Keeper of the Lost Cities

FORTY-SEVEN

SOPHIE DRIFTED WITH THE WARMTH. TIME, space, life—they held no meaning in the brightness. But she was peaceful, more peaceful than she’d ever been. If this was death, it wasn’t so bad.

A ghost of sound wove through the sparkle and color and heat. She tried to ignore it, but the noise persisted, and it sounded familiar. The same word over and over.

Sophie.

Awareness tugged her away from the light, and she fought against leaving the freedom. She didn’t want to go back to the darkness.

But she couldn’t tune out the voice.

Sophie. Sophie, can you hear me? Sophie.

The light turned teal and sparkled like a jewel all around her. The voice was soft, but still crisp, like it had an accent she couldn’t place. . . .

Fitz!

The rainbow world lost its appeal. With a surge of newfound strength, she pooled every remaining ounce of her concentration and wrapped it around the sound of his voice, letting it pull her back to reality. She gasped as pain rocked her head so hard it felt like her mind cracked, and a thousand different aches splintered through her body.

She tried to move but only managed a slight shiver. Something strong and warm wrapped around her.

“Sophie,” Fitz said again, clearer now, right next to her. “Sophie, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”

She didn’t have the strength to squeeze, but her mind was stronger than her body.

I’m here.

He laughed—a beautiful sound—and the warmth enveloped her again, tighter this time. “Everything is going to be okay,” he whispered. “You’re safe now. Just stay with me, okay?”

I’ll try.

There was something she needed to remember. Something bad had happened. Someone was hurt. An image of a strawberry-blond-haired boy crumpled on the ground flashed into her mind.

Dex!

“Dex is fine,” Fitz promised. “Keefe leaped him to Everglen, and Biana left to get Elwin. We weren’t sure if it was safe to move you.” His voice hitched at the end.

So many questions raced to her mind, but she was afraid to ask any of them. Thank you for coming.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. I didn’t want to believe you could still be . . . get my hopes up if . . .” He choked on the words. “I finally told Keefe and Biana about it, and they convinced me to come. If I’d come sooner, maybe . . .”

You’re here now.

“I just hope I’m not too late,” he whispered.

“Where is she?” Elwin barked, as running footsteps moved closer. He gasped. “Fitz, open her mouth.”

Soft fingers parted her lips, and then a cool liquid slid across her tongue.

“Try to swallow, Sophie,” Elwin ordered.

It took every bit of strength she had to push the sweet syrup down. The medicine rushed through her body, numbing as it went.

No!

She didn’t want to be sedated again. She didn’t want to go back to the darkness.

“It’s okay, Sophie,” Fitz whispered, his voice farther away.

“Don’t fight the medicine,” Elwin added. “Your body isn’t ready to be awake. I promise it will be okay.”

She was scared to sink into the blackness again. She wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to come back.

Her panic eased as Fitz’s voice filled her mind.

You’re going to be okay, he promised. Just sleep.

She clung to his words as the darkness dragged her under.

COOL TINGLES ACROSS HER forehead pulled her back to reality, and Sophie took deep breaths, luxuriating in the rise and fall of her chest. She’d forgotten how wonderful it was to breathe.

“That’s my girl,” someone whispered. She knew the voice, but her foggy mind couldn’t place it.

Something touched her lips and she parted them, gulping the cool wetness that poured into her mouth. She wanted to drink forever, but the liquid stopped. Her face twisted in protest.

“I know,” the voice said, “but you have to give your stomach a chance to adjust. It’s been empty for a long time now.”

She wanted to argue, but her stomach cramped as the cold liquid hit it. Her body contorted.

“Can’t you give her anything for the pain?” another voice asked from somewhere nearby.

“I need her to feel right now, so I can check her progress. Then I can numb her again.”

“No,” she begged, horrified at her strangled voice. She’d had enough sedative to last a lifetime. “No medicine.”

“Shhh,” he whispered, rubbing balm into her dry lips. “I won’t give you any medicine, I promise. Now please, lay still before you wear yourself out.”

