Sophie sighed as Della fished a huge collection of crumpled papers from her pocket, each covered in Elwin’s messy writing.
“Here it is,” she said after flipping through several. “Light poisoning. Symptoms include fatigue, severe dehydration, bluish tint to the gums, and glints of sparkle in the irises.”
“Poisoning?” Sophie repeated. “And wait—what about my irises?”
“It means your body re-formed with light particles still in it. Not surprising considering you were leaping with the unmapped stars.” Della handed Sophie a mirror. “See what I mean?”
“Great. My eyes look like alicorn poop.”
Della laughed. “It is a strange effect, I’ll admit. Even stranger how it makes Keefe look like a Vacker.”
Della was right. The shimmer in Keefe’s eyes made them look teal for some reason.
“Always wanted to be part of the family,” Keefe mumbled. The sadness in his voice broke Sophie’s heart.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
Keefe shrugged and scooted away from her.
“You’ll both feel better once you take Elwin’s remedy.” Della opened a huge medicine cabinet—which Sophie had thought was just a big shrubbery—and studied the shelves of small glass vials. There were elixirs, balms, and poultices in every color. Della handed them each a tarlike vial and one that looked a lot like snot.
Sophie uncorked the black one and took a whiff. “Ugh, this smells like Iggy burp.”
“Here,” Della said, giving them each a bottle of Youth. “Wash it down with this. You need it for the dehydration, anyway.”
The slightly sweet water helped a little. But Sophie could still taste the burpy medicine even after she’d swallowed. And the snotty elixir tasted like a bug smoothie.
“So are you guys ever going to tell us what happened?” Biana asked. “Because I think Dex is going to explode if you don’t.”
“Hey, don’t put it all on me,” Dex argued. “If Biana twists her hands any tighter, she’s going to pull off one of her fingers.”
Biana blushed. “I guess we’re all a little worried.”
Sophie turned to Keefe. “Do you want to tell them?”
He shook his head. “You’ll do a better job.”
Sophie doubted that, but she did her best to sum up everything Gethen had said. Every word seemed to make Keefe slouch smaller.
“You know he was just saying that stuff to get in your head, right?” Fitz asked him.
“Well, mission accomplished.” Keefe rubbed his temples so hard, he left red marks on his forehead. “I mean . . . according to him, she was in the Neverseen my entire life. That means every memory I have of her is a lie. Every. Single. One!”
Della wrapped an arm around him. “I know it’s hard, Keefe—”
“Do you? Because I can’t imagine any of the perfect Vackers being longtime traitors.”
The silence felt painful.
“Sorry,” Keefe mumbled. “It’s not your fault she’s evil. And don’t try to defend her—there’s no debating it anymore. I mean, don’t you realize what this means?” His eyes darted to Sophie. “My mom was probably part of everything that went down with Jolie.”
The words were a punch to the gut, and Sophie knew Keefe could tell. Jolie’s journal had mentioned a woman communicating with her when the Neverseen tried to recruit her. She’d also mentioned a woman being there the night the Neverseen tried to force her to set fire to a human nuclear power plant. Either could’ve been Lady Gisela—or both.
“Do you have any theories for the ‘vision’ your mom had for the future?” Sophie asked. “Or what this timeline is with the Neutral Territories?”
“Not yet. But I will figure it out. Do you have any fathomlethes in there?” he asked Della.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said.
“Why, what are fathomlethes?” Sophie asked.
“Tiny pearls we sometimes find in rare river oysters,” Dex told her. “They give you crazy dreams, but they can also help you access your long-term memories—”
“Which is exactly what I need,” Keefe jumped in. “Please?” he asked Della. “He said she’s been preparing me. That means there have to be clues I didn’t pick up on. Now that I know what to look for, I can find them.”
Della sighed and took out a bottle filled with what looked like blue-green caviar. “You can have one,” she said, removing it with tiny tongs. “And this is a one-time-only thing.”
Keefe popped it into his mouth and swallowed. “How long do I have before it hits me?”
“Probably about fifteen minutes,” Dex said.
“I guess that’s my cue, then.” Keefe waved good night and left for the boys’ tree house. “Time to get some answers.”
TWENTY-FOUR