Keeper of the Lost Cities (30 page)

“Okay,” she mumbled, dropping her eyes. “I guess I’ll see you when I wake up.”

Neither of them said anything as she walked back to the house. No good night. Certainly no hugs. And when she turned back to wave, they’d already turned away.

THINGS WEREN’T MUCH BETTER AT
breakfast the next morning. Grady and Edaline’s smiles looked forced, and neither had much to say.

“So where did the flareadon come from?” Sophie asked, trying to fill the silence.

“She flew into our pasture, screeching her head off, and we scrambled to calm her down,” Grady answered. “That’s when you found us. It’s strange. Flareadons live near volcanoes—that’s why it didn’t occur to me to use fire. Gildie strayed a long way from home.”

“Gildie?”

“We were up late with her, calming her down, and it felt silly calling her ‘flareadon.’ So when we figured out it was a female, Edaline named her Gildie.”

“It’s a good name.”

Edaline gave a forced smile, and looked away.

“You really think you read her mind?” Grady asked.

“How would I have known about the fire? I think I might go practice with Gildie for a few minutes before school.”

“Absolutely not,” Edaline snapped, instantly on her feet. “You’re staying home to rest. And you’re not to go anywhere near those animals. Is that understood?”

“But I’m fine now. And I always help you guys outside.”

“Well, that was a mistake on our part—one I’m correcting now. I don’t want you outside in the pastures anymore.”

Grady wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Is this about last night?” Sophie whispered.

“It’s about a lot of things. We haven’t been looking out for your safety, and I’m trying to correct that.” Edaline sighed. “Why don’t you go study? Finals are less than a month away.”

Unfortunately, Edaline was right.

Sophie spent the rest of the weekend trying to wade through the horrible firecatching book Sir Conley had assigned her to read the day of the Quintessence debacle. She had a feeling firecatching would be on the final exam. But it was so dry, she kept taking breaks to experiment with Iggy.

Most of the time she couldn’t decipher what he was thinking, but she suspected it was because Iggy didn’t think before he acted. Like when he wrestled with one of her socks and rolled off the bed, or shredded her homework for no apparent reason. But other times she did wonder if she could feel his thoughts. It was more of a vague emotion than a concrete thought—which actually made sense. Human thoughts felt different from elvin thoughts. Maybe each creature’s mind was different. She’d have to ask Tiergan to know for sure.

“IF
ANYONE
ELSE TOLD ME
that, I would question their sanity.” Tiergan chuckled. “But with you, I’m learning anything is possible.”

Sophie blushed. “You’ve really never heard of anyone reading animals’ minds?”

“No. I’ve also never heard of anyone transmitting across impossible distances, or having an impenetrable mind, or tracking exact locations, so I can’t say I’m surprised. In fact, I wonder . . . Do you think you could transmit to an animal? Or track them?”

“I guess I could try.”

His face lit up. “Yes—you must. And if you can, I think that would qualify as passing your final exam.”

“You’d pass me—just like that?”

“Sophie, you have the greatest telepathic abilities I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure I’m qualified to test you. Even if you can’t do this, I’ll find some other excuse to pass you. It’d be wrong not to.”

Her heart lightened at his words. One exam down. Seven more to go. “I’ll work on it tonight and let you know on Thursday.”

“I look forward to hearing your results.”

SOPHIE DECIDED TO PRACTICE WITH
a different animal, so she chose their resident T. rex. Verdi’s thoughts were more defined than Iggy’s but less intense than Gildie’s, and when she sent Verdi an image of her right paw over and over, Verdi finally got the hint and raised it. Then Verdi’s thoughts told her she wanted a tummy rub as a reward. Sophie giggled and rubbed the soft, downy feathers. She could transmit thoughts to animals—how awesome was that?

“What are you doing out here?”

Sophie spun around, backing up a step when she saw the fury in Edaline’s eyes. “I’m reading Verdi’s mind for homework. I think she wants to eat the verminion, so you might want to keep her away from him.”

She waited for Edaline to laugh—or at least smile. Instead her eyes narrowed. “I thought I made it clear that you’re not supposed to be outside.”

