Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,89

midstep, not sure if it would be smarter to sink back to the grass and never get up again or to run far, far away.

“I can tell them,” Wylie offered. “I’m supposed to see Linh today, and she’s been training with Marella a lot, so I’m sure Marella will be there.”

“You… wouldn’t mind?” Sophie had to ask.

It was an awkward enough conversation when it was her news. She couldn’t imagine doing it for someone else.

“It’ll be easy,” Wylie promised. “I’ll just repeat what you told us, and let them know you’re kinda over talking about it—but if they really have questions, they can hit you up. Sound like a plan?”

Sophie nodded, barely resisting the urge to tackle-hug him.

“Are you going to tell Linh about Tam?” Biana asked.

Wylie fidgeted with his wyvern patch. “I actually already did yesterday. She took it better than I’d expected, mostly because she was relieved that Tam hadn’t given Sophie their signal. I guess if Tam were hurt, or if things were getting to be more than he could handle, he would’ve used some sort of code word and asked Sophie to pass it along to Linh without her knowing what it meant.”

“What’s the word?” Dex asked.

“Linh wouldn’t tell me. She said it works best if she and Tam are the only ones who know it. They came up with the trick when they were banished, since they never knew what kind of problems they might find themselves facing.”

“Okaaaaaaaaay,” Sophie said, replaying her conversation with Tam again to make sure she hadn’t accidentally missed any crucial code words that she should’ve passed along. “But Gethen would’ve learned the code word when he probed Tam’s memories, wouldn’t he?”

“I asked the same thing,” Wylie admitted. “But Linh told me Tam’s prepared for that, since he always figured the biggest threats were the Telepaths on the Council. I guess he has a way of shrouding a few of his most important memories using shadows. No one can see them. So Linh thinks the fact that he didn’t use their code word yet is proof that Tam doesn’t need any help right now and we should try to leave him alone. And she also said it’s a good thing Keefe’s taking Tam’s warning seriously. She claimed her brother would never pass along a message like that unless he was convinced the threat was real.”

“And Keefe is really going to cooperate?” Stina asked. “ ’Cause… that doesn’t sound like Keefe Sencen.…”

“But you’ve met Ro, right?” Biana reminded her. “She’d totally drag Keefe off to Ravagog and lock him in a dungeon if she had to.”

Stina shrugged. “Not saying she wouldn’t try. But I bet you anything Keefe will find a loophole.”

Sandor and Bo snorted their agreement.

And Sophie definitely shared all of their concern—but she forced herself to shove it aside. Right now, she needed to stay focused on the more immediate issues. “Did you tell Linh about Team Valiant, and was she upset that the Council didn’t include her?”

Wylie scratched at his closely cropped hair. “I… don’t know. I feel like it might’ve bothered her—but all she said was, ‘I’m not surprised.’ And she did sound like she meant it when she told me it’s actually better, because right now, her focus needs to be on making sure the Neverseen can’t keep using her as leverage against her brother. I guess that’s why she and Marella have been training so hard. She wouldn’t tell me what they’re planning—just that it’s an elemental thing. I think they’re trying to combine their abilities somehow.”

“Cooooooooooooooooooooool,” Dex breathed. “Fire and water could be awesome.”

“Um, don’t they cancel each other out?” Stina wondered.

“They can,” Wylie agreed. “When I was there, that seemed to be what they were practicing. Marella would spark a flame, and Linh would immediately drown it with water, and then Marella would evaporate the water to steam. But I know the elemental abilities are a little bit different than other abilities, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they can find a way to merge the two.”

“I guess,” Stina said, turning to frown at Sophie. “Does anyone else think it’s weird that the Black Swan didn’t give their moonlark any elemental abilities?”

“They may have, and she just hasn’t manifested yet,” Dex countered. “Forkle’s always been super vague about how many abilities they gave her.”

“But hopefully I’m done,” Sophie jumped in. “Five is enough. And Linh didn’t have any theories about what the Neverseen might be planning for Tam?” she asked Wylie, beginning to understand why