“Um . . . not to kill everyone’s excitement here,” Dex interrupted, “but how are we going to get her home?”
Grady’s smile faded. “That’s a good question. The sasquatch harness won’t fit—and even if I dashed home, it’s not like we have an alicorn restraint.”
“Maybe we don’t need one.” Sophie stared into the alicorn’s unblinking eyes and transmitted friend again. Then she reached out her hand and took a slow step forward.
“Careful,” Grady warned when the alicorn whinnied.
“Easy, girl,” Sophie whispered, not breaking eye contact as she took another step.
Calm.
She sent a flood of images of her petting different animals, trying to communicate what she was about to do.
The alicorn processed each scene, focusing on Sophie. She nickered.
Sophie hoped that meant “Go ahead.” She held her breath and closed the last space between them.
Her fingers brushed the smooth, cool fur on the bridge of the alicorn’s nose. The shimmering horse snorted, but didn’t back away.
“Good girl,” Sophie said, tracing her fingers up toward the horn. She fingered the strands of silvery mane, surprised at how cold they were, like threads of ice.
The alicorn released what sounded like a soft sigh. Then she nuzzled Sophie’s shoulder. Sophie giggled as the wet nostrils tickled her neck.
“She likes you,” Grady whispered.
“Is that true, girl? Do you like me?”
A shiver streaked down Sophie’s spine as something tickled her consciousness. The longer it bounced around her mind, the more it took shape, until it formed a single word.
Friend.
“What’s wrong?” Grady asked as Sophie took a step away, shaking her head.
“Sorry—I’m just not used to how powerful her mind is.” She stroked the horse’s gleaming cheek, trying to make sense of what just happened.
Had the alicorn learned a word from her? Was that possible?
“Think she’ll let me touch her?” Grady asked, taking a cautious step forward.
The alicorn reared and flapped her wings.
Grady backed off. “That’s going to be a problem.”
In order to light leap with the alicorn, someone would need to keep physical contact with her to form a connection between them.
“I can leap her—” Sophie offered.
“Absolutely not!” Grady’s shout made the alicorn whinny, and he lowered his tone to a whisper before he added, “That’s far too dangerous.”
“I can handle it,” Sophie insisted. All the excitement had erased both her headache and her weariness from the brain push.
“Um, remember what happened last time?” Dex interrupted.
Sophie glared at him, stunned he was siding with Grady on this.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that. You almost faded away.”
His voice caught as he said the last part, and Sophie couldn’t help wondering how much Dex had seen that day. She’d thought he was unconscious when she made the nearly fatal leap to escape the kidnappers. But apparently he’d watched the light pull her away—or at least that’s what Elwin had told her. She and Dex had never talked about what happened. All Sophie remembered was warmth and flashing colors and a pull so irresistible she’d been ready to follow it anywhere—and very nearly had.
She’d never forget the agony of drawing herself back together. And now whenever she leaped, she felt slightly dizzy. But the dizziness only lasted a few seconds, and in all the times Elwin had tested her since she’d recovered, he’d never found anything wrong. Plus, all of that happened before she knew how to use her enhanced concentration. Before she even knew her concentration had been enhanced. Not to mention, the kidnappers had taken her nexus.
She cupped the sleek black cuff on her wrist, fingering the sparkly teal jewel set into the center, surrounded by swirling lines of diamonds. The nexus put a force field around her, making it impossible for her to lose even a single particle of herself during a leap. Which meant she could use her concentration to protect the alicorn and leap them both home safely.
It made sense in her head—but she couldn’t fight off a tiny quiver at the idea of another risky leap.
“We don’t have any other options,” Sophie said, as much for herself as to convince Grady and Dex. “Unless there’s something I’m missing?”
When no one had any other suggestions, she took a deep breath and imagined her concentration covering the glittering horse like a protective seal. Her headache returned and she had to channel the last of her core energy to cover such a large creature, but she scraped together enough strength to feel a firm grip.
