Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 8)

by Shannon Messenger

  A spark to the kindling.

  A burst of energy.

  A command Sophie didn’t know—and couldn’t figure out.

  She wanted to wail and thrash and squeeze her brain until it surrendered—but she didn’t have time for any of those things.

  “Looks like the moonlark’s learned some restraint,” Lady Gisela said as she strode up onto the sidewalk, only steps away from them.

  Her face looked extra pale in the glow of the streetlight, turning downright ghostly when her cheeks pulled into a warped smile. After Fintan’s betrayal, Lady Gisela had been covered in curved scars—but those were gone now, replaced by skin stretched too tightly across her bones.

  “How can you see us?” Sophie wondered as she backed up, positioning herself between Fitz and Keefe.

  The pedestrians around them still didn’t seem to be able to tell they were there—and no one seemed to see Keefe’s mom anymore either. Several people were shouting to each other, wondering where the “freaky lady” had gone. Others were scurrying into the night, trusting their instincts over their eyes.

  Sophie wished she could tell them all to run faster.

  But they wouldn’t hear her.

  “Obscurers can easily be detected—and controlled,” Lady Gisela explained to her. “And put the weapon away, Keefe,” she ordered.

  Sophie’s heart stopped when she turned and spotted the goblin throwing star clutched in Keefe’s right hand—and the hateful determination in his eyes.

  His mom wagged a finger at him, like he was a naughty toddler. “None of that. We’re going to have a quick chat—and we’re going to keep it free of flying weapons, since those could hit any of these nice, innocent people trying to be brave and stick to their paths. You wouldn’t want to harm anyone else, would you?”

  “What do you mean ‘else’?” Keefe spat through gritted teeth, rising so easily to her bait.

  His mom smiled wider. “You know very well who I mean. Why would we be here otherwise?”

  The blow was aimed perfectly, and Keefe stumbled back, his body shaking, shaking, shaking.

  Sophie tried to reach for him, but he pulled too far away.

  “You can drop the knife, Fitz,” Lady Gisela added, and Sophie spun around, gaping at the finger-length dagger she hadn’t noticed in Fitz’s hand.

  Apparently, she’d been the only one too naive to bring any weapons.

  If something happens to you or your friends, Sandor had warned her, you’re going to have to live with it!

  But her abilities were supposed to protect her.

  And this was supposed to be a quick visit.

  A spontaneous visit.

  “How did you know we were here?” she whispered, even though she could probably guess Lady Gisela’s answer.

  “Unlike the Black Swan, we monitor our paths closely,” Lady Gisela told her. “This one in particular, since I knew my son’s journey would soon lead you here. It actually took you longer than I expected for you to put everything together. It’s been somewhat disappointing—though I suppose you’ve been busy playing mascot to the Council. Look at you, wearing their shiny Regent pin on your cape, even as you rebel. Such mixed signals. Such bravado. And I mean it, Fitz—dagger down.”

  “Or what?” Fitz countered, raising the blade and squinting one eye—lining up his aim. “You keep giving orders, but all I see is a Polyglot in an ugly cloak who knows how to manipulate her son’s emotions. Without one of Ruy’s force fields to shield you, I don’t see why I can’t end you right here, right now.”

  Lady Gisela inclined her head. “You know, I believe you really would do it. Such a dark side you’ve turned out to have. Particularly ironic given how much you condemn your brother—and yet I see more violence in your eyes than I’ve ever seen in his.”

  Fitz gripped his dagger harder. “I have no problem ending the enemy. My conscience will be clear.”

  “Will it?” Lady Gisela asked, raising one eyebrow when Fitz nodded. “You know, I almost want to let you do it. It’s always fascinating to witness the folly of arrogance. But I’m not done with our Shade yet. So allow me to show you why you won’t be hurling any weapons at me—and neither will my son. This is why you’re going to cooperate for the rest of this conversation.”

  She backed up a step, giving her widest smile yet as she commanded, “Show yourself.”

