Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,95

swing. So he said I needed to talk to you, and then he launched into this long speech about how we both needed to bring him back a bunch of biscuits to apologize for ditching him—at least that’s what I think he said. There was a lot of talk about Jammie Dodgers and Jaffa Cakes and Digestives—no idea what those are. But he said you’d know—or that you should, and if you didn’t, I needed to tell you to be ashamed of yourself.”

“Uh, except I grew up in America, not England,” Sophie argued, even though she actually had heard of a few of those cookies—biscuits—whatever she was supposed to call them. But she doubted Dex cared about human regional snack variations. So she focused on the actual important subject. “When do you want to go?”

He shrugged. “Totally up to you. I know we have a ton going on.”

“We do. But Keefe’s missing memories are super important too. So whenever you’re ready, we should get moving on that.”

“I’m ready,” Dex assured her. “I know exactly what I need to do. I just need to get there. We could seriously go now if you wanted.”

“Now?” Sophie repeated. “You don’t need any tools or—”

“Nope, got all the tools I need right here.” He held out his hands, wiggling his fingers with a proud grin. “And it shouldn’t take me long either. Five to ten minutes, tops.”

“I’m going to interrupt right there,” Sandor said, stalking over with his hand gripping his sword. “Because I know what you’re thinking. And no.”

“I wasn’t—” Sophie tried to argue, but Sandor shook his head.

“Yes, you were. And I repeat: no.”

“I agree,” Lovise added. “No one is going to any Forbidden Cities right now. Don’t even think about it.”

Sophie hadn’t been—at least not seriously.

But… now that they were making her really consider it, she had to ask, “Why not?”

The sun hadn’t set yet, so they had time before she’d need to go to bed.

And she didn’t have anything urgent to do—which might not be true the next day, or the day after that. Things changed quickly when it came to the Neverseen, and the Council, and all the projects they were juggling.

If they actually had a free moment, they should probably take advantage of it.

“You need more time to prepare,” Sandor told her, grabbing her shoulders and pressing down like he was afraid she might try levitating any second.

“Do we, though?” she countered. “You heard Dex—all he needs is five to ten minutes. And our clothes aren’t that elf-y.”

She gestured to her outfit: a blue silk tunic with embroidered purple flowers along the waistline, paired with black gloves, black leggings, and knee-high black boots.

It might not be “fashionable” in the human world—or maybe it was. She’d been gone long enough that she had no idea—not that she’d ever really cared about that kind of thing. But either way, she knew no one would think she was wearing anything strange.

And Dex’s gray jerkin kind of made him look like he was wearing a vest—which would probably blend in super well in London. Didn’t their businessmen wear waistcoats?

She’d also definitely seen enough pictures of London to teleport them there—though she wasn’t sure which part of the city to head for. They’d need to go somewhere with a lot of security cameras, so…

Maybe Big Ben?

Or the Tower Bridge?

Or that big Ferris wheel thing—what was it called? The London Eye?

“Stop thinking about it, Sophie,” Sandor ordered. “It’s not happening.”

“What if I say you can come with us?” she countered.

Bringing a seven-foot-tall gray goblin to London definitely wouldn’t be ideal. But if it got Sandor to cooperate…

“I’m sure Grady has an obscurer we can borrow,” she told him. “And you can wear one of his hooded capes, just to be safe. It’s London—it’ll be foggy and raining and you’ll blend right in. But just you,” she added, glancing at Bo. Bringing an ogre to a human city would be a terrible idea. “It’ll be such a quick trip, I’m only going to need one bodyguard.”

“Exactly,” Dex jumped in.

“You’re not going anywhere without me,” Lovise told him, grabbing his arm and pulling him to her side.

“Fine,” Dex told her, “we’ll get you a cloak too—though it’s seriously ridiculous. The whole thing will be super fast. I bet if we’d left already, instead of standing here arguing about it, we’d be back by now.”

“The length of the trip is not the issue!” Lovise snapped. “It takes seconds to deliver a killing blow or to steal away