“I guess we could press our panic switches,” Fitz suggested.

“I thought of that,” Sophie said, “but it seems like something about this place must be interfering with the signal—otherwise wouldn’t Dex have already brought in the cavalry? He said the stronger trackers could be traced anytime, remember?”

“So what does that leave?” Tam asked. “A telepathic call to Forkle?”

That could work. But the suggestion gave her a better idea. She wasn’t ready for another big dramatic scene. And Silveny had made her promise to call for help if she ever needed her.

She only sent the transmission twice before a giddy SOPHIE! SOPHIE! SOPHIE! blasted into her brain.

But Silveny picked up on her mood almost immediately. SOPHIE NEED HELP?

Yeah, Sophie told her. I don’t know where I am, but—

FIND! FIND! FIND!

The alicorn’s voice flashed away and Sophie barely had time to race outside before thunder cracked the sky and two shimmering alicorns—both gleaming silver, but one bigger, with blue-tipped wings—soared out of the void and circled around the gray, restless clouds.

SOPHIE! FRIEND! HELP!

Both alicorns tucked their wings and dove, slowing their fall at the last second and touching down in the long grass. Clearly Sophie’s ability to track thoughts to their locations came from her alicorn-inspired DNA.

“Thank you,” Sophie whispered, taking a cautious step forward. She knew Silveny trusted her—but Greyfell was always warier, especially now that he was going to be a daddy.

His deep brown eyes flickered to hers, and then to the empty field, his fur bristling, hooves stamping.

I don’t like it here either, Sophie told him. We’ll be quick. We just need to load up.

“Leave it to you to have our world’s most valuable creatures at your beck and call,” Tam said behind her as he dragged Brant over.

“And I’m risking their lives by doing it—if the Neverseen show up . . .”

She socked Brant in the face to make sure he stayed unconscious.

Fitz did the same to Ruy.

BAD PEOPLE? Silveny asked.

The worst, Sophie transmitted.

Silveny’s thoughts darkened. BITE THEM?

Maybe once we get back. Right now, can you and Greyfell lean down so it’s easier to load them?

“I’m staying with Brant,” Tam said as Sophie and Fitz helped him hoist the limp body onto Greyfell’s back. “Can you two both fit on the other alicorn, and hold Ruy?”

“We’ll make it work,” Fitz said, “But I want you to sit behind me,” he told Sophie. “That way I can be a buffer between you and Ruy.”

“I don’t need you to protect me,” she argued.

“I know. But I’d prefer knowing you’re safe. Please? You have no idea how hard it was standing in that force field, watching them attack you. Just thinking about it . . . “ He flung Ruy over Silveny’s neck and climbed on before offering Sophie a hand. She let him pull her up, blushing when she wrapped her arms around his waist. They had to sit so close, she doubted a piece of paper could’ve been squeezed in between them.

READY? Silveny asked.

FLY! Sophie told her, and with a majestic flap, both alicorns launched into the sky.

The cold wind whipped her hair and cheeks, turning everything numb—and numb was good. Sophie could use a lot more numb in her life.

Silveny tried to distract her with a quick update on Operation Alicorn Baby—which was thankfully all good news. Then they reached a high enough altitude to dive.

“Hold on tight!” Sophie warned Tam. “And it’s okay to scream during this next part.”

“I’ll be fine,” Tam promised—but Sophie heard a fair amount of squealing and yelping as the alicorns zipped toward the ground.

Right when it looked like they’d be splattering all over the grass, thunder cracked and the void split the space in front of them, swallowing them in black.

“Remind me never to lose my leaping crystal again!” Tam groaned as they drifted through the dark nothingness. “You know how to get us out of here, right?”

Sophie nodded.

She just wasn’t quite ready to head back to reality—especially a reality where Keefe had betrayed them again.

Fitz must’ve noticed her hesitation, because he leaned back and whispered, “Whatever happens next, I’m right here with you. You know that, right?”

“I do.”

The best part was, she actually believed him.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Sorta. I have to keep reminding myself we’re bringing home prisoners.”

So did Sophie.

They’d landed a huge win.

But she had a feeling they were both thinking about what they’d lost.

“Okay,” she said, tightening her hold. “Here goes nothing.”

Her head filled with a clear image of the Silver Tower as white light cracked through the void, blasting them back to Foxfire.

SEVENTY-TWO

SOPHIE HAD BRACED for tears and screaming and lectures—and her friends and family definitely delivered the second they arrived. Silveny and Greyfell were kind enough to circle over the campus a few times to let everyone get the brunt of it out of their systems, before they swooped in for a gentle landing in the lush purple grass.

Everyone sprinted to meet them, and Sophie realized their welcome party had grown, now including Elwin, all twelve Councillors, Grady and Edaline, Kesler and Juline, Granite, Wraith, and Blur, and—maddeningly—Tam and Linh’s parents, all surrounding them in a massive circle.

Questions were shouted. Explanations were demanded. But it all screeched to a halt when everyone spotted the Neverseen prisoners draped across the alicorns’ backs.

Sandor took charge then, ordering everyone to stay back as Woltzer and Lovise hauled Brant and Ruy to the ground and stood guard over their unconscious forms. Edaline conjured up the thickest rope from their supply shed at Havenfield, and Sandor and Grizel bound the prisoners more securely before Elwin poured his strongest sedative down their throats.

“What are you going to do with them?” Grady asked, the words as shaky as his hands. His eyes stayed locked on Brant, and he positioned himself in front of Edaline and Sophie.

“Let us handle it,” Mr. Forkle told him.

“We’ll handle it,” Councillor Emery corrected, his deep voice triggering a silence that seemed to still even the wind. The other Councillors gathered around him, their gleaming circlets testifying to their authority as they focused on the members of the Collective. “The Neverseen’s crimes stretch well beyond your order.”