Sophie kept waiting for things to go back to normal after the allergy incident, but it’d been four days and Edaline was getting worse. “I have to be allowed outside sometime.”

“If I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it,” Edaline snapped.

“But I’m fine. You have to stop acting like everything could kill me!”

Edaline paled. She looked anywhere but Sophie. “You’re right. I’m worrying too much.”

“I promise I’ll be careful,” Sophie said, desperate for something that might erase the pain in Edaline’s features. “You don’t have to worry.”

Edaline was quiet for a long time before she shook her head. “Yes. I do.” Then she turned and went inside without another word.

EDALINE DIDN’T JOIN THEM FOR
dinner. Sophie tried to ask Grady about it—tried to apologize—but he just told her not to worry and stared out the window.

Loud pounding on the front door broke the silence between them.

Sophie answered the door and an out-of-breath Alden raced in. The smell of smoke and fire trailed around him like an aura.

Grady leaped to his feet. “What happened?”

“There’s been a development.” Alden glanced at Sophie before turning to Grady. “I need your help.”

Their eyes held for at least a minute before Grady stepped back, recoiling like he’d been struck. It took Sophie a second to realize Alden had transmitted a message.

Grady leaned on the table, panting breaths shaking his chest as he ran his hands through his hair. “I . . . can’t,” he whispered.

“You know I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t imperative.”

Grady shook his head. “I’m sorry. Ask the others.”

“You’re the only one I trust.”

Sophie held her breath, watching Grady. Alden’s face looked desperate, and if he was worried, it
had
to be vital.

Grady sank into a chair looking thirty years older. He hid his face in his hands. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

Alden closed his eyes. Listening to Grady’s thoughts? Transmitting another plea? Not since the cheating incident had Sophie been so tempted to violate the ethics of telepathy and find out what was going on. But if Alden somehow caught her, Bronte could use it to have her exiled.

Would he catch her?

She could probably sneak in without him knowing, but what would she do with the information? If she said or did anything about it, he’d
know
how she found out.

It wasn’t worth the risk.

Alden let out a full body sigh. “I’ll have to find another way then. Excuse me.” He nodded to Sophie as he turned to leave.

“Wait.” It took her a second to realize the voice was hers. She cleared her throat as Alden faced her. “What’s going on?”

Alden opened his mouth, but Grady cut him off.

“Go to bed, Sophie!”

“But—”

“Go to bed now!”

She’d never heard Grady so angry. Even Alden took a step back. She blinked—her eyes burning with hurt and humiliation—and fled to her room.

GRADY AND EDALINE WEREN’T HOME
when Sophie came down for breakfast. They left a note on the table for her: “Gone out
.
”

No “good morning.” No “love, Grady and Edaline.” She tried not to let it bother her . . . but it did.

They were still gone when she got home from school.

As much as she wanted to practice telepathy with Verdi or Gildie, she stayed inside and studied. She was determined to do what she could to cooperate.

At sunset the gnomes shared some of their dinner and she ate alone in her room, wondering if she should worry. When the stars came out, she decided it was time to call Alden. Before she could, the front door slammed.

She raced down the hall, freezing when she heard hushed conversation. She peered over the railing, catching a partial view of Grady and Edaline.

“It was the right decision,” Grady told Edaline, sweeping the hair off her face as he pulled her closer. Muffled sobs drifted up the stairs. “It’s best for everyone. Alden will find someone else.”

Edaline cried harder and Grady cleared his throat. “Come on, I’ll take you upstairs.”

Sophie barely had enough time to sneak back to her room. She crouched by Iggy’s cage and rubbed his cheeks through the bars as Grady peeked his head through the door. “Oh, you’re awake.”

“I wanted to make sure you got home safe before I went to bed.”

Guilt twisted his handsome features. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to worry you.”

“It’s okay. Where were you?”

“On an errand.”

She stared at her hands. “Did it have something to do with Alden’s visit last night?”

“That’s none of your business. You should go to bed. It’s getting late.”

She didn’t want to upset him, but she needed to know. “Something bad is happening, isn’t it?”

