She shook her head. “Not today.” And she couldn’t help grinning when she noticed how relieved Stina looked by the news—but her smile faded when Dex turned very pale.

“Are we going where I think we’re going?” he whispered.

Sophie nodded, wishing she’d thought to check with him when she put this plan together. “Is that a problem? If it is—”

“No, it’s fine,” Dex interrupted.

But it didn’t sound fine.

“You don’t have to worry,” Lovise told him. “You have me now.”

“Um… where are we going?” Stina asked.

Sophie chewed her lip, wondering if she should course-correct—or if that would only embarrass Dex.

“There’s a cave down there,” Dex explained, making the decision for her. “It’s… where Sophie and I used to practice alchemy.”

“You mean the cave where the Neverseen grabbed you guys?” Biana asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Sophie admitted. “But we don’t have to—”

“Yes, we do.” Dex stood up taller. “If you can go back there, so can I. Plus, we have five bodyguards with us.”

“Six,” Sophie corrected. “Which is why we’re going there—you’ll see what I mean in a minute.”

“Then lead the way,” he told her, gesturing to the now unlocked gate.

Sophie studied Dex a second longer and was about to reach for his hand—but Biana beat her to it, making Dex jump a little as their fingers twined together.

Sophie smiled, definitely not missing the pink flush across Dex’s cheeks as she pulled open the gate. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Sandor, Bo, and Woltzer drew their swords and marched down the stairs ahead of them, with Flori and Lovise promising to bring up the rear.

“I know that’s supposed to make us feel safe,” Stina murmured, watching the muscled bodies disappear around a bend in the stairs. “And it does. But… it also makes it worse somehow, doesn’t it?”

“I know what you mean,” Sophie admitted.

Having bodyguards meant needing bodyguards.

But that was just another reason why they had to stay focused. None of them would ever be safe as long as the Neverseen were out there.

She had a feeling the rest of her friends were thinking the same thing, because the mood of their group shifted during that descent. And by the time they made it to the stretch of rocky beach leading up to the infamous cave—where their guards were already completing a thorough safety inspection—their jaws were set, shoulders squared, eyes determined.

“So… care to tell us what we’re doing here, Lady Fos-Boss?” Biana whispered as they slowly crossed through the cave’s dark entrance.

Sophie rubbed at her arms, trying to scrub away the goose bumps that had popped up from the damp sand and the brisk air and the bad memories. It wasn’t her first time back in the cave since her abduction—but that didn’t make the flashbacks of cloaked figures and drugged cloths any less vivid. “Mr. Forkle suggested I talk to my dwarven bodyguard—Nubiti—to see what she can tell me about Loamnore,” she explained. “And I figured we should have that conversation somewhere that won’t bother her eyes.”

She headed as deep into the shadows as her courage allowed, then turned and stomped her feet in the pattern that Sandor and Grady had taught her, sending grains of sand flying.

Seventeen painfully silent seconds passed before the ground rumbled and a small creature emerged from the earth, shaking sand out of her brown, shaggy fur.

Nubiti’s nose was pointed, and her eyes were squinted slits, even in the darkness. And her voice was as raspy as tumbling pebbles when she dipped her head with a bow and asked, “How can I help you, Miss Foster?”

“Have you been listening to our conversations these last few days?” Sophie asked, proud of herself for sounding casual, even though her brain got a little weirded out talking to dwarves. It was like chatting with a child-size mole.

“I have,” Nubiti confirmed, studying her hands, which had plenty of long, sharp claws for digging. “You wish to ask me about a threat to my city.”

“Wow, so you guys really can eavesdrop that clearly?” Wylie asked, tilting his head to study Nubiti from a different angle.

“Your voices carry far deeper into the earth than you realize,” Nubiti informed him. “Listening poses no challenge—though understanding can be more difficult. Your species worries about such unnecessary things.”

“Does that mean you don’t think Loamnore’s in danger?” Sophie wondered.

“No.” Nubiti’s voice was much calmer than Sophie felt as the small dwarf crouched and ran her claws through the cold, clumpy sand. “The threat is as real as the worry you’re carrying—and the solution as elusive as your dreams. Our king has done what he can, but he cannot recover what has been lost without first finding it, and there is no trail for us to follow, which is the true mystery.”

“Anyone else confused?” Dex whispered.

“I am,” Biana agreed, and Sophie noticed the two of them were still holding hands.

But she made herself concentrate on what Nubiti was saying. “I’m a little confused too,” she admitted. “What was lost?”

Nubiti scooped up a fresh handful of sand and fished out a delicate piece of blue sea glass. “You already know that some in my species have abandoned their people and formed an alliance with these Neverseen from your world. I do not claim to understand their motivation, nor can I guess their plan. But before they left Loamnore, they… altered the magsidian.”

The last word was whispered, and yet it still seemed to bounce around the cave, echoing out of the shadows.

Magsidian was a rare, onyxlike stone that only the dwarves were capable of mining, which was why the elves used it for security in Exile. The dwarven guards could sense the presence of the gem and know if a visitor had permission to be there, since they’d only given pieces of the stone to the Council.

The Black Swan had also acquired at least one piece as well, which they’d once given to Sophie to use to find them.

Magsidian changed properties depending on how it was shaped and faceted.

“We have stones placed very specifically throughout our city,” Nubiti went on, tucking the shard of sea glass among the shaggy strands of her fur, “carved to serve many needs. And several of those stones were changed before the deserters left—which is not new information. Your Council is well aware, as is your father, Miss Foster. Many inspections have been made on the altered magsidian—as well as many repairs. But no stone can ever be the same after it is altered. Each new facet causes a permanent change. So we have been left with a network that can achieve the same purpose, but it is not the same.”

“Is that what you meant by ‘lost’?” Sophie asked, trying to piece together what Nubiti was saying.

Nubiti shook her head. “I meant the lost shards of magsidian,” she said as she bent to scoop up another handful of sand.

“Shards?” Sophie glanced at her friends, hoping some of them were following this better than she was.

Stina seemed to be, because she asked, “You mean the pieces the deserters chiseled away when they altered the magsidian in Loamnore?”