Keeper of the Lost Cities: Rebuild [COMPLETED]

Chapter One - SOPHIE

Sophie Foster was sick of rebel groups.

"'The Purities haven't gotten violent as of yet—but caution is advised. Be watchful. Report any suspicious persons or activity. And be safe,'" Wylie finished, sitting the notice on the table. "It's signed, 'Errol L. Forkle.'"

Sophie wanted to sigh, but she didn't have the energy for it. Leto—the name most of her friends knew him best by—was still going by his "ELF-alias," as Keefe had dubbed it. He'd promised he would reveal himself to the Lost Cities, but... with all the turmoil going on, she couldn't really blame him for holding back.

Still. The signature reminded her yet again of how pressing their problem was. That problem being the elusive rebel group called "the Purities." After the Neverseen had fallen—five long years ago, yet sometimes it felt like it was yesterday—the elvin world had started repairing.

Healing.

Making life better.

But some people didn't see it that way. A group of insurgents had made themselves known about a year and a half ago, when they'd marched silently in Eternalia.

A week after the Human Assistance Program was reestablished.

"Ugh," Sophie groaned, rubbing her forehead as a new headache spiked. "Is there any good news?"

"Well, the Purities haven't marched in over two weeks now," said Wylie, "so that's good news, right?"

"I meant any news not about the Purities—but thanks anyway. Tam, Dex, Marella? Anything you want to add?"

Sophie glanced to the side, where Marella was sitting on the edge of the waterfall in the girls' treehouse at Alluveterre. She was absently flicking flames at the pool; each spark ignited a puff of steam.

"Would it kill you to pay attention during one meeting?" Tam snapped, beating Sophie to the punch. The shadows in the room suddenly drew away from the skulking figure in the corner, as if even they were too afraid to cross the silver-banged elf. "The Purities are a legitimate threat, but you're acting as if we're trying to stop a bunch of human toddlers."

Marella bit back with a retort, but Sophie wasn't listening. Her mind was too fixated on the word "human"—a word Tam had specifically used to insinuate weakness.

It wasn't his fault the elves had lived separately from the humans for his whole life or that there were deep prejudices that ran among multiple species. That was Sophie's "purpose," after all. To unify the elvin and human worlds and restore harmony—or something like that.

Lately her goal was getting fuzzier and fuzzier. Almost two years after the Black Swan and the Council had defeated the Neverseen, the elvin leaders had established the Human Reinstatement Program. With everyone working together, they could slowly reintroduce the elvin world to the human one, and make cities like Atlantis filled with both species once again.

But there were people who weren't happy with that. They wanted things to stay the same—wanted "purity"—so they marched in the elvin capital to protest the effort.

The Council repeatedly told Sophie they weren't going to back down, but she could see their resolve failing. They'd never done well under pressure—that was the Black Swan's specialty.

Then again, things with the Black Swan had changed. Sophie was now the leader, alongside four of her friends.

She'd suspected that had been the Collective's plan ever since she had ran away from the Lost Cities and joined the organization, but she hadn't expected Mr. Forkle and the others would step down so quickly.