"I'M UNARMED," KEEFE promised. "And I'm not here because of the Council. In fact, they banished me weeks ago."
"Bring him to me," King Dimitar ordered. His guards dragged Keefe forward, the largest one pinning Keefe's hands behind his back with a single meaty fist.
King Dimitar scraped at his pointed teeth as he asked, "Do you know what happens to those who trespass in my city?"
Keefe bowed his head. "Most trespassers mean you harm. I'm just here for answers."
"So you're not here for this?" King Dimitar scooted the locked chest forward with his clawed toes.
"I don't know what's in there," Keefe said, "but it has nothing to do with me."
King Dimitar nodded at his guard, who lifted Keefe by his neck. "If you'd like to continue breathing, you'll tell me how you succeeded in entering my city."
"Kind of hard to talk when you're choking me," Keefe wheezed.
"Let him breathe."
The guard loosened his grip enough to let Keefe suck in a ragged breath. King Dimitar repeated his question.
"Old gnomish or dwarven tunnel," Keefe rasped. "By the river. It collapsed as I crawled through."
Azalea had known Keefe was a brilliant liar, but she'd never fully appreciated his talent. He'd blended just enough truth to sell his story, and misdirected the ogres far away from the real tunnel.
"Put him down," King Dimitar said, and the guard dropped Keefe like trash.
Keefe collapsed to his knees and hacked and wretched. Each anguished sound twisted Azalea's heart.
"Elves are such weaklings," the King said, jumping down from his throne. "Your only asset is your mind—and I could crush your skull with my thumb."
"Maybe," Keefe said, rising shakily to his feet. "But you don't want to do that."
"Oh, I believe I do," King Dimitar said, wrapping a meaty hand around Keefe's head.
Keefe didn't struggle. He even sounded calm as he said, "Then you'll never know what I came here to tell you."
King Dimitar leaned closer, sniffing Keefe's neck. "I know you're not one of the rebels." His claws shredded Keefe's black cloak, leaving him in his green cape, brown vest, black shirt with...
"Interesting," King Dimitar said, tracing a claw over the black Neverseen armband. "They claimed only their own knew this detail. And you do look familiar."
"Must be the family resemblance," Keefe said.
Azalea didn't know how her father would have anything to do with the Ogres. Or maybe, she had been away for so long, Snooty-pants started to like Ogres.
"Which is also how I know about this." He pinched his Neverseen armband before covering it with his cape.
Or maybe, Azalea's father wasn't involved with the Ogres, but the Neverseen. But then, why would Mr. Forkle send a note to Azalea from her father? And why would Mr. Forkle allow for her father to meet with her.
"My mother is Lady Gisela."
Now, that. That surprised her. Azalea stumbled back a little. Tam helped her get steady.
"What's he talking about?" Azalea whisper-yelled.
Sophie, Fitz, Biana, and Dex all refused to look at Azalea. They knew something about her mother and they aren't telling her.
"This isn't the time," Alvar said.
"Okay, maybe you know her better as the elf you tortured a few weeks ago, and had dragged into the mountains," Keefe told the King.
"What?" Azalea said again.
"Please, Azalea," Fitz said. "We can talk about this later."
'If any of you manage to make it out alive,' Azalea thought.
"What are you hiding from me?" Azalea asked the group.
Fitz grasped her arm. "We need you to stay calm, Azalea. I promise I'll tell you everything later."
Azalea yanked her arm away. "You better."
"Oh, her." King Dimitar said. "The disappointment."
Azalea didn't know how Keefe found the strength to stay so calm as King Dimitar circled him, studying him from all sides. Azalea found it hard to stay calm knowing that her mother was... Azalea didn't even know what happened to her mother.
"Please, King," Keefe whispered. "I came here to know if she's still alive."
"Of course you did." He tilted Keefe's chin up with a claw. "The question is, why would I tell you?"
"Because I can tell you a secret about the alicorns."
"Why do you think I have any interest in a pair of winged horses?" King Dimitar asked.
"Because you know the Council would do anything to protect them," Keefe said. "They care about them even more than they care about that." He pointed to the locked chest. "They know they can keep at least a few colonies of gnomes alive. But if you take the alicorns, they have no other options."
Now he had the King's attention, and Sophie and Fitz could do their part of the plan. Azalea couldn't focus anymore. She didn't know what was happening, just that Biana was on her way down for retrieval and her mother was... SHE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HER MOTHER WAS.
Azalea just wanted to hide in a hole, with Elvy by her side, and stay there forever. Sadly, Azalea had to leave Elvy at Alluveterre, where he ran around chasing squirrels.
Azalea's emotions rocketed again when Keefe was getting choked again, this time by King Dimitar himself. "That's where I've seen you!" the king shouted. "You were with that foolish girl who thought she could get away with invading my mind. Is she here?"
And that- unfortunately -was the exact moment Biana chose to steal the silver chest.
