Keeper of the Lost Cities

Sophie and Dex wake up. They’re in an alley in a human city. Their pendants and bracelets are missing. She remembers their rescuer leaving something for her, searches around, and finds a note with the words: “Alexandre, Lantern, Concentrate. […] Hurry” (432).

They walk. She explains everything to Dex, from her telepathic powers to the Black Swan. He’s stunned. She realizes that if her captors were trying to read her mind, they’re not the Black Swan.

They round a corner and bump into an old man sweeping a storefront. The man scolds them, and Sophie apologizes. Dex asks what language she was speaking; Sophie assumes English, but Dex couldn’t understand a word. In the distance, Sophie sees the Eiffel Tower. They’re in Paris, and Sophie spoke French, a language she’s never studied.

They need money. She stops at an ATM. Dex volunteers to work it. Sophie worries about getting caught, but Dex pushes the buttons and pulls $1,000 from the machine. He realizes he might be a Technopath.

Sophie locates an Internet cafe, where she searches for “Alexandre” and “Lantern” and learns about the Alexandre III bridge that’s lined with elaborate street lamps. They walk to the bridge at sunset and search the lanterns until Sophie finds, atop one lantern, a light-leaping crystal.

They must wait until the sun’s rays return in the morning. Even then, without her nexus bracelet, Sophie might die during a light leap. She wonders why the crystal is located in Paris, a Forbidden City. From behind them, a voice intones, “So we can come and go as we please” (140). It’s the kidnappers.

The gang leader points a weapon at Sophie. She says people are watching; he shows them a black orb, an Obscurer, that hides their presence. As they tie her up, Sophie sends another telepathic plea to Fitz. One of the goons shakes her to stop the transmission. Dex escapes his bonds and tackles the leader, whose weapon knocks free. Another goon grabs it and shoots Dex, who tumbles back and lies still.

Sophie recognizes one of the captors by a scar on his hand. He pushes her forward, and she stumbles. The leader orders a henchman to take Dex somewhere and kill him. A dark rage fills Sophie. Her body shakes with it. Suddenly all three kidnappers are lying on the ground, writhing. She snaps her bonds like paper, goes to the leader, removes his pathfinder, drapes Dex over her shoulder, and they light leap.

Without her nexus, the leap is extremely painful. The light beam was “pulling and pushing in so many different directions she couldn’t tell if she was being ripped apart or crushed” (446). She concentrates and manages to hold both of them together. They land somewhere and collapse onto the ground. She feels herself fading away but sends a last, desperate message to Fitz. She can sense him holding the gifts she gave him and thinking about her funeral. She glances about and sends him a brief description of their location. To Dex, she sends an apology.

Footsteps approach. Thinking it’s the kidnappers, Sophie lets herself be pulled away by the blinding colors of the light.

Sophie floats in the bright warmth beyond life. A word nags at her: “Sophie.” Someone’s calling to her: It’s Fitz. Her body is in terrible pain. Fitz asks her to squeeze his hand; she can’t, but she sends him a thought: “I’m here.”

She worries suddenly about Dex. Fitz says he’s ok. Elwin arrives and gives her a sedative. She’s afraid of losing consciousness, but he says she needs to. She fades into sleep.

She wakes at Everglen. Elwin gives her small sips of liquid. He says she’s been out for two weeks. Alden and Fitz visit. Alden says Sophie’s secret is out, and she doesn’t have to hide her telepathy anymore. Biana bursts in and hugs her. Sobbing, she confesses that she did befriend Sophie on orders but became fond of her and was devastated when they lost her. Keefe walks in, says, “enough girly drama” (454), then lays claim to his part in saving Sophie: He recognized her location from her description to Fitz.

She realizes that her new friends didn’t abandon her. In his thoughts, Fitz tells her that, though he still can’t read her mind, he can now transmit easily to her. He hands her Ella; Sophie hugs the plush toy.

Dex enters and scolds Sophie for focusing too much on trying to save him. Sophie says she did her best at the time with poor concentration. Alden says her concentration is, in fact, superb and that Dex came through unscathed.

Grady and Edaline walk in. They look gaunt. Both are crying. Edaline hugs Sophie for dear life while Grady squeezes the girl’s arm. They explain that their decision to cancel the adoption was a huge mistake due to a terrible fear of losing yet another beloved daughter. Tearfully, Sophie thanks them and says she loves them. Grady pulls out Iggy, who promptly snuggles against Sophie’s cheek. Edaline says Iggy came to them and led them to the caves, but Sophie was gone by then.

