Status Updates From Exile (Keeper of the Lost C...

Then Alden’s mind whispered, I’m here.

JESUS

“I guess a bonfire wasn’t the best thing to invite you to, huh? Fitz transmitted as she rubbed her wrists
She winced.
What’s wrong?
Sorry, you just transmit really loud sometimes.
I do?
Yep. It’s like you’re screaming in my head.
His cheeks flushed.

“She is right, though,” she whispered. “Red is definitely your color.”
“Thanks,” Sophie mumbled.
She slouched, feeling like she was back in her first day at Foxfire when Dame Alina flashed a giant spotlight right at her.
“What?” she asked, when she caught Fitz and Keefe staring at her.
“Nothing,” they both mumbled.

“It’s a bonfire.”
Keefe glanced at Fitz, then back to her. “Telepaths,” he grumbled.
Fitz grinned at her, and this time everything inside Sophie turned fluttery. Thanks.
Anytime.

“We’re having an aurenflare to celebrate school starting.”
“Um, great.” She still needed to talk to Alden anyway.
Keefe smirked. “You have no idea what that is, do you?”
“It’s . . .”
It’s a special kind of bonfire, Fitz transmitted.

“Are you really okay?” Sophie asked him.
“Yep. I’m just glad I caught you.”
He smiled as he said it and Sophie thought her heart might explode from the flutters. “Me too.”

Though seeing the session officially listed wasn’t what made her heart pick up speed. An unexpected note underneath her telepathy session triggered that.
Fitz Vacker will also attend this session.

“I do trust you, Dex. That’s why I need to know what you remember—if you even remember anything.”
“Oh, I remember.”
The shudder in his voice made her mouth taste sour.
“You really want to know?” he asked.
No.

“I want nothing to do with anyone connected to the Black Swan.”
“Grady,” Edaline warned as Sophie clutched her stomach like she’d been punched.
She would always be connected to the Black Swan.
Always.
“Sophie,” Grady called as she turned and ran.

“I know we can’t trust the Black Swan,” he whispered, “because the Black Swan murdered Jolie”

But it wasn’t his motorboat snoring that filled her mind as she closed her eyes.
It was Brant’s raspy, haunting voice repeating over and over.
I’ve seen you before.
He never told her where.

Her blood turned to ice when she read the names carved into the white stone markers.
Sophie Elizabeth Foster
and
Dexter Alvin Dizznee

She sucked in a breath when she spotted the broach.
“I don’t have to wear it if—”
“No.” Edaline stopped her from unfastening it. “You should wear it. I’m sorry. It just surprised me because it makes you look even more like her.”

Sophie glanced at her friends, surprised to see how sad they seemed. Death was such a rare occurrence for elves that most of them didn’t understand it, or feel the right amount of sympathy. She was about to wonder what brought on the change when a blurry memory flashed through her mind:
A devastated Fitz, holding the small Albertosaurus she’d given him during midterms and telling her he’d been to her funeral.

“Hey—what did I tell you two about secret Telepath conversations?” Keefe asked as he shoved his way between them. “Unless you’re talking about me, keep it out loud.”
Fitz laughed. “Keefe just wishes he could swap secret messages with you.”

“You okay?” Biana asked, coming to stand beside her. “You’re not a fr—you’re not what they called you. You know that, right?”
Sophie shrugged, not looking at her. She’d been called a freak her whole life. And she couldn’t care less what Stina said. But ever since the kidnapping, she’d been hearing it from other people too. Everyone knew about her strange abilities now.

Vika snatched Sophie’s wrist with a mud-streaked hand. “You wretched girl! Call her down right now.”
“Why do you need my help? Aren’t you the expert?”
Keefe snickered. “Ooh, good one, Foster!”