She could do this.
Before she could change her mind, she placed one hand on the alicorn’s cheek and used the other to grab the pendant hanging from a long chain around her neck. She held the crystal up, and light hit the single facet cut into the stone, refracting toward the ground.
“Sophie, don’t you—” Grady started to say, but he was too late.
She stepped into the light, letting the warmth swell under her skin like thousands of tickling feathers as the simmering rush swept her and the alicorn away.
THREE
THE LUSH PASTURES OF HAVENFIELD glittered into focus as Sophie’s body re-formed on the wide, flower-lined path that cut through the main grounds. Her legs held strong beneath her, but the dizziness was almost overwhelming, and rainbow flecks of light obscured her vision, like she was seeing the world through a kaleidoscope. She wobbled, wishing she had something to hold on to as the alicorn screamed with terror and took off into the sunset-streaked sky.
Sophie stumbled after her, but she’d only made it a few steps before strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around.
“What were you thinking?” Grady’s arms shook as he held her tight, but Sophie was more worried about the blurry gray blob looming behind him. Even through the swirling colors she could make out Sandor’s furious glare.
“I’m fine, I promise,” she said, gulping down air and willing the words to be true.
The winged horse whinnied and the wave of panic helped Sophie focus. “I have to calm her down before she flies away.”
Grady’s grip on her shoulders tightened for a second. Then he shook his head and released her. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”
She was sure they would, and she didn’t have time to worry about it. Her head was finally clearing—and just in time. Verdi, their resident T. rex—who still hadn’t adapted to her vegetarian diet—was roaring, like she was craving a glittering-horsey snack.
The alicorn veered away from the neon-green-feathered dinosaur, heading toward the Grove, a lush orchard of bulbous, twisted trees. Several squat brown gnomes streamed from the arched green doors in the trunks, their huge gray eyes staring at the alicorn as she circled overhead.
“Help—I need something to lure her down,” Sophie called as she raced past them, though several gnomes had already taken off toward the row of golden silos that lined the farthest cliffs. The gnomes weren’t servants—they lived with the elves by choice—and they were masters when it came to plants and animals. Hopefully, they knew some treat an alicorn wouldn’t be able to resist.
“Boy, are you in trouble,” Dex said as he caught up with Sophie. “You’ll be lucky if Grady and Edaline let you out of the house before you turn two hundred and fifty.”
“Not helping, Dex.”
Please come back, she transmitted when the horse flitted even higher. Friend.
“Try these,” Grady said behind her, holding out a handful of twisted, pale blue stalks.
A spicy, cinnamonlike scent tickled Sophie’s nose as she took them and held them toward the sky. “Come down, girl,” she called, sending images of the alicorn feasting on the slender twigs. I have treats.
Curiosity wove through Sophie’s emotions.
Treats! Sophie repeated.
The alicorn whinnied and circled
lower, but didn’t land. Sophie kept repeating her promise of treats and waving them in the air until finally, after three more rotations, the alicorn slowly touched down a few feet away, prodding the ground with her gleaming hooves.
Sophie smiled and held out the stalks. “Here, girl.”
The winged horse studied Sophie with her enormous brown eyes. Then she lunged forward, and her wet, square-toothed snout chomped the tops of the treats straight from Sophie’s hand. Sophie barely had time to get her fingers out of the way before the alicorn gobbled the rest.
“Ew,” Dex complained, plugging his nose. “Who knew sparkly horses had such bad breath?”
“It’s nothing on Iggy breath,” Sophie reminded him. Her pet imp might only be a palm-size furball, but every time he opened his mouth it was like standing near a mountain of rotting eggs and dirty diapers. “I think we’re going to need more of these,” she added when the alicorn’s rough purple tongue started licking her palm.
“Already on its way.” Grady pointed to a gnome stumbling toward them with a bundle of the blue stalks almost as tall as he was.