The second the chest moved King Dimitar dropped Keefe and lunged, snatching Biana and shaking her until she appeared.
"Another one!" he bellowed, as Dex shouted, "EMERGENCY PLAN—GO!" and flung one of his cube gadgets at the king's feet.
King Dimitar scrambled back as the gadget exploded, and Azalea couldn't see through the smoke to know if Biana got away.
More gadgets flew- smoke bombs, stink bombs, sound bombs -as Sophie and the rest of her friends levitated into the fray.
Fitz had Calla in his arms, but he set her down and charged into the smoke screaming, "Biana, where are you?"
"Over here!" Keefe shouted, Sucker Punching the ogre who was trying to grab both of them.
The punches barely elicited a grunt from the ogre, but Keefe kept fighting anyway.
"Duck!" Linh shouted, and Keefe and Biana dropped to their stomachs as a stream of water blasted the ogre like a fire hose. The ogre swayed off balance and toppled off the cliff.
"Don't worry," Sophie told Linh when she screamed. "Ogres can phase shift as they fall—you didn't kill him."
"TIME TO GO!" Tam shouted, running toward them with ogres lunging after him. He grabbed Linh's and Azalea's hand and ran full speed off the edge of the platform.
They leaped together, and for a horrifying second Azalea couldn't concentrate enough to levitate. There was so much going on she didn't know what to focus on.
They put a good distance between themselves and the mountain.
"Are you okay?" Azalea asked, noticing the bruises forming on Keefe's neck.
"I'll live," he said. "Well... assuming we survive that."
He pointed to where dozens of heavily armed ogres had phase shifted to the dusty ground below. More ogres were swarming over the bridge, moving shockingly fast for such bulky creatures. They stormed the empty playa, waving their swords and snarling, waiting for their victims to land.
"Uh, Dex, I hope you have some of those exploding gadgets left," Keefe said, "because I'm not sure how much longer Fitz and Biana can carry Calla."
"I don't!" Dex replied.
But Dex didn't have to do anything, Azalea took charge. The other side of the bridge started vibrating and a humming sound rang in the air. In the matter of moments, purple beams of energy shot out of Azalea's palms, creating a small crater. The Ogres scattered away. It stemmed the tide of incoming reinforcements—but they still had more ogres than they could handle.
It was lucky that Azalea just found out her mother was part of a scheme and that everyone had kept it from her. Because in that moment, frustration, anger, confusion, flooded into her like waves rapidly hitting on the shore. Azalea couldn't keep track of the artifacts that were vibrating.
Explosion after explosion. Crater after crater.
"Azalea!" Sophie shouted got lost in the humming. "Azalea, STOP!"
"What?" Azalea whipped around, her hair smacking her in the face.
Wind was blowing in every direction, dust flying everywhere.
Sophie was about to speak when Biana asked, "Where's Alvar?" A moment of silence passed- followed by frantic shouting as Azalea's friends fanned out to search.
Sophie explained to a hysterical Biana that she was going to track Alvar's thoughts, when a deep laugh behind them sent them spinning around.
"Didn't mean to freak you guys out," Alvar said as Biana tackled him with a move that seemed more strangle than hug. "I just wanted to see if I'd figured out how to fool Calla's eyes. Looks like I have."
"Dude, now was not the time," Fitz said, and even Keefe nodded in agreement.
"Oh, relax. I also grabbed this!" He kicked at a pile of mud, revealing the silver chest. "Man, am I glad to be witnessing this."
"The cure is a hoax!" Sophie yelled. "That's not the cure. That's how the ogres were planning to get the plague into the Lost Cities. They wanted us to steal it and bring it there. Then when we opened it—poof! The plague would be our fault."
Alvar tested the lock on the chest. "Are you sure?"
"I saw the whole plan in King Dimitar's mind. He's also plotting to get rid of the Neverseen once he's done using them."
"He thinks he's using them?" Alvar asked.
"He's using everyone," Sophie said. "Letting us tear our world apart so he can crush the pieces to bits." Sophie shook her head. "We'll have to destroy that chest."
"Can we stop chit-chatting and focus on the army of bloodthirsty Ogres coming to kill us?" Dex said.
"We'll never make it back to the tunnel," Sophie said.
"Gee, you think?" Alvar asked. "But you're the girl with all the plans. I'm sure you'll figure out something."
Sophie faced Azalea. Azalea tapped her feet rapidly on the ground, desperate to have some way to let go of her feelings.
"You're angry," Sophie stated.
"No shit," Azalea replied.
"Where does this river lead to?" Sophie asked.
"Wildwood," Was Tam's answer. No one bothered to ask if he was correct, they were all desperate for a way out.
"Linh," Sophie said. "Do you think you can control the river to help us escape?"
Linh closed her eyes in concentration before she nodded.
"And can we all agree that Ogres are jerks?" Sophie asked and everyone nodded. "I guess it's time for you to let some of that anger go." Sophie said to Azalea.