that better not be your whole plan!”
“It isn’t.”
A salty ocean breeze whipped through the pastures, and Sophie rubbed her arms, partially for warmth and partially so she’d have something to do with her angsty energy.
She hated that Lord Cassius had made some valid points—and she really hated the idea of leaving Keefe on his own. And she really really really hated the way Ro kept staring at her.
So much judgment. And anticipation. And pressure.
It wasn’t fair!
She didn’t hear Ro coming up with any brilliant ideas or solutions.
Besides… Keefe did beg her not to come after him.
He’d even told her…
“Wait,” Sophie said, pulling Keefe’s note out of her pocket—and keeping a very tight grip on the paper as she reread the part she’d just remembered. She checked it three more times before she whispered, “I… might actually know where he went.”
She shoved the letter back into her pocket and took off running, ignoring Ro’s and Sandor’s demands for an explanation—and Grady’s and Edaline’s startled greetings—as she raced into Havenfield’s mansion and bolted upstairs.
She stumbled into her room, heading straight to her desk and yanking open one of the drawers.
“Okay, Blondie—spill it,” Ro demanded as she burst into the bedroom, huffing to catch her breath. “What’s going on?”
“And know that I’m blocking your path to the Leapmaster!” Sandor called from the hall.
“I don’t need it!” Sophie called back as her fingers closed around the small silver gadget she’d been searching for. “I have this!”
She spun around to face Ro and held out her hand with a flourish.
“Oh good, another talky-square thing,” Ro muttered.
“A special talky-square thing!” Sophie corrected. “I’m only allowed to use it in an emergency—but I think this counts, don’t you?”
She hugged the Imparter to her chest and made her way over to her bed, collapsing onto the pile of pillows.
Ro flopped down beside her. “Soooooooooo… care to explain why you’re suddenly all confident and smiley? Otherwise I’m going to assume it’s because you just reread my favorite line in Hunkyhair’s letter.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “No, I reread a different line. The one that says, ‘I want to make sure you understand who you’d be putting in danger.’ Right after that he wrote, ‘I’m going to be hiding the same way the Black Swan hid you,’ so I thought that was his way of making it clear he’d be hiding with humans. But now I’m wondering if the ‘who’ meant a very specific person.”
“Who?” Ro demanded.
Sophie hugged the special Imparter a little tighter. “My sister.”