Neverseen (12 page)

Sophie cringed, wondering if the criticism would bother Fitz. But he grinned at her and said, “Yeah, she makes us all look bad.”

“She does indeed,” Granite agreed, his face cracking further as he smiled. “So if you’re going to be her Cognate, we need to get you up to her speed.”

“But aren’t her abilities strong because of all the tweaks you did to her genes?” Fitz asked.

“Actually, much of Sophie’s strength comes from practice. Her ability was triggered eight years ago, and Mr. Forkle trained her mind every night until last year.”

“He did?” Sophie asked, shuddering at the mental image. “I thought I had to be conscious to learn telepathic skills. Wasn’t that why he couldn’t teach me to shield?”

“Certain skills, yes,” Granite agreed. “But others can be absorbed. I’ll show you how.”

He instructed them to scoot closer, until their knees were touching. “It’ll be easier if you hold hands.”

Sophie tried to return Fitz’s smile, but her palms were sweating—which was stupid. She’d held Fitz’s hand every time they light leaped or teleported. It was no big deal.

“What now?” Fitz asked, twining their fingers together. Sophie hoped he couldn’t feel her racing pulse.

“
Now
I want you to observe Sophie’s mind in action. And
Sophie, I think it’s best if you focus on the skill that seems to come to you the most effortlessly—transmitting long distances.”

“Ohhh, I’ve always wondered how she does that,” Fitz said.

“Who should I transmit to?” Sophie asked. “In my telepathy sessions I always practiced on Fitz. Or I call for Silveny, but I’m guessing that won’t work, since she’s not an elf.”

“Actually, that could be interesting,” Granite said. “It might open Fitz’s mind to two skills—distance transmission
and
telepathy with animals. I’m not sure the latter skill can be taught, but it’s worth the attempt.”

“Does Silveny think in the Enlightened Language?” Fitz asked.

“Only the few words I’ve taught her,” Sophie said. “Otherwise it’s her language or images and memories.”

“That may make it confusing,” Granite warned, “but still a good test. In fact, this should be a definitive indicator of your Cognate success. If Fitz’s mind can’t learn from yours, it’ll prove you’re not compatible.”

The last word dumped about a million pounds of pressure on everything.

I won’t care if this doesn’t work, okay?
Fitz transmitted after she gave him permission to slip past her blocking.

But she could see the hope in his eyes—feel the excitement in his grip. And she definitely didn’t want him thinking they weren’t
compatible.

“Okay,” she said, stalling one second longer.

She closed her eyes and pictured the Sanctuary, with its rainbow sky and rolling pastures. The dwarves had built the lush animal preserve inside the Himalayan Mountains to keep it secret from humans. The rock walls also prevented the alicorns from teleporting away. Sophie wished Silveny could’ve kept her freedom, but the precious alicorn needed protection. The Neverseen had tried to capture Silveny
twice
. One time they’d even broken her wing.

Silveny?
she transmitted, making Fitz jump.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I should’ve warned you it’d be loud.”

“But it’s awesome,” Fitz promised. “I need to learn how to project with that kind of power.”

“Hopefully this process will teach you,” Granite reminded him.

Silveny,
Sophie said again, and this time Fitz barely flinched. He even held steady as she repeated the call a few more times. But he did jump when an exuberant shout filled her mind.

FRIEND! SOPHIE! VISIT! FLY!

“That is so crazy,” Fitz said.

“Does that mean you can hear Silveny?” Granite asked.

Fitz laughed. “I’m surprised the whole universe can’t. Every word she sends needs to end with an exclamation point.”

“Tell me about it,” Sophie said.

“Can you understand what she’s saying?” Granite asked Fitz.

“So far. But I think she’s speaking the Enlightened Language.”

“She is.” Sophie’s mind filled with a new round of
VISIT! VISIT! VISIT!
plus several
KEEFE
s.

Wow, she really loves Keefe, doesn’t she?
Fitz transmitted.

It’s adorable and obnoxious, isn’t it?
Sophie asked.

There were so many
KEEFE!
chants going, Sophie almost didn’t notice when Silveny added a
GREYFELL!
to the mix.

Is everything okay?
she asked.