Grady’s sigh echoed through the silence. “It’s nothing you need to worry about. Okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed.

But when she crawled into bed, all she did was worry.

C
AN I TALK TO YOU?” SOPHIE WHISPERED
to Fitz on their way into the cafeteria the next day. “Somewhere private?”

His brows shot up at the request, but he shrugged and motioned for her to come with him. She could feel Dex’s eyes burning into the back of her head as she followed Fitz down the hall.

“What’s up?” he asked when they were alone.

“Do you know what your dad’s investigating right now?”

“Why?”

She focused on his nose to think a little more clearly. His eyes had a way of turning her brain to mush. “He came over a couple nights ago, begging Grady for help with something. It seemed like it was important.”

“I’m sure there’s no reason to worry.”

She rolled her eyes. He sounded just like his dad. “He looked
really
stressed, Fitz. I’ve never seen him like that. Do you know what he’s working on?”

He hesitated. “It’s some sort of fire—and I only know that because he comes home smelling like smoke. He doesn’t tell me about official matters.”

“But he sent you to find me, so he must tell you
some
stuff.”

Fitz glanced over his shoulder, making sure they were still alone. “That was an exception. He needed someone close to your age to follow the leads he found—someone who would blend in. Otherwise he wouldn’t have involved me.”

She chewed her lip, processing his words. “And you have
no
idea what he’s working on—at all?”

Something changed in his face. He knew more than he was telling her—she was positive.

You can trust me,
she transmitted into his mind.

He sucked in a breath. “Whoa—I keep forgetting you can do that.”

Please,
she pressed. She may have sworn off investigating things after the Quintessence debacle, but this was big—and it was tearing Grady and Edaline apart.
I need to know.

His eyes searched hers, then closed. “I shouldn’t do this.”

Please.

He leaned his head against the wall. “Concentrate.”

She knew what he meant. He couldn’t transmit into her mind—even Tiergan couldn’t—so he wanted her to read his thoughts. She opened her mind and
listened
.

I heard him talking to Alvar,
he thought.
It’s not one fire—it’s hundreds. All in the Forbidden Cities. All starting the same day. And the flames are this weird fluorescent yellow color. The Council ruled it a human arsonist and refused to investigate, but my dad thinks the Black Swan is involved. Alvar thinks he’s crazy.

Her heart stopped. Hundreds of human fires?
Do you know which cities?

He didn’t say. But I know they’re all over the planet.

Are they near my family?

I’m sure they’re fine. My dad was assigned to keep an eye on them—in case their memories come back.

Alden never told her that. But it was nice to know someone was watching them.
Do you know what the Black Swan is up to?

No idea—I swear. And you can’t tell anyone I told you this. I’m not supposed to know.

I won’t. I promise.

“Okay? Can we go eat lunch now?” he asked.

“You can. I need to think.”

“Don’t worry about it, Sophie. I’m sure it’s not a big deal.”

She forced a smile. “I just want to think.”

She wandered the halls, letting her mind spin with the new information.

Why would the Black Swan set fires around humans—and why were they yellow this time? Why did Alden need Grady to help? And why did Grady refuse?

She made her way to the atrium so she could switch her books before everyone else got there. She wasn’t in the mood to talk.

A book was waiting on the center shelf of her locker:
An Insider’s Guide to Pyrokinesis
. It came with a note: “Hope this helps you find what you’re looking for.”

She smiled. She’d forgotten the librarian’s promise to send her anything she found on Pyrokinetics. There couldn’t be better timing.

ALCHEMY WAS AN EVEN BIGGER
disaster than usual. Sophie was way too distracted to concentrate, and after she accidentally turned a part of her own shoe to copper, Lady Galvin released her early, before anything could happen to her cape. Sophie used the time to head to the Level Six library, to thank the librarian for finding the book.

“Still looking for books on pyrokinesis?” she asked when she saw Sophie.

“No, the one you gave me is more than enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“An Insider’s Guide to Pyrokinesis.”
She froze when she caught the look of absolute confusion on the librarian’s face. “Didn’t you send me the book?”