  And the shadows in front of her thinned and faded—as if someone was peeling back a series of dark veils one by one, revealing a second black-cloaked figure with outstretched arms, standing as a living shield in front of Lady Gisela.

  And Sophie knew—knew—who the figure had to be.

  She clutched her stomach, trying to hold herself together as Lady Gisela pulled back the figure’s hood, revealing a familiar face half hidden by dark, silver-tipped bangs.

  And there was genuine fear in his silver-flecked eyes as Sophie whispered, “Tam?”

  THIRTY-SIX

  LAUGHTER DRAGGED SOPHIE OUT OF her shocked daze.

  Joyless, hysterical laughter that went on and on—until Keefe was clutching his sides and wiping tears from his cheeks.

  “Enough with the theatrics,” Lady Gisela told him.

  Keefe snorted. “You’re complaining about my theatrics? Isn’t this the epic showdown you’ve been planning where you order Tammy Boy to kill me? Thanks for the warning about that, by the way,” he told Tam. “As you can see, it worked super well.”

  Lady Gisela’s eyes narrowed, studying Tam like she was seeing him for the first time—and making it glaringly clear that she’d had no idea he’d passed along any messages.

  Which made the threat against Keefe all the more horrifying.

  Sophie stepped in front of him.

  “Oh, relax,” Lady Gisela told her. “Like I said, I’m only here for a quick chat.”

  “Aw, but the setting is so perfect!” Keefe argued. “The misty air. The shadowy street. The strange human sounds—are those sirens? Seems like an awesome moment to murder your only son, don’t you think?”

  Lady Gisela sighed. “Must everything be a joke to you?”

  Keefe considered that for a second before he said, “I wanna say yes—but you know what I don’t find funny? I’m really not a fan of you thinking you can scare me.”

  “I do scare you, Keefe. I terrify you. And only part of that is because of what you think you know about me.” She took a step closer. “We both know that what really frightens you is how very alike we are.”

  “We’re nothing alike,” Keefe snarled, holding up the throwing star again.

  “Go ahead,” Lady Gisela told him. “I guarantee the only person you’ll hit is Tam.”

  “Wow, look at you—cowering behind your little Shade,” Keefe snapped back.

  “If you realized how powerful Tam is, you’d be cowering too,” Lady Gisela insisted. “But that’s not what I came here to tell you. It’s time to focus, Keefe. Time to listen. Time to stop fighting who you are and what you’re meant to do. I’ve tried to be patient. Tried to push you and test you and prepare you any way I could. But you’re still not ready, and we’re drawing very close to the day when you have to step up and accept your legacy.”

  Keefe cracked up again. “Yeah, I’ll get right on that.”

  “I hope you do,” Lady Gisela told him. “Because you don’t actually get a choice in the matter. Either you embrace the change or it will destroy you.”

  “What does that mean?” Sophie demanded.

  Lady Gisela smiled. “You’ll see.”

  Sophie glanced at Tam—and the horror in his eyes told her how seriously she needed to take these threats.

  Ominous music filled the air, as if Sophie’s life had turned into the climax of a scary movie—and it wasn’t until the first BONG! that Sophie realized the sounds were coming from Big Ben.

  Chiming midnight.

  Telling them it was time to go.

  BONG!

  BONG!

  BONG!

  “Wh
y don’t you run?” Fitz shouted to Tam over the next BONG! “She’s just a Polyglot—you’re way stronger than she is. And we can keep Linh safe.”

  “There you go with your arrogance again!” Lady Gisela shouted back.

  BONG!

  “I swear, Tam’s the only smart one in your entire group,” she added. “The only one who knows exactly what will happen to everyone he cares about if he defies me.” BONG! “The only one who doesn’t lie to himself about his vulnerabilities.” BONG! “But just in case he has a moment of foolishness—show them, Tam.”

  Another BONG! crashed through the air as Tam raised his hands—and Sophie braced for an attack, wishing they had Maruca there to shield them.

  But no shadows shifted, and no darkness poured out of his skin.