Greyfell was the male alicorn who lived at the Sanctuary. He’d grown violent not long after Silveny arrived, but only because he was afraid of the ogre homing device hidden in Silveny’s tail. Once the aromark had been removed, he’d calmed down. Still, Sophie remembered the ferocity in Greyfell’s eyes and the darkness she’d seen in his memories. He’d lived a much harsher life than Silveny, and it had made him cold and wary.

And yet, the memories Silveny sent showed the two alicorns playfully dipping and diving through the hologram sky and chasing each other through the colorful meadows. If they hadn’t been sparkly flying horses, Sophie would’ve teased them for flirting.

Plus, she honestly hoped that was what they were up to. Silveny and Greyfell were the last of their kind, and everyone was counting on them to repopulate the species. That was why the alicorns needed so much protection. The elves believed that letting any creature go extinct would cause the planet
irreversible damage. So whoever controlled the alicorns controlled the Council.

I’m glad you have a friend,
Sophie said, wishing she could reach across the world and stroke Silveny’s shimmering nose
. You’ll have to tell him “hi” for me.

MISS,
Silveny told her, making Sophie’s eyes burn.

I miss you too. But you’re safe?

SAFE! SAFE! SAFE!
Silveny promised.

Which of course led her back to more pleas for Sophie to visit, and a host of additional
KEEFE
s.

Somewhere around the tenth chant a new voice joined the mix—one with a crisp accent.

Hi
.

It was a small word, but its effect was huge.

Silveny pummeled Sophie with worries as Fitz shouted, “I DID IT!”

Sophie could hear Granite and Fitz celebrating, but first she had to calm Silveny down.

That’s Fitz,
she told the suspicious alicorn.

FRIEND?
Silveny asked.

Yes, a very good friend.
She sent her memories of the few times Fitz had been around Silveny to remind her who he was. When that didn’t seem to be enough, she replayed the moment Fitz had saved her life, finding her when she was fading away after her kidnapping.

LIKE
, Silveny decided.

I like him too—as a friend,
she added quickly, in case Fitz was listening. But he and Granite were too involved in their deep discussion on Fitz’s progress.

“It’s only the first step,” Granite told them. “But it’s very encouraging. You two truly have the most unique connection I’ve encountered in all my years of telepathy.”

Sophie’s cheeks burned, and she was glad Fitz was too busy trying to transmit again. It took his mind two tries, but he managed another
Hi!

FITZ!
Silveny replied.
SOPHIE! FITZ! FRIEND!

FRIEND!
Fitz repeated, his voice louder. More confident.

They spent the rest of the day in a bizarre one-word-at-a-time conversation. Fitz couldn’t understand Silveny unless she spoke the Enlightened Language, and no matter how hard Silveny tried, he couldn’t pick up the emotions or images she sent. Still, Granite was very pleased with their progress.

“I have absolutely no doubt you two will be able to serve as Cognates,” he announced when the lesson finished.

Fitz beamed at that, and Sophie smiled too, until she remembered that meant they’d have to get to work on the sharing-all-their-secrets thing. . . .

She told herself she’d find a way to get used to it, and she put on a brave face through dinner. But her mind was swimming, swimming, swimming, thinking of all the things she couldn’t—shouldn’t—share.

She figured she was in for a long, restless night, but Calla’s reveriebells chased away her worries. She was dreaming of mallowmelt and custard bursts and cute boys flying on alicorns when a voice dragged her back to consciousness.

“Hey, Sophie—wake up. I think I found something.”

I
T TOOK SOPHIE
several seconds to realize Dex’s voice wasn’t part of a dream. A few more after that, she caught the silhouette of him sitting on the edge of her bed.

She gasped and pulled her covers around her neck, then remembered she was wearing her crazy pajamas. Dex looked just as furry, though his onesie was lime green.

“What are you doing here?” she whispered, turning toward her wall of windows. A triangle of gray-orange light leaked in where the curtains parted slightly, so she assumed that meant it was dawn.

