“Maybe,” Linh conceded, nuzzling her nose into Luna’s shimmery fur. “But you have to admit that it could also mean that they don’t have their handy Psionipath to hide behind right now. Particularly when you think about how much the shadowflux affected you and Fitz. You can still feel it sometimes, can’t you?”

Sophie flexed the fingers on her right hand, wishing they weren’t weaker than they should be. “Only a little. I’m mostly better now.”

“Mostly,” Marella emphasized. “And that’s after how long? You and Fitz were in the Healing Center for weeks—and it’s been even longer since you got out. So even if it’s not permanent, there’s a solid chance that Ruy’s down for the count at the moment and the Neverseen are lying low because they know they’re too vulnerable without him—which means if we make a move now, we’ll catch them at their weakest.”

“We might even be able to get my brother away from them.”

Linh said the words so softly that Sophie almost wondered if she’d imagined them—until she saw the hope shining in Linh’s eyes.

“Okaaaaaaaay,” Sophie stalled, trying to figure out the right thing to say. “It sounds like… this has been on your mind for a while, if you already talked to Lady Zillah about it. So why have you waited until now to suggest it?”

“Because I knew it was still too dangerous,” Linh said, calling Wynn over to her other side, so she was sandwiched between both baby alicorns. “Even without Ruy, the Neverseen are vicious, and I refuse to put anyone in a situation where they could get hurt—or worse. But… then Maruca stopped by and showed us what she can do, and… a plan started to come together. I just needed to think it through a little longer.”

“I told them a couple of days ago,” Maruca explained, “after Wylie said that he’d talked to you and that you were on his side. I thought it might help if I had some backup in my corner too. And then Linh told me about all of this, and… it does seem like perfect timing. So I promised her she can count on me for whatever she needs.”

“Nothing with the Neverseen will ever be perfect,” Sophie warned.

“Maybe not,” Marella allowed, “but Maruca’s ability is a game changer—”

“Or a war changer,” Maruca cut in and corrected, “if that’s what you want us to call it.”

Marella shrugged. “Sure. Whatever. My point is, you know how important her ability is, Sophie. Especially right now, when the Neverseen don’t even know she’s a Psionipath or that she’s working with us—”

“She’s not working with us,” Sophie felt the need to point out. “And technically, neither are you. You help out sometimes, but you haven’t sworn fealty.”

“I haven’t?” Marella asked, fishing a very familiar necklace out from underneath her tunic—a black metal swan curving around a smooth glass monocle.

Sophie and her friends had each been given the same pendant after they’d officially joined the Black Swan.

“When did that happen?” Sophie asked, feeling even more out of the loop.

Marella tucked the pendant away. “Forkle suggested it after I agreed to take regular lessons with Fintan. He claimed that since pyrokinesis can be so all-consuming, it would be helpful for me to feel like I’m officially part of something bigger than my ability—but I’m pretty sure he mostly just wanted to lock me in on your side in case Fintan tried to recruit me.”

“And you were okay with that?” Sophie needed to ask, despite the fact that the answer was already hanging around Marella’s neck. There’d been a brief time, early in their friendship, when Marella had been bothered that Sophie had left her out of all the Black Swan–related stuff—but then Marella saw how dangerous it all was and hadn’t seemed the least bit interested in joining anymore.

Marella shrugged. “Felt sort of inevitable at this point. Plus, the Council could come after me any day and try to shut down my ability training, so I figured it might be good to have some powerful people on my side who have no problem breaking rules when they need to.”

“And I’ll be part of the order as soon as I speak to the Collective,” Maruca added, tilting her chin up defiantly. “We all know that once I show them what I can do, they’ll let me join—even if you tell them not to, Sophie. But I’m hoping you won’t do that. In fact, I’m hoping you’ll put in a good word and speed things along. I know you made a promise to my cousin—but Wylie will get over it. I’ll make sure of it. He needs to understand that just because he wants to keep me safe, it doesn’t mean he gets to control my life. I’m not a little kid. I get to choose how I use my ability. And I choose to fight. So if he wants to protect me, he can fight beside me—or get out of my way. And if he doesn’t? I’ll knock him into a pile of mastodon poop and put a force field around him so he can spend some quality time with all that stink.”

Sophie couldn’t decide if she was intimidated or impressed.

Probably both.

“See why she’s our secret weapon?” Marella asked with a huge grin. “She can handle this. And so can we. But we have to strike now, while the Neverseen are weak and unprepared and won’t expect anything.”

“Riiiiiiiiiiight,” Sophie said, stalling again as she tried to find a nice way to word her next argument. “I mean, not to be the downer, but… I think you’re forgetting that we don’t actually know where the Neverseen are right now.”

Linh stood, sending Wynn and Luna scattering. “Not yet. But I can find them.”

“How?” Sandor demanded, beating Sophie to the question.

“Through Tam,” Linh told him. “If Sophie will help me reach out to him.”

Sophie’s palms turned sweaty under her gloves. “You know Gethen will hear everything you say to Tam.”

“But he won’t understand it,” Linh insisted. “Tam and I have a code. It’s nothing fancy, just two ‘I’m in trouble’ phrases—one for me and one for him—plus some words we assigned other meanings to, in case we needed to communicate something beyond danger. And I think I’ve come up with a way to use that code to find out where he is without anyone knowing.”

Sophie ignored the less-than-reassuring “I think” in that statement and focused on the bigger issue. “Okay, but… Tam doesn’t know where he is.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t,” Linh agreed. “But he doesn’t have to. I’m going to ask him to send a signal that will lead me to him.”

“What signal?” Sandor demanded as Sophie started picturing disastrous ideas, like super-conspicuous puffs of smoke.

“It’s really hard to explain,” Linh said quietly, “and I’ll need Sophie’s help to make it work. But… I think I can find him through the water.”

Sophie glanced at Marella and Maruca, surprised by how readily they were nodding, as if what Linh had just said made perfect sense. “What water?”

“Any water.” Linh raised her hand and curled her fingers, forming a tennis ball–size sphere out of the moisture in the air.