Keeper of The Lost Cities: Book 9: Showdown

Chapter 13 - Sophie's POV

"That-" I threw a pillow. "Bloody-" I picked it back up. "Insane-" I threw it again. "Pathetic-" I picked it back up. "Excuse-" I threw it again - but this time somebody caught it.

I marched over to Fitz, snatched the pillow from his hands, and whacked his head with it for good measure - and because I felt like it. "LEMME VENT IN PEACE!" and then I threw the pillow again.

"Chillax," he said, and held up his hands. "Why are you venting anyway?"

"I'M INVOKING MIRANDA RIGHTS! I DON'T HAVE TO TELL ANYBODY ANYTHING!" I threw another pillow and Fitz had to duck to avoid being hit in the face again.

"Who's Miranda? And doesn't everybody have rights?"

"DO YOU WANT TO BE WHAMMIED AGAIN?"

Fitz gulped. "No ma'am."

"That's what I thought." I was about to go pick up the pillow and then spoke again. "And, in the Forbidden Cities, when you get in trouble, there are these sets of laws called that basically say that you don't have to say anything, you can indirectly give the policeman a hard time, blah blah blah." The mention of Forbidden Cities just made me mad all over again and I accidentally threw Keefe's bloody golden book across the room.

Right where Fitz could catch it.

He looked at me suspiciously and held up the book. "Isn't this Keefe's-"

"He Who Shall Not Be Mentioned."

"Golden book? As in one of his memory journals? As in please-don't-look-in -here memory journal?"

I gulped. "Yeah..."

Fitz crossed his arms like a mom who just found her kid in trouble and held up the book like it was a box of candy I wasn't supposed to have. "And why do you have it?"

"Uhh... because Ro gave it to me?"

"And why did Ro give it to you?"

"Because she felt like it?"

Fitz looked at the book like he was about to flip through it. "And have you looked through it?"

I rolled my eyes and marched over and snatched it from his hands in case he did flip through it. "No, Mom, I did not look through it, and what do you think I am, a stalker? He put those memories in that book for a reason."

"Well, yeah, but Ro also gave it to you for a reason." he snatched it back.

"I'm not looking through someone's private journal." I took it from him.

"That doesn't mean I can't." he stole it from my hand.

"Well, yeah, but if you had a functioning moral compass," I stole it back from his hand. "You wouldn't."

"If you knew what purpose was," he grasped the book and pulled it out of my hands. "You would live up to it."

"Are you saying I don't have purpose?"

"Are you saying I don't know what's right and what's wrong?"

"Give me the book back."

"Nope."

"I'll take it from you."

"I'd like to see you try."

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

"You're no better tha-" I stopped abruptly.

"I'm no better than...?" Sophie was pretty sure Fitz knew she was sort of joking, but he was prodding because... he was Fitz.

"Why did you come here? Did you need something?"

Fitz gave me a look like this conversation wasn't over and unwillingly handed over the notebook. "We were supposed to tag over to Elwin. There's also something I wanted to show you."

"But it's nine at night. I thought we'd agreed to go tomorrow?"

Fitz looked confused. "We did?"

I waved my hand dismissively at him. "It's fine. What did you want to show me?"

"Ok, so I don't know how this works, but every night, when I manage to sleep, I get these dreams."

"Of who?"

"Dex and Biana."

I was fiddling with one of the tassels on the pillow I was strangling, but when he said that I swiveled around to face him. "What? Are they recurring? Are they the same one?"

"No. Every night I get a different one, but... it's like they are talking to me. Like they know I'm there. I don't know if I'm going delirious or if something is wrong with my sanity, but... I was hoping you could make some sense of them if I showed them to you."

That was a rush of information. "Ok," I said, trying to make things easier for my uncooperating brain. "So you've been seeing dreams of Biana and Dex and they've been talking to you, as in 'hey Fitz we've been kidnapped send help please' kind of talking or 'blah blah blah let's hope Fitz is listening'?"

"They don't say blah blah blah."

"I don't say blah blah blah," I mimic Count Dracula's voice. "What, did Juline sit you down too and show you animated human movies?"

Fitz massages his forehead. "No... they just don't say blah blah blah. Anyway, they don't even talk to me, they just stare at me as if I were there."

"Ok." I sit down on my desk chair and rummage through a drawer for a notepad and pencil. "I think it's more important what they're trying to say. If they go blah blah blah, then yes, I would question how sane you are. If they don't spout random nonsense, then maybe one of them is up to something, a way to communicate with you."

"Ok, but you can't view memories and write down dialogue at the same time. How do you plan on doing this?"

I thought hard, when the idea of projecting came to me. "Is there a way to, say, instead of just pictures of memories, project maybe clips or videos or something of that nature with audio?"

Fitz scratched his head. "Not that I know of."

"Ok, wait." I looked at the calendar sitting on my desk. "Tomorrow we have to go to Foxfire, what if we told Tiergan during our telepathy session?"

"I think the chances of Tiergan telling me that something's wrong with my head are higher than him actually believing me."

"It doesn't hurt to try?"

Fitz shrugs. "Sure."

Edaline comes up to my room holding - yet again - more mallowmelt! Fitz gratefully and eagerly takes a slice and eats all the cream. I take the plate she hands me, but my eyes are narrowed. Something happened.

"Mom..."

"Yes?" She looks at me all innocent-like.

"This is the third time you've brought mallowmelt..."

Edlaine gives me one of those smiles you'd see in an anime show. "Anything for Fitz!"

Fitz beams - why? - and Edaline hands him a big bottle of lushberry juice, topped with ice and lushberries.

She hands me one too.

Without ice.

Or lushberries.

That's not fair.

"Now why does it feel like you both are ganging up on me?"

They both look at each other and shrug.

We sit and chitchat for a while, then Fitz has to go and I'm in bed. If Fitz is right, then this could be a key to finding our friends.