Neverseen (17 page)

“How much farther do you think we should walk?” Biana whispered when they stopped to catch their breath.

“How about we count to one thousand, and if we still haven’t found anything, we double back on a different path?”

They counted every footfall, and at step seven hundred and ten, they curved around another rocky outcropping and froze.

“What is that?” Sophie breathed, pointing ahead to a small thicket, where one of the trees was shrouded under a dome of pure white light.

“It looks like some sort of force field,” Biana whispered.

Sophie grabbed a small stone and flung it at the tree. As
soon as it touched the force field, white lightning flashed, and the stone ricocheted toward her head at ten times the speed. She barely managed to duck before it streaked past, embedding in a nearby trunk.

“I don’t get it,” Biana whispered, pulling Sophie behind the rocks to hide. “Why would anyone shield a tree?”

Sophie had a theory—and it wasn’t good news. “I need to get a closer look.”

Biana grabbed her wrist to stop her. “Do you think it’s safe?”

“If someone’s around, don’t you think they would’ve checked after all that lightning?”

“True.” Biana reluctantly followed Sophie to the tree, glancing over her shoulder the whole way. “I don’t like this,” she mumbled. “Something feels wrong.”

Indeed it did—but not for the reason Biana probably meant.

Sophie had expected the shielded tree to show some sign of the plague. But it looked perfectly healthy. In fact, its leaves were a brighter green than the other trees around it, and the bark almost had a sheen.

She squatted and grabbed a handful of fallen sticks, holding them up to see if the dried leaves matched.

“What are you doing?” Biana asked.

“Trying to see if any of these are from the same tree—though it might be better to dig up a root. That way we can bring a sample back to Alluveterre and test if this tree is infected.”

“But if the tree
is
infected, you’d be exposing Calla and Sior and Amisi to the plague.”

Sophie dropped the stick—but she’d already touched it.

Were her hands contaminated?

“Maybe I should leap away and you can tell Calla to send someone else to get me—someone with a lot of disinfectant.”

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea to split up,” Biana said.

“Isn’t that better than putting Calla at risk?”

“Of course,” Biana said—though she didn’t look happy about it. “But . . . we could still walk back at least part of the way together.”

“I shouldn’t go more than halfway, though, just to be safe.”

They’d only taken a few steps when a flash of light drew their attention. A black-cloaked figure appeared a few feet away, his sleeve bearing the unmistakable white eye symbol of the Neverseen.

T
HE MEMBER OF
the Neverseen seemed as surprised as they were, but Sophie recovered quicker. Her instincts took over, red fury rimming her vision as she pooled her anger, preparing to inflict.

“That’s enough of that,” the Neverseen member said, raising his hands and triggering a flash of blinding light.

Sophie charged forward, hoping to grab him before he could leap away, but Biana blocked her, shouting, “He’s a Psionipath!”

The warning rang in Sophie’s ears as the light solidified, encasing the cloaked figure under a glowing dome.

“He makes force fields?” Sophie asked.

“You sound impressed.” He smoothed the sleeves of his black cloak and gave a bow.

Sophie knew it wouldn’t work, but she grabbed a rock anyway, launching it at his head with all the strength she had.

Biana yanked them out of the way as the rock ricocheted, knocking a football-size crater in the tree they’d been standing in front of.

“You have to stop doing that,” Biana said.

“I agree,” the Neverseen member told them. “Those energy blasts are such a waste. And I believe this is what we call a stalemate. You can’t get to me—and if I leave this shield, you’ll unleash your Inflictor rage. So I’m going to stay right here, where it’s nice and cozy.”

Sophie turned to Biana, keeping one eye on the Psionipath. “How long before the force field wears off?”

“Long enough for someone to come to check on me,” he told her.

“And there’s no way to break through the force field?” Sophie whispered.

Biana shook her head. “Psionipaths created the shields that keep Atlantis livable underwater.”

“Like I said”—he traced his fingers along the glowing field of white energy—“we have a stalemate. So what are you going to do?”

“More of them could show up any second,” Biana whispered.

“But one of the Neverseen is
right there
—how can we just leave?” Sophie asked.

They hadn’t learned what he was doing to the tree—and what if he knew what happened to Keefe’s mom?

