“I’d like to see it,” Sophie interrupted. “The hideout, I mean.”

“That would be very unwise, Miss Foster. Reliving all the trauma—”

“I can relive the trauma anytime,” Sophie interrupted. “I’m doing it right now.”

Grady pulled her close.

“Really, I’m fine,” she promised, glad her voice matched the words. “All I’m trying to say is that it’s not like I’ll ever forget what happened to me.”

“Maybe not.” Grady kissed her forehead. “But you could trigger additional flashbacks.”

“That could be a good thing,” Sophie argued. “We might learn something important.”

“I can assure you, Miss Foster, that whatever miniscule truths you might glean from those dark flashbacks won’t be worth the additional stress they’ll cause. Your mind and sanity are far too precious to take such a risk.”

“I can handle it,” she insisted.

It’d been months since her kidnapping, and she’d never once considered going back. But to stand in a Neverseen hideout—even just the shell of it . . .

Maybe it would help her get inside their heads.

“We know way more about the Neverseen now than we did when I was taken,” Sophie reminded them. “Back then, we didn’t know the name of their organization, and we hadn’t seen the creepy white eye symbol on their cloaks. We’d also never heard anyone mention the Lodestar Initiative. So it is possible you missed something when you were there. We have to at least check. I promise it won’t be too hard for me, and you already said it won’t be dangerous—”

“Funny, I don’t remember saying that,” Mr. Forkle interrupted.

“You said there’s been no unusual activity,” she reminded him. “Same difference.”

“Just because we’ve seen no sign of the Neverseen doesn’t mean it’s safe to go sneaking off to a Forbidden City—especially with the Council watching your registry feed so closely.”

“We’re following an important lead,” Sophie argued. “I’m sure the Council realizes that finding the Neverseen is going to require us bending a few rules—and if they don’t, who cares? We’ve never let that stop us before.”

Mr. Forkle sighed so hard it made his pudgy cheeks flap. “Can we at least let this idea sit for a few days?”

“What will that accomplish?” Sophie asked. “Besides wasting time we can’t afford to lose? If we have a shot at learning something, why not learn it now?”

“I’m with Sophie on this one,” Tam jumped in.

“Me too,” Linh said.

“You kids are getting too smart for your own good,” Mr. Forkle muttered. “Fine. Let me reach out to Blur.”

He stepped away to whisper into his Imparter, and Grady shifted so Sophie was facing him. “Are you sure this is a good idea, kiddo?”

“I’m never sure of anything,” Sophie told him. “But I’ve been back to the cave they grabbed me from, and it didn’t cause a breakdown.”

“This will be much harder,” Grady warned. “And you’ve already had a long, tough day. You’ve been up since before dawn.”

“I know.” Sophie yawned just thinking about it. “But we both know I’m never going to sleep until this is done.”

“I doubt you will afterward either,” he said sadly. “Just . . . promise you won’t be afraid to admit if it gets too hard and you need to leave. There’s no shame in saying I can’t.”

Sophie promised as Mr. Forkle returned looking equal parts determined and resigned.

“Blur sent two of our gnomes to inspect the area,” he said. “As long as they give the all clear, I’ll take you for a quick look—but the emphasis must be on ‘quick.’ Understood?”

“And you mean all of us, right?” Fitz jumped in.

“I leave that up to Miss Foster. She may well prefer to keep this a private moment.”

The idea of bringing an audience to her torture chamber felt strange.

But facing it alone sounded worse.

“Just . . . don’t freak out if I start bawling, okay?” Sophie asked.

Tam and Linh nodded, and Fitz patted his shoulder. “Ready to cry on if you need it.”

“What about Dex?” Grady asked.

The question had a weight to it, pressing on Sophie’s heart as she imagined how furious Dex would be if she left him out.

But could she watch him relive the horrors—knowing they happened because of her?

“I think the smaller the group, the better,” she whispered.

“I agree,” Sandor said. “It will be easier for me to protect you.”

“You’re going?” Tam asked.

“I go where Sophie goes.”

“And I go where he goes,” Grizel said, grabbing Fitz’s arm.

“But you guys are seven feet tall and gray,” Tam argued.

Sandor was unmoved. “I went with Sophie to visit her former home.”

“Yeah, but that street’s almost always empty,” Sophie reminded him. “Paris is one of the humans’ most popular cities. There will be people everywhere, taking pictures and videos. And hilarious as your old-lady disguise was, it was not convincing.”

“Hang on—old-lady disguise?” Grizel asked, cracking up when Sandor flushed.

Even Mr. Forkle was smiling as he said, “No disguises should be necessary. We’ll be mostly underground. And I always keep one of these with me for emergencies.”

He showed them the obscurer hidden in his pocket—a small silver orb that bent light and sound to hide their presence.

“Some of us won’t need your gadgets,” Grizel said as she moved into the shadow of a nearby tree. She pressed herself against the trunk and held so still, Sophie lost sight of her.

Sandor coughed something that sounded a whole lot like “show-off” as Mr. Forkle’s Imparter flashed with what must’ve been the equivalent of a text message.

“The gnomes feel the hideout is empty,” he said. “And they’ve agreed to stay nearby in case we need them. So I suppose this is happening.”

He pulled a handful of crystals from his pocket and chose one that was pale blue and pear shaped. “I had a permanent crystal cut once I knew the hideout existed.”