Neverseen (Keeper of the Lost Cities, #4)(52)

TWENTY-THREE


YOU GUYS DON’T look so good,” Dex said as Sophie and Keefe stumbled back to the girls’ main room. “What happened?”

Sophie didn’t know where to begin as she collapsed into the nearest chair. Keefe flopped onto the ottoman next to her and stared at the ceiling.

They’d had to use light from Marquiseire to leap home, and the unmapped star’s glow felt like getting sliced and diced by a shattered disco ball. But Sophie’s unease had much more to do with the fact that Calla and Blur were on their way to Merrowmarsh—another Neutral Territory—to investigate, while Mr. Forkle had left to get Squall so she could freeze off Gethen’s fingernails.

The latter task haunted Sophie more than the first, making the black swan pendant around her neck grow a million pounds heavier. She knew they had to stop the Neverseen from finding Gethen, but . . . wasn’t what they were doing to him torture?

Della crouched in front of Sophie and turned Sophie’s face from side to side, then squeezed Sophie’s cheeks, giving her a fish face.

“What are you doing?” Sophie asked—though it came out more like “Wharyoooing?”

“Attempting to fill in for Elwin. He gave me a Sophie Survival Kit, as well as a separate list called Crazy Messes That Sophie Will Find A Way To Get Herself Into.”

Sophie sighed as Della fished a huge collection of crumpled papers from her pocket, each covered in Elwin’s messy writing.

“Here it is,” she said after flipping through several. “Light poisoning. Symptoms include fatigue, severe dehydration, bluish tint to the gums, and glints of sparkle in the irises.”

“Poisoning?” Sophie repeated. “And wait—what about my irises?”

“It means your body re-formed with light particles still in it. Not surprising considering you were leaping with the unmapped stars.” Della handed Sophie a mirror. “See what I mean?”

“Great. My eyes look like alicorn poop.”

Della laughed. “It is a strange effect, I’ll admit. Even stranger how it makes Keefe look like a Vacker.”

Della was right. The shimmer in Keefe’s eyes made them look teal for some reason.

“Always wanted to be part of the family,” Keefe mumbled. The sadness in his voice broke Sophie’s heart.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

Keefe shrugged and scooted away from her.

“You’ll both feel better once you take Elwin’s remedy.” Della opened a huge medicine cabinet—which Sophie had thought was just a big shrubbery—and studied the shelves of small glass vials. There were elixirs, balms, and poultices in every color. Della handed them each a tarlike vial and one that looked a lot like snot.

Sophie uncorked the black one and took a whiff. “Ugh, this smells like Iggy burp.”

“Here,” Della said, giving them each a bottle of Youth. “Wash it down with this. You need it for the dehydration, anyway.”

The slightly sweet water helped a little. But Sophie could still taste the burpy medicine even after she’d swallowed. And the snotty elixir tasted like a bug smoothie.

“So are you guys ever going to tell us what happened?” Biana asked. “Because I think Dex is going to explode if you don’t.”

“Hey, don’t put it all on me,” Dex argued. “If Biana twists her hands any tighter, she’s going to pull off one of her fingers.”

Biana blushed. “I guess we’re all a little worried.”

Sophie turned to Keefe. “Do you want to tell them?”

He shook his head. “You’ll do a better job.”

Sophie doubted that, but she did her best to sum up everything Gethen had said. Every word seemed to make Keefe slouch smaller.

“You know he was just saying that stuff to get in your head, right?” Fitz asked him.

“Well, mission accomplished.” Keefe rubbed his temples so hard, he left red marks on his forehead. “I mean . . . according to him, she was in the Neverseen my entire life. That means every memory I have of her is a lie. Every. Single. One!”

Della wrapped an arm around him. “I know it’s hard, Keefe—”

“Do you? Because I can’t imagine any of the perfect Vackers being longtime traitors.”

The silence felt painful.

“Sorry,” Keefe mumbled. “It’s not your fault she’s evil. And don’t try to defend her—there’s no debating it anymore. I mean, don’t you realize what this means?” His eyes darted to Sophie. “My mom was probably part of everything that went down with Jolie.”

The words were a punch to the gut, and Sophie knew Keefe could tell. Jolie’s journal had mentioned a woman communicating with her when the Neverseen tried to recruit her. She’d also mentioned a woman being there the night the Neverseen tried to force her to set fire to a human nuclear power plant. Either could’ve been Lady Gisela—or both.

“Do you have any theories for the ‘vision’ your mom had for the future?” Sophie asked. “Or what this timeline is with the Neutral Territories?”

“Not yet. But I will figure it out. Do you have any fathomlethes in there?” he asked Della.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said.