"I can check yours to make sure it's working, if you want," Dex offered.

"No!" Biana said, a bit too quickly. "I'll just . . . wait here and you guys can send someone back for me with another."

"Don't be absurd, Miss Vacker," Mr. Forkle said. "We're all leaving now."

Biana shot Sophie a desperate Help me! look, but Sophie didn't understand the problem.

Keefe grabbed Biana's wrist. "It feels like you're hiding something . . ."

"I agree," Mr. Forkle said. "So let's see what it is, shall we?"

"You don't have permission to read my thoughts!" Biana shouted.

"I do not need it if you're endangering us." Mr. Forkle closed his eyes and Sophie knew there was nothing Biana could do to stop him. Even she couldn't block him-and he'd designed her mind to be impenetrable.

Biana turned to her brother. "Please, don't let him do this."

"It's already done." Mr. Forkle said, staring at the empty space behind her. "It appears we have a stowaway."

SIX.

HOW CAN WE have a stowaway?" Fitz asked as Mr. Forkle shouted, "Show yourself!"

Nothing happened for a moment. Then Della appeared behind Biana.

"Mom?" Fitz said, rushing to tackle-hug her before he shouted at his sister. "HOW COULD YOU KEEP THIS SECRET?"

"I made her swear not to say anything," Della explained. "And I only involved her because I needed to hold on to someone while we were teleporting."

"Why the subterfuge?" Mr. Forkle asked. "Please tell me you don't doubt our ability to protect your children?"

"Quite the opposite." Della straightened her gown, looking like an ocean goddess in aquamarine silk. "I'm here to join the Black Swan."

The words seemed to dangle, waiting for someone to reach out and grab them.

"Does Dad know?" Fitz asked.

"Of course. He wanted to join, but we decided he'd be more useful if he stayed working with the Council. And my talents are far better suited for covert activities."

"Ms. Vacker-" Mr. Forkle started.

"Della," she corrected.

"Your offer is very generous, Ms. Della," Mr. Forkle emphasized with a slight smile. "But we already have a Vanisher working with us."

"No one can vanish the way I can. Not even my son-and I'm sure you've heard how valuable Alvar has been to the Council."

She blinked out of sight, reappearing a second later knee-deep in the river. Sophie wasn't sure what was crazier, how fast Della had moved, or how she hadn't caused ripples in the water.

"Impressive," Mr. Forkle admitted when Della reappeared next to Biana and showed how her gown was still dry. "But the question is whether letting you join would be wise. Someone as high profile as yourself-"

"Could be an influential advocate," Della finished for him. "When the Council finally comes to their senses, do you think the public will instantly trust you? The Vacker name may have had a few controversies lately, but it still holds incredible influence and power."

Mr. Forkle studied Della. "I see you've already removed your registry pendant."

"I would never put any of you at risk. Plus, I wanted to prove that I'm committed."

"And yet you make the commitment too lightly."

"Do I?" Della's melodic voice hardened. "I've trusted my children-and three others who might as well be my family-to your care."

"Your children's situation is different," Mr. Forkle argued. "We both know we can't leave them to the Council's caprice."

"But I could protect them on my own." Della vanished again, reappearing with a melder pressed to Mr. Forkle's head. "Do not underestimate me, sir."

"You're not the only one with tricks up their sleeve," Mr. Forkle warned her. He tapped his right temple, and Della's arm dropped to her side.

"Are you a Mesmer?" Sophie asked, remembering Grady's similar feats.

"My tricks are more limited," Mr. Forkle admitted. "But the mind is more powerful than the body-never forget that."

"I won't," Della said, vanishing the same instant Mr. Forkle collapsed.

She reappeared, balanced on his belly with one of her jeweled shoes pressed against his throat. He kicked and thrashed, but couldn't throw her off.

"I believe you've proven your point, Ms. Vacker," he wheezed.

She pressed her shoe down harder. "I told you to call me Della."

"Whoa, remind me never to get on your mom's bad side," Keefe said.

"A valuable lesson for everyone," Della agreed, jumping to the ground and offering Mr. Forkle a hand up. "Everyone believes I'm the fragile beauty hiding in my husband's shadow. But I'm far more powerful than anyone imagines."

"I can see that." Mr. Forkle wiped mud off his long black tunic. "But I alone cannot approve your admittance into our organization. All I can promise is to bring the matter before our Collective."

"Collective?" Sophie asked.

"Our ruling order," Mr. Forkle clarified. "Five overseers, each with equally weighted votes."

"So there are four other leaders we've never met?" Keefe asked.

"There are many members you haven't met. But that is a good thing. The more people we have helping our cause, the more chance we have of making a difference."

"All the more reason to let me join," Della said.

"Perhaps," Mr. Forkle agreed. "I'll make the suggestion when I speak with the Collective. But first we have a problem. I did not plan for a stowaway, so we are short one lufterator."

"I can tweak mine so two can share," Dex said, bending his into a Z-shape. He made a few more tweaks before holding up the mouthpiece proudly. "Now it works on each end."

"They'll have to keep their faces very close together," Mr. Forkle noted.

"Foster and I volunteer!" Keefe shouted.

"Uh, if anyone's going to share with Sophie it should be me," Dex argued.

"Wait, why do I have to share?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah, I nominate Dex and Keefe," Fitz agreed.

