Exile

Silveny takes them to a beautiful mountainside meadow. Realizing that convincing Silveny to return will be difficult but knowing that they must, Sophie leaps them back to find everyone screaming at each other, except for Keefe. Sophie collapses, and Grady takes her to her room, noting she has faded again. Elwin gives her a vial of Fade Fuel to take before leaping.

Later, she learns that Keefe calmed Silveny and led her back to her enclosure. She faces the Councillors, who hound her with questions. Terik notes that despite having had an alicorn in their custody for centuries, only now have they learned a secret about alicorns thanks to “an uncannily talented thirteen-year-old girl” (278).

After everyone leaves, Grady asks about Keefe and Dex, confusing Sophie. Councillor Terik returns to offer Sophie the help she once relied on Alden for, but Grady mistrusts the Councillors because no matter how well-meaning, Terik is bound to follow elvin laws to report anything illegal. She’s chastened but wonders if he can help her find her journal and contacts him.

Terik agrees to look into the whereabouts of her journal. At school, Dex confronts her about her relationship with Keefe. News of his visit to her house has made the rounds at school, and Dex is jealous. Sophie teams up with him in PE, and Keefe reminds them of their shared detention, overseen by Lady Cadence, who orders the students to peel and juice rotten-smelling curdleroots. She gives Keefe and Sophie another detention for talking.

At their session, Tiergan asks how Sophie is coping. She asks if he thinks she’s malfunctioning, and he replies that the adults have all forgotten that she, like anyone, has limitations. She repeats the line Jolie spoke to her in Prentice’s head, and Tiergan informs her that it’s from an old dwarven poem. Sophie thinks it must be significant. Later, she receives a message from Terik to meet him at his office: He has found her human things.

Sophie goes to Eternalia to meet with Terik, who tells her he’s “happy to earn” her trust (289). Not knowing what was important, the elves transported the contents of the entire house and recreated her bedroom down to the tiniest detail. She finds her journal exactly where she left it, but when Terik looks through it, they realize that pages have been torn out. She thinks of Mr. Forkle filling and erasing her mind and panics that he has stolen not only her memories but “her only lead to save Alden” (293).Sophie goes to Eternalia to meet with Terik, who tells her he’s “happy to earn” her trust (289). Not knowing what was important, the elves transported the contents of the entire house and recreated her bedroom down to the tiniest detail. She finds her journal exactly where she left it, but when Terik looks through it, they realize that pages have been torn out. She thinks of Mr. Forkle filling and erasing her mind and panics that he has stolen not only her memories but “her only lead to save Alden” (293).

Returning to Havenfield, she finds Keefe there. He was helping Grady feed Silveny. He can feel her emotions just as he can Sophie’s, and Silveny loves him. She begins transmitting his name and “Glitter Butt,” Keefe’s nickname for her, to Sophie.

Later, Sophie tells Keefe about the torn pages in her journal. He marvels at her calmness despite her stolen memories. Noting that the pressure of her writing could leave an impression on the next page, he shades over it with a pencil and reveals a phrase: “A boy who disappeared” (298). An image appears in her mind, and she realizes that even before she manifested her telepathy, she saw a boy wearing a shirt like Brandt’s.

After a restless night trying to force her memory to return, Sophie is distracted at school and struggles in her classes. Dame Alina informs students that the Council will make an important announcement the following day, and Sophie sadly realizes that Alden’s condition will be made public. When she reads the announcement the next day, she bursts into tears. Grady tells her she need not attend his seed planting, but Sophie insists. He gives her a replacement Ruewen crest pin to wear, and they leap to the Wanderling Woods.

The Woods are packed with elves shocked to see that the Councillors have brought their goblin bodyguards. Sophie sticks to the margins, still refusing to give up on Alden. Fitz sees Sophie on the receiving line with her parents, Keefe, and his parents and expresses anger at her, but Keefe intervenes. Heartbroken, Sophie rushes away. Keefe follows, revealing that he can feel Fitz’s emotions: His anger isn’t at her but at the world.

Before leaving, Sophie visits her tree, hoping to find another clue from the Black Swan and finds Dex there. They have a heart-to-heart about their experience. Dex says he feels safe with her. Sophie is ambivalent when he holds her hand while they walk back to their parents but lets him. She sees Wylie at his mother’s grave. He tells her that before the memory break, Prentice told him not to worry: Sophie would make it right. Wylie asks what she’s waiting for, but she doesn’t know what to do. She wonders if the Black Swan sent her to Exile for Prentice and whether her inability to bring him back means that she really is malfunctioning.

Staring at her reflection, Sophie reflects on her encounter with Wylie and the genetic manipulations that led to her enhanced and multiple talents. If she can’t heal Prentice and Alden because she’s malfunctioning, there is still hope. She realizes that her headaches have been triggered by light, but the burning feeling in her brain followed her encounter with the Silver Tower mirror called the Lodestar.

At school, she receives a warning message from the Black Swan to “stop searching for things” (314) that she can’t understand and wait for their next order. Furious at being treated like a puppet, Sophie vows to find out the truth without them.

She arrives at the Silver Tower early to visit the Lodestar. The pure light it reflects makes her feel as if an inferno is raging inside her until Leto pulls her away. She collapses, waking up later in the Healing Center, where Leto and Elwin question her. Light is the problem, but Elwin doesn’t know if he can “fix” her (319).

She and Keefe meet at Havenfield and discuss their plans to help Alden. As Sophie unlocks Silveny’s enclosure, however, another message from the Black Swan falls out: “face your fears” (324). Sandor orders a sweep to see how they could have gotten a message through, but Sophie knows he’ll find nothing. She’s furious, but Keefe and Silveny calm her, and Keefe reminds her to play along so that they can achieve their goal to help Alden. She tells Keefe that they’ll “need extra help for this part” (325) and calls on Dex.

To face her fears, Sophie takes Keefe and Dex to the caves where they were kidnapped. Dex uses his technopathy to open the lock that Grady and Edaline installed there. He’s pleased but embarrassed at Keefe’s enthusiasm about Dex’s ability. After Sandor sweeps the area and declares it safe, Sophie enters the caves alone and finds a trinket and another message from the Black Swan: “We can fix you” (329).

From the lack of footprints, Sophie concludes that dwarves must have planted the message, which includes another sentence, echoing Jolie’s words to her: “Follow the pretty bird across the sky” (330). Sophie doesn’t reveal the find to Keefe and Dex since it concerns her alone, and neither of them knows that she needs fixing. She pretends to have found a tracker to satisfy Keefe, who senses from her emotions that she has found something. However, Sandor isn’t fooled and later confronts her. When she puts all the clues together, she determines that she must fly Silveny in the direction that the compass charm points, but Sandor refuses to allow her to go unless her parents give their approval.

She admits to Grady that only the Black Swan can heal her. Edaline eventually convinces him that they must let Sophie go but that Keefe, the only other person Silveny trusts, must go with her. Thrilled by the danger and mystery, Keefe promises Sandor to take care of Sophie.