Sophie turned restlessly that night, exhausted and yet still unable to fall asleep. When she finally did, she was only able to sleep for a little before she shot up in a cold sweat, terrified and sure that all of her memories were slipping away as she slept.

Sophie's eyes darted around as she frantically tried to recall what she had done the previous day, shaking off her grogginess. She was extremely relieved when she remembered the fight and the food. She could still remember how Ruy dodged her questions concerning her little attacks.

Which set her off onto panicking all over again. Eventually, she finally coaxed herself back to sleep, only to wake again, sweating and swallowing a scream.

And the whole process started again.

The next time Sophie woke up, shaking, she didn't waste her time trying to sleep again. She figured she'd gotten all that she would be able to get. Instead, she rolled over, not facing the wall anymore.

She'd probably only gotten a few hours of sleep. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, she ended up looking at Umber's empty bed.

Sophie hadn't even gotten to know her before she died. She gritted her teeth, mad that someone who actually had the right ideas in their head had gotten killed. And in a fight against a group who thought they knew better, no less.

She wondered where Umber's replacement slept. Tam. She barely saw him in the hideout, despite him being there since before she came. Maybe the Neverseen was purposely keeping them apart.

And now she was thinking about her old friends again. She shivered and tried to shove all the memories away. She didn't need this right now.

She reached over the side of her bed, grunting as she picked up a knife and started methodically sharpening it. She focused on the low, metallic scraaaape each stroke made.

When the blade was so sharp that Sophie could have tapped it lightly and it would have split her skin open, she tucked it away. She grew bored, and her eyes roved around the room.

Looking at her cloak, her gaze caught on where she could see the faint outline of one of the Technopath's—Pixel, according to Ruy—tiny round gadgets that Sophie always kept with her.

Instantly, her curiosity was piqued as she remembered Ruy say that he would take her to see Pixel. But it was, like, four-something-odd in the morning, so no one except Sophie was awake.

But maybe Pixel was. It could be possible. And anyways, if he wasn't, at least she'd know where he stayed.

And plus—Sophie realized that she hadn't done that much exploring in the seven months since she'd gotten here. There was at least a good half of the Neverseen hideout that Sophie had never set foot in.

She pulled her cloak over her shoulders and silently stepped out her door.

Sophie's footsteps falling on the cold, black floor were soft and padded, detectable to only her. She walked through every hall she could find, her photographic memory slowly making a map inside her head.

She saw many black doorways marked with silver runes that she still couldn't read. Even though the walls were the same silver colour as the runes, they didn't make the hallways any brighter. The only sparse lighting was offered by floating, glowing orbs infrequently hovering on the walls.

She was just walking down the last hallway of the ones she'd never seen before when a door that was different from the rest captured her attention. It was black, just like the rest, but a bit wider and a bit taller. It didn't have a rune on it, but it did have sliver, spindly wires lacing across it from side to side, top to bottom, in twisted patterns.

Wires. Could this be Pixel's door?

She raised her hand to knock, but before she even touched it, it slid open with an almost undetectable grinding noise. She held her breath and stepped in.

It was most definitely where the Neverseen's infamous Technopath spent most of his time. But it was unlike any other Technopath's lab she had seen. It was sleeker and more organized. The walls were specked with something tiny that gave off a glowy blue light. There were no half-finished gadgets just laying around in random spots, no wires or techy things sticking out of places disjointedly. Everything had a place. Everything was easy to find; coordinated.

Against the wall parallel to the door, a silver worktable stood. She'd have expected that, too, to be strewn with random wires and tools, but even the process in which Pixel made his gadgets seemed neat and organized. Whereas all of—most of—Dex's gadgets looked spunky and weird, not conformed to any shape, everything Pixel did looked planned out and exactly like he had intended them to be.

And then there was Pixel himself, standing in the corner, brushing his hands over tiny orbs set into the wall in rows and columns. They flickered and lit up as his hands roved over them, each showing something different.

Light poured out of a device hooked onto his left arm, large enough to take up almost his entire forearm. The light hovered and shone against the wall, moving along with his movements.

