Exile (Keeper of the Lost Cities) (17 page)

She survived the long hours by rumpling Iggy’s pink curls,
and when the first rays of dawn finally erased the night, she stumbled out of bed, threw on some work clothes, and made her way downstairs to try and calm Silveny.

Grady was already awake, sipping tea at the kitchen table.

“Good, you’re up,” he said, offering her his last slice of some sort of brown stringy fruit that reminded Sophie way too much of sludgers. “The gnomes and I tried to get started on Silveny’s pasture, but every time we get close to the bars she whinnies and flies around. Think after breakfast you can help keep her calm while we work?”

Sophie nudged the icky fruit away. It smelled even worse than it looked. “Actually, I can go now.”

Grady laughed. “You’re missing out. Squirmigs are delicious.”

Somehow she doubted that.

She wanted to gag as Grady shoved the rest in his mouth and motioned for her to follow him outside.

“Looks like she’s still doing that weird diving thing,” he said as Silveny’s enclosure came into view.

Weird was right.

The glittering horse kept tucking her wings and nose-diving from the highest part of her enclosure. At the last possible second she’d pull up and circle back to the top to repeat the process. Over. And over. And over.

Calm
, Sophie transmitted, repeating the command until the alicorn broke her pattern and landed. She stamped her hooves as Sophie approached the bars.

Sophie held out a handful of swizzlespice.
Friend.

Fly!
Silveny replied, sending Sophie another image of her flying free in the starry sky.

It’s safer here
, Sophie promised. But as she stared into Silveny’s sad, pleading eyes she couldn’t help wondering if that was really true. Silveny had survived on her own for who knew how long without the elves interfering. Couldn’t she take care of herself?

“Are you sure we shouldn’t let her go?” Sophie asked as she stepped closer and reached through the bars to call Silveny over. Silveny stayed out of reach.

“Why would we ever do that?”

“She seems so sad in her cage.”

“She’s had a rough night. Once she calms down she’ll be okay.”

“But I don’t think she wants to be here.”

Grady sighed. “None of the animals want to be here at first, Sophie. That’s part of their rehabilitation.”

“Then why do we do it to them?”

“You of all people should know how dangerous it is for animals in the wild. Predators. Pollution. Not to mention what would happen to a creature like Silveny if she were ever spotted by humans. And there are other threats too. Ogres do not value animal life the way we do. The trolls aren’t so great either. The only way we can guarantee a creature’s protection is to move them to our Sanctuary—and once they’re
there, they love it. But we can’t bring them until we know they’re ready. That’s why you’ve been assigned to help Silveny adjust.”

“But how?” It had been almost a week and she’d made no progress at all.

“Patience, for one thing. Lots and lots of treats help too,” Grady added as Silveny finally caved and moved close enough to chomp down the swizzlespice Sophie was offering. “But really, it’s about figuring out what she needs.”

“She’s told me that already. She needs to be free.”

“No—that’s what she
wants.
What she
needs
isn’t the same thing. I doubt Silveny even knows it herself.”

Sophie sighed. Why couldn’t anything ever be easy?

“Think she’s calm enough for us to work on her enclosure now? I need to add a padlock to the gate, and the gnomes are going to add some extra poles to make the gaps between bars more narrow.”

“That’s all you’re doing?”

“What more do we need?”

Sophie wasn’t sure. But stopping anyone from getting to Silveny was way different than stopping an intruder from setting foot at Havenfield in the first place. Part of her wished their house could be more like Everglen, with its massive gates that absorbed all the light. It probably got annoying that they were never able to leap directly home, but it had to be nice knowing no one could get to them.

She couldn’t tell Grady and Edaline that, though.

Alden and Della had offered to let her live with them when Grady and Edaline cancelled her adoption, and if she told them now that she wished their house was like Everglen, they might think she regretted her choice—and she didn’t.

But it would be nice to feel safer.

Silveny must’ve agreed because she twitched or whinnied every time Grady or the gnomes made a sound, and she kept filling Sophie’s mind with images of the black-cloaked figures.

Safe
, Sophie kept repeating.
I promise you’ll be safe here.

