Neverseen (Keeper of the Lost Cities, #4)(73)

Dex looked a little nervous as he curled his arms around her shoulders. But it didn’t feel awkward. It felt like coming home.

“I’m always here,” he whispered.

“Me too.” She knew she should probably let go, but she stayed a little longer.

They pulled apart when Keefe shouted, “YOU GUYS HAVE TO SEE THIS!”

They ran to the main room and found Keefe standing under the skylight, holding up Mr. Snuggles like it was a baby lion about to be made king. The sparkly red dragon twinkled almost as much as Keefe’s eyes as he said, “I went in to check on our boy and found him cuddling with this!”

“Isn’t that the same dragon Fitz brought to your house that one time?” Dex asked Sophie.

“WHAT?” Keefe shouted. “YOU KNEW AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME?!”

“Mr. Snuggles wasn’t my secret to share,” Sophie said.

“IT’S NAME IS MR. SNUGGLES?! That is . . . . I can’t even . . .” Keefe ran back to Fitz’s room shouting, “ARE YOU MISSING YOUR SNUGGLE BUDDY?!”

“Fitz is going to die of embarrassment, you know that, right?” Biana asked.

“I didn’t know he had a stuffed dragon,” Della said. “I wonder where he got it.”

“Elwin gave it to him when Alden was sick,” Sophie explained. “And Elwin named him.”

“Wow, you really know my brother super well, don’t you?” Biana asked.

Sophie’s cheeks flushed. “Well . . . we have to do a lot of trust exercises.”

Dex sighed.

Down the hall, Sophie could hear Keefe laughing hysterically.

“I better make sure Fitz is still talking to me,” she said.

“You should be worried about me,” Keefe told her, stalking back into the room. “You deprived me of the Snuggles—that cannot be forgiven! Actually it can, but you have to convince Fitz to call himself Lord of the Snuggles from now on.”

Sophie laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Fitz’s door was closed, so she knocked before going in.

“I told you, Mr. Snuggles’s visiting hours are over,” he called through the door.

“What about your visiting hours?” she asked.

“Oh! I thought you were Keefe.”

Sophie pushed open the door. “I get that a lot.”

“YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY!” Keefe shouted from the main room.

Fitz had Mr. Snuggles perched on his lap, and the sparkly dragon looked almost defiant. Like, Yeah, I’m cute and glittery—what’s it to you?

“So . . . I guess the secret’s out,” she said.

“Looks like it. You’d think almost dying would earn me a little slack.”

“NOT WHEN YOU’RE CUDDLING WITH A GLITTERY DRAGON, DUDE!” Keefe shouted.

Fitz smiled.

“So you’re not mad?” Sophie asked.

“Nah. It’s good to see Keefe acting normal again.”

“It is,” Sophie agreed, hoping it would last. “But what about you? How are you feeling?”

Fitz shrugged, then winced again, which made it a little hard to believe his “Fine.”

“I’m mostly embarrassed,” he promised. “I mean, who gets impaled by a giant bug? And I’m feeling guilty for all the times I’ve teased you about almost dying. It’s not a lot of fun.”

“It really isn’t.” Sophie sat on the edge of his bed. “Don’t do it again, okay?”

“I won’t if you won’t.”

Sophie sighed, knowing it was a deal neither of them could honestly make.

He yawned, and she patted Mr. Snuggles on the head as she stood to leave.

Fitz mumbled something, the words too sleepy to be coherent. But Sophie could’ve sworn he’d said, “Miss you.”

“How is he?” Mr. Forkle asked as she entered the hallway.

She shrugged. “Resting.”

“You should do the same. We have an early morning tomorrow. You’re coming with us to make the exchange for Prentice. And then we’ll start the process of learning what he’s hiding.”





THIRTY-FOUR


THE LAST TIME Sophie had stood outside the glowing castle in Lumenaria, she’d been with Fitz, learning that the world was not at all what she’d thought it was.

Somehow, it didn’t feel any less surreal to be standing in the cold ocean breeze again, waiting for the Council to deliver Prentice.

All five members of the Collective waited at her side, along with four dwarven guards, each holding one corner of the cot Gethen had been bound to. He seemed as lifeless as before, and Sophie wondered if he realized he was being moved, or if he’d retreated so far into his mind he’d lost connection with his body.

Squall checked the sun, which had risen well beyond the horizon. “The Council’s late. I don’t like leaving Gethen in the open.”

“I thought the Neverseen can’t track him now,” Sophie said, looking anywhere but at Gethen’s hands.

“It bothers you that we removed his nails,” Mr. Forkle said.

“Well, you did torture him,” she mumbled.

“Is that what you think?” Granite asked.

“The process was painless,” Squall promised.