Monsters come in all shapes and sizes.

"Like the ones behind the plague?"

What do you mean? she asked. Did you see something?

"I've seen a lot of things."

Like what?

Her eyes were finally adjusting-or maybe her mind was-because blurry forms were taking shape around her. The closest silhouette was the Shade.

Like what? she transmitted again, leaning closer.

He backed a step away. "Not now."

When? she pressed.

"When I know whether or not I can trust you."

He vanished into the shadows, taking his whispers with him.

By the time they'd reached the end of the week, Sophie had never been so tired, between the long Exillium days and the late nights of Cognate training. But she was more tired of the lack of progress. Her friends had been trying to learn about the Psionipath, but their Coaches were too guarded to answer their questions. And the campus had moved to yet another location without the slightest trace of plague.

They'd leaped to a glassy lake at the base of a snowcapped mountain to practice holding their breath, and two small tents had been added so they could change into wetsuits. Swim caps covered their hair and enormous goggles covered their faces, and they waded into the chilly water to float facedown and try to stay there.

It was the most brutal skill yet, and Sophie's lungs were constantly screaming, BREATHE NOW OR YOU WILL DIE! Even the Hydrokinetic struggled with the assignment-in fact, she seemed to have it harder than anyone. As soon as she'd put her face in the water she'd thrash and flail, and when the Shade tried to calm her she kept mumbling, "I can't, I can't, I can't."

By the second hour, the girl was in tears, and Sophie realized she might be able to help.

I can keep you calm, she transmitted to the girl. But I wanted to ask before I tried it. If you don't want me to, make a sound so I know.

The girl stayed silent.

Okay, here goes.

Inflictors were only supposed to be able to inflict negative emotions, but thanks to Sophie's alicorn-inspired DNA, she could trigger positive emotions as well. She closed her eyes and replayed a bunch of memories that made her feel happy and calm, letting the feelings gather in her heart until it felt like her chest would burst. Then she shoved the heat away, sending it shooting across the water. She couldn't tell if it was working, but the Hydrokinetic stayed quiet, so she kept sending additional waves.

She was so focused on her inflicting that she forgot about everything else. It wasn't until two hands pulled her out of the lake that she realized she hadn't been breathing.

"It appears we have a new record!" her purple Coach announced. "Forty-six minutes."

"Forty-six?" Sophie gasped for breath, wincing at the burn in her lungs.

Her Coach helped her wade back to shore and gave her a fraying gray towel to dry off. "Take one hundred deep breaths and your head will clear."

Around breath seventy-three, a shadow slid across hers and the Shade's voice filled her mind. "You want to know what we know?"

Of course, she transmitted.

"Okay." She waited for him to say something, but he turned and walked away.

After they'd gotten their beads and changed into their regular uniforms, though, he slunk up beside her and whispered, "Now or never."

The Hydrokinetic girl held a scratched yellow crystal up to the sunlight, and Sophie tried to think through the risks as she reached for the Shade's offered hand.

I'll be back soon, she transmitted to Fitz.

The light pulled her away before he could respond.

FIFTY.

THE LEAP FELT shakier than normal, or maybe that was Sophie. She couldn't believe she'd left Exillium with two strangers-without even asking where she was going.

They'd leaped to a place that had probably once been a beautiful garden. But now the cascading vines and enormous trees looked withered and crunchy and speckled with plague.

"Where are we?" Sophie asked.

"Introductions first," the Shade said, throwing back his hood and tearing off his mask.

The Hydrokinetic girl did the same, and Sophie was stunned by the similarities between them. They both had the same pink lips and creamy complexion. But the biggest similarity was their eyes-the palest of pale blue, with flecks of silver glinting in the sunlight. Touches of silver in their hair enhanced the effect. The girl's waist-length jet-black hair looked like the ends had been dipped in platinum, and the tips of the boy's jagged bangs glinted every time he tossed them out of his eyes.

Together they looked like K-pop idols, or like they'd stepped straight out of anime. But Sophie realized the more logical option was, "You're brother and sister."

"Twins," the Shade corrected. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"Why would it . . . ," Sophie started to ask, then remembered how rare multiple births were in the Lost Cities-and how judgmental most elves were when it happened. "Of course not," she promised. "I know what it's like to be different."

She threw back her hood and pulled off her mask, not missing the way they gawked at her eyes.

The Shade glanced at his sister before he said, "I'm Tam, and this is Linh."

Sophie smiled. "I'm Sophie."

"That's a human name," Tam said.

"It is." Sophie realized then that Tam and Linh wouldn't have heard any of the gossip about her. Judging by the length of their necklaces-long enough to wrap around their necks four times-they'd been at Exillium way before her arrival to the Lost Cities. In fact, she doubted they knew about anything that had happened over the last year, except whatever they'd seen in the Neutral Territories.

"So where are we?" she asked again.

"Home sweet home." Tam kicked a piece of rotted, speckled fruit.

