Unlocked 8.5 (Keeper of the Lost Cities)

by Shannon Messenger

“You’re going to regret this,” she warned.

  He nodded.

  He had zero doubt about that.

  But he still stepped into the path, letting the warmth carry him away.

  - FIFTEEN - Sophie

  Why do you smell like smoke?” Grady demanded when Sophie’s group reappeared at Solreef—thankfully at the top of the stairs, instead of the bottom. “What happened?”

  Sophie knew she should be the one to answer.

  But her brain got a little stuck on the fact that Grady was still there.

  So was Tiergan.

  And Fitz.

  And Biana.

  And Grizel and Woltzer.

  No one had gone after them yet—which should’ve been obvious, since no one had shown up at the storehouse.

  But Sophie hadn’t really thought about what that meant.

  They… hadn’t even been gone the full fifteen minutes.

  She’d destroyed the Neverseen’s storehouse—and hopefully most of their plans—in less than a quarter of an hour.

  If only she could wipe out the rest of their organization as quickly.

  Grady took her by the shoulders, turning her to face him. “Are you okay? Were you attacked?”

  “No,” she told him—then realized how that sounded. “I mean, yes, I’m okay—no, we weren’t attacked. But before we left, I… It’s hard to explain.”

  It was probably going to take her longer to tell him what she’d done than it had for her to decide to do it.

  She wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

  “You should go inside for this conversation,” Sandor told her before turning to the other bodyguards and adding, “Grizel? I need you and Flori to do a security sweep with me. And Woltzer? I need you to cover the interior. Be extra vigilant.”

  “Sounds like the mission was eventful,” Tiergan noted, gesturing to the scrolls cradled in Sophie’s and Tam’s arms.

  “Discuss it inside!” Sandor ordered, practically shoving them through the front door.

  The look he gave Sophie before he drew his sword and marched away was completely unreadable.

  Furious?

  Scared?

  Proud?

  All of the above?

  Bo took Glimmer’s wrist. “I’ll make sure your guest is secured—and I suggest keeping any items away from her until they’ve been thoroughly inspected.”

  “Hey!” Glimmer protested as Bo yanked her blue bundle out of her hands, along with everything else she’d collected. “I don’t care if you search my stuff—but you don’t have to be such a jerk about it!”

  “I’ll take that,” Tam offered, adjusting the scrolls he was carrying to make room.

  “I think it might be best if we move everything to my office,” Tiergan told him, taking Glimmer’s things from Bo and motioning for everyone to follow him down a different hallway.

  “If you break my cat statue, I’m going to be super mad!” Glimmer shouted after them.

  No one said anything else as they made their way up a spiral staircase to an enormous oval room, which looked like the kind of office that Sophie kept imagining someone in the Black Swan would have—complete with a giant fireplace, shelves full of strange, whirling gadgets, and an imposing desk covered in meticulously arranged stacks of paperwork. But the twisted tree sprouting from the center of the floor with flowering branches stretching toward the arched skylight was a bit of a surprise.

  “Everything you took will be safe in here,” Tiergan assured them, setting Glimmer’s things in a neat pile on the floor behind his desk and gesturing for them to copy him. “I’ll make sure it’s properly examined and cataloged before it’s relocated to somewhere more permanent.”

  “Like a storehouse?” Tam asked. “ ’Cause, uh, that may not be the smartest strategy.”

  “Why not?” Grady, Tiergan, Fitz, and Biana all asked in unison.

  Sophie had a different question. “Are you going to give it back to us—and tell us everything you learn?”

  “Of course, Sophie. Just like you’re going to tell us everything that happened today, aren’t you?” Tiergan countered. He smiled when she nodded. “Good, I’m looking forward to it. But first”—he pointed again to the spot behind his desk—“please trust me. You don’t need the burden of having to protect these things.”

  She didn’t.

  And what was she going to do?

  Hide the stuff under her bed?

  Still, the second she set the scrolls and vials down, she wanted to grab them all back.

