"It has to be Brant," Sophie whispered as she watched the firemen rush around the Piazza della Signoria.
They'd used the obscurer to slip past the police blockades. The fire hadn't killed anyone, and it had been extinguished before it spread to the other buildings.
The fire had been extinguished extremely quickly, June noticed. That meant the Black Swan were definitely active and around, just like the Neverseen.
That... was interesting.
The Palazzo Vecchio's stone walls were blackened and crumbling, and the clock tower was leaning more than the Tower of Pisa. It was disgusting, how the Neverseen could destoy such a historical landmark, just to flush out the Black Swan. They didn't even target the correct building.
The Uffizi was an arched building next to the ruined palace. The police had closed all the landmarks, and an obscurer can't fool sensors and alarms.
"How do you know it's the Neverseen?" Dex asked. "Don't humans have fires all the time?"
"Can't you smell it?" Sophie asked.
Keefe sniffed the air. "It smells like burned sugar."
"That's what the San Diego fires smelled like, Fitz told me," June realized. "Which means it was definitely Brant. He must've sneaked out. I still can't believe you let him go, by the way," she said, looking pointedly at Sophie. "But still. We're supposed to get to the building next door."
"Uh, you guys are totally ignoring the much more important question," Keefe interrupted. He pointed across the courtyard to a weathered marble statue. "Am I the only one who noticed that dude is naked?"
June giggled. "He doesn't even look that good. Fitz has better muscles."
"That's the David," Sophie said, rolling her eyes.
"I don't care what his name is," Keefe said. "I still don't want to see his stuff. It's not great."
"You're not even a girl. I am, and I'm fine," June argued. "It's really not that bad. Just don't look at the balls."
Biana blushed bright pink. "I don't care. It's still private parts."
"It's perfectly fine," June said.
"Yeah, I have to side with my sister on this one," Sophie agreed. "You don't have to look at it if you don't want to. Why are we even talking about this?"
"Because Keefe," June said eloquently.
"You're right," Fitz said. "We need a plan. Personally, I think we should keep following the Black Swan's clues. Once we get into the corridor, I bet the rest of their instructions will make sense, we just need to figure out how to get past security and-"
"Or, we could just do this," June said, snapping her fingers again, causing a boom somewhere in the distance. All the firement and reporters immediately turned towards the sound, rushing to see what the problem was.
"I guess that works," Sophie admitted as they reached the entrance of the museum, which was locked by a stone facade. "How'd you do that?"
"I disrupt soundwaves and combine them together. That was actually the sound of people slurping gelato magnified by a lot. I can make more -- watch."
Another boom, this time sounding like footsteps. Still, it worked.
"Sophie, where are the security cameras?" Dex asked. "I could disable them, or we could just get June to destroy them."
Sophie closed her eyes. "One on the upper floor, east corner, two on the lower floors, west and north."
June nodded, fishing out Glistensteel. "I'll be able to break all of them, just not quick enough. I'll need cover."
"I can do that," Dex said, "but I'm going to have to ruin the obscurer."
"Is that the only way?" Fitz asked.
"No, I thought it'd be fun to make things extra hard and dangerous!"
"Hey," Sophie said, stepping between them, "no time for fighting. June, control your boyfriend."
"How was that my fault?" Fitz protested.
Dex twisted the obscurer apart and tinkered with the gears, pulling out several cogs and springs and shoved them into his pocket. June took out her elemental crystals and pointed Glistensteel at them. Three beams of grey energy shot at the blade's point, and she angled it towards the locked door.
"Here, Wonderboy. Catch," Dex said, tossing him a contraption. He caught his with his mind and spun it around a couple times, before dropping it into his hand.
"As soon as I open the door," Dex told Fitz, "roll that in. That should create a bright enough explosion to blind the cameras. Then, June, destroy them, and we get to the door as fast as we can."
Dex tapped his fingertips against the lock and the door clicked open.
Fitz bowled the obscurer into the museum and it streaked across the floor, blaring white noise and blinding everyone with a flash. June stepped in and focused on the distortion of air.
Two small pockets, west and north. June simply let the air expand while raising Glistensteel upwards. The air warped as two bolts shot from the tip, and June heard the sound of security cameras falling to the ground.
She extended her conscience, letting the air guide her as her mind moved upstairs, searching for the camera east. The air reacted before she did. Another bolt shot from Glistensteel and another crash and bang. The light faded, and the only traces left were three strokes of runny air.
