“She’s a Phaser?”

“Yeah, and she’s definitely still getting the hang of it. My dad’s down there trying to help her pull her feet out of the floor. So weird, right?”

It was.

But Keefe didn’t understand why he felt so twitchy all of a sudden.

If felt like…

Like he was missing something.

He sat up straighter. “Wait—that’s why their hands felt so weird!”

“What do you mean?”

“Remember how I said Lex’s hand felt freezing? Bex’s hand also felt sorta squishy. I didn’t mention it because there was so much else going on. But they must’ve already been manifesting.”

Dex frowned.

“What?” Keefe asked, lowering his voice. “Have I been talking too much?”

He’d gotten so distracted that he’d forgotten to watch his tone.

“No… it’s fine. I told you—using the Imparter protects me. I just… I was always taught that manifesting was like flipping a switch. One second you don’t have any power. And the next second—boom.”

“Well, but it might be different for some people,” Keefe reminded him.

“Truuuuuuuue.” Dex fidgeted with the piece of circuitry, twisting one of the wires so tight it looked ready to snap. “But… I held their hands when we leaped home, and I didn’t notice anything squishy or freezing about them. And Rex didn’t think Lex felt cold either, remember?”

It was Keefe’s turn to frown. “What are you saying?”

“I don’t know.” Dex leaned closer and lowered his voice before he added, “It just… It kinda sounds like you sensed that they were going to manifest. And you even knew their exact abilities.”

Keefe sucked in a breath. “But that’s not a thing. No one can do that—not even the ability detecting Mentors!”

“Right—but new powers happen sometimes,” Dex reminded him. “Maybe all the changes to your empathy allow for it or something. I don’t know—it definitely sounds weird, but so is what happened to you, you know? And it sorta makes sense, doesn’t it?”

No.

Nothing about this made sense.

“You don’t think I triggered their abilities, do you?” Keefe asked quietly.

“I was just wondering that—but I don’t think so, because Rex still hasn’t manifested, remember? Did you feel anything when you held his hand?”

Keefe closed his eyes and replayed the memory—then replayed it again.

He wanted to be absolutely certain before he answered.

“Well… I actually did feel something,” he admitted. “But I don’t really know how to describe it. It was kinda hollow, somehow. A little… empty.”

“Empty,” Dex repeated. “I’m trying to think of what that could be. A Shade, maybe? Or a Vanisher? Have you been around Tam or Biana to compare?”

“No. But I don’t know that it matters. I didn’t feel anything with you or Elwin or Fitz—or even Sophie. Only the triplets. Well, and…”

“What?” Dex asked.

Keefe shook his head, desperately searching all of his recent memories, hoping to find some other sensation he’d missed.

“What?” Dex repeated. “Come on, Keefe—you have to tell me.”

Technically, Keefe didn’t have to do anything.

He could lie.

Switch off his Imparter.

Flee the Lost Cities forever.

All of that sounded way better than answering. Because if he was right, then this was so much huger than sensing someone manifesting.

It was even bigger than numbing people with his commands.

But maybe he was wrong.…

So he told Dex, “I felt the same emptiness when your dad put his hand on my shoulder… and I think that means I can only feel something when it’s someone who hasn’t manifested.”

“Okay,” Dex said, dragging out the word. “But… my dad’s Talentless.”

Keefe nodded.

Dex swallowed hard and nodded too.

He opened his mouth, and Keefe wanted to beg him not to say whatever he was thinking, because once he said it, it’d be this real thing they’d have to deal with.

But Dex still mumbled, “So… you’re saying Rex is going to be Talentless?”

- THIRTEEN - Sophie

Where did you get that?” Sophie asked, shaking with something that was part shiver, part shudder as she squinted at the familiar blue-white aura around Glimmer’s starstone.

Tam asked the smarter question: “How do you know where it goes?”

Glimmer sighed. “You guys love to act like everything’s so complicated. It was Gisela’s—where else would I get it? And I know where it goes because I watched her use it to retrieve something from the storehouse. After she got back, I used a light trick to make her think something had damaged the starstone, so she threw it away. Then I went back later, dug it out of the trash, and hid it in the hem of my cloak.”

“That sounds like a lot of work for someone who claims she wasn’t planning on leaving the Neverseen,” Sophie felt the need to point out.

“No, it was a lot of work for someone who likes to be prepared for anything,” Glimmer corrected.

Which made Sophie wonder what Glimmer had done to prepare for where she was about to take them.

Not that it mattered.

Whatever happened, Sophie would deal with it.

She had to.

“Time to go,” she said, holding out her hand for the hairpin.

“Hang on,” Grady called from the doorway. “You’ll need to leave that with me, since it’s the only way to get there. And remember: You get fifteen minutes—not a second longer.”

Glimmer dropped the starstone into Sophie’s palm. “What happens after fifteen minutes?”

“We come get you,” Grady told her as Sophie brought the starstone over to him.

Glimmer snorted. “That’s your plan?”

“Yep!” Sophie was already getting sick of Glimmer’s attitude.

Grady squinted at the gem, watching the blue glow flare brighter. “You ready for this, kiddo?”

“Almost.” She moved to Tam’s side and whispered. “Are you ready?”

He hadn’t had to face any of the Neverseen since he’d escaped—and hopefully that wouldn’t change. But she wanted to make sure he was mentally prepared.

Tam tugged on his bangs, pulling the silver tips over his eyes. “Yeah, I’m good. Let’s do this.”

Sophie reached for his hand and laced their fingers together.

Tam offered Glimmer his other hand, and she took it, mumbling, “I hope you guys know what you’re doing.”

“We do,” Sandor assured her, grabbing Sophie’s arm.

Flori and Bo completed their circle.

“You’ll need this, too,” Tiergan said, clasping a silver chain around Sophie’s neck. “The pendant will leap you back here, where we’ll be waiting—unless we need to come after you.”

“You won’t,” Sophie assured him.

“And even if you do, you won’t be able to find us,” Glimmer warned.