Nightfall

by Shannon Messenger

  “It seems safe,” Edaline assured her.

  “Only if we ignore the fact that we have no idea what this thing says,” Grady argued, holding up the scroll and shaking it. “I think everyone’s forgetting that there’s a reason humans say ‘don’t shoot the messenger.’ ”

  “They’ll have Lady Cadence to keep them safe,” Edaline reminded him. “Dimitar was seconds away from dragging Sophie off to one of his work camps after he caught her trying to read his mind—and Lady Cadence talked him out of it.”

  “Yeah, that makes me feel much better about this plan,” Grady grumbled.

  “I know. But we have to do this.” Sophie repeated all the reasons she’d agreed to Lady Gisela’s deal in the first place—and she wasn’t just saying it for him.

  She couldn’t let the whole rejecting-Dex thing—or any of her boy-related worries—distract her from the much more important problems they were tackling. And not just rescuing her parents.

  When she’d talked with her sister, Amy told her that she and Quinlin had been going through human newspaper articles about the fires, and they’d found that twenty of the burned areas were experiencing an unprecedented regrowth of rare wildflowers—which seemed way too perfect of a number to be a natural occurrence. Even the humans were calling it the Extraordinary Efflorescence.

  Sophie had no idea why the Neverseen would plant a bunch of flowers in the human world—and only at certain fire sites. But she’d seen enough over the last few years to be skeptical of coincidences.

  That was the kind of detail she needed to stay focused on—not all of this other drama.

  “Are we ready?” she asked, holding out her hand for Lady Gisela’s scroll.

  “I thought you were waiting for someone from the Collective,” Grady reminded her.

  They were. And Sophie had assumed it would be Granite, since he was usually the one who stepped in for Mr. Forkle.

  But a few minutes later, a smudge of shadows and color phased through Havenfield’s front door.

  “The Collective thought I’d be the best one for this assignment,” Blur explained. “That way if Lady Cadence is overestimating King Dimitar’s generosity, we have a way to make sure we don’t leave without the starstone.” He phased through the wall again to illustrate. “But I’m just the backup plan,” he promised Grady. “Everyone ready to head to Spateswale?”

  “We’re not going to Riverdrift?” Keefe asked.

  “We are. Lady Cadence moved it to a new river after she finished swearing fealty last night. I guess Spateswale is the most direct path to Ravagog.”

  “So she’s officially part of the Black Swan now?” Sophie asked.

  “She is. And she’s already given us three separate lectures on the ogres.”

  A loud sigh sounded behind them, and everyone turned to find Sandor in the entrance to the kitchen. His hard eyes focused on Keefe. “If Sophie returns with so much as a scratch, I’ll let Grizel determine your punishment—and I think you’ll find it to be creative and memorable.”

  “Live in fear of the scary girlfriend,” Keefe mumbled. “Got it.”

  “And the terrifying father,” Grady added. “I can make King Dimitar look cuddly.”

  “Um, excuse me—if anything happens to me, the only one responsible is me,” Sophie informed them.

  “Well said,” Edaline agreed as she strangled Sophie with a hug. “But everyone work together to make sure nothing happens to any of you, okay?”

  She pulled Grady into the embrace, and he reluctantly stretched an arm around Keefe.

  “Awww, it’s like I’m already part of the family,” Keefe said, earning a grumble.

  Blur laughed. “Well, if nothing else, this should be entertaining. Come on, guys. Let’s go see if you two can annoy King Dimitar into giving us what we need.”

  Twenty-nine

  WHAT ARE THOSE things?” Sophie shouted, keeping her back against one of Riverdrift’s metal towers as she watched the giant water beasts swarming through the dark, choppy water.

  The bluish-gray creatures looked like the oversize spawn of a shark, an alligator, and an eel—with beady eyes and extra-long snouts and about twenty million needle-sharp teeth.

  And there were five of them.

  “Pannoniasaurus,” Lady Cadence said, rolling up the sleeves of her stiff gray jacket. “They’re a rare freshwater type of mosasaur. Don’t worry, I’ve worked with this particular pod for years.”

