Keefe turned away, and Sophie wished she had her gloves on so she could reach for his hand, knowing how hard those words must’ve hit him.
There’d been a time when Keefe had thought of Alvar like a brother too.
Looked up to him—wanted to be him.
And now…
“No matter what happens next, you can still be you,” Alvar promised Keefe. “But you’re probably going to have to fight a lot harder.”
“What does that mean?” Sophie demanded.
Alvar shook his head. “That’s all you get for free. If you want the rest, you have to let me go.”
He crossed his arms, pressing his chapped lips together. And Keefe opened his mouth, clearly ready to tell Alvar where he could shove his bargain—but Sophie stepped in front of Keefe so he could see the look in her eyes as she told him, “I think you should take the deal.”
Keefe blinked.
“I know,” she mumbled, hardly believing the words herself. But that didn’t stop her from repeating, “You should take the deal. Think about it—what do we gain by turning him over?”
“Uh, we make sure he can’t cause any more trouble?” Keefe reminded her.
“I know, but… look at him,” she argued. “Does he really look like a threat? And this might be our last chance to learn something about what your mom is planning before she makes her next move.”
“But—”
“I let Brant go,” Sophie reminded him. “He had information about the ambush on Mount Everest, and I let him go to get it—and I don’t regret it, even with all the horrible things he did afterward. Sometimes, when there’s no great option, you make the deal that gets you what you need to know right then—and if we decide to hunt Alvar down after that, I’m sure we can find him again.”
Keefe chewed his lower lip so hard, his teeth left little dents. “Okay… but… if Fitz finds out—”
“I know,” Sophie interrupted.
There was a decent chance Fitz would hate her for this forever—and if he did, she would have to deal with that.
But knowing that didn’t change anything. “It’s still the right decision,” she promised. “Even with the fallout.”
“I agree with Blondie,” Ro chimed in.
Sandor let out a squeaky sigh. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… so do I. Alvar won’t get far in his condition. And I can’t see him doing a whole lot of damage.”
“He hasn’t done anything this whole time he’s been hiding here, right?” Sophie reminded Keefe.
Alvar flashed a tired smile. “Sounds like the majority has spoken. So are we ready to do this?”
Keefe stole another glance at Sophie.
“I’m sure,” she told him, before he could ask.
“Okay,” Keefe said, dragging a hand through his hair. “I… guess we are.”
“One more thing,” Ro told Alvar as he slowly struggled to his feet. “If you do anything—and I mean anything—that makes my boy or our pretty Blondie feel guilty for agreeing to this, I will find you and take great delight in making your final days as agonizing as possible.”
“I believe you,” Alvar told her, coughing as he pulled a crystal from his crumpled tunic—a crystal that looked like it’d been torn randomly out of a Leapmaster.
Keefe grabbed Alvar’s arm before he could hold the crystal up to the light. “Secrets first—then you can make your little escape path.”
“You really think I can run away?” Alvar coughed again, nearly toppling over in the process.
“Just tell us what you know,” Keefe demanded, tightening his grip on Alvar’s wrist.
Alvar cleared his throat, needing several gasping breaths before he said, “Your mom was very specific about the child she wanted. She wanted a son—and she wanted him to have a very unique ability. But she abhorred the idea of experimenting on her own kid, like the Black Swan was doing in Project Moonlark. So she did something to herself—and your dad—before she got pregnant. She never said what—but I know it involved the elements somehow.”
“How do you know that?” Sophie demanded.
Alvar shrugged. “I’m a Vanisher. I know how to sneak around and eavesdrop—and I figured it might be good for me to have a little dirt on Lady Gisela if I needed it. Clearly I was right.”
“And that’s it?” Keefe asked, laughing when Alvar nodded. “That’s the big mystery behind my legacy? That Mommy Dearest put herself through this super-painful thing and it failed completely?”
“How do you know it failed?” Alvar asked him.
“Uh, because I’m an Empath,” Keefe reminded him. “Nothing unique about that!”
