Becoming Magical [2]

C H A P T E R - 2 8

"There you are!" Dex said, rushing to the corner Sophie was hiding in on the bottom floor of the glass pyramid. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Sorry, I didn't want Sandor to freak anyone out."

She'd made him stand against the wall and squat down to be more discreet—though really, she'd been hiding from Fitz and Biana. So far she'd seen no sign of them, and she was hoping to keep it that way as long as possible.

Plus, it felt weird being surrounded by so much excitement and laughter. All the prodigies around her were talking, sharing schedules, trading Prattles' pins, like there was nothing wrong in the world. She wondered how Fitz and Biana were handling it. It had to be hard pretending like everything was normal when their dad was . . .

Sophie refused to finish the thought. As far as she was concerned, Alden was just sleeping. She'd find a way to wake him up soon enough.

"Were you listening to anything I just said?" Dex asked, dragging her back to reality.

"Um . . ."

"Ugh. Never mind. The drama getting the triplets ready for school this morning wasn't that interesting anyway."

"I'm sorry. It's just been a hectic few days."

"Yeah. How was that assignment thing that I'm not supposed to know about?"

"I'm . . . not allowed to say."

Dex heaved a sigh as Marella joined them and asked, "Not allowed to say what?"

Sophie was saved from an interrogation by Dame Alina's projection flashing across the far wall. She gave her most dazzling smile, welcomed them to a new year at Foxfire, and launched into a string of announcements that Sophie couldn't make herself pay attention to because she was too busy imagining how Dame Alina would take the news about Alden. It was a well-known fact that she'd pined for Alden for years—even tried to steal him away from Della on his wedding day.

"She's tuning us out again," Dex said, and it took Sophie a second to realize he meant her.

"Sorry."

Marella shrugged, but Sophie could tell Dex was annoyed, so she did her best to pay attention as they walked to the atrium and Dex and Marella argued over what would be a fair trade for Marella's locker, finally settling on two of Dex's rarest Prattles' pins.

She also forced herself to listen when Jensi walked her to her first session, even though he was mostly wondering why he hadn't seen Biana, and every time he said her name it gave Sophie a nervous stomachache. She even tried to listen to Sir Beckett—her new elvin history Mentor—when he launched into a mind-numbing lecture on the establishment of the dwarven treaty. But his dry, toneless voice was almost hypnotic, and the only thing that stopped her from dozing off was the high-pitched wheeze of Sandor's snoring.

Sophie would never forget the way his eyes bulged when Sir Beckett shook him awake, and she was tempted to ask for recordings of his lectures. Finally, she'd found Sandor's weakness.

Her smile faded as she made her way to the cafeteria for lunch. Fitz and Biana usually sat at her table, and she had no idea what she'd say to them if they did.

She had no idea what she'd say if they didn't sit with her either.

But in the end it didn't matter.

The Vackers weren't there.

Marella and Jensi were speculating about where they could be when Sophie sat down, but she was able to distract them by pointing out that Keefe and Meredith weren't sitting with them either. Jensi told them he'd heard that Keefe had already gotten detention, and Marella had all kinds of wild theories about what he could have done. None, of them knew about Meredith. Marella said that Keefe had probably dragged her to detention. Sophie spent the hour playing with her brown mushroom sludge, glad she wasn't actually hungry.

Apparently, another Foxfire tradition was to make the mushrooms grown for the Ceremonies into some sort of stew that was supposed to make everyone smarter. Mostly it tasted like dirty dishwater, and Sophie was too afraid that the glowworms might also be part of the recipe to eat more than a bite. She hoped the food would be back to normal the next day. 

"Are you nervous about your next session?" Dex asked, and it took Sophie a second to remember what her next session even was.

"That's right—you're going to the Silver Tower!" Jensi said, scooting closer. "You have to tell us all about it—you'll be allowed to, right?"

"I think so." Sophie honestly didn't know. She was still trying to figure out why she had to take linguistics in the first place. Didn't being a Polyglot make that unnecessary?

She pretended to be excited as the bells rang and she left her friends to head to the elite towers. But as she made the long, lonely walk across the purple fields to the twisted gold and silver towers, she was tempted to flee back to Dame Alina's office and request a different session. Or at least an explanation.

The only thing that kept her moving forward was knowing the Councillors were the ones who'd chosen her schedule. She doubted even Dame Alina had the power to make any changes.

The gleaming elite towers were so tall they blocked out the sun, and as Sophie climbed the shadowed steps to the Silver Tower's door, she couldn't help feeling like an Oompa Loompa in her ugly orange-and-white uniform.

The arched door wouldn't open, so she knocked, and the thick metal seemed to swallow the sound. Seconds later a tall elf with far too much shiny gel in his jet black hair opened the door just far enough to lean out and tell her, "You kids don't seem to realize that interrupting elite study time merits a week's detention."

"I'm sorry. The door was locked, and I've been assigned a session in here."

His skepticism was obvious as she handed over her schedule, but his lips twisted into a smile when he read the tiny scroll. "You and the other girl are the prodigies Lady Cadence was forced to return for?"

Forced?

That didn't sound like a good sign.

Neither did his sigh as he pulled the door open with a clank of metal on metal and said, "Well, this is going to be interesting. I'm Master Leto—the Beacon for the Silver Tower. Welcome to the elite, Miss Foster. We've been waiting for you."