  That would’ve been a lot more reassuring if one of the beasts hadn’t chosen that moment to leap out of the water and whip its massive tail at Lady Cadence, nearly knocking her into the river.

  “They’re just trying to get me to swim with them,” Lady Cadence explained. “That’s how we usually spend our morning.”

  “Anyone else not surprised that Lady Cadence has seriously scary pets?” Keefe asked.

  “They’re more than pets,” Lady Cadence said, swinging a long copper lasso and catching the beast who’d just tried to knock her into the water.

  Her muscles flexed as she cinched the rope and dragged the end over to a wide steel post in the center of the prow, which had two bars jutting from either side and a large loop in the center. “How else did you think we were going to get a structure this massive to sail upriver?” she asked as she tied the end of the rope through the loop with an incredibly complicated knot.

  Blur pointed his smudge of an arm toward the two huge paddle wheels at the back of the boat. “I thought that’s what those were for.”

  “Those are only for downriver.” Lady Cadence swung another lasso toward the remaining four pannoniasaurs—and caught nothing but air as they dove under the water. “Every current will be raging against us today. Ravagog is one of the most inaccessible places on this planet. That’s why the ogres chose the location.”

  “You mean stole the location,” Sophie corrected.

  Ravagog had originally been the gnomes’ homeland—called Serenvale—until the ogres ran them out, chopped down the trees, and poisoned the water with toxic enzymes.

  “I expect you to keep comments like that to yourself when we face King Dimitar,” Lady Cadence told her, tossing the lasso again—and catching her target that time. “He may not be your king, but his title demands respect. And like him or hate him, you need his help to free your human family.”

  Unfortunately, she was right—which was probably why Sophie’s stomach felt like she’d been swallowing shards of ice as Lady Cadence dragged the thrashing mosasaur closer to the steel pole and knotted the end of the lasso through the loop again.

  She repeated the process with the next beast, and the next, until all five were secured, then gripped the two bars, almost like she was holding the handles of a bicycle.

  “Everyone ready?” she asked, not bothering to wait for their answer before she stomped down a lever, raising a massive silver anchor out of the water. Her whole body strained as she locked her legs and cranked the handles toward the center of the river, making the houseboat lurch as the beasts dragged them the same direction.

  Keefe would’ve face-planted onto the deck if Sophie hadn’t grabbed his arm before he hit. “Whoa, you’re catching me?” he asked.

  “I know—what’s happening to the universe?” Sophie caught him again as Lady Cadence jerked the handles the opposite way.

  “Better hold on to the rails,” Blur advised, pointing to the rapids ahead.

  “This part will be bumpy,” Lady Cadence agreed.

  The houseboat was too wide to go around the rocks, so they sailed straight over, launching the craft airborne before it crashed back to the water’s surface—up-down-up-down-up-down. Water sprayed the deck every time they landed, and the wind was punishing on every rise, making Sophie wish she’d worn her hair in a tight bun like Lady Cadence had. Drenched strands kept whipping her cheeks, and she scooted closer to Keefe, partially to shield herself behind him, but mostly because he was slumped against the rail like a piece of soggy laundry.

  “You
okay?”

  “Oh yeah, never better.” He looked as gray-green as the river.

  “He needs some of this,” Lady Cadence said, tossing Keefe a vial with something milky inside. “It helps with seasickness.”

  Blur took one as well. “Whew, that stuff is strong!”

  “Bring it on,” Keefe said, downing his in one gulp—and then nearly gagging it back up. “Ugh. It’s like drinking liquefied hair!”

  Sophie declined the vial Lady Cadence offered her. Her stomach wasn’t happy, but she didn’t feel all that different than when she’d ridden roller coasters with her human family. And strangely, her balance wasn’t thrown off. If anything, it was improved. Her feet seemed to instinctively know how to move, making tiny adjustments to keep her legs steady.

  “Is this what normal people feel like when they walk on regular ground?” Sophie asked, crossing the main deck and back without losing her footing once.

