𝓟𝐫𝗼𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝓢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐞

Chapter #26 - Sophie

Chapter #26 - Sophie

She gave me a big speech on the power of words and different ways of processing information. But I was only half listening because she gets—

Lord Cassius startled her by grabbing the notebook.

"Hey! I was reading that!"

He ignored her and scanned the pages, raising his eyebrows at certain parts. After 104 seconds, he said, "Some of the things in here seem... personal."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sophie paused a second, then it hit her. She hated herself for not realizing it sooner. "Oh, I get it. You're just worried about the awful things I might see about what you've done and said to him over the years." She rolled her eyes and snatched the notebook back. She wasn't gonna let Cassius control her like that.

"Actually, that's not what I was referring to..."

"Then what were you referring to?" Sophie looked right into his cold, ice blue eyes, edging him to continue. She added, "You can either tell me or I'll read the notebook anyway."

Slowly— and to Sophie's surprise— a smile spread across Lord Cassius's face, almost as oily and unnerving as his overly gelled hair.

"You know what? I don't even care anymore. Read the notebook as you wish— my son deserves to have his privacy invaded." The way he had called it an "invasion" made Sophie hesitate about reading more. But... she hated that she kind of agreed with him. Keefe had put her through so much; if reading his notebook was needed to find him, she shouldn't ignore it just because it was "personal."

—this cute little crinkle between her eyebrows when she's trying to be serious, and it makes me want to reach out and smooth it with my fingertip— which would be weird since it's not like she's my...

Suddenly, she was interrupted once again— so quickly she didn't really get time to let the words of what she'd just read sink in. But this time the disruption came from a new, third figure that had arrived in the doorway.

Unexpectedly, it was Ro.

The ogre smirked, "I had a feeling you'd arrive here eventually, Blondie. You're dad's been looking for you, but you weren't at Solreef anymore. And once the news that he was looking for you hit Everglen, I knew you'd come here to the Waves Of Wimpiness."

"That's Shores Of Solace," Lord Cassius corrected, and Ro rolled her eyes.

Sophie ignored them, and asked, "How'd you figure that out?"

"Well, I knew eventually you'd check the notebooks— though I gotta say, you thought to check them faster than I expected. I guess Hunkyhair has a good point with the whole beauty-and-brains thing."

And before she could read into that too much...

Then again, she remembered what she had read so far in the journal.

Could Keefe...

No way. He couldn't possibly.

She let Ro's other words sink in, and felt a stab of guilt. Sophie had leaped out of Solreef without even considering telling Grady and Edaline— or anyone, for that matter— where she was going.

Sophie stood up straighter and said, "Ugh— I completely forgot to tell my parents where I was going. They must be so worried." She tucked the notebook under her arm, hoping Grady and Edaline weren't too anxious. "I'll read this later." She gave Lord Cassius one last well-deserved glare.

***

"Sophie! I'm glad you're okay."

As soon as Sophie arrived into Havenfield, Grady rushed up and wrapped his arms around her worriedly. "You weren't at Solreef anymore," he muttered, "and everyone thought you had gone home, so when we didn't know where you were... let's just say I'm glad Ro found you. And that Edaline was visiting Juline and didn't have to experience the scare I did."

"I'm sorry," Sophie said, her voice muffled by the hug, "I should've told you. I went to the Shores Of Solace— I wanted to see if there were any clues as to where Keefe had gone this time in his old journals." Grady let go, and became veryfidgety.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," he said simply, turning away. His mouth seemed to form words, but then it shifted. "You know what? I'm not gonna lie to you. Just... don't freak out until I'm done telling," he took a deep breath, leaving Sophie to wonder what he was going to say for three neverending seconds, "Keefe came here."

"What?! You mean, like, before he left, right?" He couldn't mean...

"No. He came here again to get and tell me something. Trust me— I tried to get him to stay, but it was no use." He looked down, "What's important is what he told me."

So many questions were spiraling through Sophie's head, but she chose to ask the most relevant one: "And what was that?" She eyed Grady, and it was clear there was something he knew that he wasn't letting on.

"It's probably better if I tell you with everyone else here. Also— you look more exhausted than I do after wrestling the verminion a dozen times."

She sighed, "Yeah. I've been getting that a lot."

But she wouldn't let him off the hook that easily.

So as they went into the most epic father-daughter staring contest to end all staring contests, there was suddenly a call on an imparter. Grady flinched when he heard the familiar ring of it, like he was expecting a call, Sophie noticed. But he became less tense when he realized it was coming from Sophie's pocket— not his.

She fished into the fold of fabric at the ankles of her pants to get it out— even though Sophie had been with elves for several years, she doubted she would ever get used to having pockets so close to her feet— surprised to find Glimmer's face. Well, hood.

She began to speak, and Sophie braced for a huge revelation. She'd been getting plenty of that sort of news on imparters recently.

"I took the Forkle guy's imparter for this, since he and Tiergan are too busy fighting again." Glimmer sighed passive-aggressively, though her next words sounded almost... worried. "So I thought I might be the one to tell you what happened. Someone in the Neverseen took the caches— though strangely enough, they left the scrolls."