Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,193

best, most understanding boyfriend ever.

But that also would’ve earned her weird stares.

So she kept her mouth shut, grateful when Edaline broke the silence by yawning and suggesting they all call it a night.

No one argued. Even when Sophie told her teammates she’d check in with them the next day—and told Mr. Forkle and Elwin she wanted to know what they had discussed about Tam’s glowing bonds.

“Thank you,” she told Fitz when he pulled her in for a goodbye hug before he leaped away.

“For what?” he asked.

“For trusting me,” she whispered. And when he gave her one of his perfect smiles, she really, really, really wanted to kiss him.

But it had been a very long day.

And the timing still felt wrong—especially after everything that happened in London.

So she just hugged him again and told him, “Good night.”

* * *

“I get why you’ve been sleeping out here,” Keefe called without turning to look at Sophie as she made her way over to check on him the next day. “I seriously can’t remember the last time I slept for so long.”

It was already a little past noon.

But no one had wanted to wake him up earlier.

Even Grady had begrudgingly admitted that after the emotional turmoil of the day before, Keefe probably needed all the rest he could get.

“I think it must be Calla’s songs,” Sophie told him, trying not to grin when she noticed Keefe’s hair, which looked like it had been chewed on by baby alicorns. “But Wynn and Luna help too.”

“They do.” He patted one of the pillows piled next to him, and Sophie took him up on the invitation, fidgeting a little when he turned to study her. “So.”

“So,” she repeated, not sure what else to say to that.

“I’m guessing you didn’t sleep much, since you let me steal your spot, huh?” he asked.

“Actually, I did. Really,” she added when he raised one eyebrow. “Silveny helped me fall asleep, which was nice, since she hasn’t done that in a while.”

“Aww. Is Mama Glitter Butt overwhelmed by the twins? I can see why. I woke up about an hour ago, and I’ve been watching them wreak havoc all over the pastures. That teleporting thing they do is crazy.”

Sophie frowned. “Teleporting thing?”

“I think that’s what it is. That thing where they slip in and out of sight?”

Sophie shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Really?” He craned his neck, trying to find Wynn and Luna—but they didn’t seem to be anywhere nearby. “They only do it when they’re running really fast. At first I thought they were vanishing or something, but then Luna ended up ducking in and out of the pterodactyl’s enclosure, and you guys keep that locked, right? So I don’t see how she could do that unless she’s slipping in and out of the void.”

Sophie’s frown deepened.

Keefe’s theory would solve the mystery of how Wynn and Luna kept sneaking into the gorgodon enclosure.

“But… you have to free-fall to teleport,” she said, not sure if she was arguing with him or herself.

“That’s what I thought too,” Keefe admitted. “But you know what it kind of reminded me of? Remember that time at Everglen, not long after you and Dex were rescued? We were playing base quest and you did that Amazing Flying Foster routine, and we all wondered when you’d learned how to blink? Wasn’t that before you figured out that you could teleport?”

“It was,” Sophie said as her mind slowly dredged up the memory. She hadn’t thought about that moment in months and months and months. “I actually realized later that some of the things I’d felt when that happened were things that reminded me of teleporting.”

“See?” Keefe said. “Maybe it’s something all baby alicorns do when they’re learning how to master their power.”

“Uh, except I wasn’t a baby alicorn—and I’d be very careful with the next joke you make, Smirking Boy,” Sophie warned, “because if it has the words ‘horse girl’ in it, I’m not giving you your present.”

“You got me a present?” Keefe asked, his eyebrows rising when she patted the satchel slung across her shoulders.

“I did. Had to make a very special trip to go get it for you too—and enlist a little help to make it happen. So what were you going to say?”

“I… I don’t know.” He reached up to run a hand through his hair and seemed to realize for the first time that his current hairstyle could serve well as a nest for small animals—and his cheeks turned very,