Almost too quiet—but that could be her paranoia getting the best of her. She could feel her fear straining against the knot under her ribs, and she slowed her breathing to keep control.

“Wait—where are you going?” Fitz asked as she squared her shoulders and turned to march through her doorway.

“How else are we going to find out why they were here?” she asked, proud of how steady her voice sounded.

Nothing looked out of place—her desk drawers were still closed tight. Her clothes neatly hung in her closet. She followed the trail of footsteps to her bed, sucking in a breath when she took a longer look at her pillow.

“I’m guessing Keefe made that,” Fitz said as she reached for the midnight blue bead that had been left in the center.

She nodded, tracing her finger over the silver moonlark rendered in perfect detail.

No one else could’ve painted it so intricately.

And the eye shimmered with a temporary leaping crystal.

If Sophie had any doubt about Keefe’s intentions, it was erased when she noticed two tiny words painted on the silver bird’s wings.

Meet now.

THIRTY-EIGHT

I’M GOING,” SOPHIE said in the same breath that Fitz asked, “What if it’s a trap?”

“It’s not a trap—Keefe had to take a huge risk to come here and leave this.” She rolled the bead in her hand, feeling the cool weight of it.

“The Neverseen could’ve made him do it,” Fitz argued. “We’re supposed to be finding out how far they’re pushing him. Pretty sure that means we shouldn’t be going along with a super-dangerous—and kinda creepy—command. I mean, who breaks into someone’s room and leaves a bead on their pillow, telling them to meet up without even explaining what’s going on?”

“Someone who didn’t have a lot of time,” Sophie said—though secretly she did admit the whole thing had an evil-tooth-fairy vibe going on.

“He couldn’t have left a note?” Fitz asked.

“A note’s a lot harder to explain if anyone found him sneaking out with it. And maybe he didn’t want to waste time rummaging around my room for paper and a pen. All that matters is, he wouldn’t have gone to this kind of trouble if he didn’t have something important to tell me. Or he’s in danger and needs my help. Either way, I know it’s risky. I know I won’t find anyone who’ll tell me this is a good decision. But I’m going. And I understand if you don’t want—”

“No way am I letting you go by yourself,” Fitz interrupted.

“Letting me?”

“Whoa—easy on the glaring. All I meant is, if you’re doing this, so am I. I’ll cling to your ankle as you leap away if I have to. But you realize we will get caught this time, right? Your parents know we’re here.”

“Yeah . . . I should probably leave a note, that way they won’t freak out.”

“I’m pretty sure the freak-out will be epic no matter what,” Fitz told her. “But I guess it’s still better to give some explanation.”

Sophie dug a notebook and a pen from her Foxfire satchel and stared at the blank paper.

What was she supposed to say?

Found a leaping crystal from the Neverseen and decided to use it—don’t know where I’m going or when I’ll be back!

That should go over really well.

She brainstormed for another second, then went for short and sweet.

Found a message from Keefe.

Don’t worry—we’re being careful.

“I guess that covers it,” Fitz said. “Though you should probably add, ‘Please don’t ground me for the rest of eternity.’ ”

“Last chance to change your mind. I can handle myself.”

“Oh, I know. I’m planning on hiding behind you if we end up facing anything scary. But we’re Cognates. We’re stronger together.”

He flashed the initials side of his rings as he offered her his hand.

She took it, leaving the note on her bed as she held Keefe’s bead up to the light and formed a wispy ghost of a path. “Any guesses where we’re going?”

“My money’s on somewhere stinky.”

The joke made it easier.

So did reminding herself that they were going to see a friend.

But Sophie’s knees still shook as she took the crucial step into the light, leaving their lives in Keefe’s hands.

“I KNEW IT,” FITZ SAID, plugging his nose and glaring at his feet, which had re-formed in a puddle of oily black swirled with iridescent blue. “Selkie skin. It liquefies as they shed it.”

Sophie gagged.

The sour-cheese smell coated her tongue, and the salty ocean air made it ten times worse. The whole beach was covered in the gunk—a maze of sludgy pools and slimy black rivulets trickling toward the white-capped waves. Jagged rocks jutted out of the frothy water, blanketed with sleek black creatures that looked part seal and part snake, with whiskered faces and long, coiled bodies.

“I take it those are selkies?” Sophie asked as one of the bigger beasts raised its head and let out a barklike grunt.

“Yep. I’m betting we’re in Blackwater Bay,” Fitz said. “Though I don’t remember the cliffs being this tall when my tutor brought me here. Or this green.”

“That’s because this is Inktide Island,” a voice behind them corrected. “Which is much more private. Or it’s supposed to be. I didn’t realize I’d be getting Foster-plus-one.”

They spun around to find Keefe wearing another long black cloak, leaning against a clump of weathered rocks in the middle of the beach. The white eye symbol on his sleeves was almost as troubling as his casual smirk.

“So does this mean you guys are a thing now?” Keefe asked. “The inseparable Sophitz? Or did you decide to go with Fitzphie?”

“Dude, this is so not the time for jokes,” Fitz said.

“Huh, that’s pretty much what Foster told me when she first saw me at Foxfire. Do you finish each other’s sentences now too?”

“Keefe—we’re serious,” Sophie said.

“Oh, I know. Fitz is giving me his ‘I’m so serious’ scowl. And you’re hitting me with a whole mess of emotions.” He waved his hands through the air and his smile faded. “You’re back to not trusting me again? I know I was wrong about my warning—but wasn’t that a good thing?”