Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,208

mystery behind my legacy? That Mommy Dearest put herself through this super-painful thing and it failed completely?”

“How do you know it failed?” Alvar asked him.

“Uh, because I’m an Empath,” Keefe reminded him. “Nothing unique about that!”

“And you’re sure that’s your only ability?” Alvar countered. “Your mother’s a Polyglot, so her genetics are primed for manifesting twice.”

“Except she didn’t,” Keefe argued. “My mom only has one ability.”

“Does she? Or is that just what she wants everyone to think?” Alvar let that settle in before he added, “And how do you know she isn’t waiting for you to manifest again?”

“If she is, she can keep right on waiting,” Keefe told him. “I’m past manifesting age.”

“Unless she’s going to try to trigger it,” Sophie murmured.

Embrace the change.

“My thought exactly,” Alvar agreed. “For the record, I have no idea what the ability is supposed to be. But I know she called it ‘game-changing.’ And another time, I heard her say it was the foundation of her entire plan. Sounds like quite a legacy, doesn’t it?”

“Watch it, Whiny Boy,” Ro warned, pointing her dagger at his smug grin. “I can make it so you have to crawl into your little light beam.”

Alvar’s smile faded. “That’s all I know,” he told Keefe. “And you haven’t accused me of lying, so clearly you believe me. Which means this is the part where you let me go.”

“I… don’t know what to do with that information,” Keefe mumbled as he released his hold on Alvar’s wrist.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough,” Alvar told him as he hobbled into the light, adding, “Remember what I said,” as he disappeared in a shower of sparkle.

“It’s ridiculous, right?” Keefe asked Sophie in the silence that followed. “I’m not…”

There were a million ways to end that sentence.

But Sophie was pretty sure he’d planned to say, I’m not you.

And he wasn’t—he wasn’t part of some huge genetic project.

But maybe he didn’t have to be.

“I’m not manifesting another ability,” Keefe said—almost like it was a decision he had control over. “I don’t care what she tries—it’s not going to work.”

Sophie had to stop herself from reminding him that shadowflux changed everything it touched—because she’d had a much more terrifying thought that she wasn’t quite ready to share:

Lady Gisela… was messing with things she didn’t understand.

And Tam did understand them.

And Tam knew what she wanted him to do to Keefe.

And he was certain it would kill him.

FORTY-ONE

OKAY,” KEEFE SAID, CLAPPING HIS hands. “So… that happened.”

“Keefe—”

“I’m fine, Foster,” he interrupted in a squeaky voice that sounded anything but fine. “Seriously! Why wouldn’t I be? I mean… sure, we just let a traitor go free in order to learn about how my mom did some freaky fertility thing to herself and my dad, so they’d have a kid with some weird mystery ability. But… you know what that means?”

“That you and our pretty blond moonlark probably understand each other better than anybody?” Ro suggested, batting her eyes when he turned to scowl at her. “What? I’m just saying! That’s an awfully unique thing to have in common!”

“It is,” Sophie had to agree.

Keefe shook his head. “Nah—it’s two totally different things. Foster was, like… planned and researched and tested and hidden away and monitored and guided and protected. I mean, say what you want about the elves who signed up to be your secret genetic parents,” he told Sophie, “but as far as the Black Swan goes, they tried really hard to do right by you. Meanwhile, my mom was apparently like, ‘Eh, let’s drink this stuff that’ll almost kill us and see what happens to our baby!’ And then it didn’t work, so she was like… ‘I know! Let’s make a Shade do some stupid trick when my son’s already way past manifesting age and see if that fixes it!’ And then her Shade died, so she was like, ‘No worries, I’ll kidnap this surly guy with ugly bangs and make him take over!’ So… clearly her planning skills need a little help—but I guess we already knew that because of how many times the Neverseen’s plans have just been, like, bizarre.”

“Keefe,” Sophie tried again.

But he kept right on going, turning to pace the empty bedroom as he told her, “The more you think about it, the more it all makes zero sense, doesn’t it? Like… I know we’ve joked about me being your nemesis before, but—”

“You’re not my nemesis,” Sophie assured him.

“I’m not,” he agreed. “I’m older than you, for one thing. But… either way…