Flashback ( PDFDrive )

“This is the hive?” Sophie asked, backing away from the towering briar
patch blocking a thin opening in the side of a jagged cliff. Even the
smallest thorns were bigger than her head and packed so tightly
together that Sophie couldn’t see a way through that wouldn’t involve
getting impaled.
The entrance itself was also so narrow that even if Sophie turned
sideways, she wasn’t sure how she’d squeeze inside. But there were no
other gaps in the rock—and the cliff ended at a slimy-looking lake
that stretched for miles.
Honestly, Luzia’s new property was a huge step down from
Everglen.
“Don’t believe everything your eyes are telling you,” Luzia told her.
“The hive is protected by numerous illusions, and I don’t have time to
walk you through it, so I’m counting on you to figure it out. Once you
have the alicorns sealed safely inside the transport pods, find
somewhere private and hail me. I’ll make sure I carry an Imparter.”
With that, she raced back the way they’d come, down the bumpy
path that wound into the forest.
“Think that means the briars aren’t really there?” Fitz reached out
to touch the nearest thorn—and whipped his hand back when it drew
a drop of blood.
“Do you know the trick?” Sophie asked Tarina.
Tarina shook her head, touching a different thorn and getting
pricked as well. “I’ve only visited the hive through my world, where it
isn’t camouflaged.”
Sophie sighed, wishing she could grab the nearest rock and throw it
as hard as she could. But that wouldn’t help the situation. Neither
would chasing down Luzia and forcing her to give them better