  “It’s a little drier,” Blur said. His outline was becoming clearer as the cold spray spritzed him again and again. He was skinnier than Sophie had imagined, and shorter too, but he kept his face turned away, hiding his features.

  “I’m ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure that I’m dying,” Keefe croaked.

  “Aw, is the elixir not helping?” Sophie asked.

  “If it was supposed to make me feel like sludgers are swimming around my stomach, then it’s doing a great job!”

  “Try this,” Lady Cadence told him, tossing Keefe something that looked like a gray walnut. When he cracked the shell, it was filled with a reddish-brown goop that smelled like burnt garlic.

  Keefe gagged. “Yeah, that’s a big nope.”

  He held the remedy as far away from his nose as he could. “I don’t know if I’m going to make it, Foster. And in case I don’t, there’s something I need you to know.”

  He motioned for her to lean closer—so close she could feel his breath on her cheek, and a fresh wave of goose bumps streaked across her skin.

  “You need to know,” he whispered, “that—”

  “Oh, stop being so melodramatic!” Lady Cadence interrupted, cranking the handles left, to change the boat’s direction again. “Either slurp down that bilepod, or quit whining.”

  “Does that mean I can whine all I want if I eat this thing?” Keefe asked. “Because that might be worth it.”

  “This is going to be a very long day,” Lady Cadence muttered.

  “Wait—what were you going to say?” Sophie asked when Keefe closed his eyes and curled up tighter.

  His lips were half grimace, half smirk as he said, “I’ll tell you later. Right now I’m focusing too hard on not throwing up on you.”

  Sophie scrambled away.

  “Everybody, brace yourselves,” Lady Cadence called. “We’re coming up on the first fork, and the river changes can be a little jarring.”

  “Jarring” didn’t begin to describe it. It felt like they were tipping over as Lady Cadence cranked the handles all the way to the right, and the boat jackknifed onto the narrower tributary.

  “Anyone see my stomach back there?” Keefe moaned, forcing himself to suck down the bilepod like an oyster.

  “How many more river changes do we have?” Sophie asked.

  “Three,” Lady Cadence said.

  Keefe whimpered. “Someone hold me.”

  He was so pale and soaked and shaky that Sophie had a feeling he wasn’t kidding. And since she couldn’t stop shivering herself, she moved behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling them both down so they were sitting on the slick deck, leaning against each other.

  “If you need to throw up, do not turn around,” she warned as she wrapped her cape around both of them to keep in whatever warmth she could.

  “Actually, this is helping,” Keefe said. “Your cape smells way better than this miserable boat.”

  “Thanks . . . I think?”

  His breathing seemed to calm, and his trembling eased. But a rough patch of waves had him tensing up again.

  “Drink this,” Lady Cadence said, tossing him a yellow vial. “And plug your nose before you open it.”

  Keefe squinted at the liquid. “Why does it look like pee?”

  “Kelpie urine is the absolute best way to regain your equilibrium.”

  Keefe tossed the vial into the river. “Not even if I really was dying.”

  “You’re going to regret that when we make the next change,” Lady Cadence warned.

  “Yeah, I don’t think I will.”

  But he didn’t look good when the houseboat turned onto the choppiest river yet.

  “I think you need to take your mind off of it,” Sophie told him. “Try going to your happy place.”

  “I have no idea what that sentence is supposed to mean—unless you’re offering to teleport us out of here.”

  “I wish.” Sophie could only teleport when she was free-falling. Plus, the ogres had force fields protecting their city, and there was no way to know what would happen if she tried teleporting through. “But seriously, it’s a visualization technique. You imagine yourself in your favorite place to take your mind off everything going on around you.”

  “What’s your happy place?” he asked.

  “Probably flying with Silveny.”

  There was nothing quite like racing through the sky, surrounded by fluffy white clouds.

  “That’s a good one,” Keefe said. “I’m going to picture myself there too. Just you, me, and Glitter Butt.”

  “Glitter Butt?” Lady Cadence asked.

  “That’s Keefe’s nickname for Silveny,” Sophie explained. “Because her fur is so shimmery.”

