“Additional alarm in the heart of the marketplace,” King Enki told them.

And still nothing happening at the Grand Hall.

“Shouldn’t we go help them?” Maruca asked, voicing the question that Sophie was pretty sure they’d all been thinking.

And Sophie had no idea—she’d been so certain that the Neverseen would come find them that she’d never considered a backup plan.

“I think we should go!” Maruca decided, and her silhouette sprinted toward the door.

“Wait!” Sandor commanded, waving his sword to block her as he sniffed the air. “Something’s… shifted.”

“You’re feeling that too?” Ro asked, ducking into a crouch and pointing her daggers toward the darkness.

“It’s the shadows,” Flori added—and Sophie followed her voice to a spot behind King Enki’s throne. Flori’s huge gray eyes shone in the darkness—looking so heartbreakingly sad as she said, “I should’ve seen this.”

Then the alarms went silent.

And all the shadows shifted—the entire room lightening.

Brightening.

Revealing three black-cloaked figures in front of the throne.

“Finally,” Lady Gisela said, tossing back her hood and offering a cold smile as her eyes met Sophie’s. “I wondered how much longer it would take you to notice us. Now, where’s my son?”

FORTY-EIGHT

YOU GUYS CAN STAY RIGHT there!” Maruca shouted at the Neverseen, and Sophie squeezed her eyes shut as a searing white flash shredded the darkness.

She held her breath, counting the next few seconds—waiting, waiting, waiting to see if the light would trigger a reaction from the magsidian.

And when she made it to ten with no fiery explosions, she opened her eyes, and…

Safe.

It was a strange word to think, given their current situation—but it mostly summed up what Sophie felt when she saw that Lady Gisela and both of the other cloaked figures were now trapped under Maruca’s force field.

She just wished Lady Gisela would’ve looked a little more upset about it.

Instead, Lady Gisela clapped her hands and said, “Well! This is a surprise! And once again—bravo for your brilliant recruiting, Sophie. You found yourself a Psionipath—those are very hard to come by! I would know—I’ve been looking. Maybe someday I’ll take this one.…”

Maruca’s smile glinted in the light of her force field as she told Lady Gisela, “Try it.”

But Sophie’s eyes locked with Wylie’s, and she knew he was feeling the same sickening dread that she felt.

Especially when Lady Gisela told Maruca, “Maybe I will,” before she turned back to the two cloaked figures trapped under the glowing dome with her. “Then again, you might be a little too inexperienced for me.”

“Uh, I caught you, didn’t I?” Maruca argued.

“Did you? Am I trapped?” Lady Gisela wondered. “Or am I just enjoying some rather convenient protection from Sophie’s inflicting?”

“I don’t like this,” Ro whispered in Sophie’s ear—and Sophie barely managed not to squeal, wondering when the ogre princess had snuck up beside her. “She’s way too happy to be under that little shield,” Ro added. “So I say you tell your girl to drop her force field and let me and Sandor take them down. We should have them on the ground in seconds—and if things get weird, you do your rage-girl thing. Either way, we save all the talky talk for once Lady Creeptastic is locked in a cage.”

It was actually a smart plan.

But before Sophie could give Maruca the suggestion, Lady Gisela called out, “Whatever you and the princess are plotting over there, Sophie, I wouldn’t recommend it. Clearly you haven’t noticed how off your Psionipath’s aim was.”

“Psh, my aim was perfect!” Maruca snapped back.

“It was,” Lady Gisela agreed. “For me. You trapped us in here with some very handy hostages. Show them, Tam.”

Sophie was too stuck on the word “hostages” to feel the full impact of the name—until the shadows within the force field shifted, revealing the reality of their situation. Then her stomach lurched and her heart stopped and her head was pounding, pounding, pounding—and Sophie didn’t want to know which one of the black-cloaked figures was her friend.

Because the figure on Lady Gisela’s left had a dagger pressed against King Enki’s throat.

And the figure on Lady Gisela’s right held a dagger to Flori.

“I think we all understand the situation a little better now, don’t we?” Lady Gisela asked as Sophie tried to remind herself, Tam’s being controlled.

It wasn’t him doing this horrible thing.

It had to be the ethertine.

He didn’t have a choice—even if another part of her brain was screaming, THERE’S ALWAYS A CHOICE!

“Ah ah ah,” Lady Gisela said as Maruca raised her arms. “No unraveling my precious force field—not unless you want the dwarves to be without their king, or Sophie to live without her favorite little gnome. That’s how hostages work—in case you didn’t realize. Now you have to do what I tell you or…” She nodded at the cloaked figures, and they pressed their blades even farther into King Enki’s and Flori’s skin.

Maruca’s hands curled into fists, and her eyes were so wild with panic and fury and regret that Sophie stole a second to transmit to her, This isn’t your fault. Accidents happen. You were trying to help, and no one blames you. Just try to stay calm now, okay?

She didn’t have time to see if Maruca nodded, because Lady Gisela was telling Wylie, “No Flasher tricks either. And don’t look so devastated, Sophie—this is honestly a good thing for everybody. I’d imagined we’d be stuck fighting a big annoying battle until all of you were sufficiently subdued. This was such a time-saver! And if you feel that rage of yours brewing, perhaps you should remind yourself that right now, no one’s gotten hurt—and you can keep it that way if you cooperate.”

“Cooperate how?” Sophie spat back, meeting Flori’s eyes and mentally promising to get her out of this.

Lady Gisela clicked her tongue. “That doesn’t sound like the tone of someone ready to play nice. So let’s do a quick show-and-tell to make sure you fully understand the stakes—especially you three in the silver over there!” She waved at the three Councillors before stomping her foot in a very specific pattern.

Five dwarves burst out of the floor near the Grand Hall’s entrance. And when they stomped their feet, cracks snaked every direction until the room was a maze of deadly pits and ledges.

“Is that clear enough for you?” Lady Gisela asked, pointing to the deep gouge in front of Sophie, which had stopped mere inches from her toes. “Are we ready to have a nice, calm conversation about the fact that I gave you one very clear, very simple instruction and you thought it would be fun to disobey me?”

“See, but there isn’t much to say,” Sophie told her, feeling her confidence return—because this was why she hadn’t let Keefe come with them.

This was what always happened when they faced the Neverseen.

They’d make a mistake, or a small miscalculation, and the Neverseen would seize the advantage.