Everyone pulled into the museum and Dex locked the door behind him. They scrambled upstairs to find an assortment of doors.
"Which one is it?" Fitz asked.
"I think we're supposed to go west," Sophie said. "Everyone look for a green room and a plain wooden doorway."
Biana found it. Fitz rattled the locked doors until Dex pushed him aside. "Leave this to the experts."
Several agonizing seconds passed.
"This lock makes no sense," Dex muttered.
Glistensteel extended into a saber and June struck the door, her sword flashing and scraping against the wood, screeching and cutting out a rectangle entrance for them to go through.
"I guess that works too," he said, shrugging as he led them inside. "There's a lot of cameras here, much more than in the museum. Be careful and keep your head down. Also, next clue, please."
The Path of the Privileged was a grand hallway, gilded and decorated with frescoes, the walls covered in priceless paintings. Of course, it was nothing compared to Havenfield or Everglen, but it was still astonishing for humans. June tried to think about how much manual labor and money went into constructing this passageway.
"Wasn't it the one with the blood?" Biana asked. "If it was, think it has anything to do with this?"
They stopped in front of a cluster of portraits that looked like they'd been burned and pieced back together.
"No. Those paintings were destroyed during a terrorist attack back in the 1990s," Sophie whispered. "I can't imagine the Black Swan would ever call that blood turned precious."
Biana shuddered. "Humans are so awful to each other."
"Elves are too," June found herself whispering. "Fintan murdered Kenric. Brant murdered Jolie. All for the same reasons humans attack each other. Their own views, their disagreements with the government, the unfairness of their treatment. But that doesn't make their actions right, does it? It's exactly this situation. This could be Eternalia, destroyed to prove a point."
"Are you saying elves are as bad as humans?" Biana asked.
A tear dropped down June's cheek.
"I'm saying we're not as different as we should be."
Wipe away and start anew.
"Certain elves, especially," Keefe added. The bitterness in his voice made it clear he meant his mom.
"Wasn't the eyes watching eternal thing before blood turned precious?" June asked. "Is that referring to a painting or a window?"
"Probably the window," Sophie mused, "since we're right here. That barred round window's called Cosimo's eyes. They were his way of keeping watch as he walked through the city. That's the next clue."
"Great, so now the blood part is next?" Biana asked with a grimace.
"Actually, I think I know what that means, and it's not as bad as you're thinking."
June recalled a history documentary Dex had made her watch as a dare once. "The Ponte Vecchio?"
Sophie nodded.
"There used to be butchers here," June explained. "Dex, you should remember, from that documentary. The Medicis moved the gold merchants here to fit better with their Path of the Privileged."
Biana gagged. "That's disgusting."
"Hey -- check out that view," Keefe said. "I'll give humans this, they make their own kind of beauty. Even if that river looks pretty brown."
June's brows creased. "We probably shouldn't stay here."
"Yeah, I remember now. This is the window Hitler added," Dex said.
"Let's go," Sophie said.
At least the elves could never match Hitler-level atrocities. Auschwitz was... she didn't want to think about it.
"We must be getting close to the next clue," she muttered, trying to stay focused. "Anyone see a tower? I'm guessing it's part of the corridor somehow."
"What do you think they mean about it not yielding?" Fitz asked as the corridor made a sharp turn.
Then another.
And another.
Sophie stopped. "I think we're here. Vasari-"
"I found it," June interrupted, pointing to the swan under her feet, shaped like a crack.
Sophie blinked. "Wow. That was rude. I had this whole realization speech prepared, and I was expecting praise too. Of course you just outdo me."
June smirked at her. "That's my role, sister."
"I feel a latch," Dex said, pressing his palm against the floor. He twisted his hand a few times, miming turning a doorknob, and a quiet click made the floor drop away.
They started at the rusty ladder leading down into the misty darkness.
"Okay, so who wants to-"
June jumped.
The darkness swallowed her, and she focused on the wind under her, pressurizing it to make a cushion like she tried to after the splotcher explosion. This time, with her improved concentration, elemental crystals, and better training, she could manage it with ease. The air softened and she dropped down, crashing onto the air mattress, which felt like falling in a pit of foam.
"All clear!" she shouted. She could faintly make out traces of Fitz and Sophie cursing, and she smiled slightly.
"Yes," Mr. Forkle called, walking up to her. "You kids took your sweet time getting here!"
"Not to complain," Keefe said as he stepped ino the ankle-deep sludge, "but you guys seriously need to pick some better hideouts."