  Instead, the sleeves of his cloak slipped down to his elbows, revealing an almost blinding glow.

  BONG!

  Sophie’s eyes burned as they tried to focus on Tam’s wrists, but all she could tell was that the light had a strange sort of solid quality, wrapping around like bracelets.

  Or bonds.

  BONG!

  And there was such shame in his stare.

  But also such strength.

  And such pride.

  And Sophie knew that regardless of what the light was, or how the Neverseen were trying to control him, Tam was still resisting them any way he could.

  So when his shadow darted toward hers during the final BONG! and filled her mind with a single word, she knew he meant it—knew it was the last warning she’d get before things turned really, really ugly.

  GO! he told her.

  And Sophie would have enough time to grab Fitz’s and Keefe’s hands and levitate them high enough to teleport away.

  But she was done running.

  And with that surge of absolute confidence, something clicked into place inside her.

  All the dark rage and terror that had been boiling away in her mind turned red-hot and ready to burst.

  And she wanted to unleash it all.

  Wanted to let everything boil and burn.

  But something green lingered in the corners of her mind, cooling her thoughts enough to remind her that the real secret to her power was staying in control.

  So in one smooth motion she tugged her gloves free and tapped her fingers, reaching for the two people in her life who always kept her anchored. And she clung to them with all the strength she had, feeling heat and lightning shock through their palms as her feet lifted off the ground and her rage found a new kind of clarity.

  A new level of focus.

  A single target.

  She had to make it count, so she reached into her heart, gathering all the emotions pooled there too, a swell of purple and blue that mixed with the red—hot and cold, fire and ice, rage and love, and fear and courage blasting out of her mind exactly where she wanted it.

  She couldn’t stop the frenzy once it started.

  Had to let every drop of it pour out of her.

  And when the fever faded and her feet drifted back to solid ground, she pulled her hands free and studied what she’d done.

  Lady Gisela lay in a heap, limbs twitching, eyes rolled back into her head—in agony, but still alive.

  And Keefe’s eyes were on Sophie—not his mom. Pure worry was etched between his eyebrows as he asked, “Are you okay?”

  “I am,” she promised, amazed at how steady she was on her feet.

  How clear her head felt.

  How much energy thrummed through her body, despite how much she’d just blasted away.

  Fitz cleared his throat. “So… that was new. Is that how you inflict now?”

  “I think it might be.” But they needed to focus on more important things. “Someone grab her,” she ordered. “I’m not sure how long the frenzy will last, and we need to get her somewhere we can properly restrain her.”

  Tam was the closest, and his eyes looked dazed as he squatted down and heaved Keefe’s mom over his shoulder.

  “I told you to run,” he mumbled.

  “I know, but isn’t this better?” Sophie asked. “Now we can rip that gadget off her head and probe her mind for all her secrets.” She turned to Keefe. “Anything we want to know. Your missing memories. Your legacy. We can find it all.”

  Keefe blinked. “It’s… almost over.”

  “It’s not, though,” Tam warned as he stumbled to his feet, his knees nearly buckling under Lady Gisela’s deadweight. “There’s so much more you don’t know. Keefe’s legacy is only one tiny piece.”

  “We’ll figure out the rest,” Sophie promised.

  Tam looked so heartbroken when he shook his head. “You won’t. That’s why I have to do this.”

  His meaning clicked a second too late.

  Just enough time for Sophie to shout, “DON’T!” and Tam to meet Keefe’s eyes and tell him, “Stay away from me!”

  Then darkness poured out of his hands despite the glowing bonds around his wrists, and the thick, inky black puddled on the ground.

  “Stay away from me,” Tam repeated as he stepped into the darkness, disappearing with Lady Gisela into the shadows.

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  THEY’RE GONE.”

  Sophie, Fitz, and Keefe all said the words at the same time—but their tones were completely different.

  Sophie sounded shocked.

  Fitz sounded furious.

  And Keefe sounded…

  … broken.

  He started shaking right after, and Sophie and Fitz shared a look that seemed to say, It’s going to take both of us to get him through this, without either of them needing to actually transmit the words.

