Flashback ( PDFDrive )

Sophie spun around to find Marella watching her with folded arms.
The blond, pixielike girl was what most would describe as petite—but
Marella’s feisty attitude was anything but small. Her ice blue eyes
narrowed as she studied Sophie, and Sophie tried not to squirm under
the scrutiny. Their friendship had always been very on again, off
again. And it was highly possible that Sophie’s absence over the last
few weeks had driven another wedge between them.
“Interesting welcome party you’ve got downstairs,” Marella told
her, twisting one of the tiny braids scattered throughout her long,
wavy hair. “The troll won’t stop asking Tam questions. And the ogre’s
glaring daggers at Linh. I’m guessing he’s realized she’s the one who
flooded Ravagog.”
Sophie blinked. “Tam and Linh are here?”
“Yep. And Wylie. He’s busy glaring back at your ogre for glaring at
Linh. So there’s, like, a fifty-fifty chance we’re going to find a scuffle
when we head back down. That’s why Sandor sent me up to get you.”
Sophie headed for the stairs. “What are you guys doing here?”
“I told you—we want in on your training. We’d been meeting at
Everglen with Biana and Woltzer, but then that place became a prison.
And Lovise was supposed to take over at Dex’s house, but he’s been off
doing Technopath things. So we’ve been practicing as much as we can
at Tam and Linh’s place, but we haven’t had anyone to teach us, so
we’re not making a whole lot of progress. I’m sure you can imagine
our surprise when we found out you’ve been getting private lessons
and didn’t bother to invite us.”
She layered on the irritation nice and thick, and Sophie stopped at
the top of the stairs, turning to face her. This was the kind of thing
they needed to settle as soon as possible.