"This is not our hideout," Mr. Forkle said, handing them each a pendant. June breathed on it and the balefire inside activated.
Balefire. Fintan's signature flame.
June wanted to smash the crystal against a wall. If only Fintan had never discovered the existence of Everblaze.
Then no lives would've been lost. The Council wouldn't have banned pyrokinesis. Brant would be happily married to Jolie, and she would still be alive. The entire Neverseen would never be formed. Sophie wouldn't have been kidnapped. Kenric wouldn't be dead-
Stop.
Don't think about the past.
This is a new start. A new spring.
A shadowy path stretched ahead. June clutched the balefire crystal as she cautiously poked her head down the hideout.
"Actually, that path only goes to our demolished hideout," Mr. Forkle said.
"So it was at the Palazzo Vecchio?" Sophie asked.
"No, that was marked as a decoy. But if the Neverseen found it, we knew it was only a matter of time before they located the real one. So I collapsed our grotto before I came here."
"Where are we going, then?" Dex asked.
"Through our emergency exit." Mr. Forkle licked one of the slime covered bricks, opening a secret door inside a wall. June had to admit, that was a genius exit. No one would ever even want to try that, even if they knew where the hideout was.
The air in the tunnel smelled like eggs mixed with skunk spray. June gagged as she waved her hand, blowing away the horrendous odor. Cold slimy muck rained down on their heads as they walked.
"Do you know how the Neverseen found your decoy?" Sophie asked.
"I swear it wasn't me," Keefe jumped in. "I threw my Sencen Crest into the ocean, and Elwin melted off a ton of skin, so I am aromark free. Remind me to thank my mom for that one, by the way. So awesome of her to lead my friends into ambushes."
Sophie reached for his hand.
"At least they didn't work," June muttered. "If the attack on Silveny hadn't gone wrong, or if the leaps were interrupted... at least we're all here. We're completely fine, Keefe. Focus on the present."
"We do not blame you, Mr. Sencen," Mr. Forkle said. "We assume they used Gethen. We'd been holding him here after we captured him on Mount Everest, but don't worry, we've relocated him somewhere much harder to reach. And we'll figure out what enzyme they're tracking him with so this won't ever happen again."
"Hopefully," June said. "You never know what tricks they might have up their sleeve. Who knows if they secretly -- I don't know -- put ogre enzymes on your toenails without you realizing?"
"I wear shoes, Ms. Ruewen," Mr. Forkle said. "I doubt the Neverseen are ambushing my house and sneaking tracking enzymes into my shoes."
"Have you learned anything from Gethen yet?" Keefe asked.
"Not yet," Mr. Forkle said. "His mind is... tricky. We'll discuss it more later. Right now, I need to get you to your new homes."
June wasn't sure which felt stranger -- trying to imagine feeling at home with the Black Swan, or the fact that he'd said 'homes'. They certainly wouldn't be living in different hideouts, would they?
"Are we going to be living together?" Biana asked.
"Of course."
"Will you be living with us?"
"No. I live in the Lost Cities. I cannot disappear too long without someone noticing my absence."
"Especially on weekdays," June said, giving him a pointed look. He nodded curtly. June had discovered his identity as Magnate Leto a while ago.
"But you lived with humans for twelve years," Sophie reminded him.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he actually cloned himself," June said. "That would allow him to be in two different places at once, literally."
Keefe bumped into him and frowned. June frowned after seeing him frown.
"So wait," Dex said. "Does that mean we could've met members of the Black Swan and didn't know it?"
"You have already," he said. "In fact, June has discovered one of my identities, though she is very unlikely to tell you. And Dex, I will say, many of us are very accustomed to your father's store."
"Interesting," Dex mused. "I should keep track of what appearance-changing elixirs are being sold."
"It won't help. Our purchases are not made... directly."
"What does that mean?" June asked. "That seems... oh, hmm..."
"So basically, you're all two different people?"
"Or three," Mr. Forkle corrected. "Perhaps even four or five. And yes, that can be rather challenging." He lifted his double chin, revealing a registry pendant hidden underneath. "Our Technopath rigged this to communicate where I want the Council to think I am. But it only covers blocks of time."
June frowned. There was something weird, and she didn't think it had anything to do with the Black Swan or Neverseen. It felt... weirdly cramped.
She closed her eyes and carefully searched the air for disturbances. There was an empty pocket next to her.
Shaped like a human figure.