  Keefe elbowed Sophie. “Tell her the real reason.”

  Sophie rolled her eyes. “Alicorn poop also tends to be sparkly.”

  “It’s one of the greatest things in the whole world,” Keefe added. “And Glitter Butt loves her nickname, by the way. Almost as much as she loves me. Foster tries to deny it, but I’m totally her favorite.”

  “It’s a tie,” Sophie corrected.

  “Keep telling yourself that.” Keefe closed his eyes and rested his head against the rail. The color was slowly returning to his cheeks and his features were beginning to relax. “Remember that flight we made to the High Seas hideout?”

  Sophie smiled. “Yeah, I think you whined the entire way.”

  “We all have our gifts. And speaking of whining—”

  “No whining in the happy place! Seriously, Keefe, try to concentrate.”

  Everyone got quiet after that, and Sophie watched the smooth green hills race by, trying to spot anything familiar. Ravagog was tucked among dark, jagged mountains and hidden behind a massive iron gate—though Linh’s tidal wave had smashed the barrier to pieces.

  It hit her then—she would have to see the destruction they’d caused.

  Even if the bridge and gate had been rebuilt, there would surely be remnants of the ruin.

  Washed-out buildings.

  Flooded sections of the playa.

  Graves.

  “Hey,” Keefe said. “You know what I remember most about that flight with Silveny? That was the first time I felt you trust me. Like, really trust me.”

  It was also the first time that Keefe had peeled back his joking, teasing mask and given her a glimpse of the deeper, serious side he hid away to keep anyone from getting too close to him.

  “I like it when you trust me,” he said quietly.

  “So do I.”

  He scooted ever so slightly closer. “You still do, right? Even after . . .”

  She had a feeling that if she snuck into his mind, he’d be remembering the moment he stole her cache and handed it over to Fintan to prove his commitment to the Neverseen. But Sophie was remembering the moment she woke up on a cold, rocky beach and found herself in a newer, darker version of her world, surrounded by the crumbled ruin of everything that used to be. She hadn’t known at that point just how devastating Lumenaria’s collapse would end up be
ing. But she knew that things would never be the same—and that Keefe was right there with her.

  He’d escaped the Neverseen the night before and camped nearby in a dark, freezing cave in case she needed him.

  “Of course I trust you,” she promised.

  He seemed to let out a breath he’d been holding. “One of these days—”

  The rest of his sentence morphed into a moan as Lady Cadence steered the boat through what Sophie hoped was the final turn.

  “Not gonna make it,” Keefe groaned.

  “Go back to the happy place. You’re not here, you’re flying with Silveny—and she’s filling my head with way too many KEEFE, KEEFE, KEEFEs.”

  Keefe’s smile looked completely miserable.

  “Have you checked on Silveny lately?” Blur asked.

  “Not as often as I should be.” Sophie was supposed to check on the pregnant alicorn at least once a day to make sure Silveny and Greyfell were safe, and that there were no complications with Silveny’s pregnancy. But she’d been so overwhelmed, she kept forgetting.

  She closed her eyes, trying to stretch out her consciousness and feel for her connection to the alicorns. But no matter how hard she pushed, her mind stayed silent.

  Maybe she was too close to the strange force fields of Ravagog.

  Or maybe Silveny was sleeping.

  Or maybe she should be worried . . .

  She tried to stuff the niggling doubt away—tried to remind herself that Silveny could call for help if she needed it.

  But sourness still sloshed inside her like the tossing waves.

  She vowed to try again as soon as they were back in the Lost Cities. And if Silveny still didn’t respond . . .

  “Okay there, Foster?” Keefe asked.

  She nodded.

  “Not sure I believe you. So how about we brainstorm that favor I owe you? Are you leaning toward humiliation, punishment, or servitude?”

  “Go for servitude,” Blur told her, right before a huge wave hit the prow and drenched him head to toe. For the briefest moment, his features were outlined by the water—and while Sophie didn’t recognize him, his full lips and round cheeks felt strangely familiar.