Duluth / A Keeper of the Lost Cities Fanfiction

Duluth / 6

Chapter Theme: Clean by Taylor Swift

School was boring. Sure, Sophie didn't have access to her abilities anymore, but she couldn't block out her photographic memory, and that helped her a lot. Each subject felt wrong. Every time that her history mentioned the Great Pyramids, Sophie wanted to scream out that the elves had built them. Every time her science teacher told them that light was the fastest thing in the universe, Sophie wanted to explain that that was wrong. Everything that humans thought they knew was wrong.  

But Sophie couldn't tell them. 

So she sucked it up. It was only the third day of school. Only two more days until the weekend. When Sophie lived in San Diego, she would look forward to the weekend so she could hide away in her room, reading books and sleeping. At Havenfield, she would spend her weekends hanging out with her friends, most likely working at whatever case was on hand. The most recent one was the kidnapping of her human parents. 

But now, she didn't know what she would do on the weekends. Maybe she would start up her new hobby. She had found a camera in her... dad's room, and he said she could borrow it. Photography. That was going to be her new hobby. 

Sophie didn't go in for lunch with Olive on Tuesday. She was avoiding her.  

Sophie stopped by Starbucks again to order a Carmel Cinnamon Latte. She took one sip of it and gagged. Too much cinnamon. 

She was already on her way to Canal Park. She avoided it yesterday to be sure that she wouldn't run into Fitz, but she figured he wouldn't be there today. Instead of going to the park yesterday, she went to a Great Clips, to cross off #1 on her list. 

Sophie tugged on her new shoulder-length hair as she entered the park. No sign of Fitz yet. She pulled her camera out of her bag and started snapping a few pictures to pass the time. Her... dad had shown her how to adjust the F-stop and ISO and shutter speed to take good pictures. 

There were so many people around that were easy to photograph. Families, pets, kids, seagulls. They overpowered the area. 

Soon she stopped to drink the rest of her drink on the rocks, mastering the path from the grass to the rocks without falling down. But she barely had sat down, breathed a sigh of content, and started to drink her latte when someone tapped her on the shoulder. Sophie shrieked and jumped, sending her latte to spill all over her jean jacket. 

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the voice said from behind her. 

"It's fine," Sophie grumbled as she shrugged off the jacket. "It could have been worse. It could have been coffee." She turned around to face her scarer and came face-to-face with...

"Fitz," Sophie said in annoyance.  

Fitz seemed impressed that she remembered him. "Hello, Sophie."

"So are you stalking me or something?" Sophie asked in English as she clambered out of the rocks back onto the grass lawn. Without her jacket, it was very cold.  

"I'm not stalking you. I'm just curious." 

"What are you curious about?" Sophie asked, shivering. She backed up a step, not letting herself get too close to Fitz. 

Fitz finally noticed how cold she was. "Here, take my jacket," he said. He shrugged it off and swung it around her shoulders before she could protest. Sophie blushed at the gesture and thanked him. The jacket was black leather, and in no way Elvin, but it still smelled like Everglen. It smelled like Fitz.  Sophie turned away from Fitz to face the lake.  "I'm curious about you," He told Sophie as he followed suit and looked at the lake. "You're different."

"You speak as if you know me. You don't know me." Sophie crossed her fingers in the leather jacket's pockets hoping that she would sell the lie. She just wanted Fitz gone. Well, not really, but she needed Fitz gone so she could protect the Lost Cities. Sophie was the most powerful elf to ever exist. What could she do if she had pyrokinetic abilities x 50?

"I knew someone like you," Fitz told her, his tone sad. Sophie pushed the guilt aside.

"Tell me about her?" Sophie asked, sitting back down on a rock. 

Fitz sat next to her. "Well, she looked very similar to you. She had longer hair, though. But I like your hair too."

"Thanks." Sophie self-conciously touched the blonde locks. 

"She was smart and brave. and she had an amazing family and great friends. She was extremely talented, too. But she left. " 

Sophie felt a tear slipping down her cheek, and she turned away quickly before Fitz could see it and she wiped it away. "It sounds like you miss her," she said before she could stop herself. Why was she channeling all these negative feelings? And why was she talking to Fitz? She had to avoid him! She couldn't let him take her back to the Lost Cities. She would probably end up burning down a city like Fintan did to Enternalia. 

Fitz thankfully wasn't looking at her. "I do miss her. Very much. I just wish I knew why she left." 

"Maybe she didn't have a choice," Sophie said. Right away she knew she shouldn't have said that. Fitz's head whipped towards her, his eyes full of curiosity. "I should be getting home," Sophie said. "My dad will be getting worried."

"I'll walk you," Fitz offered. Sophie knew she should say no, but she wanted to be with Fitz. She wanted to be with her friend. 

So she gave him the smallest of smiles, and whispered, "Ok."

----

I hope you guys had a great Christmas! Comment below what your favorite part of Christmas was! And happy New Year!

Short update, I know. And I am sorry for not updating for a while. But I have a very good reason!

I.... wrote a novel! Granted, it was for my creative writing class and it's only 45,000 words long, but I worked really hard on it. My teacher said that we will be posting them on Wattpad, but I'll post them on a different account. I'll tell you guys when and where it will be up. 

I'll try to update more often, I promise! 

And I swear, I have the best readers in the world. Your comments and votes mean so much to me! 

See you in 2018!