Keeper of The Lost Cities: Book 9: Showdown

Chapter 8 - Sophie's POV

I wake up, screaming, on my bed. Sandor rushes in with his swords and Flori follows with two plants. I'll give her credit. She tried to look scary. It's not something Flori can pull off very well. "What happened?" Sandor stalks over to the bed, then looks underneath it, above the canopy, everywhere, to see if it will solve the Screaming Sophie Monster case. It doesn't. "Why were you screaming?" "I... I don't know." The last thing I remember was Mallowmelt with Edaline. Now, I'm here, in bed, screaming. Then everything comes rushing back - Dex and Biana's disappearances, the note, everything. I flop back onto my bed. Flori ditches the flowers she was holding and runs her fingers along my forehead, muttering under her breath. "The Echoes didn't come back, I suppose maybe it was a nightmare you don't remember?" Edaline suddenly rushes into the room, holding a steaming bowl and a spoon. "I heard a scream! Is everything ok?" My voice is raspy when I speak. "Is that for me?" I point to the bowl in her hand. "Yep." She hands the tray to me and gives me the spoon. "Flori helped make the soup," she said. Flori flushes and turns to me. "I only told her what herbs to put in it." "Ok, blah blah blah, whatever." a voice I would never miss calls from the doorway. "Good to see you too, Bo," I say grumpily. "There's been a development!" Linh - yes, you also read that right - barrels into the room. "Glimmer's gone missing!" "Yeah, what's that kid's deal anyway?" Bo asks. "She's not part of the Neverseen anymore, yet she won't remove her hood, and she keeps raving about that dumb, stupid, pathetic cat-""THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Linh, Sandor, Flori, Edaline, and I all scream at the same time. Then we all blink and look at one another like, I can't believe you screamed. Sandor turns to Linh. "How long has she been missing?" Linh bends over and clutches her knees with her hands. She must have been in a rush to get here. "I... I don't know. One second I was practicing my ability with lushberry juice, and the next second I was lying on the floor with it all over me." "So... she knocked you out?" Edaline looks skeptical. "I think so. I don't know. Also, has anyone seen Tam?" her usually bright, silver-blue eyes look cloudy. "He left this morning, and he hasn't come back. I searched the entire house for Glimmer, then him, and I found no sight of either of them. His Imparter says something weird, and then, well, Glimmer kinda sorta doesn't have one." "What about Wylie?" I ask. "And Tiergan?" "Wylie's visiting his dad, and Tiergan was doing something for the nobility?" "Ok. ok," I nod. "Well, we need to make a pla-actually, I need to get out of bed first." I swing my legs off the bed, then slowly stand up and walk around. "We need to gather everyone. Like a really big full-scale Council meeting." Edaline and Linh nod, then run off to get everyone together (and if I know Edaline as well as I think I do, then MALLOWMELT FOR EVERYONE). "I," I start, "need to take a shower and clean up." 30 minutes, a long shower, and ten batches of Mallowmelt later (Edaline went overboard... and Grady and I might have eaten a little, but we don't talk about that), everyone -and I mean everyone except for Mr. Forkle- is gathered at Havenfield. "OK, so I just got in contact with - Bronte, that is your 4th slice of Mallowmelt! You're going to get sick!" Councillor Terik walks back in with his Imparter in hand. All eyes fly to Councillor Bronte, his spoon midway to his mouth. He shrugs. "What? Edaline's Mallowmelt is good." "Noted." Tam rushes into the room. Linh immediately rushes over to his side. "Where were you?" Linh stands in front of him, eyes cold and calculating. Linh should be our interrogator. "I was... visiting... an old friend." Tam looks around the room as if asking for support. "Whatever." I step out from my corner, eyes quickly surveying the room. "There's been a... development." I take a deep breath. "Glimmer's gone missing." All chaos breaks loose when I say that. The Council goes crazy, asking about her registry pendant and all. Grady, being Grady, reaches for another plate of Mallowmelt. Tam stands in the corner and picks at something on his nails, as if asking, Why am I not surprised? Linh and Marella are running around screaming and waving their hands. "Calm down, everyone, there's no reason to wor-" Alden begins. "YES THERE IS!" Linh, Marella, Fitz, and I screamed. Alden held his hands up in surrender and walked back two steps. "OK. First, stop screaming. Second, The Council does have a point. Does she wear a registry pendant?" Tiergan placates the room. "But there would be no point, we don't even know her name, how would we know where and how to track her?" Fitz asks. "We could look and monitor all-female Flashers," Edaline offers. "And we know that she's young, so someone who's between thirteen and, what, sixteen, give or take?" Alden adds. His eyes are puffy, but I suppose he's holding himself together as best he can. Councillor Emery nods. "What else do we know about her?" Everyone is silent. Then Tam chimes in. "You all won't need to do anything like that." Everyone looks at him. He pushes himself off the wall and flips something coin-like from one hand to the other. Then he tosses it at Alden. "This is like that tracker we found on Silveny, when she first went to the Sanctuary," He flips it over in his hand and squints at it. "Where'd you get