  Instead she shoved her hand in her pocket and tightened her grip on the caches.

  Tam added the scrolls and gadgets he’d taken, and everyone stared at the final pile.

  “Quite a haul,” Tiergan told them. “Particularly since you went there for a single cache—which I’m assuming you recovered.”

  Sophie nodded.

  She was surprised by how impressed Tiergan sounded—and how excited Fitz and Biana were.

  All she could think when she studied the pile was how insignificant it looked—and how useless it would all probably turn out to be.

  And how glad she was that she’d sparked that fire.

  Glimmer was right—they’d planned that mission completely wrong from the beginning.

  How many other times had they made that mistake—thought too small and set themselves up to fail?

  Tiergan cleared his throat. “So… I believe you have a story to share with us?”

  He motioned for everyone to take a seat on the colorful ottomans arranged around the tree.

  Sophie stayed standing, needing to move as she explained what happened.

  The smoke scent clinging to her clothes seemed to get stronger as she talked, and by the end her throat had turned thick and her eyes were burning—though maybe that also had something to do with the way everyone’s smiles had faded into the same unreadable expression she’d seen on Sandor. Even Tam—who’d been there with her.

  He’d heard what Glimmer had said.

  And he trusted Glimmer.

  “It was the right move,” she told him before shifting her focus to everyone and adding, “This is how we’re going to have to fight if we want to win.”

  Tiergan cleared his throat again, drawing out the sound. “Well… that explains Sandor’s emphasis on security.”

  “You think the Neverseen will come here?” Tam asked.

  “It’s possible. My estate’s hardly a secret. Neither is the fact that Glimmer’s being kept here. And surely the Neverseen will assume she’s the one who led us to their storehouse. So they may decide she poses too great of a threat and try to retrieve her—or end her.”

  Grady stood. “Or they’ll go to Havenfield. I should warn the rest of the goblin patrols—and Edaline.”

  “I guess I should warn my parents too,” Fitz said quietly. “The Neverseen will probably assume Biana and I were a part of it.”

  “We’ll need to warn everyone,” Biana corrected. “Keefe, Dex, Linh, Wylie, Marella, Maruca, Stina.”

  “Also the Council,” Tiergan added. “And the Collective. And—”

  “Okay, whoa!” Sophie interrupted, holding out her hands like stop signs as everyone reached for their home crystals or pathfinders. “You guys didn’t act like this after we went to Nightfall or Loamnore—or after the newborn troll fight at Everglen. Or after any of the Neverseen’s other attacks.”

  “Yes, but those were their attacks,” Tiergan reminded her. “This was ours. Well… yours. And it was unprovoked.”

  “Unprovoked?” Sophie repeated. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No, Sophie—none of us think this is a joke,” Grady said quietly. “And I’m really hoping you don’t either. Because you just turned this into a war.”

  Sophie blinked. “I did? Me?”

  She glanced at her friends, expecting them to look just as affronted.

  But they mostly looked nervous and fidgety.

  “This was already a war,” she said, tu
rning back to Grady. “It has been since the moment I was kidnapped. Actually, no, it started much earlier. Lady Gisela was already working on her stellarlune thing before Keefe was born. And they killed Jolie way before that.”

  Grady flinched.

  “Sorry,” Sophie mumbled, realizing how harsh that sounded. “Just… look at how much they’ve hurt us. How many scars we all have—how many times we’ve almost died! Tam was their prisoner! Keefe’s afraid to talk because he has all these scary new abilities. Kenric is dead—and so is Mr. Forkle. And you’re accusing me of escalating this?”

  “Yes,” Tiergan said simply. “Though ‘accusing’ is the wrong word. ‘Informing’ is better. Making sure you understand that you haven’t just changed the game for the Neverseen—you’ve changed it for everyone. Up until now, we haven’t attacked. We’ve defended ourselves. But raiding their hideout—and then destroying it—is an attack, Sophie. And that means we’re now officially at war.”

  The word echoed around the room.

  War. War. War.

