𝓟𝐫𝗼𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝓢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐞

Chapter #37 - Dex

Chapter #37 - Dex

"Sophie just..."

No one could finish the sentence.

Sophie just teleported away.

Not only that, but without them.

"Why would she do that?" Fitz asked, voicing the question everyone had to be thinking. There was a familiar frustration— an anger— etched in his features.

And if he was being honest, Dex was angry too. They'd finally been getting somewhere, were finally going to make some sort of plan involving Tinker's enhancing gadget. And then she'd spontaneously... teleported away? Probably to wherever the spyball said Keefe was, but Sophie took the spying device with her, so they couldn't even check. "She must've seen something in the spyball that freaked her out," he decided.

"I agree with TechnoBoy." Ro shoved through the crowd of bodyguards, flashing a bloodred grin— with a hint of worry underneath it. Sandor frowned, like this was already a waste of time that could be used in finding his charge. "I can't imagine Blondie just leaving unless she really had a reason. Or should I say a motivation, since that seems to be the word you elves are fond of these days."

"Does anybody recall where the spyball showed Keefe to be right before Sophie teleported?" Sandor asked with squeaky-voiced authority.

"I might..." said— surprisingly— Stina. "Well, I remember they were somewhere sunny, and with palm trees. And in the distance there was a sign with pictures of animals on it. Sort of like they were near... a zoo, humans call it?"

Everyone raised their eyebrows at her.

Stina scowled, like she was finally realizing how bad her hairspray smelled. "What?! I can be observant." She mumbled something along the lines of "Idiots."

Dex snickered quietly, at the exact moment Fitz gasped.

Teal eyes uncertain, Fitz said, "I can't be sure, since zoos aren't exactly uncommon in the Forbidden Cities, but I can think of one place with palm trees that would also give Sophie a pretty big urge to go— though I still wish she hadn't." He bit his lip. "San Diego, where she and her human family lived."

Realization dawned on Dex. He peered around Sophie's room, finally spotting her old human scrapbook on the pearl-white desk. He flipped through it, showing a couple pictures he presumed were of San Diego to Stina.

"Did it look kinda like this?"

She tilted her head, eventually nodding.

Suddenly, Ro snatched the book. "Wait a second— is this Blondie's old scrapbook??? Oh my microbes— there must be some good stuff in there." She eyed it with the mischievous awe that Dex's siblings had when they had a new supply to prank with.

Speaking of Dex's siblings...

Despite it not being the time, he couldn't help but think back to the other day.

Do you think I could join the Black Swan?

He'd seen the resolve on Rex's face that day. But that didn't stop him from worrying; from hoping his brother would see the dangers that came from joining.

"You can look at that later," Biana told Ro with impressive confidence, snapping Dex out of his thoughts. She took the scrapbook back from the ogre princess, who, instead of giving a sarcastic retort back, simply nodded. "Right now... I guess we're going to San Diego."

***

As everyone prepared to leap to San Diego— you didn't have to be an Empath to feel the tension— Dex told them he'd go pick up Tinker's gadget at Widgetmoor. While everybody began distracting the army, he would come in and give Sophie the device to enhance their friends' abilities. If the prototype worked like he hoped, it would overwhelm Lady Gisela enough that Keefe could make all the humans feel again.

Then they'd... do something.

Inflict on Gisela and take Keefe back to the Lost Cities? And somehow return all the humans home?

It was definitely a risk, but it was better than waiting until she attacked the Lost Cities.

Soon enough, Dex glimmered into the presence of a familiar half-machine, half-mansion. Widgetmoor's metallic structure was as bizarre and aweing as ever, the five-handed clock tower surrounded by a frothy mist. One of her mechanical animals— resembling a suncatcher— flew around the corner.

Though, once he stepped inside, it did feel a bit warmer than usual.

Like when Tinker wasn't there, and couldn't maintain the temperature.

So he would have to just take the enhancing gadget, instead of explaining everything to her like Dex had been planning. It wasn't ideal, since he couldn't ask to make sure the prototype was ready enough. But it would make do.

As Dex walked through the eccentric residence, surrounded by various sets of 'five's— what was with Tinker and that number?— it occurred to him just how much time he'd spent honing his Technopath skills here. Recently, he'd been trying his best to hide how secluded from his friends he felt. But it was always there— despite being downright petty compared to other problems.

Finally, he arrived at a table. Strewn across it were dozens of tools, and in the center, a single copper bracelet that when worn on Sophie's wrist would— hopefully— make her able to broadcast her enhancing.

Dex exhaled, tentatively taking it.

He could feel the device "speaking" to him— a sort of unexplainable sixth sense— and knew it would do at least the basest essence of its function. It had to.

Yet when he was about to leap away, he noticed a note tucked under the braclet's earlier spot on the table. In Tinker's messy handwriting, it read two words.

I'm sorry.

A billion thoughts bombarded Dex's head. But what unnerved him most was: The mysterious Technopath, who always seemed to find inquiries more valuable than statements, hadn't even bothered to write it as a question.