Everblaze (Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 3) by Shannon Messenger

curled inside. The sign of the swan—a black curve like a swan’s neck—had been pressed into a wax seal on the stopper.
    “I waited for you to open it,” he said as she grabbed the vial and pried at the seal.
    Her pulse pounded in her ears as she removed the crystal stopper. She’d gotten dozens of notes from the Black Swan before, but this one felt bigger.
    This time, they were responding to her .
    But her excitement quickly faded as she read their carefully written message:
    Your request is denied, for your own protection.

FOURTEEN
    D UDE, WHAT IS UP WITH them not rhyming?” Keefe asked, holding up the note like he expected to find a secret message scratched into the paper.
    Sophie had done the same thing—and searched the empty bottle for clues, and checked the cave to make sure Sandor hadn’t missed anything. But of course the only thing the Black Swan had given her was the incredibly unhelpful message. Which meant her best option in the What Do I Do Now? category involved getting to Foxfire early the next day and ambushing Keefe on his way to morning orientation—though she was already regretting the decision.
    Especially when Keefe tossed the note back to her and said, “Okay, I figured out our reply. Write this down, Gigantor: You may not want to meet, but we definitely do. Name a time and a place or we’ll pelt you with sparkly poo .”
    Sophie was too angry to laugh.
    After all the times she’d risked her life to help the Black Swan. All the times she’d blindly followed their vague instructions. When it was finally her turn to go to them for help—to protect Silveny , no less—they’d cast her aside with a single, poorly written sentence.
    “Hey, don’t go,” Keefe said, grabbing her wrist to stop her.
    Sophie flinched.
    The other bruise ointment she’d tried had bleached most of the wound’s reddish color, but her skin still felt raw and tingly, and throbbed every time she bumped it.
    “I’m fine,” she said under her breath, hoping Keefe would drop it and that Sandor hadn’t noticed. She wasn’t in the mood for another Elwin visit.
    Keefe narrowed his eyes. But all he said was, “I know the Black Swan are being super jerky. But that means you need to get tougher. Make your next note a demand. Remember, you’re Sophie Foster—Mysterious Girl Extraordinaire!”
    He pumped his fist, making most of the prodigies around them turn to stare.
    “I mean it,” he added a bit quieter. “The Black Swan needs you way more than you need them. You’re the one holding all the cards.”
    Even if that were true, she had no idea how to play the game. Her one move had been leaving them a note, and they’d tossed it back in her face.
    “How is refusing to meet with me for my protection ?” she asked as they walked along the winding path toward the main Foxfire building. “I mean, if they want to keep me safe, shouldn’t they find out what I know?”
    “Maybe they already know what you know,” Keefe suggested. “Or maybe they don’t trust themselves.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, the rebels did find their hideout somehow. And we had to fly across the ocean on an alicorn, so I’m pretty sure no one followed us.”
    She stopped walking. “Are you saying you think the Black Swan has a leak?”
    “Maybe. Or maybe they’re worried they do, and that’s why they think it’s safer not to meet with you right now.”
    “That . . . actually makes sense.”
    “Of course it does. I’m a genius. That’s why you keep me around. Well, that and my stunning good looks.”
    He rumpled his hair and gave her his most confident smirk, but Sophie was too distracted to reply.
    What if the Black Swan did have a leak?
    Ten thousand questions swamped into her head, but the crowd had grown too thick for Sophie to say anything further. They’d reached the six-towered, six-colored, U-shaped main building, and everyone was funneling into the five-story glass pyramid in the center of the courtyard.