Flashback ( PDFDrive )

All rang with vulnerability and strength.
And with each new beat—each new pulse—the monster changed
shape. Until it wasn’t a monster at all. Just something else that lived
inside her. Something she could embrace. And when Sophie gave her
mind over to the shadows, the shadows welcomed her in.
And she slept as the echoes faded away.
• • •
Sophie woke to the heady perfume of exotic flowers, and when she
opened her eyes, her canopy was wrapped in the delicate vines from
the four plants Flori had brought for her, which had tripled in size
thanks to Flori’s song.
She could’ve lain there breathing it in all day.
But there was too much to do.
Starting with a visit to Everglen.
She’d brought Flori over, hoping the new song would quiet Fitz’s
echoes the same way it silenced hers. But they both got a little
sidetracked by the chaos.
Sophie had assumed there would be cleanup and changes to the
Vacker estate’s security after everything that happened. But she never
expected to see the massive gates come tumbling down.
“The Council has decided that it’s best we send the message that
there are no secrets here,” Alden explained when he spotted Sophie
staring at the fallen metal panels. “And they are probably wise.”
“Will it be safe, though?” Sophie had to ask. “Especially with . . .”
She stopped herself from mentioning Alvar.
“Don’t worry—there will be plenty of security,” Alden promised. “It
just won’t be as showy. And right now, it’s better we draw a little less