Exile (Keeper of the Lost Cities) (3 page)

“Boy, are you in trouble,” Dex said as he caught up with Sophie. “You’ll be lucky if Grady and Edaline let you out of the house before you turn two hundred and fifty.”

“Not helping, Dex.”

Please come back,
she transmitted when the horse flitted even higher.
Friend.

“Try these,” Grady said behind her, holding out a handful of twisted, pale blue stalks.

A spicy, cinnamonlike scent tickled Sophie’s nose as she took them and held them toward the sky. “Come down, girl,” she called, sending images of the alicorn feasting on the slender twigs.
I have treats.

Curiosity wove through Sophie’s emotions.

Treats!
Sophie repeated.

The alicorn whinnied and circled lower, but didn’t land. Sophie kept repeating her promise of treats and waving them in the air until finally, after three more rotations, the alicorn slowly touched down a few feet away, prodding the ground with her gleaming hooves.

Sophie smiled and held out the stalks. “Here, girl.”

The winged horse studied Sophie with her enormous brown eyes. Then she lunged forward, and her wet, square-toothed snout chomped the tops of the treats straight from Sophie’s
hand. Sophie barely had time to get her fingers out of the way before the alicorn gobbled the rest.

“Ew,” Dex complained, plugging his nose. “Who knew sparkly horses had such bad breath?”

“It’s nothing on Iggy breath,” Sophie reminded him. Her pet imp might only be a palm-size furball, but every time he opened his mouth it was like standing near a mountain of rotting eggs and dirty diapers. “I think we’re going to need more of these,” she added when the alicorn’s rough purple tongue started licking her palm.

“Already on its way.” Grady pointed to a gnome stumbling toward them with a bundle of the blue stalks almost as tall as he was.

Gnomes looked more like plants than animals, with rough, earthy skin and bright green thumbs. Sophie still got a little startled when she saw their strange features, so she wasn’t surprised when the alicorn whinnied and reared back. But the gnome wasn’t fazed, flashing a green-toothed grin as he spread the treats in a thin trail leading to an aviary they usually used for pterodactyls. The nervous horse eyed the stalks suspiciously, but after a minute she lowered her head and began munching her way toward the enclosure. She was still feasting on the last of the treats when Grady closed the gate, locking her inside the small dome of interwoven green bamboo stalks.

Panic bloomed inside Sophie’s mind as the alicorn tried and failed to spread her wings in her enclosure.

“It’s only for a few hours,” Grady explained when he caught Sophie’s frown. “The gnomes are already working to enclose the Cliffside pasture.”

“Wow, really?” Grady and Edaline had vacated the Cliffside pasture not long after Sophie had disappeared, not wanting to go anywhere near the caves where she’d supposedly drowned. After she’d been rescued they’d added a high metal fence all along the cliffs’ edges to block anyone from using the path that led to the beach below. Sophie wasn’t sure if the complex padlock was meant to keep her in or keep others out, but either way she had no problem staying away from those caves. She never wanted to see them again.

The pasture was a perfect expanse of soft grassy knolls to house a flying horse, though, so she could see why Grady was willing to use it. But enclosing it would be a massive undertaking. Good thing the gnomes were amazingly industrious creatures. They absorbed energy from the sun and needed almost no sleep, so they were always looking for ways to stay busy. If anyone could work such a miracle, it was them.

“Can we at least give her more treats to cheer her up?” The alicorn was staring at her with sad, watery eyes.

“The gnomes are getting her more right now. It’s a good thing they harvested a bunch of swizzlespice today.”

See, you’ll be okay
, Sophie told her.
I promise
.

The alicorn looked away.

“She hates me now.”

“She’ll forgive you.” Grady rested his hand on her shoulder and it gave Sophie the courage to turn and face him.

“What about you?” she asked quietly. “Still hate me for leaping her here?”

Grady closed his eyes. “Sophie, nothing you do will ever make me
hate
you. But what you did was very dangerous. If something had happened to you, I’d . . .”

Sophie stared at her feet. “I’m sorry. I really do try to be careful.”

“I know. But you can never be careful enough, okay?”

She nodded and he strangled her with a hug.