  And for some reason, Sophie found herself staring at the tree, wishing she could hear its song whisper through its leaves.

  Maybe it would tell her what to think or feel or say or do.

  But the tree stayed silent.

  So did her friends.

  “If I’d stuck to our plan,” Sophie said quietly, “the Neverseen would’ve just moved all their stuff to a new storehouse and carried on like nothing happened. Now they have to change their strategy. Now they’re the ones scrambling. So, even if I did start… whatever… I also brought us a victory. A real one—not just a Yay-we-didn’t-die! kind of thing.”

  She didn’t understand why they couldn’t see that.

  It made her wish Keefe were there—he would’ve backed her up.

  In fact, he probably would’ve helped her spark the flames at the storehouse.

  “No one’s denying any of that,” Tiergan told her gently. “But… you should be careful of that word.”

  “Victory?” Sophie asked.

  Tiergan shook his head. “I.”

  Sophie stood up taller. “You think I did this for me?”

  “No. I think you acted alone. And I realize you’re going to argue that there wasn’t time for a big debate or discussion—and I’m certain there wasn’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that you made an enormous decision that will affect everyone entirely on your own.”

  “You even made sure the Neverseen knew it was you,” Sandor said from the doorway. “I saw the mark you left before we leaped away.”

  “What mark?” Grady asked.

  Sandor held Sophie’s stare when he answered. “It looked like a flying moonlark.”

  “Oh wow,” Biana whispered.

  Grady sighed.

  “Hey—the Black Swan puts the sign of the swan on everything!” Sophie argued.

  “But we are a group,” Tiergan countered.

  “And I’m a part of that group,” Sophie reminded him.

  “But that wasn’t the symbol you used,” he reminded her. “You made your own, positioning yourself as the threat and the victor. Not the Black Swan. Not your friends. You.”

  Sophie backed up several steps, needing air—space. “You seriously think I did this for attention?”

  “Whether that was your goal is irrelevant,” Tiergan told her. “My point is that you’ve now made yourself a true target. So you need to be prepared for the Neverseen to come after you.”

  “They’re always after me!”

  “Not like this,” Sandor warned. “The most dangerous time in any movement is when a new leader first takes their place. They’re still fledgling and weak and full of mistakes. Not ready for the onslaught they’ll be facing.”

  Sophie’s mouth went dry, and it took her several seconds to find enough voice to tell him, “I’m not trying to be anyone’s leader.”

  “And yet, it’s what you were made for,” a new voice said.

  A voice that always managed to fill Sophie with hope and dread—and now there was also a healthy amount of wariness as Sandor stepped aside to let Mr. Forkle shuffle into the office.

  He looked less swollen and wrinkled than usual—like he’d rushed there after finishing some other assignment. And his piercing blue eyes seemed tired when he focused on Sophie and said, “If all of you wouldn’t mind, I think it’s time for Miss Foster and I to have a talk.”

  Sophie’s stomach turned sloshy somersaults as everyone stood.

  Fitz’s and Biana’s expressions were still unreadable, and Tam’s half smile mostly seemed to say, Glad I’m not you. And as they all glittered away, Sophie couldn’t shake the feeling that something fundamental had changed for all of them.

  “I’ll see you at home, kiddo,” Grady told her, pulling her in for a hug and whispering, “We’ll get through this. Just be careful. And know that I love you so much.”

  “I love you too,” she whispered back, then remembered to add, “Dad.”

  He kissed her forehead, begging her to be careful one more time before he disappeared in a shower of sparkle.

  Tiergan and Mr. Forkle exchanged a look—probably communicating telepathically—before Tiergan left with Sandor and Flori, telling them he’d like to discuss Solreef’s security.

  Mr. Forkle closed the door behind them, and Sophie sank onto one of the ottomans, trying not to feel like a scared kid in the principal’s office.

  “I don’t want to be the leader,” she said, deciding to go preemptive-strike on him. “That wasn’t what I was trying to do today.”

