A Love...Circle?-A KOTLC Tophfee story

The Return-Multi POV

A/N: I ACTUALLY updated! If it seems really jumbled together, I'm so so sorry, this is the product of an inconsistent 4 months work....heheheh.....but here you go???

Trigger warning: Vaguely descriptive sexual assault/catcalling and violence+racism

They landed in the ocean, too far away from human eyes to see the figures falling out of the void, but close enough that some people on the beach thought there was a storm nearby.

But like humans, they waved it off for something else, or Fourth of July fireworks, even though they were illegal in the state of California, and it was nowhere near the Fourth of July.

The group was also lucky, for police sirens had been sounding in their direction, and some more suspicious people figured a gun had gone off.

And they did not care about the potential of human lives being lost, for it wasn't them or anyone they knew, so it must be some criminals that deserved to pay for their crimes, since they weren't cooperating with the police.

No one investigated the strange crack of thunder, or fireworks, or gunshots, and though our group lucked out, the reasoning behind it was saddening.

Sophie came up spurting salt water out of her mouth, treading water like she had been taught in swim school, while the others, except for Linh, were shocked out of their minds.

"Sophie! I thought we were going to Havenfield or Foxfire, or anywhere else BUT THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN?!"

Quickly, Sophie stripped off a glove, grabbing Linh's hand, who gasped and automatically made a nice little water float for the rest of them, drying them off in the process.

Sophie was startled too.

Was that really Fitz she had heard?

Or was her heart just playing tricks on her mind?

"I'm sorry guys. I—I thought I heard something and I guess I accidentally followed it."

Tam scowled at Sophie, but the malicious intent wasn't as concentrated as it might have been before.

There was a shock, but also a need to do something about it in Sophie's eyes, and inwardly sighing, Tam knew that their trip wasn't over yet.

"What do you mean Sophie?"

"I—I...I thought, maybe, I heard Fitz transmitting to me."

Biana gasped at the news, but her face fell immediately.

"Sophie, are you sure? He's—We saw the Neverseen....you know."

Her voice trailed off, and Linh gathered Biana in her arms, and Dex placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Keefe struggled to sit up, the flotation water thing like a water bed, unsteady but firm.

"Sophie. Are you sure?"

She looked at Keefe, and the need to find his best friend looked back at her.

"I—I think so. I hope so."

She had tugged out three eyelashes at this point, and was reaching for a fourth when Tam grabbed her hand, holding it in place.

"Before everyone jumps into action, what's our plan? We have no idea where we are, or where Fitz is, and we're in the middle of the ocean. We need a plan. This might be a trap. You never know."

Sophie nodded sullenly.

Tam's voice softened as he addressed everyone around him.

"I miss Fitz as much as you guys. But we need to think this through. If we're gonna look for Fitz, we need a plan. How are we going to get out of the ocean without attracting attention to ourselves? Sophie, it's been over three years since you last came here. Things change in the human world all the time. We don't know any of that. How will we fit in? Our clothes make us stand out. How will we get human clothes? We can't speak the language. ALso, we have no way of contacting anyone from the Lost Cities. We need to cover the basics first."