Neverseen (Keeper of the Lost Cities, #4)(32)

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.”





FOURTEEN


IT 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.