Gnomes looked more like plants than animals, with rough, earthy skin and bright green thumbs. Sophie still got a little startled when she saw their strange features, so she wasn’t surprised when the alicorn whinnied and reared back. But the gnome wasn’t fazed, flashing a green-toothed grin as he spread the treats in a thin trail leading to an aviary they usually used for pterodactyls. The nervous horse eyed the stalks suspiciously, but after a minute she lowered her head and began munching her way toward the enclosure. She was still feasting on the last of the treats when Grady closed the gate, locking her inside the small dome of interwoven green bamboo stalks.
Panic bloomed inside Sophie’s mind as the alicorn tried and failed to spread her wings in her enclosure.
“It’s only for a few hours,” Grady explained when he caught Sophie’s frown. “The gnomes are already working to enclose the Cliffside pasture.”
“Wow, really?” Grady and Edaline had vacated the Cliffside pasture not long after Sophie had disappeared, not wanting to go anywhere near the caves where she’d supposedly drowned. After she’d been rescued they’d added a high metal fence all along the cliffs’ edges to block anyone from using the path that led to the beach below. Sophie wasn’t sure if the complex padlock was meant to keep her in or keep others out, but either way she had no problem staying away from those caves. She never wanted to see them again.
The pasture was a perfect expanse of soft grassy knolls to house a flying horse, though, so she could see why Grady was willing to use it. But enclosing it would be a massive undertaking. Good thing the gnomes were amazingly industrious creatures. They absorbed energy from the sun and needed almost no sleep, so they were always looking for ways to stay busy. If anyone could work such a miracle, it was them.
“Can we at least give her more treats to cheer her up?” The alicorn was staring at her with sad, watery eyes.
“The gnomes are getting her more right now. It’s a good thing they harvested a bunch of swizzlespice today.”
See, you’ll be okay, Sophie told her. I promise.
The alicorn looked away.
“She hates me now.”
“She’ll forgive you.” Grady rested his hand on her shoulder and it gave Sophie the courage to turn and face him.
“What about you?” she asked quietly. “Still hate me for leaping her here?”
Grady closed his eyes. “Sophie, nothing you do will ever make me hate you. But what you did was very dangerous. If something had happened to you, I’d . . .”
Sophie stared at her feet. “I’m sorry. I really do try to be careful.”
“I know. But you can never be careful enough, okay?”
She nodded and he strangled her with a hug.
She caught a whiff of the sasquatch funk in his tunic and pulled away, coughing. “So, what’s my punishment?”
“I want Elwin to check you out in the morning, make sure you really are okay.”
Sadly, that wasn’t a surprise. She’d pretty much set the record for most physician house calls ever—ironic considering how much she hated doctors.
“And you get to bathe the verminion for the next month,” Grady added.
Sophie groaned. She swore the giant mutant-hamster-thing had been plotting to destroy her since she’d helped trap it when it arrived at Havenfield. “That’s just mean.”
“No, that’s awesome,” Dex corrected.
“Glad you think so, Dex,” Grady told him, “ ’Cause you get to help her.”
“Hey—I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“I never said you did. But do you really think Sophie will let you just stand there and watch her work?”
He was right. She was totally going to rope Dex into helping her—and he came over almost every day. They were best friends, after all.
But something about the way Grady was smiling at them made Sophie’s cheeks feel hot. Dex must’ve noticed it too, because his face was bright red as he mumbled some excuse about his parents worrying if he wasn’t home soon, and quickly leaped out of there.
Grady took Sophie’s hand, his smile fading. “I don’t think we should tell Edaline about your little adventure, what with tomorrow . . .”
“I’m sorry I scared you.”
He gave her a sad smile. “Just don’t do it again. Now come on, let’s go wash off the sasquatch grime and tell Edaline what we found.”