“Okay.” She forced her eyes open, squinting in the light. A round face with dark messy hair hovered over her. The iridescent spectacles gave him away.

“Elwin,” she whispered.

Tears pooled in his eyes. “I can’t tell you how good it is to hear you say that. Bullhorn’s been sleeping next to you for two weeks. We were starting to lose hope. But yesterday he moved, and now here you are.”

Someone sniffled behind her.

“Alden?” she asked, recognizing the other voice she’d heard.

“I’m here,” he whispered, stepping into her line of sight and taking her hand.

“You up for a few visitors?” Elwin asked.

“Sure,” she whispered. Alden propped her up with a pillow, and she realized she was at Everglen, in the room she’d stayed in her first night as an elf. Outside she could hear some murmured debate over who should see her first, and then Fitz rushed to her side.

She swallowed back tears as she met his eyes. “Thanks for bringing me back.”

Before he could reply, Biana raced into the room, threw her arms around her, and burst into tears. “I’m so sorry, Sophie. My dad wanted you around more so he could keep an eye on you, so he told me to reach out to you—but I really am your friend and then you were gone and . . .” Her voice trailed into sobs.

“It’s okay,” Sophie whispered, and she meant it. If Biana cared enough to rescue her—cared enough to cry—that was enough. “Forget about it, okay? We’re still friends.”

Biana sniffled and pulled back to meet her eyes. “Really?”

“Really.”

“All right, enough girly drama,” Keefe said, shoving his way in. “I was part of the rescue too, remember? I’m the one who knew the tree you told Fitz about was the Four Seasons Tree, so if it weren’t for me . . .” He faltered as he seemed to realize he was talking about her dying.

“Thank you, Keefe.” She smiled to show him she didn’t mind.

He shrugged. “Anytime. And by the way, you’re a Telepath? I think that proves once and for all that you’re definitely the Most. Mysterious. Girl. Ever.” His face darkened. “My dad was very smug when he heard you’d been training with Tiergan. He always has to be right. And this time he was.”

Sophie’s eyes darted to Alden.

“It’s okay. You won’t have to hide it anymore. In fact, everyone seems to know every detail that’s happened these past few months.” He shot a meaningful glance at Keefe.

Great. Everyone knew what a freak she was.

Though it was kind of a relief. No more hiding. No more lying. Her friends would stand by her—and the others? She wasn’t sure she cared.

“Things are changing,” Alden added. “But we’ll talk about that later. Right now you should rest.”

“Not without this,” Fitz said, handing her a bright blue elephant.

“Ella!” Sophie buried her face between the floppy ears, ignoring Keefe’s snickers. She’d been through too much to care about being teased. She met Fitz’s eyes, melting when he smiled at her. “Thank you guys for rescuing me.”

“Just get better, okay?” Keefe ordered. “School wasn’t the same without you. No explosions or emergencies. Boring.”

“I’ll try,” she promised.

And if you need anything, you know how to reach me, Fitz transmitted.

Sophie gasped. “How?”

Fitz grinned. I have no idea. I slipped in when you were fading, and now it’s easy.

Does that mean you can read my mind? she asked, preparing to die of embarrassment if he could.

He shook his head. I can only transmit. Pretty cool though, huh?

She nodded, trying not to worry about what might’ve happened to her brain to cause that kind of change.

“Hey—no secret telepathic conversations, you two—or I’ll have to assume you guys are flirting!” Keefe laughed as they both flushed and looked anywhere but at each other.

“I think Dex is going to explode if I don’t let him in,” Elwin interrupted.

Dex burst through the door, and Sophie’s breath caught in her throat. He looked perfect—not a scratch on him.

We’ll see you later, Fitz promised as he pulled Keefe and Biana out with him.

Dex stomped past them. “Next time you try to rescue me, concentrate a little more on yourself, okay? You almost died because of me.”

“Actually, you almost died because of me. Twice,” she reminded him, her voice shaking as she tried not to think about his blank eyes after the melder blasts.

He bit his lip. “Call it even?”

“Deal.”

He leaned forward like he wanted to hug her, then noticed Alden and Elwin and backed off. He squeezed her hand, color streaking his cheeks. “You’re really okay?”