She intended to keep that promise.

Silveny was trapped there because of her—because
she’d
heard Silveny’s thoughts and followed them and leaped her to Havenfield and coaxed her into the enclosure. And the only reason she wasn’t undoing all of that and letting Silveny fly away was because she believed Grady. It was a dangerous world for a sparkly flying horse.

But if she was going to take away Silveny’s freedom, then she was going to make
sure
the alicorn truly was better off. So when Grady and the gnomes were done with Silveny’s enclosure, Sophie wandered the grounds, searching for some clue that Sandor might have missed that would tell her if Silveny had been right about the intruders.

After several hours of finding nothing, Sophie was ready to concede that it really had been a nightmare.

But then she found a pair of footprints in the tree line.

T
HESE PRINTS HAVE NO SCENT,”
Sandor repeated for probably the twentieth time. He was down on his knees, nose to the mud, inhaling every inch. “If they were not shaped like feet, I would think they were made by boulders.”

They’d already compared everyone’s footprints—including the gnomes’—and found no match. The prints
had
to be from an intruder—though everyone kept using the word “visitor,” like that somehow made it less scary.

Grady ran his hands through his hair as he paced back and forth. “Couldn’t they be old prints? Wouldn’t the scent have faded over time?”

“These prints are too fresh.”

“I don’t understand,” Edaline whispered as her grip tightened on Sophie’s hand. She’d latched on the second she saw the two impressions in the mud, and it seemed like she had no intention of letting go. “How could the prints not have a scent?”

Everyone looked at Sandor, who seemed to debate with himself before he answered.

“There . . . is a way to trick our senses.”

“What?”
Grady and Edaline asked at the same time.

“It’s knowledge we guard very closely so that it cannot compromise our strength as bodyguards—and it’s an extremely complicated feat to achieve. But if someone knew what they were doing, it’s possible they could hide from me.”

“I thought you said no one could get past you,” Sophie snapped. “I trusted you!”

“And you can still trust me,” Sandor replied calmly. “Only a select few have this information. But this is why I’m always telling you to
stay by my side
, in case something somehow sneaks up, so I can be ready.”

“Who knows about this?” Grady asked after a second, and the strain in his voice suggested he felt just as betrayed as Sophie.

“The Councillors, and a few select members of the nobility. No others.”

Grady mumbled to himself, listing off names Sophie didn’t recognize, like he was trying to guess who might know.

He stopped pacing. “Vika Heks has many family members in the nobility. Do any of them know?”

“It’s possible. I do not know the full specifics.”

Grady nodded, and the lines on his forehead seemed to fade. “It has to be them. They’re the only ones that make sense.”

“Not the only ones,” Edaline said, squeezing Sophie’s hand so hard it cut off her circulation.

Grady went back to pacing, and he’d worn a small groove in the mud before he said, “I know what you’re worrying about, Eda—I’m worrying about it too. But we both need to remember: They weren’t here for Sophie. Look where the prints are—nowhere near the house. Silveny’s the one they were interested in.”

Edaline’s death grip slackened. “I suppose.”

Sophie wished she could relax as easily. She had a hard time imagining the Hekses being skilled enough to trick Sandor’s senses. She doubted Stina was skilled enough to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Maybe it was the Black Swan—but why would they care more about a sparkly winged horse than her?

Though, what would the kidnappers want Silveny for?

Sophie’s brain hurt trying to figure it out, and she realized only one thing really mattered: If Silveny was the one they wanted, she needed to work extra hard to get Silveny ready for the Sanctuary so she could finally be somewhere safe.

“THAT’S A LOT OF BODYGUARDS,”
Dex said as he stood next to Sophie at Silveny’s pasture, watching a goblin who made Sandor look puny give orders to four others before they all raced away in opposite directions to resume their patrol. “Anything I should know about?”

“They’re not for me, and I’m not allowed to say more than that.”

The Council had ordered extreme silence when it came to what they had dubbed “the suspicious incident.”
No
one was allowed to know of the possible threat to Silveny. The last thing they wanted was more paranoia spreading.

Dex sighed.

Sophie felt like doing the same.