"So do I," Mr. Forkle decided. "Keefe, give your lufterator to Della."

"Wait-what just happened?" Keefe asked.

Fitz, Biana, and Sophie cracked up.

Dex fumed as Mr. Forkle ordered him and Keefe to test the gadget to make sure the lufterator still worked. They had to stand so close their noses practically touched.

"Gross," Keefe whined, spitting out his mouthpiece. "The air tastes like Dex breath."

"Keefe breath's just as nasty," Dex snapped.

"But you can breathe?" Mr. Forkle clarified.

When they nodded, he ordered everyone into the water. They gasped as the cold soaked through their clothes-except Della, who strode through totally dry.

"Did you know your mom could do that?" Sophie asked Fitz.

"I did," Biana jumped in. "And I will figure out how to do it." She blinked out of sight, and when she reappeared her hair was dripping wet and stuck to her face. "It's going to take some practice."

"I still can't believe you didn't tell me Mom was with us," Fitz grumbled.

"Now you know how I felt when you and Dad were busy planning all your secret visits to the Forbidden Cities."

Sophie had never considered how much the search for her had affected the Vacker family. They'd all lived with secrets-and broken the law-for twelve years.

The river grew deeper, and they switched from wading to swimming. Sophie struggled to paddle while holding her backpack, until Fitz reached over and carried it for her.

"Thanks," she mumbled, wishing she could swim so effortlessly. Within minutes he'd reached the elephant-size water dinosaurs.

"Eckodons are friendly, right?" she asked Biana.

"Of course." Biana swam to a purple-toned eckodon and stroked the base of its neck. "See? Totally harmless."

Sophie swam to a blue-toned eckodon and it made a gurgley, growling sound.

"That's how it says hi," Fitz promised, pulling himself onto his green eckodon's back.

Sophie copied him while transmitting Friend over and over. Her tweaked genes allowed her to communicate telepathically with animals. She couldn't tell if the eckodon understood-some creatures thought in images or emotions. Still, the eckodon didn't chomp her head off, so she took that as a good sign.

Dex and Keefe, meanwhile, were having a very difficult time figuring out how to sit on their eckodon. After several hilarious attempts, they settled for Keefe facing backward with his arms wrapped around Dex, and Dex reaching around Keefe to hug the eckodon's neck.

"You guys look so cute," Fitz told them.

"Dude, your payback is going to be legendary," Keefe warned.

"Lufterators in!" Mr. Forkle called, before Dex could add his own threats.

Sophie took one last deep breath and slipped the gadget into her mouth. She'd barely grabbed her eckodon's neck before Mr. Forkle shouted, "Dive!"

Down, down, down they plunged, all the way to the bottom of the river, where the water felt cold and gritty. Sophie's balefire pendant gave her just enough light to see Fitz as his eckodon swam up beside her. He held out a thumbs-up to ask if she was okay.

She nodded, taking several shallow breaths as he pointed to where Mr. Forkle and Della had taken the lead. Sophie was glad her eckodon seemed to be following on its own, since she had no idea how to steer a plesiosaur.

Fitz stayed beside her, with Biana right behind, and Dex and Keefe a little farther back. The eckodons swam at a steady pace until the shore dropped away and Sophie realized they'd reached the ocean. Then each eckodon stretched out its neck, tucked its flippers, and let out a piercing scream.

The shrill whine was louder than whale song, richer than dolphin squeaks, and powerful enough to part the tide. The sound pitched higher, then lower, swirling the water into a funnel that blasted the eckodon forward like a rocket. Whenever the vortex slowed, the creature cried again, blasting them faster and faster, until Sophie was sure they'd crossed the whole ocean. And maybe she was right, because when they finally slowed the water was tropical teal and swarming with colorful fish.

They surfaced minutes later, floating along a river that cut through an enormous underground cavern. A thin crack split the ceiling, letting in just enough sunlight to bounce off the glinting rock walls. Everywhere the light touched, life had followed, transforming the cave into a subterranean forest. The farther the river led them, the more the cave widened, until all Sophie could see in any direction was the ever-stretching paradise.

"Can you believe this place?" Fitz whispered.

Sophie inhaled the sweet, heady scents: honeysuckle, jasmine, plumeria-plus dozens of other aromas she couldn't recognize. It definitely wasn't the bleak cavern she'd expected after her previous experience with a Black Swan hideout.

"Okay, I am done with Dex snuggle time," Keefe announced as he and Dex's eckodon swam up beside Sophie's. He leaped from his plesiosaur to hers and prodded Sophie's eckodon to swim away from the rest of the group.

"Relax," he said, tightening his grip on Sophie's waist. "I won't let you fall."

That wasn't why she felt nervous. The last time she'd sat like this with Keefe, they were flying with Silveny across the ocean. The alicorn had been carrying them to the Black Swan that night as well. Sophie hoped this time wouldn't end so violently.

Keefe must've been sharing the same terrifying memories, because he whispered, "I will never let my mom hurt you again."

"You didn't let your mom do anything, Keefe. You know that, right?"

"You heard what Oralie said. The Council's blaming my dad for not knowing what my mom was up to. But . . . he's not the only Empath who lived with her."

"You told me yourself, you can't feel a lie-only the emotions that go along with it."

"I still wasn't paying close enough attention."

"Why would you? No one assumes their family is evil."