“Yeah. Just a little tired. How about you? Did the melder do any damage?” Her eyes searched for tiny injuries she might’ve missed from far away.

“Nothing Elwin couldn’t fix. And nothing like what happens when you leap with all your concentration wrapped around someone else. Do you have any idea how dumb that was?”

“What was I supposed to do? My concentration’s weak as it is, and you were injured.”

“Actually, your concentration isn’t weak at all,” Alden corrected.

“Dex didn’t lose a single cell in the leap,” Elwin agreed. “If you’d kept a little more of that concentration for yourself, you wouldn’t have faded, and I wouldn’t have had to spend two weeks trying to bring the color and life back to a half-drained body.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled, cringing at the words “half-drained.” “But . . . my nexus was barely at the half. Dex, you saw it. How could my concentration be strong?”

“We’ll talk later,” Alden said. “Right now you need to rest.”

He pulled the blankets around her shoulders, and she snuggled Ella, wondering why Fitz had her. She’d left Ella at Havenfield. “Did Grady and Edaline come to see me?” she whispered, hating herself for hoping they had.

“They haven’t left since Fitz found you. You have no idea what they’ve been going through these past three and a half weeks.”

“Three and a half weeks?”

“You’ve been gone a long time, Sophie. They’re waiting outside, but they understand if you don’t want to see them.”

Emotion caught in her throat and she cleared it away. As much as they’d hurt her, as angry as she’d been, she couldn’t shut them out—not after everything she’d been through. “You can send them in,” she whispered.

Alden squeezed her shoulder and led Dex toward the door. Dex waved as two gaunt figures crept into the room.

Sophie blinked. “Grady? Edaline?” She barely recognized them. They looked like they hadn’t eaten or slept or changed clothes in weeks.

Edaline covered her trembling lips and raced to Sophie, crawling into the bed to hold her so tight it was almost hard to breathe. Grady dropped to his knees on the floor beside them, squeezing Sophie’s arm.

“I’ll just . . . give you guys a minute,” Elwin said, fleeing the scene as they all started crying.

Grady cleared his throat and wiped his eyes. “Sorry, we don’t want to wear you out. It’s just a little overwhelming to get you back. We went to your funeral. . . .”

Another sob shook Edaline’s shoulders before she released Sophie and pulled herself up, squeezing Sophie’s hands. “Losing you was one of the hardest things I’ve ever endured,” she whispered, “but the worst part was knowing that you had no idea how much you mean to us.”

Grady squeezed both of their hands.

“We never wanted to love anyone again after we lost Jolie,” Edaline whispered. “But we love you, Sophie. You’re just as much our daughter as she was. We need you to know that—not because we want you to forgive us, but because you deserve to know.”

“Canceling your adoption was the worst mistake we’ve ever made,” Grady added. “You’ll always have a home with us at Havenfield, but we understand if you want to stay with Alden and Della. We just hope you’ll come visit sometime. Let us be a tiny part of your life—even if we don’t deserve it.”

Sophie nodded, too overwhelmed to say anything other than, “Thanks.” But when Edaline kissed her cheek and Grady stroked her hair, she added, “I love you guys too.”

They both smiled, and even though they were still thin and tired, they looked more like themselves. Edaline kissed her cheek again.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Grady pulled a tiny furball out of his pocket.

“Iggy!”

Iggy flitted to her shoulder, nuzzling her cheek. Sophie gagged. “Ugh, I forgot about Iggy breath.” She scratched his fuzzy head, and his crackly purr filled the room. “Thanks for your help in the cave, little man.”

Edaline sniffled. “He did come and find us. Took us a while to figure out what he wanted, and by the time we got down to the caves there’d been a huge wave and . . .” Her voice vanished.

Sophie squeezed her hand. “I’m safe.” She tried to believe the words were true.

Grady stood up as she yawned. “We’ll let you sleep.”

She didn’t want to sleep after losing so much time, but her body demanded it, and by the time Grady pulled the blankets around her and switched off the lights, she was already asleep, with Iggy snoring like a chain saw beside her.