Keefe sat on one of the curved trunks, and Sophie waited for him to make a joke. But he just slid his fingers over the rough bark.
“I thought we could all use the reminder that nature tells us what it needs,” Calla whispered. “That’s why I chose this as our meeting place.”
She closed her eyes, singing a slow melody. It was the sweetest song Sophie had ever heard, and the forest shimmered in response. The crooked trees rustled as if they were joining in the chorus, and the wind whistled through their leaves.
“It’s beautiful,” Biana whispered, waving her fingers in front of her face. “I think I finally see the glints of life you told me about, Calla.”
“If that’s true, then you now know how I see you.” Calla smiled when Biana’s eyes lit up.
Calla repeated the song again, and the sparkles intensified, until the whole forest looked painted with glitter. It faded when she kneeled at the foot of the tree. Her song turned softer, and the roots twisted and twirled until they’d swept aside the soil and formed a tunnel.
Calla motioned for everyone to follow her underground, and as Sophie stepped into the earth she swore she heard a new song take over—a hushed whisper circling around her, prickling her consciousness.
Her eyes found Calla’s in the dim light, wondering if Calla could hear it too.
“I don’t know where it’s coming from,” Calla said. “It’s as if the earth itself has joined the call, trying to tell us what it needs.”
Goose bumps peppered Sophie’s skin as her mind translated the lyric. A single word, sung over and over and over.
Panakes.
“What if we’re focusing on the wrong thing?” Sophie asked when they’d regrouped in the girls’ common room, after they’d eaten and changed out of their uniforms. “Maybe we should be searching for the Panakes instead of the drakostomes.”
“If you’re saying we should sneak into ogreville instead of sitting here watching Dex poke a gadget with sticks, I’m in,” Keefe said.
“Easy there,” Sophie told him as Keefe tried to drag her toward the door. “That’s not what I’m saying—not yet at least. I meant we should be searching for information about the Panakes.”
Keefe flopped back into his chair with a sigh so dramatic it had to have hurt his throat.
“And excuse me,” Dex said, “this happens to be an incredibly technical process.” He held up the Twiggler, which now looked like some sort of twig-and-wire spider. “You try merging six different technologies into one gadget.”
“I’m not saying it’s not important,” Keefe said. “But the rest of us are just sitting here wasting time.”
“Speak for yourself,” Biana said, appearing by the waterfall. “I think I figured out how to hide from Calla. I just need to make sure I can hold it.”
“Yeah, and Sophie and I are about to do some Cognate training,” Fitz added.
“But what do you mean by focusing on the Panakes?” Dex asked Sophie.
“I meant we should be trying to find information about the cure, not the cause of the plague. Calla said nature tells us what it needs, and nature was singing about the Panakes. We need to figure out what they are and how to find them.”
“Assuming they’re real,” Fitz reminded her.
“If the earth is singing about them, wouldn’t they have to be?” Sophie asked. “And if there’s any record of them, I’m betting it’s in there.” She pointed to the Twiggler, wishing it didn’t look so ready to fall apart. “Are you getting any closer to making it search by keyword?”
“I’m trying,” Dex said. “But the different technologies are super specific. They’ll each only serve a single function. The elvin tech provides all the power I need, and the dwarven stuff works like a backup. The goblin tech is my security, the trollish tech is what breaks through the barriers and whatnot, the ogre tech is the really sneaky stuff that gets me past the subtle defenses. And the gnomish tech seems to smooth out all the connections between everything. That’s why I keep adding more sticks, hoping it’ll make the parts cooperate better. But none of that helps with searching. It almost feels like that comes from a totally different technology. But I already have all the intelligent species represented, so I don’t know what that means.”
“What about humans?” Sophie asked. “I know they’re not part of the treaties anymore—but they were.”
“The archive is super old, right?” Fitz added. “So it could’ve been built before the humans betrayed everyone, and that would mean it includes their technology.”
Dex scratched the top of his head. “I guess. But I have no idea what I’m supposed to use for human technology.”