BY THE TIME SOPHIE HAD showered and changed and fed Iggy his dinner so he wouldn’t trash her room—imps could be very troublesome creatures if they were discontent—the sun had set and the gnomes had finished preparing the pasture. Goose bumps prickled Sophie’s skin as she made her way to the new enclosure, and even though she tried not to look, her eyes still wandered toward the cliffs, where moonlight glinted off the edge of the iron gate.
She forced herself to look away, focusing on the thick stalks that looked like purple bamboo bent into wide arches, creating a weblike dome over the mile-wide space. More arched stalks had been lined up like dominoes, creating a covered pathway to securely transport the alicorn from one enclosure to another. But the alicorn was nowhere to be seen.
“She’s too panicked,” Grady explained when Sophie found him at the pterodactyl pen. “The gnomes are afraid to move her right now. She might hurt herself trying to escape.”
“You don’t have to be afraid, pretty girl,” Edaline whispered as she approached the bars, holding swizzlespice. “We’re trying to help you.”
The alicorn whinnied and bucked.
Edaline backed away, brushing her wavy, amber-colored hair out of her face. “I’m not sure what else to try.”
“Think you can calm her down, Sophie?” Grady asked.
“Maybe.” Sophie stepped closer, and as soon as the alicorn spotted her she stopped thrashing. The moonlight had turned her opalescent fur to gleaming silver, and her dark eyes glittered like stars.
Friend? Sophie transmitted.
Friend! the alicorn transmitted back, lowering her snout so Sophie could reach through the bars and scratch her cheeks.
“Amazing,” Edaline breathed as she smiled for the first time in at least a week. The dark shadows under her turquoise eyes faded, too. “Can you get her to walk to her new pen?”
“I’ll try.” Sophie transmitted images of the Cliffside enclosure, repeating, Your new home. When that didn’t seem to help she added a picture of the alicorn grazing inside.
The alicorn processed the image, then replied with one of her own: a dark, starry sky with a glittering silver horse flying free.
“I don’t think she wants to stay here,” Sophie whispered.
“Well, she has to. She’s far too important,” Grady reminded her. “Plus, this is the only way to keep her safe. Think about what would happen if humans got their hands on her.”
An image of the alicorn strapped to a million creepy medical machines flashed through Sophie’s mind, and s
he shuddered as she transmitted, It’s safe here.
Safe, the alicorn repeated, but it didn’t feel like she really understood the word. Or maybe she didn’t care.
Sophie tried a different tactic. You won’t be lonely anymore.
The alicorn processed that, and after several seconds transmitted back a tentative, Friend?
Friend, Sophie told her, sending the image of the enclosure again. Safe. Let’s move you to your new home.
This time the alicorn didn’t argue and Sophie nodded to Grady. He gave the gnomes the signal to open the gates between the pastures.
Calm, Sophie transmitted as the alicorn tensed, but she still felt a surge of panic as the gates slid apart and the alicorn galloped forward, racing through the tunnel at full speed. Sophie jogged after her with Grady and Edaline right behind, and they all sucked in a breath when the shimmering horse reached her new pasture and spread her wings, flying to the highest part of her dome.
“Well done, Sophie,” Grady said, squeezing her shoulders. “What would we do without you?”
She blushed from the praise. “Have you told anyone we found her?”
“I tried to reach Alden, but he was out of range. I’ll try him in the morning.”
Sophie shivered, even though she wasn’t cold. There were only a few places an Imparter—a small silver square that worked a bit like a video phone—would be out of range, and they were all dark, forbidden places. She hated to think Alden was out there, risking his life trying to find her kidnappers.
The alicorn whinnied and landed, snapping her back to the present.
Sophie reached through the purple bars, and after a second the horse trotted close enough for Sophie to stroke her shimmering neck. I wish I knew what to call you.
It seemed wrong to call such a breathtaking creature something as boring as “the alicorn.” Do you have a name, pretty girl?
She didn’t actually expect an answer, but a thought prickled her mind anyway. It felt strangely warm and soft, and when she concentrated, it twisted and flipped into a word.
“Silveny?” Sophie whispered.
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