Keeper of the Lost Cities

FORTY-THREE

ACTING NORMAL AT SCHOOL THE next day was easier than Sophie thought it would be. Dex still wasn’t speaking to her, Marella and Jensi were relatively oblivious, and Fitz and Biana already knew. She got a little choked up when Biana hugged her and told her things would be okay—and Keefe made a few jokes about what he kept calling her “mystery illness”—but other than that, it was like any other day.

Until study hall.

Sophie was sitting alone with Biana—ignoring the way Dex kept glaring at her from the next table over—when Stina plunked her beanpole body in one of their empty chairs.

“I never knew you were such a good actress,” she sneered.

Sophie froze. “W-what do you mean?”

“Not you, Foster—you’re not good at anything. I meant Biana. I know your secret.”

Biana glared at her. “Oooh, I’m really scared.”

“You should be.”

Something about Stina’s confidence seemed to get to Biana, because she shifted in her chair and her eyes darted to Sophie.

“She doesn’t know anything. She’s just trying to trick you into admitting something.” Sophie grabbed her things and stood. “Come on. Let’s sit somewhere else.”

Stina slammed her bony arm across Biana’s books. “Oh, but I do know something. See, since you’ve been ignoring Maruca lately, she and I have become quite close—and she’s had some great stories to tell. This morning she told me the most interesting thing about the reason you and Sophie became friends.”

All the color drained from Biana’s face.

“What is she talking about?” Sophie asked quietly.

Stina flashed a wicked smile at Biana. “Should I tell her, or do you want to do it?”

“Tell me what?”

Biana sat pale and lifeless, like a statue.

Stina giggled. “It’s really quite funny. She was forced to be friends with you. Her dad wanted to keep a closer watch on the freaky human girl who practically killed his son in a splotching match, so he ordered Biana to be your friend so you’d come around their house.”

Sophie saw the panic in Biana’s eyes and felt a little sick. “Is that true?”

“Of course it’s true,” Stina interrupted. “She hated you before that, remember? Did you really think she suddenly wanted to be best friends for no reason?” She studied Sophie closely. “Hmm. I guess you did. You’re even dumber than I thought.”

Biana sprang to life and reached for Sophie’s arm.

Sophie jerked away. “Don’t!”

Her mind was spinning, making connections she should have made a long time ago. She’d wondered if someone put Biana up to it. She’d just never considered it might be Alden.

“Sophie,” Biana pleaded.

Sophie shook her head as traitorous tears pricked her eyes. The last thing she saw was the look of I told you so on Dex’s face as she turned and fled.

She raced around a corner and plowed straight into someone.

“Sophie? Are you okay?” Fitz asked.

Of course she would run into him. And he was with Keefe—perfect. “I’m fine,” she muttered, resisting his help as she struggled to regain her balance.

“Hey.” He grabbed her arms. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

She shrugged out of his grasp and tried to push by, but he blocked her path. “Let me go.”

“Tell me what’s going on first.”

“Uh, Fitz.” Keefe tapped him on the shoulder. “I’m feeling some pretty serious rage right now. It’s probably not a good idea to annoy her.”

She glared at Keefe and he took a step away from her, holding out his hands in peace.

“Tell me what happened,” Fitz pleaded.

The concern in his voice pushed her over the edge. “Ugh,” she screamed, shoving away from him. “Just stop already.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop pretending like you care. I know your dad put you up to it, okay?”

“That’s crazy.” Keefe looked at Fitz to back him up.

Fitz looked away, his whole body rigid. “What did Biana tell you?”

“Nothing,” she hissed. “Neither of you had the decency to be honest with me. I had to hear about it from Stina.”

Fitz muttered something under his breath. “Sophie, it’s—”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Her voice cracked.

“Better leave her alone,” Keefe said, pulling Fitz away. He glanced over his shoulder as he dragged Fitz down the hall—his eyes asking if she would be okay.

She shook her head, pulled out her home crystal, and leaped back to Havenfield.

“WHAT HAPPENED?” GRADY CALLED WHEN he spotted her, but she didn’t acknowledge him. She threw her satchel on the ground and ran straight for the caves.

“Sophie, wait!” Edaline called.

Sophie kept going, but Edaline was faster than she looked, and in a minute she’d caught up with her. She offered a small furball. “In case you need a friend.”

Iggy fluttered to her shoulder and Sophie wiped away a tear. “Thanks.”

Edaline nodded. “Be careful down there. Looks like a storm’s coming.”

Sophie hadn’t noticed the gray sky, but it seemed appropriate given her mood. She climbed down the cliff and wandered deep into the cave, reveling in the thick, gloomy darkness. She noticed a shard of rock on the ground and hurtled it at the wall. The clatter as it shattered into smaller bits was oddly soothing.

She threw another stone, and another, relishing the clang of each as they were pulverized to smithereens. When there were no rocks left, she kicked the edge of the nearest boulder until her foot throbbed. Dirty, panting, and in more than a little pain, she collapsed to the ground, feeling the tears she’d been holding back bubble over. She buried her face in her hands and gave into them, letting the violent sobs shake her body. She felt Iggy trembling next to her, frightened by her irrational behavior, but she didn’t care.

Her life had officially fallen apart.

She had no friends. No family. Facing exile and expulsion.

She was totally and completely alone.

It was at that moment—when she thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse—that they did.

A pair of arms pulled her to her feet and smothered her scream with a meaty hand. She tried to fight back, but a cloaked figure swooped out of the shadows and shoved a cloth over her mouth and nose. Something sickeningly sweet burned her throat and nostrils and her head instantly clouded.

A sedative.

She held her breath and kicked with all her might, but she couldn’t escape the iron grasp, and she couldn’t hold her breath much longer.

“Sophie?” Dex called, his voice echoing against the walls. “Are you in here? Fitz told me I should come find you.”

The figure holding her cursed, and Sophie rallied her concentration.

Run, Dex! she transmitted.

She was too late.

She heard the scuffle, but her head was swirling too much from the drug to make sense of it. Then the arms holding her jerked away, and she crumpled to the ground as someone yelped. A ball of fur scuttled away.

Iggy!

He must’ve bit her captor.

Go get help! she transmitted, hoping he understood what she meant. He scurried out of the cave, so she took that as a good sign.

She tried to get up, but she was too weak. One of the figures grabbed her arm, squeezing so hard it cut off her circulation. “Let go,” she rasped, surprised at how the drug affected her voice. Dex moaned behind her and she turned toward the sound.

A third figure had Dex with a viselike grip, and clearly no amount of struggling or fighting would help him escape. She held Dex’s panicked stare as her captor pulled her to her feet and covered her mouth with his hand. “Drug them now!” he ordered in a deep voice.

“Both of them?” the figure holding Dex asked. “I thought we only wanted the girl?”

“We can’t leave any evidence!” He turned to the second figure, who was already soaking the cloth with a small vial. “You said she only came here alone!”

“She does!”

They’d been watching her.

She watched in horror as the figure covered Dex’s mouth and nose with the drugged cloth. His eyes held hers as he struggled against the sedative, but after a minute his head lolled and his body fell limp.

“Get his pendant,” the one holding her ordered.

There was an ominous snap as Dex’s registry necklace came free in his hand. Then he returned to Sophie, holding the cloth over her face. “Let’s try this again.”

Her nose burned and her head spun, and the last thing she felt was a tug on her neck as her pendant—her only hope of being tracked down and rescued—was ripped off her neck.