Exile (Keeper of the Lost Cities) (14 page)

“That’s
not
the point of the Ceremonies,” Biana corrected, making Jensi blush before she perfectly recreated the stomp-stomp-spin-step-twirl move Sir Harding had shown them.
“The mascot dance represents the qualities we’ll be developing this year. Mastodons are fast learners that rely on each other as a team. The choreography is designed to showcase that.”

“Uh-huh,” Sophie mumbled as Biana dipped the final curtsy with a natural grace that made Sophie kind of wish she’d slip and fall. Especially since her own feet refused to cooperate. It didn’t help that someone kept testing different colored spotlights and dimming parts of the room, making it hard to see.

“You’re forgetting the middle part,” Jensi told her. He bent until his hands touched the floor and spun in a series of tight circles. “See?”

Sophie tried to copy him but the turns made her dizzy, and as she glanced up to clear her head, one of the spotlights flashed in her eyes.

A headache flared, blinding her from the pain. She started to topple, but a pair of arms caught her before she hit the ground.

“Whoa—you okay?” Dex asked from what sounded like very far away.

Her ears were ringing and the world was a blur of too-bright colors. But as Sophie sucked in slow, steady breaths, the room faded back into focus and she realized Dex was holding her, expecting her to answer his question.

“Yeah,” she said, hating how shaky her voice sounded. “Sorry. Guess I spun a little too fast.”

Dex helped her straighten up, and she wobbled as the blood rushed to her head.

“Are you sure that’s all it is?” he asked. “Maybe we should see if Elwin’s here.”

“Can’t you do
anything
without needing a physician?”

Sophie sighed as she turned around, almost crashing into Stina’s beanpole body. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t. But clearly my dad’s right about the Council. Choosing
you
over us? Guess that’s the perk of having the Vackers protect you all the time.”

Biana rolled her eyes. “My family isn’t protecting her, you sasquatch.”

“Still pretending to be Sophie’s BFF, are we?” Stina asked her.

“I’m not pretending—”

Sophie grabbed Biana’s arm. “Don’t let her get to you,” she whispered.

Biana may have originally become friends with her because her dad told her to, but they’d been through enough that Sophie knew their friendship was real now.

“Aw, aren’t you guys cute?” Stina sneered. “Better watch out, Biana. It’s only a matter of time before she drags your whole family down to her level.”

“That’s still way higher than your family,” Sophie snapped back.

Stina grabbed Sophie’s tunic. “Whatever you
think
you know about my family—”

“
Unhand her!”
Sandor growled—though coming from him, it sounded more like a squeak—as he bolted out of the shadows and yanked Stina away.

Sophie laughed as Stina squealed. Maybe having a bodyguard wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“Are you okay, Miss Foster?” Sandor asked.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“Good.” He turned back to Stina, patting the weapon at his side. “I have my eye on you.”

“You look scared,” Dex told Stina as she watched Sandor melt back into the shadows. “Did you pee your pants?”

“I don’t talk to trash.”

Stina stalked away, but Dex called after her. “Better be nice to me. I’d hate you to have exploding farts at the Opening Ceremonies.”

“If you even
think
about slipping me one of your stupid elixirs, I will have you booted to Exillium so fast you won’t know what hit you.”

“Kinda like what happened to your dad?” Marella asked, joining their group just in time to block Stina’s path. She tossed her blond hair and stood on her tiptoes to get in Stina’s face. “That’s right. I know
all
of the Heks family secrets.”

“You wish, Redek,” Stina grumbled. But she looked nervous as she shoved the tiny girl aside and made her way back to her two giggly minions.

Marella grinned. “I’m a few minutes late and I miss all the fun.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Stina will pick plenty more fights with me before the year is over,” Sophie told her.

“Looking forward to it.”

Sophie had no doubt she was. The only thing Marella liked more than causing trouble was gossip—which was why she seemed to know everything.

Biana and Jensi showed Marella the choreography, which Marella perfected on her first try. Sophie tried not to sulk as she asked, “So what did you mean about Stina’s dad?”

Marella glanced over her shoulder and motioned for everyone to come closer. “Stina’s dad never manifested a special ability, but he tries to hide it. He even tried to fake one when he was younger so he could still take the elite levels and join the nobility. But of
course
he got caught, because, dude—you can’t fake a special ability. They expelled him and he had to finish his education at Exillium.”

