Again.
Again.
Sophie watched in dazed horror, until Biana’s scream snapped her out of it, followed by several thumps and crashes.
“She needs help,” Fitz said, cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting, “HOW DO WE GET UP THERE?”
Another scream was Biana’s only answer.
Fitz grabbed Sophie’s arm. “Please tell me you can track her.”
“I’m trying,” she promised. “But I think I need help.”
She took his hand to enhance him and Fitz squeezed his eyes shut.
His whole body shook as he told her, “She’s somewhere above us.”
“I know—but I can’t tell how she got up there. Can you?” Sophie asked.
Sweat streamed down Fitz’s face as he shook his head.
“Scour the room for a staircase,” Grizel ordered when glass shattered and Biana screamed again.
“It’s not in here,” Ro warned. “Biana’s scent leads out the door. She must’ve slipped free before they locked us in.”
“Then, how’s it going on that lock, Dex?” Fitz shouted.
Dex rattled the door. “I’m trying everything I can think of. But Vespera wasn’t lying about how this place doesn’t use technology.”
“Does this help?” Sophie asked, grabbing his hand.
He shook his head. “It’s not a gadget. I can’t talk to it—I don’t know what to do.”
“Stand back!” Ro commanded, shoving Dex aside and slamming her body against the door.
Sandor and Grizel joined her, but even with their combined strength, they only managed to warp the metal.
“I’ll make Fintan open it,” Grady said, gritting his teeth. Veins bulged across his forehead and Fintan turned, eyes full of pure, black hate as he stumbled out of sight, heading their way.
The small victory only lasted until Biana shouted, “RUN!” followed by an agonized scream and a whole lot of shattering glass.
Vespera’s voice hissed around the room. “You want to see ruthless?”
The air sizzled and popped as the force field unraveled—and the gorgodon bared its fangs and leaped for their throats.
Seventy-nine
NOW WOULD BE a really good time for us to figure out how to get that door open,” Keefe yelled as they all tucked and rolled out of the gorgodon’s path.
The beast slammed into the wall, crashing through layers of glass and sending jagged shards flying as it scrambled to its feet and roared.
“On it,” Dex called back, pulling a melder out of his cloak and popping off the back. “I’m going to blast through the whole stupid door.”
“We’ll keep the gorgodon away while you work,” Sophie told him. “Everyone spread out and try to distract it.”
Her friends obeyed—though Fitz kept screaming Biana’s name, asking if she was okay.
“She’s probably hiding,” Grady told him, glass crunching under his feet as he stumbled to the nearest wall. “And you’d better work fast, Dex. I’m no longer controlling Fintan.”
“Does that mean he can torch this place?” Tam asked as he blanketed Dex in shadows.
“No. I could feel my hold slipping, so I made Fintan knock himself out. But I don’t know how long the unconsciousness will last.” Grady slumped against the wall, his face sweaty and gray.
“Are you okay?” Sophie asked.
He closed his eyes and nodded. “Fintan fought me pretty hard.”
“I’ll cover you,” Marella offered, gathering flames as she ran to Grady’s side and held them in front of her like a weapon.
“Uh, I think that’s making the gorgodon angrier,” Tam warned. He pointed to the snarling beast, which had crouched into a pounce stance, its yellow gaze locked on Marella.
Marella snuffed out her flames, but the gorgodon still leaped—and it would’ve been a perfect strike, if a wave of water hadn’t slammed it into the far wall, shattering more mirrors.
The gorgodon was back on its feet immediately—shaking its feathers dry and raising its wings as it launched off the floor and circled above them.
“Oh good, now it’s airborne!” Keefe said as Linh gathered water for another attack. “Any chance you feel like manifesting as a Psionipath, Foster? Because a new force field would really come in handy right now.”
“I wish,” she mumbled.
But maybe she could control the beast a different way. . . .
She closed her eyes, stretching out her mind the way she’d done with Verdi and Iggy and Silveny, hoping she could convince the gorgodon that they should be friends.
