Nightfall

by Shannon Messenger

  “Actually, we chose it,” Biana corrected. “We were planning to ambush them, and they found out and turned everything around on us.”

  “That may be,” Lady Cadence told her, “but they still knew you would be caught off guard. They don’t fight fair—and they always have a strategy. Don’t you think it’s time we start doing the same?”

  “Are you suggesting we ask Dimitar to give us a battalion of ogre warriors?” Mr. Forkle asked, holding out his hands to silence Woltzer’s and Sandor’s protests. “I can’t imagine him agreeing to that—and even if he surprises me, the Council will never allow an army of ogres to dwell within the Lost Cities, even under the banner of allies. And the Black Swan has no means to hide them. Nor the desire, I might add. I’m a risk-taker, Cadence, but you’ve found my limit.”

  Her lips twisted into a smile. “Quite honestly, I’m not sure what I’m suggesting, nor am I certain what Dimitar will be willing to offer. All I’m asking for is the chance to find out, and the support of the Black Swan for whatever I can arrange. This rebellion has affected both ogres and elves alike. It’s time we figure out how to fight it together. And what better opportunity than when we’re already journeying to his city and asking him to hand over one of his prized spoils?”

  “Does that mean you’ll take us to Ravagog?” Sophie asked.

  “Not all of you. I can’t bring the goblins, of course. And you”—she pointed to Tam, Biana, and Della—“can only have one purpose for tagging along for this meeting, and I’m not bringing thieves into a friend’s palace.”

  “We’d only steal if he won’t give us the hairpin,” Tam argued.

  “That doesn’t make it right. Dimitar is not so unreasonable as you may believe—especially if you let me take the lead. He’ll likely give you a challenge to convince him he should hand over what you seek.”

  “What kind of challenge?” Sophie asked.

  “Any number of things. Dimitar likes to consider his allies worthy, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he chose to test you in some way.”

  “Test who, exactly?” Mr. Forkle asked.

  “My guess would be Sophie. You’ve made it abundantly clear that she holds a certain value to our world. Most likely he’ll want to her to prove that she deserves his generosity.”

  “Why do I not like the sound of that?” Keefe asked.

  Sophie didn’t either.

  And Sandor looked ready to unsheathe his sword and start hacking at things.

  But . . . if that was the only way to get the starstone to take them to Nightfall, she’d do it. Whatever it took to get her parents out of there.

  “Let me be clear,” Mr. Forkle said. “If I entrust Miss Foster to your care for this meeting, you must assure me of her safety. And Mr. Sencen’s as well.”

  “Won’t you be joining us?” Lady Cadence asked.

  “I . . . have other matters to attend to.”

  He probably did—but Sophie wondered if he also didn’t want Dimitar seeing him alive, in case he was in contact with Fintan.

  Lady Cadence’s eyes narrowed at Sophie and Keefe. “And you two will do whatever I tell you without causing any trouble?”

  Keefe batted his eyelashes. “We would never dream of causing you any trouble.”

  “We won’t,” Sophie emphasized, kicking Keefe under the table, “because my family’s lives are on the line.”

  Lady Cadence nodded, turning back to Mr. Forkle. “Then yes, I can assure they’ll leave Ravagog in one piece.”

  Somehow that didn’t sound the same as safe.

  “But King Dimitar will need some assurance that I have the Black Swan’s permission to broker an alliance,” she added.

  “I’ll arrange for a member of our Collective to join you—assuming we have a deal, of course,” Mr. Forkle told her.

  “Are you agreeing to my terms?” she asked.

  Mr. Forkle reached for his neck, tracing his fingers along the chain of his registry pendant. “I can’t grant you the Foxfire session until the next school year, since the prodigies’ schedules will already be overloaded to make up for lost time. And I can’t speak for the entire Collective, so this is still pending an official vote. But . . . welcome to the Black Swan.”

  Twenty-four

  HOW WORRIED DO I need to be?” Grady asked when Sophie, Keefe, and Sandor leaped back to Havenfield and found him out in the pastures, clinging to a thick black rope that rose high into the inky sky.