“And you’re sure that’s your only ability?” Alvar countered. “Your mother’s a Polyglot, so her genetics are primed for manifesting twice.”
“Except she didn’t,” Keefe argued. “My mom only has one ability.”
“Does she? Or is that just what she wants everyone to think?” Alvar let that settle in before he added, “And how do you know she isn’t waiting for you to manifest again?”
“If she is, she can keep right on waiting,” Keefe told him. “I’m past manifesting age.”
“Unless she’s going to try to trigger it,” Sophie murmured.
Embrace the change.
“My thought exactly,” Alvar agreed. “For the record, I have no idea what the ability is supposed to be. But I know she called it ‘game-changing.’ And another time, I heard her say it was the foundation of her entire plan. Sounds like quite a legacy, doesn’t it?”
“Watch it, Whiny Boy,” Ro warned, pointing her dagger at his smug grin. “I can make it so you have to crawl into your little light beam.”
Alvar’s smile faded. “That’s all I know,” he told Keefe. “And you haven’t accused me of lying, so clearly you believe me. Which means this is the part where you let me go.”
“I… don’t know what to do with that information,” Keefe mumbled as he released his hold on Alvar’s wrist.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough,” Alvar told him as he hobbled into the light, adding, “Remember what I said,” as he disappeared in a shower of sparkle.
“It’s ridiculous, right?” Keefe asked Sophie in the silence that followed. “I’m not…”
There were a million ways to end that sentence.
But Sophie was pretty sure he’d planned to say, I’m not you.
And he wasn’t—he wasn’t part of some huge genetic project.
But maybe he didn’t have to be.
“I’m not manifesting another ability,” Keefe said—almost like it was a decision he had control over. “I don’t care what she tries—it’s not going to work.”
Sophie had to stop herself from reminding him that shadowflux changed everything it touched—because she’d had a much more terrifying thought that she wasn’t quite ready to share:
Lady Gisela… was messing with things she didn’t understand.
And Tam did understand them.
And Tam knew what she wanted him to do to Keefe.
And he was certain it would kill him.
FORTY-ONE
OKAY,” KEEFE SAID, CLAPPING HIS hands. “So… that happened.”
“Keefe—”
“I’m fine, Foster,” he interrupted in a squeaky voice that sounded anything but fine. “Seriously! Why wouldn’t I be? I mean… sure, we just let a traitor go free in order to learn about how my mom did some freaky fertility thing to herself and my dad, so they’d have a kid with some weird mystery ability. But… you know what that means?”
“That you and our pretty blond moonlark probably understand each other better than anybody?” Ro suggested, batting her eyes when he turned to scowl at her. “What? I’m just saying! That’s an awfully unique thing to have in common!”
“It is,” Sophie had to agree.
Keefe shook his head. “Nah—it’s two totally different things. Foster was, like… planned and researched and tested and hidden away and monitored and
guided and protected. I mean, say what you want about the elves who signed up to be your secret genetic parents,” he told Sophie, “but as far as the Black Swan goes, they tried really hard to do right by you. Meanwhile, my mom was apparently like, ‘Eh, let’s drink this stuff that’ll almost kill us and see what happens to our baby!’ And then it didn’t work, so she was like… ‘I know! Let’s make a Shade do some stupid trick when my son’s already way past manifesting age and see if that fixes it!’ And then her Shade died, so she was like, ‘No worries, I’ll kidnap this surly guy with ugly bangs and make him take over!’ So… clearly her planning skills need a little help—but I guess we already knew that because of how many times the Neverseen’s plans have just been, like, bizarre.”
“Keefe,” Sophie tried again.
But he kept right on going, turning to pace the empty bedroom as he told her, “The more you think about it, the more it all makes zero sense, doesn’t it? Like… I know we’ve joked about me being your nemesis before, but—”
“You’re not my nemesis,” Sophie assured him.