The name always made Sophie ill. She didn’t know much about it, just that it was where they sent prodigies who were ruled “hopeless cases.”

“I also heard that the only reason Stina’s parents weren’t ruled a bad match was because her dad’s sister is married to someone who works at the Matchmaking Office and they rigged the results,” Marella added quietly. “Of course there’s no way to prove that, but come on. How else would someone without a special ability end up matched to an Empath?”

Dex’s hands curled into fists. “If that’s true—”

“Of course it’s true,” Marella interrupted. “Why do you think her dad took her mom’s name? And he keeps using the Hekses’ gift with unicorns to elevate his own status. My mom thinks it’s only a matter of time before the Council makes him an Emissary. He’d be the first Talentless to do it.”

That explained why Timkin had been so insistent on taking Silveny, and there was no way Sophie was letting him anywhere near her again.

“What’s up with him?” Marella asked as Dex wandered away from their group.

Dex’s parents had been ruled a bad match when they got married, because his dad never manifested an ability either. Dex had been teased his whole life because of it.

Sophie moved to his side. “Hey,” she said, nudging him until he looked at her. “Think you can help me master these dance moves before the Ceremonies next week?”

A small grin spread across his lips. “I don’t know. I can’t exactly work miracles.”

“Hey, I’m not
that
bad.”

He grabbed her hands as she tried to shove him, and his face turned serious. “You’re not bad at all. You’re awesome.”

He blushed after he said it, and Sophie dropped her eyes to the ground.

Sir Harding saved them from the crushing awkwardness when he clapped his hands and announced, “That should be enough rehearsing for everyone. I’ll see you all at the
Ceremonies. And don’t forget to collect your schedules from your lockers before you leave.”

The rest of the prodigies cheered, but Sophie had to force herself to smile.

She’d been dreading her schedule since the Council approved her for another year at Foxfire. Her admission came with a condition. . . .

She trudged a few steps behind her friends as they made their way to the main campus building. Biana showed them how she’d gotten her nexus off early, and they were all so busy telling her how cool that was—especially Jensi, who seemed glued to Biana’s side—that they didn’t even notice. Not that Sophie minded. Biana deserved a few moments of fame after so many years in Fitz’s shadow.

It did make Sophie wish she knew when she’d be allowed to remove her own stupid nexus, though.

The halls changed from black to blue and then to the weird, amber brown color of the Level Three wing. They went straight to the atrium, the huge central quad filled with crystal trees and an enormous mastodon statue that was sleek and smooth, like it’d been carved from a gigantic piece of amber. A Mentor whom Sophie didn’t recognize handed her a tiny square of paper with her name and a rune, and she made her way to the walls lined with narrow doors, searching for the one labeled with the matching rune. She found it in the darkest corner—or maybe it just felt that way as she licked the thin silver strip,
which thankfully tasted citrusy, and pulled open the locker door.

Inside she found a neat stack of textbooks, a few rakes and shovels, and a small scroll on the top shelf.

She needed several deep breaths before she reached for the scroll and unrolled it.

Elvin history, PE, elementalism, and multispeciesial studies—nothing to worry about there. She’d had the same subjects as a Level Two, and even though she had new Mentors, she knew she could handle them. Linguistics and agriculture didn’t sound too bad either—and explained why they’d given her gardening supplies.

The second-to-last session was the one that made her palms sweat.

Inflicting.

With
Councillor Bronte
.

Who’d already sworn to fail her.

Alden had told her not to worry, but that was a very worrisome thing.

Though seeing the session officially listed wasn’t what made her heart pick up speed. An unexpected note underneath her telepathy session triggered that.

Fitz Vacker will also attend this session.

S
O WHAT’D YOU GET?” DEX
asked, snatching Sophie’s schedule.

He frowned as he read the list, and she knew he had to be thinking the same thing she was.

Why was Fitz in her telepathy session?

Except for PE—where they needed teams—all Foxfire sessions were taught one-on-one between Mentor and prodigy, so the curriculum could be customized.

