Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,176

searching within yourself, because I feel quite strongly that you have more to discover. In fact, I’m regretting that I never made self-reflection and meditation into a habit for you when you were younger. I should’ve considered that the uniqueness of your abilities would require a measure of deep introspection, since only you can truly understand the workings of your mind.”

Sophie wanted to roll her eyes and tell him how pointless everything she’d tried the day before had been. But it was easier to just say, “I’ll do my best,” and change the subject.

“What are you working on today?” she asked Dex.

“I asked Forkle to take me back to Watchward Heath, because I had a few thoughts about the cameras while you were enhancing me. The tweaks I made to the feed already are solid—but they’re slow because there are so many different cameras. And I think I came up with a way to make it all work much faster. See? It’s a good thing you had your abilities reset. I know you’ve been lying here regretting it.”

She had, actually—though she hadn’t even admitted that to herself.

She’d just lost so many days.

And now her enhancing was so much more complicated.

And she still couldn’t even use her inflicting—still didn’t even know if it worked any better than it had before.

“It was the right call, Sophie,” Dex assured her. “Just give yourself time to adjust.”

“Mr. Dizznee is very wise,” Mr. Forkle told her. “And I’ve been meaning to add one more thing. I think it’s quite telling that both Mr. Sencen and Mr. Vacker were so much more sensitive to your enhancing.”

“Fitz needed the same number of gloves as you,” Sophie reminded him.

“Yes, but my telepathy is far more honed than his, so for him to be at my same level is fascinating. And I realize you’ve always had strong connections with both boys in different ways. But I wonder if having them assist during the reset amplified those bonds. I think it might be worth exploring. I’d recommend working with both of them in tandem to see what you discover. Perhaps complete a few trust exercises.”

Dex snorted. “You want Sophie, Fitz, and Keefe to do trust exercises together.”

“I think it would be very enlightening,” Mr. Forkle agreed.

“Oh, it’ll definitely be that,” Dex said with a particularly huge grin. “Can I, uh, be there when you do?” he asked Sophie.

“No, it’ll work best if it’s just the three of them,” Mr. Forkle informed him. “Try it today, if you’re up for it,” he advised Sophie. “And if you’re not, then I hope you’ll work on more self-reflection.”

Sophie couldn’t decide which sounded more miserable.

But.

She already knew self-reflection was a total fail.

So even though she could definitely recognize the potential for disaster with Mr. Forkle’s suggestion, she hailed Keefe and Fitz after Mr. Forkle and Dex left and invited them over to work together. And both boys reluctantly agreed to meet her in the Havenfield pastures in a few hours.

They started small—the three of them sitting in the shade of Calla’s Panakes tree, testing Sophie’s new enhancing-blocking gadgets to make sure Dex’s design worked on both of them. And it did—though Keefe said he could still feel that same tiny bit of extra clarity he’d started picking up just by being around Sophie. But they decided that must be an Empath thing, since Stina had been feeling a similar boost for a while.

And then… it was time to pick a trust exercise.

“We could play something like Two Truths and a Lie?” Sophie suggested—and then immediately un-suggested it once she saw how excited Ro was by that idea.

But every other trust exercise she’d done with Fitz would be so much worse with Keefe as part of it.

So.

Much.

Worse.

In fact, Sophie was starting to think the best idea would be to feign exhaustion, flee to her bedroom, and hide under her covers until the boys and their bodyguards left.

But then Keefe stood, pacing past Sophie a few times before he asked, “This is about inflicting, right?”

“What do you mean?” Sophie asked.

“I mean, that’s why you went through all of this, isn’t it? And that ability comes from both the head and the heart, doesn’t it?”

Sophie nodded.

“All right, then forget trust exercises!” Keefe decided. “Fitzy can cover the head stuff, I’ll cover the heart stuff, you’ll do your Ragemonster thing and you’ll start getting a feel for your shiny, improved ability.”

“I don’t know what any of that means,” Fitz said, glancing at Sophie, and Sophie was right there