“Your Telepath tricks won’t work,” he said, somehow guessing what Sophie was planning.

Sophie ignored him, hoping her tweaked abilities would come through as she gathered her mental strength and reached for his mind. As soon as her consciousness hit the force field, it split into a thousand directions, like shoving her thoughts in a blender without the lid on.

The Psionipath laughed as she clutched her temples, struggling to fight through the headache. “Clearly the Black Swan forgot to give you any common sense.”

Fury and frustration clouded Sophie’s vision, and she fought them back, knowing she had nowhere useful to inflict them.

“Don’t think I haven’t realized you’re not here alone,” he added. “You couldn’t have leaped here—our sensors would’ve detected it. So that leaves dwarves and gnomes, and I’m betting on a gnome. Where’s your little friend hiding? Probably not close, otherwise they would’ve tried to help you.”

“You seem to know a lot about us,” Sophie said, hoping she sounded calmer than she felt.

Maybe if she egged him on, he’d slip and tell her something useful.

“How could I not?” he asked. “I’ve been hearing about Project Moonlark for years. How does it feel to know the sum total of your existence is to be someone else’s puppet?”

“She’s not a puppet,” Biana spit through gritted teeth.

“No, perhaps you’re right,” he agreed. “I’ve always suspected her role would be far more sinister.”

“You want to talk about sinister?” Sophie asked. “I know what you’re doing here. This has to do with the plague, right?”

He snorted so loud, snot probably crusted the inside of his hood. “Is that my cue to outline our entire plan for you? Would you like names and dates, too, or just the general gist? I could also use hand puppets if you’d like, to make it more entertaining.”

Okay, so maybe egging him on wasn’t going to work.

But Sophie had realized something much more troubling.

He could’ve leaped away when they first startled him. But he
chose
to stay.

Why would he do that—unless he had a plan? And why did she have a feeling they were playing right into it?

Her feet itched to run, but if they turned their back on him, he could drop his force field and attack. And if they leaped away he could go after Calla.

“Ah, you’re turning pale,” he said. “I’m guessing that means you’ve finally realized the gravity of your situation. So what’s
it going to be? Run and hide? Don’t think I won’t find you. I know this place better than anyone. I came here all the time when I was a kid.”

“Why would you be in the Neutral Territories?” Biana asked. “The only people who . . . ohhhhhhhhhh.”

“What?” Sophie asked as Biana shielded her eyes to squint through the force field.

“He went to Exillium,” Biana whispered.

Sophie covered her mouth.

That would mean . . .

“Whatever you think you’ve figured out—you’re wrong,” he insisted.

But Sophie could tell by his rigid shoulders that he was lying.

“Okay, I’m done with this game,” he said. “Surrender now, and save yourselves the pain I’ll put you through otherwise.”

“Or, we could do this,” Biana said, ripping off her Black Swan pendant and flinging it toward the force field.

Sophie braced for the ricochet to blast them with a swan-shaped meteor. But when the glass of the monocle hit the force field, it refracted the light a hundred different directions, unraveling the energy shield in a burst of white flames.

The Psionipath screamed as fire licked up his cloak, and he leaped away before Sophie could charge him.

“Come on,” Biana said, dragging Sophie back the way they came. “We have to get to Calla before he returns with reinforcements.

They channeled all their energy to their legs, letting it fuel their sprint. Their feet barely skimmed the ground as they raced through the forest.

Somehow Biana knew exactly where they were going, and within minutes they’d made it back to Calla.

“No time to explain,” Biana shouted as they tumbled underground. “Just get us out of here.”

Calla belted out a song, collapsing the tunnel’s entrance as she coiled roots around them and the trees whisked them to safety.

“WHAT WERE YOU
THINKING?” Mr. Forkle shouted the second they resurfaced in Alluveterre. The other four members of the Collective stood beside him, along with Fitz, Keefe, Dex, and Della.

Sophie stepped forward, ready to plead her defense—but Mr. Forkle wasn’t focused on her.

“I did not give you permission to put these children in danger!” he growled at Calla.

Calla didn’t blink. “I thought the only permission I needed was their own.”

“Yeah, we chose to go with Calla,” Biana agreed.

