Fitz muttered about Empaths as he stopped struggling.

“I take it that’s a yes?” Keefe confirmed.

Fitz nodded. “Your dad said he knows how to find Alvar and offered to track him down for me if I help with this.”

Keefe released Fitz’s wrist. “Sounds about right. And okay, three things.” He held up his right hand to count them off. “One: Take a Custard Cream. Seriously.” He waited until Fitz had grabbed one of the cookies before he continued. “Two: Uh, you know my dad will claim anything to get what he wants, right? I mean, I’m not saying you made a bad call—hopefully you’ll also find some juicy secrets my mom tried to hide. But just… prepare yourself for disappointment, okay? Odds are, my dad only knows one tiny, useless thing about your brother—if that—and you’re going to want to punch him.”

“And if that’s the case,” Ro jumped in, “punch away!”

“Oh, don’t worry, I will,” Grizel assured her.

“So will I.” Fitz took a tentative bite of the Custard Cream. “Wow, human cookies are dry, aren’t they?”

“You think that’s bad, try the Digestives,” Keefe told him.

“Yeah, uh, pass.” Fitz finished his Custard Cream anyway—and reached for another, Sophie noticed—as he told Keefe, “I know learning anything useful from your dad is a long shot. But I’m not making any progress on my own, so…”

“I get that,” Keefe promised. “I do. But what I don’t get is thing three.” He counted it off on his fingers as he asked, “Why didn’t you just tell me this had to do with Alvar from the start? Did you really think I wouldn’t understand?”

“Honestly?” Fitz stuffed the rest of his second cookie into his mouth, spritzing crumbs when he said, “I don’t know.”

Keefe nodded slowly, grabbing another Custard Cream and prying the two halves of the sandwich apart. “Life’s… getting complicated, huh?”

“It is,” Fitz agreed, examining a Jammie Dodger like it held the secrets of the universe.

“I swear, watching boys try to communicate is like watching amoebas,” Ro told Sophie during the long silence that followed. “You just stare at their blobby little bodies and think, ‘How do these things even function?’ ”

“Hey, who you calling blobby?” Keefe complained, pulling back his tunic sleeves and flexing his arm muscles, which were pretty impressive—not that Sophie would ever tell him that.

Ro snorted. “You elves are so adorably puny.”

“Aren’t they?” Grizel asked. “I swear, I have swords that weigh more than some of them.”

“Um, excuse me, I complete your training regimen every day,” Fitz reminded her, “even with my healing leg.”

“You do,” Grizel agreed, before turning toward Ro and stage-whispering, “Do you think I should tell him that it’s the same workout we have our toddlers start with in Gildingham?”

Fitz scowled.

Keefe smirked. “I think the moral of this conversation is, females are cruel.”

“They can be,” Fitz said quietly.

He didn’t look at Sophie as he said it—but the not-looking almost made it worse.

And Sophie was fairly certain that another apology wasn’t going to get her out of this new mess she’d created, but she still had to transmit a quick I’m really sorry.

I know, Fitz transmitted back. We’ll… talk later.

Sure, she thought, regretting every biscuit she’d eaten.

All the sugar and carbs churned in the pit of her stomach as Fitz cleared his throat and told Keefe, “I guess I shouldn’t keep your father waiting.”

“You shouldn’t—and don’t go easy on him in there,” Keefe warned. “You’ll never find anything my mom hid if you let him push you around.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I have big plans to make this as miserable as possible for him,” Fitz assured him.

Keefe grinned. “That’s what I like to hear! If you need pointers for maximum annoyance, you know where to find me.”

“I do,” Fitz agreed.

“Wow, did they just fist-bump?” Ro asked.

“You bet we did!” Keefe told her. “That’s what besties do, right, Fitzy?”

Fitz’s nod couldn’t necessarily be described as “enthusiastic.”

But he still made the gesture.

Even gave Keefe half a smile as Fitz turned to head down the hall.

“Ugh, the one time I’d been counting on you to annoy Fitz into storming off so I wouldn’t have to stand guard duty around your father,” Grizel grumbled to Keefe, “you have to go and be all mature.”

“What can I say? I like to keep people on their toes. Biscuit to ease the pain?” Keefe held out the pack of Jammie Dodgers.

Grizel snatched the cookies and stomped off after Fitz.

“Oh, but Fitzy?” Keefe shouted as Fitz reached the bend in the hall. “I want to know all the memories you see, okay? Not because… whatever. It’s just possible there’s something in his head that’ll knock something loose in mine, you know?”

Fitz gave him a thumbs-up.

“Boys,” Ro told Sophie. “They really are high-functioning amoebas.”

“It’s a good thing we’re cute, right?” Keefe countered.

When Ro didn’t agree, Keefe launched into a long pondering on whether Ro considered Bo to be a “hunky ogre,” and Sophie decided to flee before the bacteria started flying.

But she couldn’t leave without making sure Keefe was okay.

He assured her he would be—and the third time he said it, he almost sounded convincing.

He also promised he’d try to come up with a subtler plan for investigating the names on his list of possible biological parents. But Sophie wasn’t holding out much hope on that front.

“Subtle” wasn’t really a word that fit with “Keefe Sencen.”

“Thanks again for the biscuits,” he said as she dug out her home crystal. “And don’t think I’m going to forget about the E.L. Fudges you owe me.”

Sophie had no doubt she’d be hearing about them endlessly.

“I’ll find a way to get you some,” she promised, ignoring Sandor’s protests—though those weren’t as spirited as they normally were.

She wondered if that meant Sandor had already resigned himself to the fact that elf-shaped cookies were going to have to happen.

And Sophie was about to leap away when she realized she had one more thing she wanted to tell him. “Thanks for listening, Keefe. It… really helped.”

Keefe’s smile was slower than usual—but it lit up his whole face. “Anytime, Foster. And I meant what I said. You’re not doing anything wrong. But if you change your mind and go ahead with the reset? I’ll be right there to make sure you get through safe.”

Sophie nodded. And she’d just pulled Sandor into the light when Keefe called after her, “Oh, and don’t worry about the Fitzster. I’ll talk to him.”

Lots of ogre curses filled the air as the rushing warmth swept Sophie away.