  The most enormous silver-blue bird Sophie had ever seen was tethered to the end, circling among the winking stars.

  “I don’t know,” Sophie told him. “That thing does look like it could carry you off and eat you.”

  Grady gave the gleaming bird some extra slack. “Nice try. This big guy is our new argentavis. He only eats carrion—at least until I can show him the glory of gnomish vegetables. And I think you and Keefe have been spending too much time together. You’re starting to sound like each other.”

  “I know! Our little girl is growing up and getting so snarky!” Keefe pretended to wipe his teary eyes. “I’ve never been so proud.”

  Grady shared a look with Sandor before he let out an endless sigh. “Anyway. How’d it go with Lady Cadence?”

  “Better than I expected,” Sophie admitted. “She said she’d bring us to King Dimitar tomorrow, and she even thinks she can convince him to hand over the starstone.”

  She decided not to mention that she might face some sort of “challenge” in order for that to happen. Instead she filled him in on Lady Cadence’s demands to Mr. Forkle.

  Grady tightened his hold on the rope. “A few years ago I would’ve laughed at the idea of an ogre-elvin alliance. And a few months ago, I would’ve called it treason. But . . . Lady Cadence may have a point. The way those ogres fought—I’ve never seen anything like it. And my power was useless against them, thanks to those thinking caps.”

  “But you haven’t been trained for battle,” Sandor argued.

  “Cadoc and Brielle had,” Grady reminded him. “And they were taken down in minutes. If Verdi hadn’t busted out of her enclosure, I doubt I’d be standing here right now—and poor Verdi has a permanent limp because of it.”

  Keefe reached for Sophie’s hand, but the extra support didn’t stop her bloodstained flashbacks. The pasture they were standing in had been strewn with bodies when she and Sandor had finally gotten there. And for a few harrowing minutes, Sophie had been sure she was going to find Grady and Edaline among them.

  “My people have protected the elves for centuries,” Sandor said quietly. “Are you ready to discount us after one close call?”

  “Of course not,” Grady told him. “But I never want to attend another aurification—especially yours.”

  Sophie nodded, trying not to imagine Sandor’s gilded, lifeless body standing among all the others in the goblins’ Hall of Heroes.

  “So, if the ogres are willing to clean up their own mess for us, why not let them?” Grady asked.

  “Because trusting ogres has never ended well,” Sandor told him. “A fact I doubt Lady Cadence is planning to cover in her new session. I may speak with my queen and see if we should demand a chance to teach our side of things. I’ve endured enough of Sophie’s multispeciesial studies lectures to know that your curriculum has been incredibly sanitized. I’ve never been able to decide if it’s the result of arrogance or ignorance.”

  “You’re forgetting that Sophie is only a Level Three,” Grady said as he attempted to rein in the argentavis—earning a piercing screech and a whole lot of flapping wings. “Certain truths are reserved until our prodigies are mature enough to process them. And some are restricted to the elite levels, for those preparing to enter the nobility.”

  “Does that mean anyone who doesn’t qualify for the elite levels won’t learn the whole truth about our world?” Sophie asked.

  “There’s no such thing as a ‘whole truth’ when it comes to history,” Grady told her. “There will always be classified information
only given to those who need to know. Even the Council divides up their secrets.”

  “And then erases a ton of stuff from their minds,” Sophie added.

  She’d always found the concept strange. But she’d never thought through what it really meant.

  “So then . . . even the Councillors don’t know our complete history, do they?” she asked.

  “They know everything they need to know,” Grady assured her.

  “How can you be so sure? I mean . . . we have an escaped prisoner running around, plotting creepy stuff with the Neverseen—and, according to Oralie, the Councillors don’t even know who she is. And I know they never meant for her to get out of Lumenaria, but she did. Am I really the only one who thinks the whole Forgotten Secrets thing seems . . .”

  “Dangerous?” Sandor finished for her.

  The word in her mind had been “stupid.” But his was probably better.