  So they pooled their consciousnesses together and wrapped the warmth around their shivering, crumbling friend before they leaped the three of them back to the safety of the Lost Cities.

  A large crowd was waiting for them in the Havenfield pastures, despite the late hour, since Sandor had indeed woken Grady and Edaline with news of Sophie’s reckless behavior—and word must have spread rather quickly from there, because they now found themselves facing Flori. And Alden. And Della. And Grizel. And Biana. And Woltzer. And Lord Cassius. And Mr. Forkle. And Tiergan. And all twelve Councillors. And the rest of Team Valiant. And Lovise. And Elwin. And Livvy.

  Even Marella and Maruca had turned up, since Marella had a way of finding out about everything.

  The only people missing were Ro—who was still surviving the war between her stomach and the amoebas—and Bo and Linh, which was a huge relief, since Sophie had no idea how to tell Linh about Tam’s betrayal, or whether they should even be calling it that.

  Keefe, unsurprisingly, wasn’t nearly as conflicted.

  Once his shock wore off, there was a lot of yelling.

  And kicking the ground.

  And finding stuff to fling as hard as he could.

  There was even one brief moment where Sophie was pretty sure he’d been crying.

  That was when she led him over to Calla’s Panakes tree and made him sit on her pile of pillows, wrapping him in one of the blankets to try to calm his shivers.

  Soft melodies whispered through the leaves, and Sophie hummed along to help him find the rhythm.

  “I know you can’t understand the lyrics,” she said quietly, “but it’s a really peaceful song about shifting seasons and the forest growing stronger each day. Will you close your eyes and try to listen?”

  He sighed. “It was almost over, Foster. We had her.”

  “I know.” She hugged him as hard as she could—not caring who was watching. Surely no one would fault her for being a good friend after what Keefe had just gone through.

  “We had her,” Keefe said again. “And Tam would’ve been free if he’d just come with us.”

  Maybe not.

  Sophie stopped herself from voicing the words.

  Just like she stopped herself from reminding Keefe that when he’d been with the Neverseen, there’d been a moment when he’d chosen to help Alvar
escape instead of fleeing with her and her friends.

  They’d have that conversation later. Once Keefe had calmed down. And once she’d had more time to process what had happened—because even if Tam did have a good reason for what he’d done, it could still end up being the kind of mistake they’d all pay the price for.

  “Just try to rest for right now,” she told Keefe, calling Wynn and Luna over to snuggle with him. “I have to go answer more questions.”

  Keefe nodded blankly. “We had her, Foster.”

  “We did,” she agreed. “And we’ll get her again—for good this time.”

  She repeated the vow in her mind as she stood to head back to the group.

  And maybe Keefe thought she couldn’t still hear him as she walked away.

  Or maybe it was too big of a worry to keep to himself.

  But as he reached for a blanket, she heard him mumble, “We’d better do it fast. Otherwise I’m going to have to face my legacy.”

  * * *

  Poor Fitz looked pretty shaken by whatever bombardment of questions he’d endured while Sophie was getting Keefe settled.

  And Sophie didn’t blame anyone for being upset—or for demanding answers.

  She also felt seriously horrible for how much they’d worried everybody.

  But when it came time to discuss proper punishment, she had a few things to say first.

  “I know what I did was dangerous—”

  “What we did,” Fitz corrected, reaching for her hand—which was buried under several layers of gloves again.

  “It was my idea,” Sophie argued.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Fitz insisted. “I chose to go with you—and I’d do it again.”

  “So would I,” Sophie admitted, tangling their fingers together as she turned back to face the others. “That’s what I was going to say. I know this was dangerous. And I know you’re all stressed out and mad at me because of it—especially you, Sandor. And I get why. Just like I also realize how lucky I am that all three of us made it back unharmed. But… I don’t regret going. And if I had to do it all over again, I’d still sneak away.”

  “Even though you didn’t accomplish anything you set out to do by going?” Mr. Forkle asked.