Pixel had spiked, messy, light-brown hair, sleeves pushed up to his elbows, and tanned skin. His boots were laced neatly, and he stood with his feet planted apart. His fingers were constantly moving. Over the orbs, on either side of him, up and down, the device on his forearm, something on the low table nest to him.

When he turned to face her, she caught sight of his eyes. They were such a bright, saturated blue that they made everything look dull and dispirited.

He cocked his head. "Sophie Foster," he drawled. "The famous Moonlark. Or, infamous now."

"Pixel," she said. "That's what they call you, right?"

He gave a curt nod.

Sophie spun in a slow circle, examining everything in the room. She was careful not to touch anything, because she didn't know what would happen if she did. And she didn't particularly feel like losing a limb.

"This kind of reminds me of Tinker's place," Sophie mused. "Except. . . neater."

"Tinker?" Pixel asked, intrigued.

"The Black Swan's Technopath."

"Ah." Sophie spotted a see-through, glittering contraption, and almost reached out to touch it, but at Pixel's look—poorly-concealed excitement—she didn't.

Then, she spotted some prototypes of the same small gadgets she'd grown to like. The ones that she always grabbed before training, and the ones she had used against the Black Swan in the Alluveterre raid.

Now these she knew were safe to touch. Or so she thought. She picked one up, and she didn't immediately die, which she took as a good sign. "These things are amazing," she said.

"They each take three minutes," he said dryly.

Something hit her then. Maybe he knew something about her headaches, her attacks. And if not—maybe he could do something to help.

"Do you—" she started, but was cut off by a loud bang that came from Pixel's worktable. One of the gadgets on it started vibrating incessantly. It jumped around before eventually rolling off the table and landing on the ground with a soft clink. The device wasn't that big, but still, Sophie was surprised at how little sound it made for its size when it landed.

Pixel strode over to pick it back up and make it stop, and Sophie lost her nerve to ask him. She'd find a solution herself—or maybe it would stop on its own. She turned around and busied herself in continuing to examine the various technologies Pixel had come up with.

She heard him go back over to the wall of orbs, unbothered by her presence.

She spun around to face him. He spun around so his back was to her again. He waved a hand to the wall of orbs, making them go blank, before walking over to his worktable and tinkering with a new gadget on it. "How did you know I was coming?" she asked. "The door opened before I even touched it." And she wasn't naive enough to think that Pixel had the door set to open whenever someone came near it.

"I let you in," he said matter-of-factly.

"But how did you know I was there?" she pressed.

He turned his face a little to she could just see the corner of the barest grin. "It wouldn't be any fun if I went and revealed all my secrets, now would it?"

Sophie opened her mouth to say something in response, but Pixel looked down at his wide armguard-looking device and cut her off. "Speaking of my secrets, I can see Lady Gisela walking towards your room right now. She looks as if she won't be in the mood to search for you."

He tapped something twice and then held his arm over his head, the screen on his forearm facing her. He still didn't turn around. Sophie saw footage of a silhouette with an intricate updo walking purposely. Tiny pearls laced into the figure's hair glinted in the low light.

Sophie bowed dramatically, her cloak swishing. "Well. It was a pleasure meeting your acquaintance."

Again, that barest flash of a smile. A bow just as mocking. "Likewise."

Sophie swept out the door, moving through the halls even quieter than before. A plan was brewing in her mind. Her room was near the bathroom. She figured she still had enough time before Lady Gisela reached her hall to slip in undetected, but not enough to go into her room. Lady Gisela would just hear the door clicking, just see it close. The bathroom was closer than her room, but still in the same hall.

And Sophie did. She quietly closed the bathroom door right as she heard heels clicking around the corner. She tapped the sleek plate above the fancy sink to turn on the water, and wet her hands.

She stepped back out as soon as she heard a knock on her bedroom door, wiping her hands on her cloak. She put on a look of surprise. "Did you need me?" she asked.

Gisela spun around. "Yes. Come with me."

"Where are we going?" Sophie asked, lengthening her strides to keep up with Lady Gisela's quick pace.

Sophie knew something lots of people wouldn't like was going down when she caught sight of Lady Gisela's chilling smile. "The Forbidden Cities," she said.

Sophie crossed her arms. Again? Huh. "And what are we doing?"

Lady Gisela's smile grew wider. "Planting."