She’s also really good at lying to Empaths.

She tried to steal the alicorns several times.

One of her plans used to be called “the Lodestar Initiative” and had its own symbol and a bunch of fancy hideouts and stuff. But it seems like she’s mostly abandoned all of that—maybe because of stuff Fintan did when he overthrew her?

She built her own “Nightfall” facility, sealed the door with her son’s blood, and created the creepy gorgodons to guard the place. I don’t know what she planned to use it for—it looked like she stored all the soporidine there, but it was gone by the time we were able to sneak in. All that was left was Alvar, lying bloody and unconscious in a cell—which turned out to be another trap.

She wrote this book called the Archetype and locked it with a special key that Keefe found hidden at Candleshade. I guess it’s her long, boring explanation of all her theories—some of which are based on Vespera’s ideas (but Vespera seems to think Gisela’s wrong about a ton of stuff and that they actually have opposite visions). No one knows where the Archetype is right now. But we still have the key, in case we find it.

She tried to destroy Atlantis as part of some evil test for me and Keefe, to see if we’re ready to “make hard choices.” She also tried to kill Ro, to punish King Dimitar for the scars he gave her (and the time she spent in his prison).

She took Tam hostage and had Glimmer put these weird bonds on his wrists to force him to do whatever awful things she wanted.

She used Keefe for different tasks, like having him spy on his friends or deliver stuff for her—and then erased his memories (or shattered the worst ones) so he wouldn’t know what he’d done.

She also hid a tracker in Keefe’s Sencen crest pin and used it to follow him to the Black Swan (and totally attacked her own son during those ambushes).

She even rigged his Imparter so she could eavesdrop on him.

She also loves to talk about Keefe’s “legacy,” like she has this huge master plan for him—even though she also used to claim that she never experimented on her son. Turns out Keefe was part of something she calls stellarlune. I don’t know the specifics yet, but it seems like it had to do with exposing herself and her husband to shadowflux and quintessence before trying to have a baby—and then exposing Keefe to a whole lot more in Loamnore to “transform” him. We won’t know more until Keefe wakes up.

So she’s basically the worst mother ever—and someday I’m going to make her pay for every horrible thing she’s ever done. I don’t know how or when yet. But it will happen.

 

Things I know about Vespera

 

She’s one of the Ancients.

She’s an Empath (but it’s made her go numb).

She spent several thousand years locked away in Lumenaria’s dungeon because of the experiments she was doing on humans, trying to understand their capacity for violence and learn how elves could effectively be more ruthless.She’s the real reason the elvin-human alliance fell apart. But the Council covered that up.

She’s a master of creating illusions and worked with Luzia Vacker to design the tricks that keep the Lost Cities hidden.

She wears a headpiece that’s kind of like a really strong thinking cap and blocks everyone from being able to use their abilities on her.

She took my human parents and used them for her horrifying experiments because she wanted to figure out why the Black Swan chose them for Project Moonlark.

She shoved Biana through some of her mirrors in Nightfall, intentionally trying to give her scars so she’d “never be the same.”

She made Alvar open the gates to Lumenaria and made Umber open the hidden troll hive as some sort of vendetta to expose Luzia Vacker—and had no problem cowering under a force field and then fleeing to safety when the newborn trolls turned everything bloody.

Basically she’s psychotic—and I don’t think sending her back to prison is going to be enough to stop her.

 

Things I know about Fintan

He’s Ancient.

He’s a Pyrokinetic.

He created Balefire.

He used to be a Councillor—until he tried to teach five of his Pyrokinetic friends how to call down Everblaze, and it turned into an inferno that killed everyone except him. Pyrokinesis was banned after that, and he had to step down, since Councillors can’t be Talentless.

He trained Brant in pyrokinesis—and managed to keep Brant’s identity secret during the memory break the Council ordered.

When I tried to heal his mind, he called down Everblaze and killed Councillor Kenric (and destroyed half of Eternalia).

He faked his death and only revealed that he was still alive when he thought he was winning with the gnomish plague.

He overpowered Lady Gisela and sent her to an ogre prison, becoming the new leader of the Neverseen.

He keeps a list called Criterion, which seems to have something to do with emotions, because he made Keefe help him with it during their training sessions (when Keefe was trying to infiltrate the Neverseen).

I don’t know if he’s the one who tortured Wylie, or if it was Brant—either way, I know he fully supported that disgusting interrogation.

He showed up to the Peace Summit in Lumenaria because he knew the Council would put him in the dungeon and he could help Gethen knock down the castle and set Vespera free.

He let Keefe think he was stealing his cache—and Kenric’s cache—when Keefe fled the Neverseen. But the caches were actually fake.

He was captured by Grady while trying to sneak away from Vespera’s version of Nightfall, and he’s now being held in a special prison designed to make sure he’ll never have enough heat to escape.

He’s training Marella in pyrokinesis—which could be a really bad idea. But he’s the only one who can help her truly learn to control her ability.

He might be willing to help us with other things, since he doesn’t seem all that loyal to the Neverseen now that Lady Gisela’s in charge again—but his help never comes free, and I’m not sure what we can offer.

 

Things I know about Brant

He was engaged to Jolie (who loved him more than anything).

Everyone thought he was Talentless. But he was secretly a Pyrokinetic.

He joined the Neverseen because he hated the Council for banning pyrokinesis and forcing him to be Talentless, since it made him a bad match and caused a ton of problems for him and Jolie.

He tried to recruit Jolie to join the Neverseen, which was how she figured out what he was doing. She tried to get him to stop, and he lost his temper and accidentally sparked the fire that killed her (and left him brutally scarred—and more than a little unstable).

He was the kidnapper who burned me (and Dex) during the interrogations and set the Everblaze in the Forbidden Cities.

He let Grady and Edaline take care of him for the next sixteen years, even though he’d murdered their daughter.

When Grady finally learned the truth and confronted him, Brant tried to kill him. Grady was stronger and made Brant burn off his own hand before I stopped him from doing more, because I didn’t want Grady to damage his sanity.

I had to let Brant escape as part of the deal I made, to find out what the Neverseen were planning for their attack on Mount Everest, so I could warn my friends before it was too late.