this from?" "I'm sorry, we have two resident ogre bodyguards here, and one is the princess. Do you really think it's hard to get something like that?""No," Alden murmurs. "No, I suppose not." "Anywayy," Tam says. "That tracker is connected to the hood of her only Neverseen cloak. That hood is the most essential part of her cloak and it's what she will use to hide. There is no way she is ever losing that tracker. All I need," he sighs, "is a Technopath who can trace the signal." The room is quiet. Our resident Technopath is no longer a resident. Wylie snaps out of it first. "The Council has several Technopaths, right?" Councillor Bronte sighs. "None that I know of that can track an Ogre tracker's signal. Only Ogres can do that -""Don't look at me." Bo and Ro say at the same time. They both glare at each other for a little longer. Then Ro continues. "They only give specific individuals the training required to trace that signal. You'd need one of those. And even then, you'd need special clearance from my father to trace that signal, since it is a special ogre tracker.""So you're saying it's hard." "Yep." she pops the p. "Who said we needed to do any of that?" Sandor reaches over to the tracker, feels around at it, then presses something on the side. A holographic image pops up. "Mr. Song, where did you say this tracker was located?" Tam frowns at his last name. "In the seam at the front of her hood. "Sandor holds up the tracker. "This tracker is showing us what she is seeing, not her."Tiergan pipes up. "She looks like she's in... the Wanderling Woods?" "What would she want with the Wanderling Woods?" Councillor Bronte asks. Tiergan takes the tracker from Sandor. "Now she's standing at Kenric's tree." "What? Kenric's tree?" "Now she's crying?" "Kenric probably meant something to her, a good friend, maybe a sibling?""Kenric didn't have any siblings," Oralie's feeble voice murmurs. "Then what could this girl have to do with him?" Then it struck me. "Could it have something to do with Elysium?" Almost the entire Council freezes. "What's Elysium - wait, am I saying it right?" Fitz asks. "Yeah, you're saying it right." I nod at Fitz. Councillor Emery recovers first. He narrows his eyes at me. "Elysium is something you're not supposed to know. How, where, and when did you hear that name? I haven't thought about that in years."I decide to play this smart. "An answer for an answer. What's Elysium?" "She's not going to let go, is she?" I shrug. "I don't know."Half the Council sighs. Tam, Fitz, Marella, and Linh are grinning. Sandor looks like he's looking for a place to hide. Alden and Tiergan are staring at the hologram. Suddenly Alden speaks up. "She's doing something!" Everyone's attention is diverted back to the hologram. Glimmer starts to pull a vial out of her pocket - a bright green-colored concoction - and drizzles it all over the roots of the tree. It starts to steam, then the roots of the tree start to disappear, becoming gloopy, slimy, something that flows down the hill. Glimmer is sobbing now, shaking her head and repeatedly saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." then she turns and runs away. Bronte (like always) is the first to snap back to attention. So does Grady. "I'll take a team of gnomes there as soon as I can gather them." he starts. "I'll help!" Flori chimes in. "Best to clear the area, too, my friend. We don't know if the fumes are dangerous." Alden adds. "Right. Should I get Kesler as well?" Grady asks. "Yeah, see if he can do anything, or come up with a cure." Tiergan points out. "Ok. yeah, ok." Grady runs to the front door. "Flori, you coming?" She'd been gathering the plants she thought she would need. "Yep, I'm ready!" she joins him at the door and then they both leave. Soon after, all the Councillors leave, to see if they can put in the parameters for tracking Glimmer's pendant. Tam, Linh, and Wylie leave with Tiergan. Alden and Fitz go with the Council, to search for Biana and Dex, though it's a long shot - the Neverseen would have removed their pendants before taking them anywhere. It's just me, Edaline, Grady, and whoever's usually at home. So I take the extra time to do some more research. As I'm doing that, I remember what Elysium was. In Greek Mythology, Elysium was supposedly a branch of the Underworld - where people went after they died. Elysium was for heroes - people who did good in their lives, or died for a good cause, or died doing something good. If that Elysium is somewhat related to this Elysium, either metaphorically or figuratively, then it's important. "Hey, kiddo," I've been researching and thinking for three hours, and the sun is beginning to set. By the looks of it, Grady just came home, too. "Whatcha doing?" I shake my head. "Nothing, just research." I sigh and close the book I was reading (read: trying). Grady unclasps his cape and drapes it over his arm. "Hmmm..." he sits on my bed. "Team Valiant doesn't have an assignment right now, right?" I shake my head. Team Valiant kind of went downhill after all that happened in Loamnore. Grady thinks for a little. "I have a very vague-ish idea on what Elysium is, but if I managed to get clearance from the Council, do you think Team Valiant would be interested?" I looked at Grady. "I would have to discuss it with the rest of Team Valiant. I could get them to come over tomorrow." He looked around. Then he got up and started to head out. "See what you can do," he said to me. "And Team Valiant might have an excuse to work."