Keeper of The Lost Cities: Book 9: Showdown

Chapter 6 - Sophie's POV

I plop on my bed, my head facing the ceiling. "I hate adults."

"Now, what makes you say that?" Edaline walks into my room carrying a tray of food. She does that a lot lately. I pretend to not notice.

I pretend a lot now, too. I pretend that I'm the same person I've always been. I pretend that Keefe's leaving did nothing to me - though I'm still figuring that part out myself. Dex is right: I've become a Sophie Monster - an inexplicable, unpredictable Sophie Monster.

"Hello? Sophie?" Edaline's waving her hands in front of my eyes. I must have zoned out.

"Sorry." I blink my eyes and sit up in bed as Edaline passes the try to my lap. "What were you saying?"

"I was asking what either Mr. Forkle or Sandor did this time."

"Huh. you guessed right. Mr. Forkle did do something."

Edaline sighs and sits on the bed next to me. "What did he doooooo," she says, like a little child begging their parents for something. I know she's trying to make me laugh. So I spare a smile for her. "Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell meee!"

"Ok, ok," Edaline grins and faces me. Her eagerness makes me sigh and plop back to my earlier position. "Mr. Forkle... apparently Mr. Forkle went and visited Keefe, wherever he is." Edaline's jolly smile disappears from her face, and her grip on my hands goes slack. "And he won't tell me anything. Not a single thing. He won't even tell me if their 'conversation' went well." Edaline is looking around the room, eyes darting around and her mouth opening and closing. When she did speak, her voice was kind of testy.

"Keefe is... sometimes a reckless person."

"No, he's always a reckless person."

Edaline laughed a little. "Ok, fine. He's always a reckless person. But he's smart, too, Sophie." Edaline looked at me. "And loyal. He'll do anything for his friends and the greater good."

I sigh and put my forearm on my forehead. "And he'll risk his life doing it and won't think about the consequences. What are you trying to say?"

Edaline sighed. Wow, we're having a sigh-fest! "I guess what I'm trying to say is... Keefe knows what he's doing. If he's doing something, he probably has a reason, and he wouldn't be very happy if we went around trying to undo whatever he did. When he feels it's right, he'll come around."

"Why do moms always have to say the right things at the right time?" I muse aloud. Even if they're the things you don't want to hear, I thought.

Edaline's laugh is enough to at least stop my sulking. "Because," she said, plopping onto the bed next to me with some extra flair. "Mother knows best." she tapped my nose.

"Wait." I sat up. Then I turned to face her. "That's from a movie. Like, a human movie."

Edaline grinned. "Juline showed it to me, what's it called, Tangled?"

I smiled and clapped my hands together. Then I started singing the song while prancing around my room.

"Woah." I had accidentally walked within Vertina's range. "Is she ok?" I continued to prance around. Then even Grady walked in. Then I stopped. God, I was such a Disney fan, only a shame I couldn't watch Disney movies anymore.

Grady looked at me, then Edaline, then back at me, then Edaline. Edaline just held her hands up. "You know what," he threw his jacket on my chair and sat on the bed next to Edaline. "I don't even want to know."

"Good, I don't want to talk about it!" I stopped then doubled over in laughter. I guess maybe Edaline didn't watch the Lion King. I probably look psycho.