“And we’re fine,” Sophie added.

“Plus, we found something big,” Biana said, giving a quick recap of their encounter.

Only then did Sophie realize the dangerous detail she’d forgotten. She backed away from Calla. “I touched those sticks—and
then I let you tie the roots around me—what if I just gave you the plague?”

“Relax, Miss Foster,” Mr. Forkle said. “The plague has shown no signs of being transmitted by touch. And anything outside the force field likely wouldn’t have been contaminated—assuming anything was.”

Calla nodded her agreement. “Do not worry over me. Our real concern is the Neverseen.”

“Yeah,” Keefe jumped in. “We’re going after them, right?”

“
You
are not going anywhere,” Mr. Forkle told him.

“But this is our chance to finally catch these jerks!” Keefe said.

“We might not get another opportunity like this,” Blur agreed.

“You aren’t actually considering staging an ambush?” Granite said when Mr. Forkle stroked his chin.

“There’s no time to prepare,” Squall added.

“Why are we arguing about this?” Keefe asked. “It’s a no-brainer. They’re going to come back to that tree at some point, and when they do, we blast them with everything we have.”

“There will be no blasting!” Mr. Forkle told him. “And again, there is no ‘we.’ You kids are not a part of this. Go upstairs to your rooms. And
you
”—he wheeled on Calla—“need to explain yourself when we return.”

“I can explain on the way,” Calla said. “You’ll need me to bring you to Brackendale.”

“You can’t leap,” Sophie agreed. “He said something about sensors.”

Mr. Forkle sighed. “Then Amisi can—”

“She doesn’t know her way around as well as I do,” Calla interrupted. “And she doesn’t know where we were today. So you can take my help now and be angry with me later.”

“All of us should be going,” Keefe said.

“For the last time, Mr. Sencen, you are staying here!” Mr. Forkle snapped. “And I do not want to hear another word about it!”

“We’re wasting time fighting,” Sophie said, stepping between Mr. Forkle and Keefe. “Every second we delay gives the Neverseen time to prepare.”

“You will not change my mind,” Mr. Forkle added. “We’re going. You’re staying.”

“What if something happens to you?” Della asked the Collective.

“If we’re not back by sunrise, have Amisi alert our Proxies,” Granite told her.

Sophie waited for Mr. Forkle to assure her they didn’t need to worry.

Instead he said, “Upstairs. All of you!”

“Come on,” she told her friends, who looked just as nervous as she felt. “There’s something else we need to work on.”

“It better involve studying your lessons,” Mr. Forkle warned.

Sophie didn’t bother replying as she dragged Keefe toward
the stairs. He fought her for a second, but eventually gave in.

No one looked at each other or spoke as they climbed to the tree houses. The only sound was the slow melody of Calla opening a new tunnel into the earth to bring the Collective to confront the Neverseen.

K
EEFE GLOWERED AT
the campfire in the boys’ common room, keeping his back turned to all of his friends. “I can’t believe you went to face the Neverseen without me!”

“And me,” Fitz added.

“And me,” Dex said.

Both boys had very noticeably chosen beanbag chairs as far from Sophie and Biana as the room allowed.

“We didn’t know that’s what we were doing,” Sophie said, holding out her arm so Della could smear ointment on a deep scratch. “Calla only told us there were weird whispers in the forest—and she needed us to leave right away.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” Biana added, uncoiling the
knot in her hair and looking way too good for someone who’d just survived a showdown with their enemy. “I’m pretty sure Calla only brought me because I happened to be there.”

“It’s a good thing you were,” Sophie told her. “You stopped me from making a ton of dangerous mistakes. And I never would’ve thought to throw my pendant at the force field.”

Warm spots colored Biana’s cheeks. “I just remembered what Fitz’s note had said about the smallest things being the most dangerous and I thought . . . why not?”

“Well, it was brilliant,” Sophie said. “You saved us.”

Biana smiled. “Anytime.”

Keefe ruined the moment by grumbling, “But you didn’t learn anything! You had the Neverseen right in front of you—you
talked
to him!”

“I know,” Sophie mumbled. “I tried to trick him into telling me something, but he was too smart. And when I tried to probe his mind, I couldn’t push through the force field.”