Keeper of the Lost Cities

TWENTY-SEVEN

EVERYONE EXCITED FOR MIDTERMS?” DAME Alina’s projection chirped.

Sophie locked her legs to keep her knees from banging together as Dame Alina continued in her annoyingly cheerful voice.

“Your thinking caps are in your lockers, and remember, anyone found without one for the rest of the day will be disqualified for cheating—is that clear?” She waited until everyone nodded. “Good. Have fun with midterms.”

The chorus of groans echoed through the air as Dame Alina flashed away and everyone left for exams. Sophie froze, too terrified to move.

Dex pulled her toward the atrium. “Will you relax? We’ve been practicing nonstop for a week. You’re ready.”

She nodded, afraid that if she spoke, her voice would tremble.

Her hands shook as she slipped on the thinking cap from her locker. The white cloth wrapped around her head and hung in a point. She glared at her reflection. “I look like a Smurf.”

The thick fabric consisted of an amalgam of metals, made to dull telepathic abilities and preserve the integrity of the exams. But the second she concentrated she could feel Dex’s voice rushing through her mind like a blast of air, so it clearly didn’t work on her. She wasn’t surprised.

“Well . . . here goes nothing.” She forced a smile before stumbling down the hall on shaky legs.

She wrote an extensive essay on the human betrayal for elvin history, named more than a hundred stars in the Universe, and won the mind-over-matter debate with Sir Faxon in metaphysics. Tiergan was so amazed that the thinking cap had no effect on her, he gave her an automatic 100 percent.

But her harder exams were after lunch, and alchemy was up first. Thinking about it made her stomach twist in ways that couldn’t be natural.

Lady Alexine allowed last-minute studying in detention, so Sophie spent the time mentally repeating Dex’s purification tips.

“Will you chill?” Keefe whispered. He waved at the air, like he was trying to fan her negative vibes away. “You’re starting to stress me out.”

“Aren’t you nervous?”

“Nah, I’m awesome at tests. Photographic memory.”

Sophie’s eyes widened. “You too?”

“You have a photographic memory? Then what are you freaking out about?”

“Because it doesn’t help as much as you think.”

“Sure it does. How else do you think I got a year ahead? It sure wasn’t my work ethic.”

“You’re a year ahead?” She’d never realized he was younger than Fitz.

“Yep. It’s my big claim to fame. I skipped Level One. Kinda like you.”

“I didn’t skip it. I missed it.”

“Same thing.”

It wasn’t, but she didn’t have time to argue. The bells chimed the end of lunch.

For a second she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get up.

Keefe pulled her to her feet. “That means it’s time to go, in case you didn’t realize. Seriously, Foster, you have to relax. You’re going to make yourself sick.”

“I feel sick,” she admitted, wobbling.

He jerked away. “Thanks for the warning. No need to share that feeling. Look, I’m not good at the serious, supportive thing—but trust me, you’re going to be fine.”

“How do you know?”

He grinned. “I have a feeling you can do pretty much anything you put your mind to. So stop doubting yourself and go prove me right. You know, so I can brag about it.”

She couldn’t help smiling. “Thanks.” She took a deep, calming breath, squared her shoulders, and ordered her legs to walk. Mercifully, they obeyed.

Lady Galvin was still setting up when she entered the room. Sophie’s heart stalled when she saw the deep magenta berries and the rusty iron key. Lady Galvin may be giving Sophie the easiest discipline, but she certainly hadn’t chosen an easy project.

“Does the cap even work on you?” Lady Galvin asked, her eyes boring into Sophie’s.

Sophie shook her head, not quite brave enough to speak the words.

“Will you be picking the secrets out of my brain, then?”

She shook her head again.

“Why should I believe you?”

She cleared her throat and forced her mouth to work. “I want to pass on my own.”

Lady Galvin stared at her for a second before she blinked. “You must purify the iron key using only ruckleberries. You have fifty-five minutes. I suggest you get started.”

Ruckleberries were nasty, stinky little berries that brought impurities to the surface of a metal. They also made your skin wrinkle like an elderly human’s if any of the juice got on you—and you’d smell like feet all day—so most alchemists used other methods to purify metal. But it was the assignment. Sophie had no choice but to dive in and do her best.

