“Won’t they have to know, though?” Sophie asked. “When the other yous disappear?”

“The Collective has always had a contingency plan. You’ll see it soon enough. And don’t worry—they’ll make sure you still get the answers I owe you. Secrets never die.” He pressed something cold and round into her palm, and Sophie realized it was the gadget where he stored the things he wanted to remember. “Give that to Granite.” He turned to Councillor Oralie. “And make me a seed. Coil it with my hair, and bring it to Miss Foster to keep safe. She’ll know when and where to plant it.”

“How?” Sophie asked. “And why are we talking about this—you’re not dying!”

“Yes, I am. But it’s okay. I’ve done far more with this life than I ever could’ve imagined. I’ve lived five lives. I’m ready to surrender them. But before I do, I need you to promise you won’t let this change you. Don’t fall down the bitter, angry hole that death opens up inside of us. It’s not a productive place to be. And there’s no reason for it. I promise, I’ve made my peace. I’ve won more times than I’ve lost. I can be happy with that. Please be happy with me.”

His eyes begged Sophie to assure him, but she couldn’t make her mouth form the words.

It was too much.

Too hard.

Mr. Forkle grabbed Keefe’s hand. “She needs you now more than ever. Don’t let this break her.”

“I won’t,” Keefe promised.

Mr. Forkle nodded, closing his eyes as he reached for Oralie. “Take care of my moonlark.”

“No,” Sophie said, shaking his shoulder. “Don’t give up. Just hold on a little longer.”

“Time is a funny thing. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. But then it passes to someone else. You’ll do great things with it, Sophie. Wonderful, incredible things. I’m sorry I won’t be there to see them. But don’t let that stop you from living them. Dream. Fight. Love. Take risks. Allow yourself to be happy.”

“There has to be something we can do,” Sophie argued.

“You’ve already done it,” he said. “Thank you for being brave enough to find me this one last time. You gave me the gift of goodbye.”

He coughed again, a horrible rattly sound, and Sophie was crying too hard to hear him take his final breath.

But she saw his chest fall still.

Felt Keefe’s arms wrap around her, letting her fall apart on his shoulder as he held on tight, keeping her together.

EIGHTY-TWO

ORALIE KEPT HER promises, somehow making Mr. Forkle’s body disappear from Lumenaria—and Brant’s as well—before the dwarves arrived to help them out of the rubble. And a few days later she visited Sophie at Havenfield and gave her the Wanderling seed, tucked inside a golden locket for Sophie to wear.

Now that the new security measures had been completed—gates even higher than those at Everglen, plus a whole host of underground defenses—Sophie was back living at home, trying not to feel haunted by memories.

“You know what the worst part is?” she whispered as Oralie turned to leave. “I don’t even know which ‘him’ this tree will be.”

Oralie hesitated a second, then stepped close and pulled Sophie into a hug.

“I bet that’s why he gave you the seed,” she whispered. “When the time comes, it’ll be one final secret you share together.”

“Maybe,” Sophie mumbled. “Most days, all I can think about is that he’ll never see me heal Prentice. After all the years he waited.”

Oralie cleared her throat, slowly pulling away. “Any word from the Collective on their contingency plan?”

“Not yet.” She’d passed Mr. Forkle’s gadget along to Granite, but as far as she knew, he hadn’t tried to access it. “They’re being super vague—but I guess I should be used to that.”

Oralie smiled sadly. “Sometimes it’s good when things don’t change.”

“And sometimes they have to.”

Change was definitely a theme in the elvin world.

It was too early to tell if the attack at Lumenaria would bring all the leaders closer or farther apart. For the moment, they were working together to help the Council rebuild and recover. Elwin and Dex were collaborating on a prosthetic leg for Councillor Terik. And the dwarves and gnomes were still cleaning up the rubble. But nothing would ever be the same.

Sophie spent most of her time at home, hiding under the swaying branches of Calla’s Panakes tree, listening to the gentle songs of the leaves and trying not to wonder if things would’ve been different if she’d thought to carry some of the healing blossoms with her.

Her friends visited, of course—Keefe more than any. He seemed to be taking his promise to Mr. Forkle very seriously. He wouldn’t tell Sophie where he was staying—claiming it was safer if she didn’t know. But he assured her that the Collective had set him up somewhere the Neverseen—and his mom—wouldn’t be able to find him.

His new goal was “never ignore anything,” and he’d started making long lists of things he’d remembered, either from his past or from his time with the Neverseen. It wasn’t accomplishing much. But it made him feel better. And Sophie wanted to be as prepared as possible before they contacted Keefe’s mom to find out what she wanted from her son.

Fitz was also a frequent visitor, and he kept his visits more casual, usually showing up to bring a thoughtful little gift to make her smile. That day he outdid himself, bringing her a sparkly red dragon charm he’d named Mini Snuggles.

“Biana thought she remembered you having a charm bracelet,” he told her as he placed the tiny dragon in her gloved hand.

“I do.” Grady and Edaline had bought it for her when they’d believed she was dead, as a way to commemorate their visits to her Wanderling. And Mr. Forkle had used it to sneak her secret messages a few times. But Sophie decided it was probably better not to share any of those less-than-cheerful memories and tarnish his amazing gift.

He sat down beside her, leaning against Calla’s tree and studying the image she’d been staring at in her memory log.

Four black cloaked figures leaping away from the destruction of Lumenaria.

Four.

She was positive she hadn’t imagined it.