“For what?” Keefe asked.
“For helping me sit up. And for staying here for so many days. And… for whatever you did to get me through the reset.” Her memories were a scrambled mess, but she definitely remembered one thing. “You sent me a green breeze, didn’t you?”
Keefe’s gaze shifted to his hands, which were fidgeting with the loosened laces of his jerkin. “I mean, I can’t always see the color of the emotions—and honestly, sometimes I’m not even sure what emotions I send. My ability gets a little abstract when you’re enhancing me, so I don’t always know what I’m doing. But I do know I wanted you to feel like whatever was happening was a fresh start, so it wouldn’t be as scary for you, since your fear was spiking even worse than your pain.”
“A fresh start,” Sophie repeated, feeling her lips curl into a smile. “I guess that’s a better way of looking at it than fixing my broken ability so I won’t be useless or ruin anything else.”
Keefe whistled. “It’s kind of ridiculous how hard you are on yourself.”
Sophie shrugged—then wished she hadn’t when they both winced from the tearing sensation that zinged through her shoulder muscles. “I have to be hard on myself,” she told him. “I have lots of people counting on me.”
“You do. And I get it. But just… don’t forget what I said before. The only thing you have to be is Sophie Foster. That’s more than enough.”
“Awwwwwww—good one, Hunkyhair!” Ro called, ruining the moment—not that it was a moment or anything like that. “Way to recover!”
Sophie cleared her throat, trying to move past the cloud of awkwardness now hanging over them. “So… Dex, Biana, Stina, and Wylie are working on Team Valiant stuff with Grady? Did they say what they were doing?”
“Not really. I’m not on the team, so… I don’t get to know the secrets.”
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, the awkwardness got a whole lot worse.
“Pretty sure it had to do with the dwarves, though,” Keefe added quietly. “And Dex told me to tell you they’ll stop by tomorrow morning to see if you’re awake, so I’m sure they’ll update you on everything then. After all, you’re their Fearless Lady Fos-Boss.”
Sophie sighed. “More like the Failing Lady Fos-Boss. No, really,” she added when he opened his mouth to argue. “I totally forgot to check in with Wylie and Stina after they did… something I might not be allowed to talk about. And I forgot to give Dex and Biana anything important to do while Stina and Wylie were working on that. And I almost inflicted on all of them in Loamnore—and then had to have my abilities reset and ended up unconscious for three days. And who knows how much longer I’ll be stuck in bed.”
“See, but I seem to remember Bronte—Bronte! The-Dude-Who’s-Tried-to-Have-You-Exiled-Almost-as-Many-Times-as-Dame-Alina-Has-Tried-to-Have-Me-Expelled, so you know he’s not just being nice—saying that you were the reason King Enki didn’t throw you guys out of Loamnore. And by the way, King Enki was mad because the Council and the Black Swan totally botched things with the scheduling. Your mistakes were nothing on that—and you’re new at this. Plus… I mean… being a leader actually seems pretty hard.”
“It is,” Sophie admitted, staring at her hands—and realizing she wasn’t wearing gloves. She also noticed a new bruise, the same size as the star-shaped scar it was next to, which she’d gotten the last time her abilities were reset. “Is that where they injected the allergy remedy?”
Keefe shook his head. “The main shot went into your leg. But then when Elwin had to start doing chest compressions, Livvy dug out a much smaller syringe with green liquid in it and stabbed that into your hand. Does it hurt?”
“Everything hurts.” Sophie slid her hand under her blankets so she wouldn’t keep staring at the spot that was surely going to be a new scar.
They needed a subject change—fast.
“So Fitz is at the Shores of Solace right now?” she asked.
“He is—and he’s not happy about it. He didn’t want to leave you. I heard him yelling at my dad before he left, saying the whole thing is a waste of time. But my dad still got his way—he always does. Someday I need to figure out how he pulls that off.”
“I take it that means they haven’t found anything useful?” Sophie asked.
“That’s what I’m assuming. And I’m not surprised. I’m sure my dad’s being super stubborn, and controlling, and hiding a ton of stuff, and basically sabotaging the process.” Keefe plopped back onto the desk chair and propped his feet on her desk. “Plus… don’t get me wrong. You know Fitzy’s my Best Dude—”
“Best Dude?” Sophie interrupted. “Is that seriously what you’re calling him now?”
Keefe nodded. “Until I convince him that we should call ourselves the Keefitzinator. Anyway, I’m not saying our Fitzy’s not a super-powerful Telepath. He’s just… better with the basic stuff when he’s working alone, you know? And finding shattered memories seems like it might be a bit too fancy for him. Especially since my dad’s good at dodging Telepaths.”
Sophie chewed her lip. “If you want me—”
“Nah,” Keefe cut her off, before she’d had a chance to make her offer.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Uh, for one thing, have you seen you?” he asked. “Hate to break it to you, Miss F, but you need some major bed rest.”
“I meant after I’m better,” Sophie mumbled, tugging at the parts of her hair that weren’t plastered to her forehead and trying to hide behind the greasy strands.
“Oh, I know—but once you’re better, you’ll have way more important stuff to do than digging through my dad’s creepy memories,” Keefe insisted. “Besides, it’s not like we even know for sure that we’re going to find anything.”
“Right, but—”
“Seriously, Foster. It’s not worth it.”
He wouldn’t look at her as he said it. And Sophie had a feeling there was a bigger reason he was letting her off the hook.
And in case she was right, she decided not to keep pushing.
But they were running out of subject changes.
All she had left was, “Any luck with your memories?”
“I wish.” He snatched the gold notebook off of her desk and tucked it into his cape pocket before picking up the silver one and slowly flipping through. “I’ve logged a bunch more stuff. But nothing useful. And Dex told me yesterday that he still hasn’t gotten any hits from the London cameras, so… I don’t know. Maybe the drawing I gave him wasn’t good enough for the facial recognition.”
“Or the guy might’ve moved,” Sophie hated to tell him. “Humans do that way more than elves do.”
“I know. I thought of that. But… London’s the only lead I have, so…” He slumped lower in his chair.
“Well… it hasn’t been that long since Dex set up the cameras,” Sophie said, trying to be positive. “And the guy could’ve been on vacation. Or battling the flu and not leaving the house or something. Just because we haven’t found him yet doesn’t mean we won’t.”