Pretty sure by the time this is over, I’m never going to want to see a swan again.

(Or a moonlark…)

THINGS I KNOW ABOUT THE BLACK SWAN

They’re the “good guys.” (I hope…)

They “created” me and hid me with humans.(And then helped Alden find me so he could bring me to the Lost Cities.)

They planted information in my brain.(And I still don’t know exactly how much they hid. It pops up at random times.)

They stole two of my memories.(And only gave them back because I forced them to.)

The first memory was about “the Boy Who Disappeared” (who turned out to be Alvar).

The second memory was about me manifesting as an Inflictor before I should have and accidentally hurting my sister.

They’ve been around for a really long time.(But it sounds like they’ve been stepping up their game for the last few decades.)

They used to communicate with me through a bunch of vague notes and riddles. (Definitely not sad those days are over—though it’s not like they actually tell me anything now.…)

They have a ton of hideouts, but so far they’ve only let me see: The High Seas facility (a huge cave on an island in the middle of nowhere, where they healed my abilities—and where they did a lot of the genetic work for Project Moonlark. They had to abandon it after the Neverseen tracked us there).

Alluveterre (the underground cave we stayed in when we were banished. It’s also abandoned now, since the Neverseen have a crystal that leaps to it).

Brumevale (the lonely tower where Mr. Forkle hid after what happened in Lumenaria, which is apparently also where he first came up with the idea for Project Moonlark).

Watchward Heath (one of Mr. Forkle’s offices. It’s like a giant underground egg, with walls that project what’s going on with every species all over the world. There’s also a 3D map of the Lost Cities).

They’re ruled by a “Collective” of five different leaders, each using weird code names and disguises: Mr. Forkle

Granite

Squall

Blur

Wraith

Other members are: Livvy Sonden (Physic)

Timkin Heks (Coiffe)

Tinker (No idea who she is—but I guess she goes by “Tinker” to everybody.)

Lord Cassius Sencen (He doesn’t have a code name, but I bet Keefe would say it should be “Ugh.”)

Lady Cadence Talle (She doesn’t have code name either—but she should totally be “Grump.”)

Della Vacker (Since I’m apparently making up code names for everyone, let’s go with “Dazzle.”)

Huh… I just realized I should be including all my friends who’ve sworn fealty—and me. Funny how my brain still keeps us separate.

Well, guess I’ll give us all code names while I’m at it—and they’ll be way better than the ones Keefe tried to give us in Alluveterre!

Me (Moonlark)

Dex (Dimples)

Keefe (Hunkyhair)

Tam (Bangs)

Linh (Splash)

Biana (Sparkles)

Fitz (Wonderboy? I don’t know—maybe Keefe was right and it should be Brainwave.…)

Wylie (Flare)

Marella (Inferno)

Maruca (Shield)

(Pretty sure this list is proof that I’ve been spending too much time with Keefe.)

Jolie was also a member (and it feels wrong giving her a code name after what happened, so I’m going to skip that).

The oath we swore when we joined the Black Swan was, “I will do everything in my power to help my world.”

They also gave us these black-swan monocle/magnifying-glass pendants to wear (which were really good at starting fires). But mine got destroyed when Keefe ran off to join the Neverseen, and the one he stole back for me turned out to have a tracker in it, so I’m kinda done with those pendants for now.

The Collective all have matching black rings filled with some sort of special poison they can take to completely erase their memories if they’re ever captured—and they say it’ll be okay if that happens because they have “Proxies” (whatever that means). Though, it also kinda sounded like they think I’m going to take over someday—with my friends. I don’t know how I feel about that.…

They love telling everyone to trust them and be patient and spend time reading boring books instead of doing anything that might actually be helpful.

We’re going to win this… whatever you want to call it. “Game” sounds too fun, and “war” sounds too terrifying, but… either way, we’re going to win. We have to.

Things I know about Mr. Forkle

His official name (for this identity, at least) is Mr. Errol L. Forkle, which he apparently chose because the initials spell out “elf,” and because the word “Forkle” can sometimes mean “disguise” in Norwegian. (I guess he used to spend a lot of time in Norway—no idea why.) The L stands for Loki, because he was kinda the source of some of the Loki myths—which is way too weird to think about.

He claims he’s not my biological father (despite being listed that way on certain documents). Even if that’s true, he still helped create me. And he knows who my biological father is. And he refuses to tell me.

He’s a super powerful Telepath.

He loves to start sentences with “you kids.”

He eats a lot of ruckleberries to disguise what he really looks like.

He lies sometimes. Maybe all the time. Who knows?

He was my annoying next-door neighbor in San Diego, always sitting in his yard rearranging his lawn gnomes (and apparently the gnomes were one of the ways he passed along messages to the Black Swan).

He’s the one who triggered my abilities. And the one who stole my missing memories. And the one who planted the information in my brain. He also rescued me from the Neverseen after they kidnapped me. And probably a bunch of other stuff I don’t know about yet.

He’s Magnate Leto.

Also Sir Astin.

I’m sure he has other identities too. I just haven’t figured out what they are yet.

And… he secretly had an identical twin. Only one of them was registered (their parents didn’t want them to face the scorn of being a “multiple birth”), and they were sharing one life and switching places all the time. Sometimes I was talking to one brother, and sometimes I was talking to the other—or I was, until one of them died right in front of me in Lumenaria. I thought he was gone, but… then Granite brought us to Brumevale, and… there was the other Forkle. I still don’t really know how to process it. But I’m glad he’s still here, even if he’s a little more limited now that he can’t be two places at once.

We planted a Wanderling for the Forkle-twin we lost near Trolltunga in Norway. The tree looks like it’s leaning a bit, waiting for its brother—but I’m selfishly hoping it grows alone for a really long time. Maybe forever.

Things I know about Granite

He takes a powder called indurite to make himself look like an unrecognizable half-carved statue.

But he’s actually Sir Tiergan, my telepathy Mentor.

So… he spent my first year or two in the Lost Cities lying to me all the time. But… that’s how it goes when you’re the moonlark, I guess.