Still weak, Sophie again falls asleep. Iggy lies next to her, “snoring like a chain saw” (459).

Sophie’s dreams are a “horror show.” She wakes to see a huge, gray creature hovering near her. She screams. The creature collapses in pain. Alden tells her to stop hurting the goblin bodyguard. He explains that she’s become an Inflictor, one who can impose pain on others. Having more than one ability is rare, but she’s also a Polyglot who can speak any language, and her concentration has increased greatly. Abilities often manifest under stress, and Sophie has recently been stressed to the limit.

The goblin, Sandor, gets up. Sophie apologizes to him, but he says it’s good that she can defend herself if he can’t.

Alden asks Sophie for any thoughts about her kidnappers. Sophie says the leader is a Pyrokinetic: His hands burned her skin. Alden says it can’t be Fintan, who knows something but has been under arrest since Sophie disappeared. She says her captors weren’t from the Black Swan; she thinks they rescued her from her first captivity.

One assailant was the jogger: His hand had the same scar. She projects onto her memory log images of the scar and the jogger. Alden wonders why the jogger didn’t grab her at her home. Sophie recalls Mr. Forkle stepping between them and realizes it was he who recently saved her and Dex.

Forkle has been guarding Sophie all along. He was there when she hit her head and could have implanted into her mind secret information, plus extra abilities to help her protect herself.

Alden says it’s time the Council contacted the Black Swan. They should be able to track down Forkle and the jogger and interrogate them. Sophie counters that they’ve managed to hide her and themselves from the Council, and the kidnappers also elude them.

For thousands of years, says Alden, elvin society was stable and safe. When humans began producing world-destroying weapons, many elves wanted to sequester humans, but the Council refused. Now there are two secret organizations bent on doing something about the danger. One, using Everblaze, already has tried to destroy the humans.

Sophie quietly turned 13 a few months earlier—birthdays aren’t a thing among the elves—and Alden tries to make her promise she’ll leave the detective work to him and instead focus on being a normal teenage girl. Reluctantly she agrees on the condition that if he needs her abilities, he’ll call.

The Tribunal hall is filled with people, both friendly and hostile, as Sophie once again awaits judgment. Bronte reads all 16 charges, a record. In her defense, Sophie states that her goal was to save lives. If the Council chooses to punish her, at least she’ll go to her fate with a clear conscience.

The Council deliberates telepathically. Emery announces the decision: They have decided unanimously that, due to their own mistakes, Sophie has already suffered tremendously. Her record will show a conviction, but her sentence will be marked “already served.”

As to her schooling at Foxfire, the Council notes that, in Sophie’s absence, finals already have come and gone. Bronte wants her out, but her Mentors protest. Tiergan declares that Sophie is far and away the greatest telepath he’s seen. Her ability, while at death’s door, to transmit thoughts halfway around the world to Fitz earned her a perfect score in her Telepathy class. He offers to remain at the school and continue as her Mentor. The other teachers insist that Sophie’s recent, expert use of the things they taught her rate a perfect score in each of their classes.

The only holdout is Lady Galvin. She says Sophie struggled with Alchemy, and she simply can’t pass her. Councillor Bronte beams, but Alden suggests that Sophie simply needs to qualify for eight classes in her next grade level. She has manifested a new ability, inflicting, which can replace alchemy as the eighth course. Bronte objects loudly, but the Council votes in Sophie’s favor.

The audience cheers. Bronte declares that, as the only officially documented Inflictor—the ability is extremely rare—he must Mentor her, and he promises to fail her. Alden tells Sophie they’ll worry about that later, but she’s back at Foxfire for now.

Emery clears the court of spectators. He tells Sophie that Grady and Edaline, as well as Alden’s family, have offered to adopt her, and she must choose. Alden whispers that she can go with either and will always be welcome at his home. Because she, Grady, and Edaline have lost loved ones and need each other as a family, Sophie opts for Grady and Edaline.

Alden hugs her and says she made the right choice. Fitz and Biana assure her that they love her either way. Della presents her with a shiny-new bejeweled nexus bracelet in case she still needs one. Alden also gives her and Dex their replacement registry pendants.

It’s time finally to sleep in her own bed. She takes Grady and Edaline’s hands. Grady lifts his pathfinder wand, and they light-leap: “Sophie Foster was going home” (488).