She offered Silveny a handful of swizzlespice through the bars, but Silveny simply sniffed the air and stared at Dex.

Scared.

“Scared” was Silveny’s new favorite word. She’d been transmitting it constantly for the last few days—when Sophie left her alone, when someone so much as breathed too close to her enclosure, when she wanted anything at all. And despite Sophie’s renewed efforts to get Silveny to respond to
someone
besides her, the traumatized horse refused to get anywhere near anyone Sophie brought over.

Silveny even panicked around other animals. Especially Iggy—though it hadn’t helped that the mischievous imp
decided to launch one of his toxic Iggy-farts into Silveny’s face when Sophie introduced them. Silveny had gagged for about ten minutes, and Sophie couldn’t blame her.

At least it had been
all quiet on the alicorn front
since the extra goblins arrived. Not so much as a bent blade of grass had been found on the grounds for the last three days.

“Sorry I haven’t been around this week,” Dex mumbled, fidgeting with the silver band on his wrist. It was the Disneyland watch Sophie had given him at the end of midterms last year. “My parents needed me to help out at the store.”

“You don’t have to be sorry,” Sophie said, feeling bad that she hadn’t noticed. Thanks to Silveny and her nightmares Sophie had barely slept, and the exhaustion was starting to get to her. She’d even started to consider asking Elwin for an extremely mild sedative, but she was afraid he might want to examine her. And after her talk with Fitz she was afraid of what he might find.

It was easier not to know—at least for right now when she had so much to deal with. She hadn’t had a headache since the aurenflare, so whatever the problem was, it couldn’t be that big of a deal. She’d look into it later.

“But I
like
coming here,” Dex said, interrupting her thoughts. His ears turned red and he added quickly, “It’s nice to get a break from my parents. They’ve been a lot more annoying, ever since . . .”

He glanced toward the Cliffside gate. Sophie felt a knot form in her throat.

“I knew I’d find you hard at work on your assignment,” Alden said as he appeared behind them. “Sorry, I know I come unannounced. I have sort of a last-minute . . .”

His voice trailed off as Silveny flapped her wings and took off to circle her enclosure. “Such an incredible creature,” Alden breathed.

Incredibly annoying was more like it.

“Sort of a last-minute . . . ?” Sophie prompted.

“Yes, right. Sorry. A last-minute assignment.” He glanced at Dex. “I’m sorry, Dex, I need to discuss something classified with Sophie.”

“Oh.” He turned to Sophie. “Should I go?”

She nodded and Dex reached for the home crystal hanging from his neck. “Wait—is this about the kidnappers? Because I think I deserve to know what’s going on with that too.”

Alden smiled—though it was a sad smile. “You definitely do, Dex, and I’m hoping I’ll have some new information for both of you soon. But this is a special assignment from the Council that I need Sophie’s help with.”

There was a strained tone in his voice that made Sophie tug out an eyelash. Dex must’ve noticed too because he asked, “Is it dangerous?”

“Dangerous isn’t the right word.”

“What is the right word?” Sophie asked.

Alden didn’t look at either of them as he said, “Difficult.”

The word felt like ice. But when Dex asked Sophie if she
would be okay, she nodded. Alden would never let anything bad happen to her.

“I guess I’ll see you at the Opening Ceremonies tomorrow, then?” Dex asked.

“Of course you will,” Alden answered for her. “And thank you, Dex. I trust you’ll keep the fact that I was here to yourself?”

“Yeah. Sure.” He hesitated as he held up his crystal, but Sophie smiled and mouthed that she’d be okay. He nodded and stepped into the light, leaving her alone with Alden.

“So . . . what’s the assignment?”

Alden kicked a pebble, sending it skipping across the grass. Several endless seconds passed before he whispered, “You’re still so young, and you’ve already been through so much. I hate that I have to ask this of you.”

She waited for him to continue, but he just stared at the grass like he’d forgotten she was there.

“Ask me what?”

He glanced over his shoulder, where Sandor stood in the shadow of a tree. “I can’t say here. No one is allowed to know where we’re going.”

“Sandor’s not going to like that.”