“Okay,” she whispered, not sure if her heart wanted to race or explode. “But isn’t he still in Exile?”
“We’re working on a plan,” Granite said. “And it’s going to take everyone’s help. Biana—you’ll need to be able to hold your vanish far longer than you currently can. Dex—we managed to get our hands on one of the bolts used on the cells. We’ll need you to master opening it quickly and silently. Sophie and Fitz—we’ll need your minds at their absolute strongest. So we’ve prepared notebooks with exercises to further your Cognate training. And Keefe—we have several Empathy books we need you to familiarize yourself with.”
“Books?” Keefe asked. “You’re giving me books?”
“Never underestimate the power of the page,” Mr. Forkle told him. “Miss Foster would not exist without the decades I spent researching genetics—and you have just as much to learn about your ability.”
“It will take us a few days to make the arrangements for this mission,” Granite added. “But when we’re ready, we’ll need to move quickly. So tonight, prepare your minds to swear fealty to our organization. And tomorrow, get ready to work.”
“Well that was interesting,” Dex said as they climbed the stairs to their tree houses.
Sophie had thought she was too nervous to eat, but when they reached the gazebo in the center of the bridge, their dinner smelled amazing. She couldn’t tell what was in Calla’s famous starkflower stew, but Mr. Forkle was right. It truly was life changing. Every bite felt like home, warming her from the tips of her toes to the top of her head and making her feel safe, happy, and loved.
“Was anyone expecting the Black Swan to be like that?” Fitz asked as he mopped up the last of his gravy with a piece of crusty bread.
“You mean secretive and stubbornly unhelpful?” Sophie mumbled. “I guess I should have. But I’d hoped it’d be easier.”
She’d agreed to their plan to help Prentice, and she didn’t regret it—but she also didn’t believe that should be their only focus. She wasn’t ready to drop the idea of trying to find the Boy Who Disappeared through Exillium’s records. And she wanted to find out more about the ogres and the Wildwood Colony. But she wasn’t sure if it was safe to discuss any plans with her friends. They were in the Black Swan’s territory now, so they were probably being watched.
“I do think they might be onto something with the code names,” Keefe said as she searched all the shadows. “In fact, after I swear fealty I should have you all call me Emo. Fitz can be Brainwave. Biana and Della can be Blink and Wink. Dex, you’re Gears. And Foster? Hmm. That’s tricky. . . . Maybe Enigma? Unless you want to be Cognate—or is Fitz the only one allowed to call you that?”
Sophie sighed.
“You do realize you basically agreed to merge your brain with his, right?” he pressed. “You’ll be Fitzphie! Or Sophitz! Personally I’d go with Sophitz. Better make it clear you’re the boss.”
“You’re just jealous,” Fitz said with his best attempt at a smirk.
Keefe shrugged. “Team Foster-Keefe will always be cooler.”
“Yeah, but Sophitz will be unstoppable,” Fitz said, pushing back his chair. “I can’t wait to start training tomorrow.”
Sophie tried to feel the same way, reminding herself of all the important reasons she’d agreed to the Cognate thing. But her brain kept circling back to Biana asking, Don’t Cognates have to share all their secrets with each other?
She was sure Keefe could feel her panic. But instead of teasing her, he said, “So, when are you going to tell me what you guys are hiding? Something about the gnomes, right—don’t think I didn’t notice all those nervous glances.”
Biana couldn’t have looked guiltier. “We . . . just wanted to make sure it was true before we said anything,” she mumbled.
“And it’s good we waited,” Sophie added. “Mr. Forkle gave me better information.”
She explained their worry about the elvin footprints outside the Wildwood Colony, and how two teenagers made them, not the Neverseen.
“So . . . you thought you had evidence that my mom was poisoning gnomes and you decided not to tell me?”
Keefe looked so betrayed, Sophie wished she could think of something better to say than, “It turned out to be nothing.”
“That’s still not cool. We’re going to find out a ton of awful things about my mom as we go along. I don’t want to have to worry that everyone’s hiding stuff from me. You know how that feels, Foster. You hate it as much as I do.”
Sophie sighed. “Okay. From now on we’ll share.”
Keefe nodded, but he didn’t look happy. And his frown deepened when Della pulled Fitz close for a good-night hug.
“Come on,” Dex told Keefe. “We need to brainstorm ways to punish Wonderboy.”
“That’s right,” Keefe said, perking up a bit. “We’ll form our own Empath-Technopath Cognatedom. We can be Keefex!”
“Why not Deefe?” Dex asked.
“Because Deefe sounds lame.”