“I had to show you this.” Dex held up a gadget that looked like a gutted obscurer. The sphere had been sliced in half, and
all kinds of springy coiled wires stuck out of the center. “I know it’s ugly, but now it’s a really powerful Evader. It let me break into the Council’s archives and find records on Exillium—and I know what you’re going to say,” he added quickly. “I know the Black Swan told us to drop it. But I think Exillium’s worth looking into. If we could find the Boy Who Disappeared, we might be able to find the Neverseen. Plus, I knew I could sneak in without getting caught. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you first—I wasn’t sure if we were being watched.”

“You are.”

They both yelped as Della blinked into sight near the curtains. “Don’t tell me you thought I’d let you sneak into Sophie’s room while she’s sleeping and not see what you’re up to.”

“Good to know,” Keefe said, striding into the room in a red furry onesie. “And don’t think
I
was going to allow a Sophex meeting to happen. Hmm, maybe we should call it Deephie. Sophex sounds weird. Anyway, my point is, no secret meetings without me!”

“And me!” Fitz said, trailing behind in furry gray pj’s.

“I’m here too!” Biana appeared in the corner wearing shaggy pink. “I followed my mom when she followed Dex.”

“Wow, it’s really crowded in here,” Sophie mumbled. “And really . . . furry.”

Even Della had a blue onesie that made her look like Cookie Monster.

“Cool, your window is right across from mine!” Keefe said, opening Sophie’s curtains. “We could throw things at each other!”

“Or not.” Della herded everyone to the bed. “Sit. We need to discuss the incredibly dangerous thing Dex has done.”

“It wasn’t dangerous,” Dex argued. “I designed this Evader perfectly.”

He held out the rickety gadget, and Della looked less than impressed.

“Did you find anything good?” Biana asked.

“Hopefully. I got all their prodigy records,” Dex said. “Well, Exillium calls them Waywards, but it’s the same thing. Every kid who’s ever gone there has a file telling what year they started attending, who their family is, how old they are, what their talents are, what they did to get banished—all kinds of stuff. So now we just go through and search for anyone who looks suspicious.”

“What counts as suspicious?” Della asked.

“Well, we sorta know his age, right?” Dex said. “At least a pretty good guess? And we know he was probably at Exillium about eight years ago. So we start with that.”

“That’s still going to leave you with hundreds of different boys,” Della reminded him. “And even if you do find a good candidate, what then?”

“Then I break into the registry—”

“No you do
not
,” Della interrupted.

“Don’t worry, the registry is super easy to access, and I know how to make sure they don’t catch me. Then I can cross check any suspicious names against pendant locations to find out where they are.”

“You’re assuming they’ll be back in the Lost Cities,” Della said. “I don’t think you understand that Exillium is for the Unworthy. It removes those that do not belong in our world. Anyone sent in error can earn their way back. But very few do. Very few should.”

Sophie wasn’t sure she liked how casually Della talked about banishing, as if it were the perfect solution.

Then again, was locking them in Exile better?

“Well, I still think it’s worth going through the records and seeing what we can learn,” Dex said. “Even if we can’t find the Boy Who Disappeared, we might find a Neverseen member hiding there now.”

“Or it could be a waste of time,” Della countered.

“But its
our
time to waste,” Keefe said. “And it’s better than reading boring books. Do you know what I learned yesterday? That when our minds break from extreme guilt, they can shatter different ways. Most people shut down and can’t function anymore. But some turn erratic and reckless. Sometimes people even get violent.”

“That’s important!” Della told him.

Sophie had to agree. That explained why Alden went catatonic over his involvement with Prentice’s memory break,
while Brant turned into a deadly pyromaniac after he killed Jolie.

“Right, but how long did that take me to explain?” Keefe asked. “Ten seconds? Five? But it took me three hundred and twenty-nine pages to read! So yeah, I’ll take searching through Exillium files any day.”

Della started pacing. “What are the odds of you listening if I tell you not to pursue this?”

“Slim to none,” Keefe said.

“That’s what I thought. So fine—you already have the records. If you want to go through them, I won’t stop you. But no breaking into the registry without consulting with me—clear?”

“Fine,” Dex agreed. “I’ll build something so you guys can see the files I copied. Maybe if I rewire an Imparter—I’d probably need gold instead of copper wire and—”

“Yeah, yeah, Technopath stuff we don’t understand,” Keefe jumped in. “What do
we
do while you do all of that?”