  “I know.” He huffed out a heavy breath as he lowered himself to the ottoman across from her. “And I realize how overwhelming this all must be, and how hard you’re trying to do the right thing. That’s why I want to make sure you’re truly ready for what lies ahead.”

  “I don’t want to be the leader,” Sophie insisted. “I don’t.”

  “I know,” he agreed. “And yet… it’s rather interesting, isn’t it?”

  He stopped there, waiting for her to ask what he meant—and she really didn’t feel like playing along.

  But she finally rolled her eyes and said, “What’s interesting?”

  His smile brightened. “You kids can be so stubborn. But I suppose that’s also what makes you so strong. And what’s interesting is that you chose to leave your own symbol—which sounds like quite a powerful image, I might add—when no one has ever asked you or advised you to do that.”

  Sophie slumped a little. Shrinking in on herself. “I didn’t do it because I want to send some sort of message that I’m in charge or anything. I just… wanted the Neverseen to know it was me—that I dealt that blow to them—after everything they’ve done to me. That’s it, that’s all it was. And maybe it was a bad idea. I don’t know. I didn’t put much thought into it.”

  “And that’s what I want to talk to you about,” he told her, shifting his weight to lean closer. “Whether or not you want to be a leader, Miss Foster, you are one—and I’m not saying that because I designed you to be that way. The leadership simply comes from who you are. You’re a powerful, brilliant, determined, inspiring young lady. People naturally look to you. And they’re going to do that more and more, the stronger you become. Today was a huge part of that. I’m proud of the stand you took. And for the record, I think you made the right call.”

  “You do?” Sophie whispered.

  “Absolutely. You saw the mistake we’d all made, and a path to correct it, and you did what needed to be done. But,” he had to add, right when she was starting to feel a little better, “you also made some fairly significant mistakes.”

  She slumped lower. “Like what?”

  “Well… for starters, did you warn the others about what you were doing, and make them all step back before you sparked the fire?”

  “No,” Sophie admitted. “But they were already far enough away.”

  “Yes, but people do move, you know. It’s always best to communicate. And what about th
e larger danger? Did you take any measures to ensure that the fire wouldn’t spread anywhere else beyond the Neverseen’s hideout?”

  “No,” Sophie had to admit again. “But I didn’t need to—the storehouse was behind a giant waterfall!”

  “Did you actually consider that, though?” he pressed. “And what I mean is, did you have a conscious thought about there being an abundant water supply nearby that would safely extinguish the blaze before it could spread? Because if you didn’t, you don’t get to take credit for the waterfall’s safety. That’s what we call random luck.”

  Sophie reached for her eyelashes, giving them a soft tug. “It wasn’t like I had a lot of time to think—”

  “There’s never enough time to think in war,” he interrupted. “That doesn’t mean you don’t need to do it. Believe me, Miss Foster, I understand the complexity of the situation you faced today better than anybody. But since it’s only the first of many complex situations you’re going to find yourself in, I need to make sure you’re truly prepared for the responsibility you’re going to face. Because if it weren’t for the random luck of being near a waterfall today, you could’ve set off an enormous firestorm and caused untold collateral damage.”

  Sophie shuddered and closed her eyes, trying to fight back the painful flashbacks.

  But she could still hear the screams.

  Still see the neon yellow flames.

  Still remember the last time she saw Kenric’s face.

  “You’re right,” she admitted. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. Be better. And remember that mistakes don’t have to be mistakes if you correct them quickly. You could’ve alerted someone about the fire the second you arrived at Solreef—had them go back to the hideout to monitor the blaze and contain it if necessary. But you didn’t do that, either.”

  She wanted to point out that Tam and Flori and Sandor and Bo and Glimmer could’ve done that too, and hadn’t. But…

  They weren’t the ones who smashed those sconces.

  “None of this is easy,” he told her. “And sadly, it’s going to get harder. But you must never let yourself forget that winning won’t matter if you sink fully to the Neverseen’s level.”

  “Glimmer thinks that’s the only way we’re going to win,” Sophie mumbled.