  “I just remember in my human schools,” Sophie said quietly, “sometimes everyone would whine that studying history was boring—”

  “Because it is,” Keefe jumped in. “I get more sleep in elvin history than any other session.”

  Sophie often shared his struggle. As did Sandor.

  “But,” she added, “the teachers were always telling us that if we didn’t know our history, it might repeat itself.”

  “Which would be a valid point if the humans truly were learning and improving,” Grady said gently. “But even with all that knowledge—all that history—don’t they still live with war and crime? Don’t they still cling to their same prejudices? The Councillors believe that the truer lessons don’t come from the facts or details. They come from the emotions triggered by the experiences—and those never get erased. If something inspires caution or reserve—or outrage and indignation—the Councillors still carry those feelings with them, even after the memories are wiped away.”

  “Yeah, but emotions can be warped,” Keefe said quietly. “Every horrible thing my dad ever said to me came from his twisted idea of love. He was a jerk because he cared—or thought he did. We all know the only person he actually cares about is himself.”

  The words felt too raw to touch.

  Keefe cleared his throat. “I just overshared, didn’t I?”

  Sophie shook her head, a dozen different responses warring in her mind.

  “No, it clearly was,” Keefe said. “You all have that head-tilted-with-sympathy thing going on now. So hey, how about a subject change? Grady, did you know Sandor and Grizel have been sneaking off for snuggle time?”

  Grady wheeled toward Sandor. “I’d wondered if there was something going on with you two. Glad to hear it!”

  Sandor flushed pink from head to toe. “I . . . should start preparing for tomorrow. I’ll be setting traps for when Lady Gisela attempts to deliver her message. She may think she can slip past me—”

  “She will,” Keefe interrupted. “Don’t ask me how. But believe me, if I thought there was even the slightest chance we could catch her, Foster and I would be having a slumber party tonight.”

  “No you wouldn’t,” Grady informed him.

  Keefe smirked. “Worried I’ll prank you?”

  “Definitely not what I’m worried about.”

  And on that note, Sophie decided it was time for another subject change.

  “Are you going to start staying at Candleshade?” she asked Keefe. “Since your dad isn’t there?”

  “Nah. With my luck, he’d come back. Plus, the Neverseen might be watching the place.”

  “Your father isn’t at Candleshade?” Grady asked, frowning when Keefe nodded. “He hasn’t made an appearance in Eternalia in a while, either.”

  “Probably hiding from my mom.”

  “Or . . . could they be working together?” Sophie had to ask.

  Fitz had wondered several weeks earlier if Keefe’s dad could’ve been the one to help Lady Gisela escape. The theory was a little hard to believe—Lord Cassius was more of a fancy clothes guy than a busting-people-out-of-an-ogre-prison guy. But Mr. Forkle and Dex had both planned to look into it, and Sophie couldn’t remember if she’d ever followed up.

  “Nah, my dad cares way too much about his precious reputation to get dragged down with my mom’s mess,” Keefe assured her. “If anything, he’s trying to find her so he can redeem himself with her arrest.”

  “Maybe.”

  Still, Sophie made a mental note to ask Dex about it the next time she saw him. He’d offered to hack into Keefe’s dad’s registry records to track his recent movements. Might be a good idea to see if they could get a current location.

  “So where are you going, then?” she asked Keefe. “You’ve never told me where you’re hiding out.”

  “I know.” He fussed with his cape.

  “Why don’t you want me knowing where you’re living?”

  “Because it’s my turn to be the mysterious one.”

  The joke felt like a cover.

  “Don’t go tilting your head with sympathy again,” he told her. “It’s not a big deal. If it was, would I have offered to let your sister stay with me? Speaking of which, didn’t you promise you’d be hailing her with an update on the search for your parents tonight? She’s probably sitting in her room, staring at her Imparter, wondering if you forgot her. She might even be crying.”

  “Wow, that’s how you’re going to get out of answering my question?” Sophie asked.

  “It worked, didn’t it?”

  She sighed. “You’re off the hook—for now.”