But the gorgodon’s mind was a swirling pool of nothing. No sounds. No images. Only shadows of what used to be—as if everything had been blotted out by its cavernous grief.
The bleakness made Sophie’s eyes water—made her want to help the tortured creature. Maybe if she—
“WATCH OUT!” Sandor screamed, dragging Sophie behind him.
He raised his sword at the gorgodon, which was diving straight for them.
Fitz threw out his arms, whipping dozens of fallen shards toward the beast with telekinesis. But nothing slowed the gorgodon’s plummet—until Linh knocked it back with a massive geyser.
Glass rained down as it slammed into the ceiling, and Tam shrouded Linh in shadows while the beast scanned the room for its attacker.
“Anyone have a plan yet?” Tam shouted.
“Besides ‘don’t die’?” Keefe asked, leaping over rubble as he sprinted across the room. “How about you guys keep that thing away from me so I can get Foster’s parents and we can flee this death trap the second Dex gets that door open.”
“Do you need help?” Sophie called as Sandor struggled to keep her shielded.
“Nope, I got this. Just keep the gorgodon distracted.”
“Done!” Ro hurled a dagger at the beast’s flank.
The knife bounced off the gorgodon’s thick skin—but definitely got the creature’s attention.
Grizel tackled Ro to save her from a tail-sting to the face, and Linh knocked the beast back with another wave.
Sophie tried to think of a way to help, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Keefe as he charged straight into the tallest section of flames.
“Made it!” he shouted. “Good thing my mom wasn’t lying about that!”
“And my parents are really there?” Sophie asked, not sure what she’d do if they’d fallen for another of Vespera’s illusions.
“They are!” Keefe promised. “And they’re breathing!”
Hope bloomed in Sophie’s heart—but it was quickly choked out by thorns of dread as her mind dredged up the glimpses she’d caught of her parents’ wounds.
“What’s taking so long?” Ro shouted as she and Grizel dove to avoid the gorgodon’s talons.
“Just trying to break these chains,” Keefe told them.
Lots of metal clanking followed.
“Keefe’s going to need help,” Sophie realized. “Even if he can break them out, he won’t be able to carry both of them.”
Sandor’s nod looked grim. “I’ll go—but I want you to stay over there.”
He pointed to where Marella was guarding a slumped Grady while Fitz covered Dex a few feet away, as Dex screwed some sort of contraption onto the end of the melder.
“Deal,” Sophie said, darting for her friends.
Sandor dashed into the fray, dodging the water balls Linh was hurling at the gorgodon to keep its focus away from Keefe. Tam had covered Ro and Grizel with shadows, helping them sneak up on the beast’s sides—but as they got close, the gorgodon flapped its wings, knocking them over.
“You okay?” Grady asked when Sophie made it to his side.
“I think so—you?”
“Yeah, I’m just trying to figure out where Fintan is. I can’t feel his mind anymore, and I’m not sure if that’s because he’s still unconscious, or if my brain is too tired, or if he’s woken up and moved beyond my range. Any progress on the door, Dex?”
“Actually, yeah.” Dex showed off his melder, which now looked like some sort of alien ray gun. “Just making sure this thing won’t blow off my hand.”
“What about you?” Sophie asked Fitz, noticing how pale and sweaty he looked.
He shook his head, eyes on the ceiling. “Biana’s still up there. And I haven’t heard her scream since she told us to run. Have you?”
Shame heated Sophie’s cheeks when she admitted she hadn’t.
She hadn’t even been listening—or thinking about Biana at all.
And when she stretched out her consciousness . . .
Silence.
Which made her wonder if Vespera was right.
What if there wasn’t a way to get all of her friends out of this safely?
And not just that day—but the next? And the next?
“We can’t keep this up,” she whispered.
“Yes we can,” Grady promised. “When Dex gets the door open, we’re going to find Biana and Fintan—maybe Vespera too—and get your parents out of this miserable place.”
