Sophie didn't feel like celebrating.

A second later, Fitz's smile collapsed as his brain processed what they'd both seen.

Sophie tried to warn him not to say anything-but he was already wheeling on Mr. Forkle to ask, "Why have you been meeting with Lord Cassius?"

FIFTY-SEVEN.

YOU'VE BEEN TALKING to my dad?" Keefe shouted, his voice slicing around the cave.

Mr. Forkle mumbled something about not planning the exercise carefully enough, before he told Keefe, "Your father reached out to us after he found those maps in your mother's possessions-"

"Wait-those were hers?" Keefe's eyes narrowed at Sophie. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I agreed to the meeting," Mr. Forkle jumped in, "assuming he'd either found something else, or wanted an update on you."

"Yeah, I'm sure he's been real worried about me," Keefe muttered.

"Actually he has," Mr. Forkle promised. "And he was incredibly relieved to know you're safe."

Keefe shook his head and turned back to Sophie. "I can't believe you knew about this."

"Only some of it," she promised. "I didn't know they'd met up in person."

"I didn't tell you that part," Mr. Forkle agreed. "I knew how you would feel about it."

"Why?" Keefe asked. "What did he want?"

Sophie could tell bad news was coming. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach, a sour bubbling and churning.

Still, she never would've guessed Mr. Forkle would say, "He asked to join the Black Swan."

"WHAT?" the three of them asked.

"Please tell me you laughed hysterically and kicked him out the door," Keefe begged.

"I told him we had many concerns about his trustworthiness."

That wasn't the same as a no-and Keefe definitely caught it.

"You're not actually considering letting my dad join, right?" he asked. "Because you realize that would be the dumbest decision in the history of dumb decisions."

"I know your father is a difficult person, Mr. Sencen. And I do not agree with his parenting methods. But there are ways he could be useful-"

"Unbelievable!" Keefe shouted. "Please tell me this isn't happening."

"Nothing has happened yet. We are far from deciding. But . . . it's not outside the realm of possibility."

Keefe laughed-a dark, angry sound. "You know what is outside the realm of possibility? Me staying here if you let him in."

"He wouldn't live here. He would maintain his identity in the Lost Cities."

"I DON'T CARE!"

"Keefe," Sophie tried.

He jerked away as she reached for his hand. "Uh-uh. You promised you weren't going to hide anything from me."

"I'm really sorry." She glanced at Mr. Forkle, knowing she was about to make everything so much worse. But if she didn't tell Keefe now, she'd never be able to tell him. "I was afraid if I told you, I'd have to show you your mom's note. They found it when they found the maps, along with a kit to make leaping crystals like the ones we use at Exillium. Mr. Forkle gave it to me and I was saving it until we knew more about what happened to her."

"That wasn't our deal," he snapped.

"I know. But I was worried about you. We've all been dealing with so much."

"So lying to me is better?" He rubbed his head so hard it looked painful. "Seriously, what is happening?"

"Perhaps we should leave this cave," Mr. Forkle suggested. "Away from the affect of the mold."

"I'M NOT MAD BECAUSE OF THE FUNGUS-I'M MAD BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN LYING TO ME."

All Sophie could do was stare at her feet.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Fitz whispered to her.

"Dude, you don't get to ask that," Keefe told him.

"If you want to read the note we can go right now," Sophie told Keefe. "I have it hidden in my room."

Keefe shook his head. "Just tell me what it says."

"It says, 'Dear Keefe, I'm doing this for you. Love, Mom,'" Mr. Forkle told him when Sophie hesitated.

Keefe mouthed the words to himself, over and over and over. Finally he asked, "Doing what for me?"

"She didn't say." Sophie tried for his hand again and he jumped off his toadstool and backed away. "No-you lied to me."

"I know," Sophie whispered. "I'm sorry."

"That's not good enough!"

"Come on, it's not her you're mad it," Fitz said. "I know-I've been there."

"Have you? Because I seem to remember you having a bummer few weeks and then everything went back to perfect Vacker-land. So where's my perfect fix? Why does it just keep spiraling and spiraling and spiraling?"

"How can we help?" Sophie asked as he covered his face with his hands.

"Right now? You can leave me alone." He turned and stalked away.

The glowing mushrooms turned to a blur in Sophie's eyes.

Her tears felt cold.

Everything felt cold.

"Come on," Fitz said, draping his arm around Sophie's shoulders. That was when she realized she was shaking.

He'd only led her a few steps before Sophie stopped and turned back to Mr. Forkle.

"If you let Lord Cassius join the Black Swan, I'm out."

"Me too," Fitz said.

