Grady did not like the way Keefe Sencen looked at Sophie.
Or the way he was inching closer to her as they talked.
Or the way he'd given her a necklace.
She was too young to be getting jewelry and attention from boys--especially Keefe Sencen.
That boy was trouble.
Okay, fine, he seemed like a nice enough kid--a little rebellious, a little incapable of taking things seriously, but...
Still.
Any boy who looked at Sophie like that was trouble in Grady's book.
Especially since she seemed to like it.
Edaline had all but forced Grady to leap back to Havenfield without Sophie, and was already back in the house, apparently doing a better job than Grady of pretending she wasn't curious or worried about what those two were getting up to.
But then...
It hadn't been very long, just a few minutes really, when Sophie leapt home.
Grady was still in the pastures, because he'd been trying to distract himself with work, so he saw her the moment she appeared.
And crumpled to the ground sobbing.
What did that idiot boy do?
Grady ran to her and pulled her into his arms. "Sophie? Sophie, kiddo, what's wrong?"
And when she told him--between sobs--he couldn't believe his ears.
He'd had his doubts about Keefe, but this?
Without another word, Grady led Sophie inside, calling for Edaline as he helped her up to her room.
And left just long enough to contact the Collective, Grady's blood boiling as all the implications of what that boy had done began to sink in.
He'd tricked her. Flirted with her, given her a necklace, played nice, gotten her to trust him.
To confide in him.
And then he'd stolen from her.
And run off to join the enemy.
The ones who had tried to kill her.
The ones who had killed Jolie.
And Grady had fallen for it again. Just like he'd fallen for it with Brant.
He'd trusted Keefe--maybe not with Sophie's heart, but with her life.
And Keefe had proved untrustworthy on both counts.
It was with a horrible sense of history repeating himself that Grady ushered the Collective through the door and up to Sophie's bedroom.
He wanted to hail Elwin to check her over, but she insisted she hadn't been harmed at all.
And she didn't seem to be hurt...physically.
But he hadn't seen her this heartbroken since...well, since she'd accidentally found out that they'd cancelled her adoption.
Not one of his finest moments. It was actually one of his deepest regrets, even now that they had moved past it.
He listened as Sophie told the Collective what had happened.
She'd stopped crying, but she looked completely heartbroken. Grady had known they were close, but for her to react like this...clearly Sophie had been in deeper than he realized.
Apparently, deeper than even she realized.
He and Edaline were both seated with Sophie on her bed, and Edaline's hand never left Sophie's. Once she had told the Collective, there had been several seconds of complete and utter silence before Mr. Forkle began pacing and asked to hear everything again.
Grady almost said no. He almost told them that no, she shouldn't have to give an account again, because she looked like it might be more than she could bear to keep reliving it.
But he allowed it, because this was reality now.
She would have to come to terms with it.
That boy was a traitor.
Of all the people for her to trust, to open up to, to let into her life.
It had to be him.
Listening to the story again, Grady couldn't help it. His hands curled into white-knuckled fists. "I knew we shouldn't have left you alone with that boy!" That stupid, foolish, cruel, dangerous boy.
He had already imagined at least a dozen different ways he could harm that boy if he ever came near his daughter again.
Some things were worth facing a Tribunal for.
But...Sophie wouldn't want him to. She'd stopped him from killing Brant. She didn't want him to lose himself.
So, fine. He wouldn't hurt Keefe.
Much.
"If it makes you feel any better," Sophie mumbled, "he didn't want me there either."
"Which is significant," Granite jumped in. "He clearly never meant to put Sophie in danger, and he took quite a big risk getting her out of there."
"What do you think the Neverseen will do to him?" Sophie whispered. "They'll have to know he helped me."
You have this all wrong. Don't waste your time worrying about him.
"Perhaps not," Mr. Forkle said quietly. "Mr. Sencen has always had a talent for spinning convincing stories and excuses."
"You mean lying," Grady corrected bitterly.
"It's a trick we've all been forced to rely on at times," Granite reminded him, gesturing to his rocky disguise. "I understand the disappointment you're feeling--"
"I'm more than disappointed!" Grady snapped.
He wasn't disappointed. He was furious.
He couldn't let this happen again.
Not again.
The thought of something happening to Sophie was always terrifying, but to lose her the same way they'd lost Jolie? At the hands of someone she cared about, someone who betrayed her?
Edaline took his hand, trying to calm him. It didn't work, but he did at least refrain from saying anything else.
Deep down, he knew that Keefe wasn't as dangerous as Grady currently felt like he was.
He suspected Keefe was just a hurting, confused, scared boy that was desperate for answers and was looking for them in the wrong place.
But to involve Sophie? That was...unforgiveable.
"I know," Granite tried again. "But right now, our focus should be on developing our contingency plan."
"What do you mean?" Sophie asked.
"Mr. Sencen knows quite a lot about our organization," Mr. Forkle said, "including the location of Alluveterre, and my identity as Sir Astin, as well as the Hekses involvement."
Well, this just kept getting better and better.
"You don't think he'd tell the Neverseen that, do you?" she asked him.
Of course he will.
"We have to prepare for the possibility." Granite turned to Blur, Squall, and Wraith. "Can you increase security at Alluveterre? And explain the situation to Tam and Linh, and Vika and Timkin?"
"Sophie will need extra security as well," Mr. Forkle added. "All the children will."
"We'll take care of it," Blur said.
"I'd like to hear your plan," Grady told him. "Keefe knows far too much about Sophie for us to treat this lightly."
Must. Protect. Sophie.
"He wouldn't hurt me," Sophie insisted.
Grady shook his head, sad now. "He already has."
Grady left the room with Blur, Wraith, and Squall, already dreading the moment Sophie would have to tell the rest of her friends what had happened. He wished he could take that pain from her, but he knew she had to endure it. She had to face it head on.
Once again, this brave, kind, beautiful girl of his would have to face challenges from which Grady could not protect her.
And he had no doubt that once again, she would rise to the occasion.