  “Then I better take my cue,” Keefe said, tipping his fingers toward Grady in a salute as he pulled a scuffed-up crystal from his pocket—a clear one, Sophie noted, so he had to be leaping somewhere within the Lost Cities.

  Right before he stepped into the narrow path, he told Sophie, “See you bright and early, Foster. Tomorrow we start fixing this mess.”

  Twenty-five

  THIS HOPEFULLY GOES without saying,” Grady told Sophie as Keefe glittered away, “but I expect you to come straight home after you’re done in Ravagog. And I will be going with you when you head to Nightfall to rescue your parents. We need a plan that the Neverseen can’t predict.”

  “But they know you’re a Mesmer,” Sophie reminded him. “They’re probably more prepared for you than anyone else.”

  “Yes, but they don’t know that you’re an Enhancer. And who knows what I’ll be able to do if you use your ability to enhance mine?”

  His voice quivered with the suggestion, and Sophie felt the same rattle deep in her bones.

  Grady’s ability was already scarily intense. She wasn’t sure she wanted to find out what he’d be able to do if she boosted that power.

  “But if she enhances you in front of them, they’ll know what’s happening,” Sandor pointed out, “and they’ll realize she has a new weakness for them to exploit.”

  “Being an Enhancer isn’t a weakness,” Grady argued.

  “Fine, let’s call it a vulnerability,” Sandor conceded. “Isn’t that the reason she’s wearing gloves and keeping it secret?”

  “We’d want to save it for an emergency,” Grady agreed. “But I should still be there in case it comes to that.”

  It wasn’t a horrible suggestion, but . . .

  “Can we wait to decide until we have the starstone, and Lady Gisela tells us whatever important security thing she held back?” Sophie asked, still only half sure if she believed both of those things would actually happen. “I’m sure that’s going to change everything anyway.”

  “Fine. But I’ll be holding on to Keefe’s Imparter in the meantime,” Sandor told her, “that way you can’t contact his mom without me.”

  Sophie gritted her teeth. “I know I’ve run off in the past, but I’m not stupid enough to do that with this—just like I’m not stupid enough to think we’re actually going to fix anything tomorrow.”

  Her voice wobbled with the confession, and Grady gave the argentavis’s rope more slack so he could reach
for her hand.

  “No one would ever call you stupid, Sophie. We just want to help.”

  “I’m going to need it,” she whispered. “I don’t know how to fix this.”

  It was the truth she’d been trying to bury under all the shaky plans they’d been cobbling together, hoping everything would somehow mesh into something solid and whole. But so far, all they’d really done was make a deal with Keefe’s conniving mother and agree to meet with a cruel king who’d already tried to kill her—twice. All of which would cost them precious time and put more people she cared about in danger.

  “I don’t know how to fix this either,” Grady said, gently pulling her into a hug. “But I do know we’re not going to stop until we get your parents back—and deal with whatever else the Neverseen are planning.”

  “Which is why you should try to rest while you can,” Sandor told her. “Want me to ask the gnomes if they can bring a late dinner up to your room?”

  “That’s right!” Grady said, nearly losing his balance when the argentavis fought to fly higher. “Dex is up there, waiting for you.”

  Sophie blinked. “You’re telling me this now?”

  “Sorry. I was waiting until Keefe went home, and then I got sidetracked.”

  “Why were you waiting for Keefe to leave?”

  “Dex said he had something important to give you—oh, but he told me to tell you it doesn’t have anything to do with the cache because he didn’t want you getting your hopes up.”

  Unfortunately, her mind had already made that leap.

  “Besides,” Grady added, “I thought it might be nice for you and Dex to have some one-on-one time. Remember how often you guys used to hang out?”

  “We still do,” Sophie argued. “We just have a lot going on.”

  “And yet I sure seem to see a lot of Keefe these days. . . .”

  Sophie scowled.

  Sandor coughed.

  Grady shrugged.

  “I just don’t want you to forget how many great guys you have in your life,” he told her. “Especially Dex.”