Keeper of the Lost Cities: Forbidden

Chapter 16: Sophie

Before we began, I just want to say thank you so so much because I'm at 300 reads!!!!! Also from here on out, the rest of the chapters will be Sophie's POV, until the epilogue/bonus chapter.

"I can't believe this." Sophie said, the excitement bubbling up in her throat. "We're actually going to find him!"

"Just like I said," Fitz nudged her with his elbow. "I knew we would find him one way or another." Sophie sighed happily.

"What are we waiting for?" Linh asked, jumping up and down. "Let's make the crystal and go get him!"

Tam laughed, pulling Linh to a stop. "Wow, you're really excited aren't you?" Linh nodded very fast.

"I''ll make it," Mr. Forkle told them, sweeping up the materials in his arms. "I've made one before when I went to the Never seen hideout."

"Okay, I guess we'll just sit here at wait." Sophie agreed, plopping down and leaning her head against the trunk of Calla's Panakes tree. The others did the same.

"So how exactly did the rest of you find your pieces?" Biana asked the group. "And I'm assuming you all found it in a place marked with the sign of the gulon?"

"Yeah, it was very... symbol-y." Wylie replied.

"Tam went all art critic when he saw it," Dex said, throwing Tam a look. "It was like we were on some kind of tour."

"REALLY?" Marella asked, jumping to her feet.

"I'm sensing a lot of teasing coming on." Tam groaned.

"Ya think?" Linh asked her twin.

Sophie grabbed the envelope that previously contained the instructions to make leaping crystals and flipped it over.

"Need another look?" she said as she projected an image of the gulon symbol.

"The way you projected it, it kinda looks like it could be a stamp." Dex noted, tilting his head at an angle.

"Hmmmm, gulon merchandise," Maruca mused. "That should be our welcome home gift to Keefe."

"Does anyone know where the facet angles lead to?" Tam asked. "Just wondering since, you know, I don't want to leap blindly into some random place."

"New York City" a wheezy voice told the group, making them all jump.

"You went there already??" Sophie demanded.

"Of course not!" an offended Mr. Forkle said. "I just know facet angles well!"

"Should we send someone in to scout out the area or something?" Dex wondered.

"That would be the smart thing to do," Mr. Forkle agreed. "Judging by the facet angles, Mr. Sencen is somewhere on Staten Island."

"I've seen Staten Island in pictures before, I'll go first." Sophie volunteered.

"I don't think that's the best idea ever," Fitz told her. "There's a lot of ground to cover, and we need to go as fast as possible."

"I have an idea," Biana announced. "What if we send in Silveny? She can fly, so that would give her an advantage, and-"

"No." Sophie said firmly. "I'm not putting any of the alicorns in danger."

"Sophie," Linh said, placing a hand on her knee. "I don't see any other options, and we're running out of time."

"But we'd be putting Silveny in danger!" Sophie argued.

"What about Keefe then?" Marella asked. That silenced Sophie. What about Keefe? They couldn't very well charge into Staten Island, with goblin and ogre bodyguards. That really was their only option...

"Fine," Sophie surrendered. "But Silveny has to go at night, where there'll be less of a chance of her getting spotted." Everyone agreed.

"Good thing it's already night there!" Wylie proclaimed. "From where Havenfield is on a map, and factoring in the time change, it's already dark in New York!"

Sophie sighed and went to go find Silveny. To her dismay, she found her rather quickly.

Silveny, do you think you could help me find Keefe?

SOPHIE! HELP! FIND! KEEFE!

Sophie smiled. All right then, I'm going to send you some pictures of places you need to look for Keefe. If you find him, tell me and transmit a picture of where he is. Tell me if there's any trouble around where he is okay?

OKAY! SOPHIE! HELP! KEEFE!

Thanks Silveny. Don't take any unnecessary risk ok?  You're only there to observe. Sophie transmitted images of Staten Island and explained the situation to Greyfell, who had come trotting up to them. Be careful.

SOPHIE! KEEFE! CAREFUL! FIND! Silveny promised as she launched into the sky and teleported away.

"She'll be fine." Sophie told herself more than friends. 

"Of course she will," Fitz said, taking her hands. "Don't give up hope."

So Sophie waited. And waited. And waited some more.

"Do you think everything's okay?" she asked her friends.

"It's been 5 minutes." Biana pointed out. After 5 more, Sophie stood.

"I need a distraction." she said as she walked towards the main house. A few minutes later, she sat back down with a tray of seven plates with a slice of mallowmelt and five custard bursts on each. She practically shoved one plate to each of her friends with no more than a stiff sounding "Here." Her friends shared a look.

"Do you want to play a game or something?" Marella suggested. When Sophie didn't reply Marella decided to take matters into her own hands. "Let's play Truth or Dare I'll go first Sophie truth or dare?"

Sophie blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Let's play bramble!" Linh said, pulling Sophie to her feet. 

Sophie blinked again and said, "Okay."

Fitz explained the rules and they started the game. Sophie began to relax. The laughter of her friends filled her ears and she almost forgot about the whole Silveny and Keefe thing.

Almost.

She had just forgotten when a loud voice filled her head.

SOPHIE! KEEFE! DANGER! HELP!

"Keefe's in trouble!" Sophie shouted. Everyone stopped what they were doing and poor Tam was hit in the head with the bramble ball. The next few minutes involved a lot of yelling and scrambling. This ended when Sophie lunged for the leaping crystal and she and her friends ended up in a dog pile. Mr. Forkle walked over and took the leaping crystal form Sophie's outstretched hands and held it over his head. 

"So here's how it's going to work," he said in a very commanding tone. "You kids are obviously all going to go since there's obviously no talking you out of this. But where you go, your bodyguards go, so they're coming too. We're going to bring obscurers so we're not seen if any humans are there. If back up is needed, Sophie can transmit to others." Edaline snapped her fingers and conjured up 5 obscurers

"Okay, okay, let's go!" Sophie yelled, grabbing an obscurer. Mr. Forkle sighed and raised the crystal to the light, creating a path. Sophie scrambled to it and let the light carry her away.

Right in the path of black cloaked figures, who were surrounding a boy with ice blue eyes and tousled blond hair.