Sophie nodded. “We’d need a distraction.”
A plan was piecing together in her mind—one far too insane to share until she’d thought it through. But she knew one thing, “I think the Triad should be our focus.”
“Is she okay?” Dex asked, pointing to where Calla had her ear pressed against the ground, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Sophie crawled to Calla’s side. “What happened?”
Seconds ticked by. Then Calla whispered, “I can feel them. The Panakes. They’re still here.”
SIXTY-EIGHT
SOPHIE GLANCED DOWN the river, desperate for a glimpse of the miraculous trees. All she saw were dark, barren rocks.
“The trees themselves are gone,” Calla whispered. “But traces of their roots remain. I can hear them singing. But I don’t understand . . .”
She pressed her ear to the ground again, closing her eyes and humming a melody that felt both heartbreaking and hopeful.
“I found a way across!” Linh whisper-shouted, reminding Sophie where they were. “But I can’t hold it for long.”
Everyone rushed to the shore, where Linh raised her foot over the glowing river and stepped down.
“Follow my path exactly,” Linh said as the water turned solid under her foot. “And do not lose your balance.”
Sophie willed her clumsiness into submission as she stepped onto Linh’s rippled footprint. The water felt springy, like standing on a trampoline. Keefe followed in her wake, then Biana, Dex, and Fitz. Tam coaxed Calla away from the ground and stepped out after her. Alvar was the last to cross, and his feet had barely touched the opposite shore when Linh sank to her knees, her skin as green as the river.
“I need a moment to catch my breath,” she said.
“Take a minute—but only a minute,” Alvar told her. “From here on out it’s going to be a lot trickier, especially if we make it across the playa. Biana—make sure you stay vanished. Tam—do your best to shade the rest. Hoods up. No talking. Walk with purpose. The more you look like you belong, the more likely someone is to believe you if they spot you. And if our cover is blown—run. Use your abilities. Do whatever you have to do. If they capture you, there will be no getting out of here. Everyone clear?”
He waited for each of them to nod.
“Oh, and here,” he said, returning the Markchain to Sophie. “Stay in the center of the group, so the scent is the most evenly dispersed.”
Sophie clasped it around her neck as Alvar vanished, whispering for everyone to follow him. The path out of the canyon was steep and narrow, and they were out of breath when they reached the top. None looked shakier than Linh.
“Are you sure you can handle this?” Tam asked his sister as she reached toward the sky.
“The falling water has not been tainted.” Linh closed her eyes, her brows pressing together. Mist curled off the waterfalls and gathered into two thick gray clouds, blocking the sun and casting shadows across the playa.
“You’re pushing yourself too hard,” Tam said, catching her when she collapsed.
“I know my limits,” Linh promised, but her voice sounded ragged. And when she tried to stand, she fell over.
“We need to keep moving,” Alvar said. “The ogres could find those clouds suspicious.”
“I’ll carry her,” Fitz told Tam. “You need to concentrate on the shadows.”
Tam reluctantly handed his sister over, and Alvar and Biana vanished again as everyone headed into the playa. They walked with slow, deliberate steps to avoid kicking up dust. Sophie kept her eyes trained on the mountain as the city came into better focus.
Metal pillars capped by green glowing fireballs illuminated the paths through the city, which were all zigzagging and narrow and treacherous. There would be no quick climb to the top, nor any way to avoid the busier parts of the city.
“That’s the Triad,” Alvar whispered, his arm blinking into sight long enough to point to the center of the mountain. A ledge jutted farther than all the others, stretching to a sharp point between two wide waterfalls.
They were too far away to see the throne or guards, but Sophie knew they were up there.
“You sure you want to do this?” Alvar asked.
She swallowed the bile on her tongue and nodded.
The more she thought about it, the more she had to accept that there was no way they could get the cure without being seen—and King Dimitar had to be counting on that. So if they could turn his expectation on its head with a trick, it might buy them enough time to get what they needed and get out alive.
“Okay,” Alvar said, letting out a breath. “Now we head into the city.”