THIRTY FIVE

"FOSTER!" A FAMILIAR VOICE CALLED THROUGH the haze. "Wake up!"

Sophie felt a hand grip her shoulder and shake it gently.

"Come on, Sleeping Beauty!"

She groaned and opened her heavy eyes. Two ice-blue eyes were about an inch above her own. She let out a small shriek and the eyes flew backwards so fast the body the belonged to tumbled backward off the bed. "Geez, Foster!" Keefe said, rubbing his head. "You didn't have to screech like that!"

Biana and Fitz laughed from the other side of the bed, and Sophie gave a small smile. She slowly sat up, and Biana propped some pillows up behind her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got chewed up and spit out by a dinosaur," Sophie laughed. "Actually though, I'm feeling a lot better than the last time I woke up."

"That's good to hear. And when you've been cleared to join us, I think you'll enjoy training," Fitz said.

"It's so cool," Keefe interrupted. "We've been working on channeling, and telekinesis, and our special abilities. And since I manifested as a Polyglot, I've been working on that too!" he switched to dwarven—and unlike Sophie, he had a perfect accent. "Isn't this so cool?"

Sophie smiled and responded in the elvin language, "Congrats, Keefe! I'm very impressed."

Keefe practically glowed with pride. "Now we can have our own secret conversations." He smirked, and Sophie realized he'd said it in French. She shook her head and laughed a little.

"Keefe," she scolded back in French, although her accent wasn't quite as good. "You complain every time Fitz and I have telepathic conversations. Why would it be any different when it's in another language?"

Keefe's smirk grew more devious. "Because now I'm the one having the secret conversations. I don't have to be jealous, everyone else is jealous of me. And the universe is in balance again."

Sophie rolled her eyes as Biana reddened slightly. "Stop it, Keefe," Fitz said. "Speak a language we all understand, please."

Keefe winked at Sophie, and finished in perfect ogre, "He's just jealous he's not the only one who can have secret conversations with you anymore."

Sophie laughed and lightly punched his arm. "You're so weird."

"And that's why you love me," Keefe said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Do not," Sophie said, blushing hard.

"Interesting," Keefe said, rubbing his chin.

Sophie pulled Ella in front of her face to try and hide from Keefe, but that meant she had to stare directly at Biana, who had turned the color of a tomato. The hurt in her eyes cut Sophie's heart, and Sophie wished Keefe would see what an amazing girl Biana was so he'd stop putting Sophie and Biana's friendship in awkward situations.

"So," Fitz said, noticing the tension, "how much longer are you in here for?"

"I don't know," she answered truthfully, hugging Ella tighter. "Mr. Forkle didn't say."

"Wait, you saw Mr. Forkle?" Fitz asked, surprise evident in his eyes.

"Yeah," Sophie answered. "Why is that so surprising?"

"He just…hasn't been around much," Fitz finished lamely. "For being such a big part of the organization, I would have expected him to be a bigger presence."

"He told me he had responsibilities that didn't include looking after us," Sophie answered, looking forlornly at the door.

There was an awkward silence.

"The rooms we're staying in are nice," Fitz finally said.

"If by very nice you mean military barracks," Biana groaned, her girly personality back and her pain forgotten. "They're small, ugly, boring, and really dark."

Sophie laughed. "Well, we are in the human world," Sophie said. "You can't expect your standards of luxury."

"Actually," Dex interjected, "we're almost in the center of the earth."

"What?" Sophie asked. "I thought we were in Florence."

"That's where we were supposed to meet them—" Fitz began, but Biana interrupted him.

"But then the base was crawling with Neverseen agents, so I had to vanish and do some recon. And then this dwarf came and found us and brought us here."

"What?" Sophie asked.

"You missed a lot after you passed out," Fitz said. "The base had been compromised, so the Black Swan sent one of the dwarves to collect us and bring us here."

"And here is…?" Sophie asked, looking around at her friends' amused faces.

"Sophie," Keefe said, "we're right outside Exile."

Sophie rubbed her temples, wondering what she was missing. Why would they be so close to Exile? Then it all clicked into place. "You mean…"

"Yep," Keefe answered proudly. "Alden is trying to get the Council to help the Black Swan. But if that doesn't work"—he smiled mischievously—"we're planning a little breaking and entering. I'm calling it…Project Prentice."