"It used to be beautiful," Linh said. "We used to feel so lucky to have found it. But that was before the gnomes fell ill."

"Wait," Sophie said, climbing on a fallen trunk to get a better view. Farther down the weed-lined path she spotted a grove of black, collapsing trees with colored pieces of wood in their trunks, like doors. "Was this the Wildwood Colony?"

Linh nodded. "They used to bring us dinner every night, and I loved falling asleep to their songs." She brushed aside a blackened vine as she whispered, "Do you know what's happened to them?"

"Only that they're in quarantine-and that they're all still alive," Sophie added to reassure her. "But wait . . . you're the teenagers who made the footprints they found?"

"Who are they?" Tam demanded.

Sophie stumbled back a step as she told him, "The Council investigated after the colonists arrived at Lumenaria."

The twins might look similar, but their personalities were opposites. Linh was a baby bird. Tam was a stalking tiger.

"I wouldn't call it an investigation." Tam snorted. "They didn't seem to care. They were here for five whole minutes, scraped some bark and gathered a few leaves. They didn't even ask us about the lights." He pointed to the speckled forest in the distance. "We'd been seeing white flashes for weeks before the plague hit. We tried to find what was causing them, but it was coming from somewhere across the ogres' borders."

"You've seen ogres?" Sophie asked.

"Not recently." He turned toward the dark mountains to the east. "But Ravagog is through that pass."

The name slipped icy pins into Sophie's spine. "Do you think the lights were connected to the plague?"

She wondered how brightly a force-fielded tree could glow-enough to be seen from that far away?

"You ask a lot of questions," Tam said, making a slow circle around her.

"I thought you brought me here to tell me everything you know," she countered.

"I don't remember promising everything," he said.

"She's trying to help the gnomes," Linh reminded him. "Just like she helped me today. You must think me so foolish, by the way-a Hydrokinetic afraid of drowning."

"Hey, having an ability doesn't mean everything's suddenly easy," Sophie told her.

"Said the girl with four abilities." Tam leaned closer, squinting at her Teleporter pin. "So the big question is-what did you do to get banished?"

"Most of the Councillors wanted me gone the moment they knew I existed," Sophie admitted. "I just finally gave them a good enough reason. What about you guys?"

Tam started to shake his head, but Linh put her hand on his shoulder.

"She can know the truth, Tam. It was my fault." She raised her hands and mist swarmed around them, glinting with a million rainbows. "Water pleads for my attention. But too often it's a trick."

As she spoke, the mist thickened into a storm that soaked them with a heavy downpour.

"I became the Girl Of Many Floods," she whispered. "And after too many mistakes, my parents had no choice but to let them banish me."

"They had a choice," Tam spat.

"You'll have to excuse my brother. He carries more bitterness than I do. But he doesn't have to be here-"

"Yes," Tam interrupted, "I do."

His voice had softened. So had the angles of his face.

"No one sentenced my brother to Exillium," Linh explained. "He chose to stay with me."

"I didn't want her to face this alone," he mumbled. "And I wouldn't stay with my family anyway. They'd always wished they didn't have the shame of twins. I wasn't going to let them pass me off as an only child."

Linh flinched, and Sophie wished she could hug both siblings. The elves were supposed to be this superior, enlightened species-but they sure had some terrible parents in the mix.

"How long ago was that?" she asked.

Linh's hand moved to her Exillium necklace. "Twelve hundred and fourteen days."

A little more than three years, Sophie realized. "That's a long time to be banished."

Linh nodded, pulling the water from their clothes and hair with a sweep of her arm. "We should get out of sight. There have been many visitors to the Colony since the gnomes left."

Sophie froze. "Were any of them wearing black cloaks?"

"Three were, yes," Linh said. "They came a week ago and checked the roots."

Sophie ran to the abandoned grove and dropped to her knees in front of the largest tree. Curled red roots jutted out of the ground all around her.

"Did you hear the Neverseen say anything?" she asked.

"The Neverseen?" Tam repeated.

"Remember when you asked me about monsters? They're who I was imagining. If you ever see them again-hide. They're involved with this plague somehow. The ogres are too. We just haven't been able to prove it."

She reached to take a sample of the roots, then realized it could infect Calla.

"Who's 'we'?" Tam asked.

"Me. My friends. And . . . others." Sophie wasn't sure how much to tell them about the Black Swan. "Let's just say I know people who are good at uncovering secrets. And when you're facing a group like the Neverseen, you need lots of backup."

Branches crunched behind them, making the three of them jump. But it was only the wind creaking through the sickly trees.

"This way," Linh said, leading them up the crest of a hill, where they could see the span of the narrow valley.

A river cut down the center before it disappeared into the jagged gray mountains, and an enormous iron gate barred the pass beyond the foothills.

"Ravagog," Sophie whispered, her feet itching to run toward the city-and far, far away.

"Sometimes, at night, we can hear them marching," Linh said.

"Are you sure it's safe to stay here?" Sophie asked.

"We're banished," Tam reminded her. "Nowhere is safe."