Flashback ( PDFDrive )

beside her, holding her hands and filling her mind with soothing
breezes.
“You okay?” he asked when her breathing steadied.
“I think so,” she whispered. “Just . . . kind of in shock.”
He nodded. “Sounds about right.”
“Pretty sure we all are,” Dex said quietly as he made his way over,
followed by Linh, Marella, and Wylie.
“I have a feeling we’re going to have to drag them out of there when
it’s time to seal the hive,” Tam added as he joined them.
Sophie blinked. Right. They had to seal the hive.
With Alvar in there.
Now she understood what Keefe meant by “complicated.”
“How much longer do we have before we have to seal it?” Sophie
whispered, barely getting the words past her dry throat.
“Tarina said we could give them another hour,” Tam said. “But not
much more than that.”
“I hailed Alden and Della,” Keefe added quietly. “In case they
wanted to . . . you know . . . I think they’re going to try to rush over as
soon as they can break free from all the chaos at the festival—and
don’t worry,” Keefe added, sending another calming breeze into
Sophie’s head, “he said everyone’s safe over there. It sounded like
something big went down with my mom, but no one was hurt.”
No one was hurt.
Sophie clung to the words, repeating them over and over in her
head, reminding herself how incredibly lucky they’d been. Once again
they’d miscalculated the Neverseen’s plans—and hadn’t been nearly as
ready as they should’ve been. And yet: No one was hurt.