“I’m not,” he agreed. “I’m older than you, for one thing. But… either way… it’s looking like… I don’t know… but you know what I do know? As I was trying to say before I was so rudely interrupted by my bodyguard—this means I now have a totally epic new way to disappoint Mommy Dearest! And—”
“Keefe!” Sophie jumped in front of him and grabbed his shoulders—both of them jolting from her enhancing. “Sorry,” she said, dropping her arms. “I forgot I don’t have my gloves on. And will you please take a deep breath and hear me out for a second?” She waited for him to nod before she told him, “Okay, first: I definitely agree that your mom’s plan sounds pretty ridiculous—but that might be because we don’t have all of the information. Or it might be because the pieces we’ve gotten came from damaged memories and Alvar. Or it might really be that crazy. Either way—you can’t let that make you take this any less seriously—”
“Oh, I’m taking it seriously,” Keefe assured her. “And I guarantee, Foster—there’s no way I’m letting my mom trigger that ability.”
“Good—because that’s my second thing,” Sophie told him. “Remember how you’re supposed to be staying far away from the Neverseen—and anything that might possibly be connected to them? I’ve been letting that slide these last few days so we could make some progress on your missing memories—and we’ve ended up having a big showdown with your mom and a run-in with Alvar, so we’re pretty lucky that something horrible didn’t happen. And now we have a much clearer sense of the dangerous weirdness your mom is planning, so…”
Keefe backed up a step, shaking his head. “Uh-uh, Foster. You’re not making me sit all of this out.”
“No, that’s my job,” Ro corrected. “Remember that bet you lost?”
“Yeah, but—”
“There’s no ‘but’!” Ro interrupted. “And if you even think about rebelling, keep in mind that I still owe you some major payback for that amoeba stunt, so do you really want to find out what’ll happen if we add ‘violated the sacred terms of our bet’ to the punishment I’m planning? You know how creative I can be, Hunkyhair. You know I’ll make sure you’re never quite the same.”
Keefe sighed and sank onto the bed, propping his elbows on his knees and resting his head in his hands. “So… what? I’m just supposed to go back to drawing in my little notebooks while you guys deal with all of this?”
“Deal with it how?” Sophie asked, plopping down on the bed beside him. “You’re making it sound like we have an actual plan—and you know that’s not how this works! We’re going to be stuck trying to puzzle out all of these random pieces of information for who knows how long. You won’t be missing out on anything, except watching me fail epically at being Team Valiant’s leader and Fitz’s girlfriend.”
“You’re not failing at either of those things,” Keefe assured her quietly.
“Oh, I definitely am,” Sophie mumbled, kicking her heels against the bed. “I still haven’t checked in with my teammates today, even though I told them I would. And I just let Alvar escape—and you know how much Fitz is going to love hearing that.”
She stared at the verdigris bands on her thumbs, tracing her finger over the engraved initials—SEF and FAV. They’d been a gift from Fitz—a symbol of their Cognate connection. And she rarely got to see them now that she was always wearing gloves—which felt like a metaphor somehow. She just couldn’t quite figure out the significance.
Keefe sighed. “Well… at least those are two easy problems to fix. We’re done here, and it’s still early enough for you to hail your teammates as soon as you get home, right?”
Sophie glanced out the window, noting that the sun was still a few hours from setting.
But she was sure it’d be dark by the time she was done talking to Fitz.
“Let me handle Fitzy,” Keefe told her, obviously feeling her mood shift.
And Sophie started to shake her head, but he reached up, gently grabbing her chin.
“I know what you’re going to say,” he told her, ignoring the loud sighing sounds that Ro was making. “And letting Alvar go wasn’t all your idea. Plus, I’m the one who benefitted from it.”
“But—”
“Let me handle Fitzy,” Keefe repeated. “He’s my best friend, and I’m an Empath. I know how to get through to him better than anyone.”
