“All right, I’ve smothered you enough,” Edaline eventually said, swiping at her eyes as she stepped back. “You go get changed. I’ll set you up the most comfortable pillow-bed ever.”

Sophie grabbed Edaline’s hand as she turned to walk away. “I really am going to be okay, Mom.”

“You are,” Edaline agreed. And it actually did sound like she believed it. “You’re my brave, brilliant, beautiful fighter.”

Now Sophie had to look away and wipe at her eyes. “I love you.”

Edaline leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I love you, too. So go get dressed. The sooner we do this, the sooner you’ll be able to get some rest. You’ve had a long day.”

She had.

And Sophie didn’t say it, but she had a sour, sinking feeling that she still had a very long night ahead of her.

* * *

Sophie took Edaline’s advice and wore her softest pair of leggings. But for a shirt, she went with the pink Happy Shadow Thoughts tunic that Linh had made for her when Sophie was recovering from the Neverseen’s attack in the Healing Center.

Sophie hadn’t touched the shirt since Tam was taken, because it brought up too many conflicting feelings.

But… it felt like a good time to remind herself why she was doing this.

If her inflicting could work the way it was supposed to, maybe the Neverseen wouldn’t be able to hurt her again.

And maybe she’d be strong enough to get Tam safely away from their enemy.

Assuming he even wanted her to—

No.

Sophie shut down the unfair worry.

She wasn’t going to doubt Tam like that.

She was going to focus on happy shadow thoughts.

And on fixing herself.

The Councillors and Mr. Forkle were grilling Wylie about what happened with the orb of light he’d made in Loamnore when Sophie made her way back downstairs—and part of her wanted to stay and listen. But she knew she didn’t have the mental energy for that kind of conversation. She’d have to trust them to update her on anything they’d pieced together once she’d recovered from the ability resetting. For the moment, she needed to clear her head.

Edaline wasn’t waiting for her at Calla’s Panakes tree when Sophie made her way over. But Stina was.

“That’s an interesting outfit you have on there, Foster,” she called over her shoulder, adding another blanket to the pillow-mountain she was constructing.

“No, it’s an awesome outfit,” Biana corrected, appearing out of thin air beside Sophie and nearly making Sophie pee her pants.

Vanishers.

Biana tossed another pillow onto the pile. “I really need to get one of those tunics, for when…”

She didn’t finish the sentence—and Sophie wondered if that meant Biana shared some of her worries about Tam.

“Where’s Edaline?” Sophie asked instead, scanning the nearby pastures and hoping Wynn and Luna weren’t anywhere near the gorgodon’s enclosure.

“She’s working with Dex to figure out how to keep Bullhorn confined to this area,” Biana told her as she scooped up another pillow.

“Wow, this is turning into a huge fiasco, huh?” Sophie mumbled—then blocked Biana from adding the pillow to the pile.

If they made her bed-mountain any taller, she was going to need crampons and rope to climb in.

“Well… I mean… it’s kind of a big deal,” Biana reminded her. “You sure you’re up for it after the day you’ve been having? First the King’s Path. Then the exploding chandelier. Now this.”

“Don’t forget the mud,” Stina added. “And the sandblasted hike.”

Sophie shrugged. “There’s never a good time to almost die.”

“Okay, someone needs to get that embroidered on a tunic for our Mysterious Lady F immediately!” Keefe called out behind her, and when Sophie spun around, she found him striding up the path along with Ro.

His eyes darted to the sparkly silver letters shimmering across her tunic, and she could tell he wanted to make some sort of snarky comment.

But he held off, as if he didn’t feel right making any Tam-Slams at the moment.

Instead, he turned to Biana and said, “Did I hear something about an exploding chandelier—because that’s a story I need to hear.”

“Uh, yeah!” Ro added.

Biana gave a brief retelling, and Keefe smirked at Sophie. “That sounds like our Lovely Lady F—can’t take her anywhere without her trying to blow something up.”

“Uh, excuse me, the explosion was Wylie’s doing, not mine,” Sophie argued. “And Biana was the one who suggested we search the Grand Hall.”

“And it’s a good thing I did!” Biana noted.

“It was,” Sophie agreed. “We’ll have to check in with Nubiti tomorrow and see if she found anything else.”

“No, we’ll have to check in with Nubiti tomorrow,” Biana corrected, gesturing to herself and Stina. “You will be getting lots of rest.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “I’ll be fine. I’ve done this before, remember?”

“Uh, yeah, and as someone who was there the last time you did this and saw you rocking the whole sweaty, slightly green look, I’m pretty sure you’re gonna need to chill for a bit, there, Ms. Go-Getter,” Keefe cut in. “Especially since they’re probably not going to let you take any painkillers for the first twenty-four hours.”

“I forgot about that,” Sophie admitted, becoming very interested in kicking a couple of fallen Panakes blossoms. “Why does almost dying have to be the worst?”

“Pretty sure the answer’s in the name,” Biana said gently.

“So let’s rename it!” Keefe suggested, making his way over to Sophie and draping his arm across her shoulders. “From now on, any time there’s a disaster, we’ll say, ‘Wow, we almost Fostered it!’ ”

Sophie rolled her eyes.

“I’m serious,” Keefe insisted. “We’ll make it your big claim to fame!”

“So, when you challenged King Dimitar to a sparring match and he sliced a huge gash under your ribs…,” Sophie challenged.

“I totally Fostered it!” Keefe finished without missing a beat. “And when you projectile vomit all over the Councillors today, you’ll be Fostering it hardcore—”

“And some of us are super looking forward to that, by the way!” Ro cut in. “I’m just wishing I’d thought to bring snacks.”

“I can’t believe you’re joking about this,” a familiar accented voice snapped behind them, and Keefe dropped his arm and backed away as Sophie slowly turned around, and…

There was Fitz.

Or rather, there were Fitz’s shoes—right next to Grizel’s big goblin feet—because that was all that Sophie had the courage to actually look at for the moment.

A painful stretch of silence followed.

Then Fitz’s feet moved closer, and Sophie noticed that Grizel’s feet stayed where they were and all the other feet around her quietly shuffled away, leaving her feet and Fitz’s feet alone.

She held her breath, trying to brace for whatever Fitz was going to say.