Swan Song

Chapter Thirty Seven

Hello! Sorry for the wait.

Crowd- They're used to it by now.

Me- Probably, but I apologize every time.

Crowd- You apologize a lot.

Me- Sorry.

*Crickets*

Okay, enjoy!

"What's the password?" Sophie asked, out of breath from running to Dex's room after leaping to Rimshire.

"Genocide," he told her. The cache in his hand glowed.

Sophie hesitated. "Um... should we get the rest of the Black Swan here when we open it? Not just Team Valiant?" she suggested.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Dex agreed. "Should we meet at the stairs hideout?"

"No!" Sophie exclaimed, nearly shouting. Those stairs... she couldn't bear the thought. Especially after being electrocuted... see! She had a valid excuse to not climb the stairs- she had recently had a health problem! That was much more reasonable than claiming that she had chronic laziness, even though she totally did.

"Okay... um... probably not here. We don't want the triplets coming in and pelting Mr. Forkle with snowballs or something."

Sophie laughed at the thought. It would be pretty funny to see, but Dex was right, probably not the best idea. "What about that other hideout, the one we saw a while ago? Where we found out that Jensi joined? It was called... um... Kyknos! Yeah. It was called Kyknos, because that's the Greek word for Swan."

"Wait, wasn't that the haunted house one?" Biana asked.

"What haunted house one?" said Stina.

"Yes, and it's a Black Swan hideout that's really creepy," Sophie explained. "I'll hail Mr. Forkle and tell him to organize a meeting?" she suggested.

The others nodded, and Sophie gave them a thumbs up. "Okay, I'll see you all then. Dex, can you hold on to the cache?"

"Biana, can you take it? I don't want something that valuable in the same house as the triplets."

Biana grinned. "Yeah, that's a good point." Dex handed the cache to her and she squeezed it tightly.

"Am I coming to the haunted hideout?" Stina asked. "Since I'm not part of the Black Swan?"

Sophie thought about it. A while ago, she would have been thrilled about an opportunity to be Stina-free, but now that they were almost sort of friends... "Sure. Since you're part of Team Valiant, it's probably okay."

Stina smiled. "Awesome. Thanks."

"Any other questions?" Sophie said. Everyone shook their head. "Great! I'll see you guys later."

A few hours, too many hails, and not nearly enough (though according to Edaline, too many) pieces of mallowmelt later, the collective, Sophie's parents, bodyguards that definitely didn't make her think of Sandor, Team Valiant, her boyfriend, Fitz, Linh, Tam, Marella, Glimmer, and Jensi were all gathered in the haunted house- um, Kyknos. Sophie's increasingly sweaty hand was clutching the cache. Mr. Forkle was the first person to speak.

"So, Miss Foster, you said it was important that I gather the Black Swan."

Sophie's mouth felt suddenly dry. "Yeah. Um. Yes."

Thankfully, Mr. Forkle ignored her depressing display of awkwardness. "What do you need?"

"Um," Sophie said eloquently. Words, Sophie. "Dex, Biana, and Stina figured out the password to Fintan's cache. I'm going to try mimicking to open it."