Her palms were so sweaty it was hard to hold the knife as she pierced the first berry and dribbled the juice on the key. She tried to work slow and careful, but a few drops still ended up on her pinky, making it look crinkled and haggard, and the glacial pace made her run out of time. Only three quarters of the key had turned the gleaming black color she was going for, but she hoped it was enough. Lady Galvin’s face was unreadable when she turned it in, and she glared at Sophie’s wrinkled pinky. Points would clearly be deducted.

Sophie finished out the day with a decent essay on ogres for multispeciesial studies and a mediocre performance on her last two exams. Her channeling went well in phys. ed.—until Lady Alexine ran back and forth through the walls and broke her concentration. And she managed to bottle three different clouds in elementalism, but it took four tries to bottle a whirlwind and the bottle had a crack from the pressure. Sir Conley didn’t look impressed when she handed it in.

Completely exhausted, she trudged back to the atrium to meet Dex.

“Well, that was brutal,” he whined, slamming his locker closed. “How’d it go for you?”

She slumped against the wall. “I did the best I could.”

“I guess you can’t ask for more than that.” He tried to smooth his wild hat hair. “You staying home tonight?”

“No. Grady and Edaline are taking me shopping.”

“Whoa. That’ll be the first time they’ve gone out in public together since . . . you know.”

She did know. Grady and Edaline hadn’t left the house together since Jolie died. Sophie told them they didn’t have to, but Grady insisted. Foxfire tradition held that at the end of midterms all the prodigies hung their thinking caps upside down from hooks on their lockers. The next day everyone filled each other’s hats with presents and opened them while their parents met with their Mentors to find out their grades. Sophie’s legs felt weak just thinking about it.

She loved the idea of presents and hanging out with her friends, but having Grady and Edaline know if she failed before she did sent chills down her spine. Why couldn’t elves send out report cards like human schools?

“Are you going shopping tonight?” she asked Dex.

“Nope. My parents think it’s too much hassle to take all four of us, and they can never find babysitters for the triplets.” Bitterness edged into his voice. “But don’t worry”—he nudged her arm—“I already made your present.”

“You made my present?” At first she was touched, but then she thought about it. “Wait, it’s not some solution that’s going to turn my hair green, is it?”

Dex flashed a slightly evil grin. “I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

GRADY AND EDALINE TOOK SOPHIE to Atlantis. She hadn’t been there since the day Alden and Fitz brought her—the day her human life ended—and she still hadn’t figured out how to feel about any of that. She’d been with the elves a little more than three months now, and she’d come a long way. But she still had a long way to go.

Passing her midterms was the biggest obstacle.

She glared at her wrinkled pinky. How many points would she lose for the mistake? And how many more for not finishing?

Grady squeezed her shoulder when he caught her tugging out an eyelash. “Try to stop stressing, Sophie. We’re here to have fun, not worry about grades.”

She was tempted to point out that Grady and Edaline looked more stressed than she did. Their shoulders were rigid, their jaws set, and Edaline had deep shadows under her eyes. But they were making a huge sacrifice for her. The least she could do was enjoy herself.

It took seven stores to find suitable gifts for all of her friends, and with each store Grady and Edaline looked more strained. The worst was the jewelry store. The woman who ran the shop remembered them. Apparently, they used to come in all the time to buy new charms for a charm bracelet—which had obviously belonged to Jolie.

Sophie took Edaline’s hand.

Edaline jumped. Then her eyes welled with tears and she squeezed Sophie’s hand and didn’t let go. Grady took Sophie’s other hand, and they walked that way for the rest of the night.

When they got home, Grady stopped her on her way to her room.

“I’m glad you came to live with us, Sophie. It’s . . .” His mouth formed a word, then changed to a different one. “It’s nice.”

“I’m glad I live here too,” she whispered.

He cleared his throat. “Big day tomorrow. Better get some sleep.”

“Good night, Grady.”

Even though she was terrified about her exam grades, she fell asleep believing that everything was going to be okay.