“It won’t be that simple,” Sophie told him. “The gorgodon is going to chase us. And I doubt the door will hold it back—if we can still close it after Dex blasts though.”
“Then I’ll burn the beast,” Marella told her. “Or put up a wall of flame in the hall.”
“You really think you can do that without burning this whole place down?” Sophie asked.
“Are you sure about any of the dangerous things you do?” Marella countered. “Besides, why bring me along if you’re not going to let me use my power?”
“Or . . . maybe we should let the fire get out of hand,” Fitz suggested. “I know destroying this place is what Keefe’s mom wants, but it’s pretty creepy here.”
He wasn’t wrong.
But the facility was also the only evidence of what had really happened to the humans in Atlantis.
And what if the fire got out of hand and spread to another part of the city?
Even the idea of killing the gorgodon felt wrong—especially after feeling how much it had already suffered.
“I don’t think we should turn to fire just yet,” Grady said, sitting up and rubbing the spot between his eyes. “Not until we’ve exhausted all other options.”
“Haven’t we?” Marella asked.
“No,” Grady insisted. “Sophie hasn’t tried enhancing me. Maybe I can control the gorgodon—”
“Uh, shouldn’t you have done that a while ago?” Fitz snapped.
“I wanted to. But controlling Fintan drained me too much.” He struggled to his feet and held out his hand.
“You’re sure you’re not going to freak out and start controlling all of us?” Sophie had to ask.
He smiled. “Let’s hope not.”
“That’s not actually ‘no,’ ” she reminded him. But her reluctance faded when she spotted Sandor and Keefe cornered by the gorgodon.
They each held a limp figure wrapped in discarded Neverseen cloaks, which was making it nearly impossible for them to duck around the venomous tail.
She grabbed Grady’s hand—then yelped from the jolt of heat that zapped between them.
“Is this how it always feels?” Grady asked through gritted teeth.
Sophie shook her head. “It’s never this intense. Want me to let go?”
“No. Just . . . give me a second.” An eerie sort of stillness settled over him as sweat beaded on his upper lip.
He turned toward the gorgodon—and the second his brow scrunched, the beast plummeted to the floor, rolling onto its side with wide, glassy eyes and stiff limbs.
“You didn’t kill it, did you?” Sophie asked.
“No!” The word was both a shout and a snarl as Grady’s eyes glazed over.
“Do I want to know what just happened?” Keefe called.
“Just hurry!” Sophie shouted, trying to pull her hand free—but Grady held on.
“Are you okay?” she asked him.
His attention slid to her, brow furrowing again as he studied her with that vacant stare.
“Grady,” she said, tugging harder on her hand. “Dad!”
The second word did the trick, crashing through the haze enough for him to let go and stumble back.
“Are you okay?” Sophie repeated.
He covered his face. “Never let me do that again.”
She nodded. “What happened?”
“I—”
His answer vanished when Linh, Ro, and Grizel sprinted over—followed by Keefe and Sandor.
Sophie stared at the limp bodies in their arms, telling herself not to look at her parents’ swollen cuts and bruises and blisters.
All that mattered was that it was them.
And they were still breathing—still sleeping.
She had to let that be enough.
Tears streamed down her face, pouring even faster when Dex blasted the door handle and shouted, “Okay, let’s go!”
Eighty
I NEED YOU to get my parents out of here,” Sophie said to Sandor and Grizel as Dex used his modified melder to seal the door to the gorgodon’s chamber. Grady had warned them that the beast wouldn’t stay stunned for long.
Later, she would ask Grady why he kept mumbling “never again, never again, never again” and glancing at Sophie’s hands—but at the moment . . .
“I know what you’re going to say,” she told Sandor, “but we have to find Biana—and my parents need to get to a Physician—and you and Grizel can carry them back to city level way faster than any of us can.”
“How will they get out of here?” Tam asked. “Isn’t the door blocked by water?”
“The fountain is dry,” Linh corrected. “I called every drop to fight the gorgodon.”