Keefe did seem to have a way of helping Fitz keep control of his temper. But…
“I’ll only agree to this if you promise me one thing,” Sophie said as he dropped his hand from her chin. “You have to tell Fitz that I was a part of what happened with his brother. No taking all the blame on yourself. I’m serious,” she added when Keefe started to argue. “Promise me that, or I’m going with you when you talk to him.”
Keefe nodded slowly. “All right, Foster, I promise I won’t cover for you.”
“Do you also promise you’ll go back to focusing on your memories?” she pressed, and Keefe flopped back on the bed. “And that you’ll do everything you can to stay far away from the Neverseen?”
He clearly wasn’t happy about it. But he told her, “Yeah. I’ll keep hiding from my legacy.”
And they both tried to believe that his mom would let it be that easy.
* * *
Sophie wasn’t sure how much Keefe wanted her to share about their recent discoveries when she group-hailed Stina, Dex, Wylie, and Biana. But she decided her teammates needed to know at least some of the details so they would understand what they were up against.
She left out all the stuff about weird fertility treatments and focused on the fact that Keefe’s mom would probably be having Tam try to use shadowflux to trigger some sort of extra ability in Keefe.
And she reminded them that Tam thought the process would be fatal.
“Should we have Maruca stay with Keefe?” Stina asked. “That way she can put a force field around him if his mom shows up at his house or something?”
“Tam can break through force fields,” Sophie reminded her, wishing that Shades weren’t quite so powerful. Because Keefe probably was going to need extra protection. And Sophie had no idea what would actually be able to stop Tam.
“Have you told any of this to Linh?” Wylie asked, and Sophie fought back a tinge of guilt as she shook her head.
“I’ll tell her,” he offered.
“And I’ll reach back out to Lady Zillah,” Stina added, “and see if she has any ideas on how shadowflux would trigger an ability—or how to stop it, or… I don’t know. Seems worth checking.”
“It is,” Sophie agreed, wishing she’d thought of the idea herself.
The best she’d come up with was to mention to Dex, “I don’t suppose you can build a gadget—”
“That’ll block shadowflux?” Dex finished for her. “I doubt it, since I don’t really understand how that stuff works. But I’ll still do some brainstorming.”
“If you need me to enhance you agai
n, let me know,” she offered—and almost ended the conversation there.
But…
Biana deserved to know about Alvar.
The news did not go over well—especially the part about how Alvar was very likely dying.
And when Sophie asked, “Are you mad at me for letting him go?” there was an endless stretch of silence.
But Biana did sound like she meant it when she eventually told Sophie, “No.”
That was all.
Just that one word.
But it was enough to give Sophie a trickle of hope that maybe Keefe’s conversation with Fitz wasn’t going as badly as she feared.
Part of her wanted to sit there, staring at her Imparter long after her teammates had clicked away, waiting to see if Keefe or Fitz would hail her. But she was getting better about remembering to focus on the bigger, less personal problems.
Sandor was updating Flori on everything, so Flori could pass a message on to Mr. Forkle. But the Council should probably know as well—and not just the bullet points, like Sophie had given her teammates.
The Council should have the whole story.
And since the idea of discussing fertility treatments with Bronte sounded about as fun as having her head chewed on by a T. rex, Sophie told her Imparter to show her Councillor Oralie.
The pretty blond Councillor’s expression was impossible to read as Sophie filled her in on everything. The only noticeable reaction was a slight flinch when Sophie described how painful Lady Gisela’s “treatment” had been.
“Thank you for telling me,” Oralie said when Sophie finished. “I’ll admit, I’m not entirely sure what to do with that information.”
“Neither am I,” Sophie said. “But I still thought you should know.”
“We should,” Oralie agreed. “And actually… it’s helped me make up my mind about something I’ve been debating. Mr. Forkle told me that the strength of your enhancing has increased significantly since your abilities were reset, and that he’s now hoping you’ll be able to find the means within yourself to switch the power on and off in order to prevent anyone from taking advantage. I’m assuming you’ve not had much luck with that endeavor?”
Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 8) Page 54