She caught a whiff of the sasquatch funk in his tunic and pulled away, coughing. “So, what’s my punishment?”

“I want Elwin to check you out in the morning, make sure you really are okay.”

Sadly, that wasn’t a surprise. She’d pretty much set the record for most physician house calls ever—ironic considering how much she hated doctors.

“And you get to bathe the verminion for the next month,” Grady added.

Sophie groaned. She swore the giant mutant-hamster-thing had been plotting to destroy her since she’d helped trap it when it arrived at Havenfield. “That’s just mean.”

“No, that’s awesome,” Dex corrected.

“Glad you think so, Dex,” Grady told him, “ ’Cause you get to help her.”

“Hey—I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“I never said you did. But do you really think Sophie will let you just stand there and watch her work?”

He was right. She was totally going to rope Dex into helping her—and he came over almost every day. They were best friends, after all.

But something about the way Grady was smiling at them made Sophie’s cheeks feel hot. Dex must’ve noticed it too, because his face was bright red as he mumbled some excuse about his parents worrying if he wasn’t home soon, and quickly leaped out of there.

Grady took Sophie’s hand, his smile fading. “I don’t think we should tell Edaline about your little adventure, what with tomorrow . . .”

“I’m sorry I scared you.”

He gave her a sad smile. “Just don’t do it again. Now come on, let’s go wash off the sasquatch grime and tell Edaline what we found.”

BY THE TIME SOPHIE HAD
showered and changed and fed Iggy his dinner so he wouldn’t trash her room—imps could be very troublesome creatures if they were discontent—the sun had set and the gnomes had finished preparing the pasture. Goose bumps prickled Sophie’s skin as she made her way to the new enclosure, and even though she tried not to look, her eyes still wandered toward the cliffs, where moonlight glinted off the edge of the iron gate.

She forced herself to look away, focusing on the thick stalks that looked like purple bamboo bent into wide arches, creating a weblike dome over the mile-wide space. More arched stalks had been lined up like dominoes, creating a covered pathway to securely transport the alicorn from one enclosure to another. But the alicorn was nowhere to be seen.

“She’s too panicked,” Grady explained when Sophie found him at the pterodactyl pen. “The gnomes are afraid to move her right now. She might hurt herself trying to escape.”

“You don’t have to be afraid, pretty girl,” Edaline whispered as she approached the bars, holding swizzlespice. “We’re trying to help you.”

The alicorn whinnied and bucked.

Edaline backed away, brushing her wavy, amber-colored hair out of her face. “I’m not sure what else to try.”

“Think you can calm her down, Sophie?” Grady asked.

“Maybe.” Sophie stepped closer, and as soon as the alicorn spotted her she stopped thrashing. The moonlight had turned her opalescent fur to gleaming silver, and her dark eyes glittered like stars.

Friend?
Sophie transmitted.

Friend!
the alicorn transmitted back, lowering her snout so Sophie could reach through the bars and scratch her cheeks.

“Amazing,” Edaline breathed as she smiled for the first time in at least a week. The dark shadows under her turquoise eyes faded, too. “Can you get her to walk to her new pen?”

“I’ll try.” Sophie transmitted images of the Cliffside enclosure, repeating,
Your new home.
When that didn’t seem to help she added a picture of the alicorn grazing inside.

The alicorn processed the image, then replied with one of her own: a dark, starry sky with a glittering silver horse flying free.

“I don’t think she wants to stay here,” Sophie whispered.

“Well, she has to. She’s far too important,” Grady reminded her. “Plus, this is the only way to keep her safe. Think about what would happen if humans got their hands on her.”

An image of the alicorn strapped to a million creepy medical machines flashed through Sophie’s mind, and she shuddered as she transmitted,
It’s safe here
.

Safe,
the alicorn repeated, but it didn’t feel like she really understood the word. Or maybe she didn’t care.

Sophie tried a different tactic.
You won’t be lonely anymore.

The alicorn processed that, and after several seconds transmitted back a tentative,
Friend?

Friend,
Sophie told her, sending the image of the enclosure again.
Safe. Let’s move you to your new home.

This time the alicorn didn’t argue and Sophie nodded to Grady. He gave the gnomes the signal to open the gates between the pastures.