“Aw, are you guys sad that your lockers aren’t next to each other?” Marella asked, nudging her way between them. “Because I might be willing to trade mine for a few rare Prattles’ pins.” She pointed to a locker a few doors down from Sophie’s.

“Maybe later,” Dex mumbled, still glaring at Sophie’s schedule.

Marella read over shoulder. “Whoa—you have a session with Fitz Vacker?”

“I guess.”

“Fitz
Vacker
,” Marella repeated. “You get to spend four hours a week alone with Fitz. Vacker?”

“Not
alone
,” Sophie whispered, wishing Marella would keep her voice down. Several heads had turned their way, and Dex was turning redder by the second. “Sir Tiergan will be there too.”

“Still.” Marella’s eyes turned dreamy. “You’re the luckiest girl alive.”

“Oh, please,” Dex muttered.

“Man—why can’t
I
be a Telepath?” Marella said, ignoring him. “I’d better manifest a special ability this year—and it better be something good, like Vanishing. Though I’ll probably be a Guster like my dad. Controlling the wind—whoop-de-freaking-do.” She let out a dramatic sigh. “Meanwhile Sophie gets
three
ability training sessions.”

“Only two,” Sophie corrected.

“Uh-uh. Linguistics is an elite subject, so the only reason you’re in it is because you’re a Polyglot.”

“Wait—an elite subject? Like, the elite levels?” Sophie asked.

Marella nodded. “Level Eight, I think. No point in learning to speak Ogre if you aren’t going to be nobility, ya know?”

She’d be learning to speak Ogre?

“Whoa, it says your session is in the Silver Tower,” Dex said, holding out her schedule to show her.

“Wait—you get to go inside the Silver Tower?” Jensi asked as he and Biana joined the group. “Do you realize how insanely cool that is—no one’s allowed in the elite towers except elite prodigies—you have to tell us what it’s like!”

“I’ll try,” Sophie said, struggling to wrap her head around this
huge
new information.

How did she go back to being the super-young-prodigy-with-all-the-older-kids? She’d done that already as the twelve-year-old high school senior—and it hadn’t exactly gone well. Not to mention she’d be totally lost in the new building, and it wasn’t like she knew anyone there who could help show her around.

Well . . . she did know one person, or know
of
him anyway—but that was actually worse.

She’d always been relieved that she didn’t have to worry about running into Prentice’s son, Wylie. He had his part of the school, and she had hers, and they never had to meet.

What if they did now?

What would she say?

What would
he
say?

“You’re still coming over today, right?” Biana asked, interrupting her mounting panic.

Sophie shook her head to clear it. “Sorry. Yep. I just need to run home to change first and then I’ll head over.” Alden was
back from wherever the Council had sent him and she was planning to finally show him the clue.

“Oh, good, you’re spending
more
time with Wonderboy,” Dex muttered under his breath, earning himself a glare from Sophie.

Marella laughed.

“What?” Dex snapped.

“Oh, nothing.” She tossed her hair and grinned at Sophie. “I just have a feeling this is going to be a
very
interesting year.”

As much as Sophie hated to admit it, she had a feeling Marella was right.

THE TOWERING FENCE AROUND EVERGLEN
glowed so brightly Sophie had to shield her eyes as the gates parted to let her inside. The gleaming metal absorbed incoming light, blocking anyone from being able to leap directly inside the grounds without permission—a rare security measure Alden had installed, though Sophie sometimes wondered why he’d felt the need, since crime was supposedly so unheard of.

Sandor had insisted on accompanying her to the gate, but he didn’t follow her inside. Everglen was one of the few places Sophie was allowed to go without him.

Biana pushed the button to lock them safely inside the grounds. “I thought you were going to change.”

“I did.” Sophie smoothed the embroidered hem on her loose gold tunic, which was—admittedly—very similar to the loose
gold tunic she’d been wearing during rehearsal. But this one had longer sleeves and a black sash instead of brown.

Biana, on the other hand, looked like she was ready to have her picture taken. Her fitted teal tunic—the exact same shade as her eyes—had intricate pink embroidery that matched her perfectly glossed lips. She’d also swept her dark wavy hair back with jeweled combs, which sparkled with every step as she led Sophie along the winding path lined with rainbow-colored trees toward the main house.