“YOU TOLD CALLA?” Mr. Forkle shouted, storming around the girls’ common room.
“Not on purpose. Calla was here when Dex had the breakthrough,” Fitz said.
“Oh, so it’s my fault?” Dex asked.
“I didn’t say that. I’m just saying that’s how it happened,” Fitz said.
“Plus . . . Calla has a right to know, doesn’t she?” Sophie asked.
She couldn’t stop picturing the betrayal she’d seen in Calla’s eyes.
Mr. Forkle rubbed his temples. “I think it’s important we try to remember that the Council still could have good reasons.”
“Like what?” Sophie had to ask.
“Perhaps they didn’t want the gnomes to live their lives under constant fear,” Mr. Forkle suggested. “Or perhaps they worried what would happen if other species discovered the ogres held this powerful weapon? Don’t you think someone else might try to get their hands on the drakostomes as well? It would put them in exponentially more danger.”
Sophie sighed, no longer sure what to think.
“I must speak with the Collective,” Mr. Forkle said. “We must try to prepare for the backlash.”
“What kind of backlash do you think there will be?” Sophie asked.
“Like nothing we’ve ever seen.”
He leaped away before she could ask any further questions, and when he returned hours later, she’d never seen him look so pale.
“The gnomes are gathering in Eternalia for a protest,” he said, sinking into one of the chairs. “The Lost Cities are in chaos.”
“So what happens now?” Biana asked.
“Now we wait for the Council to respond.”
Three endless days passed, giving everyone a glimpse of life in the Lost Cities without the gnomes. Fruit fell from wilting trees, bushes sagged, grass shriveled, gardens yellowed.
On the morning of the fourth day, the Council sent out scrolls informing everyone that they’d be giving a statement in Eternalia that afternoon.
“Can we go?” Sophie asked Mr. Forkle.
“Need I remind you that you have been banished?” he asked.
“So?” Dex said. “Give me five minutes in Slurps and Burps and I’ll have us all unrecognizable.”
“What are the odds of you actually staying here and obeying me?” Mr. Forkle asked.
“Soooo not gonna happen,” Keefe said.
The rest of them nodded—even Della.
Mr. Forkle muttered a string of things that started with “you kids.” But in the end, he pulled out a pathfinder with a dark crystal, adjusted it to a facet, and handed it to Fitz.
“Give me fifteen minutes to help Kesler prepare. Then use that to come find me.”
FIFTY-NINE
THE STREETS OF Mysterium—one of the elvin working class cities—were eerily quiet when Sophie and her friends arrived.
The small, plain, identical buildings were closed up and dark, and the food stalls and vendor carts were all empty. Still, Della and Biana vanished, and Sophie, Keefe, and Fitz kept the hoods of their cloaks pulled tight around their faces as Dex led them to the only unique building in the whole city.
With its curved walls and twenty different colors of paint, the Dizznee’s store looked like it had popped out of a nursery rhyme. A glowing sign read: SLURPS AND BURPS: YOUR MERRY APOTHECARY.
The door belched as they entered, and Sophie’s stomach did a few quick flips.
Waiting for them at the entrance were Dex’s dad and . . .
“Grady?”
Grady scooped her into his arms and she buried her face in his shoulder, giving herself ten seconds to soak up the hug before leaning back to study him. His blond hair was longer than she remembered, and his chiseled features looked a tiny bit sharper. But his eyes were bright and glassy with so much emotion it hurt her heart.
“I love you, Dad,” she whispered.
“I love you too,” he whispered back. “I’ve missed you like crazy.”
From the corner of her eye she could see Dex giving his dad the biggest bear hug he could.
Keefe cleared his throat.
“Sorry,” Sophie told him, wishing Keefe had someone to hug.
Dex let go of his dad too, and both father and son wiped their periwinkle eyes. Sophie had forgotten how much the two of them resembled each other.
“Well,” Kesler said, straightening his white lab coat. “This is an amazing surprise.”
“How did you know we’d be here?” Sophie asked Grady.
“Kesler hailed me after Mr. Forkle contacted him.”
“I hailed your mom, too,” Kesler told Dex, “but she wasn’t sure she could slip away. Plus, we didn’t want to bring the triplets, since we know you can’t stay. She said to give you this.”
He pulled Dex in for another big hug, and Sophie noticed Keefe cross his arms and shift away.
Kesler tousled Dex’s hair, then frowned and stepped back, “You’re taller!”
“I am?”
Sophie tilted her head. “Whoa—he’s right.”