* * *

Back at Havenfield, Sophie lasted about ten minutes in her bedroom before the walls closed in. And she had to give Grady and Edaline credit. When they saw her stumbling down the stairs with her comforter, pillows, and Ella, all they’d said was, “What else do you need?”

Even Sandor and Bo didn’t argue with Sophie’s plan. They just set to work rearranging the nightly patrols to better cover Calla’s Panakes tree. And thanks to Edaline’s conjuring, it only took a couple of minutes to get a hefty mound of pillows and blankets neatly arranged under the swaying branches.

Wynn and Luna seemed to think the campout was the greatest idea that Sophie had ever had, and were snuggled up in her makeshift bed even before Sophie had added the final pillows.

Iggy didn’t mind it either. He was snoring like a garbage truck within about thirty seconds of Grady setting his cage next to Calla’s trunk.

“So… is this going to be a regular thing?” Edaline asked as she and Grady helped Sophie crawl past the tangle of alicorn legs to get under her covers.

“I don’t know,” Sophie admitted. “I just… couldn’t breathe inside tonight.”

“I know the feeling,” Edaline told her, kissing Sophie on her forehead.

“And I’m not trying to be nosy, kiddo,” Grady added. “But… I have to ask if this has anything to do with your meeting with King Enki.”

“I have a meeting with King Enki?” Sophie asked.

Grady nodded. “The Council’s taking you, me, and your team to Loamnore in two days—and since you clearly didn’t know that, I guess that answers my question.”

“Yeah,” Sophie said, feeling a whole new set of worries stack up inside her brain. “Wow. I’m… getting really bad at this.”

“Bad at what?” Edaline asked, lowering herself to the grass and petting Luna’s sparkly rump.

“Juggling,” Sophie admitted. “I used to be so much better at keeping track of all the things I needed to focus on. But now…”

She’d barely thought about the dwarves.

Or Team Valiant.

Or Tam.

The last one hit the hardest.

Especially when she considered how much time she’d spent focusing on herself—fighting about healing her abilities. Stressing about boy stuff, and matchmaking stuff, and her biological parents.

“Why is it so hard to remember what really matters?” she asked quietly, staring up at the stars.

“Because it all matters,” Edaline told her, reaching for Sophie’s hand. “And for the record, I think you do a pretty amazing job of juggling everything.”

“Thanks,” Sophie mumbled.

But she still needed to do better.

And she would.

Her mind put together a long to-do list as Grady and Edaline finished tucking her in. And she buried all the silly, selfish stuff down at the bottom.

She put Team Valiant at the top, since she’d never checked in with Wylie and Stina about their meeting with Lady Zillah. And even though she was dreading it, she needed to check in with Bronte and Oralie—find out when the Council would be announcing their Regent appointments.

Priorities, she told herself. It’s all about priorities.

She repeated that over and over—along with a vow to not let herself get sidetracked again—as she closed her eyes. And as she slept, it felt like Calla’s tree was cheering her on.

Singing about the perfect balance of the forest.

How every tree has its place.

And Sophie woke with the sunrise, ready to start fresh in the new day.

TWENTY

FRIEND! FRIEND! FRIEND! FRIEND! FRIEND!

No—that’s absolutely NOT your friend! Sophie transmitted for what had to be the twentieth time.

And once again, Wynn immediately countered with another burst of FRIEND! FRIEND! FRIEND! FRIEND! FRIEND!

Sophie reached up to rub her temples.

Bits of torn grass showered her lap, and she didn’t want to know how much more was tangled in her hair. Probably half a pasture’s worth, thanks to all the rolling around she’d done while tackling two baby alicorns and dragging them away from the gorgodon’s enclosure.

Sandor had offered to help, but she’d wanted to handle this on her own. After everything she’d been through with Silveny and Greyfell, Wynn and Luna kinda felt—in a weird way—like a new obnoxious baby brother and sister.

Sophie wanted to prove that she could take care of them.

She just wished they’d cooperate a little.

FOR THE LAST TIME, she said, trying not to think about how sore she was going to be the next day, or how muddy her clothes were, THE GORGODON IS NOT YOUR FRIEND!

Wynn looked at his twin sister—some secret thought passing between them—before they both filled Sophie’s head with a fresh chorus of FRIEND! FRIEND! FRIEND! FRIEND! FRIEND!

Sophie groaned, wondering if her brain could actually explode from the sheer volume of their transmissions.

Or maybe from her own frustration.

She’d thought dealing with Silveny was exhausting, thanks to the mama alicorn’s demanding side, and her tendency to transmit almost everything in blocks of three. But that was nothing compared to the intensity of simultaneous mental shouting from two baby alicorn troublemakers.

And they showed no sign of stopping, or any remorse for how badly they’d frightened her.

In fact, they seemed to be building steam, their chants growing faster—louder. More high-pitched.

ENOUGH! Sophie snapped after the thirty-first FRIEND! crashed into her head.

She jumped to her feet, looming over the sparkly winged horses and giving them each her sternest glare.

She’d tried reasoning.

Tried begging.

All she had left was threatening.

If you won’t promise to stay away from the gorgodon, she warned, then I’m going to tell your parents where I found you guys today and let them decide how to punish you!

Sadly, the words didn’t have as much impact as Sophie had hoped.

Or any at all.

The stream of FRIEND! transmissions held steady, and Sophie was tempted to let Sandor take a stab at putting fear into them after all. Or maybe she’d call Bo over from wherever he was patrolling and let them face down an angry ogre warrior.

Instead, she stalked off through the pastures, making it clear that she was prepared to make good on her threat.

And Wynn and Luna galloped happily after her, as if they were heading off for an afternoon of adventure together.

It didn’t help that Sophie had no idea where to actually find Silveny and Greyfell, and kept guessing places that turned out to be busts. The alicorns weren’t confined like the other animals, because it was safer for them to have the option to teleport—though she might need to tell Grady and Edaline to reconsider that arrangement if Wynn and Luna didn’t get over their inexplicable obsession with the gorgodon.

Sophie truly didn’t understand the creature’s appeal to the stubborn baby alicorns. Sure, sometimes she felt a little sorry for the unruly beast, since it was the last of its kind and had lived through some particularly horrible things. But it was also ugly and angry and seemed determined to destroy anyone and everything simply because it could.

Definitely not an ideal playmate.