“You do,” she agreed.

“We do,” he corrected, holding out his hand.

Sophie gave her parents one more squeeze before she pulled away and reached for Dex, leading him through the pastures, toward the Cliffside gate.

She figured they might as well jump this time. Make it a true leap of faith.

And even though Sandor and Lovise were clearly less than thrilled with this development, they made no further protests—even when their small group stepped to the cliff’s edge.

Waves churned below, and a cold, salty breeze whipped through Sophie’s hair as she rallied her concentration and pictured where they were heading.

“Okay,” she said, grabbing Sandor’s hand as Lovise clung to Dex. “Let’s go to London!”

* * *

“What is this place?” Dex asked, squinting through the bars of the iron-and-gold gate, at the large stone structure beyond, which looked…

A little plain, if Sophie was being honest.

Sure, there were intricate columns. And rows of windows. And a very recognizable balcony. And Sophie was positive that if she went inside, she’d find an abundance of chandeliers and tapestries and antiques and paintings—not to mention the immaculate flower beds and pristine lawn behind them, along with a huge, fancy fountain.

But… after living in a world of jeweled cities and crystal castles, there just wasn’t as much sparkle as there should be—especially considering where they were.

She’d been planning to take Dex to Westminster Abbey, but as they’d crashed their way through the void, she’d realized that if they were looking for a spot in London with a lot of security cameras, Buckingham Palace was probably the best place to go.

“This is the queen’s residence in London,” she told Dex as she tried to find a less crowded spot to stand in, even though no one seemed to be paying them any attention.

Dex squinted at the palace. “Their queen is a white-haired lady, right? I think I saw some pictures of her when I was researching about the cameras.”

“Yeah, Queen Elizabeth,” Sophie said. “I don’t know much about her. Just that she likes little dogs and wears a lot of hats. And I think that flag means she’s actually here right now.” She pointed to the red, gold, and blue standard flying from a pole in the center of the palace, instead of the British Union Jack. “Same with the fact that there are four of those guys instead of two.”

She nudged her chin toward the four members of the queen’s guard, standing stolid and motionless in what appeared to be narrow blue houses. The soldier’s faces looked blank, but Sophie had no doubt their eyes were seeing everything, and it made her hope the obscurer was keeping them hidden—especially when she noticed their guns.

“So wait—the dorky guys in the red coats with the big furry hats are important?” Dex asked, covering his mouth to block a giggle. “And you had the nerve to complain about our Foxfire uniforms!”

“Hey—I never had to wear anything like that. That’s strictly a British soldier thing!”

“Soldier?” Dex repeated, frowning at the guards. “So… is that uniform supposed to be intimidating? Because I feel like if a dude marched up to an army of ogres wearing that, he’d mostly get laughed at.”

“Goblins definitely wouldn’t be able to suppress their snickers,” Sandor noted, his lips twitching with a smile.

“I think it’s supposed to be traditional,” Sophie told them, shrugging. “I don’t know. Like I said, I grew up in the U.S. Soldiers wear camouflage over there.”

Dex shook his head. “It’s so weird to me, the way humans divide up their own species. Don’t they realize they’d be stronger as a larger, united group?”

“I don’t think they care,” Sophie admitted. “They don’t know that they need to be stronger, you know? They have no idea that there are elves or goblins or ogres or trolls or dwarves or gnomes to think about.”

And Sophie was struck, in that moment, by how truly other she felt standing there, watching the crowds of tourists posing for selfies outside the palace, with buses and cars driving past and a light drizzle peppering her skin—and it wasn’t just because London was such a very different place from San Diego, where she grew up.

The air felt too heavy in her lungs—thick from all the pollution. And the smell of chemicals and car exhaust turned her stomach.

And the noise.

Even with her mind shielded from the bombardment of blaring human thoughts, everything was still so very loud. Shouted snatches of conversations. Sirens and car horns. The steady banging of some nearby construction project.

It made her truly appreciate how peaceful and calm the Lost Cities always felt, despite the problems her home was facing.

And yet, even with that thought rattling around her mind, she couldn’t help taking another look at the humans around her. And all she could see were smiles and hugs and laughter.

Humans definitely posed a challenge.

But… they were worth protecting.

Sandor cleared his throat, snapping her out of her strange musings when he warned them, “You’ve now used up one minute and thirty seconds of the ten minutes your father gave you. So I suggest you get to work.”

Dex nodded, leading their group along the perimeter of the palace, studying several of the black cameras before settling on one that jutted out from the wall on a hooked black arm.

“Can I get a boost?” he asked Lovise, who didn’t look thrilled about the idea of lifting Dex onto her shoulders so he could reach the camera more easily—and Sophie wasn’t in love with the position either, mostly because it would draw all kinds of attention to them if the obscurer stopped working.

Sandor kept one hand gripping his sword as he scanned the crowd for signs of a threat.

And Sophie stood there doing…

Nothing.

“Need any help?” she asked Dex, craning her neck to see what he was up to.

He’d pressed his fingertips against the camera, murmuring something under his breath that she couldn’t hear. And whatever he was doing made the camera flash.

For one nerve-racking second, Sophie was sure they would be spotted. But then Dex let go and told Lovise to put him down.

“Okay, we’re all set!” he announced, pointing to the panic-switch ring he always wore. “Now I’ll get an alert anytime their camera network records anyone who looks like that guy Keefe drew. Hopefully it’ll only take a few days for him to show up in the system. I’ll hail you the second I hear anything. And look at that—we still have at least five minutes to spare! Man, I’m good! Come on, Sandor, you can say it. Who’s the Lord of Awesome?”

Sandor gritted his teeth. “I’ll save any compliments for when we’re safely back at Havenfield five minutes early.”

Which definitely would’ve been the smart thing for them to do.

But Sophie had spotted a cluttered shop and decided that cheering up Keefe was a better use of that extra time. So with Dex’s help at a nearby ATM, she was able to make a very creative withdrawal through her elvin birth fund, and she used that cash to buy all the weird British biscuits that Keefe had requested—plus some called Hobnobs, and some called Custard Creams, and several bars of Cadbury chocolate, and a few boxes of proper English tea.