Keeper of the Lost Cities: Unlocked: A Fan-fiction

Chapter Thirty - Sophie

(A/N: If you thought the last cliffhanger was bad, don't read this chapter.)

Sophie didn't know why she felt the need to do it, exactly. She was just so tired of being weak, and helpless, and... and of not catching the bad guys. If there was one thing she had learned from her past encounters with the Neverseen, it was that you had to move fast to be able to keep up with them, but even faster to be able to catch them.

That was why, she felt, she couldn't wait and talk to get answers. She wanted them as much as everyone else, of course, probably more. But she couldn't stand around any longer, just waiting for the Neverseen to fall into her lap like a dead fish. Things didn't work that way.

She didn't want, either, to shock them. Literally shock them. Of course, they had done worse things to her and her friends, but she still hated hurting anyone. It wasn't right, no matter what they had done. But the way things were going currently was not working. They couldn't keep on like that forever. Something had to change. That something had to start sometime.

And she'd just decided it would be then.

Sophie dashed toward them as quickly as she could, relieved when they didn't move. Then, she placed her hands on both Gethen and Fintan's arms. They jerked, then their eyes went back into their heads. They went down.

"You manifested a new ability," Gisela cried, whirling to stare at her fallen partners, then back at Sophie.

"Yeah, I did," Sophie said. She wondered what the chances of getting to Gisela were.

"Don't even think about it!" Gisela snapped. She whipped a pathfinder out of her pocket and held it up to the light. She gazed at Keefe. "Someday, my son, you will see the gift I've given you. Your legacy is one of greatness, and when you finally realize that," she smiled fondly, "you'll come running back to Mommy like a homesick baby bird who forgot how to fly."

Trying to tune out her horrible words, Sophie grasped for Gisela, desperately hoping that she'd reach her in time. But Gisela stepped into the path of light, leaping away.

***

"It's not your fault, Sophie," Dex said two hours later. They were all sitting at Havenfield's kitchen table, trying to process exactly what had just happened. Fintan and Gethen had been taken to the Council, still unconscious, for it to be determined what to do with them. Sophie had wanted to come along, but Grady, Edaline, Mr. Forkle, Sandor, and all her friends had demanded she come home to rest. She felt a bit overruled.

"It is," Sophie mumbled, giving in to the urge to pluck an eyelash. "If I'd just got to her sooner... but I didn't."

"Then it's my fault too, Foster," Keefe said. "I didn't get her either, you know."

"Yeah, but you were distracted."

"As were you."

"Yeah, but..." Sophie plucked another eyelash. "I'm the-"

"Don't you dare say Moonlark," Biana interrupted.

Sophie groaned. "Look, guys, I appreciate you help and uplifting words and stuff. But you can't change the truth."

"Um," Marella jumped in from the couch next to them, "we're not. That's our point. It's not your fault. None of us could have done anything, so how about we all stop playing the blame game and focus on the good?"

"Yeah, like the fact that we caught both Fintan and Gethen in one haul. That's got to count for something, doesn't it?" Wylie asked, his deep voice somehow somber and festive at the same time.