“Okay,” Sophie said, glad she had friends to help her think all of this through. “Once you’re back in the city, find Wraith or Kesler or Alden and tell them to leap you with this.”
She held out her hand and mumbled, “Two twenty-one B Baker Street,” to call the vial of Candesia’s light that Mr. Forkle had given her from the void. A magsidian black swan charm was tied around the top, and she showed Sandor the facet that would take them straight to Foxfire.
“Fintan and Vespera might still be here,” Sandor argued, “hiding near Biana.”
“If they are, I’ll handle them,” Ro assured him. “I know trusting me goes against those stubborn goblin instincts, but you have my word that I’ll defend everyone with my life.”
“If it helps,” Grady added, “I can’t feel Fintan. Either he’s still unconscious, or he left.”
“Or he put on that nullifying cap again,” Sandor reminded him.
“Please,” Sophie begged. “We can’t waste time arguing.”
Dex and Fitz were already running their hands over walls, desperately trying to find whatever door Biana had used to get upstairs.
“My parents need protection way more than I do,” she added. “Please—if you really want to help me, get them somewhere safe so I can concentrate.”
Sandor gritted his teeth, looking ready for a long fight. But he told her, “Don’t make me regret this.”
He adjusted his hold on her father as Keefe handed Sophie’s mother to Grizel, and both bodyguards ordered everyone to leave Atlantis the second they found Biana. Sophie promised they would, barely managing to add a hushed “thank you” before the goblins turned and sprinted for the exit.
“They’re going to be okay,” Keefe whispered, reaching for Sophie’s still-gloveless hand and sending one of his calming mental breezes.
She clung to the blue rush, reminding herself that Sandor and Grizel could handle anyone they ran into on their way out. And Elwin had saved her from fading—saved Sandor after he’d been hurled off a cliff—saved Keefe after he’d been gutted by King Dimitar. And the Washers would take care of the rest.
Then she forced herself to turn back to her friends.
Tam and Linh had joined Fitz and Dex in scouring the halls, and Sophie c
losed her eyes and stretched out her consciousness.
“I can feel Biana up there,” she told them. “Her thoughts are weak—but it’s definitely her. So once we find the stairs I should be able to track her.”
“Her scent is strongest over here,” Ro called, waving them over to where the hall curved.
Linh was the one who spotted the thin palm-length slit tucked among the gold filigree painted on the wall, and when she slipped her fingers in, the wall tilted ever so slightly.
The light shifted, revealing an arched opening behind them. And through the gap was a winding staircase.
“I don’t understand these illusions,” Keefe mumbled, shoving his arm through the archway, even though the wall had been solid a few seconds earlier.
“Who cares?” Fitz snapped. “What are we waiting for?”
Ro grabbed Fitz’s shirt to stop him from heading up the stairs. “I’m going first—and none of you are going to follow me until I give the all clear. Got it?”
She didn’t let go until Fitz nodded.
Then she was gone, squeezing her muscled body into the narrow stairway and winding up and up and up.
“Biana has to be hurt,” Fitz said, tearing his fingers through his hair. “Otherwise she would’ve come back by now. Or she’s a prisoner.”
“We’ll get her back,” Sophie promised, wishing she could reach for his hand. But she had to save her enhancing energy for when they might actually need it.
“We got Foster’s parents back, didn’t we?” Keefe added.
No one wanted to mention how injured they’d been.
“Okay,” Ro whispered down. “Head on up—and get ready for some serious weirdness.”
“Weirdness” didn’t begin to cover it.
The attic-style space was part theater catwalk, part funhouse maze—a tangle of wooden walkways and dangling lights and silks, lined with mirrors in every shape and size. Everything was attached by gossamer threads to an elaborate system of pulleys and hooks that dangled from the sloped ceiling. It was like stepping into a magician’s workshop.
“There’s no motor for any of this,” Dex mumbled, crouching to examine one of the larger mirrors. “I wonder if they . . .”
His question trailed off when he spotted a splash of red near his foot.
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