Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,98

car horns. The steady banging of some nearby construction project.

It made her truly appreciate how peaceful and calm the Lost Cities always felt, despite the problems her home was facing.

And yet, even with that thought rattling around her mind, she couldn’t help taking another look at the humans around her. And all she could see were smiles and hugs and laughter.

Humans definitely posed a challenge.

But… they were worth protecting.

Sandor cleared his throat, snapping her out of her strange musings when he warned them, “You’ve now used up one minute and thirty seconds of the ten minutes your father gave you. So I suggest you get to work.”

Dex nodded, leading their group along the perimeter of the palace, studying several of the black cameras before settling on one that jutted out from the wall on a hooked black arm.

“Can I get a boost?” he asked Lovise, who didn’t look thrilled about the idea of lifting Dex onto her shoulders so he could reach the camera more easily—and Sophie wasn’t in love with the position either, mostly because it would draw all kinds of attention to them if the obscurer stopped working.

Sandor kept one hand gripping his sword as he scanned the crowd for signs of a threat.

And Sophie stood there doing…

Nothing.

“Need any help?” she asked Dex, craning her neck to see what he was up to.

He’d pressed his fingertips against the camera, murmuring something under his breath that she couldn’t hear. And whatever he was doing made the camera flash.

For one nerve-racking second, Sophie was sure they would be spotted. But then Dex let go and told Lovise to put him down.

“Okay, we’re all set!” he announced, pointing to the panic-switch ring he always wore. “Now I’ll get an alert anytime their camera network records anyone who looks like that guy Keefe drew. Hopefully it’ll only take a few days for him to show up in the system. I’ll hail you the second I hear anything. And look at that—we still have at least five minutes to spare! Man, I’m good! Come on, Sandor, you can say it. Who’s the Lord of Awesome?”

Sandor gritted his teeth. “I’ll save any compliments for when we’re safely back at Havenfield five minutes early.”

Which definitely would’ve been the smart thing for them to do.

But Sophie had spotted a cluttered shop and decided that cheering up Keefe was a better use of that extra time. So with Dex’s help at a nearby ATM, she was able to make a very creative withdrawal through her elvin birth fund, and she used that cash to buy all the weird British biscuits that Keefe had requested—plus some called Hobnobs, and some called Custard Creams, and several bars of Cadbury chocolate, and a few boxes of proper English tea.

And as they leaped home—with thirty seconds to spare—she couldn’t believe how easy it had been.

Maybe Dex was onto something with the whole “spontaneity” thing.

But she should’ve known that the universe would never let her day end with something so easy.

Mr. Forkle was waiting for her in the Havenfield pastures—along with Grady and Edaline—and the dented line in the grass made it clear that all three of them had been pacing.

“What’s wrong?” Sophie asked, dropping her bag of biscuits.

“Nothing,” Mr. Forkle told her, shuffling forward and retrieving her snacks with his ruckleberry-swollen hands.

“Then why are you here?” she countered, glancing over his shoulder at Grady and Edaline, who looked… tired.

Or maybe “wary” was a better word.

Mr. Forkle handed Dex her bag and turned to pace again, his bloated legs moving slower than usual.

Sophie assumed he was about to demand a lot of information about why they’d been in London. Instead, he told her, “I’m here because I never anticipated the Council’s decision to appoint you as a Regent. And as far as I know, my brother didn’t either. It makes me wish he were here, so we could talk through the implications together. But that… is not possible.” He cleared his throat. “So it seems the best option is to allow you to make your own decision, even though it will be no simple choice.”

“What decision?” Sophie asked, jumping when Dex hooked his arm around hers.

She hadn’t noticed how unsteady her legs felt until she had someone to keep her better balanced.

“It’s multifaceted,” Mr. Forkle told her, “so I think it might be best to take you somewhere that will help the advantages and consequences feel far more real than they ever will standing here, surrounded by sunshine and grazing animals.”

“Sunset,” Grady