Calm,
Sophie transmitted as the alicorn tensed, but she still felt a surge of panic as the gates slid apart and the alicorn galloped forward, racing through the tunnel at full speed.
Sophie jogged after her with Grady and Edaline right behind, and they all sucked in a breath when the shimmering horse reached her new pasture and spread her wings, flying to the highest part of her dome.

“Well done, Sophie,” Grady said, squeezing her shoulders. “What would we do without you?”

She blushed from the praise. “Have you told anyone we found her?”

“I tried to reach Alden, but he was out of range. I’ll try him in the morning.”

Sophie shivered, even though she wasn’t cold. There were only a few places an Imparter—a small silver square that worked a bit like a video phone—would be out of range, and they were all dark, forbidden places. She hated to think Alden was out there, risking his life trying to find her kidnappers.

The alicorn whinnied and landed, snapping her back to the present.

Sophie reached through the purple bars, and after a second the horse trotted close enough for Sophie to stroke her shimmering neck.
I wish I knew what to call you.

It seemed wrong to call such a breathtaking creature something as boring as “the alicorn.”
Do you have a name, pretty girl?

She didn’t actually expect an answer, but a thought prickled her mind anyway. It felt strangely warm and soft, and when she concentrated, it twisted and flipped into a word.

“Silveny?” Sophie whispered.

The alicorn nickered.

“What did you say?” Edaline asked.

Sophie shook her head to clear it. “I think her name is Silveny.”

Silveny nickered again.

“Wait—you can speak to her with
words
?” Grady asked.

“Sometimes she repeats the words I transmit—but this didn’t feel like that. This was more like she spoke to me in her own language and I translated it.”

For a second they both just stared at her. Then Grady laughed. “The wonders of your talents never cease.”

Sophie tried to smile, but her stomach turned sour.

Being a Polyglot—able to understand any and all languages—was another talent that had been triggered during her kidnapping. A
third
special ability. She should probably be proud to have so many skills, but she couldn’t help worrying about what her abilities meant. And what she’d be expected to do with them.

A haunting voice whispered from her memories:
You’re their little puppet.

“You okay, Sophie?” Edaline asked, a thin worry line between her brows.

“Yeah, just tired.” As the words left her mouth she realized they were true. Every part of her ached, and remnants of her headache still pulsed behind her eyes. “I think I’m going to bed.”

She could tell Grady and Edaline weren’t convinced, but they didn’t press the issue. She stroked Silveny’s silky nose,
promised to see her in the morning, and headed to her bedroom, which took up the entire third floor of Havenfield.

Her room was dark—lit only by the moonlight streaming through the walls of windows. She lingered in the doorway, snapping her fingers and waiting for the crystal stars that dangled from the ceiling to flood the room with light before she went any farther.

Sandor had already done his nightly sweep of her room to check for intruders—but she still scanned every nook and shadow, searching for any sign that someone had been there besides her. Other than a badly chewed shoe—Iggy’s handiwork—everything was in its place. Not even a single petal on the flowers woven into her carpet had been touched.

Satisfied, she closed her door, changed into her pajamas, and sank into her enormous canopy bed, stretching her weary muscles as she did. She snuggled her face against Ella, the bright blue stuffed elephant she couldn’t sleep without, and snapped her fingers again, switching off the lights. Iggy took his place on her pillow, curling his tiny gray body into a ball and within seconds he was snoring like a chain saw. Sophie scratched his fuzzy tummy, wishing she could fall asleep so easily, and clapped her hands to lower the thick shades across her windows.

She’d hoped to close her eyes and dream of sparkly winged horses flying through a bright blue sky. Instead, black-cloaked figures haunted her mind, snatching her from the shadows
and dragging her away in a drugged haze. Sharp bonds sliced her wrists and ankles as someone shouted questions she didn’t know the answers to. Then fiery hands seared her skin and ghostly whispers swirled through the blackness.

They would find her.

She would never escape them again
.

I
T WAS ONLY A DREAM,
Sophie tried to tell herself as she wiped the cold sweat off her forehead. But her skin throbbed from the memory of the pain, and she could still smell the noxiously sweet sedatives that had burned her nose. And that voice . . .