"It's not about who we want to work with," Mr. Forkle told them. "It's about putting aside differences for the greater good."

"I don't care!"

"I understand your anger, Miss Foster. I feel the same way every time I see Ms. Vacker sitting at Prentice's bedside. But I still let her sit there."

"My mom had nothing to do with what happened to him."

"I know that in my head, but not my heart. Emotion isn't logical. All I can control is how I act. Remember the oath you each swore when you joined us? You swore to do everything in your power to help your world. That includes relying on those we do not like, if they can help with something we need."

Sophie gave Fitz the note from Keefe's mom. He promised to slip it under Keefe's door if he didn't answer. Sleep felt impossible, so Sophie checked on Silveny, watching the alicorn's memories of when Silveny told Greyfell he was going to be a daddy.

The joy that sparked in Greyfell's eyes was one of the purest, most beautiful things Sophie had ever seen. It made her wonder what Lord Cassius had looked like when he discovered Lady Gisela was pregnant with Keefe.

Could a tiny bit of that spark have been there?

She hoped so.

She tossed and turned for another hour, then wandered to her window. She knew Keefe didn't want to talk to her, but when she saw his lights on she couldn't walk away.

It cost her three pairs of shoes to get his attention, and he refused to open the window. Fortunately, she'd prepared for that with a premade sign.

I'M HERE.

Time seemed to slow down as Keefe stared at the words.

He didn't look at her as he turned away, and her heart crashed like stone. But he turned back a second later, holding his blanket and a pillow. No smile, but it was still an invitation.

Sophie raced to grab hers, and they both set up for another window slumber party, each leaning against the glass.

The distance between them had never felt so enormous.

But Sophie was willing to settle for "close enough."

FIFTY-EIGHT.

KEEFE WAS SILENT at breakfast, and the meal became awkward with a side of miserable. Dex and Biana were smart enough not to ask what was going on.

Keefe disappeared into his room the second he was done eating. The rest of them moved to the boys' common room to work. Dex was hammering tiny stone wheels-apparently he and Blur had decided that was the best way to add them to the Twiggler. Biana and Calla worked by the windows, testing to see how long Biana could fool Calla's eyes. And Fitz and Sophie plopped into the boulder beanbag chairs for another Cognate exercise.

The next assignment was called Trigger Cues, a trick to make them more efficient at probing memories. Apparently each elvin mind was filled with tiny threadlike trails, and Telepaths could learn to follow them to something called a "cue."

The more uncomfortable the trail felt to navigate, the more the person had tried to hide the truth at the end. Their assignment was to follow a difficult path and say the cue out loud. The shock of hearing it was supposed to trigger some sort of mental reaction that would uncover the secret to the other person.

Fitz let Sophie go first, and she chose a trail that felt like crawling through an itchy wool sweater. Waiting at the end were two words: Barcelona, Spain. When she spoke them, Fitz's mind filled with a boy's startled face-obviously a human boy, based on his clothes. He shouted, "Imposible!" and chased Fitz through the busy streets.

That happened back when I was trying to find you, Fitz transmitted. I'd already ruled out the girl I'd gone to see, and I was getting ready to leave when I saw a group of kids kicking pigeons. One bird had a damaged wing and I was worried they were going to kill it, so I used telekinesis to lift it to safety. I didn't know anyone was near me. But that kid saw, and when I ran, he chased me, and he kept shouting things in a language I couldn't understand.

Wow, I can't believe how much you went through when you were trying to find me.

It was worth it.

Her cheeks flamed, which was of course when Keefe came out of his room. He didn't acknowledge anyone as he plopped into one of the beanbag chairs near Sophie, but she could've sworn he muttered something about Sophitz.

"My turn?" Fitz asked.

Sophie nodded, imagining that all her most embarrassing secrets had trails lined with the safe, pretty things they were supposed to be avoiding. The trick might've worked, because the cue Fitz learned wasn't embarrassing-though it was the kind of secret she should've been guarding much harder.

"221B Baker Street," he said.

Her mind showed him a glass marble floating in a black void.

"Oh, is that how you retrieve the cache?" Fitz asked, then covered his mouth. "Sorry, didn't mean to say that out loud. And I didn't wreck anything by saying the words, right?"

"Nope, it only works with my voice."

Dex ended their conversation by jumping to his feet, screaming, "I DID IT!"

"You got the Twiggler to work?" Sophie asked, rushing to his side. "Does that mean you can use keywords now?"

"And all kinds of other things," Dex said. "Like, if I do this"-he spun the wheels he'd attached like knobs-"it pulls up all the files that have text blacked out. And right here"-he spun to the middle of the scroll-"it tells us what the drakostomes are. They're nematodes!"